Agate Beach ~ Tsunami Dock

Me and My Best Friend ~ For Life

I can't believe we finally got away from home for a weekend!  Here we are at Newport, Oregon.  We made it down to Agate Beach where the dock that washed ashore from the Tsunami in Japan arrived.  There were people all over and around, leaving and arriving to take a look at this large dock. 

I have to say, it was amazing to think of this dock making it all this way across the ocean and landing here in Oregon without one sighting from an aircraft or ship.  This thing is large, maybe 6.5' to 7' tall and long.  On the other hand, if you think about how vast the ocean is, the dock is small in comparison. 

The dock has since been worked on for removal and must be gone now.  It sure brought hundreds of people to the beach. 

 

Take in a Deep Breath and Enjoy the View

Isn't this an awesome view?  Not only is it beautiful with all the layers of trees, but a place like this can lead to days of art and inspiration...and perhaps more importantly, relaxation of the spirit and soul.

I think getting out for a day of fun is one of the best things a person can do for themselves.  It's so important to take care of our own needs while we are in the midst of lives little (or big) ups and downs. 

On day I took this picture I was out geocaching with my sister and brother-in-law.  With geocaching you get to stop every so often to seek out a cache which also means that you have a bit of time to stop, take in a deep breath and enjoy an awesome view; it's a bit of exercise (geocaching) and a bit of relaxation (the view) all rolled up into one single event of the day. 

This day  lead to several new paintings, all abstracts, which is not my usual area of creativity. After I completed my paintings and heard some honest criticism; I found that I love the idea of painting an abstract and I feel like I finally understand why people fall in love with them and why artists choose this creative path.  For me, it's painting freely; taking a thought or an idea and allowing it to develop right on the canvas. 

Relaxing, enjoying a day of fun, taking time to 'take care' of  your own needs truly does lead to inspiration.  Find your 'soul' place, take in a deep breath, now relax and enjoy this moment.  It might lead you down the same path of creativity ~ to paint, write poetry, come up with some new ideas, cook a new meal ~ It's all individual for certain and I hope this little nudge will help you step away from the rush for just a little while.

Enjoy your Journey,  Angela

Art and Soul - Wednesday was Shabby Chic Birds

On Wednesday of Art and Soul I attended the workshop, Shabby Chic Birds, with Susan Bates-Bezek. Susan really makes her birds delightful and charming with all the sparkle of glitter and jewels.    Below are just a few of the birds she brought to share.  Susan is extremely talented, with a love for creating in fabric beautiful pieces of art.  She has been teaching at Art and Soul for many years.



Pene

Wendy

It was great fun to see our own birds developing too.  The two ladies below are creating crows.

My bird began with a coat of acrylic paint - later I'll apply some glitter to match this color of blue.  Here he is before getting his wings applied and as you can see, his legs are drying at the edge of the table. 

Not having finished much past this stage since the legs and body of the bird had to dry, I later applied glitter to him up in my room at the Embassy Suites Hotel where he sat unattended for the remainder of the week...without his legs and eyes.  After I got home, I took a picture of my roughed up little blue bird.  He apparently had a long ride home in my suit case.  But I installed his legs so that he could begin standing on his 'own two feet.'

Knowing that I went to Art and Soul with the full intent of finishing each of my projects, I began working on King Blue Bird by first naming him and then applying another two layers of glitter all the way around the top and the bottom.  As he dried, I pulled out trinkets and jewels that I thought would be fitting, repainted his legs and beak and finally giving him some little beaded eyes.  Below is the completed bird. 

Here my grand cat, Sen, takes a good look at King Blue Bird.  A little lick of the glitter and she decided he wasn't going to be so tasty after all.

I hope you've enjoyed this segment of my trip to Art and Soul.  I am pleased with my results, but will continue to consider where I will place him in the house.  Perhaps he will end up on his own stand in a place quite secure from curious cats.

Best Wishes,

Angela

Through the Rabbit Hole ~ Tuesday's Workshop at Art and Soul

On Tuesday of Art and Soul I attended a workshop called, 'Through the Rabbit Hole,' with Ingrid Dijkers.  Wow, what a wonderful surprise of journal books she had on display.  Oh you must visit her site and see all the beautiful and fun artwork Ingrid has done with these fascinating books. 

