2010 Daily Journal Pages...Day 267

2010 Daily Journal Pages -- Day 267: The Heart Knows No Reason

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 266

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 266: Tell a Story

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 265

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 265: The Sleeping Maiden Lies in Marin

Grey skies and a constant torrential downpour did not diminish my enjoyment of Christmas this year --mostly spent indoors with friends from 10am in the morning till 10pm at night. Live music for entertainment in the morning, a quick car trip with my husband to Fort Cronkite to see the wild surf and pounding waves, an early Christmas dinner overlooking misty blue hills. I missed my daily walk today, but all in all there was a sweet, generous spirit to the day. I am grateful for that. Merry Christmas to all!

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 264

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 264: You Alone Are the Power Source

If it is true that we carry God or Spirit or Universe within us, then we are each the creators of our lives and destinies. We are the creative power source, we no longer need to look without for inspiration, or confidence, or love. We can wait and listen but eventually we will move ourselves in the direction that is best for us: consciousness continues to evolve in spite of how soon we pry ourselves loose from our self-imposed limitations! Part of the whole package, I think.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 263

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 263: Many Styles

Chrissy is my blogger friend who got into daily journal pages as a result of visiting my blog. She's moving like wildfire with her pages, and her daily postings reflect quite specifically what's going on in her mind and heart. This page here is a result of looking at her post today, where she touches on unmasking Truth. Somehow style, or image -- self as well as what you project -- came to my mind and showed up here. I can't control these things. They just pop out of me! That's what I love about collage!

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 262

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 262: The Bitch Is Back

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 261

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 261: I Am Always Alone

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 260

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 260: Blind, But Not Afraid

I believe that we are always blind to something either in ourselves or in our environment, or in the world at large. These blindnesses are tied to the alienation we feel and/or the limitations we place upon ourselves. For many many years I tried desperately to uncover the blind spots that I felt were preventing me from feeling peace, confidence, joy. The greatest gift this year has been to see that I don't have to worry anymore about those blind spots, the truth about them is revealed when the time is right. There's a freedom in that. And I don't have to do a damn thing.

Altered Book Spread: The Grotto

Altered Book Spread: The Grotto

I began a new altered book at this month's Collage Cafe. The actual title of the book is Now You See Her. The book will be filled with images and my thoughts and feelings about the "Creative Feminine." This spread, The Grotto, shows a photo of my shadow self (with its mane blowing in the wind), a bronze statue of a beautiful feminine form, and an image of the Lourdes Grotto, with a statue of the Virgin Mary. Materials used: book, acrylic paint, dye ink, glue paper, sparkles, foam support. It also features a quote by Simone de Beauvoir:

There are moments when time stands still. Moments when you are beyond life and yet
still see. And then time begins flowing again, your heart beats, you stretch out your arms,
you take a step forward. You still know, but you no longer see.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 259

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 259: Channeled By the Hands of God

I'm not sure where this spread came from...I think I just liked the image of a father holding his daughter in his arms in the ocean. Perhaps it reminds me of the times my grandfather did this with me in the Gulf of Mexico. He taught me how to swim in the those blue, blue waters. He taught me how not to be afraid. He brought me many joyful experiences of love, as I know I did in return for him. This spread also reminds me of my nephew, Martyn, who will be having a daughter or son next year, and I am definitely sure he will be giving his child a loving experience like this one in the not-so-distant future.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 258

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 258: Faith without Priests

Collage Cafe on December 18th

Sophie's Altered Book Spread: "Get Inspired"

I held another Collage Cafe at Stage Dor yesterday. Gray skies and a wild, windy rain didn't seem to faze the four of us. My intention for these workshops is to provide a space where people can come and discover, indulge, revel in their desire to create. They can learn collage and altered book techniques, or bring projects they are working on. I provide the materials, tools, supplies, and coaching. Sophie, aka Indigo Muse, showered her color magic over her pages and the rest of the room (above) .

France V.'s AB Spread: The Rice Gods

France V. was a welcome return participant from San Francisco, and wowed us with her monochromatic pages and painterly skills.

Doree's AB Spread: Do You Believe

Doree, Dance Teacher Extraordinaire, joyfully filled her current altered book's pages with the people and animals that she loves.

