boxes and assemblages and keys and keys and hardware and toile and collage and flowers and pink and then just a little bit more

this is a box and tray set for the pirate ball, y'all .... if you have no notion of what i'm talking about, then you are a post behind ..... this is a paper mache box and a wooden tray ...a set for auction .... i'm on my way to rallying the troops to get 100 boxes for the auction ..... last year we did 100 birdhouses .... hopefully treasure chests /boxes will be just as popular ....

groovy blue and black box, huh? i love that rusty handle ..... i actually had it set aside to go under this house once it is attached to a canvas ... but who knows when that will be ....so i went ahead and used it.....surely i can find a groovy handle before i need another one ..... anyone got any rusty, old hardware for me? this box is also going to be in the auction .....

...and when the mommy spends the morning making boxes, so do the kids ... this is the box that drew made today ...... i think it turned out pretty cool ..... my pal melinda L gave us some keyboards and keyboard letters that we are now putting to good use .... it is nice when your friends know what kind of junk to deliver to the basement art studio ....

..... and here we have some flowers .... pink dictionary flowers in a go vase .... not to be confused with the sturdier bingo vase .... this one looks tippy for sure .... if it were in my house, no doubt a child would spill it .... oh fine, i'd probably spill it myself! ..... anyway ...this is the background i've been documenting as it has progressed .... it started out as a poster of herbs from my brother in england ..... cool, huh?

...and last but not least today ...... i had a sudden notion of something fun and easy ..... and got it started here ... on a ten by thirty canvas ..... i'm working towards an art fair on the last weekend of october ...... but before that, lola's, the gallery showing my work, is going to folk fest ......have i said this already? ..... anyway ....i'm trying to build up my stock, my portfolio, my available art..... for a number of events ......before it feels like a mad scramble and i, heaven forbid, feel pressure to create....can't have that! ...... i'm all for the peaceful easy sort of art .... not the OH MY GOSH GOT TO HAVE IT DONE art ...... anyway ....this one should be finished this week .... or i hope it will be anywhooooooo .......
so, i had an extraordinarily artsy day .... did you?
oh! i forgot one more thing ....we took a field trip to my favorite place.... my favorite place is a store called my favorite place ....get it? it is a junk store...a flea market ....a treasure trove of oddities .... i was looking to score some cheap boxes to fancy up .... but no such luck ......oh well ....there's always next time .....

ps.... do you know that i am in the midst of the most joyful days of summer? and that twice a day blogging and art all day with children is not going to last forever? sigh ..... sophie woke up this morning and said...can i put on my paint clothes! ...yes ....YIPPPPEEEEEEE .......
tomorrow we are planning to grocery shop and buy school shoes ..... that i just not nearly as groovy as the half finished collages that are downstairs calling my name......

key box for the pirate's ball, y'all

key box for the pirate's ball, y'all
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

dear dana,
i'm so glad that you volunteered to be the chair of this year's celebration at church..hooray for you! .....and i think the idea of a pirate's ball, y'all is super, fabulous, fun and groovy-rific......i was so happy to volunteer to collect treasure chests for the auction ...here's the first one...i didn't collect it...i made it myself out of a nifty vintage box i bought at my favorite place.......if you go to my flickr site you can see another view and the inside .......the inside is especially cool and groovy in its original state.......
aarrrggh, matey......
ninety nine boxes to go......
no mutiny here.....
sincerely, shipmate eeeee

some people like to have an after dinner mint...not me...i prefer an after dinner art hurrah.....

two herbed yellow backgrounds ....
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

i had some stolen minutes after dinner tonight to work on some artsiness...... i added some letter stencils to my herb backgrounds.....i think they are coming along nicely now..... though i still don't know what the foreground will be....don't hold your breath though...some of my backgrounds sit in my studio for months or years waiting to become what they are meant to be..... only time will tell......

but...this is not all i was working on today ....i also was working on a house, some keys, and another kind of keys.....

tra la la.....nice busy way to start an artsy week......

groovy, happy, lovely, sunny, artsy monday

i'm certain that someone, somewhere, is wondering what groovy girl e is doing today ..... and ... so ya know ..... i am working on backgrounds ... this is an 18 inch square canvas ..... i posted about the poster i'm using for textural interest in yesterday's blog .... happy monday ...... don't just sit there at your computer, go do something artsy .......

fish wish ....or one fish, two fish, here's a big fish......

yippeeee .... i've finished this fish collage / assmeblage finally! ... well... it isn't even actually done....i need to black the edges, write on the back, sign it, hardware it for hanging .... but, you know what i mean .... i finished the hard part!!! i've had that big fish finished for ages, so i'm used to him ... but just figured out the wee fish yesterday and finished them this morning .... i'm quite happy ....... the fresca fish are particularly groovy to me ...... all that said, i have some close ups and detail shots on my flickr site ...... here, here, and this one too.......