Now I have to say; Ingrid was absolutely awesome and her class was a thrill to be a part of.  She gave us tons of tips for painting the pages with bright eye-inspiring colors - adding great highlights and shadowing in all the right places.  It was hard not to feel as if I were Alice as I went from one page to the next; thinking, dreaming and wondering just how all my pages would eventually turn out.  How would I paint them, what images would I use, what fun ideas would I get to journal about once I completed the book. 

Angela with Ingrid Dijkers

Working on the Pages of My Rabbit Hole Book

I did get a number of my pages painted, as you can see here, this page is left blank in the middle and you can see where I will eventually cut out the center (after I apply the image).   Others were busy working on their pages as well. 

It was great to get out the acrylics and just start playing with lots of colors and knowing I had at least 10 8X8" pages left me plenty of room to paint freely and not worry about how each page looked at the very beginning.  I knew later we would apply the images and then I would get down to shading and highlighting so my book would feel like they were actually falling down the rabbit hole. 

Here you can see all the fun art supplies at this table.  But their's wasn't the only one like this -
We all had our supplies spread out and filling the tables from one end to the other.

At home now, with my studio cleaned and organized once again - I am still working on my Rabbit Hole book.  I will finish it as it's a project like the Embroidered Birds, one that keeps my brain buzzing with creative activity.  Here's what I have finished so far....

I really recommend that you take a look at Ingrid Dijkers website and check out the Journals she has created as well as the rest of her site.  You will be amazed at the awe-inspiring art and your creative juices will begin filling your brain with all kinds of wonderful ideas.  For me, I will keep working and as I finish a page or two, I'll post to the blog so you can see how the journal is going.

Thank you for stopping by
Hugs,
Angela

Thread Painted Love Birds - Finished Project from Art and Soul

My first class at Art and Soul was with Janne Robberstad.  As I stated a few days ago in my blog post, I took her class to learn more about free-style machine embroidery and I so want to make the colorful bird motif she had listed at Art and Soul.   I have to brag on her just a bit as she is such an awesome teacher with a delightful personality.  I really enjoyed her class and would definitely take another one in the future.  Janne taught us a lot about free-style machine embroidery and her work is just amazing.  Take a look at her website and you will see what I mean. 

So my birds were not finished at Art and Soul as I had hoped they would be, but that's because I had a lot to learn about seeing all the colors in an image so that I could create the picture onto fabric.  On Friday I worked most of the afternoon on finishing the embroidered birds.  This kind of free-style embroidery is certainly a lot of fun, but trying to go from an image to thread painting was difficult for me.  I really have to stop and look at all the different colors involved.  Remember a few days ago I said I had wanted to turn the bird motif into a card for my husband.  well here's the results and the process I used to apply the birds to a card.

Finished Sewing the Love Birds

Now that the birds were finished;  it was time to find the right items to make the card.  I had an idea in my head, but first I had to pull all the materials together and see what idea might work the best.  Finding the little fir branch was easy, we had a wind the other day that dropped fall leaves to the ground and a perfect branch for me to use in my "Thank You."

All the Parts for the Card

I used card stock as my main paper and applied a textured handmade-like paper to the front of the card with soft gel.  I figured out where I wanted the birds to sit on the card and then put in 4 rivets.  After the card dried, I used a small guage wire to wire the branch onto the front of the card using the rivets.  I secured the wire to the inside of the card with a nice cotton tape (used for medical purposes).  This tape helps seal the wire down and it doesn't seem to poke through the cardstock.

Their Little Feet on a Small Fir Branch

The feet of the bird are wires wrapped with floral tape (learned this in another class) and then painted. After they dried I sealed them with a soft gel to glue the floral tape securely.  I added them to the branch and then used more cotton tape to hold the legs in place and covered the area with soft gel.  I applied the soft gel to the back of the birds as well.  I put the birds down on the cardstock and used a piece of wax paper to push the birds firmly in place.  Because of the weight of the birds, I had to hold the base section in place for a while to get the embroidery to fit snuggly around the legs.

