These are tags I just finished for a "Swap" through the yahoo group: artezinecafe! I will send them off to the host of the swap tomorrow! I have been a part of this group and some others for a few months. Up to now, I have been just "lurking" meaning just reading and observing what others are posting. I guess you can also call it "learning!" I plan to start participating in more of the contests and swaps, this desire seems to be forthcoming now as I am gaining a little more confidence! And perhaps, a little more time! This one was a lot of fun. It was a little tough to let go of these creations that I poured myself into. I guess this is something artists have to get used to: letting go of a part of themselves in order to share it with someone else......
Robert Everett Williams Jr. This is my Dad. And I am lucky (blessed!) that he is with us here in such great health! I am so excited that he will be living here at Elkins with us soon! You mean so much Dad, I LOVE YOU!! Happy Father's Day!
A Tribute to Matthew....Jaron and Sierra' Father. Happy Father's Day!! You are truly a great Dad, the best! #1! What would we do without you?? You... find stuff....change the oil...mow the lawn...discipline....love...SO much more!! We are fortunate to have you.
Well, I've had this finished for some time, but just no time to sit down and put it online! I'm really like this one a lot because it just took me on a journey...I read once in an artist's blog (I believe it was Anahata Katkin) that you have to just START...glueing or painting, whatever you're doing and the let the journey take you where it will.... It's sort of a scary concept, because I'm always (at first) afraid of "messing up." But, I am discovering there's really no such thing. Although-- I did start over on one of the previous pages because I just got the wrong color on the page. No, I'm serious, it looked like blood on a page talking about LOVE. Yes, I realize that love can turn into something rather bloody at times...BUT it wasn't what I was trying to portray at the time!!
Enough testing different glues on different surfaces for different lengths of time....! Sometimes you gotta just dive in and DO it! It's a little difficult to see but I painted my board a iridescent copper using a heavy body Golden acrylic. Then, I used Weldbond adhesive to glue each of the iridescent blue and copper colored glass tiles on the border. The Weldbond instructions say the longer you wait, the stronger it holds, so I'm going to let it set for several days weighted down with some heavy 12 x 12 leftover floor tiles we have hanging around. Cross your fingers! If all goes well, I can begin gluing my homemade tiles. I borrowed some more stamps from my friend Sally T. You wouldn't believe her studio (was a garage!), she's got bins and bins of stamps, mounted and unmounted, and she says I can borrow whenever I want. Check out her blog (IMAGINE THIS), if you haven't already. She is a fabulous artist, and relatively undiscovered (not for long!)....Stay tuned!
2nd Entry....In some ways school-girlish, other ways seeking to say SOMething about the good and painful side of LOVE. I like it. It's part of me. I'm learning to relax and let my art be. No perfectionism allowed! It's VERY freeing. It's very good for me. I tend to over-think everything, and beat myself over the head, if it's not what I originally had in mind, but isn't that what art is all about, FINDing your voice, not PLANning IT!
The colors and vividness never come out as well over the web, but you get the idea. A few more tiles added. I am also waiting for some additional ornate rubber stamps to arrive this week to fill in the gaps....
I received some truly exciting and wonderful art technique books for Christmas, and have been working on some new projects. Well, actually I have been kind of in-between because I wanted to begin work on a mosaic table top, but needed to collect some supplies first. One of the books I got for Christmas from Matt's brother Paul and wife Cindy is Laurie Mika's Mixed Media Mosaics: See Mika Arts
I'm in Phillie for the American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo! In order to keep up my registration as a dietitian, we are required to have 75 credit hours of continuing education in 5 years. Well.....I'm behind. They are due this year in May, and I only have about 36 credits going into this conference. Soooo...I need to get a lot in a hurry. Some of the students were going, so I got the bug. I said, what the heck, I'm going to submit it, and see what they say. They could only say NO, right? Well, they (the hospital) approved it! So, I'm here staying at the Hyatt on the Delaware River with a fantastic view just like this one out my 21st floor windows! I didn't bring my camera, I wish I had, but it seemed a little too bulky to keep up with. I probably need to get one of those smaller digital cameras for times such as these. I missed some good photo ops. There's beautiful architecture in some of the downtown buildings, but I was also told not to walk around downtown or in the tourist areas alone. Several dietitians told me stories of pick-pockets and muggings. The cab driver on the way over said that this city is one of the most violent!! I didn't know that. I'm enjoying myself, though, and learning a lot! I'll be back late Tuesday, back at work on Wednesday....
Tell me you haven't given up on me! We are deep into it...it's fun, though! Jaron's having fun with soccer. He scored the only goal in their first game. The guys are getting better everytime they play together....Sierra is the libero, which is a defensive specialist on the "A" team in volleyball..you should see her dive for those balls, and she usually makes the save! Stay tuned, I'm going to be better at posting! I promise.
New shoes, new uniforms (size), new watch, skirts 2 inches max above the knee.....lots to get straight before the first day of school, but we made it through. Alpha Omega started Wed., the 22nd. The public school will start Monday. Sierra had her first volleyball game(s), she played on both the A & B teams, and played hard. Jaron began soccer practice this week....he's very sore! It's going to be a busy year with two other sports, in addition to swimming, piano, and Oh yes, that's right....schoolwork! This is the first year they change classes...only 5 minutes between--demerits if you're tardy....Stay tuned, I'll try to be better about posting, but the first week was rough!
Okay, with all other things aside, and with a little more time on my hands in the evenings and for a few more weekends, I felt it was time to get back to creating! And I am really having fun with the smaller canvases. I have been really just playing around, experimenting with the different mediums, finding my voice, so to speak....stay tuned, I've got more coming! The above creation says: Listen....the music is everywhere... The background is acrylic painted, the blue strips are scrapbook papers from Erica Hite's Nessa collection, and the gold on black is a french text stamp with acrylic paints....The vintage image is from Enchanted Mercantile.
A sampling of our 4 day regional meet at University of HoustonWe just got back...Although the kids didn't make any finals, they swam well, got a few best times, and we used it as a tune-up for the big TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming Championship) in 2 weeks! This was really a tougher meet, because 11 and 12 year olds are scored together. And, there is a BIG difference between 11 and 12 year olds. With a few exceptions, the 11 year olds often look like 10 year olds, and a lot of times the 12 year olds look like 14 year olds! It really depends on where they are in their maturity cycle! But, at TAGS, the 11 year olds are scored seperately, so that's the meet they are peaking for. It was fun, but we are tired!