A good time well spent during the holiday season! To see more photos go here.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 257

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 257: To Allow Spirit to Emerge

The soul has often been represented in dream imagery as the butterfly. How often do we neglect the Spirit? We choose to ignore it, explain it away, deny its existence; enshrine it and encase it behind religious constructs, psychological principles, or denial; allow it to get shoved aside by the daily strappings of life. Yes, guilty as charged. But why have we waited for so long? Well, I think it's time to free my butterflies! To let my Spirit -- who I really am -- to come to the forefront. The thought of it makes me laugh out loud!

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 256

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 256: Grow, Develop, Evolve

To do the above, you need a special kind of seeing, one that allows you to take in everything around you -- the facts, the lies, the nuances, the losses, the joys -- and in keeping your eyes wide -- refuse to arrive at any conclusions. That is the only way one can remain open to possibilities.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 255

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 255: Le Feminin

I've never been much into jewels or jewelry. I even told my husband that I didn't want a diamond engagement ring. Well, I do have my grandmother's diamond cocktail ring, which she left to me. I always liked the story of her taking a train up from D.C., during the wartime 40's, to Tiffany's in NYC. She brought a handful of diamonds my grandfather had given to her (traded to my grandfather for services rendered during the Depression) and a design in her head. Over the years she'd remind me that she was leaving me this ring. I would just pooh-pooh her. After her death my mom took me to the bank and when it was pulled out of the safety deposit box -- it glowed like fire and split into a hundred rainbows under the vault lights. I was impressed. My favorite time to wear it was with jeans, a black turtleneck, and boots. It would glow and it reminded me of something strong, something beautiful inside of me. I think I need to bring it out and dust it off.

Altered Book Spread: A Most Curious Thing

Altered Book Spread: A Most Curious Thing
A bit of magic can open any door or window.

Workshop: Make It Special Gift Bags and Boxes

Gift Bag: A Not-So-Blue Christmas

Materials: magazine images, magazine backgrounds, old Xmas greeting cards, glue, acrylic paint, acrylic glaze, rhinestones, foam squares, ink pads

I taught a holiday collage workshop this past Monday at Once Around in Mill Valley, CA (my FAVORITE craft store). Its subject was to use collage and recycled paper to enhance a gift bag or box.

Sample Decorated Gift Bags

Perhaps you are not spending much money on gifts this year, or you want to make that gift you're giving really, really special. Hand decorating a plain craft paper gift bag, while thinking of your recipient, will most certainly make their eyes shine. It's almost guaranteed that they will hold onto that bag -- sometimes longer than the gift! It's a terrific way to create something from the heart and make your gift -- no matter how big or small -- special to that certain someone you care about. My workshop participants were wonderfully talented and I know that the gift bags they created will be cherished by their recipients.

Rosemarie's Gift Bag: It's All About the Giving (my title)

Materials: plain craft paper gift bag, old Xmas greeting cards, catalog images, glue, sparkle glue

Lynne's Gift Bag: In Her Shoes
Materials: magazine images, glue, manila folder, acrylic glazes, recycled Xmas ribbon, 3-D foam squares

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 254

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 254: Power Up

Cats, big and small, know about the power in waiting. Observing. Calculating. Meditating. Aligning. And then in a flat second they leap into action; powerfully, gracefully, beautifully. It's the opposite, the counter force of waiting. Revving up. Moving forward. Going into motion. Taking charge. Action. Explosion. With aggression or with joy. There is power in the waiting and power in the acting. Is there a choice to be made?

Altered Book Page: Waiting

AB Spread: Waiting for Her Lover

Too much time is spent in waiting. Waiting for that phone call. Waiting for a feeling. Waiting for a sign. Waiting for reunion. Waiting for that prince to come. Waiting for a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year. Waiting for a lifetime. Waiting to be forgiven. Too much time waiting.

