Birthday Parties & Watercolor Basics

As I mentioned, it is indeed friends and my passion for watercolor journaling that has carried me through these recent bumps in life. These colorful pages again reflect the joy if find in people and pigments. Not necessarily in that order all the time :)

One of the most colorful personalities who have added flavor to our Ashland Art Center is Wendy Gell. Known internationally for her outrageous "Bling" artwork, especially for her famous "wristies". And when Wendy has a birthday party ... it too is jubilant. I was thrilled to be invited to the nearby Pho Sur Restaurant (incredibly delicious, by the way) in Phoenix (Oregon, not Arizona) for the gathering. We were to dress outrageous and also, the gifts turned out in that order too! Wendy had printed out the lyrics to "When I'm 64" by the Beatles for us all to sing and of course, those had to go into my page!!

I wanted to capture the playful activity of the affair

 and was pleased with not only the "suggesting" of personalities but the surroundings too! You can tell who the "Star" of the occasion was, right? Isn't she just beaming? Thanks again Wendy for a fab night!!

In the ensuing six weeks, I was teaching my "Watercolor Basics: Landscape Focus". What a wonderful dedicated group of participants I had (yes, you will recognize Wendy again!) and I caught a couple of them in complete focus. I can't say enough about how much growth I witnessed and the pleasure these people gifted me with along the way.

Can you understand why I love how my lil' red paperclay heart pokes thru into this page too? I really do wear my heart on my sleeve ... and wouldn't have it any other way.

Renewing Friendships & Blossoms

Since the new year, 2012, hasn't been bursting with joyful events . . . I'm extremely aware and anxious for the reviving signs of Spring.

The first to appear are my silent but blessed lil' white Snowdrops. With heads quietly bowed, they suddenly appear in late January and possibly raise their heads in final finale' of February. Then, I know my brilliant yellow crocus will soon be appearing. I look for them around Valentine's Day ... but we know that passed while I was visiting the hospital. So ~~ B-O-O-O-M ~~ heroically I catch a peek of yellow nested out in the low cush of green in my front flower beds. And finally, on February 21st, they are joyously in full trumpet. Aren't they just the happiest? The next day I'm in Medford and see my first daffodils dancing in the warming sunshine. I know Spring lurks just around the corner . . . sigh!!!

Another saving source during this time of "stretching my envelope" has been sincere, close friendships. The image I've captured here took about a year to carve into our calendars. I'd included a "free ticket" to a lunch out for my friend, Dale's, birthday. We made the date on our schedules and in our minds and in a couple of weeks when the date rolled around ~ we both just spaced it out. Shaking our heads we renewed our plan with fervor. And - SURPRISE - we actually remembered. A quiet lunch over good food and the hummmm of neighboring table talk can be so healing, centering. 


Along this same timetable . . . there seemed to be a series of things breaking. First it was a molar tooth that broke off . . . it awaits a crown. Then, I've had this silly lil' Mexican ceramic fish with a big wide open mouth that for years now, I'd put my daily vitamins in. Well, it took a nose dive one morn and I could only rescue the big cheery eye to place in my journal. You'll find those two items dotting the edges of this page.

When I'd gotten the two pages all painted and written, there seemed to be alot of white space along the bottom of the pages. What could I do to remedy that? oh grief!!! BLING . . . my designer eye caught sight of those bright orange mugs Dale and I were sporting and I dotted them along the border . . . happy lil' notes aren't they. See things are lookin' up already :)

Birthday Bliss Before Hospital Assignment

This was a day filled to the brim with extreme feelings ... I mean to the brim and running over. To start with, a couple of years ago a lovely young woman asked me to mentor her as an emerging artist for an assigned school project. Of course, I took the job, I was so honored. The more time I spent with my sweet young friend, the more I admired her. Smart, kind, dedicated, sensitive and very talented ... not just in watercolor. But that just sets today's stage ... her mom had secretly gotten in touch with me hoping I could attend a surprise birthday gathering for her. OH - what fun!

