Artwords ~minimalism~

This week's artword - minimalism. I must admit I'm not a big fan of minimalism or contemporary art. I especially don't like bold, primary colors. When I'm 100 and they do the "Lennea Retrospective" they'll call it my "earthy period". heehee. I like sepia, mocha, sage, burgandy, straw - all those nice, calm, muddy colors. These colors suit my personality - laid back, calm, serene. I seek experiences that invoke peacefulness and serenity. I enjoy an occasional splash of color - a yellow rose, an orange sunset, a bright lime - but I live in the calmer colors. So, I knew I wouldn't enjoy using traditional minimalist primary colors. I decided to do minimalism with minimal use of color. I started layering a variety of mocha and straw colored tissue papers. Pretty for a background, but not too exciting. I like to be calm but not in a coma! So, I had to add some gold and amber beads and bits, then decided a bit of mica would look beautiful. I was about to leave it alone when I discovered this piece of old leather stamped with the word treasure. It was just the right shade of brown - so on it went. So here is my entry - not minimalist in the traditional sense of the word perhaps, but minimal in the use of color...and it looks great on my bedroom walls.

Artwords ~Secret~

THis weeks artword~Secrets. I think it's just human nature to be curious about other people's lives. Do those perfectly manicured, thin, put together women have secret lives of chin hairs and dust bunnies? I choose to think they do (makes feel better about myself)! For this challenge I used vintage images of women and their lives from a 1930's women's magazine collaged on 4x4" sturdy matboard and tied together with vintage ribbon.These magazines always crack me up in the same way "Leave it to Beaver" and " the Brady Bunch" cracks me up. These women are waaaaay too happy about doing the laundry. So what are some of the secrets of Perfect Women? Glad you asked...

1. serves meals to family on paper plates
2.washed child's hair with dog shampoo
3. plucks stray chin hairs
4. doesn't separate colors
5.has drawer full of skin firming creams
6. counts running thru sprinklers as bathtime
7.counts ketchup as a vegetable group
8. alters clothes with safety pins and staples
9. packed school lunch of pop tart and tic tacs

Of course, these aren't MY secrets...I,uh just made them up....really....

This set of cards is for sale on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7422580935&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

artwords - Play

So this week's artword is play. As an artist, I get to play nearly everyday! I Play with color, ephemera, shapes, texture, words, brushes, inks, stamps... and this has given me my joy back. I had forgotten how to play - how to abandon myself to playing. When I forgot to play, I forgot a big part of what God created me for. God is pleased when a dog is being a dog, a flower a flower and when I am being me. When I am doing those things that make my heart sing, my soul soar and time stand still - I am being the authentic me and I believe God is pleased.

Artwords~Dreams

The artword for this week is Dreams. I created a dream journal for this. The cover says "Give Wings to your Dreams" . The vintage photo depicts a woman gazing out a window. I believe this is the first place dreams begin- in the still quiet times when you can really listen to your heart and receive the Dreams God has placed there. Other pages in my dream journal include scripture and quotes to encourage my dream journey.

I've Been Tagged!

Thanks for the tag JoAnna! I love reading these. So Here's mine

Five things in my car:
~tons of maps because I'm directionally impaired
~Bible (also because I'm directionally impaired :)
~umbrella - it rains here ALOT!
~assorted food wrappers ( cuz I'm a slacker mom!)
~jewelry wire ( I have no idea why this is in the car but it's starting to get a nice patina from having coffee and diet coke spilled on it!)

Five things in my purse:
~Receipt from my art booth
~Attain meal replacement bar ( yet another weight loss attempt)
~Prescription for herbal supplements which bears no resemblance to the English Language (hope health store reads drease.)
~cell phone - probably not charged - sorry, Jay
~ coupons that I will never use but feel compelled to stuff in my already too full purse!

Five things in my fridge:
~milk - grows strong bones!
~Cheese -It bag??? - half full ( will blame on youngest child!)
~Half full diet coke
~Assorted fruit in various states of decomposition
~condimetns I never use

Five things in closet:
1 size 2 dress that I keep to remind me that I used to be young and thin!
lots of clothes in various sizes I hope to one day be able to wear again
hundreds of bicycle jerseys ( my hubbies) that he hopes to be able to wear again
shoes with no mates
clothes that look like something my MOTHER WOULD WEAR!!!!AAAHHHHH (run away screaming in terror) Help! I am a Fashion Emergency!

I tag:
Shakey Sister

Balance

The artwords challenge for this week is balance. I've had balance in my life...for about 1 second - I think I was 6. I was able to balance on a pogo stick for exactly 1 second. So, why do I strive so hard to achieve balance? Life is a balancing act and I'm helplessly uncoordinated. So, here is my submission for balance. It is a woman ( let's call her ME!) trying to balance family, faith, creating, housework, marriage... all while her hormones are all out of balance!

How much FUN am I having!!!! I just completed an art piece for the artwords challenge. The word for this week is indulgence. I probably have waaaaay to many indulgences : coffee, diet coke, chocolate, midafternoon naps, watching Gilmore Girls, creating art - all when my house is a mess and the kids are having to resort to pulling dirty clothes out of their hampers ( who am I kidding! They don't really use their hampers, they just drop the clothes wherever they take them off!) Now, you may scoff at my lack of domestic discipline, but if you're an artist I KNOW YOU"VE BEEN THERE! WAHAhahahah! I know, because I just spent several hours working on this piece when what I SET OUT to do was clean up my art area!

One of my favorite indulgences though is soaking in a nice hot bath ( with bubbles of course!) My art piece reflects my love of taking baths. I made it from a page out of an altered book I made that I adhered to a broken lid of an antique cigar box. I of course, couldn't just leave it alone! So I added a sofa charm ( curtesy of Becky!) added more layers of rub on metallics and lumiere paint, stuck on some fibers and then added three face cabs (courtesy of Carol AKA IngeniouslyCreative) The text reads "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them." ~Sylvia Plath. The face cabs progress from tense and scarey to beginning relaxation to PURE BLISS! I also journaled on the page " When is indulging self-indulgent and when is it self-preservation?" Of course part of the journaling is covered up with gold lumiere because I also love to indulge in the overuse of Lumiere paints! They're so shiny and translucent and shimmery....

O.k. I'm back. To see GREAT art from other artists press the artwords button to the left...no, YOU"RE LEFT! heehee ( see I know how you all are:)).

The Story of Once Upon a Cottage

Once Upon a Cottage, there lived a woman, her handsome husband, their four adorable children and one Fed Ex ankle biting poodle. Except for the frequent cursings of the Fed Ex guy to the cute and cuddly poodle, they lived a pretty quiet life. Unfortunately, for their small town, the woman found her artistic muse ( or maybe just a midlife crisis) in her late 30's and decided to try her hand at art - in particular, mixed media, altered art ,collage and ATCs. Of course ( she would repeatedly remind her very understanding husband) art requires LOTS of art supplies. So, she gave her index finger daily workouts pointing and clicking on all kinds of lovely art supplies. Thus, came the daily arrival of vintage ephemera, paints, brushes, papers, inks, stamps, books, fibers, charms and such...all brought to her house by the Fed Ex Guy! Now, while the arrival of the Fed Ex guy caused the woman's heart to beat faster in anticipation of new toys to play with, it apparently caused the Fed Ex Guy's heart to beat faster in anticipation of the ankle biting poodle. The dog's bark became louder, the Fed Ex Guy's cursings became louder and the poor town was never quiet again. THE END