Happy, happy, happy!

Journal Page

I sit here surrounded by 'stuff' pulled out from wardrobes and cupboards.  We're moving house and taking stock of everything ready for packing. Organised chaos!  Downsizing is the catch phrase around here and we have to let go of as much as possible.  We hope to be settled in by Christmas.  Big deep breaths......

Some wonderful news arrived this morning.... my artwork has been selected to be included in Patti Digh's new book to be published in 2011 -  'What I Wish For You' .  This news has lifted me up on a day when I am stressing about furniture and where it's going to go!  Happy, happy, happy!!

Rainy Day Painting

Today I pulled out my paints, since it is raining steadily and definitely a stay-in kind of Sunday.  I found a little round camembert cheese box saved from last Christmas, that was crying out for a little folk art.  I hunted around for some inspiration on YouTube and settled in for some fun!

Then on to the letter P.  My nephews gave me this for my birthday and today I finally decorated it.  The aim was to be seriously cheerful!

Sun

This is a bit of journal play.  I'm still craving sculpture, put on hold till we find a place to live.  The edges of the journal page have been cut with fancy scissors to give a lovely tactile edge, which satisfies my need to feel the physical right now.

We are having some beautiful Spring days, a little rain, a little cloud, not too cold....  feeling in limbo and anxious to get moving...!

Chilling Out!

This is a sketch I made of our cat Phoebe lying by the old gas heater last winter.  She is eleven years old now, and despite appearances, is still playful.  She is part Burmese and part Persian, and very vocal when she wants to be, especially in the mornings at breakfast time!  She wakes me up without fail at 6.30am!

We are still going through the real estate process and I have no art to share.  I miss it lots, although I have plenty with which to keep my mind occupied.  No time to scratch really!  People looking at my house, me looking at other people's houses, a possible buyer.....it's all been more gruelling than I thought it would be....  So tonight I will chill out with my journal for company and process the day away!

Creative Itch

I found some time yesterday to sit and paint, just a small one.  It helped relieve the creative itch I am feeling right now.  I am loving alizarene pigment (madder rose) at the moment and making the most of it since I only have a small tube.  It's on the shopping list.

I'm also itching to try some papier mache sculpture, get my hands all messy!  There's some amazing creations out there and I want to make one of my own, then paint it in the brightest colours I can find.....  and do some outside scenery painting down by the waterfront - a picnic with paints.  If only the weather would settle! 

Today, I am....

We are selling our house and there has been lots of tidying, cleaning, mending, sweeping, weeding, styling and general peparation for selling.  We had our first open house yesterday, so we'll see what happens!  It's tough making a living, breathing messy home, behave like a tidy, sparkling show home!  I feel a little antsy, so settling to make art has been not so much, and packing it all away again to keep things tidy is no way to run a studio! Still, I'm journaling, but mostly writing.

In spite of it all, I had some ladies over for a journal session last week and we messed around, getting to know ourselves and where we were at.  We followed the prompt 'Today, I am...." and went from there....  We had some great results and will follow a different, deeper train of thought next session, when more ladies will join us.  Fun!

This is a long weekend for us and has been very wet and un-Springlike.  However, the grass is rich and green, so who could ask for more?