EveryWoman

Ciao dear ones...

I have been sketching each week to keep 

my sight trained..

its a skill that will go rusty if we are not using it..

I usually make sketches in my sketch journal..

they are part of my

EveryWoman

series..

I began this series several years ago..

Stabile Carbothello chalk pastels

When I began to paint my friend Gina..

We had been friends for many years..

and she gave me permission to use her likeness..

By every woman..

 I mean..

woman who are friends, 

neighbors.. and those of us who do not 

look like glamour..

or celebrated beauty..

they are women you would know..

They are usually women who do not feel beautiful..

But I celebrate their beauty.. 

I see how lovely and graceful they are 

and I want to illustrate 

the kindness I feel when I look at them..

and ...

I feel moved to document 

what I know to be true...

 

Thank you so much for stopping by

the lily cottage..

for listening to my thoughts

and feelings..

I am ever grateful for your viewership..

Ciao, Ciao!

january pages

finally!!

caught up with my

art journal pages

it is nice to be

on top of things again...

until the next deadline of course...

 the woman who cried flowers

have you ever noticed that sorrows

can turn into joys when given enough

time to heal

and mend?

I was thinking this month about a relationship

that has completely transformed in the last two months...

and how delighted I am to 

be a part of that change...

I used antique book pages

and cut out petal pieces and realized that they were

tears...

as well...

funny how that works...

or raindrops...

I have been drawing more lately...

and painting on book pages

ingredients: Acrylic paint, pen, colored pencil, PVA, thread, paper ephemera 

tissue paper, workable fixative, fine pumice gel.

I found that if I used my brush dipped in PVA and water, it worked the colored pencil like watercolor

I am taking another blog break,

because we are headed to Florida...

so I will bring you along with...

some of you may need sunshine too...

I want to thank you all for your kind remarks

about balance...

certainly something that many of us

consider a work in progress...

grazie,

grazie!

be back in a couple of weeks...

xo

january pages

sepia skies

inspired me this month

and a flock of sparrows that seem to want to hang

out in the radiant crab tree...

"hope is that thing with feathers..."

bird drawing on paper mounted on canvas

I prepped the pages this month with gesso

and journaled directly on the gesso

and then I used colored pencil to create the

sepia sky background...

above, I used one of my sky photos ...

you know how I love the sky...

and I used it to create a transfer on muslin

I also used it as my inspiration for the background and to

obscure my text...

the full 2 page spread above...

ingredients this month: gesso, pencil, colored pencils, transfer on muslin with omni gel, thread, fabric, canvas, paper...

as always,

grazie for stopping by

I never take your friendship for granted...

C4N!

2010 journal

ciao...

I hope you had a wonderful holiday...

mine was very quiet and peaceful

with lots of moments for meditation

and introspection,

I lit my solstice candle

and wrote dreams and goals

on tiny paper strips

to be planted in the spring

in my new garden,

wherever I am!

It is hard to believe that

my 2010 journal is finished

these are my December pages....

have you ever had a month that began "in the pink"

and ended really grey?

that is where December went...

as you see, I am still using trees to illustrate feelings...

this month I journaled directly on the page, covered it with collage,

and when the feelings changed, I gessoed over the collage and drew the trees

onto the papered page...

to see the beginning of this journal and December 2009 pages, go here...

my ingredients this month are gesso, pencil acrylic paint, acrylic glaze, micaceous oxide, sharpie fine point,

collage, handmade paper, thread

I recently found two vintage ledger books in pristine condition

so I will be using one of them for my 2011 journal,

stay tuned you will get to see it soon!

I affirm that 2011 will be a banner year not only for artists, but for Art in general...

let's all drink a toast to that eh?

C4N!