Dreaming of Italy

digital collage

Me and my shadow dreaming of a visit to Italy.

I've was going through boxes of slides that I liked to
have scanned to digital and I came across pics of my travel
in Italy in'92. I traveled throughout the country for one
month.

The city of Florence (image used here in my digital collage)
was just one of the many beautiful places I
visited during this time, but the Cinque Terre known
has the "Five lands" was by far one of my favorites
and most memorable. It was here in the town Vernazza
that I stayed in a small fully equipped apartment with a
balcony overlooking the Ligurian sea.



"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for
travel's sake. The great affair is to move. "
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I hope your days are filled with all good things.
Thank you for your visits and kindness.

Andrea~ "The Way I See It"

Disintegration Collaboration

My artist friend Seth over at the Altered Page started a
fun winter project and has encouraged others to play
along.

His project is called Disintegration Collaboration. It is a
art collaboration with mother nature . The premise is to
create a bundle of papers, ephemera etc. and tie it up,
and then place your bundle outdoors to live for a
couple of months.

How will your piece disintegrate and evolve over time
when left at the hands of mother nature? We'll find out.



Here are pics today of my bundle left in the hands of mother nature.

On May 1st, all participating artists will update photos of
their bundles to reveal their evolution over time.

The wind and rain have already taken hold.


My disintegration piece is made up of a block
of scrap wood, copper snail bait tape, spiral shank nails,
piece of scrap canvas, a canadian coin, piece of collage
art cut with circle punch, vintage text, found puzzle piece,
paper flower, used painted towels, wire, eyehooks,
wooden skewers, scrap punchinella, water
soluble oil pastels.

My patio may just turn into a rainbow of color.
I'll be watching and photographing the process.

Thanks for stopping by!

My other blogspot is here: The Way I See It"

Have A Heart

I collect heart-shaped rocks. Are you surprised?

Here is my latest heart find, so I'm sending love to all
of you.

Today should be like any other day, filled with love.

My heart also lives here: "The Way I See It"

Untitled

30" x 36" Red Rosin paper mixed media collage

Still contemplating what I'll do with this piece.
I'll either make another folded book or tear it
up or..?

I've flipped it over so you can easily get a
glimpse of the other side.

I really enjoy these free-wheeling explorations
into the unknown. This started out as a large
painting of a Madonna and Child. I had stared
at it (unfinished) long enough to decide I was
not satisfied and I needed to move on. She now
lives beneath the many layers of paint and gel
medium. Gone but not forgotten.

Thought for today:
"A good laugh is sunshine in the house"

Hope you all enjoy your week.
Thanks for stopping by!
My other blog: "The Way I See It".

A Walk In The Woods

A peaceful walk in the woods, deafening silence.
No one is home. The only thing you hear is the sound
of the hard-packed snow breaking beneath your feet.
The birds are hibernating. You can see your breath,
so you know you're alive.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments"
c. 1940 -Italian poet, Cesare Pavese

May you all have precious moments that mark your
journey. My best and thank-you for your kind words.

My other blogspot is here: "The Way I See It"

Immaculate Heart of Mary

12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas, paper clay, acrylic paint
vintage mass card

Niche
–noun
1. an ornamental recess in a wall or the like, usually
semicircular in plan and arched, as for a statue or other
decorative object.

I have always had a great interest in ornate and
decorative, religious art. I started this canvas a few
months ago painted with a black gesso base. I knew
I wanted to create a 'niche' and heavily texture, age
and patina the canvas. I created the canvas texture
with molding paste, acrylic paint and rubber stamps.
I had struggled with the texture and color for some time.
I wanted the niche to be made from Paperclay. Finding
the right consistency for the paperclay to adhere to the
canvas was no easy feat.

I am not a quitter, and I won't go down easy. I fought
with the paperclay and gel medium until I found the
right consistency to create the 'niche' I envisioned.
I wanted it to be ornate and look like metal.