Card is Made

On the inside of the card, I use a heavy printed cardstock to cover the wire and to provide a nice space for words and a perfect place to write my little thank you note.  Here I used a preprinted 'thank you' and a flower embellishment.

Inside Thank You

After I wrote a nice thank you note; I presented the card to my husband (before it was even dry) and I have to say, he was very pleased with the results.  His smile and heartfelt expressions made me feel like a million bucks. 

I am so glad to have finished up the embroidered birds.  If I had left them as a UFO (unfinished object) it would have really bugged me...not that I don't have several dozen ufo's on the shelves, but this one was important as I had an idea in my brain that just wouldn't sit quietly.

Be on the look out in a few days for some information on the next class I went to while at Art and Soul...It's a UFO right now, but that's okay as it will take some time to finish it up.  I can't wait to give you the link to the teacher.  You will be amazed with her work. In the meantime, visit Janne's web page and enjoy all the art and interesting tabs to visit. 

Best Wishes,
Angela

In the Garden with Art and Soul Fun

For the last 10 years I've been telling my husband that I wanted to go to Art and Soul; well, 2011 and I finally made it and I had the most wonderful experience with many other first timers and hearing about other's experiences of years gone by.  For me, the adventure was even better as my Sister, Jo Beth, was able to attend this year too and it was our first big adventure together. She came from Washington State and I from Oregon - my drive was about 2 hours and her drive was more like 5 hours (sorry Sis). 

There are so many wonderful things I would love to tell you about my experiences at Art and Soul. But I realize I should probably keep the blog post to a minimum so you don't get bored with all the words...In this post I will share with you the first class I signed-up for on Monday September 26th which was Machine Embroidered Birds with Janne Robberstad.  Janne is an artist, a costume designer and an arts and crafts teacher from Norway.  She worked for 14 years in a folk high school.  For the past 3 years, Janne has been working as a fulltime artist.  Please see her site at Spindlemaker for more information about Janne and her beautiful artwork.

My sister and I attended this class together; we brought with us pictures of birds that we might like to 'free-style' embroider using the sewing machine.   Janne introduced us to the art of a machine embroidery that is more like painting with thread. I picked a set of love birds thinking that I would apply them to a card and give it to my husband as a 'Thank you' for letting me spend the money and take the time to attend Art and Soul (more about that later).

I learned a lot about thread painting. Although  I had done some in the past creating postcards in my own style, this is the first time I've taken a picture and tried to recreate it on fabric.   What I really learned most was that a person has to look deeper; find color that doesn't seem to even be in the image. I didn't consider looking deeper as it just seemed to me that it would be simple to put the colors together and get tremendous results. Well, I was wrong. I discovered that deep purple is often shading itself in the folds and crevices of a picture. So when I first began looking at the birds, I saw lights, brights and darks; reds, greens, yellows, and dark which my brain said, "Oh yeah, that must be dark brown or black."  Once I began to look completely at the image; thread painting from a picture took on a whole new meaning. I was excited with the results I began seeing in my own work.

Janne explained to me how to put more highlights on the birds to bring out the feathers and to give shape to the little creatures.  She helped me see the colors that were really in the picture and gave me a lot tips on shading and highlighting certain areas.

I have not finished my little 'Love Birds' yet, but I do want to share them with you as  they will give you a good example of what I mean:  when you see the bird on the left I have added better highlights to bring out the feathers and gave her a little more depth by shading other areas - and the bird on the right...well, he still needs some work before he looks any thing other than flat.

So now I am off to finish the embroidered love birds. Stay tuned for another day as I will be posting the completed love birds project and sharing with you the next workshop I attended...

...Let's say I give myself a few days to get the project completed and  I will be be back with my next post on Saturday the 15th of October.

Enjoy the pictures I do have posted and if you have questions or suggestions, please send me an email. I'd love to converse with you.

