Gone Fishin'

(An old charm pin I made way back )

I am off for a 12 day jaunt to Montreal and surroundings. Lots of social things and lots of family time will be the order of business for my trip. The Hubby will be left at home with the cuties to keep him company because he has to work. There will be no time for posting while I am gone but I know I will be back on the 7th with lots of juicy pictures and sweet memories to share.

Happy Canada Day (July 1st) to all my Canadian friends. Happy July 4th to all my American friends ! And happy summer to the rest of you ! Bonnes Vacances, Kimbo ! Allons-y !

"I Got the Blues..." - Baby's Got Sole !

So the GPP Street Team Crusade #21 - Irrestistable is a few weeks old now and I have so enjoyed checking out all the great rubbing and resists that the talented Crusaders have done ! Some people have such imagination, it blows me away ! One thing that grabbed my attention was how some people used the soles of their shoes as rubbing surfaces ! Lord knows, I have a lot of shoes (like many round chicks, I enjoy the fact that I can always find a pair that fits !!!!) so that inspired me to do another go-round of this challenge.

Here's the source of my rubbings (One thing I noticed is that I have a lot more "comfort" shoes now that I am in my 40's - they work better than the stilettos for this anyway !)

And here are a few of the nice papers after the paint. I used a white crayon and a grey oil pastel for the rubbings. The paint wash was regular craft store acrylic (I was too lazy to get out the good stuff !) and I thinned it out with a bit of water and acrylic glazing medium. That made the paint transparent and allowed the colors to remain a little more vivid than just water. All of these are done on regular photocopy paper.

I used the first piece of paper I made to do this journal page. I have been feeling kind of blue lately, as have a couple of my really good friends. This piece was inspired by the John Mayer song "Heart of Life" which I have been listening too over and over again as I work at shaking off these Blues, Baby !

Finding Art In the Everyday

I haven't had many ideas for posts this week. Too many unfinished or un-photo-worthy projects going on...Today I was cleaning the studio - my work table is actually clean and white (I love MR. Clean Erasers - they get rid of paint stains wonderfully!) and ready to mess up when my friend Sonia comes over to play tonight ! Yay !

So I was surfing the blogs and checked out InspireMeThursday, since it is Thursday and I needed inspiration ... there I go stating the very obvious again ! Anyhoo, last week's topic was still posted and the theme was "Finding Art in the Everyday". So I grabbed the camera and wandered the house and the deck looking for art. Here's what I shot :

Are you my art ? - Guess what this is ? I was cleaning, remember ?

Are you my art ? - Azzy says " Hey, I'm eating here !!!"

Are you my art ? - Chica says "Do you have to ?"

Are you my art ? - Is a bug on the pool filter art ? Maybe....

Are you my art ? - Ahh, flowers - God's Art, don't ya think ? New Daisy

Old Daisy - love the curling petals...

Cosmo/Pansy Jungle pot - the flash made them look electric !

So that was my photo play today. Did I find art in the everyday ? I think so...

To end off, here are two shots of page one in my brand new art journal. I did a page based on the "Proust" interview with myself a few posts back. One question was about what object would you like to come back as. I said a piano. The photo is from Flicker, not me ! I forgot to get the artist's info.... bad me ! But I claim no part of it's photographic beauty !

Hope you have an inspired Thursday ! By the way, the first photo was what my "Swifter Duster" looked like after my dusting ! Now that is art ! Isn't it ?

Cheers,

Kim

Happy Father's Day !

Daddy and Me - Circa 1969

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there ! My father has been gone since March of 1996 - that's twelve years....unbelievable... Today we went out for lunch with the hubby's dad, which is nice but Father's Day is always bittersweet fo me now. I think of all the moments and events that he has missed...he never met the hubby... he never met his two grandsons (he always wanted a boy after having three girls of his own), he never got to walk any of us down the aisle as we married the men of our dreams... so sad... I wish most of all that he could see the artist I am now and that we could talk about and share my art. He was so talented himself, and had such an eye and I know he would just "get" what I do... I wish he could at least come for a visit once in awhile. Wouldn't the loss of a loved one be so much easier to get over if you knew that you could visit with them in person once in awhile ?

