~

The Recluse

~

Ada love two things: her cat Lulu
and painting water color flower panels.

Living alone suited her just fine
as there were few people she could relate to

and

truth be told,

most everyone bored her.

She may have been a cat in her former life.

FORGET YOUR LUNCH?

DON'T FEEL LIKE GETTING IN THE HOT CAR TO GET ANYTHING?

PULL OUT THE MOLESKINE!



A quick little sketch
I call her Ada

I may tidy her up now that I'm home
from the place called 'Crazy'

she may even get a color wash.

When I pick up my pencil and start to sketch

it's like sitting down with an old,

good,

friend.

Because it's NOT Friday

Pink and Pretty
for you

I AM BLISSED OUT .....................

TODAY IS AN EAST COAST KIND OF DAY It's unbelievable!!

We've had gentle rain.....cooler temps (even snow in Flag!!)

Today the sun is in and out and the breeze is cool

As the various chimes gently sing........ I am on the patio
taking photos of my theater.

Yes I am done.

Not knowing if I can show it here it all it's glory I will give just a little shot until all the theaters are revealed
in a few weeks

HERE.

It's pretty exciting........ all of us waiting to see all the creations for this wonderful adventure.

A SWEET TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I wish this was 'smellavision'
or
a scratch and sniff blog

The fragrance hit me the second I opened the door
to the sTuDiO wItH a BeD

A heavy sweetness that tugged at my heart before the brain kicked in with the memory.

The floodgates opened the second I realized the source of the beautiful fragrance.

Gardenias
~
A few months ago the 'haunting' began.

I wanted gardenias.

I wanted to see the pure whiteness and be intoxicated
by the amazing scent.

I tried to shake this nagging desire, as my success with plants and flowers here in the desert has been, well....does abysmal seem
too harsh a word??
(camera pans to the patio with a lovely pot of fried petunia....one of those thought bubbles above it with the words PLANTS COME HERE TO DIE.)


Why would I want to take on the responsibility of the demise of yet another living plant?

But I could not shake it.
~
It was bound to happen a week or so later
that when I visited the local Target I would

'accidentally'

park outside the garden entrance rather than the main entrance.........
...and pass by
(way over there in the corner where I did not have to walk) a group of potted beauties.

My latest heart's desire.

And it occurred to me.

Why would I deny myself this thing of beauty even if it did not live long?

I purchase bouquets of cut flowers at least once a month......
..wasn't this the same??......with the outside chance that it would live longer than a week?

Soooo, taking at least 15 minutes to pick the PERFECT foliage I happily went to the counter to check out.

Nothing else in my basket because, let's face it, I wasn't GOING there for anything else except a gardenias

Now let me first say that here in AZ, folks grow these glorious flowers OUTSIDE!!!
But that is not a guarantee that I can grow one inside OR out.
~

And this, finally, brings me to the memories of my childhood.

My Mother loved roses, lilacs, peonies, bleeding heart, and gardenias....
and we had them all in our Connecticut home.

Our long driveway was lined every June all colors of peonies. I still tell the story of my Dad spraying the peonies with insecticide because they were covered in ants......

to my Mother's horror.

Evidently she did not pass the information on to Dad that these critters were, in fact,
helping the flower buds open.

That summer the driveway did NOT burst into color,
but my Mom DID burst into tears.

Many times.

Inside the house, Mom could not keep Gardenias for long.... hard as she tried.

And, boy, did she try.

It would be safe to say that I witnessed the tender care and then,

disposing of,

many,

many,

pots of gardenias.
They all would flower at least once.

A few had a second show...but all met the same end.

Now years later, I am swept back.
Instantly.

Because my first precious plant has bloomed today while I was
at the desk called CRAZY

and this one, glorious, no.......STUNNING flower has opened.

and the drama of the day has melted

and I close my eyes

and I know that Mom is doing the happy gardenia dance with me.

NOTES FROM THE NEST

I know it seems quiet here at Faerieluna,
but I have been busy.

With the Arches project done the focus has been

the Theater.
Or

Theatre des Modes

As usual, once I am in the thick of the project,

my mind races ahead
and the inspiration flows
a bit too fast

and rich for the amount of time
alloted.

sigh.


