Catching Up After Hurricane Sandy

  Although I had a nice week long respite from TV, internet and sometimes even phones when the hurricane hit our area it's nice to be able to reconnect. Our area of town was without power from last Mon. thru Sat. eve. Two cell phone towers were down along with many,many trees and poles so at times one wasn't able to connect at all-that was a bit worrysome when there are elderly family members alone and in the same situation.
 
  The worst of it for us was being so very cold but we were also very fortunate in so many ways. We had plenty of food, a small grill to use and running water.With hubby's diligence between  nite work and then several times a day going between our home and our next door neighbors with extension cords for their generator hook up we were able to keep the fridge/freezers going for both our homes and could at least use the microwave, toaster and coffee maker while we ran the generator.

 So, here I am with some art to share. When my hands weren't too cold and I could function without gloves I spent much time in the art room trying out some new things in my journals and making cards to sell. I was lucky to have plenty of light during the day despite the lack of sunshine :)

 I'll begin with my calendar spreads. I've been participating in Kate Crane's 2012 366 Calendar Challenge  since January. Here is my October spread completed:

  You cand read about how the pages began in this post.

  And here is the Nov. calendar base:

  The pages were sprayed with Sunny Yellow spray ink then oversprayed with Terra Cotta and Olive Green (all Inkadinkado) using a scrap of lace and round plastic canvas as stencils. I stamped the dots using Dylusions Basic Backgrounds stamp and red acrylic paint. More mark making was done with a bottle cap and Goldens Fluid Acrylic  paint in Permanent Violet Dark. A sponge dauber was used with a light green acrylic paint for the larger dots.

  Nov. has begun:

 Card stock squares were glued on the pages. I've been using the same foam stamp set by Magenta for the month and days of the week for each calendar spread this year. A leaf punch (recently sent to me by my friend Lenna Andrews-thank you!!) was used with patterned paper for the days. Oh, that little blue tab at the top right has a spread earmarked for December :).

  I'm also participating in the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge .You can click on the badge near the bottom right side bar to check it out. Jane Davies is the guest artist for challenge #3. She shared some of her fabulous black and white paintings.It is Jane who first inspired me to play with black and white by painting practice pieces using only black acrylic paint and water.  I decided to take another step recently by doing a monochromatic watercolor landscape painting (for the last FF&F challenge) which you can see in this post.

  Here are the prompts for challenge #3:

Headline Prompt: Triumphs and Defeats: What do you see as your greatest triumphs or defeats? What have they taught you? Which have you learned more from?
Color Prompt: Black and white
Quote Prompt: Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  I've chosen to take the black and white yet another step further by trying my hand at creating my first zentangle. The page began by drawing a frame and banner with words(chosen from the prompt quote) in pencil. I read about this starting process from an article in Cloth Paper Scissors Nov/Dec 2009 issue. It was demonstrated and written by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. The letters and banner were then outlined with a PIGMA MICRON 03 pen and filled in with a PIGMA GRAPHIC 1 pen.

  I then drew in lines to make sections and doodled and zentangled away! I sloppy wrote the quote in one of the sections. Here it is completed:

  Although I missed last week's Art Journal Everyday and Paint Party Friday Ican't wait to visit some of the link ups which are so inspiring. As a matter of fact, because of one of the previous blog links I visited(so sorry I don't remember who it was now) I learned of Deepak Chopra's 21 day Meditation Challenge and signed up. I also learned more about it on Super Soul Sunday (which I LOVE!) on OWN (Oprah Winfrey's channel) when she talked with Deepak.The challenge begins today. My goal is to accomplish a meditation each day and then continue to practice it. Although I do take time to be in a quiet space I need to understand the correct way of breathing and proper techniques. I could have used it when weathering the storm.

  I hope and pray you are well and safe wherever you may be, and for those of you that suffered in the hurricane's path I pray for your recovery.

  " I've found that worry and irritation vanish into thin air the moment I open my mind to the many blessings I possess."  Dale Carnegie


Addendum: I'm linking this up to a new (to me) challenge "Show Me What You Got" hosted by Mary Walker. Thank you for letting me know abou this Mary!