A Dedication Post

    In loving memory of:

 It is with great sadness that while on vacation at the beach I learned of the passing of  Tracey Fletcher King after a long and courageous battle with metastatic breast cancer. I "met" Tracey through Paint Party Friday link ups when I began blogging in 2012. She immediately captured my attention with her fun (and yes, snarky at times!!) sense of humor, and her incredible watercolor ink and pen art. I mean, Tracey painted clothing with such movement you swore it was a photo, and OMG- her crystal glasses were stunning!!!

 I went back to some of my older blog posts to share the following:

 Back in 2013 Tracey participated in the ICAD Challenge and chose to add a challenge of her own with it. If anyone wished to send her a photo or two of a mug or a teacup she would draw and paint them on a daily index card. I was thrilled that this Vera Bradley tea cup I sent:

 was painted by her:

 In October of this same year Tracey shared on her blog that she was going through a rough patch with her chemo treatments. I painted and dedicated this journal page to her and for breast cancer awareness month:

 And in December  the wonderful hosts Eva and Kristin of Paint Party Friday organized a Surprise! Virtual Tea Party for Tracey to support her with virtual love, hugs, encouragement, and prayers. Here is the mug:

 and this is my pitiful rendering of it:

     

 😬Yikes! But I did it for Trace.

 The following year Tracey had a really lovely giveaway. She had done an illustration for the Tea Spot company and they offered her  one of their tea mug sets and some teas to giveaway. And I won!!! You can view the mug along with much better photos and descriptions of everything in this post. But here are a few pics from my printed blog book:

 The package of cards she sent me- the tea cup is a sticker of the design she had created for the company. And inside the package was this amazing assortment of her postcard art!!! (Sorry for the bad photo- it looks SO much better and clearer in the actual blog post).

 Her art, her strength, her humor so touched my heart. My deepest sympathies to Tracey's family Phantom and Sinus (as she nicknamed them) her children, her husband, and the numerous other family and friends. Her legacy, her art will live on. 

 I will leave you with this photo and words from Tracey's blog:

 

"...walking with fabulous, generous, supportive friends as the sun comes up

who shamelessly laugh while I trip for the twentieth time and you know secretly they are hoping you'll go down in a pile of limbs... you know... true friends

plus I seriously can't believe we live somewhere so beautiful sometimes..." 💝

 Joining T Stands For Tuesday, and Paint Party Friday.

 Quick edit: as I went to grab PPF's link I just saw that Eva and Kristin dedicated last week's link up to Tracey so if you want to see more of her awesome art along with links to her sites please go there. Thank you! 

  "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind; In the primal sympathy which having been must ever be; In the soothing thoughts that spring out of human suffering; In the faith that looks through death, in years that bring the philosophic mind."
               William Wordsworth

Summer Relaxation

 

 Wow, another month seems to be going by so quickly! And so before this August ends I'm going to enjoy seeing some friends I haven't seen in over a year and a half (thanks to the pandemic), relax, and enjoy each others company once again. I'll be around this week but then will take a blog break for a little while.

 Here's a quick page I had done a little while ago but forgot to post:

 A very easy way to get some quick color over a page is to use a large ( I used a 1 3/4") chip brush. Wet the brush then dip into acrylic paint and simply make two large swipes across the page. This will give you a nice base on which to build AND allow you to have white space as well. Here I used Dina Wakley Night paint for the brush strokes.  The stencil, leaf stamp, collage paper words, washi tape heart,  and Collage Collective faces are all Dina Wakley 😁

 For T Stands For Tuesday:

 

We have had some of the steamiest heat of the summer this past week with feel like temps in the triple digits so I was really craving something carbonated - Perrier to be exact! I haven't had it in quite a long time and wanted some so bad I went to the store and picked up a pack of these small bottles as a special treat. I have always loved this and unflavored seltzer water. (I've always been told I crave the weirdest things- like mushrooms, and beets, and cauliflower, though once in a while I will crave something normal to most - like pizza. But I have never craved anything sweet😜). 

 How about you - what kind of cravings do you have?  I couldn't wait for a bottle of Perrier to get cold enough to finally enjoy and quench my thirst- with a lemon wedge, and a bowl of cherries! Cheers!

 This is a page I did in the Dina Wakley Kraft Journal inspired by a free video tutorial on FB on her page called "The Art of Dina Wakley". It was about it being similar to a cartoon block (with a mixed media twist) using the same image 4 ways.  I enjoyed this one so much I already have a few ideas written for another page or two! Lots of DW supplies here- paints, stamp, Gloss sprays, Scribble sticks, Just Words Collage Tissue, stencil, Collage Collective paper bits.

 I will join Art Journal Journey (theme is Type), and Paint Party Friday. Will be around to visit this week, and then my break begins😁. Be safe, and be well everyone!

"Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all. Laugh, rest, slow down."

