True North

I was making a treasury for the nonteamchallenge on etsy called "You are my true North" , and since TheJetty won, it's a nautical theme and I found some really cool jewelry by Licky Drake of HappyGoLicky
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyGoLicky?ref=seller_info




Her shop is so wonderful... I will be adding some items to my Christmas list...


Anyway, ......... my camera died so I can't show you what I made this week... I've worked on the sisterhood sketchbook and in my own sketchbook and the new sketchbook for Amy's Commy project! And.... I started a drawing and a painting from the workshops in Rice's new book that I won thru Seth Apter's blog... I love the book and am having so much fun trying their way of creating. The book has less art and more about the expeience of the art retreats which is really the people... than I expected, but that's not to say it's not wonderful (which it is) and I'm still pouring over it.  But that'll all have to wait for PHOTOS!
 So to have something to show I looked thru some things I might have photographed but never posted so here's one of my favorites...

She's Queen of the Bully Hill wines and Sweet Walter Red is her favorite just like mine! Gotta be sweet!

Oh and if you didn't already, please go up to the linky at the top and submit your interview to be entered into my GIVEAWAY... if you don't know what I'm talking about then still go up to the linky and click on it and click on the first entry which is mine and it explains the whole thing.... try it, you'll like it...

Control

This painting I did about a year ago and shoved away in the closet, but I thought I'd pull it out for the Butterfly effect's MASK theme... You'll just have to figure out the meaning behind it your self as I didn't put as much thought into it at the time as one might think, honestly,... other than creepy trees grabbing her waist, (really that's all they're grabbing, which isn't how it looks so that's part of why I put it away) and hands everywhere, I'm pretty sure it said something to me about loosing "control" of my life... so much happening that I had no say in... but you take it how ever you will...

Oh, and if you didn't see my last post... click on the Mr. Linky above and then click on the first one there, to see the post about my giveaway just for linking up with an interview of your own.... please play along... you have a whole month!

interview giveaway!

So on wednesday I posted my answers to Amy's interview, go check it out if you missed it...http://fallingladies-fallingladies.blogspot.com/2011/10/amys-interview.html

and now like I promised I have another interview that I want you all to play along with... and as incentive... I'm having a giveaway to celebrate over 100 followers and almost 100 posts... here's some of what 3 people randomly drawn  could get in the mail just for cutting and pasting the interview and answering my questions...

                                                A pendant made from one of my watercolors...

   An ACEO

Don't hold me to that literally as far as the ACEO goes as I may not be able to locate the original so it may be a different one...
                                                                       And ................
                there will also be an 8x10 print of one of my falling ladies,

So here's too much info about me...

1. What should you be doing right now instead of sitting on the computer?

                    Getting in the shower to get ready for work.

2. What's the messiest area of your house? and dare you to show us...

                    My closet is totally a mess, clothes everywhere and tons of beaded necklaces   and scarves hanging... but that part actually looks pretty.

                                                     
3. 5 simple things that make you happy right now, above and beyond the obvious like your family and your health...

                  1.) A rose my husband brought me last week (I sketched, painted and photographed)

                  2.) Wind blowing leaves off the trees
                  3.) CANDY PUMPKINS

                  4.) Messy or used paint brushes

                  5.) Crows in the road

4. When did you last cry?

                 I cry easy and often, but the last time was when my husband called me at work from home as he gets home before me and cooks fancy gourmet meals, (Yes, you ARE jealous right now, I know!) and he puts my son on the phone...
                Many of you know my son is autistic and even though he repeats what we say sometimes, or repeats lines from movies or even rarer asks for what he wants, he's still considered nonverbal as he doesn't initiate conversation... so my husband says to him, "tell mommy you love her", and my son said..."love you... foreber". ...... I could cry again typing this.

5. Favorite book...

                Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

6. How many pets...

                We have 2 cats and a bunch of fish is all right now. This is Tyrone, he used to be Peabody but then became Tyrone when we put him outside for peeing all over the house. He needed a tougher name and actually became the leader of a street gang who he shares his food with, and they've learned to hunt in a pack... a truly scary thing to watch. He was eatting a  squirrel 2 minutes before this photo.

                And here's BobDole, his mom, whom he hates.

7. 2 Goals... one huge and unrealistic one,  and one achieveable one...

                 I want to quit my day job, earn $100,000 with my art so we can get a cabin in the woods with a big pond, big enough to have a tiny little island on it. The island only needs to be big enough for an adirondack chair and a beach umbrella so I can sit out there and sketch. I originally wanted an arched bridge to it but that wouldn't keep the kids away now would it! (So I'll paddle to it in a canoe I keep hidden.)

                And 2nd: I want to lose 30 pounds by Christmas, You might think that's more unrealistic than the cabin and pond, but I think I can do it, with yoga  and taichi and no more candy corn!

8. 5 things in your purse besides money and a cell phone...

