MID-JUNE...already!

June 14, 2013

 

 

Hi Family and Friends,

This is a quick posting in honor of Father's Day and to celebrate my introduction to a new artist. I posted a couple of pieces I did  in the style of  STEPHANIE LEDOUX last time...I LOVE her work, so I've done a few more. They're for a Flicker art challenge group called DIGITALMANIA :  

Finally, I'd like to wish all the Fathers and Grandfathers a Happy Father's Day. Hope the day finds you surrounded by loved ones...whether you're a father or not!!

This last piece is answering a challenge from two online art groups...CRAZY AMIGOS and SUNDAY POSTCARD ART! Check out the other art on those blogs.

Enjoy your weekend. Hope to see you for my next posting.

xoxoxo,
abbyj


ALL ABOUT ART...

June 10, 2013

 

"Peaceful coo of the dove...relaxing!"
(done for THREE MUSES challenge blog...birds)

 

Happy Monday, Family and Friends! I trust that you had an enjoyable weekend...

 

There are a few art challenges I'd like to share with you... fun themes... like this one:

COLLAGE OBSESSION asked to see art about brothers and sisters. I used an old photo of my Father and my Aunt... 

 

SOARTFUL CHALLENGE blog was interested in owls...

F

 

THINK MONDAY-THINK ATC requested art with columns. I remembered a scene in Petra, Jordan, and played with it... amazing buildings carved of sandstone, centuries old.

 

Finally, Flicker's DIGITALMANIA introduced us to the art of Stephanie Ledoux. From Toulouse, France, she's a traveler, a journaler and a designer...a wonderful artist who incorporates bits and pieces of the life of each person in her portrait collages. These two pieces were inspired by Stephanie's style of art... one is of a man we met in China and the other is a member of one of my Ethiopian families. I'm sure I'll be doing more in her style as I really enjoy her art! It's personal, recording the people as well as memories surrounding them.

 

 

Wishing you a good week...and that you get more sunshine than we've had. It's been raining here for the past several days!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Hugs,

abbyj



DAYS OF ART

June 3, 2013

 

"Marriage: two souls entwined for life"
(created for COLLAGE OBSESSION challenge blog)



June...the most popular month for weddings. My husband's and my wedding anniversary is mid-June. It's a time for nature's new beginnings as colors dominate the landscape here in central New York. The 6-word memoir piece above memorializes the wedding couple! Click on the picture to see details.

 

I've spent waaaay too much time on the computer over the last several days...the results are below! I've had such a good, creative time...

 

For CRAZY AMIGO challenge blog, the purpose of the art they requested was to include the use of distress inks...



Flicker's DIGITALMANIA  asked us to study the art of an American artist...painter, Steven Kenny. I really enjoy his art style so I created several pieces in his style...

 

 

 



 

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART 's blog had us feeling that "there's no place like home!"

 

TAKE A WORD  saw everything through "orange" colored glasses...

 

Finally, THREE MUSES went historical art with a request  for "gothic arches..."

 



Think I'll step away from the computer now... there's a book calling my name!! Aah, the life of a retiree!!  :)

 

Enjoy your week...stay well!

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASHVILLE and MORE...

May 31, 2013

 

What  great fun we had visiting Music City... Nashville, Tennessee... with our friends, Gene and Joanne! It's not only a place where you hear all kinds of music spilling out of every honky tonk... day and night... but it's also a place for great deals on cowboy boots!! We went into a place that had a "buy one pair...get TWO PAIR  free" deal!! These were all high quality boots... don't know how they can do it- must be based on  pure volume sales!! Needless to say, the place was PACKED!!!

Here are some shots I took here and there during our Nashville visit...

 

 

 

Opryland Hotel Resort...gorgeous

 

Nashville skyline

As for this week's art challenges...

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART was in the mood to "party." I'm always up for a party... 

TAKE A WORD had us blowing "bubbles..."

 

THINK MONDAY- THINK ATC  participants were  feeling the art in their "hearts..."

 

the Flicker group, DIGITALMANIA, had artists examine the style of a Lisbon-based illustrator and designer, Christiana Couceiro. These are pieces I did in her clean collage style...in honor of the World War II pilots who painted their planes with a variety of nose art...and in honor of childhood days!

And finally, at the CRAZY AMIGOS challenge blog, we were wrapped up in "cars..."

 

 

Enjoy your week...thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you for my next posting!

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj

ARTFUL READERS CLUB: MAY

May 30, 2013

 

 

 

Greetings to all those who love to read! It's the last Friday of the month, time for all participants in the ARTFUL READERS CLUB to post their May book reviews and art. I don't know what led me to choose this book...perhaps my interest in religion, culture and medieval times. In any case, I'm thrilled I chose it... SACRED HEARTS by Sarah Durant.

