Me and my chair

 This is the latest version of the top front. I was able to make another trip to JoAnn's and picked up some more of the fabrics I've been working with. I was going to redo the back but after ironing it I like it so will use my extra fabric for a desk bed for Riki. Hit a great 4th of July sale and replaced my fat quarters for half the price! I love a deal! 

 Box pleat back panel.

 Previous version with more of the blue fabric than I wanted to use. Before second trip to JoAnn's. Isn't it cute!

Halfway to my weight loss goal and my new yellow hair.

1924 art journal

Feeling a little lost without my Ganesha project so I've been playing in my 1924 yearbook journal.  Top page was made with a sheet of circle labels printed with a photo of a t shirt I painted a while back.  I practiced with my Stabilo pencil and ruined my background! Used way too much so when I painted over with water everything was gray.  Bottom page I glued my World Market bag to the page with mat medium then practiced drawing dandelions with a silver uniball gel pen on black gesso.  That was fun.  So many you tube videos online that artists offer for free.  So much inspiration and knowledge.  Thanks to all who share.

Ganesha

Tried to get a shot of the sunset from my desk last night.  It was so cool, two strips of red.  Looks like all I got was a reflection of the Ganesha.

Crinkle voile curtains World Market

Picked up my curtains today, had to pay more than they were the other day but at least I didn't have to pay $5.00 more a panel.  Really World Market?  I'm sure our wages haven't increased accordingly.  Come on folks, I was sure they were $13 a panel on sale.  Two days later, (they were in the process of a reset), they are marked $20 a panel on sale for $17.  I went to the old display and the manager found me there wanting to help me. Well, she didn't really want to help me because she scanned said panel and stated that they were on sale for $17 so I must be mistaken.  I reached over to the panel and pulled the $15 price and say, "Oh, look here, I thought they were cheaper."  She was livid and jerked the thing out of my hand and told me it was an old sign.  So, I didn't get the sale price off the $15 but at least I didn't have to pay that special sale price of $17.  She was rude and told me to have the cashier to page her.  She came and checked me out and was even ruder, I could smell her cigarette on her so that didn't even help her calm down. I'm surprised she acted that way because I would think any paying customer is better than no customers.  I am always polite because I have worked retail and know how you get treated daily.  I also know that two bucks a panel did not come out of her paycheck and if she had pulled the old signs we wouldn't have had an issue.

I didn't let it upset me because I love the curtains and they were way cheaper than that mess of velvet I ordered up on Overstock.  I won't be shopping there anymore.  I was charged an unbelievable amount for restocking those drapes plus the shipping.  Dang. Sorry honey.  So my blues still don't match but I like it now.  It reminds me of the colors of the ocean in here, green and blue which ties in well with the Ganesha.

Ganesha stamp collage

Working my way down in the background.  I really wish I had more stamps.  If I don't like it when finished I do have a person I can call for more stamps.  

Stamp Ganesha collage

Hit some antique stores for stamps yesterday.  I think I have enough but nervous that my choices are limited.  This has been a fun project!

Stamp Ganesha collage

I'm so excited that me, Riki and the Ganesha didn't get blown away this afternoon.  The storms have been training through the area for the last few days and I've been pretty nervous.  

Worked another row on the base and I think I'm ready for background.  That should be really easy as long as I don't run out of stamps.  I do have a line on those if needed.  

Ganesha stamp collage

His toes have so many layers of mistakes but I'm liking this version.  At one point they looked like monkey toes instead if Ganesha toes.  

Ganesha stamp collage

The stars lined up and his hands are done.  Lucky for me stamps are thin, therefore I can layer them.  My mosaics in the past were done with tile and snapping tile is much more difficult and mistakes not so easily dealt with.  Good thing, cause I'm an old lady now and don't have much strength in my hands.  (Probably from snapping tile.) My eyesight is not great either so if there is something really messed up it is because I can't see it.  So glad I made all those mosaic's when I did, actually that is the only art that survived Katrina. The rest washed out to sea.  I still have a problem with that because as an artist you think that maybe your art will out last you and be something you leave behind.  Guess it doesn't work that way.  I've had to learn to accept some really difficult things lately.  It is against my nature because in my life if I don't like something I change it, make it better.  I don't just accept what comes at me.  Can't change it so letting it go.  That mirror is long gone. Dang, it was nailed to the house and have no idea.  I salvaged the swimming pool tiles and the mosaics but that was about it.  Total loss.  

I'm eager for the solstice tomorrow.  Took a dip this morning before the heat set in and worked in my flowers.  I plan on cutting my lavender and white sage for fresh smudge sticks.  Everything is so lush and green from all the rain this year.