.... and here is a preview of something else i've been working on.... i didn't think to take a pic of it til i had already ripped it apart....... a herb poster ... and a poultry poster... don't you have those just sitting around in your art room ....... i am turning them into backgrounds... so far i've just stared on the herbs.......

the groovy thing about these posters is that they are from my brother in england..... apparently their newspaper, the guardian, puts posters in the papers...i think just when the kids are out of school...not every single day........with some fairly out there subjects...these are sort of usual ones.....but all the muscles of the legs and feet.......or......waterfowl of england...... anywhoooooo, whilst in england, r asked meeeee if i'd like some.....apparently he has the strong need to keep them and collect them...but you only need so many posters of heirloom tomatos....... and beef cattle....... i think my nephew has a dinosaur one up in his room....... anyway...he offered them to me.....and i ...shhhhhhh.....did not tell my luggage toting husband that i took a big ole stack of them and stashed them away at the bottom of a suitcase!!! .... but, happily...i have them .... and now am using them......hurrah....... stay tuned

so....i still haven't finished a piece to show you...so instead i'll just show you a bit more of my process...that ok?

....so....i spent quite a bit of time in my studio today.....but have no finished piece to show for it...even though i have quite a few on the verge of being done, somehow, nothing was destined for completion today....... the problem is that i'm kind of flitty...scattered....my brain shoots off haphazard fireworks instead of normal sparks of intellect and effort...so i start something....like painting some paper blue to make little fishies....and then i do the wrong blue...but i like the blue i did but it needs a bit more...so i start off on this whole gorgeous blue paper painting thing on dictionary pages that i will use in some piece in my far distant future...so then i go back to these fish...and decide that i need more than just paper fish...oh....bottle caps...bottle cap fish...so i pull out five kabillion bottle caps and start sorting through them.....speak to me bottle caps....do i want all one sort..... do i want a huge variety... do i want a particular color pallette of bottle caps... do i want only caffeinated soda bottle caps.... oh... the questions that zip through the brain....... and then i remember i'm supposed to be painting paper.... and get more dictionary pages, but no, let's do something different..... novel..... um.... let's see, here's some robert ludlum, that'll work..... action thriller spy guy fish.. that'll work..... and i paint them....and then i think about the next layer...ah...lumieres, my love paints.......should i go with the blue...the green...or my good and faithful friend, pearl white? .....oh....let's try them all......the joy of experimentation......

and then i have a table full of papers drying and i decide to be strong and brave and true and glue my big fish down ...... and i did ... right when simultaneously our best pals invited us over to dinner and my whole family, a foursome, came home sweaty from golfing.......so.... everyone shower.... i'll just.... dither in my art room... and then we'll go to the impromptu italian feast .....and andy stays in the studio with me watching what i'm doing...questioning my e6000 technique.. will that glue really hold that ... what is that..... a fish...no, what's it made of...pottery.....you're doing pottery still? ...no, not for the summer.....i had this saved up...... what are those eyes? styrofoam? ... no, pottery.... really........are you sure that thing isnt' just gonna fall right off when you hang it up... are you sure?... yes..... really?.... really......i'm a professional artist, ya know.......i know my glue....so i did a bunch of stuff...worked on some yellow canvases...some big canvases....some small.......tried to get this whole fish thing done......but....no such luck......finsihed nothing....is that ok? i'm thinking i have some art time in my sunday afternoon plans.......so, tomorrows blog should be art rich.....we'll see......

and one more bit of happiness.......three sweetie pies visited me......they left this morning after a whirlwind trip....as they were preparing to go, sophie asked if she could take some pictures.. yes...... and ... with my camera, she took about 80 photos.......i think she's going to need some training if she wants to go into photography... about four of the 80 were ok....... this one, in particular, cracked me up.....sophie took this picture of my dog, dixie, studying a painting in my kitchen.... isn't that odd......i guess it is odd that i have a painting low enough to be at eye level to a five pound dog...... but i do...... this one is optimistic pigs can fly....maybe dixie is wishing for wings.......
tra la la...hope you are having an art filled weekend......or at least a happy one.......

ps....i went with turquoised ludlum papers with a coat of lumiere pearl on top.....and i chose bottle caps in the green blue purple family......no coke, no pepsi, no jolt, no tab, no orange fanta....but still dozens and dozens of caps to choose from.....

so if you don't do any, any, any, any, any art in a day...but you have a grand day of ...um....bowling....and swimming and eating pizza ....

we have fab. family visiting and i never went in my studio today....oops.......but....a glorious day even artless...... a very happy day ......even though i bowled an 87....i tied with grace ...she's 8 ....and i beat sophie by four pins....she's just six years old......and carolyn, 11, beat me by ...oh, 50 pins or something........and despite that bowling pummeling...and no art....i had a glorious day.......
stay tuned for tomorrow...i promise i'll have some art to post for you.......
happy weekend......

