Happy 90th Birthday, Dad!

90 years!

What a treat and a privilege for me...

to have you hold my hand as I walked by your side

down life's pathways...

for most of them!

Happy, Happy Day, Dad...with love to you from me. :)

"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.

Angels whisper to a man

when he

goes for a walk."

~Raymond Inmon

The Long...

 ...and short of it...

Above are a few of the watercolored bookmarks I made

as art favors

for the 18 participants in my

Whimsical Watercolor Botanical Design class

Thursday, June 7th 2012

held in our local art club studio here in Arizona.

Click on any image to enlarge if you like...:)

 We worked on leaves in the morning ...

 ...then we all took a break for lunch and ice cream cones...

 ...and designed whimsical watercolor flowers in the afternoon. :)

My students...new friends...Studio 2...and lots of smiles.

Wheee!

"Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

~Pablo Picasso

"As Promised..."

..the final reveal of my 4 page watery green-blue spread

in Jen's rainbow themed Moly.
Please click on any image for better viewing...:)
In a spark of simultaneous serendipity

 as I posted this today

 (...just a bit after the noon time hour in

blazing hot Arizona...)

Jan is in flight crossing the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian

coast.

Next stop...for both this book and my girlfriend...

is New Zealand.

Both my art and my dear friend are really seeing

the world in all its glory.

Life is...
as it should be...:)

Another Work In Progress...:)

Just a couple of peeks of my 4 page spread in Jen's

rainbow themed Moly.

My color was

green!

This book is part of the international G8 Moleskine exchange

I am in over at Illustrated ATCs.

As of this past Saturday this book is

en route from the burning hot Arizona desert to

art studio of Elaine in New Zealand.

My dear friend Jan was also en route to NZ Saturday...

but due to a delayed flight out of Chicago...

her Qantas connection was missed!

She will try again tonight.

An adventure? or and Inconvenience?

Knowing Jan...it will be a memorable adventure!

I wonder who will arrive first???

Please click on images for detail.

I will post the full reveal of the final pages

tomorrow...I Promise!

For Jan:

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.

An inconvenience

is only an adventure wrongly considered."

G.K. Chesterton

"Artistic Play..."

...made by

simply splashing on some watercolor

and

allowing my pen to dance and my soul to sing.

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot.

In your soul

are infinitely precious things

that cannot

be taken from you."

~Oscar Wilde

"My Chemical Romance..."

...some "lyrics based" art I made in

Audrey's "My Chemical Romance" themed moleskine.

This is part of the 2012 G8 Moly exchange

over at

Illustrated ATCs.
Honestly,
I had never heard of the band before...
and
was a bit bummed out about this theme.
Plus...
the lyrics of their songs did not set well in my mind.
So, I asked
a couple of "younger generation" acquaintances
what they would suggest
I do.
With big smiles and "Ooooh COOL!" commentaries
they pointed me in the right direction.
The music is not half bad...really.
It was simply
the battling of the graphic lyrics and subject matter
with my Muse's artistic preferences
 that had me bamboozled.

The song lyrics I ended up choosing are from the band's hit

"Cemetery Drive".

The cemetery gate drawn here was

inspired by

the style of the east gate of the Elmwood Cemetery in

back in my hometown of

Sycamore, Illinois.
I went back to my roots...and drew what I knew.
Audrey's book has already been passed along

to the next artist and is

expected to return home to her in Quebec, Canada

early this fall.

This Moly exchange is packed with artistic challenge and fun....
and has absolutely opened my eyes
to many new things.

 It keeps that flighty Muse of mine in her toes...:)
Click on image to enlarge...:)

"This night walk the dead...in a solitary style
and crash the cemetery gates
in a dress
your husband hates."
~Cemetery Drive
My Chemical Romance

A Bit of Flower Styling...

...going back to my Waterblossoms roots...as they say.

My shapes

were drawn in first with lightly tinted water...

then came along the fun part.

I dropped in color wherever my little ol' Muse desired.

