This has got to be one of my very favorite art products although I honestly don't use it much. I have just about every color they make and I really WANT to use them but just haven't had the time to sit down and figure out what I can do with them. I came across these videos and thought they were pretty cool so copied them for you!
There is also a great video on how to use the different Pan Pastel tools. These sponges are really great. Check out the use of the knife with two different colors of the pan pastels.
If you haven't tried these yet, go out and by two or three of them. You will LOVE them!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
FROM FEAR TO FAITH
My friend Lee from Australia sent me a beautiful book of prayers and meditations by Julia Cameron called Transitions. This quote touched something in me. Life is difficult right now on many levels. Transitioning from fear to faith sounds like just what I need!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
MORE JOURNAL PAGES
I've been working on my journal this weekend. So many things going on. These are my last two pages.
I am taking on line classes with JULIE PRICHARD and absolutely love them! I am making journals this weekend. Taking her Super Nova 1 class - she teaches how to make 3 very cool journals. I've done two of them so far and love the way they look. I will photograph them and post them tomorrow. I am taking all four of her classes: Super Nova I and II (journal making and journaling); Layer Love (painting awesome journal pages); and a class of Color with Chris Cozen. They are all fantastic.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
JOURNAL PAGE FOR TODAY
I finished a journal page today. There are tons of different things on this page but I'm pretty happy with it.
NEED SOME JOURNAL INSPIRATION?
For those who need inspiration for daily art journaling, I came across this really COOL SITE. She doesn't just give prompts, she has a little video every day with really great techniques. If you are ever stuck for ideas... she has them!
I'm going to make a concerted effort to done one journal page every day. Sometimes it seems like a monumental task but at the end of the day it really is therapeutic.
Friday, January 8, 2010
MESMERIZING ART BY A UKRANIAN ARTIST
You HAVE to see this AMAZING VIDEO!!!
object width="425" height="344">
This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."
object width="425" height="344">
This video shows the winner of " Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears.
She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.
In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.
Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
CREATING A MANDALA
I just saw this fantastic video about creating a Mandala. I love it! I really enjoy doing Zentangles and this looks like it would be even more relaxing. I'm going to give it a try and see what happens!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
CELEBRATE WHAT IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD
This is such an AMAZING VIDEO.
I HOPE YOU ALL TAKE THE TIME TO VIEW IT. IT IS LENGTHY BUT SO WORTH VIEWING. I SAW IT TWICE TODAY AND HAVE TRIED TO TAKE THE LESSONS ON THIS VIDEO TO HEART.
BUT HOW TO SEE MY FATHER'S DEATH AS "CELEBRATING" WAS IS "RIGHT" WITH THE WORLD????? WELL, AFTER MUCH THOUGHT AND SOUL SEARCHING... I CAN DO THIS. I CAN CELEBRATE MY FATHER'S LIFE... I CAN CELEBRATE THAT HE WAS MY FATHER.. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT I WAS WITH HIM DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF HIS LIFE... THAT I HAD THE CHANCE TO TELL HIM HOW VERY MUCH I LOVED HIM... I HAD THE CHANCE TO SAY GOODBYE. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT I WAS HOLDING HIS HAND WHEN HE TOOK HIS LAST BREATH. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT HE KNEW HOW MUCH HE WAS LOVED.
I HOPE YOU ALL TAKE THE TIME TO VIEW IT. IT IS LENGTHY BUT SO WORTH VIEWING. I SAW IT TWICE TODAY AND HAVE TRIED TO TAKE THE LESSONS ON THIS VIDEO TO HEART.
BUT HOW TO SEE MY FATHER'S DEATH AS "CELEBRATING" WAS IS "RIGHT" WITH THE WORLD????? WELL, AFTER MUCH THOUGHT AND SOUL SEARCHING... I CAN DO THIS. I CAN CELEBRATE MY FATHER'S LIFE... I CAN CELEBRATE THAT HE WAS MY FATHER.. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT I WAS WITH HIM DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF HIS LIFE... THAT I HAD THE CHANCE TO TELL HIM HOW VERY MUCH I LOVED HIM... I HAD THE CHANCE TO SAY GOODBYE. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT I WAS HOLDING HIS HAND WHEN HE TOOK HIS LAST BREATH. I CAN CELEBRATE THAT HE KNEW HOW MUCH HE WAS LOVED.
