off-the-cuff

i haven't been 'off-the-cuffing" much lately. mostly purposefully working on art class preps for a couple of classes this month and a host of others this coming year. but i'm not too worried. with the holidays a-comin' and the attendant stresses, i'm sure to get some more done. i do best under pressure, i think.


i had promised myself to get the christmas boxes of ornaments and decorations from out of storage by the weekend. uhh, it's still sunday, the 29th, right??HA. silly me, still not done. ahh, well........this week for sure.

frankly, like i said in my other blog, this is a tender time of year, well with medical family stuff and some financial crunches and all, the holidays feel simpler and somewhat more child-like? i'm not sure i'm communicating accurately, but i get my own drift.....hoping you do, too.

time for reflection, for gratefulness, for life with a capital L....so i leave you with what i guess could be called an off-the-cuff collage. i did this one as i demo at the fresh paint arts festival in everett this past august - in front of about 35 onlookers in about 13 minutes. i have started going off the edges of my paper lately, where previously i was constrained within the borders. i think that might very well be the wave 0f the future for me. literally and figuratively......going off the edges! in more ways than one!

up in arms

(monotype gone wrong, found paper, painted paper, painted tracing paper)

the point of this

(computer paper, painted paper, monotype gone wrong, found paper, ink

dia de los muertes

(found paper, tissue paper)

took a trip south to tacoma on sunday with my artist buddy lisa jones-moore and two of her buddies to celebrate "dia de los muertes (day of the dead)" at the tacoma art museum. well, i tell you, number one, we couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. bright blue, sunny and actually warm! no kidding, we had to shed our winter coats mid-stream!

lisa had a birthday the week before (and strangely, i had one coming the very next day) so we did something that is close to her heart and new to me........immersing ourselves in mexican culture. the day was filled with colorful costumes, dancing, singing, sand paintings, sugar skull decorating, paper flower making and beautiful altars all in the modern and sleek museum. and let's not forget the burritos, too!

okay, i admit it, i always found the idea of a day for the dead a bit creepy. so much for my prejudices. heck, what did i know?? much to my surprise, i found that this celebration was just that........a celebration of those who have passed into another happier life! it was joyous, life-affirming and very uplifting. thanks, lisa for "noodging" me to come along.....i surely did have a super time!

(and the tacoma art museum ain't half bad. beautiful building, awesome dale chuhuly pieces exhibited, a wonderful show going on now of northwest artists (check out claire cowie). totally worth another gander......and a walk across the street to the chuhuly glass museum, too!)

JF patchwork

(painted paper, oil-painted tissue paper, found paper, magazine paper)

x marks the spot

it's been frightfully long since i have posted an "off-the-cuu collage". i am making up for it today! (computer paper, handcarved stamp, painted paper printed tissue paper, magazine paper)

collage heaven... journalFEST-style!

......i'm baaaccck! and wonderfully excited about the awesome time i had at journalFEST (tracy and teesha moore's amazing inaugural event) last weekend. i am still trying to re-group and re-coup from all the fabulous fun with 150 artistically awesome artists from all over the world. go here, for a little more info. i promise to post more pictures and spill the details on the workshops from lk ludwig, anahata katkin and stephanie lee! until then here is a photograph on the fort worden beach on the olympic peninsula. isn't it gorgeous?