her vision. family. art.

wow...    it's been a FAB weekend! a lot of journal work,(journal assign. is in the home stretch!!) family, friends, amazing FOOD! -lol. seriously, it's been a good time.

here's a fav journal page of mine. one of the elements of my grandmother's home that i will always remember is a painting of a little girl she had hanging in her back room that she said reminded her of me. she had another one that looked like my cousin wendy. good-size paintings, and i wish i had mine today. anyway, i've had this female image used here for a long time, and just never found the right thing to use it in. it has always reminded me of my cousin lindsay. to me it looks just like her! i used it for my page titled 'grow'. i made wings from strips of masking tape that i walnut-inked. the amazing thing about these 'taped wings' is this... they look like they have veins in them!! so cool how this turned out. i used a red acrylic wash to cover the background, and the tiara is made from a metal ephemera piece. on the tips of the 'tiara' i adhered tiny shards of glass that a girlfriend of mine brought back from NOLA after the hurricane! -how cool is that!  i love the end result of this. a lot of meaning here. book text was cut out and adhered to the wings giving a time-line of her life's growth. from a girl to where she is in her life now.

all weekend i've had big kids in my house playing this game- guitar hero. i've had fun watching them have fun playing it! cool game ! i had fun with photoshop in this pic< it's bobby challenging his girlfriend, (eth in the background). this is me and my dad

have a fab week! the countdown to the holidays is ON!  SLM   

happy, happy thanksgiving!! what the heck though, it was just halloween. insane, isn't it.

this is the turkey platter i have of my grandmother's. i'm using it, and i love the fact that it was hers, she used it, and it's so dang nostalgic and cool *wink (it works well with my fiestaware too)!

so i'm having thanksgiving dinner at my house. a lot of work, but i love my family and friends being in my home. especially at holiday time. it's all good. we have the traditional dinner with turkey, etcetera. and i love it-! i'm completely stoked to eat! being serious, i try not to take too much for granted in my life, and am thankful for it all. good and bad.

THANKFUL. 1. my boys (crazy in love with them). 2. my family. 3. my amazing friends! 4. my love for art and to create what and how i want. 5.my job and the fab people that i work with. 6. memories; i have vivid memories of holidays' past and the people within them. 7.possibilities/opportunities and my initative to go get them! 8. the fact that i have evolved and like me and my life!! *wink 9. me being continually inspired by life itself. my life influences my work, and just like my life, my art is continuing to evolve and is different (daily), and is very interactive! gotta love that-haha! 10. faith.

OK

more Journal work (this dang journal is about done/less than 20 pages against my 01/08 deadline, and me being the competetive person i am, i'm going to beat it as soon as i can! lol) seriously, it's all flowing for me now. the word for this page is sacred space. cool, huh-? this is another pic of me 1.5yrs ago. the lines emulate wings (love wings..  so symbolic of so many things). i left the  page very simple because the meaning behind the page is so bold. the next page is power.look close...   i overlapped the photo over the envelope flap and cut along the edge of the envelope to allow it to open without hurting the photo (funny to hear me say that..   when i'm all about distorting, omgosh!) it's cool though. i drug a bronze ink pad across the page. bronze because bobby placed 4th in this national tourney. bronze. the third layout is invisible. i used a piece of a photo i took of a friends' daughter on halloween. i also used camoflage masking tape. so cool element! then on the library pocket, i used water and spray paint..  you know, when you spray paint into water, put your paper in it and the paint grabs onto the paper in a swirled effect when you life it-? here i used green, brown and black spray paint. the pocket is attached to the page with some old wire piece. -have NO idea what it's used for, but works here! and let me say, i love the camoflage concept for an altering element with this word!

happy thanksgiving!slm

 

making progress on this journal! and this piece right here is a prime example of evolution...   this morning i started this page, and i have to admit that it was one of those pages that you say to yourself "i'm going to throw this together and call it good". i started with the plastic piece (it's a piece of packaging from something); stamped the camo/acrylic clock, then added 2 velvet RED leaves to emulate wings. then i sat and looked at it for about 2 hours thinking "steph- just throw something on here and move on". something kept me with this; adding more..          i painted the background with green watercolor, added half of a library book envelope for the journaling spot, added a tab, then it all started to fall into place. i added the pic underneath the plastic piece, and it isn't attached so it moves freely. i stained the leaves (wings), added beeswax and walnut ink to give the aging appearance. then i added a small round washer, and the rusty wire piece and key are adhered together with beeswax that creates the clock hands. NOW...      this is probably one of my top favs of this journal! it's symbolic for me, but i love the whole appearance. the page is titled wishful thinking-   can you figure it out-?   lol

here's a couple more recent pages  

i like these pages a lot too..    my niece in san diego, and 'embrace'; me and 41!

studio overkill, THERE'S MORE!!! 

great night-   i'm in the middle of a CSI marathon on Spike TV (38) *wink, i love mystery...   maybe that's why i love art so much. it's all a mystery until you put the pieces or 'elements' in place. wow- never thought of the connection before, until now.  just more of my deep thinking...

this time change kicking anyone else's butt -? it always takes me forever to adjust to the winter time change!

stretched; just a bit

it's november

SHOCK! i've spent so much time in my studio lately that i just had to take a break the past 2 nights!!    you ever have that feeling that you just wanted to 'clear' off the countertops -? ...scream maybe?...  k,  seriously out of control. here's the funny twist-  tonight i photographed a few of the project journal pages that i've been working on, and as i'm working on the images, i'm liking the end results, and feeling the mojo re-emerging!! it's crazy, i know.  getting down to it, here are just a few visuals..   on the first layout check out the bottom-rt...    i used spray paint and scroll-ey cut out ribbon (sorry for the lame detail) -as a mask!  a very useful thought going forward... *wink  2nd layout is titled "healing my wounds" and the pics used are from a photo shoot of me 1 1/2yrs. ago. -may/2006- SHOCKed! geez, haven't looked at these for a long time. when i worked this page i remembered why. it was a very low point in my life, and i'm 360 deg. for the better today! wow. but i'm liking this end result, and the wire 'tangled' heart is my fav element in this. for added texture, i painted the wire with black acrylic then used my heat tool to dry- which made it bubble in the thicker areas. it fits. -then-. actually, i feel like me creating this layout was the final step to the evolution of that whole process.    irronic how you work through things in art, huh-? i love that outlet. a few more journal pages..    *you know my main battle is the very limited journaling on the pages-  and i can't wait to get the write-ups collaboration from the art students. their journaling on my pages will complete each layout.  very cool, and i'm excited to see the end results..    where they put the journaling, how they journal, and the most anticipated for me is going to be what they journal- !i'm excited. i'm challenging myself on this journal...     being bold with color. no fear because it's not mine, but i'm loving the end results!! lol-    i didn't realize the extent of how caged i am about using color in my own personal work! eyes wide open now!  i used acrylics,lumiere (a pearl-like appearance), and spray paint on these pages.

the weather is getting nasty COLD in KC (40's..    not bad cold. i'm turning into a wimp!), which encourages me to stay in! perfect studio weather too.eth is at the farm finishing out the bow season; through SUNDAY! i'm going to insanely miss him, but enjoying the 'me' time. every year when he gets back from this trip is when his wrestling season FIRES up. so now through the holidays my life is serious madness. what will i do when he grows up -? -?!!!  this is why i'm killing myself in the studio trying to beat a deadline -for once-!- (sounds good, huh-? {lol}!) i'll let you know how that goes *wink january8 is my deadline for 64 pages..    

so tired. i know i will have to 'tweek' this tomorrow. i can't even remember what i've typed tonight! have a fab week/slm