I am working on a new mixed media piece and hope to have it finished within the next couple days to show you..I am excited because it is my first design and my own drawing...yahoo!!!

I have been busy learning Corel Paintshop...yikes I need a book easier than Corel for Dummies that's for sure. Thank goodness for my husband who has the patience (well he is probably screeching inside) to show me over and over while I take notes....hehehehe..

I am putting up a picture today of my granddog Tucker. I just think this is such a good picture that I have to share...he is the sweetest little guy...

Well my birthday has come and gone and I have to tell you that birthdays just mean another day to me....I hate goodbyes to the old years and hello to new..in fact I just hate goodbyes in general...but this birthday caught me in the throws of weapiness. I realized that this year there was no heckling from my best friend of over 54 years. Bertille was a month younger than me so the heckling on my birthday was very apparent and then again on hers...it was just something we did since grade school and took for granted...Bertille will have gone on to her new life one year this March...so I was especially missing her on my birthday. She kept me grounded and while she was the plassid one I was the temper and tempramental one and she wouldn't hesitate to tell me so and put me in my place...God how I miss her...and my youngest brother who will have passed two years this March...we were all best friends and had a great time in teasing each other..

I seem to be losing all those around me lately...hard to keep smiling but I am lucky aren't I? I am still here in good health and rocking and rolling....

How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to Unknown

Well I am going to go and make a journal page and hopefull will have some art to post very soon

Saturday morning and I have a horrible cold...Came down with it yesterday and went to bed last night at 8 in the evening. I don't get sick and have no patience for it either...so it had better begone by tomorrow...

I hope to finish up my mixed media of roses today so I can hang it up....and I want to start my crow painting tutorial with Tim Gagnon...he is an amazing artist....

My darling Miss Cali Cat and mind you I use "darling" lightly. She is her daddy's girl and terrorizes me constantly; only loving when she sleeps by me in bed at night and she wants her treats or meals...hehehehe

Actually, cats do this to protect you from gnomes who come and steal your breath while you sleep. - John Dobbin

today I finished a journal page...drawn face and embellished with added stamps, papers etc...
I seem to have a plan in the back of my heard where my project is going to end up and then I start it; needless to say my hands or something takes over and many times I am off in a completely different direction.
I am not down today but this journal sounds like I am...maybe my inner muse is down today and I just don't know it...somedays we don't speak to each other...hehehehe


What am I paying attention to? ...my attention is focused on the space between what I see, and what the paint is doing on the end of my brush Eleanor Blair

I have spent yesterday and this morning working on completing my Suzi Blu workshop first portrait of the Goddess...I am proud of myself because I cannot draw and Suzi is such an excellent teacher and broke everything down in little parts that it became easy and not overwhelming....I love my Goddess even though there are lots of little things wrong but hey, none of us are perfect so there you go.... I hope you enjoy her and realize that all things are possible...

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. (Henry Ward Beecher)

after scanning your art you can really see where you have goofed up!! lol....Suzi does the
features first and then the lines to make the head....in Face #1 I did that and it looks much better; in face 2 I did the outline of the head first and I can see it is out of sync...and I can see other things to to correct..hmmmm great way of looking at unfinished work scan and correct....

Saturday was a lovely relaxing day with hubby as it was his birthday. Our daughter cooked a turkey dinner for us to celebrate Lorne's birthday. It was a fantastic dinner and we had great fun...the grandkids spoiled him of course and Jacob (Lorne taught him to play chess) beat his grandpa...birthday or not!!

Today, Sunday we went out grocery shopping oh man was it cold out there today....
When we got home I went to my studio and worked on these faces I have put up. I am doing a Suzi Blu workshop and enjoying it so much...Suzi makes everything fall in to place and drawing becomes an easy task to do...mind you I have to practice practice and so on but when I am finished a face I can see where I went wrong but.......it is a face.....next will be the hair and the colouring etc....I am just loving this workshop....

today's Inspiration

Not all of us have to possess earthshaking talent. Just common sense and love will do Myrtle Auvil

Sometimes I wonder about this blogging or maybe it is just me!!!

While I was visiting with my grandkids yesterday I did this freehand drawing by Lauren Gray.
Lauren is an amazing artist and I love her work. Since I could not draw at all whatsoever and my friend Ana Bettencourt Tirolese came and did a seminar in my studio a few years ago and taught the grid....I was amazed....I progressed from grid to freehand now if look at Lauren's work you will see that I have a long way to go but I wanted to try and draw her design...
I can't draw out of my head as yet...I have to have something to copy from.... my grandson Jacob helped me by telling me where I was going wrong....he saw my crow was too skinny and the beak too small....so I adjusted trees and bird and it is looking much better...Thank you Jacob.
Jacob and Nicole are amazing young artists and I learn a lot from them....

Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you. (Bill Cosby)

today I am trying a freehand design of Rene Mullins. I received in a swap a christmas tag with her design on it and thought I would try to interpret it freehand style.....I did the snowman on the front and put sheet music on the back and brought the scarf around and up on to the sheet music...now I will add the finishing touches and put him up....you can give me advice and help as I am trying more and more freehand these days but have a long way to go....


Even when you paint, you never stop drawing

Igor Babailov

I was looking at a group I belong to called Artchix. Helga had a challenge on her blog and it was of a vintage postcard with a butterfly on it...we were to make a postcard that inspired us from that picture...do you see any butterflies on my postcard? Noooo I added a piece of music and a bird...I looked at that postcard and was immediately inspired to do this one of my Dad...go figure....
My Dad had the most beautiful voice and sang at weddings and funerals. We always tried to get him to record but he would not far to humble...to this day when Irish Eyes are Smiling or other Irish lyerics come on or hymns from Church I tear up as I can still here his beautiful voice....



You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
Desmond Tutu

I have been busy working on a couple journal pages for a swap. They were a lot of fun and I just kept adding and finally had to tell myself to stop!!! They are in the mail and sure hope my partner likes them.....

Now I am on to the next pages and doing the homework for the workshops I belong to....

"When I think about the things that formed my sense of self as an artist, I always return to ...lessons from the garden. The garden heightened my sense of observation, awakened my sense of curiosity, and made me comfortable with solitude. It opened my eyes to an appreciation of colors and shapes, and brought me wonder at its different cycles."
by Nancy Azara