"Making Moonshine..."

...in pint sized packages...

just perfect for

popping into a pretty purse or a pant pocket

or

a plastic protective ATC page...

ready for a Muse to imbibe for the sheer pleasure

of it.
Each vintage has been packaged under its own

private label...signed by the designer

and

has been sent directly from the manufacturer to

the "Light of the Moon" swap

at Illustrated ATCs. :)

"Full Moon White Tank Mountains"
"Saguaro Sentry"

"Midnight Arroyo Magic"

...and lastly,

"Through the Mesquite...Painted Desert".

♥

So...

why not sit back and relax,

sip in some of this prickly desert warmth,

and celebrate in style this last

Cactus Monday

of the month of January.

(BTW...

If you are in the mood...

a larger portion of desert heat can be requested

by simply clicking on each image.)

"Here's looking at you, kid!!"

~Rick ( Humphrey Bogart)

Casablanca...1942

"As Promised..."

...my cards (above) traded

in the 3 Part Rainbow Swap at Illustrated ATCs...

...and my returns, sent in three separate mailings,
the final of which was received
last week...:)
YAY!

Click on images to enlarge...:)

"El Arbol De La Vida..."

..."a tree of life"...

inspired by old world Mexican ceramic folk art

and drawn and colored with a

"Waterblossoms" twist

in my trusty old black spiral sketchbook.

Psst...

my Muse had such great fun with this one...

that she keeps begging me

to make some more...hint hint...wink wink! :)

Click here

to read about the interesting history

of this beautiful art form.

(You can also click on the image above to enlarge...)

"There is always Music amongst the trees

in the Garden,

but our hearts must be very quiet

to hear it."

~Minnie Aumonier

"For All Who Battle Demons..."

...whether they be a physical,

mental, spiritual, emotional, financial or any

other menacing type of force...

this

"Tree of Life: Hope"

is posted here today in honor of several

special individuals

in my life

who are enduring painful physical struggles.

Several are engaged in

hand to hand combat with cancer.

This is posted also

as a reminder to each of us

that

whenever things in our lives turn in a downward spiral

we are not alone.

There is a whole battalion of family,

and of loved ones,

and armies of friends, acquaintances,

and

ordinary everyday people...some of whom

we might not even know...

but

all of whom are people who

genuinely care and stand at the ready

like a mighty tree

offering shelter in a dark frightening forest.

These are the people who will pray for us

and

who will champion our cause

and

who will bolster our spirits

with wishes of

strength and hope...for body, mind, soul, and heart.

I am one of those.

Grab on to one of our branches

and feel fortified, comforted, and soothed.

We are here for one another.

We are each others

best support and softest place to fall.
We have deep roots in faith and hope and love

It is our gift to you.

(For LEG and family ♥)

"Lord save us all from...

a hope tree

that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms."

~Mark Twain

"Hope

is that thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

and sings the tune without the words

and never stops...

at all."

~Emily Dickinson

"Oooo...Look at What I Found..."

...blooming

in my local U.S. Postal office today!

They are the newly released

Chinese Lunar New Year "forever" postage stamps

which

are celebrating the year of the rabbit....:)

They are absolutely scrumdilly-icious!

Hmmm...

why make it a really special Blooming Tuesday

and

pick up a bunch for yourself?

♥
“Be like a postage stamp.

Stick to one thing until you get there.”
~ Josh Billings

American Humorist, 1818-1885

"A Cactus Inspired Heart..."

..."Au natural" :)

...and then digitally flipped.

This is one of the 16 artist trading cards I made

and traded last week

during

the Illustrated ATCs Art A-Thon weekend.

My returns

have now started to filter in...YAY!

I will post them all as a group in a blog entry,

hopefully,

by the end of this month.

For now...

Happy Cactus Monday all!

♥

"A New Series..."

...for the brand new tree swap over

at Illustrated ATCs.

Introducing first, "Tree of Life...Abundance"...
second, "Tree of Life...Challenge"...
following with "Tree of Life...Spirits Ablaze"...
and, lastly, ending with
"Tree(s) of Life...Bare Bone Reality".
Each has been drawn, painted,
signed, sealed,
posted today, and hopefully delivered to Canada
on time before their February 1st
swap deadline.
Whew!
Where in the world has January gone???

"Round Three...Jella's Moly..."

...Jella's sign in pages...
...Jella's pages 1 and 2...
...Jella's pages 3 and 4...
...Lisa's pages 5, 6 and 7...
...my page 8
intertwined and spiralling in connection
with a few of Lisa's green swirls...
...Lisa's page 7 and my pages 8 and 9...
look closely and you can see the edges of each page...
...my pages 9, 10 and 11...
a happily nesting peacock in full zentangled glory...
...and finally my page 11 and my page 12...
where Cindy Michele
will connect with her sequence of designs.
Lastly, how about a peek at some
real life photos taken
just before Jella's book was shipped December 29th.
Jella's sign in pages (above)
followed by...
...Jella's four design pages linking to Lisa's...
...Lisa's design pages linking to mine...

