Small pieces are so much fun! You can let your creative spirit fly without worrying about cost if you mess up. This piece is 6"x6". It was an experiment that didn't work so I over fused, covered with amber shellac and gold mica then lit it on fire. It has a really nice feel to it. Rich and mysterious. I am really wanting to go big but it is such a committment in materials that I do a stutter step each time I look at the bigger panels. I need to sketch, sketch and then sketch again to come up with solid starting points to gain the confidence to just do it.

This is Sunday night. It will be two weeks yesterday since I took my truck to have the tire and wheel replaced. They had to come from Ohio. Evidently the previous owner of my truck had very exclusive tastes when it comes to tires. I knew they were gorgeous but had no idea they were impossible to replace.

A peek into the studio.

I am sharing images from my one of my work spaces. I have set up an area to do encaustic and found object assemblage. This small shelf is getting a little crowded with items that need to be used instead of sitting in the studio/garage. Some of these items were truly found. On the street, at an estate sale, under an old house, lots of places if you keep your eyes open to possibilities.



Another picture showing things I love, books an tins. I love vintage and just down and out old tins. Some of these need to moved into the house an used as containers for wonderful small collections. I have soooooo many old books. Love to use the pages as backgrounds and the dictionaries are great sources for small pictures and words for jewelry and small pieces. The little snowman peeking out of the basket will be coming into to the house soon and helping to celebrate the holiday season.



This is my attempt to be organized. It has helped to have a lot of my small items grouped in these plastic bins. It is not however very appealing aesthetically. But the ability to pull out a bin, search, pull out another, search, pull out another, search is priceless.

Hope you have enjoyed these spots in my studio/garage. I was afraid of long range pictures because they are so chaotic. I am a pull, use or place aside kind of artist. The top of my work tables are always a mess. I clean before I work not after.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning. Cat Stevens

Movies, movies, movies!!!!

A great movie about John Lennon. Loved him, wished Paul had been cuter. This is a great trailer which delivers some of the emotion of the movie, although the real story being told is about his relationship with his aunt and mother. It does tell the story of how he came to be a musician and his meeting Paul and George. Highly recommend this movie,



My son picked this movie and I was interested. The trailer does not give an accurate feel for this movie and its contents. I liked the movie but after the startling beginning moves very slowly and calmly to its end. All the characters are very good people quietly trying to find their way. It is a good story and I loved the french being spoken(subtitles let you know what is being said). I am not sure if this movie produced and directed by Clint Eastwood is good or bad. I never felt like leaving but I was very conscience of time passing. It is about 70 minutes long. The ending felt contrived. If you believe in the life death experience this is a movie you will enjoy. This is not a thriller, scary, action packed movie. It is soft spoken statement about personal beliefs in life after death and someone's ability to live with a psychic ability to bridge that gulf. If you love Matt for Bourne Identity do not see this movie.

Delay in posting.

Sorry its been so long between posts. Every time I sat down to write, the phone would ring and it would be some small emergency. I won't bore anyone with details but it always required me leaving the house, making several phone calls and spending money. So I now sit apprehensively waiting for another shoe to fall.


Finally got the blade changed on my saw. It took finding the manual online to figure out how to replace it. Mechanical devices can be so complicated. I have cut several pieces of lumber to use in some encaustic pieces. They were cut at random without measuring.


Hopefully, I will be able to produce some work that makes me happy. Those are pieces that seem to resonate with my audience.



"Nowhere man please listen."

Second Place or in the middle?

This piece took second place in the mini show of my local art group. It was displayed with a differnt orientation so the ribbon was on its side. Laughingly said I would have to go bigger to win. If you win you have to sit out a meeting and you get twenty-five dollars for art supplies. I think its better to not win and keep showing work although the money is not to be sneezed at. This piece is 12"x12" encaustic on a cradled wood substrate. It has multiple layers of depth using a primer of alcohol inks and oil paints between layers of wax. I then placed the ribbon of red in an inscribed line, scraping the surface to reveal its fluid motion. The white was stenciled and brushed on last to keep some texture.



Had dinner Wednesday with my artist friends. We drew Day of the Dead Skulls. This was the keeper after several versions that mostly looked like aliens. I love the eyes with the surprised look to the side. I did have trouble with the mouth. It probably needs more but I tend to be very simple in my designs and have left it alone. It was a fun excercise in fantasy drawing. I also enjoyed the converstation and relaxation.