 

Today, a woman can be single, have a career and a joy-filled life. But in the 16th century, many aristocratic Italian families, able to afford only one hefty dowry, would lead one daughter into an arranged marriage and force the other young woman to take the veil.

It's 1570 in the Italian city of Ferrara and the Convent of Santa Caterina is filled with women who are married to Christ out of choice or because they weren't marriage material for one reason or another. Enter 16 year-old Serafina (with the singing voice of an angel, by the way!) The convent's newest novice, (incarcerated by her family for her illicit love affair with her voice instructor,) is introduced to the reader as she's howling with rage and hormones, determined to escape. But Serafina's rebellion is not like that of the other girls: heart wrenching, relentless and ultimately explosive, the disruption she creates sets off a series of events that grow to involve the "apothecary mistress" with her healing potions and herbs, the worldly, political Mother Superior and the ambitious, fiercely devout "novice mistress" who watches over her flock of young recruits like a soldier of the Lord. Each  aspires to influence Serafina's path. But as they struggle to subdue the passion in the wayward girl's rebellious soul, each finds she must come to terms with the sorrows, lost hopes and decisions of her own past as well as the unstoppable changes bearing down on the Convent from outside the great cloistered walls- the religious dictates of the Counter Reformation that was beginning to purge the Catholic Church and impose terrible oppression on the nunneries.

SACRED HEARTS is an extraordinary journey into a world we rarely see, a place where women sacrificed their personal desires and dreams because they were "called" to do so or it was imposed upon them. It's rich in historical detail and full of interesting characters, treachery, lies, medicinal herbs, love and heartfelt decisions. Who knew that the life of a nun could be so exciting? If you love the Renaissance period of history and medieval times...or just a tale of human drama...I highly recommend SACRED HEARTS by Sarah Durant!

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope this book interests you... Please check back for my regular posting of LIFE: THE VIVERE in a few days.

 

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj



POTPOURRI

May 19, 2013

 

 

Sweet boy deserves a hopeful future...
(For Digitalmania, Inspired by Loui Jover)

This has been a fun few days of arting for me... down with a sinus infection...stuck in the house! I'd like to share my art with you!

The piece for the 6-word memoir (above) is based on a little Namibian boy...a member of a bushman community in southern Africa. It's done in the style of  the  Turkish surreal artist, Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu, (I dare you to try to pronounce his entire name.) It's for the Flicker's  DIGITALMANIA online art group.
The next artist whose work Digitalmania artists are examining (and whose art I much prefer)  is from the area of  Queensland,  Australia ...talented enough to produce all forms of art... written as well as painting, sculpture, illustration, mixed media... he's art personified! His name... Loui Jover. I really enjoy looking at the work of this artist... he's new to me! Here are a few pieces I did in his style...

 

For the CREAVIL'S CHALLENGE-BLOG  and THE THREE MUSES, both calling for patterns, I offer the piece below...grab your blinders!!!

Finally, TAKE A WORD challenge blog requested art with a "sewing" theme. I love the vintagey feel of this lady on her old Singer machine...

Wishing you and yours a good, peaceful (but fun) week ahead. Please check back soon for a new posting...thanks for checking into THIS one!

 

Hugs,

abbyj



THIRD WEEK IN MAY

May 15, 2013

 

 

Beautiful green of spring lifts spirits!



We spent a wonderful Mother's Day weekend with our daughter and grandkids. Our grandson played in an awesome concert...a player in the coronet section...so proud of him. He's a young musician like his Dad... the youngest player in the group!! 



We also had tickets  for the blockbuster Broadway hit, THE BOOK OF MORMON .  By the same people who wrote the TV series SOUTH PARK (that we never watched,) this show was hilarious and the music was memorable. Its message for me was that having faith...believing in something larger than yourself...gives you hope! Most enjoyable...

On to the art...

COLLAGE OBSESSION's challenge blog asked us to include steps or a staircase in our art... I played with a photo taken at an ancient temple in Cambodia's Siem Reap.

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART  was interested in seeing chevron shapes... I used one of many photos of a zebra ...loved playing with this one!

 TAKE A WORD is honoring MOTHERS for another week...I honor mine!

Finally, THE THREE MUSES let their weekly challenge  participants run wild...the only thing required was the use of any quote we'd like. I used one from Mark Twain who said "The Creator made Italy from designs by Michaelangelo."  (Truer words were never said!!!) I played with a photo taken in Cortona, Italy. I love the ancient stairs and portions of an equally ancient fresco on the wall.

 

 Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you for the next posting. Have a great week...

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj