My new wonky word of the year ornaments

Not really meant as Christmas ornaments, these are more to hang where you can see them all year, over a desk, by the sink where you do dishes, next to your work space....

They have a bit of fabric machine sewn, and a bit of felt hand sewn, and a bit of watercolor paper tied on. Too much fun to make only three, more to come I think.

(And the felt is made with 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles, and they are stuffed with recycled plastic grocery bags so you can hear them krinkle a bit.)




























- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 3 AEDM

Another hand drawn mandala... Not much to say about it, except this is how I work... A few days of one type of art, then on to a new subject... So expect something unrelated tomorrow!

Day 2 of Art EveryDay Month

A coloring book page just finished, I just need to scan and clean up the background..... The witch is just resting there from a work related bulletin board we did for Halloween and took down today. This is me and I thought I just seemed to fit flying across this mandala.....

A mandala and an unexpected cat

I received a comment a little while ago asking if I still paint mandalas as I haven't posted one in quite some time. I do still paint them and this one was one I had painted this summer for the e-class i was creating. That class is on indefinite hold but...

here is the finished mandala....

And here is the cat I was not expecting to see in my older son's apartment. Cute huh?

Mandala Monday

“The Tibetan monks make mandalas out of dyed sand laid out into big, beautiful designs.
And when they’re done, after days or weeks of work, they wipe it all away. They let it all go,
no pain, no regrets. That is happiness. That is bliss. The euphoria of Nirvana. We live for
that. Just for the experience. We paint a picture and we erase it. ”― Thisuri Wanniarachchi, The Terrorist's Daughter

How to find small magic in life

"It's all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.”
― Charles de Lint

Most of my life I have been in search of small magic,

the kind of magic that is real and quiet and makes our days wonderful,

The kind that is in the little pleasures of life,

Things like treasure hunts with children,

Or planting herb gardens,

Or in quiet pine groves,

Or in the details of a feather...

Or creating a flower mandala...

Things we see all the time but in our rushed lives we often overlook.

Or in things we only see rarely but that fill us with small wonder when they do happen....

Like an unexpected moment when the wind blows and covers you with a soft snowfall of pink crabapple blossoms.

(A few years ago I made a video of the small magic in a feather here...I was very early on in my video making skills at that time but I still like it and hope you will too!)

(And another video here  of the small magic in a flower mandala... I was getting a bit better by this video. I think it is my favorite)

So for awhile now I had been thinking maybe I would make a post about my search, and try to show you all where I find small magic,

But I kept putting it off, until two things happened.

1. One of my daughters posted this on my facebook page...

(I had no idea that she or anyone really, was aware of how I felt about "magic" till she put it in words for me...)

"This right here is one of the many reasons I love my mama so much! She is so thoughtful and sweet, with a touch of magic on the side ;)Her loving energy and her constant push for us to see the magic in everyday life is what I will always remember her by. My childhood memories are full of books about spells and unicorns. We went on trips to the falls and cricks and rivers, where we would stack rocks and build houses out of sticks and stones and flowers for the fairies. My birthdays consisted of vibrant decorations and pins and hats that were hand made by my mother and full of flare! I remember treasure hunts, with maps that looked like a REAL pirate could have handed it over himself... And even to this day, she still finds a way to bring magic in my life! :) I can only hope that I become even HALF the mother that you are, one day. Thank you for everything you've done and continue to do, Mom. This little text has brightened my whole day and I can't WAIT to see the crystal you picked out for me!! I love you.. Yesterday, today and tomorrow♥ Forever and always!

• 

   

and 2. Nicolas, (a maker of fairy houses and much more, 

and a fan of following the same wonder one might have felt in childhood), 

suggested, after a conversation about needing magic in the world, that I make the idea a regular feature on my blog with a link....

So, now I have been hoping... if I added a linky thing at the bottom of this soon to be monthly post (starting this month on the 13th) that others would join in with posts of their own letting us know where they find...

wonder

and awe

and joy

And

Small magic!

“She wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no one. She spent hours on the riverbank. She smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims...” 

― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

hello

Another friday has come again so quickly...

I thought we were due for spring, I had some flowers up in my yard, little crocuses and then we got snow...

inches of snow...

days of snow...

