taking a break....

Sometimes you have to take a break. Between my intense spring cleaning...organizing and all...Getting ready for my exhibit in March...and other projects on my plate, my pal Connie and I decided we would take a class at Pergolina's from Anna Corba. It was 3 hours but it was such a welcome break...a way to keep the juices flowing, the ideas coming, and just doing what I like doing most with no pressure.  We got some swell shortcuts from Anna, enjoyed some vino, and had lots of fun.  

After collaging the cover and backside (I had brought one of my hand painted photographs for the cover) we brushed beeswax over it, sewed the spine into place and voila...A cool booklet that can be used for quotes, pics or whatever.

Here's Connie's

Thanks for a fun class Anna...

my peeps...

Today I received Stampington & Company's next (February, March, April) issue of "Art Doll Quarterly" with my article on "My Peeps". Peeps?...strange, little, unruly people with attitude and spunk.

happy handwriting day...

Today is Handwriting Day...What's that? Handwriting? Hmmm... I vaguely remember that word...

I remember when I was in school 'penmanship' was important. I really loved my  handwriting classes where the curves and lines my pen made rested comfortably on pre-printed lines. The upgrading from pencil to pen to fountain pen were highlights in my childhood. And to this day, a pen can make my blood pressure rise. 

Beyond that there is something I noted this past week while cleaning out drawers and closets and boxes of 'stuff'. I was determined to discard things I did not need. I had decided to be relentless...some of this stuff HAD to go. Among the clutter I found myself reading each and every card that was handwritten...a note, a message, a love drop written by hand, evoked in me an image of the person who wrote it. That emotional thread made it impossible to discard any card from my husband, parents, kids, friends...how could I take that little bit of them...and throw them away. IMPOSSIBLE...

So I resolved myself to take the time this year to jot off a hand handwritten note to those who mean so much to me.  Though email communication is fantastic, no denying it...(in fact any kind of communication is fantastic!)...I was moved this week to remember just how wonderful it is to receive a hand written note from someone you care about. You know how much fun it is to get a humorous card in the mail with a little note from someone you miss? I'm doing it...hope you will too...

Just in case you didn't know...January 23rd was chosen because this is the birthday of John Hancock. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence and he's known for his bold, large signature. 

Look what I just found in my closet. My old Penmanship book from Grade 4. 

 

Click here for a fun Handwriting analysis personality test...

word of the day...redundancy

 Nothing like starting off a new year with your computer freezing up and your backup drive starting to beep...the beep of death...Thank goodness I believe in redundancy. With all the images I have, some of them in huge formats, I have always backed up my computer on 2 other drives. But last year, I invested in Carbonite...and let me tell you, it was well worth the yearly investment of $54.95. (Honest I don't work for them...it's just a good thing I wanted to share.) It put my mind at ease because everything on my computer was backed up and I could pull it up easily. Being redundant really pays off, even if you decide you just load those precious images onto an external hard drive, you need to back up your files before you lose them.

I also used a really cool site today called Dropbox. I've used other sites like this before, but I really like how easy this was to take a huge file and drop it into a box for the other person to pick it up. 

Now...onto other things, like making art. It feels really good to take a paint brush in hand, layer papers, maps, ephemera, paint chips and top it all off with one of my images (that I rescued from being lost in cyberspace, due to my relationship with redundancy. 

Here's a few of the tableaux I finished over the weekend with Valentines Day in mind. There are others that you can see  in my etsy store if you so desire.

We're doing some painting around the house...some fixing and some organizing. I can feel it...this is the year to clean out and organize stuff...I'll keep you posted on how that's going. Hope you are getting stuff you need to get done also...It's a good beginning to a brand new year.

goodbye 2010...hello new year