Best wishes,
Angela

Life Overload and Aging Spirits

How can it be March 2nd already? I keep looking at the calendar to be sure and then I double check the computer calendar for a second opinion. Yep, it's still the 2nd day of March and this day only has 4 hours left in it to put to use. I want to rush to the studio and play to my hearts content, but I know the most important thing I can do for myself right now is lie my head on my comfortable pillow and just sleep until the cats wake me up 'before' the bright, but still in the early morning hours. I can't wait for the days when the sun rises up and sheds light across the valley early in the morning. It will be such a delight to the soul...my spirit will dance in the pleasure of longer days and perhaps it will make the aging spirits rise and rejoice as well.

However, it is to much to ask that the aging spirits rise up and rejoice in the early morning light. My parents are aging and I have to say, this is a really tough process. Age does not rejoice at this stage, but it pounds like a wild drum in the hearts of all family members who try to help with the process. Aging steals little bits of life over and over again on a daily basis. Aging doesn't know any boundaries; it just jumps in one day and takes over the lives you once knew.

I have to say, life has been difficult these last few weeks, watching and learning how I can best help with my parents as age takes over. They are in their 87th and 89th years and up until a month ago, they still seemed so young and so able to live without the added help of others. It feels to me as if the world begins to collapse in some way and I know what the end asks for...but for me, the youngest of 7 living siblings, seems like age is asking to much of me. I want this creature called 'age' to stop and let me have my parents back, especially my Mom as she has aged considerably in the last month.

To tell you the truth, I'm terrified! I cannot imagine a life without my mother, my best friend, my true confidant. She has been there for me through thick and thin. Through all the troubles of life she has given me sound advice and given me the strength to carry on. I pray ever day that I can do the same for her and that I can be the boulder of strength for her that she has always been for me.

I think so often of the books I read to my children, but right now I cannot remember the name of them about a young man that a mother cares for and as the mother ages, the son cares for her. I am in the caring stages now. I love her so much and I want only the best for her. I want to show her joy, strength, courage...I want her to know that all is okay in the world and that it is okay to depend on me. I so want to be strong...tonight, I just don't feel that way so much. It was a long day of worry, of care, of just trying to let Mom know how very much I love her.

Oh I remember, the story; it was "I'll Love you Forever," by Robert Munsch. What a beautiful story it is. Please follow the link and read the story he wrote. There is so much to learn about 'age,' how it jumps in and steals so quickly the lives you once knew. But somehow it all helps me to find the peace and strength that I need each day. I will love my mother forever and I will help her to live as peacefully as possible through this process of aging.

Age, please allow me the time to let my Mom know how very much I love her. She is my world and I love her more than anyone can ever know or unerstand. Give me these days to help her so that when life comes to an end, it is easy on her. Please let her know that I am there for her always and that she can fully depend on me. Give her the strength she needs through this difficult time.

It is a prayer more than anything else. Say a prayer for her strength and for her courage, for mine as well. It is what we need right now.

With many blessings,
Angelina

The Best Decision

I have a confession to make; I play Farmville and Cityville. These are games that I play when I go check my Facebook page. The problem is, I play three or four times a day for at least hour each occasion, sometimes longer depending on what I stand to gain by gathering more items from friends and family. It’s become an addiction and I no longer relish the fun of just playing when I have a bit of down time.

So decision time has come; a New Year will arrive in 4 days and it is time to let the games go. This year I want to have more time creating, making collage art and putting a larger emphasis into my Trinkets site. During down time, I want to converse with my husband and go to visit family. I never dreamed it would be this difficult to drop the games, but on the other hand, I never dreamed I would donate this much of my time to a game of building a farm or a city.

I’m glad I made this pronouncement. I’m happy to be moving beyond the games and moving more toward my life goals to take pleasure in arts, crafts, and workshops. Maybe this year I will get back to doing vendor shows where I can enjoy the social atmosphere of being around other crafters/artists and the sharing of ideas.

Here’s to a New Year, New Fun, and New Ideas without being stuck in gameville.

Saying Good-Bye to 2010

It’s always hard to say good-bye, but even more so when it seems as though we’ve hardly said hello…for me, this whole year has slid by quietly. Don’t get me wrong, we have definitely had our ups and downs throughout the year; but I think it is me that’s made changes that I welcomed with open arms. I am content, I am thankful and I am full of gratitude for so many things.

