New Art!

Here's some art that I created yesterday and today. I read about a postcard swap sponsored by the magazine "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" with the theme of inspiring art, and it just reminded me of all the times I'm in a creative slump and just aspire to do any art. So, I started playing around, and these are a couple of the postcards that I came up with. Neither of these is the one I'm going to be submitting for the swap! I'll be posting that to the CPS web site in February, so you can see it then and there.

For those of you interested in such things, here's technical how-to info. I decided that I wanted bold, primary colors to be used, with red for the letters I used bright yellow tissue to get started (on watercolor paper), and then added acrylic paints of green and blue. I also used some dictionary pages that I had colored for another project, but hadn't used, and cut up some pieces of a map, just for some other interest. Now, once this was done, I decided that the colors were a bit too disjointed and bright and needed to be toned down a bit and somehow brought more together in terms of melding, if you will. I then took some sewing pattern tissue, and laid that down over the entire postcard. Some of the print on the pattern tissue added some graphic elements that I liked as well. I then added the rather stern young man because he reminded me of the inner critic we all have that tells us we can never do what we intend to do or want to do, and the little girl as our inner muse, who is just full of spunk and spirit, and, at least for me, is always telling me to have fun!! I stamped on some exclaimation marks over the critic's head, and the instructions of my muse to have fun, and then added some inspirational instruction. The quote that inspired Start Now is from Marie Beyron Ray, and is"Begin doing what you want to do now." And, isn't that true? We frequently find ourselves planning to do something after we do something else, and suddenly, we're in a non-creative rut! The quote that inspired Try Something came from a quote from FDR - "Above all, try something." Now, I don't think he was talking about creative endeavors, but good advice is good advice. When you're stuck, just try something. If it doesn't work, try something else, until you land on something great. Oh, and of course, along the way, have fun! (By the way, the little girl who is my muse, is really me at about 2-3 years old or so! She still lives on, tho, deep inside of me!)

Enjoy! Nadine

Merry Christmas!

Well, this is what Christmas in New Mexico looks like! I just love the look of the cloud hugging the top of South Mountain! We actually had snow the day before I took this photo (which was Christmas Eve). But, it didn't last, as you can see!

I'm off for a week now, and plan to do a bunch of creative stuff, including the not so creative, but very necessary, cleaning off of my 3rd work table in my studio - the table that I want to put my tools on. I can't right now, 'cus I dumped the extra stuff when we moved in on that table! I've been creating ATCs like mad, to be sure I get things done on time for the swaps I"ve signed up for! And, in reading my favorite creative magazines and some other books that I've recently bought, I'm very inspired to try some different things! I've got over a week to at least start on some of these!! Take care - enjoy!

Nadine

It's Winter in New Mexico!

Isn't this a lovely shot? I was lucky enough to see this view out of one of our kitchen windows and took it before the ice fog disappeared - 10 minutes after this shot, it was gone! Yes, that is snow on the ground. We're having winter here and on Thursday about 4" fell throughout the day. The roads were very icy, and I couldn't get into the office, so I just worked from home. They are predicting more snow for tomorrow, so who knows what that may mean in terms of getting into work then - we'll see!

I feel so lucky to be living here. What a great place to live and be a creative soul. And, it's ironic how colorful this desert landscape frequently is! The ground may be sandy or terra cotta, but the big sky is incredibly colorful. Patches, our next door neighbor's horse, seems to be enjoying the view, too, doesn't he?

Well, onto creative pusuits for today. I joined an internet group - www.atcsforall.com - that is specifically for trading ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), and I've signed up for 2 of the swaps (there are tons out there!) - I need to mail off the ATCs for the swap due in December, and start working on the January one. They both call for using photos, so from my perspective, it's the best of both worlds!

Take care - enjoy your day! Nadine

Winter Morning Walk

Woke up this morning to some snowy dusting around the airpark. I went for a morning walk with Miki, our German Shepherd, and took these photos during our walk. The top photo is of a friend's horses and barn at the end of our little airpark. I just loved the snow on the fence, and the moody feel of the image.