...and another post ..because i just spent about an hour (or more?) in my studio with roberta..we mostly chatted but i did a bit of art

so.....my roberta is here......with her two girls.....and the kids are having a blast.....and we've just chit chatted the night away......

in my studio, i showed roberta this and that...stuff i'm working on......different weird things......and then i doodled an envelope to make a little mail art....who will the lucky recipient be? you'll just have to stay tuned for that...the envelope is groovy..the insides? groovy too!

while i was with roberta, i was kind of apologizing for the state of chaos that my studio is in.......sorry it's such a mess....and she said...NO, it's beautiful.....so she has a discerning eye and an appreciation for artistic messes.....

my house is very happy right now...how 'bout yours?

a b c d e ....e, that's it....1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000...that's it...e6000, the stinky glue

on my last post, i mentioned e6000 ...the strongest, most fabulous, perfect artists' glue......and in the comments, heidi, artsy girl and writer of one of my favorite blogs, everyday cookies , asked about the e6000 stinky factor.......

so, this is my open letter to heidi......heidi, dear, roberta just told me on the phone that YOU said:
a: you think i'm cool
b: you think e6000 is too stinky
c: you wonder if my art is e6000 stinky.......
d: all of the above.....

so.....i smelled my art ....really, walked right up to
trout parrot and gave it a whif.......and it does not smell like e6000 ......and i have no explanation why on earth yours would stay stinky and mine does not......perhaps you are not closing your eyes, imagining flower scents, and chanting the proper incantation while waving your fairy wand......but i dunno.....maybe you are and it is still stinky...can't help you......

and just so you know....right after you got off the phone with roberta, we discussed in great detail:
a: how groovy YOU are
b: that "glue with letters and numbers"
c: stinky art
d: how lucky i am that she is visiting me
e: all of the above

tra la la.....i've done no art today...but plan to squeeze some in before my sister in law and two neices arrive for a surprise spur of the moment trip........

i can at least use the stinky glue!!

oh....every time i do a smidge of art i feel like rushing to my blog and letting you all know just exactly what i got done.....is that ok....

so, apparently, i'm loving this bloggy land so much, that i'm now posting more than once a day......my last post, just below this, i said, oh, i'm gonna go sneak in some studio time...after dinner...before the bed time book reading extravaganza .....and i did.....and i dug out this oh-so-very-old background...that started with a definitive notion...and then i lost the notion.....did i do it a year ago? maybe? anyway, saw it while i was digging around and BING had a light bulb moment ....and a new notion...... so i did a bit of work on the background.....and separately was working on the foreground.....



and here is a sneak peek .... of what might be.....it isn't glued down (oooh, that's a hint) and i'm not certain about the coloring...or what the extra doodads could be....or if i even need them for that matter...but i usually am all for doodads.......

anyhoo....nice to get some art in at the end of a busy day......and nice to be able to have one last little bit of blog before bedtime.....feels a bit like, dear diary, i just painted the most fabulous ______ fill in the blank......

so ..... any guesses what i've got going on here? on this background that was intended for big ole white flowers.....eek, that so didn't happen......

tra la la....happy artsiness to you......

life is a balancing act......i wish i were the pig.....

i don't care who you are, man, woman, boy, girl, worker, student, artist, mom, dad, retiree......it's all about balance......and i started out my week SO balanced and then somehow, i've dropped that elephant/camel barbell......but......i must be somewhat balanced cause this is my third finished piece of art this week...not bad.......

today, drew had basketball camp, julia had a golf tournament, sophie had a tennis lesson, i played caddie, i got my hair cut......and andy is working late so i took the kids out to dinner instead of cooking.....at least i fed them, right?

can i brag....if not, stop here......

julia has just taken up golf....she entered a tournament .......the golf pro had asked andy if she'd be interested.....she's never played golf without drew and andy so she said no thanks, too scary.....i said, anything worth doing starts out a little scary......and she said OK......she is brave.....and she is also the leader in her division, 9-10 girls, going into day 2 ....how groovy is that...my own little tiger..... i had planned on an art day til all this popped up! oh well......i'm off to the basement studion now for a little evening paint slinging.......tra la la......

ps... click here to see this collage on my flickr site.....if you roll your mouse over the picture, there are some cutie pie little note boxes to read too.......

my artistic irony isn't exactly subtle......SLOW DOWN

jolt cola mona went to the doctor.....he was worried for her health and told her less caffeine.....stop, smell the roses....slow down....appreciate the beauty around you.....quit rushing....... so mona bought a pet....a pet turtle.... it is absolutely impossible to rush when you are taking your turtle for a walk......

in fact...i have a little dog......with a long leash....and sometimes i take her out for a stand...we walk first...and then i just stand there....as she sniffs each and every leaf and blade of grass....i sometimes think she's testing...how patient can e be (does she call me mommy or e?) ...how patient will she be, standing out here at nearly midnight? ruff...i'm going to try to sniiff 287 blades of grass tonight......breaking yesterdays record of 286 ....ruff ruff.....

slow down......

and stay tuned.....as soon as i post this i am going downstairs to finish another turtle collage......rah.......

chaos theory

andy was looking at my newest mona last night....from the last post.....i almost said he was studying it...but it was more of a ponder......

as you, my faithful reader, know.....when i finish a piece i put it on my mantle....for days or weeks or months....depending on how much i like it and how quickly it is going to be released into the world....sometimes there are tons of them ....right now there are four of mine........ so andy has no choice but to notice my art....he's pretty much surrounded by it......

