Street Painting Festival

My friend Lucie was invited to participate in the San Rafael Italian Street Painting festival.  A few months ago she asked if i had any ideas - and i DID! 

I told Lucie about a sketch i saw in a restaurant years ago that i always thought would be fun to paint. It was a simple view through french doors to the san francisco bay and the golden gate bridge.  I did a quick drawing (from memory!) and sent it to her.  Oh the magic of cell phones and email...

Lucie turned that idea into a marvelous Matisse inspired masterpiece!  She is a true artist with a fantastic sense of style and colour.

This weekend was super hot - like 90-100 degrees so Lucie was determined to finish early this morning (after starting yesterday) before it got too hot.  Here she is adding the final colour to the slippers.  I should mention that she had some help on Saturday with her friend Marilyn and her son Alex.

Just love Lucie's whimsical style!

Bonus - Lucie's square was sponsored by the To Celebrate Life breast cancer charity here in Marin County.  The artists are not paid for their hard work and the pastel street paintings are washed away after the festival.  So we have to enjoy the beauty while we can.  Thank heaven for cell phone cameras!  Although sadly my battery died before i could take pictures of any of the other wonderful street paintings... :-(

Altered Book : Paper Dolls

I just finished working in L's altered book "Paper Dolls".  Such a cute theme!

 For my first spread i started with some really cool dyed paper in pastel stripes.  The "doll" was from a Dior perfume add.  She was so pretty with roses on her hat.  I ended up changing her clothes - i mean afterall - the book is called paper dolls, right?  The skirt was actually a small purse covered with felt flowers from an Anthropologie catalog. so cute!

 Next i used some paper dolls of a different kind - these were  from a sheet of Victorian style "scrap".  i took each of the oval victorian ladies and added paper skirts.  The orange skirt is vintage trading stamps.  The white skirt is dictionary page with a purple-y under skirt cut from a catalog.  The background and chaise are from - you guessed it, an Anthro catalog!

For our sign in page - L cut out little paper dolls for us to decorate and attach to the back of the book.  My little gal got an appliqued sweater and brocade skirt cut down from clothes in the catalog!

Altered Book : Beyond the Sepia Lens

The latest book i worked on, as part of our 2013 altered book swap, was D's book titled - Beyond the Sepia Lens.  Inside the pages of the small calendar she created a story book world where a girl swallows a moth and is drawn to the light.  We were asked to weave the

tale in and out of the past and future.

 Here is the first spread i did.  I started with a background of a aged document and added a vintage image of a lady "sprouting" wings like a moth (in keeping with the fanciful story).

I don't usually show images from my fellow artist's work - but this page D created is the jumping off point for my next spread.  She wrote that Rosa went to Cuba and met two brothers and had quadruplets.

Here is my page - showing the quadruplets a litte older.  the text says that in order to all attend the same school, they had to pretend their brother was one of the girls.

Here is the sign in page - we were each given a strip of paper to make a tag and afix to the back of the book.  I used some scraps of paper with a wee birdy or two and a scrabble letter M for May.

Play Date - Altered Blocks

 My friend L was in town this weekend and we got together for a little play date.  I saw some cool altered children's blocks on line and thought - let's try that!  L took some old blocks, i picked up at a garage sale and gave them a coat of gesso. then she took some stamps and stickers and added some  whimsy.  then she took some crayons and blended into the gesso to give depth. They look so modern!

 My friend Z joined and and decided to finish her block doll project she started back HERE.  this is a sweet doll with her grandaughter's image.  Love the pretty wings and the hair bow!

 And Z continued to work on this biker chick doll with cool earrings for arms and spikey ring makes a striking head piece.  She'll be getting a couple of nails for legs and feet!

I also added a child's block to my doll - Q for "cute"!

Next I took some blocks and gave them a coat of gesso.  Then i took pages from a french dictionary and glued them to the sides with matte gel adhesive.

I chose the french words for laugh, dance, sing, music and sweet to represent my husband.

They are still a work in progress - but here you can see i added blue and green crayon blended into the gesso to give them some colour.  Kisses and hugs to my sweetie!

Farewell My Beloved...

Sad to say that 10 days after our wedding anniversary my dear sweet husband Jim quietly passed away here at home.
We knew it was going to happen - just not so soon.
After more than 25 years together i enough wonderful memories to hold in my heart for a lifetime.
And the support and love from many close friends, neighbours and family members here in California and back home in Canada.
I will continue to post images of my art and play dates to share with the blogsphere, as life must go on with some normalcy.