             My mini sketchbook
             a little silver frog to remind me of frog magic and water!
             Burt's bees lipstick, the only makeup I wear.
             3 or 4 hair thingy's
             my camera

9. The emotion or feeling you hate the most...

             Guilt... I avoid guilt at all costs by trying to do the right thing but it still doesn't work, I feel guilty about everything,I feel guilty I haven't done enough for  the rest of my family because of the autism, I feel guilty I haven't cured my son (I KNOW), I feel guilty for driving too fast, eatting too much junk since then I won't be healthy enough to live forever for him, I feel guilty for feeling guilty , good lord!

10. If you could have 50 pounds of anything except money or gold what would you want?

              Glitter, not to use in art, but just to roll in or toss in the air! can you imagine!




OK so now it's your turn, cut and paste to your blog, make a post and link it up here...You've got a month,till November 20th... then I'll draw names from everyone who played along!
and since I did include some art I feel justified in linking to paintparty friday,creative everyday, whimsical wednesday, maybe even creative fridays and fiberart friday.

For some reason I can't get the linky to go on the bottom of the post so I put it on the top of my blog, which is good as it'll stay there anyway...
   

Amy's interview

Amy over at   http://butterscape.blogspot.com/
interviewed herself awhile and others have been joining in and interviewing themselves with her questions... so I had to keep up with the Joneses... here's mine...

1. what is your name and stuff? and any other good information. like bank account details.

Andrea.... but my old friends and family still call me Deane, which is my middle name... I had a teacher in highschool who called me Deanie Bopper and licked his fingers then wiped them on my glasses!

 2. what is super hot about you? <--- don't you Dare skip this one.  answer it.

My husband says it's my eyes, so If you don't agree just please keep it to yourself as I have no self esteem to speak of.

3.  don't lie or cheat: what is under your couch right now?

A crumb eatting monster, which is good as my son pretty much always eats on one end of the couch so there's always crumbs there..

4.  when was the last time you shaved your legs?

Yesterday morning, I'm pretty good about being regular with that.

5.  what did you have for breakfast?

2 pieces of whole wheat toast with 2 different kinds of jelly: one quince and one raspberry honey that I bought at the farmer's market. I normally drink a green smoothie before work weekdays though... green wheat grass powder or fresh kale, a banana, and pineaplle chunks and water... looks gross but is so sweet!
Actually this one has strawberries instead of my normal pineapple added, so it looks more brown than green!

6. if you could choose a new name, what would you name yourself?
Anastasia Mirabelle Blue Potite and I'd have a southern accent but look Asian, and I'd skip everywhere I went, and butterflies would follow me.

7.  have you ever had plastic surgery?
Nope. But liposuction would be good!

8. are you afraid of the dark?
A little, you can check out the previous post ...
where I sacred myself in the dark. It's not the dark though, it's that there could be creepy people hiding in the dark with the ability to see better than me, just lurking and waiting...

9. are you a hermit?

well I do like to be alone, but that could just be because I am NEVER alone. With 4 kids the house is always full even though they're older and I just never get to be by myself.  So at work on my lunch I search out quiet lonely places, the cemetary, the park that overlooks the town (not too many people go there), or a pulloff by the river, so I can sit and see the water, water being another thing I love. So relaxing...


10.  why do you blog?

I started because I had the Etsy shop and thought it would be good for that, but I really do it because like some others have said, you guys all seem to get me better than the people I see everyday. Most of my co-workers are NOT a creative bunch, they don't usually understand about needing to paint or wanting to be alone, but I know you all will get that. My husband and kids don't really even get me... they're jocks and even though I played soccer many many years ago I just am not competetive (that can't possible be spelled right), and they are the most competetive people I know. They  laugh at, oops I meant "with" me for not being able to say the correct noun in sentences or stumbling over words, but when your head is drifting around because you're painting the scenery in your head it's hard to hold down a logical conversation. My mom is like me though, she'll read this and understand I bet...but really not too many other people I see regularly.



And now that leads me to the first Mr. Linky I've ever gotten. I want to do an interview with 10 more questions,  Just like Amy did but with more questions, even harder ones....... I'll answer them first then you all can copy and paste them, and answer in words, photos, art, words AND photos etc....
and I want to get a bunch of people to play along, answer the questions yourself then link it up to the page I'll keep special on the top of my blog, I'll actually give people about a month to do it so there's no rush... just don't leave me all feelling like the last person picked on the kickball team again. I'll start this  friday... I hope to have a page up by then with the questions and a Mr. Linky. .... since I just had over 100 followers recently, plus I'm almost at my 100th post... I think it's time for a giveaway with this. On friday hopefully I'll post some art for a giveaway or would you all rather have a pendant? anyway, anyone who does the interview that I put up friday will be entered and you've got a whole month to play along so come back friday!
So Say you'll play along, OK?


oh, and I guess I forgot to include any art for the what's on your workdesk wednesday crowd... this is on my desk but it was on my lap in the park when I made it... ... it's a sketch of the ground in front of me on my lunch hour...

something new!

hello all, I've got a tutorial for my fiber art friday friends, sort of a tutorial... This is my first video showing how I created something so there are no fancy frills and edits or anything, maybe next time. And I'm sure I will try it again, as I think it's like eatting chips or getting a tattoo, you always want to do more...

Anyway, it's only 2 minutes so please check it out and let me know what you think...

The weather this week went from glorious autumn to rainy and cold and foggy...