The image of Immaculate Heart of Mary is a vintage
mass card I had collected which I enlarged on the printer
and used as an image transfer onto the canvas.

This painting was an experiment. I am happy with
what I have learned.

Now I'm off to Lake Tahoe, CA Heavenly for some
much needed R & R and a romp in the snow.

Thank you for visiting and sharing your thoughts.

See you soon. My other blog "The Way I See It"

Our 44th President Mr. Barack Obama

Barack Obama by L.A. Artist- David Choe

I found this wonderfully talented artist while perusing
the web. Look here at David Choe and here at Juxtapoz .
This young man is pure refreshing talent.

Gorgeous image to celebrate this glorious day in our
nation's history.

As our great nation wakes on this inauguration day we
we find ourselves invigorated and fueled with
excitement about this great day in history.

Welcome - Mr. Barack Obama, our 44th President!
Embrace this day.

My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"

Tolerance

My girl "Tolerance" shall hold my place here to
greet you with this subtle reminder until I have
completed some works in progress.

She is entirely handmade by me, cloth duds and all.

My inspiration for her was a documentary I
watched some time ago called "Paper Clips"
see trailer here:



You can learn more about their project here at
www.paperclipsmovie.com

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's
indifference.The opposite of art is not
ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith
is not heresy, it's indifference. The opposite of
life is not death, it's indifference.- Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel
(awarded Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986) and
his wife Marion established the "Elie Wiesel
Foundation for Humanity" I am a strong
supporter of their foundation, mission
statement and goals to educate people
about the injustice, indifference and
intolerance that still exists in our world today.

I was saddened to here how this
wonderful charitable organization has been
bilked by the corrupt Bernard Madoff and now
their foundation is at risk. You can learn
more about their foundation here.

Another wonderful center I fondly support is
The Simon Wiesenthal Center-
Museum of Tolerance Los Angeles, CA

While chaos ensues in the Middle East,
we are reminded, we still have a long way to
go.

Be tolerant, be mindful, be charitable. Peace.

Thank you for your kind words and visits.
My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"

Happy New Year!

12 x 12 black construction paper, Sakura crayons

This doodle is dedicated to my friend Sue for
inspiring me to get loose and doodle. Check out
her doodles here.

"Go confidently in the direction of your
dreams! Live the life you've imagined.
As you simplify your life, the laws of the
universe will be simpler." Henry David Thoreau

I want to thank each and every one of you
for being a special part of my life this past year,
for your kind words and inspiration. Most of
all for allowing me the opportunity to walk
beside you on this journey we call life.

To my family: I love you past the sky.
To my husband: To infinity and beyond!

Happy New Year!!

Godspeed- Andrea

My other blog is here: "The Way I See It"

Wired Heart Cage

Yes... it's been some time, but the truth is I have enjoyed
the serenity of just doing and being in the moment, none
of which has included blogging, however it doesn't mean
that I haven't thought of YOU- my fellow blogging artists.
Actually, I think of you often and hope that each and
everyone of you are doing well and finding peace in
this holiday season.

For a while now I have felt my heart in a stranglehold, a bit
lost, not my usual self perhaps this is what has inspired my
wired heart cage. It holds a myriad of game pieces, some
beach glass which I have stamped with a dragonfly, a toy
compass, a found rock upon which I have inscribed the word
"listen", a found coin token, a broken seashell. I used bailing
wire, copper wire, and silver wire to create the enclosure
and a vintage skeleton key.

I believe the message in this piece is significant for this time
in my life. I'm in the midst of some sort of change, new
direction and that there are still missing pieces to be found.
The key is to listen closely and pay attention.

I must say it was really challenging trying to stabilize these
little game pieces while wire wrapping but I really did enjoy
the process. The finished piece is about 4" x 5".