me: andy, dear, did you notice my new piece?
he: yes, i was just doing the math...
me: what?
he: i was just doing the math problem houses to figure out what order you put them in
me: order?
he: you know, why you have them like that.....
me: uh huh.......huh?
he: 9, 32, 0, 13, 5 .....just trying to make sense of it....

i'm pretty sure he doesn't read my blog....don't tell him i didn't put them in a particular order....other than to space out the subraction problems so they weren't all clustered together.....i wanted an integrated neighborhood.....integrated integers....ha ha......

mona dit: je voudrais aller a paris, s'il vous plait....je voudrais voir la lune et la tour eiffel

yippee, zippy.....i had a fabulous art day......my girls and i spent the day in the basement creating.......here is one of my finished pieces...it is three feet square, quite large and grand.......there are bingo chips in the sky......and flash card houses.....her wings are shiny metal.......her one crown jewel is a bottle cap...julia's favorite part is mona's orange land's end shoes...quite comfy for travelling......tra la la......

hooray for art days.....

every time a child came and needed something from me i told them i was going to put a confundus curse on them....

in the last 36 hours i have:
-gotten harry potter and the deathly hollows out of my mail box....kudos to amazon for even putting it in a cute box
-arm wrestled my strongest child for the privillege of reading it first.......(just kidding...kind of)
-taken a nap....what was i thinking?
-picked it up for a leisurely few chapters
-tormented my two ten year olds with wild harry potter untruths
-gone out to dinner (fancy dinner with grand pals)
-slept 7 hours
-gone to church
-done laundry...three loads, washed, folded, and, ur, sitting on my coffee table.....
-made lunch (actually read while eating)
-walked the dog holding hands with my husband
-made dinner (did not read during dinner, though i really wanted to)
-and just now at 11.03 ....i finished reading the seventh harry potter book.......i am exhausted.....

....really that's all i did today...and between those little snibblets of this and that activity i read and read and read and read and read......

i know, i know, i said i'd do art today...but now i can do it tomorrow without such a glorious diversion.......

yippee....
five stars....
grand....
loved it.....
melinda, call me when you finish the book!!

harry, ron, hermione, ginny

sorry....no art to report on today....i am busy saving the world from he who must not be named....

not a spoiler.... but let's talk hp .... my pal melinda swears dumbledore won't be dead ... she swears snape is good ..... she SAID (and then took back) that she thinks snape is harry's father ....... i hope she's right on two out of three ....... she has a dog named hermione .... that makes her pretty close to an expert, i imagine.......

off to read ALL night.......

hopefully i won't be too sleepy tomorrow to do art!!

artsy and interesting

i taught a class today...at the episcopal cathedral....to christian education folks from all around atlanta and north georgia.....there were about 25 people there.....two of them were priests! oh my! ... i didn't know any of the people who came to learn from me......but lots said very nice things to me when we were done......really the class could have been called advanced doodling ....or thoughtful doodling........so...there ya go....what did you do artsy and interesting today?

magic marker day

i've spent the day instructing 75 or so unsuspecting children and their volunteer leaders about the finer points of magic marker juiciness......

during the first group of the morning (the giraffes) i had boatloads of markers on the table and my two rules were:
1. always put the caps back on the pens
2. always throw away annoying, unjuicy pens so that they can't annoy someone else......
....and, because they were the first group, they had to suffer though loads of unjuicy pens.....and we were tossing and tossing and tossing them out......
i gave the rules to the next four groups, but no more than a couple unjuicy pens got tossed out......
but, as one child noted ....i really went on about juiciness..each time we started a new drawing, i'd say, grab a good juicy pen in your favorite color...or some such thing.....so.... that child wanted to know if i ALWAYS talked about pen juiciness, or if i had made it up just for them......oh no, honey, i'm frequently concerned with pen juiciness, it's not just for today....... life is too short to be using annoying, dried up pens.....the juicier the better.....



another child said to me, i know you only call me honey because you can't remember my name....and i said, darling, what is your name......he said, i'm not telling you, honey....he called me honey!! .......another child said, do you call everyone lovey? ...and i said only people that i like being with....... and then i said, hey vanessa, can you pass me the juicy pink marker...and she said, you don't have to call me vanessa.....darling vanessa, pass the pens, lovey! .......

i have loads of quirks....i know this......but i don't think everyone can just see them ALL the time....but somehow, i'm pretty transparent to these children.....they kind of get me......like, a child would say, miss elizabeth, can i use another color now? and another child would say, of course she's going to say yes, she always wants us using more color.......or.....someone would say ...my circle is WRONG ...it didn't come out right......and before i could say that's ok....some child would say, no one draws a perfect circle, you can make that one work......apparently i say "that'll still work" a TON......like every time anyone copmlained about their own drawing skills.......

tra la la......magic marker day of juiciness is over.......

tomorrow, i am actually NOT teaching the emmaus house kids.....they are going to a play ...robin hood, at oglethorpe...in the morning....and then they have just a fewer number of rotations in the afternoon.......and during that rotation time...i am teaching a GROWN UP class....oh my!! ....... if i wasn't so busy and tired, i think i'd be nervous about it....but, no time for that.....

