Valentine's Day 2011

Before I put all the Valentine goodies away, I took a few pictures. Here's my mantle shrine to St. Valentine!

"Home Sweet Home" was a find at Joanne's Fabrics. While the tag said "Made in China," the sentiment was "Made in America!"

I've had this crocheted hearts garland for an eternity, and it is undoubtedly my favorite for Valentine's Day!

A simple Valentine greeting at the front door lets the world know we believe in LOVE!

My neighbor enthusiastically decorates for all the holidays, and I think he does a terrific job! At night, the twinkle lights really showcase his garden of hearts!

New beginnings ...

I've just been reading through blogs this afternoon, trying to catch up on all my favorites. There seems to be a theme of "new beginnings" running through many of the artists' blogs. And, comments about trying to "get focused." 

That's so me. It seems like I spend too many days trying to get focused.
Maybe this year will be different. It's for sure I'm going to keep on trying.

So, here's today's offering to the creativity gods and goddesses ...

You see, I have way too many pink sweaters. I know I do, yet I keep buying pink sweaters. I have a drawer full of pink tee shirts, too. I seem to have a real thing for pink clothes. The thing is ... there really is no one shade of pink that's better than any other. It's a mood thing. You choose your pink by how you're feeling at a particular moment, don't you?   I do.

The Pantone Matching System (PMS) recently announced that "THE" color of 2011 is "Honeysuckle Pink."

Okay.

So, what, exactly, is honeysuckle pink?

Beats me. But, I'll take a stab at it with these images from my "PINK" folder ...

A blue Tuesday afternoon ...

Do you ever just see something and realize how random art can happen?
I do.
Like with this car, parked next to a handicap spot at the local Searstown.
All that blue drew my attention and I just had to take a picture.

Happy New Year!

I caught a bee buzzing around the gaillardia growing along the southern side of Lake Okeechobee.

Then, I caught my brother looking quite dapper in his Harris Tweed jacket, also along the southern side of Lake Okeechobee. The photo is un-retouched, and, once again, I'm impressed with my camera.

The Thriller-ettes, Run Amok!

I haven't written much here lately, but I have been busy, creatively speaking! And, the women who have been being creative with me? They have all run amok!

It began in August 2009 when I invited my Jazzercise classmates to join me in learning how to do the dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."  A handful of women said they'd like to learn with me, so we spent September and October learning the steps. On Saturday, October 31, 2009 --- Halloween --- we performed it for the class and we recorded it. (Love the technology!) We had so much fun, which is evident from the film and I thought, "Well, that is that!"

In spring of this year, I suggested we might want to practice so we don't forget everything we learned and that we might want to video record it again. They were in agreement, so off we went every Thursday evening, a half hour before Jazzercise class, into a small room with the ipod, practicing the steps.

It was along about May that we began to discuss costumes. We didn't really do costumes last year, so we thought it would be fun to put something together that had a bit more style and then, the creativity kicked in. All of us would wear dresses, gloves and hats, as though we had climbed out of our coffins just to dance!(Much as any good zombie would do!)

Then came the question, 'Could we dance in a cemetery? Which cemetery?'

What a great idea! More creativity, running amok!

After looking around, I identified the Evergreen Cemetery off 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale, that had lots of the right kinds of headstones and grave markers and was really old ... established in 1910 ... so after repeated phone calls and e-mails and a meeting during an early morning thunderstorm, I obtained permission from Julius to use the Evergreen Cemetery as our "set."

Since all of us work outside the home, finding a time when we could all meet at the cemetery proved to be a bit challenging, but finally we did identify a Tuesday in early October that would work, so meet, we did! We performed it twice for the camcorder (Thanks to my darling husband who was the camera and sound guy!) and drew a small audience from the street. (Is this how movie stars feel when they're shooting "on location?")

Having never uploaded anything to YouTube, it took my dh and I a little time to figure it all out, but a few days ago we were finally successful in posting it to YouTube.

Thriller Dance in Evergreen Cemetery

Many of our friends have viewed it and the feedback has been positive ... we're funny ... it was fun ... we're fearless ... AND, we can dance! I find it to be so joyful when people enjoy what we've done and I think my fellow zombies agree.

So, there you have it.

It takes a good bit of creative energy to put together something like this, so that's why I haven't been writing on my blog so much lately. But, I have definitely been creative and I've found others, like me, who share the spirit and have enjoyed running amok with me!

We'll be performing for the final time this year at 7:30 PM on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at the Wicked Manors Halloween Street Party in Wilton Manors. If you're in the neighborhood, come by and watch us, live! Talk about "Creativity Run Amok!"

Summer's done. :o(

Lots of people around here are glad that we're moving into the cooler weather season, but I'll miss all the creativity of Mother Nature. While I haven't had much time for making things, She's been busy, busy, busy! And, I've got the pictures to prove it! Un-retouched photos from early September, for your review:

 A monarch butterfly chrysallis hangs out on the window casing in front of my house, just a few feet from the milkweed plants where they began their life as caterpillars ...

I was lucky enough to be on hand when this beauty emerged ... a male Monarch butterfly. You can tell the males by the two large black dots at the bottom of their wings, close to the butterfly's body.

And, what would summer be without beautiful pink flowers? Now for autumn ...

What constitutes an "art journal?"

I've been pondering this subject for quite some time now.

For several months I have been visiting blogs and web sites of those gifted artists who make beautiful art journal pages and I've just been drooling all over myself. I've purchased a couple of Stampington publications devoted to art journaling and the images within those pages are a huge source of inspiration.

I've begun tinkering, so to speak, and I decided today was the day. To share, that is.

Here are a couple of my journal pages, although I'm not exactly sure you'd call them "art."

I have a cabinet full of spiral bound notebooks dating back to the 1990s. I have used them to keep up at work and in life. There are always lists. Memos to myself so I don't forget something important. Tags and scraps from throughout my day or week that I want to keep for whatever reasons. Little drawings and doodles that often appear during phone conversations. Song titles, book titles, web sites ... things I want to remember ... writing them down helps me to remember. Sometimes it helps transfer the information from short term memory to long term memory. Other times, I'll remember where on the page I wrote it down, making it easier to find later.

So, there you are. My first "public" art journal pages.

I like doing this a lot these days. It took over a week to fill these two pages, I think because summer is a slow time in my neighborhood. Other times I've filled a page in one or two days. I think as I do this more and see what other artists are doing, I'll become more adventurous. In the meantime, I'm having fun and I'm sure that's the most important thing.