So here's my Father's Day Wish for all of you who are still lucky enough to have your dads around - Take a moment to look into his eyes and tell him you love him. Make that moment a memory for both of you. The time we have together in this life is much too short not to !

Un fait accompli - My First Completed Art Journal

So I have done it ! I finished the last page of my art journal this morning ! I started it on October 15th, 2007 and now have 54 pages covered in little pieces of me ! It really does feel like an accomplishment to have filled all of those pages. It makes me want to share it with the world (except for the more secret things that I only want to share with people who I really trust) ! I guess by putting pieces up on the blog along the way, the whole world does have access anyway ! Cool !

Here are some pictures of recent pages, the new cover of my book and also my "finale" pages.

Art Journal Cover - A photo from my trip to West Virginia makes a great cover, don't you think ?

Page One - "Which way does the wind blow ?"- Done October 2007

"Friends in the Wood" - A recent page celebrating my new friend Sonia and our time at "Camp"

"We Laugh" - A recent page done for me and he - I love this shot of us !

"What Do You See When You Look in The Mirror ?" - A recent ode to PMS

"Letting Go" - Still working on this, big time ! (The concept, not the page !)

Finale Two Page Spread

I used a sheet of the rubbing and resist paper I made for the GPP Street Team Crusade #21 for the background and quoted the lyrics from the Coldplay song "Twisted Logic" for "The End".

The background is another rubbing/resist paper. I recently came across the same picture of this gorgeous red head that I had used on "Page One" in an old Oprah magazine and had to use it again on page 54, "You go backwards, but then, you go forwards again". The end of something is always the beginning of something else, right ?

So there you have it ! Mon chef d'oeuvre - my masterpiece ! (Mistresspiece ?) And now on to the new journal. I have bought it. It's empty pages lie on my worktable full of possibility! The same format as this one (a field watercolor book) because I love the idea of eventually having a whole series of the same sized book on my studio shelves, filled with little pieces of me ! Good job, Kimbo !

Another Interview With Myself ?!?

So I came across this Marcel Proust questionnaire on two sites this morning, here at Judy Wise's blog, and here, in an interview with Christine Miller, that Leah at Creative Everyday posted a link to. I don't know why I like this interview stuff so much. I know there are some people who really hate them, like my husband. He is always worried about getting the answers wrong ! ;-). Maybe it is because I really like to share things about me, to let people get to know me. I am a pretty open book type of person. I also love to read other people's answers to the same questions. It is like a little door opening to let us get to know each other in a kind of safe, uniform way. Whatever... here is yet another interview with Moi !

Questionnaire by Marcel Proust, a French writer who believed that people must know and understand themselves before they could know or understand others. He developed a list of subjective questions that he felt would help reveal to people their true selves and the inner personalities of those around them.

What is your greatest fear?
Dying before I figure it out

What is your current state of mind?
contemplative, mellow

What is your favorite way of spending time?
Painting or collaging in my studio, talking and playing with girlfriends, just "being" with my husband

What historical figure do you identify with?
Helen Keller

Which living person do you most admire?
J.K.Rowling

Who is your favorite fictional hero?
Harry Potter

Who are you're real-life heroes?
My friend Andrea, my husband David, my sister Natalie

What is your most treasured possession?
Family photos, especially rare ones like those of my grandmother

When and where are you happiest?
Just before sleep when I am in David’s arms and we are snuggling and chatting
Or
In a gathering of my family, laughing, dancing and sharing time together

What is your most obvious characteristic?
My creative eye

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My lack of self-discipline

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Inconsideration or cruelty

What is your greatest extravagance?
Expensive, high quality cotton sheets and a great mattress

What is your favorite journey?
Any path that leads to the ocean

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My Buddha Belly

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
selflessness

On what occasion do you lie?
To avoid hurting someone's feelings.

Which words or phrases do you overuse the most?
"It’s all good.”

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I would make promises to myself and keep them.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The close, unconditionally loving relationship I maintain with my family

Where would you like to live?
Somewhere close to the ocean with a lot less winter, and my family near by

What is the quality you most admire in a man?
Determination and compassion

What is the quality you most admire in a woman?
Empathy, acceptance of their own femininity

What is it you most dislike?
Inconsiderate people

What is it you most value in friends?
Humor, understanding without judgment, openness

How would you like to die?
Old and in my sleep, at the same time as my husband

If you could choose an object to come back as, what would you choose?
A piano

What is your motto (words that you live by or a mean a lot to you)?
It’s all good.