We met at a charming and earthy local haunt (Kiri's favorite spot) and then her mom was to chauffeur her from school for what was to be a mom 'n daughter lunch. Then, "SURPRISE!!" It was a table of six adults - I mean, how many high school student's have six adults who so respect and connect with her that they show up to spend quality time with? Eh? Well, we were all there and she was surprised! We ended up telling what times in our relationship with dear Kiri had touched us most. The endearing, heartfelt stories I heard from this family and friends furthered my awareness of what a close, supportive and lovingly creative nest this dear girl had grown up in. My heart was bursting to jump up and tell her to be aware and not take for granted what she has woven around her in love and what an atmosphere of wisdom and unity this nest afforded her. I was envious and thrilled at the same time ... and yes, for those of you who know me ... know how tears rolled down my cheeks without explanation. I did excuse myself first, because I did have an appointment. Really. But I had to let my emotions settle. Whew - and you thought it was just a luncheon.

My appointment was with my hubby. With the continuing pain in breathing and growing weakness, we found a new doctor and met with him. After listening to the saga and then, to his lungs, he told me to take him across the street to the hospital emergency room and get him admitted. Extreme pneumonia! And within a day he was scheduled for surgery. It went so fast it was like I was watching a movie. I won't go into all the mis-communications and mixed up litany with the day of the surgery ... let's just say I spent almost eight hours in the Waiting Room. Where I got to do this lovely sketch.

During the ensuing days, I attempted to care for home, Cody, keep my art commitments and spend time with the slow healing Roland. The surgery they'd hoped to perform orthoscopically had turned into a eight inch incision plus more you don't wanna hear about. For nine days I visited and watched him gather some sense of health back. When he came home he was so weak, it was unbelievable.

But life continued ... Valentine's Day came and went. I made Ro a card but the day seemed to just disappear by ... I commemorated it with the lil' dance of hearts across the bottom of the journal page. Just adjacent to my image of Ro in the hospital bed. Then to kinda add icing to the cake ... one of my favorite lil' ceramic critters (a colorful fish, with mouth wide open) where I daily put my vitamins - - yep, you guessed it - - it flew to the floor crashing into teeny lil pieces. I saved his eye and ... to end with a bit of humor ... "here's looking at you"!

Traveling Through Christmas into the Waiting Room

These two pages in my journal carry me thru the Christmas Holiday. Our sweet Jacksonville, which yearly dresses up with sparkling lil' Victorian lights that frame all our main street buildings along with cedar boughs tied with jolly red ribbons, always makes me smile.

This year my hubby requested that we not exchange gifts (it did make a sad "hole" in the gift of lil' burro I'd wanted to make him out of PaperClay) but instead, gave a donation to our favorite local charity. I selected the Maslow Project, a project that cares for the homeless teenagers in our community. They often fall between the cracks of shelters (not being 18 years of age) and have NO place to turn. So, that felt good! Another dream that's danced around in my brain was to work with the Maslow Project to have the teenagers do journaling as a healing/creative outlet ... but, I have gotten there yet.

The additional "holiday objects" are oddly matched. The fun Ginger Snaps label came from a big canister that a friend gifted us with for the holidays ~ I enjoyed how the gold thread dangles across the page. And then, there's the top item: the EKG tag (those swell things they paste all over you to get your heart rate reading) from my first EKG. Yep, I did say the first. Because I ended up spending a night in the hospital for observation to get this heart thing finalized. I was relieved they found nothing ~ save that it must be stress. Ok. Breathe, breathe, breathe and focus on the now. Another reminder. Us humans, will we ever get it?

As the new year trundles in I aim at watching life from a distance, trying to see and learn from lessons. Seems like lots of things are breaking. I've preserved a chunk of tooth that chipped off (I get to get a crown now) and then, later another whole tooth breaks off. To aid in my calming and centering for my whole body, I take the recommendation of a friend, who raves about her acupuncturist. I set up weekly appointments to relieve what she suspects is Adrenal burnout. So of course, I've included her business card and views from my reclining position on the table. I loved the soothing Chinese fan and soothing music too ~ ~ now if my body will absorb it. Often I feel more at peace after the sessions. This is a good thing.


Still in the midst of all this ... it's a difficult time. My hubby has been persistently sick since mid-December. He's having difficulty breathing and his doctor isn't finding anything wrong that he can validate. I continue on with my days, grateful for being a creative and having my studio to go to, to keep me stimulated and sane. It's an odd and disconcerting year, this 2012, I'm listening for lessons and growing more patience. I think.

