Saturday, August 30, 2014

Update

I haven't done a great job on keeping up on the blog this year. It seems like we're coming, going, or...now moving! I am still in the process of unpacking my art room. Once we have everything in place (throughout the house), I am looking forward to getting into a regular art routine. I have so many things on my mind that I want to create.
In the meantime, we did break away for one day about a month ago because it was our anniversary, and we went to the California coast--one of our favorite (long) spots on the planet. This time we visited beautiful Bodega Bay, located about 40 miles north of San Francisco. You may have heard of it--it's where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds. Fortunately, we only saw a few gulls and none of them were menacing!
We drove the scenic route through a bit of Napa and Sonoma. In fact, Bodega Bay's many beaches are actually part of Sonoma County.
We scored beautiful weather and enjoyed a serene day on the beaches and lunching on fresh seafood at the local marina. Later we had "dessert" when we stopped at the local salt water taffy store where we tried, and really liked, the maple-bacon flavored taffy. It was melt-in-your mouth fresh.
I've already posted some of these photos on Facebook, but I thought it might be nice to share them here, too.











Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Making a Mark

For my August project as part of the Roc Nicholas Rubber Stamp Design Team, I made a bookmark featuring the Roc Nicholas Scooter Girl stamp. I made the bookmark so I could participate in the
Roc Nicholas Rubber Stamp Altered Bookmark Swap on Facebook. (Click on the swap link to join the page so you can participate in upcoming various altered art/stamping swaps.)
I used pages I'd painted with acrylics, added some decorative paper, and then applied the Scooter Girl that I stamped on different paper, and then added a whimsical hat. I  then used various markers, pan pastels, and watercolor crayons to finish the piece. Lastly I added some vintage text and fun fibers.
I tried to use elements that represent the journey books take us on.


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