Trying To Engage Again and My Continuing Fascination with an Pastels

Time marches on and I, inexorably, march along with it. I am feeling somewhat more near normal with the irritating exception that I have NO energy. I seem to do one thing and then want to rest or nap again. I am eager for this malaise to stop. I am still not sure how successful this adventure has been, although one thing is that my hands no longer tingle and go numb - so I know that there are some good results from it !

Anyway the journal page above is the first I have done since going to the ether, and although it is not up to par in my mind it was a fun experiment. Some of you may remember that I am all excited about PanPastels and this was the first time that I had been able  to try them - since they arrived, literally, the day before we left for the hospital. My plan for the remainder of today is to play some more. Yes, I did order a few more that I hope Duck Blick will mail post haste! For this page I just used some of PanPastels for a background.

Things that I have noticed thus far about these little gems: they are NOTHING like any other medium I know of. Yes, they are called Pan Pastels, pastels in pans. They are not like soft pastels that I used to love to play with at home years ago - although I hated the dust and hated always having to remember to use fixative right away to prevent the inevitable smearing (generally on myself!).  These do smear a bit too but nothing like the soft pastels of yesteryear.  I used a workable fixative on the page before I wrote on it and I had no problems with the pens clogging or the background smearing under the 'weight' of he writing. They are surely not like oil pastels either - gummy and not as easily spreadable. PanPastels are creamy, dreamy in texture, spread oh! so beautifully and, I think, have an awful lot of  possibility.  The pans are larger than I thought they were too. From the photographs I saw I was thinking that they resembled an eye shadow container but in reality they are large - 2 inch-ish - and filled to the tippy top with glorious, saturated colors. I balked at buying the foam tools - they have foam covers that remind me of the covers on eye shadow applicators. These covers though, are available in many shapes and sizes and I do have to admit that they work well. I am a big proponent of getting the best tools that you can possibly afford and so I did order some extra foam tools, The foam pads are, I really do think, much like the foam puffs that you would find in pressed face powder (If you used it I mean) and so I did buy a large stock of those in a drug store. PanPantels do offer these larger pads in a variety of shapes and sizes and so, yes, I did get a variety to try - as I can see how a rounded puff will not always produce the best results. I know I will be posting a lot of experiments with these luscious colors

The other thing that has been really fascinating to me is metal/paper embossing. I have not a totally suitable method for this but I keep trying. This is some of that super useful metal tape that you can get in hardware stores - so they use it for cars or something? Whatever. I enjoy playing with it. I embossed a fantasy of curlyques and rounds and they overlaid some color with my favorite Sharpie Poster Paint markers.

I have also been playing around with making more special occasion cards. I was not feeling up to going to a wedding for some friend's off-spring this past weekend but I did want to make a special card for the top of their package. This was about an 8 inch square and I had fun making it! I got to use watercolor, pan pastel, Sakura gelly roll markers and my favorites, Pitt Artist Pens by Faber Castell. So, while I have not been able to do anywhere near as much as I would like I have begun the road back to art enjoyment - which in my book equates with the road to 'recovered'. In the evenings I spend time working on my first lace shawl from the Cheryl Oberle book, "Folk Shawls". So I better get moving or I can see myself spending another day napping and surfing - not the worst thing in the world to "have" to do but I want to play some more and am getting tired of myself saying "tomorrow I am going to play" every evening and then not making the time to do so. Before long I will be back to work and playing will be less of an option so I want to jump on these ast few days whilst I can !

Back But Foggy Still and a Shameless Request For A Vote

What no photos? No you would prefer not to have any trust me!
I still sleep more than anything else and one of the things that hurt the most in the hospital was when they took took some adhesive bandaging off my neck. It's not pretty and at least I know I had a reason to cry. They could not believe how thin and sensitive my skin was! I think I can have the bandage off of the incision today or tomorrow, I was finally told that there is a product that they can use to soften the adhesive to make it easier and less traumatic to remove.  Wish they had used it when the large dressing came off when the removed the drain! I want my routine back .. and I want the energy to play again. I am feeling impatient. That's good I guess.....but I've already had enough of being an invalid.

I am not sure if my lower back was helped any by this operation. It still hurts - but differently. Being in bed too much can't be that good for it either I guess. My arms are not tingling and I am not dropping things any more so I know it helped my cervical neck problems. The last thing I remember was being wheeled into the operating room - then nothing until recovery. How cool is that.  I am such a wimp! My typing must surely testify to my still being in a bit of a fog - and it's nearly nap time too I should add.