day two of drawing classes for seventh heaven.....

the emmaus house children were happy and enthusiastic today.....i had five groups that i led a drawing class for...this group was my favorite....shhhhhh...don't tell them!!! ...or, more importantly, don't tell the other groups!! .......this batch of children is neither the youngest, not the oldest....they were easy to lead, easy direction followers, but still young enough to be very into the whole day.......they are holding up their pictures of elephants......it was elephant day.....did i tell you yestereday that it was giraffe day? or did i leave out that detail......

today we did directed drawing with crayons....on some of the pictures we did pencil sketching first..some we went right to crayons......
.....we did landscapes with the side of our crayons ( we had to break them and peel them for that!!!)
.....we did elephant sketches and then colored them in.....
.....we did interpretations of a folk art painting by mose t.
....we doodled and we drew and we had a doodley fine day.....



in yesterday's blog, i was worried that i wasn't "teaching real drawing" .....i was going more in the doodle way....but, now, i know that what i'm doing is right.....most of these kids don't feel any bit of artist in their soul.......i can't draw that.....no way i can make an elephant.......but the way i'm approaching it is that anyone can and will.....easy directions, easy success....lots of color....color can bedazzle any drawing......so there you have it.....elephant day is done.......

can you tell did you notice do you like it, well?

julia and i were talking about redecorating....and (poor, sweet, long suffering) andy's ears perked up...what? what are y'all talking about? what are you redecorating?......
julia: can i redecorate my room?
andy: is that what you are talking about?
julia: no
andy: what are you going to redecorate?
julia: mom's blog.....
...and andy let out a huge sigh (of relief?) ......

i redecorated...can you tell did you notice do you like it......i am quite pleased with how it turned out...but i am HIGHLY disappointed in my infinitessimally SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOw learning curve.... i really should be much better at all this techy stuff than i am......

but there you have it......my new look......tra la la....


and more.....because i know you are wondering......my 500 sharpened pencils were ALL used....and my groovy helper progeny resharpened boatloads of them.....this sweet boy, xavier, was SO proud of his drawing....and i never had a second the whole day to think about taking pics....until he showed me this and shyly asked if i liked it....i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it....my exuberance can be a little frightening sometimes......but, he was proud and i was proud.....all in all, a happy successful day in e's art world......

ok...one last confession....yes, i am an artist....yes, i have taken loads of drawing classes (kind of in my olden days).....yes, i have taught art to children.....but i just have a week with these kids......and i wanted to do "art" that was going to be easy, happy, successful, fun......we talked about lines and shapes and textures and colors...but really, we were doing some glorious doodling......maybe life isn't perfect for most of us...but what life can't use just a little doodliscious joy.......

is that ok? that i told everyone i'd teach a drawing class, and i'm really just doodling the hours away with these children as we chit chat around our table?

hope so...cause i'm doing it again tomorrow......

colored pencil joy, present joy, and joy

this picture shows just a snippet of a batch of about five hundred pencils.....almost all are colored pencils....some are just number two ordinary pencils that just didn't get weeded out......but...five hudrend pencils....and i sharpened about 400 of them...today.....really!......what did you do sunday afternoon...oh, i sharpened four hundred pencils.......that's a lot of pencils.....

a few questions come to mind....
why do you have that many pencils, e?
why did you sharpen them all today, e?
are your pencil psychoses medically disabling or do you manage to carry on in your daily life without too much evidence of the problem, e?

i have no earthly idea, actually, why i have so many......other than to say, i really, really, really like them......when i was teaching i had a nice collection of them to share with my students....and you can't just have ten.....you need ten reds......so.....lots are from that...but i also think that i tend to give them to my children...oh, you want a treat from the store? no, not candy....oh, some colored pencils? sure, honey, that's fine....nothing more dazzling than opening that brand new box of pencils (markers, crayons, sharpies, postits...the problem is far reaching!) ..... i currently have two awesome sets of colored pencils...that are in their own special packs and places.....my kids even know "those are the special ones" .....they can use them...they just can't remove them, lose them, desecrate them.....these pencils in these photos are years worth of sets, i suppose.....



...and luckily for ME ....i have a lovely reason to need five hundred or so colored pencils!!! ..... i am teaching a drawing class this week...... my church, st. martin in the fields, is hosting 75 or so children from inner city atlanta......it is "seventh heaven"...their seventh week of summer...these children are doing a summer program with the emmaus house .....an outreach of the episcopal church of atlanta...i'm not sure how many summers st. m's has been hosting them, but quite a few, i'm sure...maybe five? ......

anyhooooooo, i am teaching a drawing class.......five groups a day for the week....about fifteen kids in a group.....tomorrow we are doing texture and color with colored pencils......so i sharpened all the pencils for all the kids.......fifty of those pencils are brand new......got them at the dollar store....i tested some first, they are good ones!! .....oh! that's how i got so many colored pencils....i keep buying more.....



and one more happy note of joy here......sweet heidi sent me a present.....she knows me well and put a happy bingo card on the outside....a bingo card is present worthy in and of itself!! ....... inside, there is a paper bag scrapbook.....a dazzling art project to be...who knows what grooviness a paper bag can become.......thanks heidi! you are fabulous....your kindness dazzles me......i'm glad i know you!!

