Digital Art from my Kindle 2017

In 2017 my mom spent several weeks in the hospital before she passed away, and I stayed with her the whole time. To help pass the time, I played around with digital art apps on my Kindle Fire, just learning to use the tools. I tried making some word art,

some line art,

some line art with painting, 

and some collage with painted images and rain effects. Fun stuff, and it took my mind off things!

I looked up one night to see the laundry bag hanging on the back of the door, and, to me, the way the light was hitting the folds made it look like an angel. Or possibly a nun? Anyway, the angel image made me feel some better for the time being.

These have been in my Kindle since May 2017, because I couldn't figure out how to get them transferred to my laptop without sharing them to Facebook, which I didn't want to do. The other day I was trying to figure it out once again, and with some online help, I finally got the pictures transferred. I didn't want to lose these, or the pictures in a different post, because they were the last pictures made of mama, and I needed them. 

Goes to show, no matter how long it takes, if you don't give up, eventually you will achieve your goal!

Forgotten Art Found-Pears, Journal Pages, and a Goddess!

While cleaning out my work space, I found a lot of art that I had forgotten about, that I had done a few years back. I also found my Moleskine large watercolor book, which I had only used the first few sheets in. I haven't made pictures of most of what I found yet, some of it finished, a whole bunch not finished...yet. I'm going to try to separate the two during my organizing process, which is taking forever!

This one is in the Moleskinne WC book, and, if I remember correctly, is an intuitive watercolor painting, where I dampened the paper, dropped various watercolor paints and/or acrylic inks onto it, let it dry, then pulled out the images, then added a quote and some writing. The quote says, "Let your mind be quiet, realizing the beauty of the world and the immense, the boundless treasures that it holds in store." by Edward Carpenter. Notice the face over her shoulder and the cat walking down her arm. I love this one! 😊

 This is a mixed media journal page, also in the Moleskine WC book, with layers of papers, collage, stamps, and writing.

These are some separate paintings I found. The pears at the top were painted, possibly on cardstock, when I was trying to learn to use acrylics, which I had always hated, because they dried faster than I could paint. Then I discovered Golden Open Media Acrylics, and I was hooked! I LOVE them!

The bottom pears are mixed media on heavy watercolor paper. I carved the pears on a linoleum block, learning to block print, and printed them on some kind of oriental paper, tore around them, and adhered them to a background of layered textures, and maybe papers, then used a sponge stamp alphabet to stamp versions of the same word/number: 3 pear shapes, 3 dots, #333, Trinity, Trio, and Three

The dark one in the bottom corner is an abstract where I used various inks, playing with textures, runs, drips, etc. If you look at the whole piece, which is much bigger than this corner, you can see a lot of different shapes. Notice the little rooster in the white spot, totally accidental! 

Do you ever put paintings aside, thinking they're awful and you can't believe you made such a mess, then a while later you stumble upon them, and when looking at them with fresh eyes, you discover that they're not terrible, and you can't believe you created something that good?

One of the biggest problems I have is thinking everyone else's work is so much better than mine, and much of it is, but then I think of the saying that if only the birds with the best songs sang, then the woods would be silent, or something to that effect, and I happily keep doing my thing and loving it. If someone else likes it that icing on the cake, if they don't that's okay too. My creations are all my children, they all  have their own special quirks and character, and I love them all.

I do so appreciate all of the wonderful artists and teachers online and in books, who so generously share their knowledge and talents with the rest of us, so that we can enhance and find our own voice in our art to add a little more beauty to the world. We desperately need more beauty and tranquility in the world!

Can't wait to see what else I uncover during my studio excavation!  

Keep creating and doing what you love! 💓

Embroidered Quilt Blocks by My Mama-1986

One of my friends stopped by the Senior Citizens in town, where the local FCE group was having their monthly meeting. One of my mom's best friends was sharing a quilt that was a group project years ago. Each member embroidered a block or two, then all the blocks were sewn together and quilted. They hand quilted a lot of the quilts, but this one looks like it might have been machine quilted.

Anyway my friend snapped pictures of the two blocks that mama embroidered and shared them with me, which was very thoughtful of her, and I love the blocks. They are dated 1986.

This one is of our county (Wayne) with the main towns and some points of interest on it.

She put hers and daddy's names and the date on the right of the basket and my, my husband's, and our little Pekingese dog's name on the left. I don't remember if I had seen these before they were sewn together, or not. If so, more than thirty years is a long time and I forgot.

Mama, daddy, and Kibbles are all gone now, and these are treasured memories! Loved and miss them all so much!

Phase 1--Studio Clean Up/Organization

YIKES!!! No, this is not an episode of hoarders! This is my tiny studio/dining room, which hasn't been cleaned in a LONG time, with everything scooted and piled to one side and a few baskets full of stuff in the hall, waiting to be sorted through.

It got so piled up that I couldn't get to what I needed and I had only a tiny space on the desk to work, which made it very frustrating, so I started a couple of weeks ago trying to clean under and behind everything, and washing everything I can, including the back of the counter top and stuff on it.

It's taking so long, because my health is not the best,  my back gives out on me, and I can no longer bend and stoop without having trouble getting back up. I also keep having interruptions, company, appointments, etc. It may take a while, but it'll get there!

These pictures are both from the hall into the studio/dining room.

This picture is from the kitchen into the studio/dining room. To be honest, it looked about as bad before I pushed everything over to one side! 😥 I can't just have one hobby. I have to have several different projects and hobbies going at once, thus all the clutter.

I understand how houses get so bad. When you aren't able to clean for a long time, and you don't have help, it gets to the point that it's so overwhelming that you just give up and feel guilty because you can't do it, and you won't ask for help, and/or can't afford it.

Plus, I'd much rather spend my time creating than cleaning and organizing!

One corner cleaned! Dusted the walls and cleaned what was hanging on them, washed the desk and what was on it all over, cleaned the back part of the ceramic tile counter top and some of the stuff on it, and vacuumed and mopped the floor, after scraping up some paint. The curtains need washing badly, but I'm planning to get new ones, as soon as I find some I like. The wooden drawers (a gift from our niece) and wire baskets are currently empty, and although I cleaned the outside of the plastic rolling drawers under the desk, I still have to sort through them and the fabric basket (also a gift of two from our niece) on the floor, so they won't be empty for long!

 I now have a space cleaned off to work! Yay!

Unfortunately, it didn't stay this way long enough for me to paint. I decided to try the desk turned another way, and as I moved across the next side of the room, I had to move stuff out of the way to clean, so this area is cluttered again, even more so than in this photo, but clean!

The drawers above are past repair, I'm afraid. I put too much in the drawers and on top of them, and the frame warped bad. This is the first time I've been able to force the middle drawer closed in years, and still can't the bottom one. It will have to be replaced or I'll have to find a substitute. Two of the drawers can still be used if I can work them in somewhere. We'll see!

I now have most everything dragged out and cleaned, cleaned under and behind, and moved back, including the windows, and except half a wall next to the hall door. It's piled high with boxes and new containers to organize stuff in, which I plan to use up as I go. Then I can clean behind and under those!

The DR table is still piled high, and I still need to sort through all the drawers and boxes and get stuff together that needs to be together. I can only work short periods of time before I give out, so it's going slow, but it's getting there! 😊

I'm going to try to do a little more today, then I have appointments in and out of town tomorrow, which means I'll have to recuperate Wednesday and rest. Then I have to catch up on basic house chores. Like I said, it's a slow go, but it's getting there!