Blog Archives

Jun10

Going Back…

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Going Back…

This afternoon as I was thinking about writing a post, and most definitely struggling with content.  As I reread some of my old posts,  I was stunned to realize that I had actually written them.  The content was familiar, and I could feel the words, but I couldn’t believe I wrote them.

On one post, I wrote about our trip to the Island of Kauai, and on another the day we picked up my son, Dennis from the airport after he made his first CD.

So whats your point?

I sitting here wondering if my writing is getting better, or worse?  Just like the paintings I create.  If you go back and revisit old works of art, often it is unbelievable  to think you had created them in the first place.  They aren’t all great, some of them I can actually believe it was me who painted them.  That’s painful to admit!

 Who did those, it couldn’t have been me!

But in fact it was me, in both cases.  When I write I pour my heart out just like when I paint!  It may be good at the time, or a struggle at that time, it depends.    Sometimes we don’t even realize how much of an effort it is until it unfolds.

Art is different for me because when I struggle,  I always know it!  It’s great when it flows, but that doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes I struggle painfully with something, a concept, a start, or maybe even more than that!

The Abstract Dancer has already taken two or three sharp left turns.  I have ideas, and who knows if they will work, but it’s better to try something than nothing!  Right? By posting this online, maybe it will shake me loose, and drive me to work on it!  I’m trying to avoid doing the Jackson Pollock thing to it.

At least that is my hope.  So someday when I look back on prior posts, I can look at this one and remember how I was struggling to pull it all together, and make Abstract Dancer a real painting!  Someday maybe I can read this post, and say to myself,  I did pull it together, and that Abstract Dancer is exactly what I had envisioned!

 

May29

Time Out for Art!

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A Gourd full of Succulents

A Gourd full of Succulents

Last week one of the challenges that was given to the Blogging 101 class, was to join a blogging event of our choice, and participate in this group.  After searching through all the different events, I chose to join “Time out for Art!  I liked the idea, and after emailing the Leader of the Pack, I liked her, and the event even more.

You can find more about the Blog I’m following here at “Zebra Designs & Destinations!”

Today I’m posting a little sketch that I did while visiting with friends I hadn’t seen in years.  In it is a bit of  zentangle,, and a little creative thinking, and simply mindless doodling as we  chatted. They were painting with watercolors, I was playing with graphite, and pens!  Another Mixed Media problem…..it’s really difficult to drag all the stuff with you that is needed to work in mixed media, thus the journal sketching.

I’m going to make an effort to post a little sketch for the Time Out for Art Blogging Event which is to be posted by Thursday each week….we’ll see how that goes since I’ve had little time to paint recently, and that’s what I need to be doing.   But I’ll try! 

 

May27

More Fun Stuff About Me!

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More Fun Stuff About Me!
Cow

Cow

A A

week or so ago I posted a little about myself.  I reminisced, I laughed, I shared, and then I’d had enough, it was over!  Today I’m going to tell you a little more…

Well…

By now, you’ve probably guessed that I like to do a little of everything – being a Mixed Media artist and all.  You would be absolutely right!  I can get sidetracked so fast it makes even my head spin! My head spins a lot, not just from Mixed Media, but all the thoughts and ideas that run through at all hours of the day and night.  There aren’t any of my art friends that sleep well, we all wake up with ideas, and all night “the process” runs through our heads, along with solutions to anything we’ve been working on.  Sometimes I get up in the morning exhausted from working things out all night long.  Sound familiar?

Here it goes…..

Simple Journal

Simple Journal

I have boxes of old jewelry, bolts, washers, cardboard, metal, and more just sitting around (boxes neatly stacked) waiting for me to get inspiration.  When I do, maybe I’ll glue things down, or maybe I’ll sew it all together – who knows?  It’s all good, and that comes under the “Mixed Media” heading.

A friend of mine once said to me,  “Karen, if you don’t call yourself a Mixed Media artist, you wouldn’t have to save all that stuff.  Then you wouldn’t have all those  boxes!”  How true that is, but don’t we have to create what our heart is happiest creating?  I know my friend is happiest painting watercolors, and many of my friends do work in that medium.  At one time in my life, I did too.  But many of us have moved to something else we can learn to express ourselves with.  It’s all good as long as it makes us happy!  In the name of Mixed Media, I’ve created some amazing things.

Everything here is Mixed Media, and for me, it’s pretty interesting.  I have many journals with decorated covers.  All because I can’t seem to leave a surface bare even if it’s on a journal.  Maybe its just a great excuse to create one more little piece of the Karen puzzle!  Maybe I’m just trying to use up the über amounts of art supplies I have bought over the years, making myself feel like it has been money well spent.  Who knows, but it makes me happy!  Isn’t that all that counts?

Has anyone told you not to create like you do, and to do something else?  Do you follow their suggestions?  Do you think constructive criticism is constructive, or just plain criticism?

Your thoughts are important, please share them.

