AEDM Day 7- Red leaf- 400th post

Wow i was surprised when I looked at my stats for this blog to realize this is my 400th post.

I also realized today that when I signed up to do Art Every Day Month yesterday that since I am in the hospital I don't have access to my scanner so I could post my artwork.  However there are other types of artwork that I can create because I do have my computer and my photos. 

I had signed up to do a new note card swap on Swap-bot which was a scavenger hunt for three themes  on three cards.  The themes are leaves, red and nostalgia, so I went on a scavenger hunt through my photos to turn into cards.  I have a purchased Georgia O'Keefe (love her art) card with one of her leaf paintings on it which I will send, but in going through my photos I found this wonderful red leaf photo to edit.

I edited it to look more like a note card drawing and that edit is on the top of this post.

I also found this photo which fits the nostalgia theme, it was already edited, but one that I love.

Or maybe I'll send this one- which I also edited earlier but love the way it turned out.  What do you think?

When I get home I will be able to print them on textured or lightly patterned card stock to finish this art project.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Give away #3 Photo Stickers

I have so enjoyed sharing my art that I have decided to do another giveaway,  This time it will be two sheets of stickers with my photos.  Since so many of my followers are artists I thought this would be creative way to share my work.  Mixed media artists can use them in their art, or they can be used on envelopes for mail art, glued to a magnet or any way the winner wishes to creatively use them.

 The photos are 12 to a page which makes them about wallet size. The photo sheet above is one of them and the other one will be a sheet of photos with the choice of theme chosen by the winner. Some ideas might be fall colors, clouds, Christmas, landscapes or whatever strikes the winners fancy.  I have lots of photos with lots  of different themes so hopefully I can create a set of stickers from their theme.  I will post a photo of that sheet when the winner chooses their theme

Rules:

Winner will be chosen on Oct 15

The winner will be chosen using a numbers generator.

Each of the following will count as an entry

1- Leave a comment on any of my posts- please leave a comment on the post itself, you will be automatically entered for each comment

2- Sign up to follow my blog- if you already follow my blog leave a comment on this post

3- List me on your blog as a blog that you follow, then leave a comment telling me so- if you already have me on your blog list just leave a comment on this post

Good luck

and

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Art swaps

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to color.  She loved to turn the black and white paper bright with color.  She colored carefully; making sure that all her strokes were straight up and down and always kept within the lines.  However she never showed her pictures to anyone; as there was always some kind of mistake.  Sometimes the crayon would slip a little and venture outside the lines or maybe the strokes were not quite straight up and down or a little space left uncovered.  So in spite of her love of the bright colors; she kept the books to herself never showing them to anyone.  It wasn't as if it would have done any good the books wouldn't have been shown off any way.  There were no pictures on the refrigerator at her house.  She continued to learn on her own; always in the privacy of her room.  She learned to fill in with circles so the stroke marks wouldn't show up as much.  Up and down strokes just didn't look right.  She then discovered how to curve her strokes to follow the lines of the drawing.  Experimenting with combining markers and crayons came next and she became more and more pleased with her finished pictures.  However she still kept them to herself, hiding them.  Hiding them because of the little gremlins who were developing inside her; telling her of her mistakes and telling her that her improvements were really failings because she should have known better.  Then she learned how to paint and a whole new adventure started for her; it was short lived but a step in the right direction.  One day she showed the paintings to her teacher who put them on the bulletin board and soon she had her own spot to display her paintings.  With a new teacher and a new year this stopped and she went back to keeping her art work to herself.  Once again hiding what she was learning.  This went on for years, while her little gremlins inside kept pointing out her mistakes and asking why try, if there was always mistakes and never acknowledging the progress being made.  Soon she was doing less and less art.  But the artist inside her kept trying to sneak out past the gremlins, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not.  As she got better and better she started to be noticed for her art.  Sometimes the artist inside would make it past the gremlins and she would share and be accepted.  After years and years of this now as a grandmother she is learning to love to share her art even in it's imperfection.  She is still learning not to listen to those little gremlins.  Instead she is learning to listen to the pleasure it brings to her to share, the compliments and pleasure she sees as others enjoy her work and the small voice that tells her she is making progress.

In case you couldn't tell that little girl was me and sharing my art now brings me great joy both on the Internet and in person.  I recently found an art swap site (http://www.swap-bot.com/) that I have joined.  It is free and they have various avenues in which to share your artwork.  Some are for newbies and some are for more experienced individuals for which you must qualify just by doing a good job of keeping your commitments.  I picked a mail art swap and the above is the envelope that I did.  They also asked to include something in the envelope, since I am best known for my photography I sent a photo with a letter.