My next intention was to create a base for this heart, some
sort of background. I started to work this mosaic and I had
the idea of making the part where the heart would be
placed to be only mirrored pieces so that it would allow
for the heart to stand out and the small game pieces would
be reflected back into the mirror.

Nope, nadda, no good. It was not the right idea. Too busy.
Now I'm not quite sure how I will finish this mosaic but
I am certain of the next move for my heart.

I do appreciate your patience and kind words while I've
been away. My daily full time job has been busy and
mentally draining these past few weeks.

I'm hopeful that the New Year will induce a new
creative spirit and a little more peace into my daily
existence and YOURS.

One thing I know for sure is that I've learned not to worry
about what comes next. It's a grand adventure and I'm
along for the ride. Thank you for joining me.

My other blogspot: "The Way I See It"

RaNdOm sToRyBoOk

In my never-ending quest to uncover the great mysteries
that beseige my mind, I took another class. This time taught
by a fellow artist named Karen O'Brien.

I consistantly ask myself, why do I need another
class on collage, on paint, on whatever? what more is it that
I must know, that I haven't already figured out and then like
a slap in the face I remind myself that while life is ebbing
and flowing so are my creative endeavors. There is a
constant discovery and re-discovery of new and old. There is
always something new to discover.

While Karen's class-"Uncover the Mystery" was about collage
techniques and the use of new and old products, I found it
taught me more about freedom and reckless abandon in the
creative process. The ability to abandon one's pre-concieved
idea, or knowledge about a certain technique, or process
and to just create quickly, too quick to know what will
happen next.

I generally create my pieces without pre-conceived ideas
but then as they mysteriously begin to unfold, I work them
more methodically.

We all started with an 18 X 24 piece of Red Rosin paper
made up of 100% recycled fibers. This paper is used in
building materials sometimes first layer of roofing or as
paint drop cloth. (Home Depot or Lowe's on a roll)

We randomly covered this paper in gesso to give the paper
a reliable surface for painting.

18 X 24 Red Rosin paper, random collage imagery,
layers of paint, gel medium, monoprinting, stamping,
water soluble oil pastels and ink.

I've flipped the paper around and worked both sides. I
wanted to make a single-cut maze folded book. Once the
collaged paper was complete and dry enough to manipulate
it was folded into halves and then quarters and a single cut
was made to allow the paper to be folded into a book.

The back cover and the pages in between seen below:



Here is my randomly collaged, painted storybook, which
I ran through the sewing machine for some zig-zag stitching.

I've really enjoyed this process of working quickly and
with spontaneity. This is a great exercise to relieve your
artist's block and to free your creative process. I've already
prepped some larger pieces of Red Rosin paper for more fast
and furious exploration.

Thought for today: "If you don't know what your passion is,
realize that one reason for your existence on earth is to find
it"

I thank you for your kind words and your visits. My other
blog locale is here: "The Way I See It"

Please remember to exercise your right to "V O T E " Tuesday, November 4th.

Road Trip

Dusk at Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Ah..relaxed and rejuvenated. I'm sure some of you were
beginning to wonder if I'd ever return. 10 States, 9 National
Parks, 817 photos, a birthday and 4,850 miles to be exact.
I've thought of you, 'my friends' and hoped that everyone's
life would carry-on in good health and good fortune while I
was out gallivanting around the country. I've got lot's of
catching up to do. You see I haven't even looked at my
blogs,nor any others this entire time and I am now eager to
see how you are all doing.

We are glad to be back home. Our vacation was remarkable
and impossible to put into words. We visited many new
places, re-acquainted ourselves with old places, visited with
old friends, made some new friends and had the pleasure of
meeting my new blog friend Sue for dinner.

There is nothing like traveling this great country of ours the
old fashioned way, by car, seeing what you see, taking the
roads less traveled, through ghost towns, quaint prairie
towns, mountain towns, and big cities. We have traveled
to the desert, through the prairies, through the mountains,
to the coastal waters, back home to California. It reminded
of the song "America the Beautiful".