This week I finished a watercolor butterfly and I'm mailing it to a butterfly effect project over at...http://twodressesstudio.blogspot.com/
read about the project here..
http://twodressesstudio.blogspot.com/2010/08/butterfly-effect-open-is-calling-you.html
to expalin  a little I copied this from her blog...

The Butterfly Project mandate is   to remember the 1,500,000 innocent children who perished as a result of the Holocaust  by collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. 

 In Spring 2013, these butterflies will then become a break-taking exhibition to serve as a memory of this event. 

This is such an interesting project... I've been to the Holocaust museum in DC and it's a very hard place to visit. So incredibly shocking and sad.
You can participate too... either through the blog above by mailing your butterfly there or you can do it on your own through the address she provides. At her blog she has photos of all the butterflies she's gathered and shipped out...

I'm linking to Inspiration Avenue , please go by there as they've got a blog anniversary going on, with freebies and more...http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/
 They asked what inspires each of us... for me it's nature mostly, feelings and moods next, then there's always other's art... and holidays inspire me too, and the weather and people watching. etc etc etc...

and to the butterfly effect. their theme is wings.....http://whisper-to-whirlwind.blogspot.com/
and to creative friday, and of course... paint party friday!
http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

and Yeah to me, I won a copy of

Destination Creativity: The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat [Paperback]

by Rice Freeman-Zachery   from Seth Apter's the alteredpage blog!!!...
http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/    I'm so excited!
See ya next week...

boo...

There's a party over at ..http://pagan-culture.blogspot.com/
ALL HOLLOWS Grim Blog Party

You should really go check out all the other spooky posts and scary stories, Magaly's even started early and been posting giveaway's...... I haven't felt inspired to write a story yet buthere's some photos...
I mentioned a few weeks ago how much I like walking in cemetaries, in fact I live right next to one, so when I saw this blog party I decided I'd get some good photos of the cemetary, I love it afterall...

 Someone else stacked this little rock cairn and left it... isn't it great?!

But as I looked at them, I realized they certainly weren't spooky so I decided to walk at night to try again.

I went alone, It's close to my house like I said so how bad could it be? But even though it's the Full Blood moon there was NO light under the trees and I could barely see my feet. Imagine crunching through the fall leaves, the sound so loud you know anything lurking out there in the pitch black can hear every move you make. The tall, I mean tall, pines rustle above you with the turkey buzzards that live high in the tops.

It took a bit of adjusting with the camera...but I got some photos... this particular statue has the legend among high school kids that the statue bleeds, you can even see the stains!

It's the same as the second photo above but much different at night!

Even in a place familiar, that you love... it IS creepy after dark on a full moon, I had to run home, couldn't help myself... even though I was afraid I'd fall since I couldn't see 2 feet ahead. When I got home, still out of breath a bit, I walk up on my porch, glad to be back... and my daughter, who I didn't see sitting quietly alone on my front porch, simply says "boo" and I about jump out of my skin. She wouldn't have thought it was soooo funny had I actually had the heart attack I thought I might have!
And...Here's a little sketch since I am more of an artist than a photographer...

Thanks for stopping by!

Portrait

Here's a self protrait for the Butterfly effect...go here to see more...
http://whisper-to-whirlwind.blogspot.com/

only thing is it doesn't look anything like me, (except I do have glasses and long straight hair) and wasn't meant to really, It was meant to show how ugly I felt at that moment... which is odd considering the headline over at the butterfly effect is

"...where we are really very pretty"

 but anyway this day, a rainy morning last week where I was late for work, and rushing and not overly happy with life in general... I got out of my car and stepped in a puddle in my little flats, soaked them immediately, grabbed my overloaded purse with my colored pencils just shoved into the top which is as far as they could go as I carry a lot of useless crap around everyday, and went to open the back door to get my umbrella..

Of course the tin of colored pencils fell into the wet... exploding open and colored pencils flew everywhere, under the car, into the puddle, rolling here and there. I scooped up all I could find, threw them into the back seat and grabbed the umbrella as it was still raining, not just sprinkling but a hard cold rain. The second I touched the umbrella it popped open , because it's one of those useful self opening kind that are the size of golf umbrellas... and I tugged and tugged and couldn't get the damn thing out of the back seat. If anyone saw, they would have been rolling in the mud laughing. I half crawled back into the back seat, closed it up, got it out and stomped into work.

To my credit by the time I got to my desk I could laugh at myself and tell my co-workers what a great movie scene that would've made if anyone happened to be writing a movie script and wanted to make the star (because of course I 'm the star of my own movie) look incredibly frustrated and clutzy!

Hope I'm not too late for the party, please go check out the really GOOD portraits!

what a fast week

I hate to do a rushed post but that's all I have time for ... a quick peek at some bookmarks I painted in watercolor just to occupy my work breaks and a almost finished needlefelted ornament... sorry I didn't get the how to video made yet as I haven't finished the ornament I'm making it about. This one is almost doen, just needsa few beads, and a ribbon or two...

and here's the bookmarks...

and just one quick photo of my week...

have a good week, now off to more rush, rush, rushing!!!