The Traveling Pink Umbrella

Pink Umbrella Beach House

It was a dream day of sun and soothing sounds as the ocean played along the shore. 

The smells settled my racing thoughts and helped me forget the stress of the week. 

The grass between my toes healed the pain of my woes. 

Ah, so nice to enjoy this wonderful world. 

Our hidden personalities

Steampunk Art Show

We found it quite easy to slip into our alter-egos, Steampunk Queen and Princess for an art show reception in 2011 with a Steampunk theme. 

Steampunk Goggles.

Steampunk Doll Maker ~ Altered Book

Why of course I walk my Sheep!

Can you imagine our faces? While we sat leisurely by the river sipping a beer in Old Town Florence, along comes a pet sheep. Yes, they were taking their sheep for a walk. It is what is known as a bummer lamb and it now thinks it is a dog and for sure it knows that it is part of the family. Got to love Florence.

Summer is Ending

It has been a great summer this year on the Oregon Coast. I got to spent some precious time with family. Enjoyed showing my art in a couple of art galleries in town. Made new friends. Laughed and cried. I am so blessed.

Etsy Store

100 Journals/Sketch Books Challenge for 2011/2012

I am creating unique one of a kind journals/sketch books for sale through my Etsy store.
The are a 7-day journal made with recycled/discarded book covers. The inside consists of 7 pages of 140lb watercolor paper that can be used for all mediums and even adhering embellishments.

I wanted the 7-day journals to be the beginning for the novice as well as a challenge for the avid journal lover; one week, 7-days of special moments in one's life.
I have tried working with larger journals and found them over whelming to fill every page. By working with one week at a time it gives me the feeling of completion. When I start the next week with a new journal it was like starting a new adventure.

Hope you will take the time to visit my Etsy site at www.etsy.com/people/pamelascolors

Studio Time for Shirley

My first attempt at a tri-fold card!

Studio Time for Shirley

Studio Time for Shirley

A lot of Hero Art in this card.

Everything Beautiful

I wait patiently each spring for my roses, poppies and Iris' to bloom. Each spring I am excitedly amazed at God's handy work.
Such beauty for such a short time!

Valentine's Day 2011

Who is that Masked Man? Hee, Hee!
Dig those heart shaped Crispy Creme donuts!

That Masked Man is the love of my life.
Thank you for a beautiful Valentine's Day 2011!

Tim Holtz Distressed Tool Holder

For quite sometime I have been trying to figure out how to store my distressed ink tool holders.
Much to my surprise my husband made this 3 tiered shelf for my Christmas present. It now holds all 36 distressed ink color tools and is mounted on the wall in my studio. They are in alphabetical order.

The black handled tools were purchased On-line, the oak handled tools are the ones that my husband made, along with the wooden block, so I could finally have the number of distressed ink tools that I needed to go with the 36 Tim Holtz Distressed Ink pads.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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

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.

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

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. ***

"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.

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.

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.