Now if we'd only get our our politics in order.

Having arrived home so rejuvenated and my mind another
year older, I couldn't remember how to use my iweb
application or my ftp app or anything else. My mind was
tabula rasa, empty, blank. I had 817 pics to catalog, sort
through and decide which to put on a web page. I've posted
a link to our pics here "Tour of the Northwest" because I
know some of you will be interested in seeing them. If you
double click on the album it will open to thumbnails for
individual viewing or by slideshow.

It's amazing how long it takes to get through 2 weeks of
mail at home, at work and get the house back in order. I
should be posting something artful soon.

I look forward to visiting with all of you and getting my
groove back. In the meantime... please make your voice
heard and VOTE!

Thanks for visiting! My other blogspot "The Way I See It"

Mixed Media Botanical

5 x 7 stampboard, layered mixed media collage

Playing around with multiple layered transfers
also taught by my friend, teacher, mentor Chris Cozen at the
last Golden workshop. The vintage text was a transfer
from gel medium and the botanical overlay was yet another
gel medium transfer. The Australian postage stamp was
embedded in bead gel. Once I completed the collage
I then overlayed a digital flower image.

Busy days here and I've been amiss at visiting most
of you and I am regretful. The doldrums of the 8-5
otherwise known as the greater than 10 hour day had
a death grip on me, but today I broke free from the
shackles and begin my vacation.

My husband and I are traveling the great Northwest,
heading to Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks in
Utah, through Colorado to visit with family on up to
South Dakota for a glimpse of those giant heads carved
into a hillside (Mt. Rushmore). From there we will travel
to visit Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons
and then up and over the hills to Glacier National Park in
Montana. We'll proceed heading west through the Idaho,
to Washington and Oregon for visits to the Columbia River
Gorge and Multnomah Falls, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier
We'll head back south on the scenic Hwy 1 inching our way
back to California.

This is a much needed respite. I will be taking lots of photos
to share upon our return.

Thank you all for your kindness and friendship.
May everyday be a new journey for you, filled with great hope,
good health, happiness and a grand adventure no matter how
big or small. I'll catch up with you soon.

Ciao! "The Way I See It"

Playing with Paint

Well it was another great weekend with Chris Cozen from
Golden Paints working artists program. Chris is a wonderful
mentor and an extremely talented artist. About four times a
year she travels from Pasadena, CA to our local art store
Stamping Details to demonstrate new techniques and new
Golden products.

I love to paint backgrounds that I can use for collage
and other art projects. These are a few of the
samples I painted and embossed from our class.

All papers were painted with Golden acrylics. Some papers
were embossed prior to painting and others were embossed
after paint. Some of the papers used: watercolor paper, canvas
paper, and acrylic paper.

The base paper here is black with applied layers
of Golden fluid acrylics, stamps, stencils and
texturing tools.

Check here for the working artists in your area.

More to come...with Golden's new digital mediums.
There was alot to take in and I'm still experimenting
with these products. Imagine printing on metal and
foil.

Stay tuned.. Thanks for your kind word and visits!
My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"
Thought for today:
"In confrontation between the stream and the rock, the
stream always wins, not through strength but through
persistence" -Buddha

Polymer Mosaic Mirror

I've been working on a myriad of fun projects. This one in
particular is a polymer mosaic hanging mirror. It was made
as a gift. The persons' names are actually on two of the
tiles but have been blurred out for this post to not spoil the
surprise should they visit. You can click to enlarge.



The finished piece measures 14" in diameter. The finished
clay pieces were adhered with Weldbond glue.
Most of the clay pieces have been painted with PearlEx
powdered pigments. I have also incorporated bits of
ephemera, glass beads and assorted commercial glass and
ceramic tile.


Here are some close-ups. Your embellishments should
be able to take the heat. Glass and metal are good.


Small glass seed beads in Diamond glaze are used to fill
space left over.