After I finish this post I need to get dressed and to finish the floor in my mother's house. We pulled up really nasty carpet to reveal nice wood floors. There was however this awful black foam padding that had been stapled to the floor. So after three days of removing quarter round, removing carpet, removing padding, removing staples, removing tack strips, replacing quarter round we can now see what we can do to clean and finish the floor. So much better than the stinky nasty carpet even after all the hard work. Now if we could do something about the ceiling it would be a wonderful room. I just don't have enough upper body strenth to hold panels over my head. We will have to call in the guys for that task.

Can I hang it and say complete?

I have worked and worked this piece. Tried techniques that failed. One was using clay ball to create craters. Hard to dig the stuff out. I tried to fuse with sunshine on a very hot day. This was not good for an easily distracted person who left the wax out too long and it went molten. Then just raked across it randomly, creating gouges. Covered the whole thing with wax and then started scraping. Have received interesting comments regarding where it is today. Do you have some pieces that just can't be finished to your satisfaction? The problem with wax is there are about twenty layers of encaustic on this thing. I have too much invested to just put away. Or is it just hopeless to think every piece can be pulled together?

I left my digital camera in my truck and my truck is in the shop. I stupidly hit a curb, ruined my wheel and tire, and possibly something else. The body shop has to look at it for several days to diagnose and let me know what needs to be done. I am taking pictures with my phone. They are not bad but I would rather use the digital.


My phone does have cool apps to filter pictures and make them more interesting but you don't want to do that with art that you are trying to make public. Your dog and friends however can look so much more interesting.

The encaustic workshop did not make so I had time to kill today. It was so nice because everyone left to do other things and I had the house to myself. I watched a very intersting movie called "The Bloom Brothers". I am not a big fan of Adrien Brody but I love Mark Ruffalo. Enjoyed sitting still in the middle of the day with my dog in my lap. I also had to admit that fall is here and summer blooms are fading away. There is work to be done to clean up all the pots and get some fall color with mums.

I found the book that I had been looking for. It is an architectural design book with a lot of interesting profiles. When I was looking for it I knew exactly what I needed and was sure it was in the book. Now that it is found I'm not so sure. I have an ecaustic piece with a background from a picture I took in New York from the Empire State Building. I wanted to draw a man's business profile to be outlined in wax superimposed over the picture. Now I think I need to do something else. Maybe it will come to me as I fall asleep.

I'm still feeling the need to use Paul Klee as inspiration. The simplicity of his work with the power to send a message is what I would like to accomplish. I should have melted wax and gone for it but it did not happen today. Now, will I be selfish and do something creative or will I be nurturing and spend the day taking care of others needs? You never know how a day will turn. Maybe, I can do both.

It was John Lennons birthday recently and that made me think about the Strawberry Fields in Central Park and New York. He was so creative and followed his own path. He died young but he had done the things he was called to do. I jokingly tell everyone that I could die right now and it would all be okay. I have lived a good and full life. I still have a lot to say (definitely) and do (okay a lot of housework because you know that's how a woman is judged).

Okay, I know I ramble and am not cohesive in my posting. I am hoping that some sort of discipline will kick in and I will be more controlled in my thoughts when typing. There is just something that makes me want to let my fingers do the talking. Should I just mention a movie without talking plot? Can I just make a random statement withou details or how it affects other statements? Do I need to have a hurrah moment at the end of the post that ties everything together and makes the reader feel safe reading and not have to make connections for themselves. Am I trying to start conversations or feed information to a conversation?

Some people have actually read my posts and for that I am thankful. I have been in the habit of doing "morning pages" per Julia Cameron. That excercise is about filling three pages with thoughts to clear the path for creativity. This in no way fulfil that definition but the process had created this ramdom writing. I hope my readers will bear with me or give up and read more comprehensive blogs full of sunshine, poppies and bluebirds. ( I just have to be a little sarcastic every now and then...)

Peace, joy and happiness!

An unnecessary rusty lock.

Sometimes I feel like I'm doing things for the greater good of the world. Being an upstanding citizen by recycling, contributing my time and funds to worthy charitable causes, helping my family in ways that I am able. But then there are days I wake up and it is so much easier to throw the trash away instead of sorting and carrying it where it needs to be disposed of and being selfish with my time doing things that only make me happy and curb the freedoms of others. Still haven't decided what today will be. I have to take my mother grocery shopping this morning. She doesn't drive right now (may not ever drive again). This is not a choice unless I want to be hurtful to her. She would say that's okay. We can do it some other day. I can make do with what I have (peanut butter and crackers). Could I live with myself? The answer is no. I am not that selfish. I was selfish enough to not visit her yesterday and check to make sure she was okay. I visit her six days a week. Does anyone else visit? One of her granddaughters has visited twice since my mom moved back to our town. Is my mom living the life she caused herself by the decisions she made? Yes, most definitely. I am the person I need to be which includes thinking of others even if they are not who I want them to be or were who I needed them to be in the past.

