December 23rd,......where does the time go to?

Well, we certainly have been amusing ourselves in the past week! Last night it was hosting friends for a few hours, and then wrapping some Christmas presents. Today I was going to go and paint some more, but never made it to clearing off the mountain on my studio table! It's daunting! And so, I've been wrapping more gifts, entertaining some of the folks that have popped into the gallery, met with the gang at the coffee shop this morning, and created an ornament from an Anniversary issue Milwaukee Beer Can. It seemed appropriate as we are invited to a friend's place tonight, and we are supposed to bring an ornament for his tree! Here's hoping that everyone else is ENJOYING the holidays! Prepare you heart as well as your home! Merry Christmas!

Alex and her creations!

Playing with Alex!

Today I was graced with having Alex in the studio with me and we played around with some watercolours, brayers, and mixed media! She's a natural! See Alex's creations (above).

Happy Creating!

Annie

Today's Journal Page

Christmas Ornament

Merry Christmas! This is the best gift of Creativity I have ever seen!

Amazing!!! Visit this link!!!!

http://chrysti.wordpress.com/

I discovered this site through a link on Pam Carricker's blogspot page, and I have been alive with excitement in the past hour, reading through all of the deliciously creative offerings here. TREK on over there now!!! You won't be sorry! Chrysti is an amazing, creative woman!



Enjoy!!!!

Annie

Christmas Colour

And then, .... a Chinook came along...

Wow! Within 1 hour, the wind and warmer temperatures did away with ALL of the white fluffy stuff on the branches! Amazing! And now you can hear the sound of dripping from eaves, etc., even though there is no sunshine (it's dark out, 6:42pm). Transitions in weather.... One minute it's this, and the next, it's that. Isn't that a little like life! May your day be full of wonder! Annie

Winter Wonderland!!!

Living in a Winter-Wonderland!

What a day!  I don't know where my energy went, but I had none!  Days like these can frustrate me on so many levels.  But have no fear.  On my walk to get another inkjet refill from the local art/office supply store, I came across a new bunch of journals.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  There was the script I fell in love with about 4 or 5 years ago.  I bought the journal and proceeded to visit the "creator's" site.  Then I found out she had a facebook site as well.  So here's your chance.  Go check it out!  (You may have to sign in to see it, so you Facebooker's will have no problems!)  

Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Anne-Radmacher/6786236730

Check out her photo album. You'll see her lovely writing style as well as her creative words. I feel like i've met a kindred spirit!

Well, it's back to my Christmas cards! (I especially have fun with the envelopes!) While I create one, I think about the person I am creating it for. It's like spending a few minutes with them!

Enjoy the Season!

Annie
   

December 2nd, 7:10am - walking to my favourite local coffee shop.

I suddenly realized that I had a camera with me (my i-phone), and although it only has 2 mega-pixels, I figured it would be better than nothing.  And so, here are two photos I took of my neighbour's houses in the twilight of dawn.  This is when I love this time of year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Wow!  Chinooks!  Love them.  It went up to 14C this afternoon.  Can you believe it?  December 1st, in Alberta.  I took full advantage of the weather and drove up to Swinton's Art Supplies today to get the things I needed to continue with my creative experiements.  It's hard to believe that right now, 5 hours later, it's snowing heavily, and it's -2C.  Well, I guess we'll have a white Christmas for the Santa Claus parade this Friday night.  It will all add to the magic of the evening parade....  I love the glowing lights, the bundled up townsfolk, the Christmas carols.  It's just so magical and festive.

I've decided to do my Christmas cards tomorrow instead of today.  It'll be perfect.  White, wintery and cozy inside.  I'm looking forward to working some magic on the envelopes this year, trying out some more of my calligraphy techniques and tools.  I'm also going to wrap most of the presents I got for some of my friends.  I wish I had the time to make everyone one of my monoprint cards.  Instead, I'll try to send them something in the New Year.  In the meantime, I have a Birthday Party to get the place ready for, and some commissions to get under way!

Never a dull moment.

And so, I wonder what YOU are doing, whoever you are, fellow journey-mate in the year 2008.

