a week of no sleep...

well hardly any sleep, My son goes through streaks of not sleeping, the worst was wednesday, he didn't fall asleep till 6:00 am,............ then when he actually slept the last 2 nights I woke up feeling sooooooo goood, I could've danced around flinging glitter on everyone I saw.

It's true the old folktale.... we used to tell this story to our 4 year olds with felt figures to illustrate it when I worked in HeadStart..... about the man who couldn't sleep because it was too noisy in house with his wife and kids so the wise woman told him to make it worse by adding another animal to his little shack, he did but still couldn't sleep, so he asked for advice again, she told him add another, a cow to his little shack, again it didn't help, so she told him to add a horse, and on and on until he couldn't fit into his shack hardly at all. Of course he still couldn't sleep at ALL so he went back one more time and she told him to get rid of all the animals. He did and the house was so quiet with just his wife and kids that he slept wonderfully!!!
Anyway, I did get a few things done... a painting of our fall leaves... just for fun. I wanted to leave the background white like a botanical but just couldn't stand all the white space... I need to work on that.

and some photos taken while going for rides on dirt roads in our foothills, my son's favorite thing to do lately.... I may try to paint the deer...

and some photos from the Naples Grape festival. The grapes smelled sooo wonderful just walking past this vineyard... I'm pretty sure I want to try to paint the grapes! We HAD to buy a grape pie, of course!

And I finshed one of the needlefelted ornaments I showed about 3-4 weeks ago...I think it's done. It's hard to know when to stop with the beads and embroidery etc.

 I'm hoping next week to have more detailed photos of how I make the ornaments as I have a few more started. Have a great week!

Inspiration Avenue- Keys

I finally did a painting in time to submit to IA's theme: But my Key themed painting doesn't actually include any keys, which is wierd as I really love keys!

It also may be one of my last falling ladies... I think I may be over this wierd compulsion to paint falling ladies. I know I won't quit but I want to do something else for awhile... maybe botanicals or landscapes. I'm not sure.

 

You can check out the other key themed art by clicking on the I.A. link on the sidebar!

this week

a quick week here...

I finished my spread in the sisterhood sketchbook for September. Autumn is my favorite season, I love the colors, the feel of the air, the cooler breezes, wearing sweaters, etc etc  so I wrote a few of those things on my artwork of a lady falling in to a field of goldenrod. The sun is a long slanting warm september sun. I also love that september; with school starting, always seems like a chance to start over, get organized, get things right!

The second page is where we write about what we painted and I also did a quick color wheel from my college interior design class where we learned the word "shibui". It's the colors of nature, and you make it by adding 1 part of the color opposite on the color wheel.  (Thank you  to my professor, Mr. Nye 20 years ago.)

I also got some of those little circles made into pendants but only got one photographed for my etsy shop.

I won th alpacateam challenge again so this week people are using this item in the treasuires... so much fun!!!

And I'm part of the etsy ugly cute team on etsy and a fellow team member had the great idea to use other team members art items for inspiration for her  plush stuffed fleece creatures. You can see her shop here...
http://www.etsy.com/shop/kathrynmuse?ref=seller_info
here's my art she used for inspiration...

and here's her plush guy....

                                                  Isn't he just the cutest? I love him!

You can check out her shop for more art inspired plushies!!!!

And one last thing... Does any one else love cemetaries or is it just me? My co-workers think I'm crazy to go for walks in cemetaries. But it's as close to getting out in nature that you can get in town, there's definately a feeling of peace there, a hushed reverence like a church I suppose, either from the old trees or from the spirits. And the old stones are so pretty, so my photos a day are from the cemetary this week...

steps to nowhere...

See ya next week!

IF Mesmerizing

hello to all,
This week I finished the unhappy lady in the white bougainvilleas... I am adding this to paint party friday as well as IF for the theme" mesmerizing". She didn't start off that way, I was only thinking of a sad girl full of longing but then she got this different mood started.

I didn't finish the needlefelting though. Just not enough time, a week breezes by way too fast. Most of my painting this week was on my bedroom wall instead of on paper! It's now a nice gray/violet, I love it even if my husband doesn't.

 I hope to have my sketchbook for the sisterhood of the trveling sketchbook done soon, maybe a day or two. Then there's the unicorns vs. zombies game going on soon over at Amy's blog, I hope to have something to represent my team on that.

I don't have much new to show as I left my sketchbook at work yesterday, but here's my latest project, well not latest but ongoing with all my other stuff...

It's lots of my paintings from etsy shrunk to 1 inch to make into pendants! I'll show you that next week too...
Since I didn't have too much to shownew this week, here's some of my photos from trying to do a photo a day, actually it's not something I try to do. I just feel obsessed to do it  like painting, or drawing all the stuff in my head, I actually have lists of all the photos I need to take. There's nothing outstanding but I loved the lichen and the goldenrod...

Here's a site to check out that is featuring a link back to my blog because my falling ladies caught the writers eye...
http://www.notebookinhand.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14684
If you check it out there's alot to see there, tons of articles by creative people for creative people. I hadn't seen it until I was contacted by the person who runs the forum... www.notebookinhand.com, but it's totally worth checking out!

Also I was notified one of my latest treasuries was picked  to be  featured on Etsy Treasury Hunter! Check out my treasury here...
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODU0MDAzM3w3MjAxNDk2NDY/red-velvet-wedding?ref=pr_treasury
and the blog where it's featured here ...
http://www.etsytreasuryhunter.com/

Have a great week everybody!

IF Boundaries

I didn't think I would have time to submit to this week's challenge word: Boundaries, but it kept coming back up in my mind. I really like the idea of showing what the word meant to me. For one thing, my son, who's autistic, has no idea of  boundaries. He'd run off and leave if given the chance, and has tried many times. It's just not  a concept that means anything to him. Plus he has no idea of personal boundaries, he'll climb all over anyone, sometimes people he just met. He'll put his face in your face, kind of like a toddler doesn't know to keep out of a person's private space. I actually love that about him.

But what I put in my sketchbook was just a quick drawing of a lady, the whole wide world open to her yet she's stuck inside 4 small walls! Make of that what you will!

This week

Hello, Thank you for all the great comments last week, especially since I barely got around to anyone else's posts... My son DID do wonderful at school like you all hoped. I'm knocking on wood everywhere but it's been going great this first week!!!

I didn't finish either of the two projects I've been working on. But here's my started watercolor...I was using a magazine photo for the woman, but I wanted her to be a little more sad than the photo so I'm not trying to make her look like the picture, just using it for reference, same as my picture of the red flowers, I actually want them to be white, so that there's more contrast against the dark night.

Here's the start...

Here's my reference photos...

and here's the almost finished piece...

I also started a new needlefelted item that I've been thinking about ever since Spinster Beth@
http://spinsterbeth.blogspot.com/2011/09/oh-enough-already.html suggested I do ornaments like the necklace I started... so here's my started ornament... it needs some embroidery and a few felt petals in the middle still. I think it needs to be over the top, overdone, so maybe even a bead or two.

They take forever but at least I've gotten back at needlefelting! Hope to show you both finished next week plus I'll have to add in something new as there's so much more started from weeks ago!

On top of the usual paint party friday, crafty friday, creative friday, fiberart friday I just found a site: artists in blogland, and am linking up there. I'm putting their link on my sidebar so go check it out!

another week...

Hello all, This week's got me a little nervous, My son starts school wednesday and it's a whole new school  and new teachers and everything. In general, as most autistic kids, he doesn't handle change, so I'm a little worried. I normally love september, love the fall air and the new start to everything. Just hoping for the best!

My submission for paint party friday this week is a little different for me... yeah, only a tiny bit  different as it;s still a lady, and flowers, but I went for a more realistic lady instead of the ones out of my head.... here's what I mean...

And since I need real things for this style I've been taking more pictures of "things" instead of just my kids so that I'll have images to draw from. At one of the blogs, now I can't remember who, sorry, the blogowner was going to take a photo a day. I thought that sounded like a great idea but I haven't managed one a day as my camera dies because I forget to charge it. I have carried it in my purse forever so I'd always have it it I needed it. I do take alot of pictures of clouds, and have for years. Here's a few from last week...

And of course I need something for the fiber art friday people... my daughter tried wet felting before leaving for college... here's her felted river rocks...

Oh, I almost forgot... I did fix the lips on my sunflower lady, just a little though, she's still pouting, maybe you won't even be able to see the difference...she's still pouty but more disapproving...
                                                                              before...

after....

                                                                                   

                                     I may have to change it again, I'm still not happy with it...

                                                                see ya next week...