While painting the inside of the theater a dark as night blue,
with a wash and bubble
effect of deep gold over it,
(leaving the top portion alone for now as it will be covered
and 'house' some special effects).............................


I realized that what I SHOULD do is create 'sets'
that can be removed.
(this is where I begin to get in trouble with my thinking)

Figuring out HOW to design removable sets
and not muck up
the theater itself
is what has my mind working overtime right now.

sooooooooooooooooo

I begin with the first 'set'

mat board cut down,
with this delicious paper design glued on top
makes me think of pink frosted cake
and lemonade somehow
It fits inside quite well
but needed a 'hoojy'
(slang everyone recognizes)
to pull it out without destroying it


Ta Da = Hoojy

AKA raffia ribbon glued to backside of paper set


Marie pops her big haired head in to give me the nod of approval

"Merci Beaucoup, Marie"

I was most certainly holding my breath waiting for your two cents
or is that deux cents?

Actually, since France began using the Euro in 2002 that would be an
actual two cent coin now, oui??


O.K.
back to the process


I think I will use these papers for a forefront portion of a set
each set may have two layers for dimension
Or at least use them in a creation of a flower garden portion..............


I am still working on that one mentally


Then.......
let's not forget costume design.

"SAINT MOLY"
(trans. HOLY MOLY!!)

My head spins.

This is in the forfront of my first costume for Marie
Seems perfect to me.
Given her love of feathers and frou, frou

So you see..................
My process is running amuck

and there are deadlines

and there is housework

and there is the place I call CRAZY where I need to go tomorrow

Once again I whine(to the cat)

about having to leave the nest

"au revoir pour maintenant"
(trans:good bye for now)

CAN I JUST SAY..........

there is nothing quite like getting altered art from one of my little birds.

She was here when I was gathering items for my Marie Antoinette Theater project...

and gathering books from the library......

and watched the movie with me........indulging me the whole time............

and, now, here is this fab altered card with the most amazing composition....
part of my Mother's Day box of prezzies.

Each one thoughtful and just perfect.

....and so I smiled all the way
to my bulletin board to place it next to the others she has made in the past several months.

HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Monday Monday, ...

o.k., so maybe I'm not 'cryin'............
....scowling is more like it. Or just
sad face, which is not pretty either.


The good thing is that I give myself an extra hour and 15 each morning before I have to start the prep work to GET to the desk called 'Crazy'

And with two cups of coffee..........blogs and e-mail........sometimes a bit of art......well, this cranky girl can turn right around and begin to
reflect on what is good and sweet in life.

Without that hour and 15 there's no telling!!

So, I have had a few e-mails asking about that glorious stamp that Ryan gave me.

It's one of my absolute fav companies....... INVOKE ARTS.

It is #6323-F3 called Birdcage Bird and the date on it is 2008........
so that confirms my original thought that it's a new stamp
since I have drooled over their catalog ever since picking it up at Art Unraveled last year

and
dropping the major portion of my "pin money' at their table.

He really could not have chosen a better stamp.

I am pretty lucky that way.

This past Christmas my little bird, Renee, gave me the tin of stamps from Cavallini called Birds & Nests that I so adore I cannot put it away.

Sometimes I take them out of the tin and just look at them. They are
such quality stamps.

My Birds just know me.........
AND even Ryan's love, Ms. A. (I don't know if it's o.k. to use her name) found the perfect book that came along with the stamp.

I am CRAZY about this book and drawings.

This is one of the pages..........IS IT NOT FABULOUS!!!

Someday Ryan and I will do a book together.

He has a few stories already....and I will draw.

Although Ms. A. is an accomplished graphic artist.........so really, they could accomplish THAT quite easily.

I am a very lucky Mama Bird
Three wonderful little birds.

GOTHIC ARCHES = CHECK

One more project to cross off the list.

This was a sweet little project that I spent most of today working on.

The rules: create three fabric arches
with template given on the Paper Whimsy group
(It's about 7" long)
use a PW image and also make charms to go along with it.

