MMSA outgoing horses

I'm trying to get a few swaps ahead cause I'm going to San Diego the last weekend of the month to visit with my old long-time CQ pal Julie. The latest theme is horses and I wanted to be sure not to miss this one as I've been a horse person my whole life, from collecting plastic horses and galloping around on my hands and knees, to riding lessons at 10 years old, thru hunter/jumper competition in my 20s, to trail riding in my 30/40/50s.

When we moved up here from SD, I left behind my horse source, my friend Babs and her wonderful stable of horses. I missed them terribly when we first got up here, but then my hip got so bad that I expect I would have had to quit riding anyway. So I haven't been on a horse since February of 2007, but once acquired, it's an itch you never completely scratch.

Print of cave drawings on gelli print background with stamped word.
I loved this drawing when I first saw it and knew it needed to be on a card.

My hand drawn version of a drawing I saw online.
Love the black on the colorful gelli background.

My hand drawn and painted version of a famous cave painting.
The background is a failed attempt to boil flowers
pressed between sheets of paper, a la Laura Ryan.
See second article on this page.

Goofy yawning magazine horse on a gelli background with
gelli circles all over the place.
This is the oddest of the lot and the one I like the best.

flowers in the house

I follow Jane at SmallButCharming, who posts cats, food, gardens, and hosts Flowers In The House, which I have enjoyed in the past but never managed to participate in.

I love the idea and I love flowers in my house, but I'm usually too lazy to pick them and too cheap to buy them. However, at the store yesterday they had an all white bouquet that I couldn't resist. I added in some tea tree from the back yard, stuck in all in a big white jug, and I love it.

The flowers normally live on the kitchen counter since that's where we hang out, but that area isn't real conducive to pretty pictures so I shot them on the little table in the entryway. It gets nice morning light and already has some interesting things on it.

Click thru her link and visit everyone's Flowers In The House!

MMSA outgoing

Time is the theme for this one.
I only made one card for this swap cause
I didn't have any other good ideas.
I like this one with the different words
having to do with time, instead of numbers.

Karen of MMSA fired up her swaps for the new year and I spent this afternoon getting the first couple done.

These next three are for the Aqua and Orange swap.
Talk about perfect - that's my favorite complimentary color combo.
I used gelli prints as backgrounds, then did various things on top.
This one makes me think of Aboriginal drawings.

Love how the orange dots leap off the card on these two.

hers and mine

I've been swapping postcards with an artist named Connie Rose for a while now and have accumulated a nice collection of her art. I thought it would be fun to look at a few of what I sent her and what I got in return. We've done many more swaps than this but these are the ones that are scanned and ready to post.

If you're reading this, you like art. Scare up another art friend to swap postcards with. I can't tell you how much fun it is to find one of these in my mailbox a couple times a month!

Ransom Note - first card I sent where all the letters fell off cause
I'm a moron and used a glue stick instead of gel medium. 

Ransom Note - card Connie sent me.
The background is heavily painted and very textural.
Love the pops of red.

Ransom Note - the second card I sent where everything stayed ON!

Round - card I sent Connie, all gelli prints. I immodestly love this one
and almost made another to send but then came to my senses and mailed it off.

Round - card Connie sent me. That's an excellent saying to remember.

White - card I sent Connie. 

White - card Connie sent me. Love this one, the old numbers, the wrapped up books.

AJC14 digi collage pause...

I've resisted the one little word thing since I first heard of it, firstly (and mostly) because I suck at resolution type things, and, secondly, because I couldn't think of a word that really encompassed enough of what I wanted a new year to be. It seemed confining somehow.

But as I was going thru this first day of the year, I found myself pausing to scan the 6am sky for the last stars, to breath the crispy air more deeply as I waited for the dog to piddle on our walk, to read thru a poem a second and third time, to pick up that painted paper I got in a swap and really look at the colors.

So' pause...' is my OLW for 2014. Pause... before I speak that unneeded remark, before I go inside for the night to look at the sky one more time, before I walk past that stranger without a quick smile, before a lot of things - most things, probably, for me, because I'm a hurrier. Gotta get this done, no matter how pleasurable it may be, so that I can get on to that. Hurry to work, hurry home, hurry thru saying hi to the animals, hurry thru that really good book so I can get to the next one cause they're piling up on the shelf.

I'm going to pause... a bit more this year.

To plant the thought firmly in my mind, I made a digital collage.

AJC 2014 digital collage #1

Tangie is doing the Art Journal Caravan one last year and then it'll all be over. Right now the cost is $39.95 which you get back in the form of credit to use in her shop. If you like to do digital journaling, or want to get started in it, this is a deal you shouldn't pass up.

I recently made my first collage using the initial kit you get when you sign up. When I don't do it for a while, I forget how much fun digi collaging is. You can't make a mistake - the ink never runs, the paper doesn't tear, the glue stick doesn't get all over the place (or is that just me?) - and you can try any number of effects before settling on the ones you like best. It's very cool.

There's no deep meaning to this piece (I don't do deep), I just used elements I liked and played around with blending modes, levels and hues until it seemed 'done' to me.

Double click to embiggen the collage so that you can really see the detail.

couldn't have said it better...

Frieda Oxenham wrote what I would write about the turning of the year if I were half as well-read, a third as philosophically inclined, and a quarter the writer she is, AND lived in Scotland to get those great photos.

Well done, Frieda, and I encourage you all to go read her excellent post and enjoy her lovely ancient graveyard images.

Best wishes to all who pass this way for a 2014 in which you find peace and contentment.