Goin' Hollywood!

Last night HB and I went to a meet and greet followed by a screening for a project he's been involved with for the past few months. I took lots of photos along the way so I thought I'd take you along with me as we drive through Hollywood.

We drove right past The Hollywood Bowl. When I lived down in the L.A. area I loved going to The Bowl on a summer evening. You can take food and drinks and have a picnic on the beautiful lawns that surround it....and you can bring your food and drinks right into The Bowl and enjoy it along with the music.

Rows of palm trees are always beautiful to me.

LOTS of billboards are everywhere....

and even Paris Hilton!

You can see that there was quite a bit

of traffic but it wasn't too bad.

The Rolling Stone Restaurant

More billboards....

Some lovely old architecture....

and some bizarre stuff, too!

The famous Hollywood Blvd although we weren't 

at Hollywood and Vine.

The meet and greet was outside under this beautiful pergola. The weather was perfect and by evening the breeze was even a bit chilly. Everyone stood around and chatted while enjoying some wonderful Indian finger food and tea that was grown on the host's family's tea plantation in India.

This area was just past the long pergola....

looks like a peaceful place to relax.

And this fountain was even further back past the outdoor tables.

Then it was time to head back home....

These are the lights of our little town as we whizzed along on the freeway. Just as I snapped it we hit a bump in the road so it's all crazy but I like it anyway.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at Hollywood....at least a tiny piece of it. 

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And because I haven't posted for a few days here is a montage of my latest ICADs....I haven't done one for today but so far I've completed a card for each day since we began. I'm determined to finish this challenge!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday....

It's the Lifestyle Magazine Article!!

Today is my BIG day! The Lifestyle magazine article by Rich Breault is published. A couple of people already called me to say they saw it even before I did. HB went out and bought several copies so I can send them to my kids. Here is the article (I hope you can read it):

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

The picture above was also on the front of the magazine

....along the bottom as a teaser

The only discrepancy I can see is that I've never painted on toilet paper! I have used it to create a molded dress to make a piece of art but I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try to paint on toilet paper. Overall, I think the article is very nice and I like the pictures Rich chose to show. I don't know if this will help me connect with area artists or not but I hope so. I did try to contact one etsy artist that Rich told me about but she never answered any of my emails. I would love to meet other artists and get to know them.

I've been keeping up with my index cards and will be back tomorrow to show you the latest ones. And maybe even some other art as well. See you then....

I Scored This Weekend!

I hope you're all enjoying your Sunday and that it isn't too hot where you are. I know many of you are dealing with extreme heat and humidity. Try to stay cool.

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I was going through stacks of my art and discovered so many things in that partial completion stage. Imagine that! Me not finishing a project! Who would have guessed!!

I got myself in gear and gessoed more of the paint brochures, then I finished a small face that was almost done but needed something. I'm still not 100% happy with her but she's better than when I found her....

I tried to fix her eyes

but nothing worked.

So she's as finished as I can make her.

Here are my latest index cards....

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Yesterday HB went out in the late morning. When he came back he told me there was a yard sale across the street that I might be interested in. I looked out the window and spotted an easel! I immediately went over and was thrilled when I saw it up close. It's really sturdy, has all the pieces, including extra table space and storage bins....and the best part was the price! The sign said $25!! I bought it on the spot and brought it home.  HB helped me set it up on the back patio and then I moved it out into the shade to get a picture of it.

Isn't it great???

I had to put a canvas on it just to see how it looks. I may have to move things around a lot to use it in the studio but it was too good to pass up.

Keeping It Going....

Even though I'm losing interest in the index cards I'm still doing them. I usually get to this point in a challenge and just quit but this time I'm determined to see it through.

Here are the latest cards....

That's all I have for you today. I bought a 24" x 30" canvas yesterday and I want to start painting it. The smaller one I had started is just too small to work with. It's only 12" x 12". I plan to paint over it and do something else on it. The larger canvas may become the picture I was working on. And then again it might become something else altogether different. You just never know about me.

Have a great weekend....

Hot and Cold, Off and On....

