Three Muses Challenge - Oriental

A new day and a new challenge!  This one is from The Three Muses.

I have to admit that I am in awe of Geisha.  Western culture doesn't really know what do think about Geisha.  The American occupation of Japan saw a troubling change in the perception of what Geisha were.  Geisha literally means Art Person.  It is a woman who dedicates her life to the pursuit of beauty and art.  When we think of Geisha we think of the alabaster white mask, red lips, swaying obi and beautiful kimono.  That picture is actually a Geisha in training; a Maiko.  These women traditionally started training at a very young age, learning the very strict protocol of a Geisha, working on her chosen art form - dance or music.  Learning to keep conversation flowing, but never interjecting her own opinion but able to listen and keep secret what is being said.  She is the most perfect of hostesses, making sure that her guests are supplied everything they need without asking.  It is not about sex or love, it is about art.  This life is as difficult as it is rewarding.  It takes a very special person to take on the endless training that it takes to the business of being Geisha.  That is partially the reason that the numbers of Geisha are declining.  Another reason is that Geisha is not understood by those outside of Japanese culture.   They are mysterious, even to glimpse one walking to her evening appointments is a special treat for Japanese and tourists alike.
This is an ATC (artist trading card).  The images on the card are from Nice Crane Designs.  The buddha bust is a brush that I downloaded free from the internet.

ATC - Blue

I completely forgot!!!  This digital ATC is for the ATC swap over at Deviant Scrap.  The theme was "blue".  So I put in the blue bird of happiness and the blue moon watching over the happy couple.  All of the elements are from Crowabout B Studios over at DeviantScrap.com.  Now I just have to go get a black ink cartridge for my printer and get it finished.  This one gets mailed to England.  It seems that art really does bring people together!

Eternity in your Eyes

Eternity is the theme for this weeks Think Monday, Think ATC challenge.  THAT is a big challenge.

I was able to use papers from Giny Scrap Designs.  The kit is "Universe"  The eye was a clip art downloaded from the internet.  I extracted it from the back ground and put the milky way in the pupil.  I ran a few extra effects on the eye and on the text so that it would stand out a bit.    I really like the way this turned out!

AJC - Mend

Here is the second page to my art journal.  The prompt I used was the word "Mend". The journal writing describes a woman looking back through her trunk of memories and wondering if she had a been of service to others when their hearts were broken, but not able to be one one with a broken heart.
When I got the prompt I thought about some of the quilting pieces that I love the most.  There is a wonderful vendor, Cotton in the Cabin, who comes to the Road to California Quilt Show here in Southern California with marvelous antique pieces of hand sewn quilt bits.  Every year I that I get to go I treat myself to another bit of unknown history.  I say that because I will never know who spent a few hours hand piecing bits of fabric together with thread.  Occasionally there are bits of quilts that have required mending, worn areas carefully sewn back up as to be useful again.  It brings to mind darning eggs and socks, tatting shuttles and pearle cotton, radio instead of television, and conversation instead of texting.

This is the ATC that goes with the page.  I added the key and took away the watch. (I forgot what settings I used to modify the original colors...sigh)  I am going to print them out when I have enough to make a contact sheet.  I have a feeling that I will be a very familiar face to the ink refill people.  I just printed out the first page and have it mounted in the book I am using for for the journal.  But since there will be 52 pages and ATCs' its going to be a bit of an expense in ink and cardstock! Ohhhh....cardstock...humm...guess I'll have to make it to the Original Rubber Stamp Show in Carson this March to go get some.  (Boy, that was a stretch for an excuse, but I'll take it!)

A Journey Begins

This has not been a stellar year for creativity for me.  Marriage, family, work, and school have done their best to eat up what free time and energy that I have.  I have diddled around the internet and admired wonderful art journal pages, digital scrapbooking wonders, postcard art that I would love to receive in the mail, listened to great music that has me sighing at the singer/songwriters that seem to pull out lyrics and melodies that can take my mind to wonderful places.  And I  have been sitting in my chair looking at the piles of papers, boxes and books ( not to mention the orphaned kitten that we adopted) hoping that the organizing fairy would stop by one night and wave the magic wand and POOF! I have my studio back!  Yeah, not so much.......
Over at Scrapbooking Graphics there is a wonderful designer by the name of Tangie Baxter that is conducting at 52 week "journey".  Yep, its a full year into the world of art journaling.  Digitally.  I paid for my "ticket" and I have boarded the Art Journal Caravan.  My idea is to create the pages digitally, print them out, and mount them into a watercolor/drawing journal (after I have colored and altered the background a bit.)  Another designer there, Ruby Rhyne, threw out the idea of creating a matching ATC and by the end of the year you could have a full deck (I'll never have a full deck.....insert stupid grin here) of artist trading cards.   I like that idea.  A lot.
So here is my first page.  It was based on the word "accept"  For me, and many others, I am accepting the fact that I'm flawed.  And those flaws aren't just patches on a personality that is lacking.  They are what make me what I am for all of my "glory".  At my age, and thats 50 by the way, I am starting to recognize the "gift of age" that is part of an "I don't care what you think of me" mentality.  And I for one really like that!  It really is the confidence to be just who you are without the temptation to change for the sake of someone else.

I will be putting up the links to the Art Journal Caravan site for anyone who wants to join.  I will do my best to add the pages as I make them, but just remember, I AM part of the Blogging without Obligation crowd!

Ophelia - TMTATC

Ophelia is a tragic character in Shakespeare's play "Hamlet". She seems to be doomed from the start, in love to a man that is on the edge of madness; being torn and taunted, loved and put aside.  She's manipulated by her father for his gain.  She loved and lost everything including her life.  She was found drowned, a victim of suicide.  It is from her character that we learn of the "language of flowers".  She says "There's rosemary, that's for rememberence.  Pray you, love, remember.  And then there's pansies, thats for thoughts.  There's fennel for you, and columbines."  In the end, she faded like the flowers she was associated with.

The image is from ArtChix Studios, the brighter pink flowers I cut out from a magazine.  The leaves are some punch outs that I have had for a while now.  

This was a more challenging prompt!  But I enjoyed seeing how I could do it!

Think Monday ATC

I'm just under the wire here with this weeks ATC.  The prompt was...ta-dah!  Coffee!!  Ah, a hot cup of inspiration in the morning or in some cases, a mug of help when I have a migraine headache.

I cheated a bit on this one I think.  What I did was re-arrange the packaging from coffee that I received as a gift.  My friend went to Holland and brought a "brick" of coffee back to me.  Well, that was a couple of years ago.  Bless the Dutch, this brick of coffee was vacuumed sealed and I am enjoying some as I type.  

I have an hour before I have to get ready for work, I will enjoy a quiet morning with a hot cup of coffee, watching the sun come up and listening for the birds to begin singing.

TMTATC - Dance

Phew!  I didn't think I could get something done before the deadline!  

Thank you for peeking in.  Please leave a comment and let me know where your from!  

 

TMTATC - Turquoise

I had just purchased my first bottle of Glimmer Mist in Patina when this challenge came up, I was glad to be able to use it.   I also layered watercolors over the top of that, although you may not be able to see it in this photo.  I made several ATC backgrounds at the same time after reading an article in the recent "Cloth, Paper, Scissors"  called "Art at the Speed of Life" by Pam Carriker.  (Except she does ATC's, canvas, and journal pages too!...I feel like such a slacker...sigh)