Friday, January 1, 2010
THE AFTERMATH OF SUCH A GREAT LOSS
I guess it really still has not sunk in. It will. I am going through a rollercoaster of emotions... I get angry.... I feel overwhelmingly sad... I feel anxiety... not sure why so many different emotions. Guess that is just the way it is.
So many wonderful emails, from people who never knew him... from people who knew him well. My brothers and I have heard stories over the past few days we never knew... stories that validate what we always knew about our dad.. that he was the kindest, most selfless man we every knew. He did so many things for so many people... never saying anything... never doing it for any other reason that just because he wanted to... because someone needed him at that moment... because he had the ability to make someone happy or make their life easier. Never talked about it... didn't want the recognition... just did what he knew he should do.
I am so very proud of my father. So proud of the man he was.
My brother Albert read this poem to my father at his eulogy, I thought it was absolutely perfect....
You may have thought I didn't see
Or I sometimes didn't hear you,
about the Life Lessons that you tried to teach me,
But I got every word.
Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
and that sometimes we grew apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything.
It's written on my heart.
Without you Dad, I wouldn't
be the man I am today;
you built a strong foundation for my sister,
my brother and I,
No one can take that away.
I've grown up with your values,
and I'm very glad I did;'
I will miss you Dad but will see you in the faces of my
brother and my sister;
my children and my grandchildren.
So here's to you, dear father,
Rest in Peace: I understood.
He went on to say: "As you all may know, my siblings and I will be traveling to Cuba with his ashes; to take him home to the country he never stopped loving and the family he never stopped missing. We will leave him with his mother, his father, sister and brothers, some he never saw again after fleeing Cuba with 3 small children. He will return to Cuba not as that 30 year old man fleeing a country whose destiny was not one he wanted for his children... but as a great man.. a triumphant man who was able to take his children out of that doomed island to this great country he loved so much. A triumphant man who gave his children opportunities they would never have had otherwise. My father returns to his country a victor."
Life goes on and this too will pass. Isn't that what we've always heard? My brothers and I will get through this in the same way that so many of my wonderful friends have gotten through the loss of their loved ones. But life will never be the same; it will never be the same world without my father in it.
Thank you my friends. The amount of telephone calls and emails have been staggering... and heartwarming. His struggle is over. Now I just have to learn to live without him.
So many wonderful emails, from people who never knew him... from people who knew him well. My brothers and I have heard stories over the past few days we never knew... stories that validate what we always knew about our dad.. that he was the kindest, most selfless man we every knew. He did so many things for so many people... never saying anything... never doing it for any other reason that just because he wanted to... because someone needed him at that moment... because he had the ability to make someone happy or make their life easier. Never talked about it... didn't want the recognition... just did what he knew he should do.
I am so very proud of my father. So proud of the man he was.
My brother Albert read this poem to my father at his eulogy, I thought it was absolutely perfect....
You may have thought I didn't see
Or I sometimes didn't hear you,
about the Life Lessons that you tried to teach me,
But I got every word.
Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
and that sometimes we grew apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything.
It's written on my heart.
Without you Dad, I wouldn't
be the man I am today;
you built a strong foundation for my sister,
my brother and I,
No one can take that away.
I've grown up with your values,
and I'm very glad I did;'
I will miss you Dad but will see you in the faces of my
brother and my sister;
my children and my grandchildren.
So here's to you, dear father,
Rest in Peace: I understood.
He went on to say: "As you all may know, my siblings and I will be traveling to Cuba with his ashes; to take him home to the country he never stopped loving and the family he never stopped missing. We will leave him with his mother, his father, sister and brothers, some he never saw again after fleeing Cuba with 3 small children. He will return to Cuba not as that 30 year old man fleeing a country whose destiny was not one he wanted for his children... but as a great man.. a triumphant man who was able to take his children out of that doomed island to this great country he loved so much. A triumphant man who gave his children opportunities they would never have had otherwise. My father returns to his country a victor."
Life goes on and this too will pass. Isn't that what we've always heard? My brothers and I will get through this in the same way that so many of my wonderful friends have gotten through the loss of their loved ones. But life will never be the same; it will never be the same world without my father in it.
Thank you my friends. The amount of telephone calls and emails have been staggering... and heartwarming. His struggle is over. Now I just have to learn to live without him.
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