Far and Away

This is where I wish we could go today.

Wasn't that great? Did you click on it? It's magic if you do...

Hello everyone. This post will be a bit of this and a bit of that today. The weather has been gruesomely cold and windy and gray with bits of blue in the sky here in the Classic City. 16F at night. VERY cold for these here parts. What to do?

And it's a brutal 111F in Oz, per the Weather Channel and Ro Bruhn. So, not fun there either -- unless you count Ro's Blog. Now that is a treat! And, work has been almost stupifyingly busy. I do love my job but 60 hours before Friday is pushing it a bit.
So. Nothing to be done but dream of floating through the Celestial Kingdom of Far and Away.

THEN AGAIN, Art Shenanigans pops in when you least expect it!

Some pages to share with you today from My copy of "Wreck This Journal" by the whimsical Keri Smith.





While many of her "assignments" in this book seem easy or even elementary, My Dear Watson, let's see you "Draw A Self Portrait With Your Left Hand" -- or your right hand if you're a southpaw. That's actually the title of the page.


Fun, eh? Not too bad, even for my own self.


C'mon, I dare you! I triple dog dare you (yes, a breach of etiquette here, going for the throat, as Schwartz did in "A Christmas Story".)! It really was fun and on the other page, I wrote my name and the date with my left hand. Better executed than with the pen in the mouth as another exercise had me doing!

So, yes, it might be considered silly and kid stuff but once in a while, one needs to forget about being or looking silly and just do some seemingly daft things to break down walls that might have been built by your Subconscious Mind even as your Conscious Self says, "Oh I am an artist and I will try anything."

Another page has us all popping in stamps.

I have stamps from South Africa, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, here in GA, and if you look, you will see the very proper Royal Mail post stamp from London (courtesy of Circles of Rain -- hello, Sarah!).

In a couple of recent issues of mags, articles about letter writing and handwriting have piqued my interest. I was/am a letter writer.

The 'Net is great, I love the 'Net. But there's nothing like holding a card or letter in one's hands at any time when you need to feel another's presence or conjure a memory.

One test page reads -- "For pens, paints, markers or art supplies". Don't you like the word "or"? Gee, all of those are my art supplies!! However, I used that page to test out some new metallic oil pastels. LOTS of joy in Mudville, believe me (even when they leave a slight residue on one's fingertips).

Out and about, I picked up a copy of The Flagpole -- our weekly downtown, all around paper of and about art, culture, theatre, music, etc. Fun stuff. And while all art is not going to appeal to all people, they typically run GREAT covers!

I am even now experimenting with mosaics. And not any ol' mosaics either. You guessed it -- paper. TaDaaa! (I did a paper mosaic portrait of John Lennon when I was -- cough -- in high school. He was still very much alive and well and on top of his game.)

Whenever I would go into an art store and see the mosaics, I would remember doing that paper mosaic so long ago, and would consider taking up the cause again. This cover simply strengthened my resolve.


Using these here very pencils (I collect colour pencils the way some folks collect stamps), I have begun a series of circles as inspired by Misty Mawn's January pages on her blog.

I love celestial imagery and used to collect images of the sun. Some of you might remember the post last year where I showed off the sun/moon circle hanging beside my front door.

Here He Is. Hail His Majesty the Sun, but February Sun is pretty white cold right now as opposed to white hot.

I think of August when I see this robust golden hue. Hey and what is up with that lipstick? Obviously, he is taking this Court of the Sun King photo op a little TOO serious.






Signing off now with a photo of Yours Truly as she contemplates a very long winter's nap, Far and Away, and whether or not you are all getting more of what you love We are as always,





Live From Athens,
Candace