Who has been the greatest influence on you?
My parents, for the good and the bad.

GPP Street Team Crusade #21 - Irresistable !

The first week of the month means a new GPP Street Team Crusade ! Yay ! This month : Irresistable - making wax rubbings that serve as wax resists when you apply paint ! I used to do this activity with my grade 1 students all the time. We would get out the Crayolas in our favorite colors and run around the class room and the hallways, making rubbings of any cool surface we could find.

In lieu of the classroom, I wandered the house looking for objects to rub. I wish I had found a magic lamp and a genie who would grant me three wishes but no such luck ! Had fun anyway !

I pulled out some thin paper from a childrens sketch pad from the dollar store and photocopy paper to make my rubbings. I like using thin papers like this when making painted papers. They can be torn or cut up easily and added to collages without too much bulk. Some surfaces were more challenging to make good rubbings on - anything rounded like the bottle took a little more care. I think my favorite ones were the mosaic tray and the mylar alphabet stencil.

Plastic Alphabet Stencil

Mylar Alphabet Stencil

Mosaic Tray

Bottle

Candle Holders

Rubber stamps

Picture Frame

Then it was time for paint ! Yippee ! Even more fun ! For this I got out my Golden Fluid Acrylics which are just wonderful when watered down. The colors stay so vibrant ! I added in some regular craft paint and some Lumiere Metallics which have such a beautiful metallic sheen when they dry on paper. I mixed some Fluids with water in a spray bottle and sprayed that around. I slopped watery paint around with a cheap boar bristle brush and dabbed it around and sometimes off with paper towel. I love just slopping color around - it made for a great hour of relaxing time in the studio this morning.

Plastic Alphabet stencils with paint

Mylar Aphabet Stencil rubbing with paint (Love the bronze sheen!)

Mosaic Tray Rubbing with paint

Bottle Rubbing with Paint - Subtle but Interesting !

Candleholder Rubbings with Paint - Remind me of sewer covers ?

Rubber Stamp Rubbing with paint - probably my least favorite !

Picture Frame Rubbing with paint - Looks like a magic door to somehwhere...

So there you have it ! I have a beautiful pile of painted papers to work into collages and I had a great time trying out an old technique in a new way. I got to make use of tools and toys I had around the house in a different way too, just as Michelle suggested ! So join in this one ! It was great fun ! Thanks as always to Michelle, for the inspiration ! Lady, you really ROCK!

Oh yeah, check out one last pic - my dried painted paper towels after the painting process ! More collage papers to work with , a la Tracy Bautista.

Cheers !

Kim

Some Girl's Weekend Pics

Can't believe it is Thursday already ! This week is flying by !

I had some time today to check out the pictures I took from the Girl's Art Weekend I had with my friend Sonia last weekend. I didn't end up taking too many pictures as I was soaking up the sweet time away. We arrived Friday night and took a walk by the lake. Then we had daquiris and a yummy Mexican meal made by Sonia. It rained all day Sat. which was perfect ! We had play time with paints in the am, making a mess and ended up with some great background papers. Most of the afternoon was spent with me napping and with Sonia "watching" a movie with her eyes closed and breathing really deeply. The evening was spent making art journal pages and then watching "Dreamer", which was such a cute movie. Sunday, we headed home around 10:00 and stopped by the outlet malls for some retail therapy. All in all, it was a perfect weekend ! Girl talk, good company, art, yummy food, naps and shopping ! Like I said, perfect !

Sonia picks me up in her brand new Lexus350 ! She got it that morning ! Travelling in style !

The Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

View of the Lake ! Gorgeous !

Me by the Lake - Not so gorgeous, but Happy !

Saturday Am Painting Mess

The Yellow Room - my sleeping quarters

Kitchy Camp Art - Love it !

All of these are in abundance at Camp !

Nature Shot - Ladyslippers In Bloom

Camp Time is Over - Time to pack this baby up and go shopping !