Late Summer Day at Dusk...

Sounds of the forest outside my window

The lure of nature's beauty

 Denseness is a blessing?

Living in the woods can be thrilling, exciting, a little bit scary, inspirational and...sad. You come to learn the sounds of the forest, the cheerful, carefree along with the well, not quite so carefree, actually downright distressful. My studio has two lovely windows that allow me to be right up against the woods in all its glory, sometimes a little too close. Sitting at my computer listening to the sounds of the end of a busy day of foraging and flying and singing the forest begins to settle into its nightly rhythms, which unfortunately means danger to many of the creatures who make the forest their home. You are usually taken unawares, at first not recognizing the danger or hearing the distress calls - it's all happening so fast that actually it is almost over before you realize some little creature just fell victim to...suddenly the sounds all around have quieted in the wake of the fear that just flooded through, even the crickets stop for a moment or two before resuming their familiar nightly group melody. The deed is over now, nothing can be done, the strong prey on the less strong - it is a matter of survival that the little bird who moments ago was happily singing readying for its distant journey of migration that lay just ahead as the days of sweet summer gradually grow shorter. Now she has become a part of the mechanism of survival for one larger and stronger than she ...

American Goldfinch
photo credit to blevinsphoto.com environmental photographer
par excellence!

"And Then There Was None" Giveaway

Today's post is actually a request for your help. What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase, "And then there was none?"  I am offering in return for your efforts a giveaway - the winner will be chosen using that random number thingy (I know, don't I dazzle you with my technical vocabulary - see why I need your help!) The deadline to submit ideas is August 31, 2010 midnight from wherever you are in the world at that time. I will do the random thingy September 1st at 12:00 noon EDT and will post the winner shortly thereafter.
A picture of the giveaway package will be posted as soon as I finish assemling it.
So, here is the way the giveaway works:

1. Comment to this post - "What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase, 'And then there was none.'" (Make sure to leave your name and email in the comment) - this earns you one entry to the giveaway
2. Put my button up on your blog - send me an email letting me know that you have put up my link button on your blog and put your blog url in the email - this will earn you an entry in the giveaway. 
3. Post on your blog about my giveaway - tell your visitors to tell me where they heard about my giveaway when they leave their comment to my post and the blog owner gets another entry for each person their blog directs to this post (plus one extra entry for posting about the giveaway - so that would be 3 chances just for commenting, putting up my button on your blog, and for posting about my giveaway)!
4. Deadline to leave a comment is 12:00 midnight August 31st from wherever you are on the planet at that time
5. Grab the code from the button on my sidebar and add it to your blog.

Thanks bunches and look forward to all the creative ideas I know you all will contribute!                    

 

New Blog to Visit

Sorry I haven't been around much recently...kind of went crazy with some really awesome online art classes I stumbled upon and well...how can one say no to learning a new technique? LOL Now, where to put all these new art supplies! I have also been setting up another blog frenchcountrybarn.blogspot.com  that will be part of my new Etsy store that I am hoping to finally have open this fall.  If you get a chance stop over and check out the progress, which is going slow, pretty much like everything I do...SLOW. That reminds me of my 6th grade teacher Ms. Patterson who gave me a C on an art project that she said she would have given me an A on but I turned it in late (because I wanted it to be perfect). She said, "you must learn that on time means on time and that is why I am giving you the C." Well,  Ms. Patterson obviously left less of an impression on me than I guess she hoped for! LOL 

July 4th Weekend and Blue Girl

Happy July Everyone, and hope you all had a nice, safe and enjoyable July 4th weekend, which is quickly coming to a close for this year. In case you are wondering how I spent mine - nice and comfy in the air-conditioning creating ART of course! I created my first Technicolor Face from Sharon's class and am lovin' this technique. I also spent some time just cruising the Net watching art vids by some pretty amazing artists. Even found one, well actually part I and part II by Rice (pronounced Risa) on making a multiple signature book using thin leather for the cover, sorry to any vegans out there but I love leather for book covers. Her YouTube vids are at http://www.youtube.com/user/ricefz you should stop by if you have a chance.
I found a fabulous leather distributor in Canada at the beginning of this year, with the intentions of using the leather for my handmade books. She sells beautiful hand dyed Italian leather intended for clothes, soft, soft, soft and very thin in scrumptious colors like azure blue with silver scroll work stamped on it and did I mention the beautiful pistachio? Can't wait to get back to making books...but for now painting and watercolor are on the immediate horizon. I have a fabulous watercolor class online coming up July 20th that should yield some great ideas and techniques and I am slowly moving along with the videos from Suzi Blu for 4 of her classes, what can I say, I just couldn't help myself. I am taking her beginner class for Folk Art dolls, "Goddess and Poetry", "Piety and Passion" and I just signed up for her "Angels" class. The really neat thing about Suzi's classes is she gives you the vids to download so you can refer back to them forever! I am looking forward to seeing what she has in store for the Fall semester. She has dropped hints here and there and anything from Suzi is going to be awesome, informative, technical and creative. You will definitely learn the skills necessary to grow your art! Oh, and did I mention she is having a sale on her classes right now? OK, enough endorsements, but you should check Suzi out...I think I am going to go back to my studio now and play some more ART!