....and one more bit of joy....my assistant tomorrow in my drawing class? her name is joy.....how perfect is that.......

a dazzle a day keeps the doldrums away

in lieu of getting art done today to show you....i.....um.....i have nothing....
but...since i now have your artistic attention....i think the world would be a better place if we all used the word dazzle more often.....say it....dazzle...sounds good, huh? ...when's that last time you used it?
be dazzling...
be dazzled.....
ask someone how they become so very bedazzling.....
think on that.....
please use dazzled at least twice a day for the next week......
whew.....new week starts in just a few hours.......got this post in just in the nick of time...what dazzling good luck......

daz*zle (verb)
blind temporarily (She was dazzled by the lights.)
figurative: amaze or overwhelm (someone) with a particular impressive quality (I was dazzled by the beauty and breadth of the art show)
dazzlement (noun)

...now i'm off to surf the art blogs of the world wide web in search of dazzlement......

i'm not sure what to title this, but i was in my art studio for a long time today and got a ton of art work done...nothing finished though....almost

i don't ever dream about being a famous artist (do you?) ......instead, i dream of being a good artist...or a better artist....or in lots of galleries......or of selling my work easily.......BUT....let's just suppose, in twenty years, some art historian....or some contemporary folk art / collage academic art historian was interested in my work....... and was dating my things .....and figuring out my progression and my growth ......TODAY would be a moment in that progression...a new thing...a new element.....a moment on the time line where, in the book that is being written about me, it would say....in early july 2007, elizabeth was going to the happy sumo with her family and arrived much earlier than her friends...rather than blow their minds with her earliness, they are the types to always be first there, she decided to DASH into michael's, dragging along the whole clan (happy sumo is in the same strip mall)...and lo and behold she found a new and fabulous stencil........in mid july, we see the first bold background covered with these five inch letters.....the letters are remarkably similar to the stencils she had been using for years, but to someone truly analyzing the content of her textured, lettered backgrounds, the difference is remarkable......

















so, can you see? i got a new set of stencils (two actually, but i've only used one) ...these letters are quite a bit squatter than my usual...bulkier, thicker, less tall and thin, more substance....really....can't you see that? ......it's important....to me anyway........ so i stenciled the blue green dictionary background i've been working on......i love it.....makes me wish i was an abstract artist, cause this could be art all on its own right now......it is lovely and nuanced and yummy in person.......but, i am a representational artist....that's just who i am....so......i shall continue on the art path.....













that's the ground...can you tell.....i was thinking ocean...but now i'm thinking sky.....i have a fish all planned out....but somehow i'm just not feeling fish.....i'm feeling mona lisa......so, as of today i have houses and moons and stars and mona lisa laid out on the canvas.......we'll see if it actually gets glued down tomorrow......or if i feel fish instead......

oh....ps....i played life again today....i was the artist!! hooray!!! ...even better, my salary was 80k for about half the game......the other half it was 30k, but we won't talk about that......my mean child got to swap salaries with me...the nerve!....another child landed on the BUY artwork for 125k ....that's a LOAD of life money!!! ...all for me.....yippee.....
i LOVE life......

i was the green car, got married, was a salesperson with 70k salary, had one set of twins, and three more children, one was cattywampus on the car

i'm just going to assume that YOU (whoever you might be) are here to check on my art....and if, perhaps, i don't do any art, that you are perhaps interested in a bit of light reading....perhaps you are even wondering, well, why on earth didn't she do art today? ....so....i'll tell you......i've got this game thing going on with my kids....we sometimes play five or six games in a day...but, ya know, when you are playing five or six games, you don't play long ones....you play toss up, gobblet, top trumps, rat a tat cat, swap, zigity......but lately, we've been playing life.......i remember thinking it was pretty fun when i was a kid.....but it was SOOOO long that we seldom played it..... but the life i've been playing with my three kids, looks remarkably similar to my growning up version...but this one is WAY better....for instance, yesterday julia was a doctor and sophie was an artist......today i was a technician and got 50k every time the spinner messed up...and sophie is six, so i was RICH.......today julia was a police officer, so anytime someone spun a ten, they had to pay her a fine....5k ...not bad!! .......anyway......i've been spending hours with my kids playing life........my big kids are old enough to be the banker....but i do it......i'm pretty sure i could have hours of free art time if i'd just let them play without me.....alas.....i'm hoping that tomorrow i can be doctor.....or maybe the entertainer......hmmmmmmmm........





and as if the game of life wasn't all consuming......we also went to see harry potter today....it was SUPER....fab...great....everything i wanted it to be....how big a geek am i that i wanted to go first day out?
that voldemort is one scary dude....... and ginny weasley rocks....... if someone made up one of those weird internet questionairres, which potter character are you....i'm certain i should be ginny weasley.....i'm not brave enough to be harry...not smart enough to be hermione..... not quite goofy enough to be ron....... but ginny, i want to be ginny......
or that weird divination woman, but i'm not that odd.......i hope......


well....looky here.....i found the exact website that i was imagining....of course it exists......

