fa la la la la friday

..... i went to the post office today ... 

... i mailed darla, the prize winner, her christmas canvas ..... 

... i mailed some prints out to fill some orders ..... 

... i stopped by pottery to see if i had stuff to pick up .... i had LOTS actually .... but, in particular, this: 

... i was so happy with it that i glazed three more bisque pieces that i had waiting with the same transparent green glaze ..... i think i love this so much that i am going to keep it for myself ... i hardly ever keep my own pottery ... but this seems very useful .... and is dishwasher safe ... and has three more matches on the way ..... 

.... my nativities are a bit of a problem ... i was waiting on angels and quite a few of them lost their halos .... the donkeys were fine, but those pesky angels just couldn't keep it together for me ......

my excitement for tomorrow is going to the world story telling celebration .... last year i told two stories .... this year, even better, i'm telling two stories... but one is with drew and the other is with julia .... none by myself ... i'm proud of my kids for being brave enough to get up their and do public speaking at the ripe old age of ten ..... 
.... i think my house is nearing clean enough to start doing the christmas decorating .... i believe i'll start this weekend a bit ... especially since it will be december tomorrow ..... have you decorated yet? tell me your favorite bit of christmas joy in your house .... 

happy weekend ... 

i've got my groove on ....

OH MY GOSH .... 

I AM SOOOO EXCITED

.... i have fonts

.....i've never had fonts on my blog before .....

....my blog has always been just what it was ....

....my mac and my blog didn't really get along .....

...and now they do.....yippee....yippee.....yippeeee....yipppeeeee .....yippeeee ...

OH MY GOODNESS ... you just don't even know how thrilled i am .... now i don't even know what i was about to blog about ....

...give me a moment ....

deep breaths ...hee hee whooooo...hee hee whooooo .... that lamaze breathing always comes in handy ...hee hee whoooooo .... 

ok .... i've regrouped, regathered, settled down to happy fontness ..... 

heee heee whooooo ..... 

ok ... 

i've got my groove on this week .... i have been a cleaning machine... what??? yes....i, e. beck, certified mess maker, have been on a cleaning binge ..... in preparation for christmas ... and laying a layer of christmas happiness all over my house (that's what decorating is, a layer of christmas happiness) .... but before you can lay that layer out you have to tidy up the place ... and i have been on a gung ho cleaning kick .. AND i have done art every day .... WOW...

oh wait ....WOW ....where did those time management skills come from .. who knows , but we'll take advantage while we can!!!! 

so, today, after cleaning out the library (that's what we call our living room becasue i think living rooms are archaic, anachonistic, and passe) .... after i cleaned our library, i went to allison's and i did ART ... oh wait ...i did art ... 

yippee zippy hooray ....

i did the backgrounds on these seven canvases ..... three longs, four squares .... one of the longs is four feet tall and just luscious ..... tomorrow, after my cleaning binge, i hope to do my stamping and stenciling on these so that they'll be ready for thinking .... ready for me to know what they are meant to be .... do any of them strike you as being something in particular .... does it look like it will be a mona? or a house? or a flower background ... time will tell .... 

in the meanwhile ....

let's celebrate blogger figuring out how to make blogging easier from this here mac .... 

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 

 

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

i've now finished 12 christmas canvases ... just in time to give one away tomorrow .... i just have to pick a winner .... have you joined the contest?

i'm really quite pleased with myself ... i have finished 12 christmas canvases and it isn't even december yet ..... this one is my favorite now ......

.... it is my favorite because it has a purple donkey .... is that weird? gray just didn't seem right .... and purple is kind of like gray to me ..... so there ya go ..... a purple donkey .... i only did a donkey cause i accidentally got baby jesus too far over .... and had to fill in the edges to give it a bit better balance ..... so .... a lamb and a donkey did the trick for me ..... so it went from being "off" to be being my favorite ......

and here:

this is a mosaic of all 12 canvases .... 3 centered trees, 4 nativities, and five off center trees ..... and lots of buttons ....

tomorrow night i'll pick a winner at random ....if you didn't join the contest celebrating my 200th post, by all means, scroll down a few and sign up ..... you migh win ......

i don't have all 12 yet ... but here are three to show you.....

.....i've been working on small canvases ..... you do know, don't you, that i ADORE huge canvases ....like three and four feet? and that small is HARD for me ... but gosh, small is much faster, huh? .... i followed my usual process, with layers of papers, glazing and acrylics for the backgrounds .....





anyway .... these are some christmas gifts ...... and MOST importantly, one small canvas is my prize for my 200th blog post giveaway .... the drawing is on wednesday night .... so you still have time to sign up ..... it's a few posts below here ...... more tomorrow, i hope!! fa la la la la !!

two hundred .... hip hooray ......