The picture at the top of this post is my mothers front gate. A lock attached to the gate that in no way ensures security but has rusted in place. I love the look of this little lock and think that if the house ever gets sold could I take the gate. It represents for me the inability for me to secure my heart against transgressions (real or imagined) from my family. Hurts hurt. I do not hold anything against anyone for safeguarding their feelings. I just hope that in trying to keep your heart safe you are also not keeping your need to do good things also a prisoner. I also think you can get hurt when you least expect it, some small thing gets between the barriers and bam, you are down for the count....at least for a little while and then things get better.

This has been a most eye opening post for me. Surprises. When you start to write you never know where you might be led. I had stated that I wanted this blog to be about my artistic life but for some reason I am caught in the struggles of my personal life and my creative life is going well. I am instructing encaustic workshops the third Saturday of the months of fall. My art is selling in the local gallery. I am not blocked from creating. The hopelessness lies in my extended family. I know that I will push through and there will be good days and bad days. I also know that I have the power to try and make every day a good day.

This is how I feel this morning. My ankle started hurting yesterday. All the walking from the local festival and the state fair have not been kind. I will be taking it easy for a day or two. Maybe spending time in the studio/garage will be the answer to healing.

I love reading blogs and being inspired creatively by others. The ones I read are mostly by women. The list is very eclectic. Jewelry, fabric, and fine artists are all on the list. Then there are the junkers and re-doers. I love them all. Time flies and I find I have used up all my allotted computer time and left little time for my own blogging. I might get better at this if I started here first. I also feel guilty if I am inspired by another artists work. I always think if only I had spent more time creating I might have gotten here on my own without a short cut inspiration from someone else. Do any other artists/craftsmen feel that way?



Doing is way better than not doing and I feel sometimes I am truly unique in approaches to art. Because I am not a traditional realism artist I don't copy images in another medium but reinterpret the idea of the image with random materials. When i am take a lighthearted approach to playing my stuff/art just happens with joy. When I have the task of creating it is drudge work and just doesn't seem to make be cohesive. Does this make any sense to anyone but me?

Girls just want to have fun.....

selling artwork, does it bring happiness or loss?

SOLD!!!!

It is so hard to let go of my artwork. I like that some of it is in a gallery and has the possibility of selling but when informed that a certain piece sells I hurt a little bit. A piece of me is out in the world without me to care for it. Someone liked it enought to purchase but, will they care for it in a year or two. What if something happens to them and someone else has the responsibility of their life? But, if I kept everything it would only be crowded or possibly stored and forgotten. Having it out in the world is the best option.

I wish I could get the exact look I want for this blog. I really need to work on the images. They look washed out and not dramatic enough for me. I liked the formating but it needs tweeking. Really wish I had more time to spend on this and get it just right.

I have so much to do on the business side of life (not art). Will be on the run for a solid week with the promise of a month of go, go, go. My life is changing with my family in ways I wouldn't have imagined a year ago. Loss and moves...... I wish I had a better understanding of the way most people think. I find that I am very right brained and do not make decisions like most of the people I know. This causes a lot of strain in personal relationships. I hope that I am being the best person I can be under the circumstances. And really,,,, everyone I love to vent and express myself. Things need to be said and done to get on with life and move on to another subject.



Going to the State Fair today to celebrate my 36th anniversary! I do so love my husband and thank him for putting up with me and my craziness.

Tired body does not equal tired mind.

Yard work was the only thing I did yesterday. My mother's yard, which is small but has not been maintained properly. I took out a patch of major johnson grass in her backyard. Pulled what would come out and cut down the rest. I was majorly cautious because the last time I did her yard I came away with a major case of poison oak. Still puffy from the prednisone treatment. So I was covered quite completely and tried not to touch anything I didn't know. This made it a little slower process. I am hoping that with continued maintenance whatever caused the outbreak will die and go away. So far this morning no itching and redness.

The other yard was a rental property that was out of control. My tenant is a single mother and is moving out. She has had a rough year. I have to apologize for the way this yard looked. I also did not realize how bad the stickers are in the front yard. In two years they have overtaken the front yard. Will have to do some major weed control in the next year. If anyone knows any tricks to get rid of the demon seeds please let me know.