The inking came last.

This was wonderful therapy for my slightly bruised spirit.

I hope you enjoy her!

"Suck it up, Buttercup!"

~A bit of advice just absolutely perfect for me

 found on Juli's Hand Project for iATCs.

"A Run for the Roses..."

...Waterblossoms style, that is...:)

These ATCs were made batik style...using masking fluid and ink

straight in...no pencil.

Hope today brings you some winning smiles...as for me...

I am artfully spending this day at the races

in my "studio".

Hmmmm...

I think..."I'll Have Another One"...:) 

Si!

Happy Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby Day!

"I have often said

there is nothing better for the inside of a man

than the outside of a horse."

~Will Rogers

Someone's in The Kitchen With Dinah...

...and they are NOT "Strummin' on the ol' banjo"!!!

This is my 4 page spread in Juli's Moly

"In the Kitchen"

for the 2012 Illustrated ATC G8 Moleskine exchange.

Sometime in late summer

"she" will make her way home to Juli

 in Canada...:)

"Fee Fi...Fiddlily Aye Oh"...:)

Click on images to enlarge...especially the last one.

Enjoy!

If you can't stand the heat...

get out of the kitchen."

~Harry S. Truman

I Have Been "Chromed" Under Protest...

...and I am absolutely hating every minute of it!!!

It has taken me over an hour this afternoon to upload

this new blog page today.

Why, you might ask???

Well,

I just have come find out that,

during my latest blog world absence,

Blogger has changed.

Errrgh!

Let me tell you...in my current "blog slug" persona

this is not being accepted as a

positive change.

Sooo...

I was first required to install to "Google Chrome"

to add this page.

This was it not easy on my sporadic and unreliable

internet connection.

But,

after a call to Cox cable...and a modem reboot...

I was soon halfway to success.

Next, was to tackle the newness of Blogger format.

(Which may actually not be all that bad...)

Get this...

I spent the morning getting all zen like...

painting...relaxing...meditating...

accompanied

by the sweet strains and haunting melodies

of

R. Carlos Nakai"s flute

and

William Eaton's harp guitar

enchantingly playing

in the background.

Life was mellow....the pen just flowed.

Then came those unstoppable changes to the norm.

Glad to be over the hump.

Hopefully,

no surprises next upload...fingers and toes crossed.

"Change is the only constant."

~Proverbs

"Breaking Free..."

from sadness,

grief,

confusion,

worry,

guilt,

preconceived notions,

disenchantment,

lethargy,

the blurring of time,

unhealthiness,

and

disorder.

I have no other choice...I must do this!

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
~Pablo Picasso

"In Loving Memory..."

Susan V. Krahenbuhl

November 26,1960...March 23, 2012

♥

After Glow

"I'd like the memory of me

to be a happy one.

I'd like to leave an after glow

of smiles when the day is done.

I'd like to leave an echo

whispering softly down the ways,

Of happy times and laughing times

and bright and

sunny days.

I'd like the hearts, of those who grieve,

to dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

When life is done."

~Helen Lowrie Marshall
(From her book of poetry, Close to the Heart)

"Happy Spring..."

...or Summer...

or Fall...

or Winter...

or

"Whatever Season You Choose to Celebrate"

today

in this topsy turvy wacky weather world

of ours!!!

Enjoy this little artistic repost from the past

while trying to comprehend

56+ inches of snow in northern Arizona Monday...

snow at the 2500 ft level ringing the valley..

and valley floor

temps back into the mid 80's by the weekend.

Say Whaaaat????

"My Artistic Life..."

...much like this sketchbook page...

has been a mosaic of intertwined activities...

one layered upon the next...for the past month or so.

This page was started in December

with the heat lamp drawn in the lower right corner.

It was drawn while waiting for Marlene

over at Birt's cafe.

We were to have a zentangle inspired drawing date.

We met,

we drew a little,

and we ended up gabbing a whole lot more.

Since that was the only item on the page...

