BSM: Best Shot Monday - October 19, 2009

I actually have what I consider one of my BEST EVER (yet) Best Shot Monday images for this week; I'm so excited about it, I am posting it on Sunday evening, a whole 12 hours early ...

This was taken from our front walk on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 ... as I ran out to capture the beautiful sunset that evening, I was even more excited once I saw the enormous military helicopters slowly lumbering their way south over the ocean ...

What do YOU think?

-- Princess Magpie

BSM: Best Shot Monday - October 5, 2009

BSM ... Best Shot Monday.

It's another Monday, and that can only mean one thing: BSM !!!

Puzzling over what to post, what to post ... do I go far back in the archives, pulling a botanical? an image of the sky? something close-up and detailed? an action shot? a travel photograph? So many memories, so many images to choose from ...

This being the first Monday of OCTOBER, though, and the early days of Fall here in San Diego county, I think I'll go with ...

An older photo, taken of our Rocky. (aka, his official name, SureGrip Quail Oaks Rock Star).

Blessings to you all on this glorious Monday!

-- Princess Magpie

UPCOMING CLASSES I'LL BE TAKING

"Josephine" ...
a mixed media piece done (by me!) in a Chris Cozen workshop earlier this year.

Dear Princess Magpie friends:

So as the year draws to it's close, I am gearing up and looking forward (SOOOO forward !!!) to a 4-day ART RETREAT with my friend, Ann Deakers. We'll be at AN ARTFUL JOURNEY { http://www.anartfuljourney.com/retreats/feb2010/index.html } in Los Gatos, California, where we are signed up to spend the entire Retreat getaway under the "tutelage" of artists KELLY RAE ROBERTS and MATI ROSE McDONOUGH. We're very excited - it will be the first mixed media Retreat for both of us, and the first "swap" experience for us each as well. So much newness, so much to learn, so much to do !!!

Kelly Rae Roberts & Mati Rose McDonough - above - photo by Denise Andrade

In the interest of feeling as prepared as I can {you know Princess Magpie: always 'reading, researching, learning all I can about a technique} for said Retreat in February 2010, I am focusing my art goals on learning what I can that will see me ready as I can be (for a new mixed media kinda girl such as myself) for the FUNKY CHUNKY COFFEE TABLE BOOK project we will undertake with Kelly and Mati. Ooooh, it sounds sooooooooo F.U.N. !!!!!

I have just signed up for "COLOR MIXING" with Chris Cozen, a fabulous mixed media artist who teaches for Golden (the product line of acrylics that I just love) ... and I'll also be taking her "FAUX ENCAUSTIC" (ie, faux beeswax effect) class. Both, at STAMPING DETAILS right across town in Poway. Check out their website at: http://www.stampingdetails.com/ for Class details.

here, Chris Cozen teaching a workshop thru San Diego Book Arts / 2009

and below, an assortment of finished / unfinished pieces that I created in

a Chris Cozen workshop / 2009

(that's all in one day, folks!)

I also signed up for BEGINNER'S ALTERED BOOKS, with instructor Pat. Also at Stamping Details, this workshop is meant to introduce us beginners to techniques like cutting a niche, making windows, creating special cover effects, giving color to the pages in various ways, using glass and wire, making pop-ups (oh my!), adding embellishments, doing image transfers, and more! (more!? how could there be more than all that !!!). That class will be held 11 am - 4 pm on Sunday, November 29. { Yup; it's right after Thanksgiving, which I anticipate will be more joyful and filled with THANKS-givings than in years past.}

So ... I do hope you'll join me at one, two, or all three of these workshops.

a group of happy Chris Cozen students / 2009 / San Diego Book Arts weekend

and below, a whole bunch of fantastic Chris Cozen pieces ... ooh la la !!!

I'm a big fan of EVERYTHING at Stamping Details -- and you already know how I admire the work of CHRIS COZEN ... don't miss out! You'll be SOOOOOO glad you signed up. :-)

-- Princess Magpie

Janice Lowry - a Tribute

From April 2009 to September 2009, a woman that I did not know ... lived out her last days after a diagnosis of Stage 4 liver cancer. I learned this as I began researching her for this blog post ... I found a blog that her husband, Jon, started in April of this year. You can visit it here: http://janicelowry.blogspot.com/ And you can visit her website here: http://www.janicelowry.com/

Her name was JANICE LOWRY and she was a mixed media / assemblage artist of the highest order. This is a woman who kept an ART JOURNAL for so many years, and so 'religiously', that the SMITHSONIAN has accepted that collection of Journals for safekeeping (and hopefully, one day soon, DISPLAY) into perpetuity. Janice will live on through not only the memories of her family and friends and the art community, but via those very journals.

