VIRTUAL TIBET, AFRICAN PATTERNS and a PARTIALLY BROKEN ANGEL

November 15th, 2012

Turkeys are hiding...it's almost Thanksgiving!

It must be close to Thanksgiving because we have turkeys running through our back yard day and night! Very strange... We always look forward to our family celebration as it reminds us what's truly important in our lives. (The piece above is for the  CRAZY AMIGOS challenge blog... STRIPES is the theme!)

There are a few more pieces of art I'd like to show you... SUNDAY POSTCARD ART's challenge blog asked artists to create a piece with a PATTERNS theme. I immediately thought of Africa where the cloth wraps worn by the women and men are so colorful and beautiful...and the manner in which many of the Ethiopian people (in particular) paint their bodies...patterns!

TAKE A WORD asked for an angel... I called upon a photo I took in a chapel in Orvieto, Italy. She was a bit broken, but nonetheless beautiful.

Finally, this week's Art and Sole POSTCARD CHALLENGE took us to TIBET. Such an interesting place with a huge Chinese police presence mixed in with the throngs of religious Buddhist peoples worshipping at the many monasteries and temples. The Tibetans truly LIVE their religion. They're soft-spoken, warm, honest, friendly people living in a more than uncomfortable oppressive situation. Still under Chinese rule, these people are strong in their traditions, beliefs and values...and they stand resolute defending them. The head of state and Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama, was born in Tibet, though he's been living in exile in India. Tibet is also the locale of the world's highest mountain...Mt. Everest. It's on the border between Tibet and Nepal. If you have further interest in Tibet, please check out my blog posting from November 4, 2010...Journey to the Top of the World... as it details our visit to this beautiful country.

All for now, dear ones. Hope you have a peaceful but fun weekend and early week...

Hugs 'til my next,
abbyj

MID-WEEK GREETINGS

November 13, 2012

Happy Mid-week, family and friends. Our trees are bare, a sporadic fallen leaf crunches beneath my feet, skies are grey and foreboding...come on, snow!!! I'm ready for you!!!

I'd like to share some mid-week art challenges with you...if I may!!

First, for DIGITALMANIA's Flicker group, some art in the photoallegory style of Hungarian artist SAROLTA BAN...

For The THREE MUSES challenge blog, some animal art...

And finally, for challenge blog TAKE A WORD,  THINK PINK...

Please stop by again for the next page in The Vivere: 
the Life!! Happy to "see" you again.

Big Hugs,
abbyj

VIRTUAL MONACO,

GLAMOUR 

and

CELEBRATING DIWALI

November 6, 2012

Hindus celebrate good over evil...DIWALI

Hi Family and Friends,

Next week the Hindu people worldwide celebrate one of their most important annual holidays... DIWALI...the festival of lights. Challenge blog, SUNDAY POSTCARD ART, asked artists to create a celebratory piece in honor of the holiday. I pray that this years DIWALI celebration will light up the world with PEACE!
Lots of art this week...the gerbils in my head have been spinning the wheel overtime!!
The SoArtFul CHALLENGES blog wants to see a primarily RED piece...

The THREE MUSES are into masks this week... always a fun theme!

Ever heard of actress from the early 1900's, MAUDE FEALY? Her beautiful face is the subject for this week at DIGITALMANIA. She had a varied theater-related career, but also invented the roller luggage carrier ("they say.")

Finally, Art and Sole's POSTCARD CHALLENGE... our virtual trip to Monaco, the playground of the rich and famous. The second smallest country in the world, it's renown for its world class sporting and cultural events. Too, it boasts a spectacular and quite enormous aquarium...a jaw-dropping sight!! Here's my postcard (front and back) and my book page for MONACO!!

Lots of art his week, I know. Hope you can get through it all...
I wish you all a good week and a fulfilling Festival of Lights- Diwali- to my Hindu friends. Actually, I wish us all the peace that Diwali musts bring to all its Hindu followers.

Hugs...'til the next,
abbyj

DIGITALMANIA 

and 

VIRTUAL SLOVENIA

November 1, 2012

"Dear ones grow much too fast!"

Hi Folks,

I hope you've all survived FRANKENSTORM (thankfully, we only had heavy rain...) as well as all those cute little Trick or Treaters! New month...Thanksgiving is on its way. 