As the song says "sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug"....that's how my art has been going recently. I'm struggling to keep going with it. There are some days when it just flows and I end up with something I like. But there are many more days when it isn't like that. There are days when things I think are going to work, don't and I end up with a disaster. I'm running hot and cold and I wish I could get to at least warm and stay there!

That is exactly what happened 

on my latest journal spread.

I started with a background I really like....

Then I saw an eye and began painting a face....

That was when it all went wrong!

I wasn't happy with the face and decided to

try something....and it didn't work!

She ended up looking terrible!

But you know I show my bad stuff anyway....

I'm not even posting a close up of the face side....

So I guess today I'm the bug!

I'll post my latest index cards in a few days. So far I'm keeping up with the challenge even though I think I've officially lost interest in it. I've started on my second spiral book of cards. There are enough to finish the challenge and even continue until September 8th. I plan to finish all of them and then start on my Rolodex cards. Maybe if I keep going my enthusiasm for them will return. At least I'm using up a lot of little scraps.

Doing Some Catch-up....

Things have been very topsy turvy around Chez Art. I haven't been able to focus (my word for this year!) on anything recently but I hope that in the next few days things will be back to normal.

I haven't posted any of my index cards for quite some time so instead of boring you with individual photos of each one I just made a montage of them....

As you can probably tell, I'm getting bored with these cards. I'm not sure if it's because I've been distracted lately or if I'm just tired of making them. But I have to say these are not very interesting!

I've also blocked out a painting I'm working on now....

She's only in the very early stage but I wanted to get the idea down on canvas while it was fresh in my mind.

And just a little weird weather note....by this time of year we're usually baking here in the high desert. Last Saturday evening HB and I walked down to the park to see America. We both wore long sleeved tee shirts but we still had to leave before the concert was over because we were COLD!!! I know the middle of the country is just frying in heat. What is going on??

I'm Still Here and I'm Learning!!

I'm still here! I know I haven't posted anything in almost a week but HB and I have been super busy with some personal/business stuff.

There's so much going on right now and I have been doing my index cards. I'll post them tomorrow and get you caught up but today I want to share a painting I just finished.

You may remember quite some time back I showed this painting I had started. It's been sitting in the studio staring at me ever since. Today I finished it! I tried some new techniques I just learned.

She went in a completely different direction from what I had originally planned but I love her. And she looks even better in person. That's metallic gold on her neck piece but it doesn't show on here. She's about 8" x 24" and I painted the outside edge in dark brown. I'm thinking about putting her up for sale.

I'll be back tomorrow with some index cards. Enjoy your Sunday evening....

Summer of Color - Brown....and Lots of It!!

When I saw that brown was the color for this week I didn't think I'd be able to come up with something. Brown is not one of my favorite colors but it was surprisingly easy to work with. I just thought of sepia photographs and how much I like them and that's all it took.

I used a photo of my mom when she was very young

she was probably about 16 or 17 years old....

Then I thought about her life 

and what she did for me and for my dad....

The rest was easy.

The background was done with distress ink pads straight to the journal pages, then a paper doily used as a stencil with some spray ink. The border is an eraser stamp I carved, and the collage pieces are from my new Tim Holtz paper.

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I even kept the brown theme going for my index cards! 

Here is the one for yesterday:

I couldn't resist that bit of text.

Can't remember where I found it

but it's great!

and below is the one I did today:

I used sepia Faber-Castell markers

but they look black in the photo.

I think brown turned out to be a fun color to work with and I'm sure I'll be using it again. Thanks, Kristin, for giving me the chance to explore brown. And be sure to click on the button on the side of my blog to learn more about the Summer of Color and to visit other participating blogs.

Music in the Park....

Last night HB and I were party animals! We went to a concert! No, we didn't see any big name group but we had a lot of fun and heard some good music....and all we had to do was walk down to the park that's only about a block from our house.

Every summer we have the Starlight Concert series at the local amphitheater.

(This photo is from the internet and shows another group playing.)

We take our lawn chairs, walk down, pay $5 each and we have an evening of entertainment. HB and I usually like to sit on a small hill just outside the area shown above. Over the years we've lived here, we've seen some pretty good groups. The concerts used to be free but since they built the new amphitheater they charge $5. It's still a bargain. Last night we saw Evolution. They're a Journey tribute band and they were really good. Next weekend America will be performing on their 40th anniversary tour.

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I have some art ready to share with you but I'm waiting until tomorrow to post it. It's for the Summer of Color and this week's color is brown. At first I thought it would be a difficult color to work with but it ended up being easy for me. I never did do anything for last week's color of yellow. I just couldn't get inspired. So see you tomorrow and I'll have a journal spread and my index cards.

Some Loot and My ICADs

We finally got a break from the humidity and it's back to our normal hot.Yesterday I was out to get my hair cut so I just made it an afternoon and went to B&N and Michael's. Did you know Michael's is now selling Copic markers?!! I just happened to stumble upon them and couldn't believe my eyes. The clerk told me they're getting in the air brush system, too. Now I'm really in BIG trouble!! Here's the loot I brought home with me:

I wasn't going to buy any more magazines but then I couldn't resist the article on Teesha Moore and the other one on Michelle Ward. And the Tim Holtz paper just screamed at me so I had to get it. The Copic markers I got are a flesh tone and a light pink. I want to try them on some faces.

These are the tapes I got. I already have the number tape in black but I love the red, and the other tapes were on the clearance rack so they jumped into my basket, too. I had a fun afternoon.

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And here are my latest index cards.

A real quickie! Wallpaper, scrapbook paper, 

and an illustration from a book.

I added a little marker and called it done!

This one has a copy of a weird woman
I did quite awhile ago.

Some scraps of paper, the image, and Voila!

Since her eyes are so odd I used words

to call attention to them.

I'm working on some journal pages and some other things but nothing is finished yet. Stay tuned! As long as the humidity stays away I'll be productive. I may be tweaking my blog over the next few days so if you see something strange it might just be me experimenting. Have a fun weekend....

Some Exciting News....

It's been a few days since I've posted. A few very hot and unusually humid days! So you know what that means....not much art gone done. Actually not much of anything has been done. I lose my energy in hot weather.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my "imperfect" gal. I think we all need to embrace our own imperfections and be happy with them.

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I had an exciting day on Tuesday. I was interviewed for our local Lifestyle magazine! Rich Breault of the Valley Press came to the house and took lots of photos of my art and a couple of me, too. He was very easy to talk with and HB and I enjoyed meeting him. I'm looking forward to the article, and hope that it might generate some interest and get me in touch with some local artists and creative people.

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My index cards got a little behind but I caught up today. 

Here are the latest ones:

July 5th - some paper scraps 

and a picture of a seashell from an old book

July 6th - more scraps of paper

and a picture from an old calendar

July 7th - paper scraps and a flower image from a paper kit.

Now I'm off to find a cool spot to curl up with a book. I might make a fruit smoothie for my lunch and that's about all I can plan on doing today. HB has a dental appointment so the afternoon is mine.

Holidays and Imperfections....

I hope you're all enjoying the 4th of July holiday here in the US. HB and I will drag our lawn chairs out to the front yard and watch fireworks all around our area. We never have to drive anywhere to see them....they're all around us.

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Lately I haven't been painting much and that makes me sad. I love to paint. But there are times when it just isn't happening no matter what I do. So that's when I work in my art journal, make collages, and do other creative things.

I came across an unfinished painting recently....believe me, that isn't hard to do! And I decided to work on it even though it had a lot of problems.

No matter what I did this painting just wasn't going to work out so I decided to go with all the imperfections. Her chin is too small, her mouth is crooked, her nose is too long, she looks sad, etc, etc. But I still liked her! So I finished tweeking a few things, added the words and called her finished!

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I've been making my index cards every day. 

Here are the latest ones....

Some paper scraps

and a magazine image

The one above and the one below

are collages of some of my previous art.

the one above is a quickie

done with gel pens

it doesn't show up too good....

That catches me up for now. I'm still going to try to paint something new today. If I keep showing up with my paintbrush in hand something is bound to happen sooner or later.