Limbo and beyond

Many times I've wished for a crystal ball but March was definitely a month that I am glad I didn't have one. March was a month of bad weather, of two last minute flights to Pennsylvania, of a wonderful quick trip to Tampa for more tropical gymnastics, and also the month that I spent my last days with my father. I am so grateful for the time that my sister and I were able to spend with him the last few days of March. Hospice said the last sense to go was hearing so we spent lots of time reminiscing and helping him to let go. Donald Munro Sanderson, our dad, a consummate whistler and harmonica player, a tinkerer who could fix everything, a lover of Whitley's peanuts and fettuccini alfredo passed away quietly while we were with him on April 1 and will be missed.

Fiddle Faddle

February is almost over which means we have reached the downward slope of winter. Thank goodness. I spent a lot of time in the studio this month doing this and that. It has been very therapeutic for me. I was very happy with my non-traditional VDay cards this year. I don't think I had done cards for the past couple of years.

Sammi competed her first meet finally after missing three and did about as expected. As a new level 9 and an injured one at that, she isn't going to do any damage until her skills are stronger. We did have about five minutes of drama after she narrowly avoided going down on her neck during vault. You could have heard a pin drop while everyone waited for the medics to allow her to get up. I am not sure I was breathing much. She did finally get up and then proceeded to compete the entire rest of the meet. That's my daughter.

ART NEWS: I was pleased to have an email from Stampington regarding some wall art that they are going to publish in a new specialty publication called Black and White in November. I am currently writing a feature article for that work. And, I am pleased to announce that I will have three classes at Stampaway this year: Elementz, Play it Again, Sam and Resist 2009. More on that to follow.

Will You Be Mine????

It is February and love is all around.....well, it is all around when we get through algebra, gym practice, snow, a puppy who is into pens and is not particular about what kind. You get the drift. I love Valentine's Day and love to doodle so without further adieu, you can peek at one of my cards for 2009. They are all different and fun to do!

On the "must have" front. I am waiting ever so impatiently for Ranger's alcohol ink refillable pens. For more info, take a look at this video and prepare to be intrigued. Be very afraid.

Snow Day

I had some extra time today while nursing Sammi back to health so I uploaded some new art on my main website and one pic for this blog. I had two great classes this weekend at Rock Paper Scissors. I hadn't taught my advanced resist for a while so it was great to get back into it. It is snowing visciously here today so we are bundled up watching The Bachelor. What a day.....................

I've been reading all about CHA and can't wait for a lot of the new products to come out especially Ranger's new refillable pen and the new alcohol inks. Anyone else waiting for anything new???

Elementz

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the holiday season was a whirlwind for us and I am sure we are not the only ones. We made a quick trip to PA to see family and then came back for the myriad of practices that she had to be at. New Year's was a meal at Shogun followed by Valkyrie and some Korbel. We celebrated with Sammi and ber boyfriend and then took them on New Year's Day to Dave and Busters. Much fun was had. Now it is back to business and reality. The canvas artwork here features Ranger's new stickyback canvas and some mixed media applications. Enjoy....it is the flagship for my Stampaway class in August.

I have two upcoming classes here in St. Louis on January 24 at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Then I am on hiatus traveling with Sammi for her season.

Cherish

There is a lot of hubbub to December for me, especially when Thanksgiving is on the later side as it was this year. We are still decorating, buying, and trying to keep up with all the activity. Some days it goes better than other others. Last week was particularly busy as I was also getting art ready for the Bizarre Bazaar. It was a great show and I was amazed with all the beautiful work when I stopped down there this weekend. We got our tree, Sheldon, up on Saturday and then it promptly fell and shattered a few non-special ornaments. We were very lucky that the special ones remained unscathed. Next on the agenda....Christmas cards and an altered calendar collaboration that I need to get caught up on. And, of course, Stampaway class applications are on the horizon. What a couple of weeks!

Resist

I haven't done a new resist card in a while but really enjoyed revisiting the technique for my classes two weekends ago. Another online group is doing a tutorial of sorts for my book so I thought I would post this for them! It was done with a mixture of Clear Resist, Distress and Nick Bantock inks from Ranger.

On another note.....go see TWILIGHT...you won't be sorry!!!! I saw it this week and was immersed.

I am busy working on artwork to sell at the bazaar the first weekend at Rock Paper Scissors. I am getting pretty excited about doing it and seeing what everyone else has been working on. Fun..........................

Junk

I love to pepper my altered calendars and atcs with junk mail so when an opportunity for a junk mail ATC mingle came, I went for it. For those of you that haven't tried this, take a catalog or sale flyer page and tear out patterns that go together. Then tear strips and glue them down or use some other easy adhesive. Very fun and easy..........Add what you want on top to finish it off and you are good to go. I included some samples in this post.

Classes were great last weekend. I'll be back at RPS on January 24 with two classes. One will be the advanced resist class and the other is as of yet, undecided.

Weekend Classes

I am going back in the classroom this weekend here in St. Louis. I can't believe how long it is since I have taught a whole weekend for a store. I think it will be fun and definitely the cocktail party tonight will be great. I couldn't ask for a better welcome back than I've gotten.

This piece is for my demo tonight! Enjoy......and have a great fall weekend.

Hallowwweeeeennnnn

I found patterned paper and transparency overlays that were born to be used together. I added just a hint of color in between the two layers and used the mini pom poms to and sentiment to finish off this ATC. Chills and Thrills is courtesy of Red Lead Paperworks here in St. Louis. If you haven't visited their site, you should to see all their smaller, interesting stamps. Those are my favorites, although they have a lot of other wonderful stuff.

