Bombs Away!
This morning my girl went to school, for the last week of finals. An hour later she sent a text that the school had a bomb scare, and that she and the other kids were headed to the gym. We turn on the news. In fact, there is a bomb scare at her school in the headlines. While I know that this kind of thing most often ends up fine, I do not want my beautiful girl huddled with frightened masses of other children, even for one minute. We watched the news, and waited for updates. In the meantime I think, what can I do to balance out this ghastly...
read moreA Rainless Day
Today is supposed to be rainy, which is rare in Colorado and I was all excited to see that on the news last night. It is a great time to heat up the tea, cozy in and get things sorted. But, it is not raining and my rainy day plan is not running smoothly. I already lost my sunglasses and smooshed my brand new other glass to render them unwearable. My studio is filled with parts and pieces of book projects, kits left from teaching in four states, and lots of stuff to file. It is a wonderful place, but does not in any way resemble the studios...
read moreVirginia, there is room for you!
I am teaching next week at Art and Soul in Virginia Beach. Last year was lovely, being right on the sea, making art with friends. This year will be fabulous too.Wednesday and Thursday will be “Under the Influence” which is a painting workshop. It is a brief foray into art school, where you will learn about four artists that have influenced my work. Here is a post about this class. Here is a link to sign up. The other class is called Journal Texting Two, and it is about making letters, inventing alphabets, playing with all kinds...
read morePostcards with Jane
Jane Davies is a popular teacher and I can see why. I finally met her last week, at Art & Soul in Kansas City, where I taught and she did too. She offered a free postcard class one evening, and I went. She told us to make four very distinct designs on one piece of paper. All I had to work with was some pens and a bit of paint, not the roller carts of paper and collage materials most of the others had, so I set about drawing. The first quadrant I did was the marker faces, which I scribbled with a Pitt Big Brush Pen and filled in...
read moreJournal Challenge for Myself
In October my friend Connie presented me with a journal she made, it is stunning. She made it using a cover of a vintage book. She decorated every single page. Each one is so thoughtful, so full of texture and imagery that she glued, stitched, drew and collaged. Most of you know that I normally work on white pages, so this journal was a bit of a challenge for me, both because it was already so beautiful to look at, and because I was not sure how to approach a page with so much content already on it. I decided to try and work with the pages so...
read moreLove Letters in Tucson
Last week I had the pleasure of teaching for Paperworks, in Tucson, Arizona. It was 70°, blue and crisp the entire week. I stayed with Stan and Linda Penny, who are so very good at hosting I considered squatting for a spell. The class met in a building on the agricultural part of the U of A, formerly known as the “Meat Science Lab”. There was some kind of event going on there, so while we were inside writing love letters and poetry, we were serenaded by moos and bleating outside. It is comfy being surrounded by large Angus cattle,...
read moreDoodling with Dawn
Dawn DeVries Sokol is a friend, an author, a doodler, a journaler, and an energetic artist. She has just published this journal for the inexperienced journaler, the fearful of white pages, the personal who does not currently know how valuable journaling is. All characteristics that do not apply to me. I have always been a white page lover, a no-prep jump-in journaler. I don’t need thoughtful prompts and ideas on colorful backgrounds. Well, that was until I dove in on this one. Each page has a bit’O magic built in color, small...
read moreRomance and the Snow
We have been waiting for snow here in Colorado. It is here, now, softly falling out my window, just past where my big poodle is napping. He looks like a stuffed toy. He is kind of a stuffed toy. My family is all out and about, skiing, snowboarding, hanging with the cute German boyfriend. This is a blissful time for me, the pureness of the quiet, the long awaited arrival of snow, a fire, a dog and a cup of tea. The view of winter out my window. My day has been filled with poetry too, getting ready for a class I will teach in Tucson...
read moreToday, and Italy in May
Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine, I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine. A million tomorrow shall all pass away, ‘ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today. John Denver Today my book is #1 on Amazon. That is huge for me. I am also planning my trip to Orvieto in May. You can join me, and you should. A week of wonder, May 5-11, 2013. This is my second time teaching there, and my seventh time visiting there. I adore Italy. Italy is one of the most sumptuous and sensuous...
read moreHoliday Road Trip and Haiku
I have been traveling since December 21. First, from my home in Colorado to Orange, California in a Prius with the dog, the husband and my two teenagers. True. Once in SoCal, we joined my siblings for a holiday week with my mom. We went to the beach. My dog, who is a poodle, has never liked the water. Until now. I drove to my sister Linden’s house in Watsonville. After looking at her over-sized, monolithic, ice cube of a fireplace, I just got sick of it. We had to fix this thing and make it work with this fab wooden house. I had a...
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Released!