I can’t really give you specifics on how and when this contented state began in my life; I can tell you that during this last year with our sons’ all deployed at the same time to different war zones. I realized that all the deployments they have been through have forever changed their lives in ways that I cannot imagine. They have seen, heard and felt fears that I will never know; they have seen, heard and felt things that in earlier years I was able to protect them from. But even in war, my son’s have touched the lives of others in such a way that gave hope for a future living without fear, death and anguish.

I have prayed deeply and learned to give it all over to God and Trust that He will take care of things. I don’t have to let my breath bunch up in my throat and my heart does not have to pound in my ears. The panic has left and calm now sits in its place.

I am thankful every day for so many little things; flowers, buds, the cool air of winter, the warmth of spring, the rain on a hot summer day. I am thankful for my little birds that sing in the bird feeders and high up in the trees. My list would go on forever so maybe the thing to tell you is that for every negative in my life, I have two positives to negate it. Thinking of positives isn’t always easy, but it can change ones life from a whine to a smile. In those moments where my brain tries to return to the negative thought, I counter act the occurrence by repeating my positives and changing the situation I am directly doing at the time.

I have learned more about acceptance and how to let go of the grief I carried over my husband’s illness. Our own life landscaped was changed many years ago when he was overcome with a life long illness. I don’t want to go into any details because it is now a part of our life. We live with what happens and we accept the days that are not so good; we accepted that the dreams we once had of traveling and motorcycling all over the U.S wasn’t going to happen. Life changed, we changed, and I changed and with acceptance came a contentedness which I cannot truly explain.

In the days when things are the most difficult, gratitude touches my lips in conversations and in my private prayers. I have learned to share gratitude with others, to thank them, to compliment them, to give them hope when it all seems hopeless. As the year 2011 quickly approaches, I realize just how happy I am with the changes I have made over the last year and how much I look forward to the challenges that the New Year will bring.

Many blessings,
Angela

When a Nightmare Makes Life Easier

I spent our 25th Wedding Anniversary with the flu. It wasn't what we had planned for at all...it was supposed to be one of those days where we go out and just have a great day together, have a nice dinner and come home. Unfortunately, the flu sent me to bed where I ended up sleeping for 22 hours out of 24. In those nightmarish states of sleeping with the flu I kept dreaming over and over again how impossible it was to keep up with all the different sites I have for my Trinkets Business. I'd find myself landing on one site only to discover that everything was all messed up. I'd spend time, over and over again cleaning it up, refigure all the shipping costs and figure out where all my items went. Then I'd hop off to the next site and discover all the same things went wrong at that site too. Sleeping with the flu is like trying to sleep with rattle snakes. It just can't be done comfortably and it feels like a nightmare.

As I got to feeling better; I thought a lot about those strange dreams and decided that in many ways, they were a movie reel of my life. I knew being sick would make it impossible to get back in the swing of keeping up with the different sites, the billing statements, the bids, checking in, doing a bit of advertising - you know, all the things one tries to do to produce a bit of income from their little shops on the web. Really the nightmares were not so far off in how I felt about having too many irons in the fire.

A few days later when wellness finally came...I began the journey of eliminating all but one web shop and I decided I would maintain an eBay page and use it when it is free to post items. I removed products from the closing shops all over to the original Angelina's Trinkets at Etsy where I reorganized, cleaned things up, refigured all the shipping and fished around in my computer for the pictures I needed to post to the new page.

Well, it was no small task; it took several days to do this and several more to close the sites down completely. Now two weeks past those fretful nightmares, my life is actually grown much easier and far more productive with my Trinkets business. I feel like a huge weight was lifted, making the business much easier to work with and a whole lot more fun again. I have more time to play in the creative process, more time to take photographs of the products and my Etsy page is set up to work more efficiently which in turn, makes posting new items a breeze.

I wondered why I should write about this and more; why should I post it? I suppose it's because I learned something about myself while I was sick; that I need to take better care of me, and I need to stop and listen to the wee small voice that has something it wants me to hear. That small voice is usually right on target with what I need to do each day. It knew I needed to make more time for myself, more time for creativity, more time to enjoy each day. Having my own business is my big dream....I love it when dreams come true, but who would ever dream that nightmares could make a person's life so much easier.