For me, this is what it's all about. Taking time to enjoy the process of creating artwork. Taking time to appreciate the little things in my day, relishing my life. 
This morning's collage is very appropriate considering how I am spending my time these days. I started out painting walls, which led to another redecorating splurge --- all because, if I think I can make it look better, I feel compelled to do it. The good news is that I love the look of the newly redecorated rooms; the bad news is that the weather is in the 60's here, and I haven't been outside playing in the gardens.
Spring is just around the corner! Even though I don't have any shoots emerging in the garden, my feathered friends are returning. This week I have seen cardinals, doves, and finches at the feeder instead of just the usual snowbirds. These are my spring favorites, mostly because they all nest in the yard, and we get to see the young ones at the feeder later in the year. Gardening season can't be far away!
This morning's collage is a great reminder to take charge of your artistic career --- set goals, prioritize those goals, and start on the steps to achieve them. It is equally important to limit those distractions that sidetrack you from reaching your goals. 
Urban Landscapes #12
I have been busy in the studio, even though I have only posted small morning collages recently. I have been pasting and painting and printing on two new collage series. The first series is titled "Numbers", and one of the collages is posted above. To see the entire series, please click here. These were created for the International Collage Exhibition & Exchange, but I do plan to add additional numbers to the series.
I am a "micro" artist --- I find inspiration in the details --- I take time to notice the little things that surround me. The photo above is the stack of cloth that I am working with for my new series. At the end of the day yesterday, I noticed the play among the colors and the random angles of the cloth edges. You couldn't arrange a scene like this in a million years!
The choices we make shape our lives. Seven years ago my Dad died, followed a year later by my Grammie. These were both very important people in my life, and I suddenly realized that life was far shorter than I ever thought. So I retired from my accounting career and became a fulltime artist. The monetary paycheck isn't nearly as good, but the rewards are unbelievable. I get up every morning, thrilled to be alive and head to the studio to "play" all day. Life doesn't get much better than that!
Oranges, Grapes and Limes (detail)
This fantastic journal arrived in my mailbox today --- a gift from artist Cynthia St. Charles as part of the ONE World-ONE Heart project. 
I have a Christmas cactus that was started from cuttings of a cactus that belonged to my Grammie, who is no longer alive. Every year it blooms in November and again at Christmas. I like to think that the November blooming is because Grammie's birthday was in November. But now the cactus is blooming again --- in February. It is covered with gorgeous hot pink blooms. What a wonderful burst of color in the middle of winter's snow white!
This is today's morning collage. I have been tearing bits of words out of magazines to use in these collages. With thoughts of Grammie on my mind, this phrase seemed perfect for this morning's collage. These mini collages (approx. 2"x3") are my morning warm-up exercise in the studio. They're not meant to be great works of art, but more of a jumpstart to my creativity each morning.
Twice a year Fabri-Quilt launches new lines of fabric, and Kansas Art Quilters is asked to make sample quilts for display at Market, using their new fabrics. Participating in this project is a huge leap of faith for me, because I don't normally work with commercial fabrics, and I don't get to see the fabrics ahead of time. Saturday my fabrics arrived, and the photo above is the fabrics that I will be using. I couldn't be more thrilled! I have already decided on a design, and I am anxious to get started cutting and stitching.
My artwork seems to cycle between working with paper and working with cloth. I enjoy both mediums, and many times they are combined in a piece of art. Recently I have been creating collages that include both paper and cloth, but today I felt a need to return to using cloth exclusively. The photo above is the start of three postcards. They will get stitching next; then a few layers of paint.
Beate Knappe, an artist in Germany, and I have traded small works of art a few times. The small piece above was part of a larger piece that wasn't working for her, so she cut it up into smaller pieces and started hand stitching on each of the small pieces. Because I do not do much hand stitching, I have a sincere appreciation for it in the work of others, and I easily fell in love with this little work of art. Beate's instructions to me were to "surprise her" for the trade, so I made the collage below and sent it off to her.
Puppies are so entertaining --- and so easily amused! Zeke thinks it is great fun to toss, chew, pounce and swat the empty roll of toilet paper. This will entertain him for about a half hour before he decides to start destroying it, at which point I take it away from him.
Swept Away
Typography.1
Fragments #7
"Love"
This is another round of knitted hats for the babies in the NICU at a local hospital. It's a good evening project to sit in a comfy chair and knit these little hats, and the nurses in the NICU are so appreciative, not to mention the parents of the babies. One Sunday in the New Baby section of the local newspaper, there was a hospital photo of a baby boy wearing one of my hats. Somehow that made it seem even more important to continue with this project.
This was made by using a square of mat board for the background. Then I added various cutouts of scrap mat board to the surface and covered the entire surface with crumpled tin foil using gel medium to adhere it to the mat board. The final layers are various colors of Lumiere paints. I can see unlimited possibilities with this technique!
I've been reading online about other artists working with crumpled tin foil and crumpled brown paper bags. Since I don't have any brown paper bags on hand, I decided to try the technique with tin foil. First you scrunch the tin foil, and there are degrees of scrunch to this technique. It works best to barely scrunch it, not totally crumple it into a ball of foil. Then you flatten it back out --- I used a wooden rolling pin for this step. Above is what the foil looked like after I flattened it and glued it to a piece of mat board.
This photo shows the same foil-covered mat board with some preliminary layers of paint added. I used Lumiere paints for this step. I can see using this technique to get a look similar to raku pottery --- which I love. The colors are much more brilliant than the photo shows, due to the glare of the flash.
(new placemat, pieced and ready for quilting)