Summer Christmas Continued

Let's continue with Christmas, heck, why not in May, ok? Again the fun PaperClay Christmas Tree I created and stitched in is visible thru the continuing pages and you get to see the interesting cut-out design created in the following pages. You'll notice, I cut out further, the heart-space (remember, I was having issues with my heart). So it stretches further into my life experience ahead.

We had the joy of a friend gifting us with tickets to a Holiday music concert with Tingstad and Rumbel, http://www.tingstadrumbel.com/. This was a fabulous master guitarist, Eric Tingstad, and, precision musician at oboe, English horn and ocarina, Nancy Rumbel. It was a cascade of lovely holiday music, old favorites and samplings of various cultures. Not to mention the playful humor both of them displayed. I'm lovin' saving paper things by slicing them diagonally and arranging the so as not to take too much room on the page ~ here's the ticket stub! It was one occasion that was saturated in the perfect holiday meaning. And I needed that!

On the right side of my journal resides memories from a one person show I did at the charming South Stage Cellars Tasting Room (http://www.southstagecellars.com/) just down the street from us in Jacksonville. I adore this venue with it's rustic barn wood walls and friendly owners and employees. The fabulous Cheryl Garcia, of Great Metal Works (http://greatmetalwork.com/), curates and shares the venue with me. Even with metal as her media, her open heart and gentleness show in her works. It's an honor to show beside Cheryl! The reception was gregarious and several of my dear friends came to populate the cozy place and, of course, nibble on yummy offerings. Sweet cards from them I love keeping and have overlapped into my journal entry.

And here, presents the total two page entry, joined together, hopefully with the colorful "illuminated" letters that start each separate entry. I'm lovin' how it looks ... how about you?

Why not? Christmas in May

I've taken to this seeming new tradition when starting a new journal. This new organic material, Paper Clay, with which you can shape most anything, roll extremely flat, dry in the air and paint with most anything is how I'm launching the first page ... this particular journal starts just before Christmas 2011.

This year the holidays were an awkward, uncomfortable time of year for me. Unpredictable tensions, personal health issues, relationship challenges and then, add the element of everyone being jolly ~ well, except me. I loved sculpting my lil' green Christmas Tree. It was indeed my heart, that early December, placed me overnight in the hospital for observation. So you see the role my heart needed to play in this journal entry.

At first I was bothered by the red stitching I'd used. It made the lil' green tree look like a cactus. But the more I observed it, the more appropriate was the statement for what I was feeling. The cut-out that is necessary to allow the perhaps 1/8 inch depth of the Paper Clay element continues thru several of the next pages, creating an interesting design and element with which I'll need to wiggle my future page designs around. But ... I love a challenge. :)

The main street in my sweet Jacksonville is the sketch filling the rest of the page, where I especially wanted to accent the charming Clydesdale-like horses that pulled the festive wagon thru town.

I also enjoy finding some charming, appropriate small image to sort of lead into the start of a new journal ... for this one I chose colorful lil' Christmas tree ornaments.

There's Always Time For Thanksgiving & Wild Animals

It may seem odd that in May, I'm posting about Thanksgiving, but in my heart, I'd like every day to be a day of giving thanksgiving. So perhaps this will remind me in May, to continue being grateful for all our blessings.

Our Thanksgiving in November was celebritory but wintery. A grey sky encouraged us to cultivate inner thinkings and activities. I'd signed up as a volunteer to help serve the Thanksgiving meal to the homeless at a nearby Gospel Mission in Medford. It was a nearly new facility and quite upscale and pleasant for the surroundings. I was chosen to help bus the tables and was kept pretty busy. I have to admit, there were so many volunteers, that when asked if I'd want to leave early, I did so. They gave me an invite to come back and volunteer again and I've kept it here. I've invented this fun way to cut paper things in half and have them placed so they bridge across the center of my journal page.

Next day was Thanksgiving and here on this journal entry, you've caught my "Amazing Chef in the House", Roland's hands stuffing the November turkey. We'd invited one special guest and she arrived with lovely turkey feathers to grace our home with and a smile with lively conversation. Because of the extreme rain conditions, she left early, while there was still light, incase she had to walk up her driveway. And we nestled by the fire gratefully . . .