Now to the good stuff. The above photo is from the stuff my father-in-law kept out at the barn. It look better in person and probably would have looked better taken with a better camera. The Enclave (my wed. group) had a project to take a cheap throw away camera and take a series of pictures around a personal theme. Mine was "Abandoned and Forgotten". I took a lot of pictures of items out at the barn and in the pasture.
I love where I live which is good because we have lived here for thirty-one years. Its in a mid-size town (it was small when I was growing up). We are at most thirty minutes away from really good restaurants, art house movie theaters, museums, galleries, and the other good stuff in life, but when I walk out my back door i look at a small pasture and a railroad track. Yes my front yard is on a very busy street and lots of people pass my house daily. But the backyard has a huge pecan tree! I can't see my neighbors, although sometimes I hear them. I love where I live, however, I have been thinking I would like to move closer to all those things I mentioned before. The good stuff.

The smudge of charcoal.

Did this charcoal portrait in an art group workshop a couple of weeks ago. I like the eerie cadaver look of the gentleman. That is to say it looks nothing like the inspiration piece. But I am proud that you can say its a man. Drawing is not something I usually take the patience to accomplish.

My avant garde art group wanted to try the technique of laying a layer of charcoal and then lifting the image with a kneaded eraser. Most of the gang came over and played with charcoal. I am always amazed by the talent of this group. They have the tenacity to really work with the medium and perservere until they get the image they want. Last night I was displaying my ususal ADD and wanted to get through quickly.

I really like this last piece. My more organized class has issued a challenge regarding negative space. I'm not sure this what they had in mind but I feel it portrays the spirit of the negative. It is inspired by the work of Paul Klee. I may have to borrow this graphic for an encaustic piece.



I am so grateful that I have such good friends and they are a part of my life and artistic journey. The laughter and the love are a core ingredient to what makes us come back week after after but we are all brought together with a need to make art and be creative. And when I say make art, I mean art without limitations as to what art is. We accept the individual and the group creative work as art without judgement.

WooHoo Its Wednesday!

I am busy straightening up my stuido/garage for this evening. I have a very close group of friends that assembles every Wednesday for some creative mojo. We will hopefully have a cool evening and be comfortable. I have added some lighting to help with the visual because we are all getting older and the eyes seemed to be extremely affected by aging.


This is picture of the fence in my backyard. I found these planters at an estate sale and fell in love with the patina and rust. This is one of a pair on either side of a bird feeder. Didn't like the angle with all the pieces so chose to highlight this one. The birds seem to have left the area. I need to take the hummingbird feeders down and clean them to store for the spring. The other feeders will stay up for the blue jays and cardinals to eat. Now that it is cooler we can also hang some suet feeders for the woodpeckers. Its not a boring backyard. And we can always bring in the squirrels for entertainment. We have rabbits coming out from under the new deck. I would love to get a picture but they seem very timid and bolt at the sound of the door. Maybe some evening when I can really relax and sit outside and wait for them to appear. Wouldn't that be lovely. To sit and relax. A person can only dream.

How to title posts?

This blogging thing still feels so raw. I've read so many but still feel confused about expressing my own voice. I know its redudant to always speak about the conflict between personal and public speech. So please be nice and I will try to muddle through another posting.

Do posts need titles? Do you read posts based on the title? Could I go out on a limb and be very creative with how to introduce you to a post and then go completely red herring and write about other things, like politics, religion, being a mother, being a daughter? Do I need to constrict my thoughts to art, creativity and the wonderful joy of putting random thoughts together into prose? Yeah, being a woman in my 50's doesn't mean I have all the answers. I read blogs where statements of declaration are screamed that the writer knows who they are and wants to share their belief in how we should live. If they don't have art that inspires me I am not insprired by their words. A little bit of skepticism goes a long way with me. The person who is questioning will draw me into their dialogue and make me think instead of blocking their position with stubborn refusal. Yeah, this posting is getting a little weird.

So I think I scared myself with the above and need to relax and chill which is easily done this morning with a low in the high 40's. Yes, its so easy to fall back into comfort mode and not be real with my reader. And it is so like me to say I'm not going to be personal and only be about the artist and then bang like a gong I'm writing about my inner thoughts and wonderments. But is this for the reader or the writer? If no one ever comes to this site and reads then its for me and I can try to use the freedom to dabble in perspective but that can be a diverse and often conflicting train of thoughts. Which is to say like my life every f;;;;;;ing day of the week.

Love to love ya!

