ICAD

more from my index card a day sketchbook... just about 5 minutes a day, each day, no grand plan, no scheme, just a few minutes on an index card...

A skunk named BEE

just being happy

drifting lazily through smell

petals so tiny

If you want to be happy.... BE!

a glimpse into my sketchbook

My sketchbooks used to be filled with color and nature sketches, lately they have page after page of these wide faced girls in black and white. Actually the color has only gone because I am using a cheaper sketchbook instead of a watercolor journal.... it just doesn't work well with paint  but I am not sure why these characters keep appearing.... so yesterday i did a few quick sketches with color just to  remember what I used to do...

Happy Paint party friday!

The real me....

Here's the latest rocks...
as always inspired by nature...
If they're not in my etsy shop they will be soon...

The plate above that the rock is on was made by my daughter in high school. And these white rocks were collected by a little guy I used to work with when I was a Family Educator in Early Head Start. He lived by the creek and on one of my visits we walked the creek. I started to pick up a few white rocks, hard to find in the river here, and his Mom noticed, and asked if I liked white rocks. So I said yes, of course. The next time I went there, a week later they had  handfuls of tiny white rocks for me!

 I am throwing in some more photos from a day I had an appointment and stopped on my way home in a park all by myself to walk. I felt so guilty at first for taking an hour to myself, why is that? I had been looking at Vivienne's blog where she  takes a lot of self portraits, she does it as a way to learn to accept her own body image, and she takes some beautiful photos, offers classes and such, so she inspired me to try to take some self portraits. I played with them in photoshop to darken the edges; the Lomo effect.

I didn't get the self portrait that I wanted ... this one was going to be a nice serene shot of me sitting on this rock looking at the waterfall... but unfortunately I am not very coordinated, and as I was scurrying to get onto the rock after setting the self timer, I slipped, totally most embarrassing video moment almost caught on film, but the camera clicked a second after I pulled myself back up off my hands and knees. I had to go to work with wet mossy knees. The hour was still worth it!

shooting for serene

but not turning out as planned

this is the real me

there, you have my week... minus all the messy bits...well with just one messy bit...

(It is called falling ladies after all)

Paracosm

I had to look that word up awhile ago when Nicolas from MyAntarctica used it in an etsy treasury... if you don't know Nicolas you should check out his blog and etsy treasury's. It is not enough to just look at his photos, you need to read the words and poetry that goes along with them!

 You will be transported.....

 

Anyway, if you were diction challenged like me... here's the meaning from Wikipedia:

A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world, or fantasy world, involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps even fantasy or alien creations. Commonly having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is often developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.

So recently I decided to paint a small trio of islands that I have been creating in my head for years...

I have painted the first of the island so far....

Get ready to discover

 Brodonia Isle,

 largest of the 3 Davielo Islands.

 

 

This map is not to scale or actually even geographically correct. It was just drawn from memory to show the lakes and rivers and mountains. I'll need to redraw it at some time.

 

 The next one is accurate as far as size and scale. It maps out the 3 Provinces and town borders...

 

 

People of Lesser

all connected to nature

perfection in maps

 

Three distinct cultures and peoples have developed over the years. The Broganians don't even know the existence of the People of Lesser.

 

So I had to start writing out a bit of there story. The people of Lesser have developed a complete "religion" around the lines of Lucif (black negative energy lines), Roya (red positive energy lines) and Verdent (green peaceful energy lines). When a line of Verdent crosses a line of Roya it is called a site of perfection! The people of Lesser make pilgrimages to these sites called perfection regularly.  It explains a bit of what I am talking about on the next map....

 

 

The next piece so far shows a bit about the people of Lesser and the monuments to Roya and Verdent....

 

 

 

 

The last piece is a painting of the city of Gulls , inhabited by the Broganians, a much less civilized, and warring culture.

 

 

I think that's enough for today... Happy Paint Party Friday and Haiku my heart!

Some photos from my week...

 

 

 All this sun shining

lending magic to moments

small snapshots of time

 

 

 

I have had a busy week.....mostly not creative but I HAVE managed to  work on a custom order of 30 small rocks. I am painting them with symbols that a family has requested and plan to put on their fathers grave. I like doing orders like this that I know will really mean something to the people who will hold them. And I love how we all individually or as families have symbols that are our own...

 

The last one I did was for a woman who planned these because her mother had passed away. Makes me think about what symbols I would put if these were just for me... I guess I need to make a bowl for myself...

Happy paint party Friday , and Haaiku my heart!