Merry Christmas!  May your days be creative and alive with the excitement of this season of giving!

Annie

DREAM

I had an incredible day on Sunday.  Two creative friends had scheduled to meet me in my garden studio for a "Play Date."  I had no idea I would be learning something new, something that would give me the knowledge to take my love of my own kind of watercolour printing to a whole new level!  And so it is with great GRATITUDE  that I say "Thank you" to Sharon Williams.  She showed me all kinds of wonderful things you can do with watercolours using monoprinting techniques!  I was thrilled.  I am not a fan of oils and acrylics.  Acrylics dry and can't be budged, and oils take too long to dry.  Below is an image of the monoprint I had created on Sunday!  There is nothing like learning with creative kindred spirits!  Thanks you Sharon, and thank you Arlene for coming to spend some time with us!!!

Learning is a Love of mine!

It's so hard to try to find time to do it all!  I often find myself wanting to do so many things that I end up getting shut down, and I come to a grinding halt.  That, of course, creates MORE tension!  Well, recently, I've decided that I just need to focus on one thing at a time,.... the thing that most inspires me!  Today, it was reading "Artful Blogging" by Somerset Studio.  Wow!  So many incredible artists.  I love their blog pages.  Today I wanted to find an awesome blog page template!  Try googling free blog templates!  I got lost on the internet again.  And when I found something and downloaded it, I couldn't actually upload it into my blogsite!  Frustrating!  After taking a break and having lunch, I decided that I needed to visit some of the sites that were in that issue of "Artful Blogging", and then ask some of the artists how they had chosen their templates.  If someone has a favourite site, do share it with me!  In the meantime, I'm going back to my "reading".  I hope you are all having an inspiring day!

Oh!  And if you have some favourite creative blogsites, drop me a line!  Thanks!

SUMMER IS HERE!

OH!  I love this time of year!  The garden is in full bloom!  This week I intend to gather bouquets and start painting the faces I love!  Iris, bleeding hearts, poppies, lupine, columbine, geraniums, iceland poppies, perennial bachelor buttons, and soon peonies!  I think my pink rose bush will start showing a display of blossoms later this week as well.  (sigh)..... such natural beauty, and right here in my own back yard.

Flowers inspire me to get out the paints and brushes, and try, in some small way, to do justice to their beauty.

What inspires you to create?

Hope you are enjoying summer wherever you are.

Inspiration is Found Everywhere You Look

I found this quote on Veronica's blog site and just had to share it here!  (See Veronica Funk's link under Favorite Links!)

"Sacred Space and Sacred Time and something joyous to do is all we need.  Almost anything then becomes a continuous and increasing joy."

Joseph Campbell

I'm just heading out to my studio to experience some sacred space and time.

What a wonderful weekend!

What a wonderful weekend.  The Studio Tour left me exhausted, physically, but very blissed out!  It was so energizing sharing my new Garden Studio space with kindred spirits.  I very much enjoyed Veronica's company, and for me, it was a lovely surprise that she joined us!  I had invited her to come down and paint on-site for the Studio tour, but was not sure that she would be able to!  What a delight to have her painting with us.

Brian Clute also was a part of our group.  I admire his ability to sit on the floor, for hours on end, meditatively adding mark, after mark, building up layers of colour on his abstract interpretation of "Exhaled Breath."

Also joining us was Anna Williamson, from Rocky Mountain House.  Anna is a self-taught weaver whose works delighted those who saw them.  Her colours are so earthy, and her designs very exciting.  I hope to feature some of her work later in the summer.  I'll keep you up-to-date on her work.

The most amazing thing for me, though, was seeing Don Hamm arrive with his oil paints.  He actually worked on-site, working up a painting of the studio that he put the cedar shakes on!!!  I may sound amazed, but it's only because I know that Don prefers to paint without interruption, or distraction, and here he was!

I get so excited watching fellow artists lost in the passion of their creative processes!  I'll post some pictures tomorrow showing them all in various states of creativity!

Well, this night-hawk needs to call it a day!  I hope your muse accompanies you on a creative journey of your own tomorrow!

Artgirl