Several days later we finally decided to take in the annual event offered out at Wildlife Images (a rescue and rehabilitation facility for wildlife) where they tour you thru the facilitiy. The diversity of the animals was fascinating. They had docents to tell us about the various birds, wolves, bears, cougars and otters.

I have to say the animal that touched my heart the most deeply was Clark, the Cougar. He's so elegantly beautiful, strong and majestic. His story of having not only his talons removed (by a vet at the request of his owner), but also having the front tendons cut so he could not climb ~ ~ just broke my heart. How could any veteranarian do that to any wild animal, maiming Clark for life. And now he resides here at the facility, for his remaining days. Most "cute" I have to award to the fox . . . her chubby tail and crafty face made me smile. Two more creatures that I wanted to remember are the one legged Barn Owl and the Grizzly, popping up out of her cozy den in the ground. It was a day stirring many feelings, but most prevalent was my gratitude for this place that allows these animals a chance to continue living . . . in somewhat natural conditions of wild open space.

I wanted to save the colorful business card from the sanctuary and so, punched a hole in one corner, then tieing it into another hole I punched into my journal page.

This completes this journal and I like to end with some kind of quote that epitomizes where I am in my life at the close of each journal. This one is the one I've chosen: "Jumping off the cliff with open hands" byWumen Huaikai.

Where are you in your life, what quote would you choose?

Autumn's Activities

As crispness invades our bones and surroundings, focus often moves inward. But I tend to alternate back 'n forth between still lovin' being outdoors and hugging the warmth of inside cozieness.

 My rich interior came from the opportunity to see a friends band at a local venue. I'm always drawn to extreme darks, affording me the opportunity to delve into strong contrasts. Boy, these interior shots are so fun to get the mood, dimension and intimacy. It was a guys band replicating Bob Dylan music and was definately a sing-a-long crowd. I selected this image, relishing how the guitar clearly showed the band taking a break. I had some difficulty establishing a foreground but when I pulled the background color down just south of the beer glass' rim - it clarified the positioning.

This gem of a leaf my Roland found outside our home. He's learned to appreciate these weird patterns in nature and always shares them with me. Of course, I love it!! The calligraphic pattern looks like someone or something took silver ink and scribbled across this leaf. But upon closer inspection, I can see/feel that the pattern is "in" the leaf, under the upper skin of the leaf. My precious botanical friend, Irene Brady (http://www.natureworkspress.com/autobio.html) was consulted and she told me the leaf shows evidence of a leaf miner. The dandy fellow is apparently hatched inside the leaf, and as hegrows he nibbles his path of food from the interior of the plant. When he was smallest the made the most tiny calligraphy and as he grew, the bigger. He probably exited out the broken edge of the leaf. I researched the fellow and they come in many colors. I chose to illustrate the one I found prettiest! Fascinating nature!

The final image residing top right ... is the silly decoy duck that's been with us since we moved in. Some

previous owner or friend of the owner left this lil' guy behind and we adopted him. He's moved several times in the front yard and now sits atop a fenced container my hubby built to keep deer from our tomatoes. I offers a fine view for him :)  And as Autumn progress toward Winter, he gathered a nice dusting of the early mild snow fall we received. I just love the white snow contrast with the duck's dark butt!

I'm always a-smile when I see the lovely images simple things in our life provide us to appreciate. I often tell my journaling classes ~ my journal ends up being my "gratitude list". And what a gift!!!

Autumn's Flavors

As September 2011 approaches, there's a nip of Autumn in the air. Leaves begin to change and fall traditions come to mind.

One of my favorite is seeing my beloved Aspen trees coming into their full golden regalia. In our area they exist only at higher elevations. Well, mostly ... I do have one we planted right outside our front windows. And Annie (that's her name) is thriving with all the love and joy I sent her as she quakes back at me. But Ro & I head up towards Klamath Falls and catch some early girls in their glory. They just shimmer up against the dreamy dark greens of the evergreens. This sketch was from a sunny bend we came around. The following week we took an adventurous drive up behind the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, ending up in Hilt, California. It's a very "back woods" drive with several grand views and some sparkling yellow aspens as our daring rewards.