...and my design pages

ready to be linked in the next round...:)

Voila!

Here is a view of the entire book thus far...

it is simply delightful.

And...

I am happy to say that

it is now officially all signed and sealed

and delivered...

(with a USPS confirmed delivery December 31, 2010)

to Cindy in Tennessee.

WooHoo!

(Click on any image to enlarge...)

"Great things are not done by impulse...

but by a series of small things

all brought together."

~Vincent Van Gogh

"My Day With Dad...

...last Friday began predawn when Scott and I

left Surprise

and headed for mom and dad's

arriving

bright and early at 7:00 am.

Scott stayed with mom...taking down outside

Christmas lights

and running some errands

as

Dad and I then headed into Scottsdale

for a day of pre-admission

medical routines he had to undergo prior

to his surgery this Wednesday.

We spent a lot of time

in a lot of different waiting rooms.

We talked and waited...and laughed and waited...

and "people watched" and waited...

and

then...waited some more.

Dad dozed a bit and I drew a lot.

I even got asked at one point if I was an artist

or maybe an illustrator...

Hmmm, go figure.

I guess

it was the open sketchbook in my lap

that gave me away...LOL:)

It was a long day...and absolutely not the

most comfortable of circumstances

for my dad...

but I wouldn't trade our "together time" away for

a million dollars.

Spending time with my dad trumps all!

(This was drawn...lead free...in my Zen Journal...

healing mandala and all.

Click on image, if you like, to enlarge.)

“Time is at once

the most valuable and the most perishable

of all our possessions.”
~John Randolph

"The 3 Part...12 Card Rainbow Swap.."

...at Illustrated ATCs.

...Hot Pink...
...Hostess Card...
...Red...

...Orange...

...Yellow...

...Green...

...Hostess Card...

...Blue...

...Indigo...

...Hostess Card...

...Purple...

...and lastly, the entire Rainbow...:)

What a beautiful page these made in my collection.

They have now individually flown

to collections

around the world...'tis truly bittersweet...

I miss you girls! :)

"Somewhere over the rainbow,

skies are blue,

and the dreams that you dare to dream

really do come true."
~Lyman Frank Baum

"First Impressions..."

...can run really HOT or extremely COLD.

Maybe

it's best to step back a bit and view things

from a distance...before imprinting

our brains with

with hasty conclusions.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression

by saying something,

and sometimes one creates

as significant an impression by

remaining silent.”
~Dalai Lama

"It's Amusing Sometimes..."

...to think about

how one thing leads to another.

That is exactly what happened here.

This started out in November

with the tree...

and was leaning itself toward a snowflake design.

Then

I abandoned her for over a month.

Magically,

she somehow morphed her way last night into

another mandala

with intertwining natural accents.

I flipped it just for fun.

I am sure my Muse was most amused...:)

Tee Hee..:)

“The most potent muse of all is our

own inner child.”
~Stephen Nachmanovitch

"From the Inside Out..."

...a healing mandala.

Drawn in my Zen journal lead free...ink straight in...

while

balancing book, pens, and composition in my lap.

This is

a first in a new series for a new year...

and

just what the (art) doctor ordered...LOL...:)
Rx: let loose...

make mandalas as needed...repeat daily...

add music if desired.

Side effects:

shapes may not appear as they are in real life:

be alert to frequent bouts of

"wonkiness"...and audible sighs of "Ahhh!"!

♥

"I Treated..."

...myself this past holiday

to the publishing of my blog over at Sharedbook.

I saw the idea on Lynn's blog here...

and the rest was history.

Above are pictured the volumes from 2008 and 2009.

Yes, I will be publishing my 2010

volumes soon!

Thanks Lynn for the great idea and the link.

I am very pleased with this product!

♥

It is fun to note that

my first blog post ever was a cactus...

you can see it on the cover of Volume One

on the far right.

So, then, I think it is only fitting

and perfect to wish each and everyone today

a Happy Cactus Monday, too!

:)

"Aspirations And Intentions..."

...see both sides...

take long deep breaths...celebrate daily...

share my journey...

make simple things special...expand my soul...

greet difficulties with patience...

feed all my senses...be inspirational...cherish...

make someone laugh till they cry...

embrace change...dance with delight...be in the moment...

weave lasting memories...

color outside the lines...make a difference...

say what I need to say...linger in beautiful places...

be remarkable...face fears...

love living...♥

Illustration Friday Prompt: Resolutions

"One resolution

I have made, and try always to keep,

is this:

To rise above the little things."

~John Burroughs

"Character

is the ability to carry out a good resolution

long after

the excitement of the moment

has passed."
~Cavett Robert