Altered Book Technique: Woven Pockets

AB Woven Pocket Spread: The Roses of Thy Lips

This very simple altered book construction, bi-fold pockets, can be enhanced by weaving colorful ribbons through holes punched in the edges the pages. Glue your pages in four sections: three pages together, then two pages together, then another two pages together, then a final three pages. The two sets of three pages each form your canvas, or base. Color these pages, or glue a beautiful paper to them (keep in mind that you will only be seeing a top portion of these pages). Then take one set of the two pages glued together and fold back a portion of the top of these pages as shown above (you can see the diagonal line formed by the crease). Do this on the other side. Now, before you fix them to the bottom pages, take a hole punch and punch along the bottom of both sets of pages, and then along the sides (up to the crease) on the other set. Decorate the bottom sections any way you want. Then take a ribbon, or raffia, or twine, and weave each top page together with its bottom mate. Now you have pockets -- fill them! My spread is decorated with scrapbook paper, Lumiere paints, and a mermaid gift tag by Kerri Judd for E.G. & Co. The quote beneath the tag reads:

Love guards the roses of thy lips
And flies about them like a bee;
If I approach he forward skips,
And if I kiss he stingeth me.
-- Thomas Lodge

In My Garden: Sunsets That Speak of Magic

The afternoon after we returned to the Bay Area from warm Mexico, a heavy, fall fog crept across the wetlands behind my house, right before sunset. It created that lovely, mysterious, cotton-y silence in which all sounds become muffled and you think to yourself...magic is just around the corner. The sunset refused to be intimidated -- it lit up the sky violently and then melded with the gray atmosphere. That which was distant seemed close, that which was close seemed far. As the sky's wattage turned up, the cats salsa-ed in the back yard. Not really, but they would not have tiptoed as e.e. cummings' foggy cat -- instead they would have looked at the fiery oranges, reds, and pinks weaving through the fog -- then cracked out the tequila shooters and marimba-ed across the redwood deck. So I imagined. Instead of similar antics, I just grabbed pictures of the light/fog show. Magic.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 253

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 253: Be Love Now

A friend of mine said that my core energy is big, like a loose cannonball: shooting around the room, tearing through obstacles, eating up the ground and surroundings in big, huge gulps. I think she's partially right. I can be a bit ballistic...always on the move, quick with the tongue, shoot from the hip. This can cause a lot of trouble, to say the least. But I like the energy...I like motion. I feel my best when I'm moving, dancing, running down the trail. That is, until I quiet down, and then, I like that just as well. When I create art; when I am with animals; when I walk through the woods and commune with the trees, the birds; when I dance slow-w-w -- I'm in my element there as well. I guess I'm the typical Libra -- forever moving between the two ends of the continuum. What's love got to do with it? Everything. Everything.

In My Travels: Punta Mita Bedside View

Punta Mita Bedside View

Punta Mita Bedside View Up Close and Personal

My I am a Chatty Cathy today! Here is one of my favorite photos from our trip to the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita. Something to keep in the back of my mind while the gray winter days pile up in the Bay Area. Everyone should have a Four Seasons experience at least once in their life. Yes, I believe this, I truly do. I spent most of all five days perched in a canopied bed on the edge of the beach. I'm talking at least eight hours of lying on pillows and a matress and ldoing nothing but lazing around: napping, reading a book, doing some art, napping some more, walking occasionally on the beach and scanning the sand for mermaid gifts from the sea. Heaven.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 252

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 252: A Mixture of Grit and Glamour

In looking over my blog -- started in January 2008 (I'm closing in on my 1000th posting!) -- I realize that I often let my art and photos speak for themselves. For the most part I don't want to add a lot of words or interpretation to my pieces. The purpose of my blog was to see if it could support a creative discipline, show the body of my work, and like a picture book, give a glimpse of and flesh out the author/illustrator's personality. So far it has fulfilled those goals for me. I didn't want to grouse or weep or discuss my feelings, my dreams, my expectations, my follies. I wanted this blog to be a testimony of the creative spirit -- my creative spirit -- so I could feel it, taste, it see it. I suppose this has alienated me from the majority of visitors; this is a boring site if you are looking for emotional discussions. But I do appreciate all of you who come to check in on me from time to time. I admit I do like it when comments are left. There is something very reassuring about that. I am not so alone in the world. In regard to today's journal page -- I'll reveal a bit about myself here -- the cut-out model is posed in front of a photo that I took of a window in a Salyulita building. She's all dolled up and glamorous even though she looks like she belongs on the runway, or in a Las Vegas boutique, or a Beverly Hills mall. Yet she thrives on the grittiness of the stucco walls and dirt roads of the Mexican town. Give her a pair of huarches and a tequila bottle and she's just as happy. She is someone who walks in both worlds...and more.

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 251

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 251: Faire Thee Well

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 250

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 250: This Far Apart

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 249

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 249: Treasure

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 248

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 248: Relax

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 247

2010 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 247: Each Song