A Wonderful Saturday with my Daughter

I love the promise of a new anything and a new week do experience it. Nice cool morning, waking to the dark, knowing a good start to achieve the promise of creative joy. But then I see this little rectangle machine looking for love and i sit down and caress its keys. hopefully i will not get lost for too long.




I tried to work yesterday on finishing a few small items. Needed to attach some kind of hanging system. I love old chain but not sure if everyone else feels the same. Decided one needs to sit like a chunk and not be hung.


Went to the Cottonwood Festival in Richardson on Saturday with my daughter. It was very crowded. I hope the artists sold well. I did not buy anything. My purse strings are pulled tight right now. There were several artists who did get my attention. I loved the colors that were being used, bright and cheerful. Lots of oranges, turquoise, and reds. The one encaustic artist was brilliant. Twenty-five layers of wax with multiple scrapings. Her colors were also wonderful. Forgot to ask if she mixed her own from pigment or cakes. She was very open about her process. Huge pieces from cradled boards made special for her. Loved them. She also had some fabric collage that was to die for. How I wish I was dedicated to the studio every day.

Also went to the arts thing in Bishop Arts District (sorry can't remember correct name for this event). Lots of girl things. My daughter was much more interested in this event. She purchased some bangles made from recycle records. The artist was quick to say he did not use cool music. Its funny, the need to reassure someone that something they value was not harmed. I wanted to buy but cold not commit. Did get cards. Still a lot of jewelry being made from dictionary pages, game pieces and other ephemera. I was drawn to the jewelry that is asymmetrical. Small event but lots of fun. Looked at the bikes, really liked a robin egg blue lady cruiser but would have to ride that thing to town every day for the price.

My daughter introduced me to Indian Food!!!! I really liked it. Spicy but not too much. So much flavor. Unfortunately it upset my stomach. I just have to say I felt sorry for my dog who likes to sleep under the covers. Poor baby.

I need to take pictures as I go through my day. Did not take a single picture of the amazing day that I spent with my daughter. Do I need to make up one of those darling initial things for her. Or should I use her name? Will need to consult with her I guess.


These postings are a bit rough. I am using them as fodder for opening the door to my creative impulses. If you read them think kindly and move along to your own joy.

Peace and Joy.

A Public Life

It is quite a joy to find out I have a follower. Thank you for your interest. It is especially gratifying for it to be someone I admire as an artist and who has a very intriguing state of mind.

I also received some interest from facebook whos comments didn't make it to the site. Please comment thru fb. I have decided I am in a state of needed conversation regarding what I am doing. Yeah, narcissim rears it ugly head.

My public life (not as an artist) but as a dedicated public servant is about to become more in the forefront. I will be chairing a position on a city board due to the resignation of the properly elected chair. Not sure about this. Took the vice chair because I had seniority to a degree and was comfortable with the requirements but not sure I want this as a sign to the community that I want the POWER. I like being able to say what I think needs to be said. Oh well. Will just have to see how the whole thing plays.

Now on to some art stuff. Going to a local art fesitival today. My daughter will be with me. She has students that have art displayed thru the Richardson School District. Looking forward to time with the girl and the art.



The above is the encaustic work inspired by Klee. I really like the simplicity of the piece and the colors. It wasn't quite what I started out to do but like so much of the work it goes its own path if I step out of the way.

Yeah I am a doofus.

Last posting shows just how much I don't know about posting pictures or posts. The picture I used is upside down and is not even the actual picture I wanted. I posted view post instead of edit. There are so many nuances and I am so in a hurry. I need to slow down. I sat here for an hour and looked at the minutae of life and then decided to add my own, but did it so poorly.

I read a blog by the son of a friend. He never posts pictures and he only uses the blog as a task he has set for himesel. Should I take the same direction? I want to post but what exactly are my objectives? To be part of the mainstream blogosphere? I haven't informed anyone I know about this project because I want anonomity but is that secrecy helping me in any way. Should I just forget the personal crap and write about the laments of being an artist? I think yes. I will begin to really use the space to talk about my creative side and leave the personal PERSONAL.


So with that in mind I will share this with facebook and see what happens. Probably nothing and that is cool. I just want to write on this little laptop and have a record of how I am attempting an artistic creative life.

Spendtone day working with the wax. One piece I really like inspired by Klee. The one posted is something I have changed and change and changed. A ton of wax that's been fired on , left in the sun and scraped, painted and anything. Cannot decide if I like it or hate it. Will need to put away for about a month and look at it again. If anyone looks at this site please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I need criticsm to help me look at these pieces differently and learn how to improve.

Fall is beginning and is starting a rebirth?