WHAT IS BEAUTY, etc. 

January 10, 2016 

My first blog posting for 2016...hope your New Year will be better than 2015 as there's always room for improvement! Wishing you the best of everything...

This week's art challenges were especially fun because it was food for thought for me. TAKE A WORD challenge blog asked participating artists what they considered "beauty" to be.  There's a long list, including music and family around which  I didn't create art. But, here's what I DID consider... 

A snowy winter day is beautiful to me...

the power and serenity of prayer is beautiful as is the art that it has inspired through the ages...

Buddhist nun praying at pagoda beneath burning incense

Golden Rock, a sacred site where pilgrims come to pray, near Yangon, Myanmar

Religious women bathing in Varanasi's sacred Ganges River, India... another awe-inspiring site.

This is the most amazing Church of the Transfiguration on the Russian island of Kizhi. Built in the early 1700's, it's all wood...no nails...and comprises 22 domes. The floor to ceiling religious frescoes within are jaw-droppingly beautiful...just imagine the age of this art. Russia stands out to me as a place where I saw/experienced the most beautiful ancient art I've ever seen and it adorns the walls and ceilings of so many of the old churches.

and the beauty in the power of LOVE...

THE THREE MUSES asked that we create a piece of art about "hearts." Mine is a bit of a shout out to Dr. Christiaan Barnard, the South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant on December 3, 1967. Medical science has come a long way since then...

DIGITAL WHISPER's request is anything involving a window sill... 

That's it for this blog posting. Stay well and safe...enjoy your days!

Hope to see you for the next posting... thanks for stopping by.

Big Hugs,

abbyj

 REASON TO CELEBRATE 

June 19, 2015

This is a celebration weekend for Michael and me... In the blink of an eye...51 years of marriage, friendship, of togetherness, of sharing each other's joys and sorrows, a daughter who means the world to us, two grandchildren whom we adore ... We've been couple for 54 years, but June 21st is our 51st WEDDING anniversary. Michael, the co-author of my life is lively, smart, very funny and someone for whom I have more respect than anyone I know...my heart is his. He continues to be a wonderful, caring husband, father (must mention this because it is also Father's Day,) and Papa to Hunter and Lilly. I feel truly blessed to be sharing my life with this extraordinary man...I love you with all my heart, Sweetheart... here's to many more happy years together.
                    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Hope you enjoy your weekend...raise a glass for us!

Big Hugs,

abbyj 

ANOTHER MIXED BAG

May 16, 2015 

 

I love taking advantage of my time at home by making art! For me, it's a contemplative time...a time to relax and let my mind wander (more than usual! :) ) 

The challenge blogs have been busy and creative in declaring their themes. I've tried to be equally creative in responding to the challenges...

DIGITAL WHISPER wants to see a piece featuring COFFEE...

MIX IT MONTHLY continues it's request for a "happy couple." This is my third entry...I really like the theme!

TAKE A WORD challenge blog simply wants participating artists to use turquoise in their art piece... my response centering around one of my favorite subjects- trains!

THE THREE MUSES challenged participating artists to include some form of wheel in their piece... see my circus Ferris wheel?

Finally, at FLICKER's DIGITALMANIA, our inspiration this week is the Portuguese graphic artist, Cristiana Couceiro. Here's one of hers...

 

and here's what Cristiana inspired me to create...

That's it for this posting. Didn't take you long to see it, right? Thanks for stopping in. Please DO return...

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj

THE HEART TURNS TO LOVE

February 7, 2014

 

Hi Folks!

Well, it's not Valentine's Day yet, but my thoughts for art have turned to love and the heart...like this one for SUNDAY POSTCARD ART paying tribute to a heart that's blue...

Here's a little LOVE graffiti for THE THREE MUSES...

Finally, for the TAKE A WORD art challenge blog, even the butterflies were flitting around a girl thinking of her love !!

Thank you for checking in...hope you're near your loved ones for the coming week... after all, it's almost Valentine's Day!

 

Have an enjoyable week.

Big Hugs,

abbyj







FLAT STANLEY AND FRIENDS...

FLAT PEOPLE...TRAVELING
June 14, 2011
Hi Friends,

Have you given any thought to a six-word story that would serve as YOUR current memoir? Here's mine for the week... I was recalling a comical incident that occurred when I was recently in Italy. I guess I'm a shopper at heart... (my husband wouldn't argue with THAT!!)

Literally caught with my pants down by my friend, DJ, who was shopping with me...but what's a girl to do when there's no dressing room???

This was a week where I returned to some of my favorite online art group roots...  PAPER TRADERS is one of them. Happily for them and for all of our group members, there's now a blog for us to enjoy. They've asked group members and random readers to create an art piece entitled CELEBRATION... to toast the creation of this new blog. Here's mine...

The group created an ongoing challenge for group members...we're working on a Word Prompt Journal that involves creating pieces of art with words of inspiration... here are LOVE, COURAGE and COMPASSION: 

 A long-time cyber friend in Germany, with whom I've exchanged pieces of art through the years... Marion Bockelman...has asked some of her artist friends to participate in a swap. Our task is to create 3 small pieces utilizing artists' portraits of women of the Renaissance. (By small, I mean 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"... they're called  ATCs or Artist Trading Cards.) She's calling the swap "MONA and FRIENDS." See it on her blog, and see my entries here...

 

Now, let's consider a different kind of art... the art of writing! Have you heard of  FLAT STANLEY? 

Poor Stanley was a normal little boy who was FLATTENED when a bulletin board  fell on him during the night. This was both good and bad...he could certainly journey to places he'd never thought of visiting before he was flattened, but he couldn't be a normal little boy. He  could fit in an envelope or in a suitcase and travel ANYWHERE! What adventures...what possibilities! Our family has our own Flat Hunter and Flat Lilly...(our dear grandchildren) that we take with us on most of our travels. Their appearances have been altered considerably through the years, but the thought is the same...here they are on some of their travels as Flat Hunter and Flat Lilly...

Flat kids overlooking the city of Jerusalem, Israel, on top of a camel saddle

Flat kids with part of my extended family in Ethiopia...Dido and his son, Gallipo

Christmas in Paris, France

Enjoying the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy

In a temple niche in India

 Since turnabout is fair play, on a recent trip that our daughter, son-in-law and our grandchildren (aka Flat Hunter and Flat Lilly) took to Las Vegas, they brought FLAT PAPA and FLAT DOODLELOO (that's me) with THEM!!

Finally, a quick look at recent visitors to my bird feeder...must get a book about birds  so I can learn their names-  I'm new to this bird-feeder thing! They're so sweet, though...I photoshopped a bit, but the birds were truly a couple of today's many visitors...

Thanks for stopping by this week...hope to see you next week...


xox, abbyj

LOVE in a POCKET

CARRY ME WITH YOU...

February 7, 2011

The first of our WORD PROMPT CHALLENGES in my online art group, PAPER TRADERS,   is LOVE... with Valentine's Day  fast approaching. I used one of a bazillion photos I've taken of our grandson, Hunter (then 2...now 8) for the piece. The sentiment is that I wish he'd carry me (us...actually, my husband and me) in his pocket so that we would always be close to him. Now, we have a granddaughter we'd like to be close to as well...Lilly, who's 6. Problem is, her clothes don't have many pockets. Perhaps we can be a necklace for the little lady...
                        HERE'S HUNTER...

...and here's PAPER TRADERS ART BLOG link if you'd like to take a look at it: 

 http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/search/label/Home

Looking forward to seeing you next time...

XOX, abbyj