Rock Witches

Last night, there came a frost, which has done great damage to my garden.... It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks

Yep...that's what happened. So Fall is officially here and I decided to make rock witches to put in my flower beds...maybe these gals will bring humor to the sad state of things. Where did the Summer go???

Lost and Found....Soul Journal

Soul Journal prompts for Lost and Found....As you go through your day today collect everyday items that can be worked into a collage. Consider everything as possible journal fodder. One of the biggest challenges after collecting a lot of items is deciding which ones to use. I only used 1/4 of what I collected in order to make my story. I also collected affirming comments from fellow Journalers...The Found leaves reflect these and on the Lost page I wrote personal things that I Knowingly have dismissed or plan to lose on this artistic journey. I sure enjoyed these pages and I think it has been my favorite prompt so far.

Soul Journal

The Soul Journalers are back at it!
Kathryn, The Collage Diva
is heading up this journey and taking it on into phase 2.
Sarah Whitmire, the originator, is keeping the group inspired from time to time, but is busy setting up Joggles workshops and you can learn more about that on her blog.

The lovely Christy AKA "Average American Girl"
has made a Yahoo group for fellow Soul journalers to discuss, share and continue friendships started in the Soul Journaling project...we as a group work on the same themed pages.

Join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoulJournal/


The prompt for my pages above...is Permission Slip. Since I am playing with my new book...Taking Flight...I gave myself permission to do it Kelly Rae style. The list is full of permissions to remind me to be a free spirit with art and journaling and was a fun prompt to work with!

Annie Oakley....Get yer Gun!!

Little Miss Wing-Shot....and I thought it was Sure-Shot!

Here's what I found out about this western charactor. She really wasn't western, just very skilled with firearms and horseback riding. It was only through the promotion of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Exhibition, she became the archetypal(prototype/stereotype) of the western woman. As the girly-girl who created the genre "cowgirl", Annie projected an image so feminine, ladylike, Victorian and unique that most people found themselves drawn to the version of a strong, acheiving woman....viewers cheered her onward just to see and believe that women, even of the western variety, were fully capible of manley feats and daring exploits.

Her Motto:
Aim at a high mark and you will hit it.
No not the first time,nor the second and maybe not the third.
But keep on aiming and keep on shooting
for only practice will make you perfect.
Finally, you will hit the bull's eye of SUCCESS.

(Maybe she was a womens libber...because I don't think she was just talking about shooting)

As I am working my way through the 'Taking Flight' book by Kelley Rae, I did this 13 x 13 picture of Annie with alot of influence by another favorite artist named Thom Ross.

Once one has viewed the art of Thom Ross, one never forgets it. His work is best described as "mod historical western genre and figure painting." Ross is best known for his accurate and extremely whimsical portrayal of events taken from the Wild West era. His paintings are bright, bold and refreshing in their style, yet accurate in their history.
He has had a life long interest in American History and the "folk hero" who is a product of that history. His emphasis however is focused on the historical "folk hero" as compared to the mythical "folk hero". (An example of the historical folk hero would be Jesse James, a mythical folk hero would be Paul Bunyan; one actually existed while the other is a product of tall tails.)
His desire is to produce a work of art that requires the viewer to re-examine either what he knows about history, or what he thinks he knows about history.
His work is seen at Visions West Gallery..CLICK HERE or by searching Thom Ross.

Do you think the two styles can be blended together???

Taking Flight...with new book!

"Taking Flight - Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings"

Remember a few weeks back, I mentioned Kelly Rae's new book was due to come out?
My issue of "Taking Flight"arrived and I have been having fun and learning some new things. The book is very well put together with great techniques and wonderful guest and contributing artists that I really admire such as DJ Pettitt and Judy Wise, just to name two. Buying this book is the result of my pity-party that I had when I had to turn down an Art Retreat this summer...and I was substituting by buying Kelly's book and having a home workshop of my own. I also Participated in Sharah Whitmire's Soul Journaling online challenge and I am amazed that two different types of art can inspire with the same purpose....Learning to Soar!

Below is my first effort...
What I rarely see in Kelly's work are Hands or feet for that matter, so to enjoy the techniques and the style without imitating...just learning, I also challenged myself to adding hands.

The Shoppe at Somerset

Day of the Day...Halloween Charms by Connie Hippen

I was so happy when I was asked by the editor of Stampington & Company early this year to make some sets of my Day of the Dead Charms for The Shoppe! CLICK HERE TO SEE!

How it happened was I participated in the OneWorldOneHeart giveaway event last Feb and Kellene Giloff, President/Publisher, was out visiting blogs and noticed my charms. She shot me off a nice e-mail with her idea for The Shoppe at Somerset. From there I was in contact with Vanessa Spencer who is in charge of The Shoppe and who design the neat Dress Form project featured in the site. Both are wonderfully nice business women and I am happy with the opportunity!

Advice to share....
* Put your e-maill addy on your blog or make your contact info easy to find, because not all viewers are bloggers.
* Participate or visit&comment in Blogging Events such as giveaways, celebrations or themed events. The people out there are wonderful!
* Blog your best and keep it interesting!!!