203 will be about my muse ...... and then i'll announce a grand winner.....

one of the blogs that i visit with ALARMING frequency is michelle ward's ..... she, in all her artistic grooviness, leads crusades .... her current crusade is this:

michelle, i read your blog at the FIRST of the month .... and said to myself, YES, yes, i do have a muse ...i'm going to write about her the next time i don't have something specific to post of my own artsy day ..... and then i've had this artfully crammed life and never got to it ... so i'm going to tell you about my muse at the very last minute ... moments before your crusade ends .....so...... my muse..... my pretend friend ... i TALK to her when i am putting her in my art ..... yup .... and she is in LOTS of my art ......

mona lisa is my muse .... but if you know me at all, you probably knew that already ..... these above pictures are collages
-the first is " je voudrais aller a paris" .... and it is mona with some french sass and attitude ....and comfy orange shoes ... if you've been reading my blog ... you know that *i* am an orange shoe kind of girl too ......
-next is mona with such a fresh hair cut.... and just relaxing .... she's a jolt cola kind of girl trying to live more intentionally .... trying to slow her helter skelter life down by getting a pet turtle .... if that won't slow her down, what will?
-bottom left is mermaid mona ... check out that fab pink seaweed hair .....
-last is a crossover from my flower series ... in a mona vase ... titled "where ARE the keys" .... there's a glimmer of my alter ego in that title for sure......

here's another one:

this one is my flickr avatar ... one of my favorite monas ever ....the first one that i did on a three foot by three foot canvas .... that's a HUGE canvas ....way bigger than the real mona lisa ...... she is just so sassy with those pink highlights in her hair .... and comfy in her raggedy ann leggings and under shirt ...... mona has gotten quite sensible and never wears high heels to speak of .... it's all about comfy and just being comfortable being her own laid back self .......

the next one, my mona muse is with my sweet sophie sunshine ..... sophie BADLY wanted some of my art for christmas .... last year she'd picked out a four foot TALL dictionary poppy .... honey, that's way too big for a little girl room .... i didn't mention that i could SELL it for a lot of money too ! ..... so i made her this special piece .... called sophie celebrates ... and she's at a party with mona ..... i think sophie looks like the cutest paper doll in this .... and mona is her perfect party partner .... and again, a titch of that alter ego/imaginary friend thing .... i love that kind of sandal .... i do wear party hats whenever i have a chance .... and who better to give a balloon to than sophie?


this one, i was brave enough to let mona try out for a magazine ... and it worked! she was published in a magazine .... it takes a bit of brave to do that ..... but mona was brave and happy to be chosen ..... once this came back from cloth, paper, scissors, i started wearing the shoes .... how could i not? they are too cute, even if they are meant to be mona's .... a key element in the story written on the background .....the first time i wore the shoes, all my kids flipped out ...you can't wear those!!!! they're art!!!! ..... but i did ... and i do .... and now they all wear them sometimes too ... to walk the dog or get the mail or the paper .... cause they are just hanging right there in the family room ... and when you need shoes, might as well grab them .... you can come visit and i'll let you wear them too ... mona won't mind .... unless your feet are super big, that is .....


i have a flickr set full of mona's ..... go see the others ... rocky road mona is the first piece i sold in a gallery ..... map fairy mona is in my best pal al's house ... there are lots to look at .... some still available for sale even! .....

did you know i have another blog? i have my mona lisa entry in that other blog ..... it is my "serious and professional" artist's blog ... that i link to people who maybe want to know the real thinking behind my art ... not the minutia of my every day artsy grooviness .... can you believe there might be people who don't want to read blogs like this one ... harumph! serious people, i guess .... where's the fun in that .....

and speaking of fun ... tonight's the night that i am meant to announce the winner of my 200th blog post contest .... and the winner is .... drum rollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ..... darla .... darla, i need you to send me your shipping email ..... you have a christmas canvas coming your way ......one of these will be yours shortly ... congratulations ... thanks for playing .... thanks all of you are playing .... i had a nice turn out! .....

wow, that was some mighty bloggage ... did you make it til the end?
happy day .....
love, mona ....
i mean, elizabeth