September Lessons (part 2)

Here's the next group of pages from my "Learn Something New Everyday" album.  Lesson from Sept. 3 came out of my session doing self portraits.  Journaling reads: "I learned that the Ontiveros have a strong family resemblance.  Embrace/own the good and defend against the negatives.  I took some close up self portraits today and saw my older brother and sister looking back at me. I can't escape my roots, so I need to learn to deal with them." The stamp is of Friday Kahlo, Queen of self portraits.
Other lessons learned that day which didn't make the album:
*Take self portraits from farther away.
*A college soccer game is a petty good way to spend an evening with Henry, especially if we stop by our favorite Chinese restaurant on the way for dinner.
*I'm willing to give up my scrapbook club to finance a better lens for my camera. I simply have too  much paper and too many stamps. And I really need/want new lenses.
The lesson from Sept. 4 comes from a very satisfying afternoon spent in the art studio.  It reads: " "It's harder to finish a piece of art than it is to start one.  It takes creativity, courage and persistence. But it's worth it to gaze at a finished piece with pride and satisfaction" The stamp is from Club Stamp.
Other lessons learned which didn't make the album:
*E6000 adhesive will always be dried out when you need it. Always.
*I create a lot more art in the studio than I do at home.
*It's much easer to edit and upload pictures if I don't let several months' worth pile up in my computer (thanks to Stacy for the reminder). A couple of martinis help to make the task more pleasurable, especially if there's a baseball game to watch on TV.
*Persistence pays off, and I should trust my instincts.  This is a lesson I learn over and over, but it was reaffirmed again when I recovered my sunglasses from the restaurant where I knew I'd left them, even though the staff said they weren't there when I called earlier this week.

Lesson from day 5 reads: "If traffic on the bridges is really bad, it might be best to change plans.  On the other hand, the right company can turn even a traffic-ridden journey to a lame art and music festival into a good time."
Lesson from day 6 reads: "On the road of life, it is not always clear what the next step should be. Sometimes you know basically where you want to go, but you're not exactly sure how to get there."

Let's Talk Self Portraits

There seems to be a lot of talk in blog land lately about self portraits.  Here's an interesting sample:
Digital Photograph School has a fantastic sampling of mirror self portraits at this link. Absolutely love the idea of taking a mirror outside to do a self-portrait.
The Beauty of Different blog selects postings from a flicker group that include a self portrait as well as a proclamation of what the photographer's beautiful different is.  You can read more about it here.  Love the idea, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to go there just yet.
Mel posted a self portrait here, and Tammy Lee put hers in this post.
All of this inspired me to try some self-portraits:

Took all of them using the reflection in my ipad.  Cool, huh?  I definitely learned some lessons from this session, which will show up later in my "Learn Something New" album.  I especially learned from this photo:

In the meantime, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on self-portraits.  Love them? Hate them? Done many? Any good tips to share? 

Treasures of Childhood (Mixed Media)

This piece took a long time to complete, but I am very happy with the finished product! It started as the central 6x6 canvas, which I made in a class on glass bead gel and blogged about in this post. I knew I wanted to incorporate the canvas into a larger piece and searched for a long time for a house-shaped frame.  When I couldn't find one, I considered making one! Sanity prevailed, and I settled on using this picture frame and adding a drawer pull on top to at least suggest the house shape.  Matted and layered the canvas and then added five treasures from my stash. Took forever to select and arrange the treasures; project then stalled because my favorite adhesive (E6000) was dried out.  Quick trip to the hardware store; no E600 available.  Settled on super glue. So what do you think? If you like 3D art, you should check out the Gingersnap Creations 3D challenge this month, where I'm submitting this piece. By the way, three of the treasures are quite old (fifty years or so) and two are quite new.  Can you guess which are which?

Creating in my studio

When playing in my studio the other day, I decided to try to create my own Golden Paint Mixes, along the ones created by Michael DeMeng that I blogged about here.  I am pretty happy with this formulation, which I call "Halloween Night."  It gives the feeling of nighttime but is light enough to be able to create on top of it - a nice alternative to a straight black, I think.  I started with a wash of carbon black on top of a gesso'd ATC (for texture).  I wiped off a lot of the black and then swooshed/pooled on a wash of Hansa Yellow and dried it.  When it was completely dry, I added a wash of transparent iron  oxide.  Do you think I'm on the right track?

And because I'm worried that things are getting too dark & creepy here on the blog, here's a quick art journal page I made in the studio today.  I used the Creative Therapy prompt, "What was your first kiss?" Mine was in first grade with a boy named Michael Tarbox.  I still remember it very strongly (and fondly). Feel like sharing yours?

Speaking of the studio I work in, have I mentioned that we rent it from a woman who makes specialty cheesecakes?  Her creations are true works of art.  Check out this link to see her wedding cake gallery.  A wonderful side-benefit for me is that the studio always smells fantastic! Plus, she will often share "left-overs" with my weekend classes if she has any available!

The Butterfly Seller at the Mercado (Dias de los Muertos Nicho)

In addition to Halloween, I also really enjoy creating art for Dias de los Muertos, a celebration in the Latino community which has its roots in All Souls Day and is a way of honoring our ancestors and those who have recently passed away.  "Nichos" are scenes featuring skeletons, as a way of poking fun at Death and thinking affectionately of those who have passed away.  I've starting making nicho frames out of plaster wrap, and this is my first finished nicho.  It's a market scene. And who do we find in the market?  The Butterfly Seller, a recurring figure in my art.  She began her life in this post, and I really enjoy it anytime she makes a return visit.  I've found that some people have a strong negative reaction to Dias de los Muertos, so I apologize if you find this disturbing.  For me it really is a positive cultural celebration.  Your thoughts welcome as always!

September Lessons (part 1)

So, I started a new class, "Learn Something New Everyday" at Shimelle.com.  Although I'll be creating pages for it everyday, I don't want it to take over my blog, so I'll just post a bunch of pages every few days or so.  I'm using a stack of 4.5"x6.5" chipboard pieces which have been covered with Basic Grey paper.  You can see the front and back covers in the top picture above. For each daily lesson, I'm just embellishing with a simple stamped image. I'm hoping it will be a good way to get reacquainted with my huge stamp inventory.  Each day, I'm making a list of the various lessons I learned that day on my ipad and then will choose one lesson to feature each day.  Here's my first two lessons:
1.  You never know how long a task will take.  I've been putting off renewing my drivers license because I thought it would take forever, but I did it online today in two minutes. One more good reason not to procrastinate.
2. Time does help the heart to heal.  It's been a year since Buster's been gone and while I still miss his gentle presence and wildly wagging backside, I no longer think I catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye or instinctively glance around for him first thing in the morning or when I come home.
And here's some lessons learned that didn't make the journal:
* You never know what you will find when you clean up. I've been organizing my craft desk and found a brand, new, unopened set of acrylic stamps (soccer-themed). I vaguely remember buying these last spring!
*I am actually okay with summer being over. I'm happy to have the kids back in school and to be getting back into a routine after all the fun freedom of summer.
*Clara and I really do wear the same size shoes. When I picked her up from school today, I noticed she was wearing my new Van's!
*It's okay to change plans. I had planned to drive up to work today but decided to stay home and play because it was such a gorgeous, sunny day and because I had not pressing business.
*Plaster dries really fast in the sunshine. Living on the foggy coast, it takes forever some days, but today it was a joy to work with!

First Day of School: the bigger picture

School started for the kids last Wednesday, and there's some details I want to jot down before I forget them.   But, before I go there, let me note the bigger picture:  I am so grateful I have these two wonderful, healthy children in my life.  I'm not sure how we got so lucky, but I thank God we did.

Clara is such a funny mix of independence and clinginess.  She wants to do most everything for herself but will still give me a hug when she hasn't seen me for a while. She's very conscious of her appearance, and she just got her hair straightened before school started.  She also had her first facial and a consultation with my estetician so she could learn about how to take care of her skin and about the proper types/ways to wear make up. She's going to continue swimming and working with her math tutor this fall but feels pretty confident about school. She loves to text her friends, play with her cat, watch DeGrassi on TV, read Judy Blume and beg us to get her another pet (usually a dog). She takes the bus to increase the amount of social time she has with her friends.

Henry is such a young man. He loves to practice driving and has become quite good at staying on top of his own schedule. He's finally self-motivated about personal hygiene. He still wants me to drive him to school everyday but is content to take the bus home. He's looking forward to fall baseball and the start of soccer season. He talks to friends on facebook and sometimes via texts. He's following the S.F. Giants and hopes they make the playoffs.  He likes to watch silly reality shows on MTV and loves hip-hop music.