Wise owls

I love looking for patterns and shapes in wood and stone. The tricky thing about it is if you don't quickly capture the image on paper, you lose it! Look away and when you look again it becomes something else. 

I was sitting on the balcony of a log cabin staring at one of the posts when I saw these owls. 

I left a blank page where I'm going to paste the photos below into my journal.

Can you see the owls in the logs? Or do you see something else?

Monkey See Monkey Do

My little five year old loves to work on his "projects" just like Momma.

Today he comes into my studio, announcing he needs some paint and paper for a new project.

I clear off my table, moving my books in progress far out of splash-range. I set up a placemat on the table, a tarp over my rug, and an apron over his clothes and let him go to town.

Apparently he was inspired by my art journals! This was all him, no prompting from me at all. Children have such a talent for color!

Chinese Fortune Cookies

Do any of you bloggers have trouble with individuals who leave comments in another language and then a link to a nasty website?  It seems they have found my blog and leave comments in abundance. I wish I could block them, but that is not possible with this platform. 


This is why I moderate my comments, but apparently they haven't figured that out yet! Or maybe they just don't care and enjoy wasting time, hoping for just one comment to slip through and be published.

I thought it would be interesting to translate some of their posts, minus the x rated material. It turned out to be kind of funny, like getting a fortune cookie via my blog every day. Watch out, I might start looking forward to them!


Here is a good one, "Patience is a bitter plant, but the fruit is very sweet." That one has my name all over it. Patience is not one of my strong points. 


And for those of us feeling burnt out, "Persist for a certain purpose or goal, and continuous efforts towards the direction of an established concept." 


And now a bit of humor...something must have gone awry in translation--


"Survival but continued fighting in the heart and soul; writing is sitting their trial."


"Unless a tree in spring bloom, otherwise the result is unlikely in the fall."


Uh huh. 


I'm certain I will have more great material for you, as they will be attempting to leave numerous comments on this post as well! Tee hee!

More Color Experimentation in Summer Themes

Things have still been demanding in my guest book shop this season, but I've left you all hanging long enough between posts. My bad. *hangs head and pokes at floor with toe*

Anyhow, I've been trying really hard to get some art journaling time in wherever I can. Even if I don't have time to actually journal I can prepare some pages ahead of time!

This one reminds me of a clear blue swimming pool.

Last year I posted about playing with color using those color-coordinated paint sample strips from the home improvement store. See that post here.

A very tropical feel. Pass the margaritas!

Well, I am at it again. It's fun to just do backgrounds because I don't have to think about it, I just play. At the end of the day my brain is fried from corresponding with customers and writing up listings. And it's better for me than vegging out in front of the TV (which I do as well).

Very beachy...sand dunes, maybe?

The combinations the paint manufacturers come up with aren't necessarily ones I would choose, but it's fun to do something different--it can really inspire fresh creativity to shake it up a bit!

A tall, cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day!

I like the dots on this page. I could have filled the entire page with dots. It was hard to stop myself after just nine!

More experiments are coming! I had fun making these and sharing them with you, I hope you enjoyed them!

A Diversion Into Marine Life

This week we visited a marine science museum. It was awesome to see such a variety of marine animals, and most especially, TURTLES! I just love turtles!

Here's an unusual looking turtle with a soft shell.

And the beloved sea turtle, posing for his picture!

It was difficult to get a good picture of these colorful jellyfish. The flash bleached them out but it was too dark otherwise, so they're a little blurry, but you get the idea. The color is more intense than in reality but it does make a cool picture.

Now I'm back to work again...time to make the donuts! :D

A Quick Hello!

Just popping in to let you know I haven't forgotten you! Things have been so busy in my shop I barely have time to do anything but make books. I feel like the sleepwalking guy in those old Dunkin Donuts commercials..."Time to make the donuts"...only for me it's books!

Serenity now, serenity now...any Seinfeld fans out there?! (This picture is truly vintage, taken by my grandfather back in the 1960's. I think it is somewhere in Canada.)

In the midst of all this busyness my printer decided to act up. After much troubleshooting and calling in the hubby, we decided the problem was an internal part which cannot be replaced. And of course, it's just 2 weeks after the 1 year warranty expired!! So I had to get a new printer, and this time I got the extended warranty!

Signing off for now, over and out! ...Time to make the books...