busy, busy

I haven't forgotten my blog, my blogging buddies, or my art - I've just been busy.  Since returning from vacation, we jetted off for a weekend in Reno to celebrate Dan's mom's 90th birthday with family.  Then, the most time consuming thing.....I'm editing a book Dan has written.  It's a management book that he intends to self-publish and we want it to be as well written as possible.  I'm now on my second edit and think I probably have one more read through to go.  It's very time consuming and I'm finding I miss my art, miss my connection to the art world and miss blogging......but, I'll be back! :)  Soon, I hope.

The only art making I've done recently is some postcards to send out in response to some beauties I've received.  And I don't even have time this morning to post them.  sigh.

Dan will be out of town this upcoming long weekend and I can't wait to sneak some time away from the editing and reacquaint myself with my art room!

Here are a couple pics I took in Reno......

365 in 2013: #108 - 114

In spite of the absolutely gorgeous sunny weekend here in Seattle, I made some time to stay indoors and make a dent in my collage goal.

#108 - Circles on Black  - just working on remnant solids I pulled out of my stack....this piece is 4x11"

 #109 - R You Ready?   I like working with the torn edge solids.....

#110 - Meeting Point  - the bird is a photo I took then printed on vellum; think it's probably a bit dark on the dark brown background, but that's the solid I pulled out, so there you go.....

#111 - Stem Green  - Pulled out this paint chip sample, a Benjamin Moore color named Stem Green

#112 - Sticks   -  using up some of that solid card stock

#113 - Flight   - I had a pile of tissue paper on the floor from another project so the next couple use only tissue papers and matte medium

#114 - Spring Fling

Hope you're all enjoying springy weather in your part of the country - or pretty fall weather for my down under buddies :)

365 in 2013: #101-107

Although I fell a little behind in my collage making, I did make a few while on vacation.  I had taken a few precut bases so then just used brochures and magazines, etc. found on the trip to make my collages.....

#101 - love to cruise

#102 - juicy

#103 - freestyle

#104 - jammin'

#105 - vacation possibilities

#106 - shoppin'

#107 - fun in the sun  - started with a beachy magazine page and collaged on top using all the yellow I could find in the magazine

Now I'm home and back to the real world and playing catch up on my 365 collages......I've been watching the blogs of other participants and see them staying right on top of it so that provides the inspiration and impetus to keep me moving....  Thanks to Lorinda, Hanna (who started the whole thing) and Tammy among others for staying focused! :)

vacation doodles

I'm so out of the habit of posting after being on vacation a couple weeks that I keep forgetting to share stuff. I was putting away some of the art supplies I took on vacation and realized I hadn't shared any of the doodling, drawing, playing I'd done on the trip.  I took a sketchbook, my Inktense pencils, some markers and pitt pens.....

Also played around with my lettering and some dangly fun.....

Then it was time to brush the rust off my zentangling - haven't done any in months so forgot lots of the patterns I used to know, but these are fun anyway....

This one was playing with a new Zen pattern I found somewhere - love the shell like shape (appropriate since we were in the Caribbean).

This weekend I'll scan in and show the collages I managed to make using just ephemera from the trip.

checking in

Dan and I are still on vacation but I wanted to do a quick check in and share a few photos.....I know vacation pics are usually of most interest to the person on the trip, but I just can't help myself!

We took a Caribbean cruise on Norwegian -

 first port Roatan, Honduras.....we went to Tabyana Beach.

I sure do love the fine, soft, white sand of the Caribbean!  Dan takes a mean photo as well - he took a great series of this rickety pier near the shopping at Roatan......he had to hike back up the highway to find it after we got back from the beach.

Next stop Belize where we took a very long excursion to see the Lamanai Mayan ruins - 1.5 hrs on a bus, 1+ hours on a river "safari" (ha!), 1.5 hrs at the ruins then 3 hours back to the boat.  A LONG day!

This tall ruin had STEEP, deep steps and there was no way I could manage them in the short time we had to explore.  Dan's in the red about half way up and you can see even his long legs are working hard.  It's hot - 90+ degrees, humid and we were hunting for shade wherever we could find it during the walk through the jungle to get to the ruins.

I did make it up a few steps!  As you can see these steps are tall - 18" or more.

The next day took us to Costa Maya, Mexico and another Mayan site.  We liked this excursion better because it wasn't so long and the site itself was more interesting.  The excavation revealed more of a community, a town-like layout that made it easier to think about a civilization functioning there.  We visited the Kohunlich ruins.......

This is a sleeping platform in what would have been a noble's house and Dan is checking it out for comfort :)

A carving from the Temple of Masks - probably about 8' tall.  After visiting the ruins, we returned to town for a little souvenir shopping.....yummy colors, right?  I see art inspiration here:

Final stop on this cruise is Cozumel, Mexico.  We didn't take an excursion here, just got off the ship and wandered around town til we got too hot and tired.  I love pictures of windows and doors and found a few here.  (that's Dan's reflection in the center glass)

That's the end of the cruise - now we're off to a week in St Augustine, FL in a timeshare condo on the beach.  I'll share a few more pics in a few days.

And, you know what?  I've even managed to find time for a little art - some doodling, some lettering and I've even made some collages!  Dan just laughed at me when I packed markers and glue sticks and scissors!