I first stamped with a new Versa Magic ink pad (pink) on the best muslin I could find.
No slubs or nubs anywhere.

Then I appliqued a PW image sheet that I ordered in the fabric version rather than paper.

It's a great sheet #067.........
with several fabulous image designs.

On the backside of each arch piece (front and back) is a layer of thin batting.

In between the front fabric, batting and back fabric and batting
is an arch cut from 140 lb. watercolor paper.

I was a tad nervous to put all this under the sewing machine
to zig-zag the edges.

But my trusty Singer that I've had since the late 80's
works every time!!

I added a delicate piece of lace to the top of the image, sterling silver beads
for the eggs in the nest,

and a little itty, bitty heart button
about 1/4"
for the front of the dress.

Also, the halo around the head was hand quilted.

With brown StayzOn I stamped the text on a separate piece of muslin and machine appliquéd it on th front.

Next was pieces of silk ribbon that I also got from Paper Whimsy, gathered up and sewn around the text.

A little rosette and leaf created from silk ribbon, also.

Next came some glitter. Always with the glitter.

The backside I kept very, very simple.

One of the images on the very same sheet I appliqued to the the back on top of the pink stamped text.

Once signed....they are done.

One of the two charms I am sending along with the arch is made by stamping my brand new stamp that my son, Ryan sent me for Mother's Day...On Shrinky Dink with Brown StayzOn and into the oven.......so darn cute. I love, love, love this stamp.



I keep one arch and mail the other two to the two members of my group. I am keeping the middle,blue image arch.

Now, on to the theater.

Gulp.

~
You may find many uses for this bit of sweetnes.

HOW I LOVE IT WHEN YOU PUT A QUESTION OUT TO THE UNIVERSE……….

ANSWERS AND DIRECTIONS BEGIN TO FLOW.

WE WILL HAVE DREAMS,

INFORMATION WILL SUDDENLY APPEAR.

I HAVE FOUND THAT THE MORE

YOU TRUST THAT THE ANSWERS WILL COME……THE QUICKER THEY ARRIVE.

I KNOW THAT MANY STRUGGLE WITH THIS ISSUE, SO I HOPE THIS MESSAGE THAT CAME TODAY WILL BE HELPFUL.

May 7, 2008
Fulfilling Energetic Investments
Focusing Our Energy

As modern life makes a wealth of information and opportunities available to us, we may find ourselves torn between a wide variety of interests and projects. Our excitement may entice us to try all of them at once, but doing so only diffuses our energy, leaving us unable to fully experience any of them. Like an electrical socket with too many things plugged into it, we may be in danger of overheating and burning out. But if we can choose one thing at a time to focus all of our attention upon, we can make the most of our life-force energy, engaging ourselves fully in the moment so that it can nurture us in return.

Our attention can be pulled in many directions, not only in our own lives, but by advertising, media, and the hustle and bustle of our surroundings. But when we take the time to listen to our inner guidance and focus our thoughts on the goals that resonate the most strongly within us, the rest of the world will fade away. This may mean focusing the spotlight of our attention upon developing one aspect of our work, one course of study, or one hobby to pursue in our free time, but it doesn’t mean that we have to stay focused on only one thing forever. We may never know which of our interests is best suited to our abilities and heart’s desires unless we give it a proper chance. By being fully present with all that we are and all that we have, we can experience each choice fully and make the most fulfilling choices for our energetic investments.

Because we are multi-faceted beings, we are perpetually involved in many aspects of life in every moment. Our work in the world is necessary to attend to our physical needs, and our relationships are important for our emotional needs, but when we engage our spirit as well, we can choose the area that will nurture body, mind and soul. Staying focused in each moment allows us move with the rhythmic flow of the universe and harmonize all aspects of our being into balanced whole.

SHARING MY DAILY OM

May 6, 2008
Removing Obstructions
Allowing Our Light To Shine There are times when we may not feel at our best and brightest. At those times we can take a look at what we might do to let our inner light shine to the fullest. Because we are physical, mental and spiritual beings, we need to determine where our spiritual light is being filtered or blocked. We can work from the outside inward, knowing that we are the only ones with the power to dim our lights, and as we clear away the layers we can get out of our own way to feel the warmth of our own light shining again.