Stamp Ganesha Collage

After spending way too many hours trying to set up a wireless printer through my router I enjoyed losing myself in the Ganesha.  To hell with that printer I've got stamps!  I did some fine tuning and the dreaded left hand.  It wasn't as hard as I thought, I have been trying to right brain this collage from the very beginning.  While I'm not working on it, that is.  Thankfully once I get started the left brain takes over and the tiny communists turn into fingernails.  My husbands thinks maybe all those men are royalty but to me they are communists.  Ha.

As for the printer I might take the S.O.B. back.  I called tech service on both the router and the printer and they tag teamed me, stating that it was the other device that was the problem. Once I changed my network password twice and called the Canon people back the guy told me that it was ten til ten there and he was basically off.  What would y'all do?  This wireless stuff is really great if you can get it to work.  I'm all ready for the new desk!

Ganesha stamp collage

Worked on his shoulders today.  While sorting some stamps last night I found the rest of the goldfish with gray. I've lost track a couple times by throwing the last few stamps on a tray at 2am and assuming I can pick up exactly where I left off.  Can't take my eyes off him.  Love the mellow color and all the stories those stamps have to tell.  Such amazing art. I'm nervous about his fingers and toes but excited to have him looking so cool so far.

Ganesha stamp collage

I spent the weekend looking at the Ganesha and man that right eyebrow was bothering me.  I had left both unfinished and must have used the stamps elsewhere because I had a hard time finding two more in that particular shade of eyebrow blue.  I finally found two that were close and then then one was a little larger so it looked crooked to me.  Had to find one more and I think it is better now.  I'll know soon enough because I have such a critical eye for my work.  Actually I think I'm a really harsh critic.  I know what doesn't look right but sometimes my skills are lacking.

Stamp ganesha collage

Did some more work on his belly today.  I will have to admit that I have been chanting while working on this collage.  I can feel that energy they talk about and love being able to tap into it so easily. Sometimes my brain just won't stop thinking when trying to meditate and the chanting helps.  I started out just a few minutes the first day and learned how to say the words.  Nam  Myoho  Renge Kyo.  I'm up to 15 minutes and don't really want to stop then.  Only alone of course.  I would be embarrassed if my husband were home.  I found a you tube of Tina Turner chanting on Larry King.  That girl vibrates!

On another whole different plane...I found a vintage steel tanker desk in the most lovely shade of green today!  My husband thinks I'm crazy but I am feeling the industrial steam punk trend and can't wait to get it!  My buddy Dave is in Vegas but said he would pick it up for me on Monday.  That seems like forever.  It is in really great shape and takes me back to one of my first jobs in a bank in downtown Kansas City.  That building was really old and all the office furniture and equipment were from the 40's.  I had this huge desk that was gunmetal gray and it was parked right next to a window overlooking Grand Ave.  I would roam around and explore that place every chance I got.  The stairways were majestic.  I've had about fifty jobs since then that were better but never one with such a desk.    I think I will enjoy this new one even more than the wooden one I lost in Katrina.  It was really cool and came out of the Sear's and Roebuck building in Kansas City.  I like old stuff.  The best part is I bought it from an old neighbor in Raytown, MO.  Juanita, she and her husband Don were great sports when we lived next door as newly weds having frequent pool parties.  They never complained one time.  We tried to be respectful but we did like to party.  The color is better in person and I will repost when it is in place!

Ganesha Stamp Collage

I did some belly work on the Ganesha today.  

Ganesha stamp collage

Worked his belt and sash tonight, his belly needs some more work but it is really late. Riki has been so good today, he let me ART!

Got the sad news that my favorite Aunt Pauline has passed.  I miss her already.

ICAD 2015

I decided to do the ICAD challenge every day.  I just can't follow directions, I started early, used the wrong stuff and then I discovered this awesome chant.  It ended up all over the cards for the next week.  I'm still going to work on them everyday and will read the prompts but not going to limit myself to someone else's ideas.  I'm sure it will help me on days I am stuck, but like I said, I don't follow directions.  My biggest problem in life was teachers and employers trying to tell me how to dress, I don't do dress codes either. Just don't try to tell me what to do and we will get along just fine.  That includes husbands and boyfriends and anyone else for that matter.  Maybe that is why I never went to art school.  I took one or two acrylic lessons back in the 80's.  It was me in my late twenties and five old people in someones unfinished basement.  Easels lined up with no light except from the lamps clipped to each.  I was okay with all of that until the woman decided to add a few brush strokes of her own to my corn stalks.  THAT pissed me off.  Then the next week they ganged up on me and my progress and accused me of having lessons because I guess I was good.  I never went back and that was the extent of my formal training.  I take that back, my grade school art teacher gave me a reason to live and I was so excited when she came to class.  As for junior high, the art class turned into a creepy party for the creepy sponsors of the yearbook.  If that doesn't turn you off teachers nothing will.  What really makes me sick about that story is that creep is a pretty famous artist in the area and I feel cheated that he wasn't interested in teaching it to me.  What a letch.