 

Oct30

The Magic of The Pumpkin

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With Halloween almost here, kids all around us are getting their pumpkins ready for the spookiest night of the year!  Some still have to be carved, and some await the night when they can be lit up, and take part in the scary evening called Halloween.  All the children are planning their costumes, some even make them as we did when we were kids.  Now-a-days all the stores have them,  and  in some ways they are a little bit disappointing!  Remember when we would plan an outfit for weeks, trying to think of the scariest costume possible, getting the make up ready, the bags or pillowcases ready, and then Mom would insist we put on a coat or jacket?  Well that ruined the everything didn’t it?  Somehow we got through it, and came home with copious amounts of candy that we’d have to hide from our siblings, and parents!

On Sunday, Papa and I went out to visit with two of our grandkids.  When we arrived the kitchen table was covered in brown paper, the pumpkins and carving equipment all around.  They had carefully been punctured in all the right places so the selected picture could be carved into the face of the pumpkin!  The kids did most of it, but when it came to the real detail, they eagerly handed all the tools over to their mother.  You should have seen the look on Mom’s face!  Of course, she knew she’d get to do all the “difficult carving!”  But carving a pumpkin is a messy venture, and does anyone look forward to slimy internal muck, and seeds?  The pictures the kids chose for the faces of their pumpkins were rather interesting, one being a cat, and the other the head of a wolf!  It wasn’t difficult to know who chose the kitty, and who chose an intimidating wolf face!  A girl – 6, and  boy – 8, exactly.   I always wanted to carve a pumpkin with something different from triangular eyes, nose, and jagged teeth in a wide smiley mouth!  Why didn’t I ever think to do that?   As the faces were finished, we all had to admit, they turned out pretty well, even though Mom had to do all the finishing up!  After the carvings were completed, pumpkins cleaned out, and lights put into the insides, they truly were going to add to a  ghoulish Halloween night!

But wait, there’s more!  As we looked around for the large bowl of guts, and seeds from the insides, they were nowhere to be found…….we looked everywhere,  nothing!  Finally, I knocked on my grandsons bedroom door, and upon being told I could enter, there  precisely in the middle of  his big double bed, was the bowl of pumpkin seeds and guts!”  Upon asking him why he had taken the bowl into his room,  he looked at me with eyes that said, “Grandma, don’t you know?”   and replied, “Room fragrance!”  Of course, what could I have been thinking!   Apparently there are more things than I realized for a pumpkin to do than just be scary, and  one of them is to  provide much-needed room fragrance for eight year old boys!

Oct15

Back From The Great State Of Texas

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Dallas! What can I say, and where do I begin? It’s quite a place, we didn’t realize how interesting it would be. I think we had the idea that it was dusty, dirty, and we would see a lot of longhorn steers, and oil wells! Maybe a cowboy or two! We were so wrong! I said I didn’t have any expectations, that was true but, I did have a misconception. Sorry Dallas, I was wrong! There was so much to see there, and of course we couldn’t begin to cover it all! But we did see the flavor of the city, and that was enough to make us realize everything, and everyone needs to have a chance. The tall buildings are an architects dream, and freeways confusing.

For starters, A Friday night service at the temple was new for me. This was a Conservative Jewish Temple, and we had never been in anything conservative! The service was long, and really interesting. The Hebrew chants, and mens choir were quite something. Saturday morning began the Bar Mitzvah, and almost three hours later we hobbled out exhausted and in awe. Again the entire service was in Hebrew, steeped in custom, and tradition, the mens choir was heavenly! It felt like we had stepped back in time, and were privileged to be part of this celebration. Let me not forget to mention, after every event came a banquet of food, drink, and quality time with friends and family! I said I didn’t have any expectations, that was true, but in my wildest imagination, I couldn’t have imagined a three-day Jewish food fest!

Mostly we enjoyed getting to know a wonderful young man who is so bright, well-mannered, and has a brilliant future ahead of him. Talking to him was a delight, and learning about his dreams, and ambitions was very special. The ability to visit and get to know both he and his brother whom we hadn’t seen in many years was heartwarming.

The sketches I was able to do, on this three-day event is Zentangle style, inspired by all the Yarmulkas! They were everywhere, with different designs, and colors! Two of the sketches were done on the iPad one in the airport being balanced on my knee! Let me not forget to add that we couldn’t leave Dallas without another Sunday morning Brunch…just another food fest for family and friends.  By Sunday afternoon, we rolled away from the family, feeling like we’d been stuffed like a turkey at a Thanksgiving Dinner!

Since we were in Dallas, a place neither of us had been prior to this trip, we decided to spend the entire Sunday afternoon at the Dallas Museum of Art. I loved it! This was a great museum, and I thank David Weiner, Les’ nephew for the recommendation. By the time we left, we were on our last leg. Every moment was worth while, and we may even return to this interesting place in Texas for a another visit, another time!