I am not sure if some of you are members of The Alliance For American Quilts but if you are I would love it if you would have a look at their contest called "New From Old". I entered a piece called "If The Baltimore Ladies Had Batiks" and I could use all of the cotes and support I can get. I SO SO SO want to win this contest - for so many reasons- the biggest reason is that I won't be able to afford the grand prize if I can't win it somehow and I just LOVE using this sit down machine so much that I know I am the right person for it. How;s that for a show of hubris that is generally not like me?!! I know it would make a HUGE difference in my quilting abilities and capabilities!  have a look the quilts here - and, if you are not a member just enjoy them all. There are famous people in the group - and just regular sorts of hopefuls like me too.   I think that you can get to to the photos from this main page. Thanks for looking! http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/

I'll Be Back

Today I am cleaning, doing laundry and preparing for my big appointment with the neurosurgeon tomorrow morning. I also seem to have unwittingly made a copy of my entire IPhoto album which is really bumming me out at the moment. That one I will have to deal with at some point in the future.

I have been considering posting a daily update - but then again I am also thinking that it might bore everyone to death. Maybe someone who will be having this surgery in the future might find it interesting or helpful, but maybe not. Obviously, I seem to be having a difficult time making this rather small decision.  I don't want to bore y'all nor do I want to not have anything much to post about in the next couple of weeks. I WILL however be having some new book reviews coming up. Lark Books sent me some of their new titles to review and I am really excited about some of them. Lark has always been one of my favorite craft publishers so I am really excited to have several books from them to review.

I had hoped to be able to take my IPad with me but I exchanged the WiFi model that I got on my birthday for a 3G model and, alas and alack, it will not be here until June 22. That reminds me - I need to move my laptop into the bedroom - since I doubt I will be climbing the ladder to where it now lives very often in the next week or so. Guess I better get back to work !

See y'all soon. I'll miss my cyber community!

"We're All Just A Little Cracked" ATC's

These ATC's are a departure for me. They are for the small, wonderful group that I am in.  These are not due until later this month but since I have no idea of what the recovery time is going to be  after Thursday and I  wanted to be able to have them them finished and sent off. These cards are my first experiment using Photoshop for collage - well, actually as I have mentioned before, I don't do much collage, but since I felt that time might be running thin I decided to give it a try - and thoroughly enjoyed manipulating some images to create this card.I generally prefer to make each card separately and unique but this was a rather refreshing experiment - and I did manage to teach myself some more about the Photoshop program.

Now I wish I had not sold my small Wacom tablet - and will probably have to go on the hunt for a used one that I can afford - another good reason to hold onto things huh?! I guess I had given up the hope of making myself learn about Photoshop! Oh! The possibilities ! My Oh! My!

"Masters Collage: Major Works By Leading Artists" Curated By Randel Plowman

When I was young my step-mother's 'thing' was decoupage. For some odd reason I always equated decoupage with collage and, as such, was never that interested in the process. A turn in my artistic path has led to me to become besotted with art journaling however - and with art journaling has come an interest in collage. Yes! Collage. I never saw it coming. Collage has not been an easy thing for me to do - I tend to over think a page, but it is becoming easier and more enjoyable for me as I do more of it - as with anything in life - it's all easy when we know how - and it's all a bit intimidating when we don't know how!

Lark Books has a fabulous series that I love - the 'Masters' series. I was fortunate to have been able to review their 2008 publication "Masters- Art Quilts" I don't know how they manage to get the quality photography and gorgeous paper in these books and still offer them at such reasonable prices, but I am glad that they do! I tend to 'feel' the paper quality of books - and I am also particular about type fonts. I love everything about the Master series of books! I was therefore, thrilled when I was given the opportunity to review this book, the latest in the 'Masters' series.

"Masters Collage" is veritable treasure trove of work by leading collage artists that was thoughtfully curated by collage artist and teacher Randel Plowman. Of more than 200 entries he distilled his selections down to the work of 40 artists. Randel's introduction is excellent; very informative and well written. The styles of collage that are represented in this book vary from minimalist work to jam packed hi voltage pieces.  The represented works include styles that are comic-esqe, fine art, humorous, thoughtful, inspirational - indeed, so many styles are represented that my mind is boggled at how many varieties of art can be included in the term 'collage'. I look at the work in this book and become  inspired. That, to me, is the mark of a great book - a book that moves you to create more of your own art! The artists include men and women. A variety and several examples of each artist's work is preceded by a short, well done biography. 

As you look through this book you just can't help but think about the process that was used,  the content of the image and what you might want to do with a similar subject matter. This is an inspirational and informative book that I think that anyone who enjoys art, collage,  or mixed media work will find it to be thoroughly engrossing. Looking at the work presented in this book is like creativity fodder. I highly recommend this book  - and indeed I think any book in this "Masters" series will not disappoint. Buy this book - I don't think that you will regret it for a moment! 

Disclosure: A copy of this book was provided to my by the publisher for review proposes. No other remuneration  was received. My reviews are strictly my own opinion and are not in any way tainted by the expectation or hope for any monetary compensation.