Janice journaling in Scotland (photo borrowed from her blog)

Janice Lowry moved to California from Phoenix Arizona where she attended the Art Center College of Design. It was here that she started doing assembleges, at first as a creative and inexpensive solution for framing. Soon, this solution evolved into an art-form as unique as the artist herself. Janice has also been keeping journals since the age of five. What started as small books with a single lock have turned into creative master pieces over the years. In October of 2007, Janice had the honor of having all of her journals inducted into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Archives of America in Washington, D.C. Janice works from her gallery in the Artist Village Lofts in Downtown Santa Ana. (this paragraph, from " comment.com ")

A lovely YouTube video clip of Janice and her Studio (which she called "my church") and her art can be seen on Suzi Blu's blog, the link is just below ... I thank artist SUZI BLU for pointing me to Janice Lowry this morning, via Facebook. Suzi also wrote a very heart-filled blog-post about Janice, which you can view here:

http://suziblu.typepad.com/a_lovely_dream/2009/10/dread-making-was-stalled-because-squirrel-maras-daughters-hamster-died-i-have-5-dreads-on-my-head-and-i-look-pretty-stupid.html

Janice in Scotland (again, borrowed from her blog site)

And here is the link to the LA Times obituary for this beautiful woman:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-me-janice-lowry-gothold3-2009oct03,0,7635613.story

Janice having what her husband refers to as "her favorite meal of the day .." !!! EAT DESSERT FIRST: Life can be Short (this photo, too, borrowed from her own blog site)

Loving thoughts to the family and friends of Janice Lowry ... and thanking God that she is now at peace.

-- Princess Magpie

BSM: Best Shot Monday 9-28-09

This was taken in August, and it's the coolest CHERRY stem I've ever seen.

In thirty-plus years of going to Montana for his parents' cherry harvest, Mark has NEVER (he says) seen a SINGLE STEM with THREE CHERRIES branching off it.

How cool is this?!

So, I know that from a PHOTOGRAPHY or an ARTISTIC perspective, this is not really a "best shot" image ... but the SUBJECT MATTER is so delightful, I couldn't resist. {and there IS that way cool shadow thing happening ...}

Happy MONDAY.

-- Princess Magpie

September 28, 2009

The Artist's Creed by Jan Phillips (2002)http://www.janphillips.com

I've been quite absent from blog-posting all of September - and even stretching way way back to the end of July ...

But this morning, I feel compelled to post this: The Artist's Creed by Jan Phillips
{you can visit her website at www.janphillips.com }.

I BELIEVE I AM WORTH THE TIME IT TAKES TO CREATE

whatever I feel called to create.

I BELIEVE THAT MY WORK IS WORTHY OF ITS OWN SPACE,

which is worthy of the name Sacred.

I BELIEVE THAT, WHEN I ENTER THIS SPACE,

I HAVE THE RIGHT TO WORK IN SILENCE, UNINTERRUPTED,

for as long as I choose.

I BELIEVE THAT THE MOMENT I OPEN MYSELF

TO THE GIFTS OF THE MUSE,

I open myself to the Source of All Creation

and become One with the Mother of Life itself.

I BELIEVE THAT MY WORK IS JOYFUL,

USEFUL AND CONSTANTLY CHANGING,

flowing through me like a river with no beginning and no end.

I BELIEVE THAT WHAT IT IS I AM CALLED TO DO WILL MAKE ITSELF KNOWN

when I have made myself ready.

I BELIEVE THAT THE TIME I SPEND CREATING MY ART IS AS PRECIOUS

as the time I spend giving to others.

I BELIEVE THAT WHAT TRULY MATTERS IN THE MAKING OF ART

is not what the final piece looks like or sounds like,

not what it is worth or not worth,

but what NEWNESS gets added to the Universe

in the process of the piece itself becoming.

I BELIEVE THAT I AM NOT ALONE IN MY ATTEMPTS TO CREATE,

and that once I begin the work, settle into the strangeness,

the words will take shape, the form find life, and the spirit take flight.

I BELIEVE THAT AS THE MUSE GIVES TO ME,

SO DOES SHE DESERVE FROM ME:

faith, mindfulness, and enduring commitment.

-- 2002, Jan Phillips

COULD any one of us have said it better? I think not ... this piece spoke to me, loud and clear, the first time I saw it -- I was at a workshop at Ellen Speert's amazing CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR CREATIVE RENEWAL right here in Cardiff, California. I just stumbled across it again this morning, clearing out my office. {you see, there really ARE benefits to sifting thru the piles!}

This just SCREAMED at me to pay attention to it. In a very positive, very good, very challenging way. A loving scream, if there is such a thing.

Don't give up on your art, my friends.

Do. Not. Give. Up. On. Your. Art.

-- Princess Magpie
September 27, 2009

BSM: Best Shot Monday, September 7, 2009

Well, it's MONDAY, and you know what that means ... so here you go ... another BSM {Best Shot Monday, a la Tracey Clark} image to enjoy (I hope!).

This was taken in my garden this morning, after the Flower Fairies (aka, Kaia & Kiara) had their way with one ripe cantaloupe and a piece of throwaway blown glass from my friend Cindy McQuade ...

What do you think?!

And then, there is this photo, which I took on the evening of August 21, 2009 when Mark and I were in Montana at his folks' place at Flathead Lake. My father-in-law had saved up quite a pile of kindling and brush to burn, and we had one heck of a fabulous bonfire that night. It was extra special to me because August 21 was my mother's birthday ... well, it would have been her 86th birthday, if she had not died five years ago. SO this fire's for you, Edith. Blaze on !!!!!

I love you, Mom ...

-- Davielle