Remix again

More digital art ........................ tres addicting!!!!!!! These are all the same ceramic tile pieces that have been manipulated. Enjoy!!!!!!

PS: My Missouri classes are doing very well. It will be fun to get back in the local classroom after a few years on hiatus. Dates: November 7-9, 2008 in St. Charles.

Remix

I was lucky enough to be invited in a Photoshop class with a friendly group of quilters this fall. I've had Photoshop for years courtesy of my nephew while he was in college but only knew how to use a small portion of its capability. I am begininng to have fun reworking some of my old artwork using the various adjustments and filters. It is fun seeing my old compositions become something new. The pieces above are the original pointillism piece from my book (bottom) and the transformation into a 5 x 7 with black detailing (top).

Perhaps Yet Again

That word has been my mantra since we moved here last August. I couldn't tell you why except that it signals hope and possibilities to me. Maybe I need that right now. Daily life is chaotic right now as I navigate the back to school pitfalls and preparations for beginning to teach again here in St. Louis. I will be resuming some teaching in November at Rock, Paper, Scissors with some debut weekend surprises. It should be fun and I look forward to it. I have been lucky enough to join a quilter's Photoshop class this fall and I am having fun learning more about the program that I have used for years and only new a tinge about. I guess you are never too old to learn new tricks!!!

Chicago Escapade

I have been fascinated with that word for quite sometime so when I picked a letter for my local ATC guild August project it just had to be an "e". Summer is winding down here and school is about to begin for Sam. She's been in Chicago with a friend from school and her parents for a shopping trip. I think she has had quite a lot of fun but I have missed having her here. It was a glimpse into three years from now when she is off to college. I think I want to retreat into my own little world where she is with us all the time. At least that is where I want to retreat while she is gone and happy with life! So here is some art to toast to your Chicago escapade, Sammi.........

Ebony and Ivory

Well, I am still getting back into the swing of things from Stampaway. It was so fun to see many old friends and make some new ones as well. My classes were filled and full of so many eager and talented people. They were a pleasure to teach. I could have done without the hour and fifteen minute delay from the security alarm, though. I am sure they would echo that sentiment but everyone helped out to get the show on the road and were gracious about it. Shopping was fun at the Preview Party, but I was all but spent before that so sitting was a priority for me. I did a lot of product restock and bought a few new images, but my damages were minimal. Tracy and I went to the antique mall again up in Springfield all day on Saturday. Last year I bought old windows. This year it was an antique birdcage. Go figure....... We had a terrific road trip. Enjoy the posted art. These are 12" x 12" canvases so I would categorize them as wall art. I got quick photos of them before they headed off to CA today.

TUcKEr!!!!

Well, we have entered puppydom with a vengeance. Tucker has been with us for almost a week now. We picked him up about 13 hours after returning from the east coast. He is settling in nicely and as long as I am trained to take him out, we do ok. My studio is definitely off limits for him so I am not getting much done. I was lucky to get my Stampaway supplies ordered this week. He is 10 weeks old and a beautiful mix of black and brown. He is 10 pounds at this point but as furry as can be. I always love the poodle coat before maturation. Will he grow as big as his big brother, Bogart? Only time will tell. He can put his paws on my shoulders when he stands. I am sort of hoping that Tucker will be a little smaller. We'll see! Here are some puppy pics!!!

Impending Puppydom etc......

June is passing by so quickly as we are in the midst of preparation for puppydom. Right now Tucker is the name of choice but he could end up as Truman, Kikkoman or even Blackjack. We'll decide while we are on vacation for the next 10 days. Will our 10 year old Bogart be ready for this????? Hmmm.......and two black standard poodles. Will we be able to tell them apart? I would guess so. Tune in to find out. Enjoy my altered calendar for the month. That will have to keep everyone busy while I am gone to the east coast. I'll eat some Armand's Pizza in Georgetown and some Cincinnati chili on the way. Happy 4th of July to all! We'll be back after that.......

Birds of a Feather

In celebration of our daily birding here in Missouri and an ATC exchange online.....enjoy........! Soon we will be adding a puppy to our household so don't be surprised if somehow there are some furry pictures uploaded in July!

Miracles Happen

I had fun transforming another 4" x 5" canvas that was leftover from a demo from last year. This one started out spot brayered with some Golden Fluid acrylics and Krylon leafing. At least that's what I think was on it last year. To update it and make it into something more than a background I added two noise stamps in eggplant Adirondack and then trees and leaves in black and white. I took a gold Decor It pen and played with the shapes a little and then added the sentiment. It was a fun exercise today.

Expect Great Things

Well, we are into June and school is almost out here in St. Louis. I am so looking forward to summer--hence the title of this entry. Everything is beautiful here right now, mostly due to the 11" of rain we had in May. We are still avidly birding in our backyard and are attracting a wonderful mix of species. We put up hummingbird feeders yesterday and are hoping that the Curry Cafe will attract them as well. I've been working on a watercolor tall book swap for a local group here but took some time last night to rework a canvas I had done in a demo last year sometime. I was pleased with the overall effect. It is so fun to rework something that is just lying around on your desk. This piece started out as a spot brayer demo and ended up showcasing not only acrylics, but gesso, dye inks and metal work. You just never know where things will end up sometimes. That's the fun of these processes.