We spent last weekend with our daughter and grandkids...they are the inspiration for my first entry in the DIGITALMANIA challenges group on Flicker! That will be a fun challenge group to add to the others I play with :-)
While in Toronto, we took in one of our subscription shows...an original, first time ever, morbidly entertaining new Canadian musical based on the true story of the West Port murders... BLOODLESS: THE TRIAL of BURKE and HARE. It tells the story of two 19th century Irish serial killers who go into business selling corpses to anatomy schools in Edinburgh, Scotland. How do they get the bodies? By killing, of course!!! It's an eerie tale of deceit and murder told in song. Loved it. Hope it continues on to Broadway!! 

This week's virtual journey for ART and SOLE's POSTCARD CHALLENGE is to Slovenia, the secret gem of central Europe. The home of the famous Lippizzaner stallions; the oldest grape vine (over 400 years old) in the world...in Maribor, still bearing a respectable quantity of red grapes annually; home to more than 500 brown bears in their extensive forests; boasts the most visited cave in all of Europe, the Postojna Cave in Slovenia's Karst region...with its numerous rooms, nooks and crannies as well as huge stalagtites and stalagmites; and home to the Kurentovanje Festival when the Kurents chase away winter each February, (now in its 53rd season,) in their wonderful costumes and masks. 
The Tarot-like cards (shown on my postcard) are not for divination purposes. They're a record of the life and death days in the Concentration Camp of Allach, a sub-camp of Dachau, where their artist, Boris Kobe, was held as a political prisoner. He was an architect and painter before and after the war. Here's the art...

Wishing you all a safe, dry week and to those affected by the big east coast storm, a quick recovery and lots of prayers.
See you next time...

Hugs,
abbyj

ANOTHER SHORT ONE...
October 29, 2012

Hope you're doing well...we're awaiting the effects of the FRANKENSTORM that's hitting the east coast. Just returned from spending some time in Toronto with our daughter and grandkids...it was very windy, cold and it poured all weekend. We drove home in heavy rain for some of the trip, but at home again, we're just having some rain...not so heavy...YET! It's definitely on its way...

Meanwhile, back at the computer, I've been playing with challenges from the blog, TAKE A WORD, whose theme is WINGS...

TIMEPIECE is this week's theme for challenge blog THE THREE MUSES...

Thanks for the brief check-back. Looking forward to seeing what this FRANKENSTORM Halloween hurricaine brings... wishing you all well- STAY SAFE!!

Hugs, 'til the next,
abbyj

A RETRO HALLOWEEN

October 25, 2012

Just a quickie posting for SUNDAY POSTCARD ART. Their blog challenged artists to create a retro style Halloween piece...my first one is on the previous post...not very retro. Here's my REAL RETRO Halloween piece...the good old days!

ALL HALLOWEEN

Thanks for the challenge, Sunday Postcard Art!!

Hugs,
abbyj

VIRTUAL FINLAND and 

MORE HALLOWEEN
October 24, 2012

Autumn leaves flutter down
like tired souls
at the end of their lives...

Hard to imagine that October is almost at its end and here we are at Halloween! Before we turn around, it will be Christmas and our lovely Autumn colors will be just a colorful memory. Time marches on, so they say... I think time RACES on is a more accurate assessment!!!

This week, I had to do one more Halloween piece...this one for both INSPIRATION AVENUE and SUNDAY POSTCARD ART...

and I played with a piece about NIGHT for COLLAGE OBSESSION's blog challenge...

My weekly challenge (until year's end) is Art and Sole's POSTCARD CHALLENGE. This week, our virtual journey is to Finland, land of a thousand lakes (actually, 180,000,) the midnight sun (where the sun is ALWAYS above the horizon in summer) and polar nights (when the sun is NEVER above the horizon...darkness ALL WINTER!!) It's also a place where there are no public payphones, where a speeding ticket fine is based on your earnings, and Finland probably holds the world record for hosting world championships...not ordinary ones...rather, things like mobile phone throwing, ant hill sitting, sauna sitting, mosquito catching,  swamp soccer, boot throwing, air guitar and my favorite, wife carrying... and that's just a few. People from all over the world participate in these events! Bizarre, no? Fun, yes!