You can attach smaller Polymer elements with liquid Polymer
prior to baking. Here you can see the commercial tile
incorporated and also the brighter handpainted while
tiles.

I also wanted you to see this piece its beginning stage (below)
so you could see the polymer tiles before they were
embellished and baked.

Working in the round was a real challenge. I first had this
idea for a sun/mandala and then decided to incorporate a
mirror. I decided to use a vinyl record album as the base.
First I textured the album with AcrylPro tile adhesive so I
could insure the tiles would have an acceptable surface. I
then spray painted both sides with a matte silver spray paint.

The few colored tiles you see were hand painted on baked
white polymer clay. Your hand painted color will always be
more lively on the white clay than on a colored or metallic
clay. You can click on picture to enlarge.

At this stage, the clay has been rolled to about 1/8" thickness,
stamped or textured and I'm cutting pieces and trying to
decide their placement until all spots are filled. Once I have
the design in place I remove all the tile pieces and then begin
the process of painting and embellishing. The tiles are then
baked following the recommended time on the clay package.
I've used Premo and SculpeyII for this project. I also use a
thermometer in my toaster oven to determine the real
temperature. I have found that temperatures are not as true
as the dial. (I don't use my toaster oven for food once I've
used it for clay)

If you haven't seen my first polymer mosaic you can see
it posted here and here.

Thank-you for your visits and kind words!

Thought for today:
"Take care that the face that looks out from the mirror in the
morning is a pleasant face. You may not see it again during
the day, but others will"

My other blogspot: "The Way I See It"

Putting it all in Perspective

8.5 x 11 cut paper collage

So much going on here past two weeks. My 8 yr. old niece
Nicole had made the All Star team in fast pitch softball.
Their team was second in their 8U division and so they
qualified for the junior Olympics. The California State
Games were held here this past weekend in San Diego at
Qualcomm Stadium. It was a wonderful event for all the kids
and parents. Lots of fun activities interspersed with many
tournament games.

After everyone left of course I managed to catch a cold.
My days at work have been busy, can't seem to catch up.
In trying to keep everything in perspective, I'm managing
to find great pleasure by just relaxing and letting go as I
attempt to find my way back to good health.

I've been working on a few collages, another polymer mosaic
and some jewelry pieces which I hope to post soon.

Now I must venture off to see what all my talented friends
have been up to.

Thought for the day:
"Sometimes in life the glass seems half empty, sometimes
it seems half full, and sometimes the glass is twice as large
as it needs to be."

My best to all of you. I hope you are all enjoying the season.

My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"

Memoire Savoir

mixed media assemblage- diet coke can, ex-halogen bulb,
CD, old camera part, spiral wire bind, acrylic paint, asst.
buttons and doo dads a.k.a. thing a ma jiggies.


detail of top portion

My mantra reduce, reuse, and recycle. I've finally figured
out that 'reduce' really means to 'save from landfill' and
store in my garage, because there is no reduction of stuff
here. It's been saved for re-purpose and use in future
creative projects. I must say though, that I've got it all tidily
packed into labeled containers so it's easily accessible,
however our three-car garage is currently functioning as a
one-car garage due to the love for our hobbies. My husband
enjoys vintage car restoration which... is a one car at a time,
sorta deal so there is plenty of room for machinery, tools,
kilns and art paraphernalia.

The soda can assemblage was inspired from a class I
took from Michael de Meng who is one remarkable mixed
media assemblage artist and storyteller. His book
"The Secret of Rusty Things" is filled with his visual
treasures, wonderful mythical storytelling and exploration
of technique. If you ever get a chance to take one of his
classes, just do it.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Independence Day.
Free from negative thoughts, free from work, free from the
everyday drudgery.

"Carpe diem" and claim your independence! My best to all and
thank-you for your visits and kind words.

My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"

Young Liz

12 x 12 x 3 gallery wrapped canvas

I initially prepped and textured the canvas with black gesso.
A while back I had found a magazine image of a woman who
reminded me of Frida Kahlo. She didn't really look like Frida,
but her face spoke to me and I was determined to create
a Frida because I am enamored by this artist, her work and
tenacity.

I transfered the image to the canvas and began to paint my
Frida. She was coming along quite nicely and I was beginning
to think how I might embellish her hair and her neckline.

Somewhere along the way I decided to divide the canvas into
6 sections by painting 3 random black lines, right through the
center of her likeness. I gave each section a sheer transparent
color wash of it's own. I had created unique multiple sections
of Frida and was delighted by the outcome and then... as if I
had gone mad, I reached for the unthinkable- a black
permanent Sharpie marker and began to sketch feverishly
around the painted image.

Now I had done it, gone too far, and hated it.

I immediately reached for the titan buff acrylic paint a tried to
go over my permanent markings and to no avail, my
permanent marks remained. What was I to do next?

I ran for the sandpaper, coarse, knubby sandpaper and began
ferociously sanding away at the entire canvas.

In the reveal, parts of initial black gesso were coming forward
and parts of the image transfer were vanishing away. There
were more light washes of titan buff, more sanding, canvas
scrubbing and then I stopped, canvas in my left hand while
brushing the paint dust remnants away with my right, I looked
at the canvas and decided that I was happy. I stared at my
canvas I saw a new familiar likeness, but this time, it was one
of a young Liz Taylor.

My Frida never evolved, but I was happy working tenaciously in
her spirit. This was to be my happy ending, a ressurection of my
artistic accident.

"The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I
paint always whatever passes through my head, without any
further consideration." -Frida Kahlo

As always, I thank you sincerely for your kind words and visits!

My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"

Escape

8 x 8 mixed media polymer mosaic

My completed polymer clay mosaic, ready to hang. My previous post shows the pieces I had created for completing this project. It took me a bit longer than I had hoped, but more importantly I enjoyed the process. It was an escape, a detour if you will, from my usual creative path. There is a kind of mindfulness that takes place when trying to decide what pieces will go where. It was a relaxing and meditative process until... you find that you have an area that needs a tile which has yet to be created. I need to stockpile tiles. Incorporated in the final piece are commercial glass/stone tiles and beads.

This was my first mosaic.

Thought for today: "Hiding places there are innumerable, escape is only one, but possibilities of escape, again, are as many as hiding places. "- Franz Kafka

Perhaps we all need to find an escape, a diversion from our normal routine, a change of pace.

Thank you for your kind words and visits. Do stop by "The Way I See It" my other blogspot.

Polymer Mosaic-In Progress

Work in progress here... thought you might be interested in seeing this one unfold.

I have worked with polymer clay intermittently over the years and had forgotten all the great wonderful things you can do with this medium. This past Sunday, I was instantly re-inspired. I had the opportunity to spend 8 glorious hours with Laurie Mika, an extremely talented polymer clay mosaic artist. If you are interested in polymer/ mixed media and you ever get a chance to take one of Laurie's classes, do it. Check out her current events/ workshops and book.

Here are some images of the clay tiles I created. I stamped into the polymer clay using rubber stamps, found objects etc. applied gold leaf paper, pearl ex powders, acrylic paint, small bits and pieces of ephemera, jewelry parts, buttons, beads...you get the idea.


You can click on the following images for a closer look.





Next step will be to arrange these tile pieces onto this
8 x 8 metallic gold painted frame and to incorporate
other glass and ceramic tiles to create a one-of-a-kind mosaic.
I will also create a collage for the center.

Stay tuned... with any luck and time on my side.
I'll have this done tomorrow.

Thought for today:
"Remember that the best relationship is the one where
your love for each other is greater than your need for
each other"

Have a wonderful week, I'm glad you stopped by and as always
I'm grateful for your kind words.

My other blog locale is here: "The Way I See It"