We Are Off and Running!

 A few of my art girlfriends...

actually 21 of us...

unofficially kicked off our first ever Artist Trading Card

summer art project today.

We will each design 20 cards

 this summer and fall

and get back together February 1, 2014 and trade

them with each other.

Knowing this group...I am certain that

ice cream cones,

wine, good eats, and lots of laughs will be involved...

almost every step of the way.

My mandala shown here

is entitled "Circle of Friends"...and was made

quite some time ago...

way before this project was even

in the wind.

I thought it a perfect complement

to the spirit, 

enthusiasm, and positive wide-eyed anticipation

 that bound

our little group together today.

I am delighted and tickled pink that my artistic Muse

has found

so many kindred spirits with which to artfully play...

a "Circle of Friends"...indeed!

"A desire to share creative expression with others

and to find

peace, joy, and perspective

in mining the depths of my internal world …

makes me an artist."

~D.A. Hickman

Happy Earth Day...

"Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

All things are bound together.

All things connect."

~Chief Seattle, 1855

Pattern Play...

..."Geisha style"...

made by laying paint straight in...

following up with black inked pattern work...topped of with

white ink from my brand new Uni-ball Signo pen.

This whole piece is totally lead free.

I think geishas may become an obsession...

two more still to reveal...:)

Sayonara!

"It is not for Geisha to want.

It is not for Geisha to feel.

Geisha is an artist of the floating world.

She dances.

She sings. She entertains you.

Whatever you want.

The rest is shadows. The rest is secret."

~Sayuri (as an elderly woman)

 Memoirs of a Geisha

(a 2005 film...directed by Rob Marshall)

Intuitive Faces...

...drawn in my red Hand.Book sketchbook

on watercolor Thursday...last week in studio one 

while painting with 

 my Arizona art club girlfriends...:)

Each smaller face was drawn lead free...fast and intuitively...

five minutes or so start to finish...

paint first...then ink.

There is more depth to them than shown here...

the scanner

seems to have dissolved much of the color.

BTW...

the larger face was made ink first...then color...

still no pencil...anywhere...:)

“You use a glass mirror to see your face;

you use works of art to see

your soul.”

~George Bernard Shaw

Amidst the Haste to Escalate Situations...

...should be this powerful thought to ponder:

 

"Peace is not a relationship of nations.

It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul.

Peace is not merely the absence of war.

It is also a state of mind.

Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people."

~Jawaharlal Nehru

A Foolish Thought to Ponder...

They say that

"A rose...is a rose..is a rose..."

or...is it just me...

doodling and dallying...having some zen filled

sloshing, splashing, fiddling, diddling,

water coloring playtime???

Quite possibly 

it might be a whimsical bit of both...Happy April all!
And...
Happy 7th Birthday sweet Myles!!!

"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

~William Shakespeare