Which HP Kid Are You?

and i confess...first time out, i was ron weasley.....so, i took it again, and whew, now i'm ginny

and tomorrow, i, ginny weasley, will do art......i have a large blue, green three foot canvas to work on...a small, 18 inch square yelloworangepink canvas to work on....and i have an idea about a scrabble board.......

tra la la......i'll squeeze in life, art, and three dental appts for the doctor, the police officer and the salesperson........

painting and papers and prettiness

blue green background
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

i had some art time in the basement today......i just worked on backgrounds....this is the one i was happiest with....it is a three foot square canvas.....now with dicionary pages and tissue paper and acylics.......it is ready to be something......but until i'm grandly inspired, i'll just keep doing backgrounds....ok?

gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs and gobs of glue

we got back from our fourth of july trip.....and there were TWO HUGE BOXES on the porch....my jerry's artarama boxes came earlier than expected.......jerry's artarama is my very favorite online shopping spot......great prices and great selection on art supplies.......or at least on the art supplies that i need! .......i got a GALLON of mat medium......that should last a while... i also got 80...yes, eighty, journals.....five by seven note books...Reflexions Sketch Books...for a class that i am teaching next week.......hooray for that.....delivered in plenty of time!!!












so, once we got home and i had a gallon of mat medium to open and adore and want to use....the kids and i headed down to the basement.....they worked a bit on this spool.........we got it TWO spring breaks ago while biking with their grampa......biking with the grampa is ALWAYS a huge adventure....and finding this AND toting it home is a memory of epic proportions.....they painted it red a couple weeks ago...and have begun adding some details.......in a few weeks they will, no doubt, be arguing over whose room it is going to go in.....













...and while they painted....i worked too.......i used the back of my dictionary, the spanish-english section....and covered a three foot square canvas......i used GOBS of my new mat medium....and a bit of turquoise...that is NOT turning out very blue in this photo.......then i proceeded to make an almighty mess by trying to get some of the gallon of medium into more manageable sized squeeze bottles...that gallon bucket should say: this is glue and you are just ASKING for trouble if you think you can pour it without making a humongatoid mess....but it doesn't say that....and i tried...and i did ok....but julia was grossed out when she stepped, barefooted, in a puddle of glue.....oops.......

trips are nice....
but it sure is nice to be home......
i have big art plans for tomorrow.......
and that red spool needs more painting by my little apprentices.......

sometimes when you are on vacation and you still want to blog...you blog oddities.....don't you?

oh....today is world hula hoop day .......time to rummage through the garage and find your hula hoop and give it a go......i was a PRO hula hooper as a child......i'm not as good now......though i would be, i believe, if i could find a hoop with the perfect hoop to hip ratio for maximized hula hoop stability........

startlingly, this clip art looks a bit like me......happy hula hooping.......

lld, pbck, and other peculiarities.....

i am on vacation.....and our dirty clothes are piling up...beach towels and swim suits ( two or three suits in a day sometimes) ......and i'm wishing there was such a thing as self washing laundry......self folding and self putting away while we're inventing new fabulousness......
so ....i still have an LLD .....a laudry learning disability....i never have really gotten a hang of the just do it mentality.....it's my own small struggle.....

i used to have a PBCK disability...but after much work, occupational therapy, and lots of repetitive effort , i finally seem to have overcome the PBCK disability....(paint brush care and keeping) ....whereas i, once upon a time, used to leave my paint brushes on my table, covered in caked on acrylics, suffering an ingnomiious last moment as a paint brush, i now have a system....it's all about systems you know......

i have a double sink in my studio......first rule, i never run water in the right sink.......in the left sink, while painting, i keep a small tub of water......if i haven't time to immediately wash a brush, i put it in for a soak.....when possible, i wash right away....all painty bits get put in the left sink: paint brushes, palettes, stamps, stencils......anything that needs to be washed.....once, washed all items get moved to the right sink...to dry.....so, don't leave the studion unless the left sink is empty......and prior to starting a painting adventure, empty the right sink of the things that have been drying there.......so....no more paint brushes that would be more useful as chopsticks than for spreading paint......

i'm certain there is someone, somewhere, that is thinking "well, duh!" ..but no, for some of us it is not that easy....i'd like to say it is my creative bent that makes me so peculiarly incapable of tidy ....but i'm not sure that's really the case......but it is most certainly a peculiarity of my brain! .....

i know someone with oclwdf ......obsessive compulsive laundry wash dry and fold .....her kids barely get their clothes off and they are in the washer.......

i know someone with cftsjbm ....can't find the tape so just buy more......easier to buy a new roll every time than to find the last unfinished roll.....

i know someone with ngltmbf.....no grocery list and too much butter in the fridge ........

i know someone with .....hkpbdlc....housekeeping is perfect but don't look in the car........

so......i'd contend that peculiarities are what makes life interesting.......what's your peculiar disorder?

there ought to be a law .....