200!
two hundred!
this, right here, right now, is my 200th blog post ... how can that be? i feel like i'm still new at blogging... apparently i'm not so new anymore .....
my 200th post contest is still running ... til wednesday .... in case anyone who is inclined to join the contest hasn't been keeping up because of the turkey day holiday time ..... so ..... some time on wednesday i'll pick a name .... if you haven't joined, go one post down ...... i'd love for you to join in!!

....how's that for a groovy clock? coolio, huh? i made if for my mom to give to a pal as a christmas gift .... i hope she loves it .... i have three more clocks in my immediate future to make as well ..... using all these buttons, and then some on some christmas crafts, has made me realize i'm becoming button depleted!!! .... i need to make the time to do some ebay button shopping ... but ebay turns into a HUGE time sucker for me .... like, i don't know that i can keep a blog and go to ebay ..... that's how badly ebay sucks me in!!!! but ....i'm also running low on bottle caps and keys ... i guess, now that i have 200 posts, if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know i'm lost in the game of ebay ..... what? it's not a game? are you sure?






















..... and these are the ornaments that my children and i have been making .... glass balls with acrylic dots and a bit of fiber ...... we are doing white and silver balls .... they are turning out quite well .... we've probably done three dozen or more .... of all sizes .....















... these twelve balls, i did .... to supplement the ones that my kids did .... so there are always a few more to give ..... and that's it ..... was that momentous enough for a two hundredth post? probably not .... but .... so it goes .... just one more day of documenting my artsiness ..... and i didn't even mention that my mom went to my sunday school class this morning and i gave her a journal of her very own .... and she watercolored in it ..... i also didn't mention that my dozen six by six canvases are really starting to come together.... i hope that tomorrow i will be finished with ALL of them .... how's that for accomplished ....
ok ... 200th post over .....
don't forget to read my last post if you haven't signed up for my giveaway yet!!!
tra la la ... have a happy week .....

oh, oh, i got it .... a contest

i've been thinking of passing on doing a 200th post giveaway .... but now that i have an idea, of course i will .....
i saw this quiz and tried it ..... i am christmas .... and then i went back and tweaked my answers and became easter .... and then some more and tried to be all the holidays ....... so .... you do the contest .... and in my comments tell me what you are ..... and if it seems right to you ..... next week sometime i'll pick a name and send out one of my NEW six by six christmas canvasses .... a christmas image that i've glittered and buttoned and beautified .... join in .... celebrate my obsessive compulsive bloggage on my 200th post ....

You Are Christmas

More than most people, you are able to find magic in life's small moments. Traditions mean a lot to you, and you tend to be quite nostalgic. You are a giving, kind person who really understands the true meaning of holidays. You inspire others to be as altruistic and caring as you are. What makes you celebrate: Tradition and a generous spirit At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The storyteller. You like to recount memories with everyone. On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Give a gift to everyone you know

What Holiday Are You?

i think these little quizzies are funny ..... this one does sound like me to me ..... but who wouldn't like to sound so good and cheerful .... i think i sounded a lot like easter too ... ha ....

happy weekend .... cheers!

18 canvases going on at once ..... can you say multitask?

... these are the six canvases i started on wednesday ..... and thursday, once the food timeline had been established and i didn't have anything to do ..... i stenciled letters onto them ... and then one of them i made into a clock ... my mom is going to give it to a pal for christmas .... and the other five? one will be a clock for drew....and one for julia .... and i have another notion of the clock i'm doing for my third child, sophie .... so that leaves three well developed backgrounds .... to do something with .... not sure if it will be before christmas or after.......

.... these are TWELVE canvases ... that's a load ... but they are small.... tiny for me .... six inches square ... i papered them and glazed them with the intention of making them christmas gifts .... like for neighbors or girlfriends or gift exchanges ...i've done a couple and they are cute ... sweet....nice ... but maybe not as special as i want them to be .... so i'm still working them out .... trying to give them that extra zinggggg ..... the problem with that, if they are really groovy, i'll want to keep some .... and then what to do with all the pals that i usually give a small gift too ...... i can't bake them cookies .... since we've already established that i'm not one to relish kitchen chores .....

all the while that i was working on the 18 canvases that i've been doing for the last three days, my mom and my three kids have all been working on art projects too .... mom has done quite a few canvases .... sophie and julia have done canvases .... GREAT sweet christmas pictures that i'm so happy to hang up for the holidays ..... all three kids and mom have worked on some wooden pieces i'd bought....santas and nutcrackers ...... sophie and julia both worked on painting boxes ..... that's a phase we are in .... i guess when i'm out of boxes that artistic phase will end ...... and then also .... we all worked on some christmas ornaments ..... dots and fuzz on glass ball ornaments ..... i'll show pics of those tomorrow ... some should be done and ready to snap .....