As October comes and goes, of course, Halloween is a playful endeavor. I've only gotten my hubby to dress one time in costume so, now the celebration is mainly about the kids. But it was extremely fun when my neighbor came a-looking for costume possibilities from me. I dug out my two favorites and she and her mom donned the outfits. Mary went as the feisty black cat (yep, that's a rhinestone collar!) and her mom became the black bear I'd made for Roland's sole costume escapade. I got shots of them before they went to their party - and at first, when I was working on this image - was bummed I'd cropped off Mary's head. But in the end I really felt it was about bringing joy to her mom. And she's surely in the spotlight!

I always say I'm not gonna paint fall leaves again, but when the colors come I just can not resist the brilliance. This year I'd heard about this process used in creating fabric designs. What you do is pick a brightly colored leaf and place it on your empty journal page, place a piece of paper (I used our plain computer paper) over your leaf, then, using a hammer, pound away. Peek under the paper occasionally so as not to make pulp of the leaf. But, as you can see the transfers are exquisite. Very delicate with lots of detail. I've noticed they have begun to oxidize so it might behove me to spray or paint with a fixative next year. Try it out, pretty fascinating process!!

The full page spread feels rather cheerful and dancy - - but not too surprising - - autumn brings on that energy for me :)

Mexico Artist's Ceramic Mural Class & School Tour

We'd nearly exhausted our visiting Mexican artist and friend, Efren Gonzalez, with touring him around Southern Oregon, and finally mid-week, we delivered him to his Ashland home stay family. He'd be closer now to be able to teach his upcoming Ceramic Mural Class at the Ashland Art Center ~ but we dearly missed the fascinating flavor he brought to our home.

I continued my usual schedule, coming in to work in my studio at the Ashland Art Center, as well as watch the illuminating progress in Efren's daily mural class. First day, he coached them on designing a practical, functional and beautiful flat mural with 3-dimensional aspects undulating from the surface. Next day, was the beginning of the process with the clay. I watched as some of the student's designs continued to transform as their visions changed (like so many of us artistic-types) or, as they were advised by their experienced instructor, for better outcomes. Over the remaining days of the Mural Class, I observed lovely detail and imaginations become physical in the diverse pieces. Then . . . they need dry for weeks. I would pass them each day peeking at their drying progress on the shelves in the Ceramic Lab as I entered thru the basement doors. And Efren, released his students and their pieces to follow and fire with his instructions, as he moved on to other projects.

We'd arranged thru the Medford Schools, to have Efren do presentations to several different schools. A priority in Efren's life is to educate and inspire children. In his own Art Center, he daily furnishes classes for children, where they are instructed in painting and in English. Not to mention the role model Efren, his family and his career offer the children! So, of course, he wanted to touch the children here if he at all could. The first day we visited four schools, the second two, where Efren spoke of his dedication to becoming an artist (his first opposition came from, of all places, his mom) and then did a slide presentation of his multi-medium creations with time for "question and answer" following. The children were wow-ed!!!! So many of them came up to him after the show to get more personal questions answered or just to thank him.

I believe he especially touched the Hispanic children and the High School students. I was especially touched during a fire drill which took place at the end of one of Efren's presentations. This young man came up with such intensity, tenderness and sincerity in his face (yes, it brought me to tears) I could read how Efren had effected him. It was transformational!!

Efren had several days to recover from the whirlwind "School Tour" and relaxed into some of the other treasures of Southern Oregon. He visited wineries, lunched with local Hispanic leaders and, had to, of course, attend one play from the internationally known Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He was gifted three tickets to the "The Imaginary Invalid" and was so kind as to invite Roland and I to attend with him. He doesn't know my gratitude for this privilege as I've never attended a play here either ~ and what a creative's delight. The color, the costumes, the quality of acting and singing . . . t'was a perfect finale' for Efren's visit.

A late evenings flight took Efren on wings into the night sky, where he stopped in Los Angeles and emailed that next morn, letting us know he'd safely arrived home. He'd talked about all the stress, pleasure and abundance of exposure he'd had while here visiting Oregon. And finally home now, he could release the tension and share with his dear wife and family his treasure of experiences.

Little does he know the depth of experience it was for me to have him come stay with us . . .