isn't the post office run by the federal government....i think yes....so, that means there should be a federal law....called the postal decree for increased felicitation.......the happy act for short......whereas everyone who mails a package has to decorate it.....like this one...that sophie and i decorated for my mom.....happy birthday mom, i love you...... if everyone had to decorate packages, more people would be forced to explore their artistic side....we'd all have to seek out our inner doodler.......imagine how happy it already is to get a package in the mail....and now imagine an exponential increase in that happiness factor....so there ya go.....that's my idea......stickers, stamps, doodles, paints, murals, comics, collages.....you go right ahead and decorate your boxes any way you want...but definitely decorate them......the postal decree for increased felicitation...you heard it here first.....e for president.....it would make my mom so proud.....

happy birthday, mom.....love, e....and a, d, j, and so.......

happy fourth of july.......

happy fourth of july.......
i read this book today....in its entirety....well....i read the first chapter last night before i went to bed...but technically, that was after midnight, so still counts as reading it today.......we are on a road trip...while andy was driving i was laughing out loud at this book.......the only thing sad is that now i'm done with the book......i should have read it more slowly and savored it....but no........
my favorite thing about the fourth of july is watermelon.....and corn on the cob......and hamburgers....but mostly watermelon......
happy day to you and yours.....
if you need a bit of joy, have some watermelon and read a good book......

maybe i should ALWAYS have deadlines.....

...because, apparently, with a deadline i actually do get more work done and much less diddling around...my diddling around is always joyful......painting and puttering and pondering....but certainly not geared towards a finished product......but here ya go....a finished product...that probably took the same amount of time to complete....but FAR, FAR fewer calender days than usual.......
let's just call today happy tuesday with white flowers ......

oh...ps......i just looked at this on the blog...you should definitely click on the picture to get a close up......see the nuance of the groovy toovy lumiere paints i used......ok? go do that now....click......

let's just call monday, art day... ok, you say? hooray.....

i got quite a few hours of art in today....hooray, yippee and yahoo for that....... this piece is (more or less) a 12 by 20 canvas...which is a smallish one for me....i started with a layer of novel pages glued on the whole thing...then i did some letter stencils in a dark blue with a titch of brown in it......from there i layered on three or four colors of tissue paper....in the blues and greens and aquas family.......then i used a sienna glaze (burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, raw umber....i can NOT keep my browns straight...but i used my fave and best brown glaze) i used a glaze that, to me, seems like antiquing a piece...takes the brightness down a notch.....and now, i wish i were done...at this point ...this point being the lovely background is finished stage.....at this point i usually prop the canvas on a wall for a week, a month, a year...years even......until i have a foreground idea and BOOM decide that's the perfect background...but no.....i need to finish this one for a deadline....so i'll work on it again tomorrow.....with my fingers crossed......i'll letcha know how it goes.....

i really love doing art...especially on days like today...the kids and i just hung out in the basement together......my girls washed brushes for me.....blow dried the things that i wanted to rush along.....me, three kids, and a dog......instead of it takes a village....it takes my whole family to get a collage going.....

ok....who had a new year's resolution...or, more to the point, who hasone that they made EXACTLY six months ago and they are STILL working onit.....me, me, me, she said with her hand waving in the air andbouncing frantically in her seat...me, me, me, i'm still working onthat new year's resolution.....

game journal
Originally uploaded by eeeee.

december 31st, 2006...hmmmmm....a resolution....hmmmmmm.....should i do my usual....clean my closet....my usual that i am seemingly incapable of following through on.....(side note, in 1999, i cleaned one closet a month for an entire year.....six closets, one a month, i did each twice that year.....but, it did nothing to transform my existence... i do recall it as a success story....pitiful? maybe?) ........
where was i......new year's eve...what to do....make a resolution......and my dear little boy had a number of suggestions...."let me eat candy every day" ....."let me stay up til ten every night for a whole year"....."play a game with me every day" .....
wait...what was the last one?
then, my thinking went like this.....he is always asking me to play a game right when i start making dinner....or right at his bedtime....i WISH i could play more games with him...... but EVERY day..that seems impossible.....some days are too hard, too busy.... hmmmmmm.....pondered that....
and....
i resolved to play 500 games in 2007 ......
more than one a day...but not bound to the calender and playing every day...we can do game binges.......so....there ya go......

today, july 1st, the first day of the second half of the year....and my family played game 282 .....after dinner, we played pirate's dice......a brand new game that drew and i bought today!!! ....we played it with our cousins two weeks ago.....and LOVED it...ok...i loved it....the kids like it...but drew is a pirate convert....the five us played....then andy went to put sophie to bed...and julia, drew and i snuck in game 283...... yippee.....we are MORE than half way....how 'bout that? pretty good, huh?

oh.....i didn't do art today......
but i just wanted to blog anwyay....is that ok? so much for just blogging about my art!

i was going to blog about the patriotic songs we sang in church today (loved that!) ....... but thought i'd brag about the half way mark of the year ........
so...anyone out there have a new year's resolution? that you are still doing? that you bagged ages ago? 'fess up....

how 'bout a july 1, half year resolution....to never make an un fun resolution on jan. 1 ........