Being reflective.....

"Great spiritual traditions are used as means to ripen us,

to bring us face to face with our lives, and to help us see in a

new way by developing a stillness of mind and a strength of heart"

Jack Kornfield

hope you've had a good week so far.

I've been reflecting

on

what I've read

what I've seen

what I've experienced

this week

and

I'm thankful

for this

brings about

change...

Blessings

steph

Humility...

I've been thinking much about this 

since I've met not one but three individuals in a week

who are 

successful

somewhat powerful

important 

high achievers

influential

visionaries

and

most importantly

they spoke to me as individuals who are

down to earth

and

humble

and so I want to share this

and a quote:

Humility does not mean believing oneself to be inferior,

but to be freed from self importance.

It is a state of natural simplicity

which is in harmony with our

true nature and allows us to taste the freshness of the present moment.

Matthieu Ricard

I feel so blessed!!

steph

The making of art...

what would you do if you've had a bad week?

ART

And

what would you do if you've had a good week?

ART

I do

I did

and

I will

Make Art 

steph

Oasis...

"One may refer an oasis to a pleasant place or situation..."  (Collins Dictionary)

I was "lost" in "pleasantville" while painting these pages...
With my favorite Jazz music to accompany my muse...
These moments were precious....
beyond words...

Have a good week!!
steph

Love life, Live life

I had a really fruitful weekend.. or rather "artful".

Firstly, I completed 2 altered art projects

and

one of them is shown here:

This is a gift for a colleague of mine,

the background is a crackled finish using Elmer's glue and acrylic paints.

A layer of glaze with titan buff was painted onto the crackled backgound

to give it a "frescoed" look  (just wondering if there's such a description :)) ).

Collage images from scrapbooking papers. 

I hope she''ll like it, I can't wait to present it to her tomorrow. ;)

Secondly,

I made a couple of tags ..

using scraps of papers, envelopes, postage stamps etc...

And

 I am all charged up for the coming week!

cheers!!

steph

Art Happens.....

I came home early today, nursing a stiff neck

but 

the creative surge was beckoning me...

and so

"Art Happens"


and


this is number one:

Art Journal pages created with acrylic background,

and collage ephemera.

The images are bordered by pasting down doilies

and painted over with Golden's Iridescent Bronze 

and another..

Acrylic background layered with collage ephemera..
(love doing this in front of the TV :)  )

I'd like to share a quote by Susan Williamson

who also wrote this wonderful book,

" Put your own wings on time, or else it will fly away on you"

Hope you've had a good week and here's to a 

wonderful weekend!!!


steph

PS: the neck still hurts but I am pleased as peas ;) 

Painting on black .....

Inspired by Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard 
in their latest online workshop,
 I tried painting on a black background today.

One can either gesso the page or

use any black or dark colored paper.

The pages were painted with 
Titan Buff after that.

Once it's dried, 
paint titanium white onto the page.

I left the sides untouched as I wanted

a dark border.

And here's the completed background,

it's still a work in progress 
but I wanted to show you

what you could achieve 
 if you started off

with a black/dark colored page.

Happy Painting!!

steph

Art Journal pages

Enjoyed the process of putting these pages together last night.

As I was busy at work the whole of yesterday,

I grabbed whatever's left on my table from previous projects

Apparently this process of "using whatever you have" for collage is called "bricolage".

 Anyways, background papers and images 

were layered onto the journal

and I couldn't resist creating some

textures using Tim Holtz's crackle paste.

Hope your weekend has been good so far!

I'm looking forward to my Sunday!

and a quote to share:

" The heart has reasons

that reason cannot know"

Blaise Pascal

xo

Steph

Faith..

This page makes me happy.....

and a quote to share with you....

"our lives continue to expand in the direction of our beliefs"

Peggy Jenkins, The Joyful Child

steph

art journal pages...

some art journal pages i've recently managed to photograph
i'm loving collage and creating textures with the various mediums
and visual journaling has been pretty consistent despite
my busy schedule and work.....
simply love it....

Happy Monday!
steph

Change.....

"changes...has the power to uplift, heal, to stimulate, surprise, open doors

bring fresh experiences, and create excitement in life.

It elevates us from mediocrity and saves us from false security"

Leo Buscaglia

Happy weekend!!

steph

"work of heart"

I'm loving this little collage book of mine.

It's an avenue for me to "discharge" my creative urge.

There's no hassle at all, no paints, only glue and paper.

Most importantly, there is continuity in the creative process ....

that's all that matters.

And Rumi sums up my sentiments....

"Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart."

Rumi

steph