As vehicles for our mind and spirit, our bodies require proper maintenance. Caring for ourselves is like polishing--helping to clear away the accumulation of physical debris that keeps us from operating at our fullest capacity. A simple shift in our thoughts can positively affect our mental state, moving from complaints to gratitude and applying the powerful light of love to any shadowy thoughts. A change of scenery can allow us to see the world in new ways too.

Once we are free of our restrictions, we can become still and connect to the power at the center of our being. It is always there for us, but when we forget to connect, or siphon our power in too many directions, we cannot make the most of our energy. Starting from the inside out may direct us to take the right steps for our journeys back to the light, but sometimes it can be difficult to find the stillness if our bodies and minds are in the way. As we practice steps to keep our energy flowing freely and without obstruction, we shine our light brightly, illuminating our own paths and making the world around us glow as well

FAERIE SLIPPER EXCHANGE

With pure delight I mailed off my faerie slippers to Patti in California
and eagerly awaited the slippers that were coming my way
all the way from England.....near Kent.

Imagine?!!

I was the fortunate Slipper Sister to receive Lorraine's slippers that
she fashioned for Shakespeare's Ophelia.
(Lorraine does not have a blog yet for me to link...soon I hope)

The photos on our Paper Whimsy forum did not do justice to these stunning gems.

AND,

try as I might,

I could not take photos that would come across well enough.

I am not sure if it's all the glimmer and sparkle

of beads and glass glitter

but I took almost 50 shots and these are the best....none of which make me happy.

The workmanship is so superb it is obvious why these won best of show
YES!!! I received the slippers that were judged Best in Show!!!

They are exquisite............

Also what does not translate well in photo
is the gorgeous glass glitter adhered to the inside edges

and look who scampered in to take a closer look.........

all I did was walk away for a second and I swear!!

But who could blame her........I could not wait to touch them either!!!!

My little slippers were received with such delight and are in a very happy home.

This project and exchange was the most fun I've had in a long time.

I have displayed these jewels on my art wall in my sTuDiO wItH A bEd.

Lucky, lucky me.

...................and so
after the asking of the same old question

I think on words of Rainer Maria Rilke:

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves.

Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be
given you because you would not be able
to live them.

And the point is to live everything.

Live the questions now.

Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some
distant day into the answers.


Now I am thinking on the one line

the point is to live everything.



powerful.

A DAY'S WORK

The project:

29 pages for a Chunky Book Swap for Art Unraveled

Using 4X4, 140lb weight, watercolor pages,

the paint and ink layers were applied last week.

Then the decision of which recent painting to copy

to use for the main image
in keeping with the theme: 'discover your muse'

I chose this one

Lots of cutting...

gluing...

more cutting...

outlining...

edging piece in ink

Five hours just today alone

and as I work on it I revisit the same question that hounds me
over and over and over again....

Why?

Why do I take on committments like this that eat up so much of my weekend time?????

that blessed time away from CRAZY.

Each project I undertake has it own rewards.

I totally loved the faerie slipper project. Every precious moment of it

......regardless of the bzillion hours it took.

This one.......I like it. I am happy with my color choice and image.

I think it works really well.

But it's 4:25 p.m. and now I will start the housework that has waited for me.

Perhaps because I am not feeling quite well today

that I struggle with the old question of

"why"

But I have been quite careful over the past year to NOT take on many projects......

Justcreating when I am feeling moved to

and for no other reason than I love to create.

Well, I can put this one 'to bed'

Wrap it up in some fun scrap paper that evolved
with the paints on paper towels.

How pretty that is.

........and mail it off Monday.

Faerie slippers - check

AU chunky book pages - check

PW April Green 1x3's - check

PW Arches -

Theater -

PW June page for 2009 Calendar



Crossing one more project off my list

and silently preaching to myself

"FINISH MAY PROJECTS

AND

DO NOT

TAKE ON ANY MORE

UNTIL AFTER ART UNRAVELED!!"