What to do during a blizzard.

Well, okay, so it wasn't exactly a blizzard, but we got almost a foot of snow, and at times it came down sideways, and at times I couldn't see the houses across the street. Close enough.

I had several things to get done, but since laundry means I'm in the studio, laundry it was!! And yes, I've been busily making art for the past 2 days. Here's some of what I'm working on right now.

Here's my desk - there's this tiny little area that isn't covered with stuff, and that's where I've been working - LOL!!

I made some ATC's with things that my friend Mary gave me for my birthday and things that I had set aside for making ATC's. You can see some of the components sitting on my desk. Here are three ATC's that I've made today - two are complete and one still has more work to be done.

Here are close ups of the ATC's that are done:

And I bought these little canvases, about 4 inches square, to make a triptych. I know how I want them to end up (which is unusual for me when I first start painting), and I'm excited to see how they turn out. I'm planning many, many layers for these, so I'll keep you posted on how they look as I go along. Here are the second and third layers (after a base coat of gesso to give a little finish and a little texture to the canvases.)

Katie Kendrick had us using deli paper to wipe our brushes off when I went to Valley Ridge Art Studio for her wonderful class. She then had us use the painted abstract deli paper in our projects, if we chose. Well, they were so cool, I have been looking for deli paper (hard to find except at Sam's or other warehouse stores I guess) until I had an AH HA moment and went down to the kitchen at school and asked. I got some neat baking parchment which is really quite transparent, and a lovely golden color, and BIG (sheet pan sized). Look how it's coming out already - and yes, there is a plan for this in the painting project. So far, this is just my brush wipes and the extra glaze from the 3rd layer. I think it's pretty cool.

Last summer I went on the "Art Snake" around Manistee & Onekama. One of the artists is a friend, and she had out these wonderful abstracts which got me thinking about doing a study of texture. So, I took canvas panels with me to Blue Lake and did a couple of panels as texture studies while I was there. I like them, and haven't decided if I want to continue and pursue more kinds of texture studies or if this is it.

Last but not least, I wanted to show you the clock in my studio. OF COURSE I made it -- again, I wanted to see if I could do it, and I wanted to try out some layering techniques.

So, I did many layers, (the writing says "time flies") and tried some glazing techniques and some dry brush techniques, and of course stamped the numbers. It's done on a deep canvas, and Mike helped me to do the clock works, but I did most of it myself - he just fixed what didn't work after I had put it together!! LOL!!

Well, it's stopped snowing and I need to go to Kmart & the grocery store, because they are predicting more snow (geesh) all week. Yes, I'm going to "lay in supplies."

SNOW DAY!

Okay, so in the upper midwest in the winter, there is one thing that I think student and teacher alike will say is a welcome sound -- the phone ringing to tell you that it's a snow day.

Now, I know that also means that we've got a driveway and a sidewalk to clean out, and it's going to be icky weather for people working outside. Having done outside work when I was younger - growing up on a farm, that's sort of a given - I 'get' that and really do appreciate it.

Doesn't matter, however, as there's a certain giddy sense to a snow day, ask anyone.

So, what did I do today? Anyone who knows me, knows I always have a list, and boy did I work on that baby today! I got a bunch of stuff crossed off, and that is good. I also went out to the Townline (our local overrun, overstock store) and bought a bunch of Sharpie Poster Paint Pens. I understood from Kelly Kilmer's blog that these things are now no longer going to be produced. Argghh!!! She's so correct in saying that those are great pens for journaling. Or... were great pens. Well, I bought up a bunch of the ones they had at the Townline today.
And...I read websites that I have wanted to read for a while, and generally chilled out. I drank a cup of tea. I sat with my kitties. I read a magazine. Yum. This was good.

I talked about how luxurious it was to be able to do the laundry in a previous post, and have to explain. The art studio is in the basement of the house next door. Yes, there's a story there, and yes, we own the house next door. My dryer broke at a time when there was no one living in the house, so I started doing laundry there, then asked if Mike thought I could move a table in there to work while I did laundry, "until we rent the house out." Ummm... a year later, and a lot of art supply moving, my entire studio is over there, and well, that's why it's pretty luxurious to go do laundry -- I actually love doing laundry now! LOL!! I giggle every single time I think about it!

Well, whether real or just in attitude, I wish you all a happy snow day some day soon! Take some time for yourself!

Wordle

Look at the cool wordle that I made today!



Make your own - go to www.wordle.net

Valentines Surprises

My sweetie gave me a beautiful bunch of roses and a special car -- a small replica of my Solstice! He painted it himself, and made it look just like mine! How great is this?

I went to the scrapbook store and found these wonderful rub ons - pretty letters and some great swirls and swooshes.


Hope everyone had a happy day! Now it's a bright beautiful Sunday & I think I'm going to enjoy my flowers and make a little art.

...and later the same day....

Okay, so on the elusive bright, sunny Sunday in the midst of 'the bleak midwinter,' what did I end up doing from my list?

1. walk - well, it wasn't a long one, but, yes.
2. art - yes!! I made almost 2 dozen cards with new stamps that I just got from Impress. Yummy.
3. downtown shopping - yes and no. I went, much of downtown was closed today. BUT, I tried!!!
4. laundry - yes. And right now, it's almost completely done, as I did it while I was stamping. One benefit of the laundry room being right next to the studio.

Thus, once I have sat and read for a little while tonight, I will declare today a supremely luxurious day!!! I hope all my readers have your own supremely luxurious day some time really soon!

Beautiful Sunny Sunday

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday here in northern Michigan. (If you live where it's sunny year-round, you don't understand what that means -- because of the big lakes all around Michigan, the winter time is often grey, grey, grey and cloudy each and every day. When you hear about "Seasonal Affective Disorder," think northern Michigan in the winter. I have several friends who need to use a light in the winter because not only are our days very short, they are cloudy and GREY.) So... what to do? Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Take a walk. (think I may do that, as it's also semi-warm -- 38 degrees!! I know, Blaiz & Kim, that's NOT warm, is it? It's all about perspective! Laura's reading that and thinking 'heat wave!')
2. Go make some art - tempting, but I'll wait til later, because my art studio is in the basement next door -- don't want to waste the sun.
3. Go downtown and go shopping - capital idea, as the merchants downtown are hurting a little right now, and there are several things I actually think I need....
4. Put away the holiday decorations (Mike is doing that, but I had to admit we still have them up....)
5. Take a nap. (Another quite tempting idea as yesterday was High School Solo & Ensemble Festival. Translation: It was a Saturday, I rode a school bus at 7:00 a.m. with a bunch of teenagers, and then was inside a school building all day on my day off, and on my feet the entire time.......)
6. Write a post for my blog. (Yipee - I get to cross this one off my list, because I'm doing it!)
7. Read some other blogs (Check - did that before I did this)
8. Do the laundry. (Sadly, this may win - I think we can all relate to this, but after two weekends of 'work related' activities, the 'home related' activities have taken a direct hit. Alas...)

Well, I'll start with the laundry, but gotta tell you, a walk and a little shopping may win out!! I'll let you know!