"The Zen of Three..."

...Zendala ATC cards, that is...(Yep! It's another new series!)

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.”
~Lao Tzu

"Roll Out the Barrels...!

...Happy Cactus Monday all!

May each of you have a barrel of fun today!

"Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel."

~William J. Clinton

"Layers and Threads..."

...Woven together by pen...then stamped with calligraphy..

...Cards #3 and #4

of my Chinese floral design ATC set.

“We all should know that diversity

makes for a rich tapestry,

and

we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry

are equal in value

no matter what their color.”
~Maya Angelou

"The Intersection Of..."

...Main Street and Brown...

right outside Bischoff's Shades of the West

in Old Town Scottsdale...

...wild, wonky, and whimsical...just like this drawing!

The area is a

riotous conglomeration of color, tourist attractions, shops, food, art,

music, carriage rides, trinkets, and treasures...

and it is all dressed up

in "old west kitch" with a splash of contemporary savvy

and a hint of old Mexican soul!

Drawn "lead free" while waiting for Scott.

"The traveler sees what he sees,

the tourist sees what he has come to see."
~G. K. Chesterton

"Really Wired..."

...all over my chest with sticky pads...electrodes attached...

...a gown "open to the front"...

waiting for my cardio stress echo to begin...

each resting heartbeat monitored

while

juggling my illustration watercolor journal in my lap,

...lines being drawn all funky and askew

with a pen running out of ink.

The sketch was made "lead free"...drawn in under 10 minutes...

and with no real pressure...right?! :)

It was then

painted at home..."barefoot, braless and blissful"...

with my BP back to normal...

on a gorgeous, but windy, sunny Arizona day

while

watching the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" Basketball coverage on TV

broadcasted from the Cardinal's Stadium

in Glendale Arizona.

Last, of course,

the image had to be "digitally" flipped here...

just to go along with the theme of my totally high tech digital exam...

and...

"just because" it's fun...(the exam...not so much!)

"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat

match the beat of the universe,

to match your nature with Nature."
~Joseph Campbell

"Mission accomplished...in a heartbeat!"

~Me :)

"Waiting...X 2..."

Two different days...

Two different Doctors...both on time...

Two locations on opposites sides of the valley...

Two weeks apart.

Two sketches...one journal spread...

Spending too much time waiting?

NOPE...

just not getting enough waiting time to sketch! :)

"How much of human life is lost in waiting."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A Bit of LOVE..."

...written in Chinese calligraphy

on a little bitty ATC card...

...The first in the "China Bloom" series...:)

I cannot stop designing these little treasures...

My brain does not turn off...

It is playing full speed and overtime in Fantasyland!

The "plan", as it now stands, is to design several series of cards...

with six cards to a series.

After that...I don't quite know what I will do with them!

(Some may be sent to Zazzle and made into cards or stickers...???)

Several people have offered to trade...

and I see that to be a wonderful summer possibility!

So...Stay tuned, if interested...:)

You can see all of them all here on Flickr...

Or, as a series...with # of cards completed thus far below:

Sunlight Series...3/6 completed

Branching Out Series...6/6 completed

Ancient Floral Design...2/6 completed

Desert Whimsy...2/6 completed

Time Zones...1/6 completed

China Blooms...1/6 completed

Blooming Desert...4/6 completed...1 gifted

"I like nonsense,

it wakes up the brain cells.

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living,

It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.

Which is what I do,

And that enables you to laugh at life's realities."
~Dr. Seuss

"Resting Buddha..."

...inspired by Serena's statue in Australia

(see the actual photo here)

and reinterpreted here as the Illustration Friday challenge:

"Legendary."

“Look famous.

Be legendary.

Appear Complex. Act easy.

Radiate presence.

Travel light.

Seem a dream. Prove real.”

~Author Unknown

"Happy 50th Birthday Serena...You Go Girl!!..."

~Me :)

"Cactus ATC Fun..."

"Artists

are just children

who refuse to put down their crayons."

~Al Hirschfeld

Have a blissful Cactus Monday...use ALL your colors today!

"New ATCS..."

...inspired by ancient Chinese floral design

and stamped

with a red dragon for a bit of fiery punch.

"The man who fights too long against dragons

becomes a dragon himself."
~Friedrich Nietzsche

"SURPRISE...!!!..."

...hey there, "SISTA"!!!

...an award from the "Queen of Blogging Soul" herself...

Soulbrush in London...
WooHoo!!!...How fun is this???!!!

And then...arriving last Monday via "snail mail"...

...was a delightfully lovely Cactus Monday ATC surprise

( L*O*V*E !!!)

received from Laurel at Studio Lolo.

She individually designed a special little 'Somethin' something"

for each

tried and true Cactus Monday

participant!

Now I ask you...how cool is that!!!???!!!

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise.

It is not that we seize them,

but that they seize us.”
~Ashley Montagu

"...Ain't Life Grand !???"

~Me

"At 4:44 Am...AZ Time..."

..."Spring has returned.

The Earth is like a child that knows poems."

~Rainer Maria Rilke

"If you've never been thrilled

to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom,

maybe your soul

has never been in bloom."

~Audra Foveo

"In springtime,
love is carried on the breeze.
Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head."
~Emma Racine deFleur

"Spring Fling #7..."

"Everything has rhythm. Everything dances."
~Maya Angelou

"Spring...An experience in immortality."

~Henry David Thoreau

"Spring Fling #6..."

...Take a breath...and exhale a long glorious "Ahhhh!"

"Spring won't let me stay in this house any longer!

I must get out

and breathe the air deeply again."

~Gustav Mahler

"Spring Fling #5..."

...Spreading creative wings...paint first...then ink! :)

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time -

a day to begin transforming winter's dreams

into summer's magic."

~Adrienne Cook

"Spring Fling #4..."

...and this time...it's "Desert style"...:)

"I stuck my head out the window this morning

and spring kissed me bang in the face. "

~Langston Hughes

Hope your Cactus Monday is filled with kisses! XO

Happy day all! :)

"Spring Fling #3..."

...Branching out...

"If I had my life to live over,
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring
and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies."
~Nadine Stair

"Spring Fling #2..."

“There aren't enough days in the weekend.” :)
~Rod Schmidt

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn."
~Hal Borland

"Springtime is Blingtime..."

...so how about a whole week...full of...

...Bits of nature...all bejeweled for our fanciful fling...
each and every day...and all night long! :)

"Springtime is the land awakening.
The March winds are the morning yawn."
~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard
in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

"What a Treat...!"

Coming all the way from Dubai...to the Valley of the Sun...

...my name "Peg" in Arabic...

along with some very humbling descriptors

written around it which translated read:

"artist, sensitive, humane, beautiful, creative."

This stunningly lovely and generous gift of calligraphic art

was beautifully written by

Fadwa....in Dubai.

Click here to visit her site...it is an inspirational delight!

I love her unique journal pages...and the way she

alters books to write stories.

She also designs gorgeous beaded jewelry...

and you can check that out here. :)

Thanks, again, Fadwa...I am on "cloud nine"!

Blogging is a unique way to share one's little corner of the world.

I think its richness and diversity makes each of us

better citizens of this planet.

I cherish the openness of hearts in our artistic blogging world.

There is a lot of beauty to see, and inspiration to find,

and fabulous people to meet

in this world...

and the best thing about it is that they are all simply

one little mouse click away!

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,

for beauty is God's handwriting."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson