I owe it all to Jazz

Jazz

my mahogany boy, grazing at home

A small Combined event at Beaver Lake

One day old

My buddy

Jazz Braided for a show

Hello there, my camera is not working right now so apologies for not posting much lately. I love to share which is why I am motivated to blog and show my art. I do it for me.

Originally I tried selling my wares at craft shows and got into the Sooke Fine Arts show which I was so proud of and sold my piece. I was ecstatic! I have a great job with the government of BC in Avalanche and Weather programs and now I only have a couple of years left before I can retire so I didn't want to give that up. I decided a few years ago that I would stop selling my art as my paying job can be quite stressful and I needed to take better care of myself. It was a great decision and I started making art I wanted to make not what I thought other people would buy. Now isn't that what an artists is really supposed to do. Hell Yes, I say!!!

As a result I feel like I have really grown as an artist and I am so much more satisfied with what I create. I find it far more therapeutic too. It helps me cope with any challenges I have to deal with and I have had way more than my fair share of challenges in the last year! I don't think I would have survived if I didn't do art and art journalling.

I owe my artistic gift to Jazz. Jazz was my horse I bred and I was so proud of him. He was a great blend of both his mom and dad taking the best qualities of each. A breeders dream. I pulled him out of his mom, Personality on May 19 1986, cleared his nostrils and the first thing he saw was me. Mom? He had 2 moms me and his real mom :) He was a huge brat but very loveable, and a huge challenge to train. I discovered when he was about 4 years that he loved to jump and so I indulged this to assist with training and it worked very well. Dressage is what I really wanted to do but he found it so boring. Once we got the basics down and on to the more challenging movements his interest started to peak. He was elegant and athletic so when you got him engaged it was INCREDIBLE! He had just started to excel at Dressage when the unthinkable happened.

When he was 11 he ate some Yew tree branches and died. I was devastated. We were 2 peas in a pod. He was like my child and we shared a dressage and jumping career, we we best friends, I have never ever had such close relationship with another soul before. For 2 years I sunk into a deep depression I was obsessed with not forgetting any detail of him. I started writing about him, anything I could think of no detail too small. I also added any and all photos of him I could find but there was so many moments that there was no photo for and there was never going to be that opportunity. :(

I must learn to draw.

And so it started.

My gift of art is from him and now I can't imagine my life with out it.

I still miss him but he will be in my heart forever. Thank you Jazz!

Once in a Blue Horse

I signed up for Strathmore's free online art workshops and first up is Traci Bautista with her offering of "Doodles Unleashed". I have admired Traci's art in magazines for some time, but never have taken a workshop from her. I have been enjoying watching the video which is organized, professional, well thought out. The only minor criticism is the audio fades in and out in places. But it is colourful, fun, inspiring, and gets me motivated to grab my supplies and play. Yahoo! I used some of her suggestions to create this spread in my journal. I already had the outline of the horse and was especially inspired by Traci's freedom to create by asking us to think of our approach as doodling with paint. I found this made it more fun and made me less inhibited with my paint brush. Cool! I love it when that happens.

My red paint swirls became birds as I further doodled little faces, beaks, plumes and feet. Then the horse seemed to boring so more doodling there too. Then I finished it off with some rubber word stamps.

And here is a detail of the horse.

I got so excited I only used a portion of Traci's techniques and I am looking forward to trying out some more. Check out Traci's "Doodles Unleashed" for an injection of inspiration. :) Only the first of the four lessons is posted so far.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year

Cubism

I have been wanting to make an art cube for a while. I was inspired by Seth Apters that he posted about quite awhile ago now. I think his may have been a collaboration but not sure if my memory is accurate.

I used 5 inch square Clayboard panels to make my cube and laced them together with Irish linen thread. I wasn't planning to have it open but that just seemed like the natural thing to do. I had a few of these 5" squares painted for a while and last weekend when my good friend Kell was over she gifted me with a beautiful card made out of a deep panel with a card closure and that got me thinking about dimensional stuff again. So here is my first attempt at a cube. :)

There will likely be more cubes in my future. :)

My Big Project

A NEW BARN!

This is Gizelle's new abode. I am so thrilled with it. I keep doing happy dances. It has enough room to store my hay and feed and tack too for one horse. I was very concerned about what I could afford and set myself a budget and have stuck to it fairly well and have a better barn that I ever dreamed of. I feel so blessed. :)

Gizelle is thrilled too. She has a bigger stall and paddock and its super clean . I used sand for the first time and so far it is working out really well. It was a bugger to use your power tools in though. I must thank my hubby Tim for all his help getting the project going to start as well as pitching in and working along side me. I also want to thank Niko, my contractor for all his work and suggestions. I love my red tin roof with its 3 foot overhang on all sides and the polycarbonate lets in so much light that I never need lights on during the day. It is still not completely finished but it is nice and dry and cozy inside.

This is the view from my house to the barn. Its a 10 second walk from my back door and I can gaze at Gizelle from my art studio and talk to her out the window too.

Here are a couple of shots that I played around with editing.

I love the ceiling and it is really high just like I wanted so bright and airy.

I used Mosaik for this one.

Happy December :)

What lies ahead

Kell came out today and we had a lot of fun arting in my studio. I was playing and goofing around in my Handbook Journal. As usual I was mixing my media including but not limited to a hand carved stamp, a bunch of purchased rubber stamps, Pan Pastels, water soluble oil pastels, stamp pads, water colour crayons, a Pilot Parallel pen and gel pens.

I have not posted much lately because I have been distracted with a big new non art project. Here is a peek at it. I have to sort through my images and make a new post about what I have been up too really soon. More to come . . .

Keep on arting.

iPad play

"Isn't She Lovely?"

Keiko edited with Pixlromatic. What can I say I am a total sucker for scrolly lines.

Seth Apter is the new proud owner of Mac gear and was asking for App recommendations. I have quite a few apps for my iPad now and thought I would post about them too. Enjoy . . .

"He's Blue"

I have entirely too much fun playing on my iPad. This one is drawn in an App called Harmonious and then framed in Pixlromatic, both really cool little apps.

This one is drawn in Art Studio also VERY COOL! and framed again with Pixlromatic.

Mr Big

"Mr Big"

Walnut ink and Gold leaf on watercolour paper 20 x 9 inches

Money is thicker than blood

More Mixed media collage in my Hand Book.

Family are so wonderful to have on the holidays.

Seeing and Listening

"Walter"

Started with Pitt pens and then painted with Super Tooth Gesso, acrylics, gel pens and walnut ink. I love to finish with Walnut Ink!

These are the latest pages in my big Hand Book. It has a linen cover and watercolour paper. I like these very much.

Water colours

"mad"

Pentel Color Brush and blended with a wet brush

"Red's Portrait"

Pastels, watercolour crayons, acrylics, inkjet printout and walnut ink.

"Curves"

Fiber paste through oval stencil, hand made Goddess stencil, acrylic paint and Walnut Ink. :)

"Listening"

Glowing Edges filter in Photoshop

"Buds"

"Siskel and Ebert"

"Floating"

Waxed Handbook

This is my waxed Handbook. I love the textures and colours that developed. :)

This is Murphy. You all know him. He really gets around.

Using Pan Pastels and Gel pens with cutouts and stitched with some nice thread.

I love wrens and walnut ink. This beautiful flower was carved by my great friend Kellie.