Thursday, December 30, 2010

Silk Underwear

Siuslaw River ~ East

The winds had died down, the hail had ceased, and the rains were no longer beating my window. The sun crisp on the water caused sparkles of diamond droplets with the morning clouds whispering across the foothills like silk underwear...
Is that possible? The Lord made silk underwear for the foothills... LOL, I crack myself up.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Adults Do Still Hop

Florence ~OR (11/2010)

I had just snuggled deep into the down comforter, warm at last, not knowing it was God's blanket of white that had settled over the outside chill.
A whisper came from my husband..."it is white out." Groaning, I emerged from the bed and peered out the window.
WHAT.... "it snowed, it snowed, Oh my... look at it, way cool"
Running bare feet from window to window, I hopped with excitement. Something as simple as snowflakes touched the child within and instantly filled me with joy. If I could only wake every morning with this brightness.
Could it be at 51, I am still young enough to hop, could that be the secret? What other inner child moments can I release to bring a rush of life's happiness.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Thank you Kelly Rae Roberts



Kelly Book ~ Front & Back Cover
Although the book by Kelly Rae Roberts, "Taking Flight" was published in 2008, I believe it will be one of those timeless adventures. I found it to be a very giving book from an artist that is willing to share her love of creating. Here is the first of my new adventure, Book Art; I hope to do more.
HOW DID THEY DO THAT
Using a recycled book cover, front and back, I layered selected papers from Rosie's Art Carnival and local thrift store, which were attached with gel medium. Pink and red-orange acrylics were rolled on using a brayer and wiped off in certain areas with a damp paper towel; accent of brown acrylic was applied with fingers. Angel created using acrylics and pastel chalks with gold leaf applied to wings. Image and selected areas were outlined with charcoal pencil, a regular #2 pencil, and smoothed with fingers to soften edges.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Prince



Yes, I am the Prince of my domain... you enter my presence at my whim, you touch me at my pleasure, you feed me or I will cry until your ears bleed. I am Prince Sinbad!
(The ruler of my mom's house and her bed.)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

It is a Zen Life


Pages from Pamela's Zentangle Journal

I use to think that meant a nice glass of Zinfandel wine until my altered art group exposed me to Zentangles. What, you have never done a Zentangle? Let me tell you it will relax the mind. I am sure we have all spent time doodling and never knew we were Zentangling. Sounds like a dance and that is what this type of art looks like on paper. Want to know more check out this site: http://www.zentangle.com

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fall

Card Received From Mom

It is a special moment when the mail comes and you get a card from your best friend. With our life of technology and cyber cards, the joy of opening an envelope and actually touching love will never be replaced by the electronic greetings.

HOW DID THEY DO THAT
This card was made using Tim Holtz distressed inks, Hero Art's rubber stamp, felt leaves, gems, and Michaels Celebrate It Harvest ribbon with white card stock and a strip of iridescent flowered paper.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Traveling Journal



You may have heard of the story about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... one day after spending an afternoon creating with my mom in her studio, I realized how much I enjoyed those days with her and how could we create every month when we lived so far from each other... miles and miles.

I thought, why not start a traveling journal. There are no rules with our first journal; it was whatever we wanted to put into it. Maybe a different technique, product, image, or color, it was liberating just to not worry about if I was doing it right or wrong.

And it was like getting a present every time I received the book in the mail for my turn at creating some new pages. I love looking at the new ideas my mom shared and seeing the old ones that we had done previous months.

Here is another page from our journal.....