But it has all melted again now 

and I have been working on a mandala (still in progress)

 

 for my e-class; 

Falling Into Mandalas 

coming out in July, 2016

You can signup at coursecraft here

 (also still in progress),

and I have been working on little alphabet children

 (I can't decide between detailing in pencil.... or pen. Goldie and Tim are pen, and Annie and Meg are pencil.)  

.

And I have been working on some fabric too, 

for Spoonflower's "Sprout" contest...

they are looking for a fabric that would work well in a Kimono style pattern. 

See you soon,

work in progress

I have been painting girls in my sketchbook, and doing watercolor quotes just cause I felt like it, and also filming myself painting  mandalas for an e-class. I took some photos  of the sketchbook and quotes to share but accidentally deleted them and I am at home and I left the art at work so I can't show them to you this morning. 

I do have two in progress shots of one of the mandalas. 

I planned to use it for the e-class but once the wing showed up now I am not so sure if it will be included since I had planned to make it an easy mandala to recreate...

published! and a free issue!

Guess What!?! I was just published in heART Journal Magazine again! I have created a simple mandala tutorial for this issue and there is an interview with me in this issue as well. I haven't seen the whole issue yet myself but I am going to read it now...

To celebrate heART Journal Magazine has a given me a free issue bonus code to share with others. I hope you love it!

Get your free issue of heART Journal Magazine today!

Simply download the app on iTunes bit.ly/heARTMag or Google Play bit.ly/Heartjournal

Then on your device follow these directions using subscriber code : art4march (case sensitive)

• Install the App on your device

• Launch the Magazine

• On the Home Page, Tap on the Yellow subscribe button

• Tap on the Current Subscribers button

• Enter this: art4march (case sensitive)



or go to our cart for a pdf version choose the March 2016 Issue and use coupon code art4march in the check out process.


You will now be able to access your free issue. Remember, the code is case sensitive. Since this is a sample issue, your current device on iTunes or Google Play will be granted access. If/when you may change devices any sample issues will not follow your account and cannot be restored. ( FYI, any purchases will switch to your new device. For some reason Apple doesn't let the sample issues move with your account and we are unable to manually restore all the free issues) For help with the coupon code, please email heartjournalmag@gmail.com This code is good until March 15th 2016.

5 random things

1. I have added so much to my charm quilt pinterest board that I needed to make another one... called english paper piecing. They are my most popular boards. One thing from it I would love to try is making this fabric scrap twine....

Or to make these with scrap fabric instead of scrap paper...

Or buy this book... 

2. I have put no effort into my cafe press shop in over a year but I have had one thing continue to sell regularly....

This peacock mandala on wall clocks, throw blankets and magnets.  

I really don't make much per sale but it is really great knowing people out there in the world have a clock with an image I painted!

3. Another thing that seems to sell with no help from me anymore is the 8x8 swatch of fabric for the Bee Queen doll on my spoonflower account....

I love thinking a little girl (or adult) has a little Bee Queen doll on her shelf or in her pocket!

I keep telling myself to get the picture book done. 

Technically the art is done and it has been all completed in book form on blurb except for the last page. All I have to do is add the artwork to the page and finish the back book cover and click "done". It has been 3-4 months since I finished the art work yet I cannot get myself to click done. What am I waiting for? why am I procrastinating?

Am I afraid of failure once it is out there?
sometimes i think I should redo the art as it's not quite right...

I just don't know.

Maybe saying this "out loud" on here will force me to get with it and finish it.....

we shall see!?!

4. I have been painting daily again!
But i don't have them photographed to show yet, except this little guy...
My latest addition to my etsy shop is here.

I painted this little owl named Worsted a year ago and kept him in the box with the other painted stones but I never photographed him or listed him. He's been biding his time in the dark but now he needs to go out into the world. Maybe he was just a slow learner or maybe he had failure to launch but I think he is finally ready now. 

5. The winter here in the Fingerlakes region of NY has been very mild but we did get a storm recently.
The roads were really bad but it was beautiful.
My photos don't do it justice at all. The best parts of the road are too dangerous to stop for a photograph because there's no place to pull over on the side. These were taken a day after the storm and bad roads...
It was like driving through a glass forest with bright sun shining through it. and then snow on top of that!
so pretty....