I am looking forward to receiving mail art from the person assigned to me.  I plan on doing more swaps and maybe you would like to join me and know the pleasure of sharing in a new way.

Enjoy

♥♥♥Johnina♥♥♥

Give away #1 revisited

This is going to be short and sweet.  I gave myself my IVIG last night which always leaves me achy and then I had physical therapy first thing this morning.  Big mistake.  I hurt. With the help of my husband;  I did however get my act together enough to get the first giveaway gathered together and mailed. 

I hardly ever delete my photos no matter how bad they are.  The background for the CD and cover is a very badly out of focus photo of a Nasturtium.  I think it made a great background; much better than a solid color.   Going to the post office after my afternoon Doctor appointment (long day) turned out to be a pleasant experience.  The winner lives in Thailand so I had to deal with international mail; which I haven't done since my son served a 2 year mission in Brazil several years ago.  The postal worker was very helpful and because it was international mail it took longer to mail it.  While I was filling out the paperwork this delightful postal worker and I had an interesting conversation on mail art and the photo I had placed on the envelope.  Even with as tired and in pain as I was, this discussion lifted my spirits and made me glad that I have decided to share my art with others.  Not so long ago I would not have felt that my art work was worth sharing much less believed  it would  bring pleasure to other people's lives.  Even at 55 I am learning and growing not just in my artist endeavors but also personally.  Once again serendipity brings joy into my life.

Enjoy

♥☺♥Johnina♥☺♥

Zentangle Everywhere

This another book I got for my birthday.  Didn't have to ask for it; it was on my Amazon wish list.  Yoga for your Brain is a fun little book with lots of zentangle designs in it.  I do my doodling and zentangle on envelopes instead of my sketchbook, so I can share them.  After I went through this book this is the first envelope I did.                   It was fun to do. Although it was not perfect it was still bright and cheerful to send.  I send out quite a few cards with my photos in them. While the person who received the cards may have enjoyed the photos I decided that doing art on the outside let more people enjoy the cards I sent out. Years ago I would do some art on my envelopes that I sent to the kids and grandkids, but had stopped as I put a lot of effort into the finished picture on the envelope so that I was not sending out as much mail. Now using envelopes instead of my sketchbook; I may not send out my most perfect more elaborate artwork but it is always bright and cheerful and fun for me to do.

This book also pointed out all the zentangle designs all around me.  It gave me a new perspective on some of the photos I was taking and using them in another art form.  Suddenly the close-ups of architectural details that I had been taking were giving me ideas to use in this new (to me) art form.  I think this really came home to me when I saw Kung Fu Panda 2 with the grandchildren.  This movie start out in Zentangle style,  but all through it is ideas in the background for zentangle designs

Look at the windows, columns, floors and ceilings and all kinds of other archetecual details for amazing designs.

I've also found some pretty amazing blogs and websites with zentagle and doodle designs in them.

http://lifeimitatesdoodles.blogspot.com/

Draw, Doodle and Decorate

The Daily Doodle

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/

Terri's Tangles

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

PS to participate in my give away please click here

Ah-choo- my computer caught a cold- Part 2

A-R-R-R-G-H

That's pirate for 'Oh bother, but this is going to be expensive!!!'

Tom took my computer down to have it fixed this morning, but I won't be getting it back till Monday or Tuesday.   Sooo... since my pics are almost all on my computer or my external hard-drive ( I'm so glad I just backed up last week, but I still might lose some from this week) I probably not be posting photos.  I'll just have to make due with my other artwork.  Of course you may get to know me better this way as drawings and paintings tend to expose one's deep down feelings and emotions.  The pirate picture was drawn last night when I was still upset and couldn't sleep (one did not necessarily cause the other) but the choice of subject and his expression certainly show how mad I was and I didn't even notice I had given him devil's horns until after I was finished.  How's that for a Freudian slip?

Anyway I hope you enjoy my artwork till I can get to my photos again.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Start to my art

This is a picture of the fourth grade me.   Of course I started drawing when I was very little as every little child does; but my first real boost in creating art came from my fourth grade teacher. I don't remember her name which is kind of odd since she did so much to boost my self-esteem and I remember all my other elementary teachers names. I even have a picture of her, but it is so blurry by the time I copied it you would not be able to tell who it was.  I loved to draw and paint and my mom would save the cardboard that came with my dad's freshly laundered shirts.  I drew on regular paper, but for the watercolors the cardboard was priceless.  We had been studying about the oceans and sea life in school. I loved the bright colors of the fish in the ocean in our textbooks so I decided to paint a picture of those bright colors and scenes. I thought it came out pretty well; so I took it to show my teacher.  I was kind of shy and it took a great deal of courage on my part.  She told me how much she liked it and took it to the back of the room and cleared off a space on the bulletin board just for my picture. She asked me if I would like to bring in some more and from then on I had my own private space on that bulletin board.  I don't know why she did that for me, as she didn't do it for anybody else but what a wonderful thing to do, a lifelong gift for the quiet little girl who loved to draw and paint.
Below is a more recent drawing of sea life. Hope you enjoy it and may it reminds you of someone in your life who cared.  I played with it on my photo editing programs just for fun.