.... and this is my andy ..... grand husband and turkey chef .... i am SO lucky .....

i LOVE turkey on friday ..... a nice fat sandwich .... i had one for lunch ... and one for dinner!!! did you eat leftovers today? were they grand? did you art? did you shop? hope you had a happy day .......

thanksgiving day done......

..... with some mental strain, i figured out that a turkey takes 20 minutes per pound and that i was going to have four hours and forty minutes of cooking time ...... but ha, i never touched the turkey except at the grocery store .... and at the dinner table .... my husband ROCKS!!!! ..... and while that turkey was cooking, i had hours in my studio .... all three kids did some painting ... and my mom did lots of her own artsiness..... and i got LOADS of fab art time in .... as well as happy family time .... tra la la .... just what thanksgiving should be, is what my day was .... rrrrrrrp .... 'scuse me ..... too much pumpkin pie!

alas, my camera is on the other side of this room ...and i can't roll my stuffing stuffed self over there to get it ..... so instead .... i'll share with you some interesting sites that are apropos to blessings and gratitude and thankfulness ......

click away .... be happy ....

the thought provoking blog that started my web surfing on thanksgiving night

the salt monument ..... amazing look at the world's population .....

an amazing blog of a sharing artist......

you can go here and be a giver .....

do one nice thing .....

count your blessings!
hope your thanksgiving was joyful, happy and full ......
here's to a lovely tomorrow .....

happy thanksgiving ......

so..... i'm not much of a cook? do ya know that?
and this videio isn't actually of me .... a friend sent it to me ......
but let's pretend it's me ....
it's not too far from my truth!!!

is your turkey thawed for thanksgiving ... i think mine is .... well.... i hope mine is!!!

ahhhhhhh .... i had studio time today ...... i worked on six canvases simultaneously .... it is easier to do a bunch at a time ..... because, once i have out all the papers and get the gluing process going, it is just easier to keep going ..... then, whenever i want to paint, i have the preliminary steps of my backgrounds done ..... make sense?

so, these six canvases are 12 inches square .... my new "clock size" ..... my three kids have asked for clocks for christmas ..... drew specifically said he wanted a red clock and seemed disappointed that none of these were red ..... he knows they are clock size!! ... but, on a blue one, i will put red tight letters .... making it mostly red ..... aha!!! so one of them is his and he just doesn't know it .... tra la la ... i am so sneaky .....


here's today's happiness:


mom and the girls worked on the other side of my studio table while i was working on my collages ..... julia was working on a christmas tree on a canvas board .... she made a great red background ... made a tree out of a coolio groovy paper ... and added buttons for decorations ...... grandma was the hot glue gun supervisor ...... e6000 seems too too too toxic to let my little girls use it ....

.... and here are the six backgrounds i did ... all mosaiced up ...... ready to be the next thing that they are going to be ... three of them will be clocks ...what will the other three be? hmmmmmm

there's a lovely thing about getting a commission for art ... and an even lovelier thing when it is done .....

to take the best picture possible of art, this is what you should do:
-take the picture in indirect sunlight, or on a bright, cloudy day
-use a tripod
-carefully align art and camera so that when the photo is cropped, the corners are true .......

but, that would mean WAITING for the right lighting .....
or worse, NOT taking your pic at night .....

here's what i did .....
spent the morning finishing these commissioned (YIPPEEE) paintings .....
at 11, done with art, flew around my house in a frenzy doing the chores that should have been accomplished in a brisk three hours.... changed the sheets on j's bed which miraculously turned into the guest bed..... picked up things ALL over the house .... why do all these little people have MY messy gene???? ..... laundry, dishes, vacuum, straighten ..... tidy, tidy, tidy.... SHOWER my painty self, walk the dog ..... just in time for my kids to get home a bit before noon... HALF day of school, oh my! ..... out to lunch with a favorite girlfriend and her kids ...... home again, more tidying ..... hurry up and wait for the grandparents to arrive .... and they arrive!! unpack the car visit, make dinner, eat dinner, do dishes, eat cookies, send the children off to bathe and .....ahhhhhh .... sit down to the computer ... and say, oh, i should take pics of my art ..... i COULD have done it 8 hours ago in no time at all on my perfect no direct sunlight front porch ...... but no..... bring the art up to my kitchen ... turn on every single light...... put the camera on museum setting...i.e...no flash ....... no tripod ...wing and a prayer.... take the photos ... adjust them in iphoto (poorly!) ..... and there ya have it ..... these pics aren't very true colored ... but oh well .... sometimes a half way job has to be good enough!!!!

but...through all of that .... i finished these four paintings today ..... i'd been working on them all together tooooo long ..... and i am very happy with how they have turned out ......

one more thing to tick off my list!! rah .......
my parents are here ..... double rah ......
no school tomorrow... triple rah ......
are you having a happy week? hope so!