Enjoy your week and have a fun-filled Halloween. Hope you get lots of little gremlins at your door!!  :)

Hugs...and thanks for stopping by,
abbyj

VIRTUAL RUSSIA 

and 

SPOOKY STUFF

October 18, 2012

...long dead bodies and skulls...spooooky
(for THREE MUSES challenge blog)

Still in the spirit of fall and Halloween... more vibrant leaves on the ground to crunch under our feet now...soooo beautiful. 

Our Art and Sole POSTCARD CHALLENGE spirited us off to Russia this week. The largest country in the world (land-mass-wise, not by population,) it's a country with spectacular natural beauty and a great deal of unexpectedly jaw-dropping art, sculpture and architecture...to say nothing of its rich, extensive culture. I raise a (small) glass of vodka to honor Russia's art...in the subways, in the churches and cathedrals (from floor to ceiling frescoes and icons,) as well as on the streets. My postcard is a painting of one of Moscow's most extraordinary and fairytale-like sights, St. Basil's Cathedral with its colorful, onion-shaped domes. It's in Red Square.

My book page is of a memorial graffiti wall on old Arabat Street in Moscow. It was done in honor of a man named VIKTOR TSOI who was killed in an automobile accident in 1990, at the age of 28. He's regarded as one of the pioneers of Russian rock music and has many devoted fans even today. Few musicians in the history of Russian music have been more popular or have had more impact on their genre than Viktor Tsoi and his rock band, KINO.

Short and sweet...that's it for this posting. Hope to see you next time. Thanks for stopping by...

Hugs,

abbyj

WITCHES TEATIME

October 17, 2012

Just a quickie hello with one more art challenge... this one, from the CRAZY AMIGO challenge blog. When one thinks of TEATIME, visions of beautiful teacups,  flowers and beautiful table linens come to my mind...or two little girls playing teatime with their dolls. Not often would one visualize a Witches' Tea Party...exactly what I did...in the spirit of the season!  Enjoy!!

That's it! See you in a couple of days for a weekend posting? 

Hugs,
abbyj

FALL ART
October 16, 2012

Hi Folks,

Hope this short posting finds you well...

Our beautiful Central New York Fall has inspired me to do some autumn-related challenges... like COLLAGE OBSESSION's request for WITCHES...

...and INSPIRATION AVENUE's request to illustrate our favorite season... Hands down, mine is FALL!! What's yours?

That's it...short and sweet! I hope you're enjoying whatever season you're in at this moment!! :-)

Hugs 'til the next...and thanks for stopping by.
abbyj

BONNIE SCOTLAND and other art...

October 11, 2012

In the spirit of Halloween approaching...
(for SUNDAY POSTCARD ART)

Happy end-of-the-week to you! Here's wishing you a satisfying weekend with only good things happening. 

Halloween is fast approaching...excitement for the kids. I know my grandchildren have been planning "what they're going to be" for months!! Next week is also my granddaughter's 8th birthday...how did THAT happen???? Busy time! Happy Birthday to my Sweetie Girl, Lilly.

I've been busy creating new pieces of art for a variety of challenges...as usual.

 TAKE A WORD challenge blog asked for 
a crime poster...

THE THREE MUSES ' theme: Vintage

...And our country for this week's ART and SOLE POSTCARD CHALLENGE is Scotland. We have several family members and friends living in Scotland. My mother-in-law was born there! It's a place we've visited many, many times. Sooo many old, old castles, interesting old cemeteries, lots of tradition...and some awful, bone-chilling weather. But it's beautiful...from the desolate Scottish moors to the busy cities. The seaside areas are lovely as is the countryside with its quaint stone cottages. I love the long-haired highland cows with their rusty colored hair, the kilts, the bagpipes, the ale, the scones with clotted cream... my Aunt Lilian and my mother-in-law made the best buttery shortbread EVER!! So many great memories... 

The memories I chose for my Art and Sole pieces are of the 13th century castle of the Earl of Glasgow that's been decorated (by invitation) with vivid, exciting Brazilian graffiti. It was done in 2007, before the castle was to be resurfaced...and it's still there! The other memory I chose to show is that of a father and son at a park where we took the kids to play. Here they are...

That's it for now... Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to seeing you for the next... Thanks for checking in!

Hugs,

abbyj