Across the planet

Sam the Koala being rescued by a fire fighter. This is a wild animal that normally is very shy.

Today my Soul Journal group was having a blog party. I went to several blogs to check it all out. One of the blog gals is Kerin in Australia, her blog is A little bit of Everything. I was so distressed visiting her. I have read in the paper, and seen on the internet news sites, and even exchanged emails with some of the art girls in Australia about the massive wildfires they are having there. Nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for the koala's in Kerin's blog. Please take a visit to her blog and read what the fires have done to these and other sweet creatures. The pictures are amazing. Prayers are definitely in order. Sometimes we forget that disasters like this harm everything in their wake. Thank you Kerin for the updates.

Digital Collage #4 - Numbers

I love this little girl in plaid. She looks so sweet all dressed up. There is something is the eyes that says she knows more than her early years should. I am practicing erasing the backgrounds, and filling the backgrounds in so that the faces can really be seen. Harder than it looks for a beginner. On this collage I used Tim Holtz stamps - the pens and the numbers for this, the butterfly is a Dover clip art piece. Time to get in the studio and do some real cutting and gluing.

Four Letter Words - Love

She is definitely going for the pink

"Moscow Girl" by Ryabuskin

Isn't she just wonderful? Her back is so straight and she is definitely determined. If I had to live with all that bad weather and cold I would be surrounding myself with pink, too.

Digital Collage #3 - the letter

Another digital collage attempt. It is definitely a learning process. The really nice thing is that you can keep what you want and delete the bad stuff. I am really having fun and learning a lot. I have been rather intimidated by some of the things and just decided to go for it. I have tons to try out and learn, but I figure a little every day or every couple of days, and in no time I will have mastered a few things. Suggestions, tutorial, comments wanted and needed.

Digital collage #2 - believe

Here is digital collage number two. I figured out how to get all the back ground lines out of my sweet girl's face, but still have her blend into the background. Let me give image credit real quick, the house is from Bill Blanton, the bees are from the Vintage Moth, and the recipe in the background I got off the art- e- zine website. Thank you all.

Roses for You

These are my antique roses for you.

Quote - Love

"Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its own defense."

A Valentine for You

Happy Valentine's Day to all. I hope you are able to spend today with the people you love. Thank you to all that have been so supportive of me and my blog. Your comments really make me feel validated and are tremendously helpful with my art and photography. Thank you all.

Pink Sand - Rider's on the Beach

Doesn't this make you feel all warm and happy. What a wonderful photograph. Gauguin was great friends with Vincent Van Gogh. After spending nine weeks together in Arles France painting, Gauguin decided as a matter of life and death to leave and go to Tahiti. From there he would end up in french Polynesia, only coming back to France once.
This is my favorite painting of his. A morning ride, pink sand, the breeze blowing, it speaks of possibilities.

Beached Whale

Morning, after the news has spread, the crowd begins to gather.

Starting the measurements and then the necropsy. The dudes in white are the marine life specialists. They will have a very long day today.

This crowd will dwindle down pretty fast once they start the necropsy. The heat, the scream of the gulls, and the smell are overwhelming.

Last weekend the beach here was not pink. It was a sight to see though. We had a 32 foot, two year old, male humpback whale wash up on Oak Island - the island south of us. It was the second whale in a month to be beached on the coast of North Carolina. The first was a rare Right Whale on the Outer Banks north of us.

It is sad to see such a large creature - the biggest mammal- laying dead on the shore. An incredible sight. So big and powerful, yet still. The tail was pretty amazing. On Sunday they just sort of did crowd control and let everyone touch and take pictures. Monday was the get down to business day of figuring out what happened, documenting the whale, and of course the necropsy.

They do the Necropsy right there on the beach. It is hard to move a creature that large. They take pictures, measure it, then begin to cut it open. They measured the fat layers, check its organs, take blood, etc. Then they cut it up and dig several large holes with a tractor and bury it right there. They believe that this whale died because he became entangled in something.There were fresh cuts on his mouth and tail. Another words he drowned.

If you have a strong stomach and I do mean STRONG here is a local website/blog of one of the local freelance reporters/ Satu Harris. Scroll down to February 8 or 9. The blog does a very good job of documenting the necropsy. Also, two of the photos I used are from there, also. Please remember that this is a mammal, so there is lots of blood and guts, even one of the marine life specialists lost his cookies in the process. This is life on the beach..

Digital Collage

This week has been almost too perfect weather wise. We have been in the sixties and low seventies. Tee shirt weather. All my spare daylight hours have been spent outside doing winter clean up and trimming. Unfortunately this means not a lot of time in the studio. It seems like most nights I have spent on my computer scanning or downloading new images. I have worked a little in my journal and some swap things, but nothing I have finished yet.

Today I decided to make some digital collages rather than cook. Hmm take out sounded great...it's been a long week and some time you just have to treat yourself. So time that I would have spent in the kitchen I went for the computer. Here is my first attempt at digital collage. The girl image is mine and in the freebies, the quote, and clock are Tim Holtz stamps that I stamped and scanned, the background paper is ledger paper. I am pleased with my first attempt. There is so much to learn and try, I just get lost...

TGIF Pink

Now here is a girl who looks like she is happy it is Friday. It is after work and she is treating herself to a little dessert and waiting on her drink and ashtray. The painting is called "the plum" by French impressionists Edouard Manet. I love her sassy hat and the detail in her pink suit. This painting reminds me to stop and treat myself every once in awhile. Don't forget to be good to yourself. Even the simple things count. Like a plum...

Barn Series - Grey barn and Black Angus bull

Thinking Pink

One of my favorite posters by the Frenchman - Toulouse Lautrec. Get outside and take some pictures. Unmask yourself.

Picture a day - chair

Pink

"Sara Holding a Cat" 1908 by Mary Cassatt. [Mary Cassatt was not only a great American artist, a great woman artists, but a great impressionist.] This could of been me when I was a child. Every summer when I went to my grandmother's house she would have a new litter of kittens for me to play with. This was very special. You see I was allergic to cats and was not allowed to have them. I just adored them. They were so sweet. There pink little noses and paws. The way they purred and cuddled with me while I read. There was a new group every summer. What happened to them after I left I don't know. As I grew up I learned this was a true act of love on my grandmother's part. You see she was somewhat terrified of cats.

Freebies # 18 - Kitties

After spending the past couple of evenings watching the Westminster Dog Show I decided we might want to give the cat fanciers some equal time. So this week I am giving you some kitty images. Besides these make me feel pink...

Pink Afternoon

A nice afternoon nap.

Book Marks

These are bookmarks I made for me. Yes, just for me. Something pretty to mark the place in the books I am reading. Something totally frivolous just for me.
One of the yahoo groups was having a bookmark swap that I was unable to commit to. I decide to use the last bit of scrap from the sheet I cut my journal page and two 4 by 4's. It was the perfect size to make into a bookmark. Plus the backgrounds for both sides were already finished.
I rarely make anything for just me. I think that is why our journal pages are so important and creative. They are just for us. This is part of my 2009 thing - make more things that I would want - that I think up. I am always making stuff for swaps. It seems that by the time I get all of that finished there is very little time to do what is in my head. Consequently my swap participation will probably go way down. As I finish out commitments I am not going to take on any new ones. I feel like I need to feed the Muse in my head for awhile. Challenge myself. Does anyone else feel like swaps and challenges has taken over your art work? Maybe I just need to find more balance in my life.

Barn Series - Grey barn