     “Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”

     Mother Teresa of Calcutta quote

I love this quote and I think it applies to kind deeds also.

 ENJOY

☺☺☺ Johnina ☺☺☺

Pass it along- Mail art

I am a firm believer in spreading the good; of putting out good 'vibes', that in doing so you can make the world a better place.  I have found the old adage "What goes around; comes around" to be true, although I don't worry about what's in it for me.  Mail art has given me an opportunity to share my art with not only the recipient but with everyone who handles the mail in between.  I used to do it a lot more than I have recently and I have decided that instead of doodling and sketching in a journal that I would once again use it to decorate my mail; where all could see it.  How often do we send a beautiful card in a plain envelope?  While the person who received the card might enjoy the beauty or cheerfulness it really limits the enjoyment that could have been created by that piece of art.  When I was doing it on a regular basis the postal workers were always glad to see me and see what I had done and I was always greeted with a smile.  It didn't matter that it was dinosaurs that I had drawn for my grandson or flowers for my daughters and friends, I even spray painted boxes and stenciled them.  The postal workers were always curious to see what I had done.  Now postal workers may get paid pretty well but they are never going to get rich on their salary and if I can bring a smile into their day it makes me feel happy too.

Think about what you could do to bring a smile into another life even if you never see it.  I do not see most of the people who handle my mail.  Try it, make it a habit and see how your own life will change.

ENJOY

☺☺☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺☺☺

Troopers

These are my flowers that have managed to survive the frosts that we have had and continue to bud and bloom.  My blanketflowers continue to add a bright cheerful invitation to my front door even when they are surrounded by the fallen brown leaves of the autumn trees.  These late fall troopers from my garden continue to gladden my heart.

These tiny daisy like flowers were tucked up next to the concrete of my driveway.  Tiny as they are they are somewhat sheltered by the little heat and protection from the lip of the concrete, one more flower to brighten my day.  I noticed it because when I walk with my dog I look around for the beauty of this world.  This photo reminds me of a quote I found  a couple of days ago while reading.

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.  (or your sense of wonder)"   

~Aldous Huxley~

~parenthesis added by me~ 

There are times when I am able to capture that sense of wonder as I look around as a child might.

I try to be a Trooper too, bringing a little brightness into the world with my photos.  I also try to be a Trooper in a different way, in spite of the set backs in my life where I can't always post, I always come back.  In our house we have had the autumn crud going through those who inhabit this house.  Even Tom took a day off work today.  I think this was the 4th time in 30+ years of marriage that he has taken a sick day for himself (with the exception of surgery).  He has to be extraordinarily sick to stay home.  Jeremy has been sick and dragging for weeks and finally gave in, took the day off and went into the doctor.  I, myself have not felt good either and have had to contend with IVIG and other Doctor visits.  One of the reasons I had to go to one of my doctors shows up real well in my artwork.  I did a zendoodle of my hands, both my right and my left hand. 

 

I went to the neurologist because when I reached and grabbed something with my right hand I would get shocks down my arm and sometimes drop what I had just picked up not just from the pain but because my muscles let go.  I was suddenly losing strength in my hand.  I was no longer able to lift lids or twist lids off.  Sometimes when I hold something light and get distracted my hand 'forgets' that I am holding it and down it goes.  Not cool.  My fingers were getting curled and my hand will no longer lay flat and they are kind of lumpy and twisted.  I pushed my hand down to trace it but I think you can see the difference between my hands (the lumps around my wrist on my left hand is my watch).  The fingers are shorter, don't separate, are lumpy and look for the shape of the fingernails and you can tell my fingers are twisted on my right hand.  A lot of this has happened over the last couple months as I have worked so hard to build my blog and develop a network I truly enjoy. The doctor told me that we can test to see how bad the damage has gotten but we already knew I had peripheral neuropathy and carpel tunnel so unless there was a new underlying problem there was not much that could be done that we were not already doing.  I was really quite bummed and turned to prayer.  'Why be given these gifts and loves if I am not able to develop them?'   I kind of felt like Yentl in the movie.  I know that the Lord wants us to develop our talents and to share them to make this world a better place and to help build up the Lord's kingdom on earth.  I felt like I would be led to what I needed as has so often happened, my serendipity, and it will come.  Sure enough that night I saw an ad for voice recognition software that I think will help me tremendously.  It is now on my Amazon wish list.