Next year 2011, we chose the theme traveling; the places we want to explore, visit, or live.
We already have the paper and beads picked out for the journal cover and binding.
I was so excited to get it started that I moved up our 2010 journal by gluing some its blank pages together ... LOL.
HOW DID THEY DO THAT
Mixed Medium Page:
I started by selecting coordinated colors in paper, pastels, ribbons, and bead embellishments. The pastels were used to distress the edges of sheet music and lace doilies. I also used the doilies and pastels to create texture on the background (white pages). The light blue paper was run through my mom's Cuttlebug to make "Swiss Dots". The brown circles are from Sees Candy wrappers. I love Somerset Studio and you get free pages of paper with their books; some of those pages were included. The lace is recycled from a fabric bag I cut apart.~pamela
Oriental Page:
I love the Pagoda Cricut cartridge. Doing this page in our journal allowed me to try a bit of creativity with this cartridge. I wanted an oriental scene and in this case it had to span two pages. I also used Hero Art stamps and Tim Holtz Distressed Inks, love Tim's Inks. DH gave me a number of suggestions on the trees and bridge having a 3D effect. ~shirley

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

To Be Brave


Your first impression will be that I had lost my mind switching jobs at age 51 in the world’s 2010 economy. I had the normal 5-day a week job, guaranteed paycheck every other Friday,and  a job that began with that familiar green “ON” button. For those who no longer own an archaic computer, it is those towering metal boxes whose fan at times can be noisier than your thoughts with that button you come to rely on for your sanity.

So, let it be known, when upgrading your life from the normal everyday mundane comfort, never change hardware and programs when deadlines loom. I have never looked away from a challenge.
that whole "I am woman hear me roar." So, when the opportunity presented itself to work from home using my beloved computer, I knew it was a preordained challenge; a challenge from the superpower of technology.

How hard could it be, I thought, to use the internet to access audio files, and a laptop to create a written document from the spoken word of strangers? The first new job task, research. I could no longer trust my home desktop, emachines – etower Series e, Edition 1999.12, which consisted of a machine that was conceived in 1998, even if it had sold over 5 million PC around the world.

It had become bogged down with overloads and hidden viruses, so I told my husband as a way to move us into the 21st century, I needed a laptop. Of course, the internet was my chosen Pandora, regarding the right laptop and transcription equipment needed to succeed at my career change. Toshiba won me over but not for any one particular feature. If I am to be honest, it does look quite hot in black, and I can carry it from my office to the kitchen table to check emails. Try doing that with your emachine.

Now, it was not my Toshiba, or the swift connect to the internet to retrieve my required audio that caused tears. It was all about the operator. My eyes blur, even now, as I remember the 5 hours of writing I lost from a save button I thought was working. I learned the hard way, laptop once purchased, woman roaring, “I know what I'm doing! I do not need man at Best Buy to load program!” is the sign of woman owning the first emachine.

I spent another 5 hours searching the internet of OZ for the all-knowing answer on how I could recover my lost writings. The answer I received from internet OZ, trust man at Best Buy store or purchase product key, even if it is a trial product key, if you want your programs to work on your new hardware.

For all the suffering, I did meet my deadline with my hot laptop. And the internet, it is my new best friend.

**By the way, the photo, it is with my laptop cam, LOVE IT! I am trying to figure out how to cam talk with family, of course they first need to get a webcam... Hint, Hint. ***

Thursday, September 9, 2010

"I Feel Fat Today"

Garden ~ Prineville, Oregon

During the summer peak, the plump colors pop off the world's canvas. A change looms on the horizon, while the leaves drop and flowers die, a grey-brown with black tones starts to wash over the yard. It is the beginning of renewing. The end of a Season has to occur for new growth, no matter how painful.

Winter is like one of my, "I feel fat days" and I love my grey-brown, blacks, to give my mind that feeling of wow... I am so slim today.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Spirit of Life

"South Jetty - Oregon"
Sometimes we might take ourselves too seriously. I have missed many an opportunity to let my spirit soar by not letting go in the moment. The wind of life opens so many doors and windows... I catch myself pausing, mind playing its usual radio station, "what would others think," "I don't like how it will make me look," and my all time favorite station, "I can't do that."
Hmmm... I am going to get a new radio.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Are you standing on the Edge?


"Of Light and Sound" -Original Watercolor by Pamela
New beginnings can happen for all of us. Like sand, we are together in this world, and yet some stay safely high on the beach. Others of us are positioned near the edge where the incoming waves of change will take hold and pull us out into a journey. I am going to the edge and I am taking the plunge. Wait...let me get my bathing suit, if it still fits. Right, like that is going to happen. Forget the bathing suit, I look better in cut offs.