The second image is of an house that we originally looked at to buy. I certainly love our house, and wouldn't trade it for this one, but the snow does look nice on top of the adobe fence and archway into the front yard of this house.

The third image is one that I took as Miki and I walked along side the runway looking north. It, too, is just such a moody image I just loved it on this winter morning. It's kind of rare to see this sort of moody weather here. We mainly have sunshine and blue skies, so an occasional overcast day is a nice change-up.

Hope you all enjoy your day, whatever the weather is in your neck of the woods !

Beautiful Sunrise!

Isn't this a beautiful sunrise? We went camping at City of Rocks State Park in southwestern New Mexico (near Deming) and this was what we woke up to Saturday morning. Jeff let Miki out and then poked his head back in the rig to tell me to raise the shade and check out the sunrise. I did, and then quickly threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and what a beautiful sunrise we shared! I don't know what the plant in the foreground is, but it's really not that tall - I just knelt down on the ground to get it in the sky.

What a great weekend we had, too! City of Rocks is a natural formation of some pretty large monoliths that just rose up out of the ground in the middle of no where! It's rather amazing - apparently, there are only 5 or so similar formations throughout the world. It was cool, in that the state park campground has the camping sites set in and among the formations, so you've got some really private sites that are somewhat surrounded by some of the formations. Our site also had a couple of trees growing there, so we sort of had the best of both worlds. And, you could climb and hike up into the rock formations up on a rise. It wasn't so huge that you were afraid of getting lost among the rocks, but it certainly was cool!

Ah, tomorrow's back to work for me! This week, I'm working 4 days (instead of the usual 3) due to some meetings that I sort of need to attend. Next week, tho, I'll only be working 2 days, so that will even things out!

Enjoy your week!

Happy Fall!

Isn't fall great? We went camping last weekend, and the trees were starting to turn the beautiful fall colors. Some folks from back in the Midwest were thinking that I wouldn't get to see any fall colors when we moved to New Mexico. Ah, but this is the beauty of living in the high desert - we actually get all 4 seasons. The seasons just aren't as extreme as they might be in the Midwest (harsh winters) or southern New Mexico and Arizona (blistering hot summers).

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. It sort of reminds me of beginnings - sounds odd, doesn't it? Still, I think of going back to school when I was a kid, and how excited I was about that. I used to love having new kids in my class, new teachers, even new books! I wasn't a particularly nerdy kid (at least I wasn't in my memory!), but I did enjoy school. That's why fall means beginnings of a sort to me.

Fall also gets me feeling energized. That's quite an accomplishment today, since I'm suffering from a slight cold, but I am energized about getting out into my studio and doing some work on some collage items. I've been working on getting a photo book put together from our vacation in September, but today, I think I'll focus on collage. I finished the vacation photo book yesterday, and altho I have another one waiting (based on our recent trips to the VLA and the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta), I think I'll take a break from photo work today.

Enjoy your day - go out and enjoy the fall, whatever it's like in your neck of the woods! Nadine

I'm back!

Finally!! I'm settled in enough to begin to get back into my blog. It's been quite an eventful few months - we are now moved and settled in our new home in New Mexico. it was quite an adventure, but well worth it. I'm now sitting in my wonderful studio/office, looking out at South Mountain in the San Pedro Mountains - the smaller, narrow photo is what it looked like this morning as the sun came up and the clouds were still hanging around from a rainstorm we had last night. The top photo was of the sky this morning just as the sun was rising - at about 6am or so! Isn't it fabulous? I feel so grateful and happy to be here! Life is truly good!

This past weekend, we went exploring in the Jemez Mountains just to the northwest of us, and on Saturday, we took in the New Mexico Indian Art Market. The artwork was just beautiful, and it was very interesting to see the differences between the art created by the various Native American tribes. I found I repeatedly was drawn to the art created by the Navajo artists. Perhaps I'll find a piece in the future to have a place in our home!

More later! Enjoy the day! Nadine