february pages

I think February

is my favorite journal month...

because 

it is the month of love...

if you ask me ... 

grin..

every month could be devoted to love and at the 

sweet life, we would not mind it at all!

each February... 

as most of you dear readers are aware...

I write myself a love letter...

growing up in the land of alcoholism and abuse,

there was far more criticism

than praise...

it took me a while to learn that if I didn't get over

that early belief system and 
learned to love myself...

then I could never really love another person...

and
 I would continually attract people who would reinforce my

low self esteem...

my love letters vary from year to year... 

and perhaps next year, I will shoot all my love letters so that you can see how they

looked from year to year...

to see last year's spread

go here..

ingredients: gesso, acrylic paint, colored pencils, Nupastels paper ephemera pencil, pen. linen, antique ephemera 

a bit mushy and old fashioned...

but I am that..

and I make no apologies

about being a hopeful romantic..

it is good I think to be romantic with oneself...

to fall in love with the beauty that we are...



have a magnificent weekend..
Muah!

French Patisserie papers

first of all

dear readers, let me apologize for not only my tardiness..

I did say I would be back yesterday...

but also for my lack of comments to my smatterings post...

I have been busy tending someone with the sniffles...

and have not had a chance to blog hop...

detail of X Marks This Spot

or even post on FaceBook...

since chicken soup takes a bit of time to make...

but I have been busy...

as you see here...

the new French Paper series pieces...

X Marks The Spot... 6 x 6

they feature some antique patisserie papers

used in bakeries to put pastry on.. very similar to paper doilies...

I will be making more in this series...

I also used the onion papers that I had dyed...as well as Nupastels

pencil and antique French papers...

detail from Circle of Life

Mr. LDV liked them so much he intends to keep them...

my photography is not the best...

since we are still having snowy overcast days...

and ...I regret the curve in the paper

which is caused of course by the different media...

Circle of Life...

but will flatten once they are matted and framed..

and I am very close to having my February journal pages finished...

so that will be revealed soon...

due take care... 

if you like I am...

in this never ending winter 

to stay healthy and warm...

C4N!

tiny smatterings

the weekend is here again...

and I am leaving you with

a wip..

my February pages

are still in process...

the lily girl is writing her annual love letter to herself...

and 

I promise dear reader that I will have some finished work

to view next week on Tuesday...

but for now you will have to put up with these

tiny smatterings of a something...

and 

I wanted to let you know

that I am retiring 

these last two 

pieces..

French Paper Abstracts

that were published in the Summer 2013

issue of Sew Somerset

they are mixed media on cradled boards..

they will retire next week

so if you are interested in them

please visit my

Dolce Shop

have a beautiful weekend

and remember that the sun is always shining

above the clouds...

ciao, ciao!

a pinch of sunshine

it has been ages

since I took my camera with me..

normally it lives in my bag..

but let's face it...

we have all had quite enough of grey..

so when the sun finally peaked through..

and sent a pinch our way..

we headed to the beach..

you can still tell

that it was chilly...

note the LACK of people...

this is Virgina Beach and it will be packed in a month

Mr. LDV took these photos

because I cannot shoot pics when I am shaking..

from the chilly wind...

but I was grateful for a little sunshine...

and the beauty of the water

which restores my sense of peace and balance...

all things are made right by listening to the sound of the waves

and when we got home, 

the sun was enjoyed

by the geese...

and the birds... who all turned to watch the glorious sunset... 

and speaking of sunsets...

some of you might remember my noble 

studio dog...

Dharma...

he passed away quietly

from old age

on Saturday evening...

he was a good boy, faithful and sweet

and a big supporter of my art work...

he wagged his tail over everything I created...

I shall miss him

dreadfully...

xo

finally.. pasticcio

my how the weeks fly by...

can it be the weekend already?

 I finally received my issue of

Pasticcio Quartz

been so excited to get this...

perfect to snuggle up with a cuppa 

and read it cover to cover...

it is so inspirational...

if you want a copy you can

go here

Lulu 

you might remember this piece from the

French Paper series...

the title is 

La Loire...

and behind these pages

are some fabulous artists...

my friends included...

Marie Danti

Sarah McTeer Ogburn

as well as 

Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn

who create a magnificent zine..

if you are an art lover this is the zine for you... 

you will find the work of:

Donald Hendricks

Maud Guilfoyle

Loryn Spangler-Jones

Helence Lacelle

Meghan Gerety

Misty Mawn

Connie Freedman

Gina Rossi Armfield

Bridget Davies

Marie Danti

Juliette Crane

Sarah McTeer Ogburn

Seth Apter

Stanistaw Wyspianski

September Gerety

Lou McCulloch

Jennifer Gordon

Cindy Silverstein

David Hayes

Holly Dean

CW Slade

Corina Gerety

Jesse Tyler Bullion

Peregrine Higgins

Teal Wilson

Caterina Giglio

Nathalie Lete

as well as an illuminating article on

Erin Currier...

a mixed media artist I have long admired... 

I hope your weekend is 

balmy, arty and filled with the sweet life..

see you next week gentle readers..

xohttp://www.lulu.com/spotlight/cartwrightandfishburn

endangered species

while winter's boney fingers still grip us tightly..

I am dreaming of spring..

and since I have no evidence of that..

I thought I would go through

my paper stash

and search for antique bird and egg prints...

and then I got sidetracked..

hoodwinked... tied up for a few hours...

it is dangerous to go perusing old boxes of papers..

journals bound in threads and raffia...

I could be lost for hours...

if it were not for you, dear reader...

gently calling me here to write 

a new post...

I could be lost for hours... perhaps days... grin

...

while I am working on my journal pages 

painting a new board and making several 

collages...

I thought I would 

rather show some things that I thought you might like to see if you were here..

rather than more wips..

and as I was pulling out old books and papers and 

an old atlas fell completely apart in my hands...

I realized that 

paper is going the way of the dinosaurs...

my shopping list is on my iphone

I am playing on my ipad with the 53 paper app

and eventually...

all this old crumbly

cellulose 

will turn to dust...

I don't think paper will ever go away completely...

like handwriting... which will be reserved for artists... probably...

but it will be more rare..

I hope I am wrong...

but I think I am not...

books are so...

heavy...

but ...

my paperstash did satisfy..

at least for the moment

my desire for spring...

C4N!

circles

so in the middle of painting water...

dear reader..

I stopped for a break to make onion papers...

and sat down with a cuppa 

to peruse an old French book...

and before I knew it

I had tiny scissors in my hand and I began cutting circles...

that ended up in

some new pieces in

the French Paper Series 

I used watercolor papers...

as my substrate

pencil, pastel, and vintage and antique ephemera

and I will be putting them in the shop..

and speaking of the shop

check it out here

Dolce Shop

I have cleaned it up

retired several pieces and

created room for 

commissioned portraits...

what's up with all the circles?

he asked...

hhmmm..

I could tell him that they represent the eternality of life...

the wedding ring is the symbol of connection.. linking us together..

of the ripples that start in the middle of the lake and fan out until they touch all sides..

or how the circle is represented by the seasons of the year.. cyclical

the phases of the moon ...

or the sun that must be up there somewhere...

I think of the circle as a power symbol that

is locked inside our very dna..

but I wasn't THINKING when I sat down and began cutting...

I was just playing..

so instead... 

I think I will just say

that cuticle scissors cut the best circles...

and aren't they cool?

C4N..