  Dragon Premier 11.  I researched on Amazon, CNET, Best Buy to get what I think will be the best for me and my system.  Windows7 may have a lot of advantages but the program has to be Windows7 compatible because it is picky.  

I AM A TROOPER, A SURVIVOR,  

I'll FIND A WAY

PLEASE KEEP LOOKING OUT FOR ME

YOU NEVER KNOW 

WHEN I WILL SHOW UP
    ON TOP OF THE HILL.     

☺☺☺ SMILING☺☺☺ 

AND WITH PHOTOS.

Johnina

Apparently it works

 

I have been doing art for fun and relaxation and as my previous posts have said this has helped with pain relief.  Apparently doing this art has helped in more ways than temporary pain relief; it has helped me chill on a regular basis.  Last Friday I had a serious asthma attack and just happened to have a doctor's appointment.  Normally when I am having an asthma attack and go into the doctors I am hyperventilating, my blood pressure has been at stroke level and generally there is no doubt of the severity of the attack except because I am hyperventilating my O2 level is usually not to bad (but that is real bad because when I get tired of hyperventilating my blood gases are REAL bad,  I've heard  doctors swear in the hall as they read my blood gas report).  However this time my blood pressure was normal, I looked and acted normal and I was NOT hyperventilating, unfortunately my O2 levels were low due to my lack of hyperventilating.  The PA who examined me was startled when she listened to my lungs and couldn't hear breath sounds in the bottom of my lungs.  She has been treating me for years so she knows me and my lungs and reactions very well.  She was very pleased with my more relaxed  reaction, despite the lower O2, as it tends to keep the attack for getting more severe.  Very good for me!!!!

Today, I had to be driven through Atlanta to a doctor on the north side and for the first time my blood pressure was normal when I got there.  The meditation aspect of the Mandalas, zendoodle, and photo-edits just for fun has certainly made a difference in my physical well being as shown by my recent doctor visits.  I am becoming more and more a firm believer in the benefits and importance of adding art to my life.  To making it an absolute priority!

Now I would like your help and suggestions- please leave comments here or on my e-mail.  I have a daughter that gets real stressed at college and a couple of years ago for Christmas I did up an art tote bag to keep her art supplies in, so they were always handy, organized and ready to go, so she could do her watercolors, relax and decompress.  She does not use very often.  How do I convince her of the benefits that can come from taking the time to use it when she does not feel that she has that kind of time?  I would appreciate any help I could get, maybe personal experiences.  Thanks

Johnina  :^A

Different Drummer

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
~ Henry David Thoreau~
I have loved this quote since I was in high school and while I find it relatively easy to let others keep step with their different drummer; I have found as an individual it is difficult to figure out what different drummer I hear.  As I have grown older I have found that listening to that different drummer takes a great deal of introspection and effort.  Truly following that different drummer without hesitation and with all my heart is the hardest part of all. 
One small example comes from learning to do the Mandalas.  In the directions it said to go with the flow don't think about it, just use the shape that comes to mind.  What the video showed were small shapes and my Mandala ended up small and intricate. See my post 'Mandalas' from October.  It was meditative but would have been more so if I wasn't fighting the urge to do larger more stylized shapes.  I enjoyed what I was drawing but how much more I would enjoy it by following the different drummer that was trying to be heard.  When I did listen this is what I got.


In looking at the picture I was able to figure out what it was about this picture that made me love this picture as opposed to just liking the first one.  I love the contrast between then the small details and the swooping lines. I love the wide space of rich colors and texture.  I love the deep rich colors and the bright, light highlights that add sparkle.  I colored it on GIMP so I could get those colors and the textures which I also like.  I find coloring in with colored pencils extremely relaxing but it takes a long time to get that kind of rich color and I wanted to see how this would turn out quicker than using the pencils.  I am going to do one with pencils to complete my following of that different, distant drummer.
Even though this is just a small example; how often do we follow the crowd or the social instructions all the time with that different, distant drummer whispering to us that there are other ways that we could enjoy ourselves so much more.  Following the crowd enters our lives so often and it is only through either introspection first and courage to follow through or trying something new and different and then considering what made the experience special that we can follow that different drummer.  I'm in my 50's and I'm still figuring out what my different drummer is and how best to follow it.   With my introspection and trying to find my path I always make sure that it fits with those behaviors that I know are moral and correct.  Following the crowd when it is moral and correct brings about the greatest joy and happiness, especially when we use our own special style and talents.
Johnina  :^A