You Just Never Know

If you went for a walk in the woods one day and saw this...

would you think to do this?

or this?

or maybe even this?

You just never know what might happen if you take a walk in the woods!

Have a fun Saturday!

**Note:  A big "thank you" to Kathryn Costa!  Her beautiful leaf doodles inspired me to try a little leaf art of my own today.  Check out her amazing work on her blog, Collage Diva.

Linking up today with: 

Art Every Day Month

The Game Changer

I am lovin' all the gratitude vibes permeating the blogosphere this month!

Just a few little "blisses" on my mind this morning...

Choices...I love that I get to choose every day what my attitude will be.  I get to decide how I will respond to my experiences and emotions.  This is huge.  It means I am in the driver's seat.  

Beginnings...Every day I get a fresh start. Everything I put my hands to has potential. Beginning something affirms that I have hope.

Community...Being connected to creative, kind individuals keeps me centered and makes me more courageous.

As I was perusing the link-up for Art Every Day Month yesterday I came across a tutorial for a painted paper mosaic by Marcia Beckett.  Marcia is an art teacher and a very gifted mixed media artist and her blog is full of beautiful journal pages and inspiration.  Her paper mosaic really caught my eye so I decided to do my own take on it.

After "scrubbing" some gesso onto an old book page I picked through my little pile (okay, it's really a big pile) of paper bits and came up with these.

The fun and relaxing part was the doodling...

In a way these two images illustrate how practicing gratitude can change our experience. Sometimes life is like the first image...just a bunch of bits: unrelated and sometimes chaotic. Like the pen lines and colors in the second image, gratitude connects the bits, creating a vibrant, complex composition where each element relates to and supports the others.

Gratitude is a game changer.

A grateful life is alive with hope and possibilities.  If I can manage to be thankful for something, then I can trust it is somehow going to be used for something good.  The really great news is that gratitude isn't something we have to strive for, it is something we choose to allow into our lives.  When we allow it, gratitude flows just as creativity does, washing away strife and leaving peace in its place.

Choosing gratitude = Choosing to let your heart rest

I can't believe it is Friday already.  I hope you find a little time to celebrate, rest, create, or do whatever brings you joy this weekend!  

I'm linking up today with:

Art Every Day Month, Little Bliss List, and Joy Jam.

These link-ups are a great way to connect with other artists and creatives and see a lot of inspiring work.  If you have the time, it is great fun to check them out and follow a few rabbit trails!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Yesterday was a day for art journaling.  The windows were open to the fall breezes and I felt oh-so-very inspired.  At first I just played with watercolors, laying down some autumn hues with no real plan in mind. Orange and red against blue make me super-happy.  The random strokes really started to remind me of two columns of trees and with a bit of sky showing between, but the page needed something more... 

As luck would have it, this lovely lady caught my eye as I flipped through the book I posted about yesterday.     Aha!  Inspiration!

According to the poem that accompanies the image, her name is Jenny.  Now I want you to really look at this scene.  There she sits, sketchbook in hand, watercolors on the table next to her, stopping to stretch maybe?  But wait...that's a rather sultry pose...she looks pretty fetching with that paintbrush perched atop her head.

And who is that man lurking in the background?  Better read the poem...

(The words in parenthesis are mine.)

(I promise this is typed just as it appears in the book.)

Jenny Kissed Me

by Leigh Hunt

Jenny kissed me when we met, jumping from the chair she sat in.

(whoa!)

Time, you thief! who love to get sweets into your list, put that in.

(huh? absolutely no idea what that means but that's what it says...promise)

Say I'm weary, say I'm sad: Say that health and wealth have missed me;

Say I'm growing old but add - Jenny kissed me!

The guy in the background creeped me out so he didn't get to be part of the final composition.  Jenny, however, looked like she could use a change of scenery...perhaps the watercolor trees would be a nice backdrop for her artistic adventures on this beautiful fall day!

And there you have it...the story of how Jenny made it into my art journal.  Do you keep an art journal?  Where do you find inspiration for your pages?  What are your favorite materials to use?  I'd love to hear about it!

BTW - Hello to all my visitors from Art Every Day Month.  I'm so glad you found me!

Playing with Paper and Silver

For some time now I've been thinking of making some bezels for mounting very small paintings and collage images.  I think this would be a nice marriage of my new love of art journaling and the silver work I started doing a few years ago.

So today I pulled out my slightly neglected silversmith tools.  In my perfect life I have a separate area (heck...since I'm dreaming, why not make it an entire room?)  for each of my creative loves, but the reality is that when I switch gears I have to rearrange things a bit, pull out different equipment, etc.  This is one reason my studio generally looks like someone picked it up, turned it over and gave it a good shake.

Below is a bezel in the rough stage.  I actually love the way these pieces look before they're cleaned up.  The pink discoloration you see is called firescale.  It's formed from copper that "cooks" out of sterling silver when it is heated.  This has to be removed with chemicals or with abrasives.  (I use a little of both.)

Here a a few pendants ready for resin.  At this stage you can see the brush marks in the gloss gel medium that covers them.  I apply several coats (front and back) so the paper elements don't soak up the resin and become transparent.

You can definitely see the look of my my journal pages creeping into my jewelry designs these days.  I'm still just playing...seeing what works, what doesn't, what I'd like to develop further.   

The pendents will look a little different once the resin is in place and cured.  The brush marks from the gel medium will disappear and the design will look sharper.  I'll post more pictures when they're done.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.  I'm linking up again with Creative Everyday's Art Every Day Month.  Be sure to take a few moments and check out some of the amazing artwork that's being shared there.  It's so inspiring!

Enjoy this beautiful day!