I decided to incorporate it

into a series of drawings...like a collage effect.

Well...

then came multiple health issues with my parents...

and my surgical waiting room time

quickly

became packed jammed with

tiny circles and crosshatching patterns.

I really had no intention

of filling in all the gravel areas

with such detail...it just happened.

It was my way of coping...and de-stressing.

Before I knew it

the page had become full.

The actual view is of part of my parents back yard

and if you look really closely

you can see that the dates I worked on the piece

are embedded into the drawing.

I painted it just the other night...in under

a half hour or so.

That was the first time in over a month

where

I was able to let the paint fly

and

allow my Muse to simply play.

It felt so darned good...it really, really did.

So very much more to share...later.

"The Finished Product..."

...my four and a half page spread in

Cathy's "Undersea Cave" themed Moly...Yippeeee!

Be sure to click on the image to enlarge

for better viewing! :)

This book flew from the desert Friday

and

is currently winging her way through the postal cosmos

to the artistic hands of Audrey

in Quebec, Canada.

Oui!

"The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.”
~Jacques Cousteau

"Book Two..."

...my work in progress on Cathy's

"Under Sea Caves" themed Moleskine sketchbook.

I promise to show

the completely finished reveal tomorrow...:)

♥

Stress Relief...

...yoga style...I only wish...♥

"Reflections About The Past Week..."

Almost nine decades...and...sixty seven anniversaries...

Two parents...

Two surgeries...

Two different hospitals.

(Both on the same day...

both unexpected...and both of emergency level urgency.)

One hip replacement....

Five+ weeks advanced residential health care rehab.

One nuclear stress test...

Two cardiologists...one surgeon...

Zero time to wait...

Four cardiac stents...

No driving...no lifting...no excuses.

Nothing is the same.

Reality.

Shock, Tears,

Tension, Fear, Worry,

Separation, Anxiety...Assurance, Success,

Appreciation, Understanding, Relief,

Clarity, Sighs

Reality.

A new normal...for all of us.

"There us no medicine like hope

no incentive so great,

and

no tonic so powerful

as expectation of something better tomorrow."

~Orison Swett Marden

"A Fanciful..."

...Tree of Life.

This was drawn lead free...ink straight in.

It started with one branch

and then just

grew and grew and grew...great fun indeed!

“Don't wait until everything is just right.

It will never be perfect.

There will always be challenges,

obstacles

and less than perfect conditions.

So what.

Get started now.

With each step you take,

you will grow stronger and stronger,

more and more skilled,

more and more self-confident

and

more and more successful.”
~Mark Victor Hansen

Mission Accomplished...!!

My "El Dia De Los Muertos" themed G8 Moleskine

is now complete...Yippeeeee!

Above are the introduction pages...

along with the routing order of my book...see candles.
You can click on images to enlarge...:)

Here are pages 1 and 2.
Here is my full 3 page spread: pages 1,2, and 3.
Being just a "wee bit" overzealous
my art seemed to have "mysteriously" crept
onto half of page 4. Hmmm...:)
So...
Juli, in Canada, will share page four with me
adding her own artwork based on the same theme.
I gave ATC prints as a thank you gift to all participants.
Each person will get 2 prints...
one of each style shown.
Here is the fun back pocket of my Moly...
this is where each artist will sign in.
The guideline booklet is just in case anyone needs
additional
reference sources or ideas for my theme.
It will be tucked snuggly into the back pocket
for safe keeping.
The book and the gift ATCs have their own separate little pouches.

Ta Daaaa!
Everything is all wrapped and ready
for a final blanket of bubble wrap
to protect her on her long postal flight to Canada.
She was mailed out yesterday...
You know, I actually feel like I am 10 pounds lighter!
Ahhh!:)
Now on to Cathy's book...her theme is "Sea Caves"...
My imagination
is already going like gangbusters!:)

"To be yourself in a world
that is constantly trying to make you something else
is the greatest accomplishment."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson