Sugar Skull In Progress

 I've been  indulging my love for skulls and skeletons lately by putting them in almost every piece of art I create. This is a papier mache sugar skull in progress. Based on the sugar skulls made for the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico and on the papier mache often used to create Mexican folk art, this skull will be brightly painted once completely dry. It's my first attempt at a papier mache skull so am hoping I've done it right!

On a side note, my digital camera experienced an untimely death while in Niagara Falls with the boys.  Until I can get a new one I've resorted to using my phone camera for blog photos. I admit the quality isn't the best, but decided posting even mediocre photos was better than not blogging at all!

Sugar Skull Painting

Finished this small painting today. I love Mexican sugar skulls and day of the dead art. This is a mixed-media painting of a sugar skull.

Mixed-Media Painting

I finally finished this painting I started a few months back. It evolved and changed quite a bit during its creation. The final product is vastly different from the majority of my work. Mixed-media including paint, UTTE, nails and wire on wood panel.  for a peek at what it looked like before evolving into this, see the original post here

Filled Journal

I"ve filled another journal. Will be trying to get photos of all pages posted within the next few days. The photo with the skull in it is my journal cover. The cover was made from an old (and largely crappy) painting I had done on canvas paper. The outside of the cover is the backside of the canvas paper and the inside is the actual painting. But cutting it apart from the rest of the painting totally changed the look of it and made it far less crappy! I love being able to take something I made and wasn't thrilled with and re-purposing it into something I actually like.

Cooking As Art

I believe cooking is an art. Another way to express creativity & feed not only the body, but the soul as well. Pretty much every day I take time to bake bread from scratch. Today's loaf contains finely chopped ham& shredded cheddar. To me cooking mindfully is akin to a ritual.

Another Filled Journal

My most recent completed journal. This is the one I'd bring with me to my favorite Tuesday night journal spot so it took longer to fill than most!

Assorted Journal Pages

I was all tucked into bed, but unable to fall asleep as usual, so decided to scan in a few more journal pages to share. Two in the morning seems to be my "ideal" time to blog. I'm usually awake anyway so why not take a few moments to scan a few journal pages, write a paragraph or two and post? Maybe I've hit on my blogging routine at last. but I wouldn't count on it. I admit routine is not something I am good with! 


Today's Movie: Charlotte Gray   A WWII story about the French Resistance. Not bad, but not great either.
Today's reading: Town In a Blueberry Jam  A light, cozy mystery. takes place in coastal Maine, an area I'm quite familiar with. A fast, easy read to keep my mind off the pain.

Random Journal Pages

A few more journal pages that I managed to scan in today. There aren't many more from this particular journal to scan in and share. I've already made and begun working in another journal. A delightful book that I made with staggered pages, hidden pockets, envelopes for gathering life's ephemera and a cover created from a painting I started years ago on canvas paper but never finished.  I've been trying to get decent photos of the new journal to share, but my camera phone isn't cooperating and I can't locate my digital camera.  It's here somewhere, but I've been doing so much rearranging and spring cleaning I'm not quite sure where!


At the moment my kitchen is partially gutted, my living room is constantly being rearrange because I'm trying to get the furniture just right and I'm tossing/passing along things I no longer need so there's quite a few large trash bags and piles of "stuff" lying about. It sounds a bit chaotic, but it's actually pretty normal for around here. I use these types of activities as a distraction from my physical pain and I'm very impulsive. Anyone who decides to rip out their kitchen floor and start taking down walls at the spur of the moment must be impulsive, right?  Or crazy, but I'm sticking with impulsive because it sounds so much nicer.

The Terrible Blogger

I am, admittedly, a terrible blogger. Despite my good intentions, which just may pave the road to Hell as the old saying goes, I cannot keep myself in the blogging groove. The problem is I like face to face communication. I like speaking face to face and I like sharing art face to face. No matter how many times I vow to do better with keeping up with this blog, I don't stick with it. I'd rather be creating art, out exploring the world, living life.  Plus, I'm not one to tell the entire world much of anything about my life. Which is an issue if you have a blog I suppose.


That said, here I am once again at 2:00 AM scanning in journal pages and updating my blog.  WHY? Because I'm human, an artist and a woman. All three of these things make it so I have a need to share and a desire to stick with something I set out to do. In this case, sharing my art through this blog. I'm not making any promises. I won't tell you I'll stick to regular updates or posting even weekly, because I don't believe in false promises and knowing myself as I do, that would surely be a false promise. I'm here now and I'm ready to share. Take it for what it is, leave it for what it isn't. Frankly, I'll never know either way, will I?  If you do stick around and check back regularly I can assure you I will be back again. I simply can't tell you when. Consider that one of life's little surprises.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy, become inspired, feel disgusted by, whatever emotion suits you at the moment, these journal pages. They're in no particular order, they're just some of the ones I know haven't made their debut here before.


Namaste....

The Supervisor

It appears the Toby cat feels it's his right to oversee my journal sessions. It's probably the reason my legs hurt so much by day's end as well! Who else has a cat, or dog, oversee their creating? Frankly, I don't think I'd know what to do if I didn't have the cat walking allover my supplies,looking over my shoulder and just generally supervising my art making!