                                                                               Anne Lamott

Short and Sweet This Week

 

  Preparing for another heat wave this week here with very little rain relief expected. That means out in the AM and then not again until later in the day or early evening. I actually love those times sitting out  watching the birds and reading, don't you?

 My post is short because I actually managed to get three blog challenges in for one piece of art I literally just finished before typing this post 😉

 This tag is meant for the new challenge at Tag Tuesday ( Blue and Orange); the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge(Heat Embossing); and the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Summertime Blues):

 

Products: Dina Wakley/Ranger media tag; Versamark ink pad; white embossing powder; Dylusions Basic Backgrounds stamp set; Distress inks- Spiced Marmalade, Salty Ocean; Tim Holtz Small Talk Occasions; sun face, girl images from collage sheets from Paper Whimsy. I began by stamping the alphabet with Versamark ink then heat embossing it using the white embossing powder. I then sponged the inks over top. The mesh -like bit at the bottom with some torn paper attached was a scrap sitting on my table. 

Here's a larger photo:

 For T Stands For Tuesday I have another light summery meal I recently made for dinner:

 Homemade zucchini carrot fritters/cakes (they weren't fried, but sauteed) with a dollop of sour cream and cedar plank grilled salmon. Of course we had to have a glass of wine with it 😁. Cheers!

 And I have a new journal spread for Art Journal Journey (theme is Type):

 I used Dina Wakley stencils on the background including the Mantras stencil for some "type" and the sentiment was done with an old Making Memories alphabet stamp set which I enhanced with a white Signo Uni-Ball pen. Paper Dolls are Tim Holtz.

 Happy to also participate with and visit Paint Party Friday! Happy week to all!

     "When we are centered on joy we attain our wisdom."  Marianne Williamson

Hello August!

 

  Wow- where is my summer going? August began with rain from morning til evening on Sunday and it was actually damp and a bit chilly- just like the last few mornings. I'm not ready for this😕 It IS nice to to have such humidity and heavy air though. It's been a delight sitting out as much as we can and enjoying the show our hummingbirds have been giving us. They are very curious and come quite close as well as chase each other around right under our noses. If only I could capture it for you to see...

 I'll start with my ticket for T Stands For Tuesday where we share a beverage/drink related something- whether it be an actual drink, or art, or movie clip, or drink recipe...you get it- lots of fun!! Would love to see you there!

 Because we knew it would rain all day Sunday hubby spent Saturday from morning til evening doing yard work- trimming trees, hedges, forsythia bushes, etc. then bagging it all to go to recycling. He also layed down a new outdoor carpet for the area of our back patio that's covered under a roof. So besides making a nice dinner, on Sunday morning I made him this 3 egg ham and cheese omelette with toast and coffee. And then he ate a nice piece of zucchini bread too😋. That's his newly purchased mug- he LOVES Mustangs and has owned several cars- his latest is a 2017 French Blue with black stripes down the middle. It's nice but I'm quite happy with my dependable Ford Focus😉

 And now for the last of my index cards for the ICAD Challenge. A card a day for 61 days and I completed it for the 3rd year in a row!

ICAD 58/61

I had 4 more cards to do so I went back to the series I did earlier this month creating a collage and watercolor background (here using Daniel Smith Yellow Green and Ultramarine Turquoise) a word chosen from a collage sheet, and a coordinating tile letter (Tim Holtz) which I built up with bits from my stash.

ICAD 59/61

ICAD 60/61

ICAD 61/61

 And July's cards all together:

 I went off prompt. For the whole month of June I used index cards with backgrounds using a variety of techniques on the Gelli Plate. You can see them all together in this post. For July I did 3 different series of cards:

 

For these I created lots of layers of paint, stenciling, some stamping, and mark making before adding a Tim Holtz Paper Doll and Snarky Small Talk quote. You can see the materials used here.

In this series I started by covering the cards with printed tissue paper that came as the wrapping for supplies I would order from Joggles online. I then added lots of mark making and some stenciling. I finished them with either a stamped focal image or a hand drawn one and then a sentiment from a digi sheet from Paper Whimsy. You can see how they began in this post.

 

 And in this series I began with bits of papers collaged onto the cards, then chose two Daniel Smith  watercolors, then some spattering with black and white. A word was chosen and then a coordinating tile letter built up with paper and/or fabric bits and threads. 

 My favorite of all were these watercolor cards. There was just something about creating them that felt loose, raw, and organic. And I actually loved playing with my watercolors again! I'll definitely be trying this in some of my journals.

There is a new guest host and theme over at Art Journal Journey this month! Neet is hosting, and her theme is "Type". There are so many ways to interpret her wonderful theme, so go see and read about it, and then play along, won't you?

Here is my journal spread:

 

 I have always loved this quote. For the word hope I used Dina Wakley's newest alphabet stamp set. The rest of the quote was computer generated. The faces are Dina Wakley Collage papers. I also used one of her stencils, washi tapes, and paints in her kraft journal.

 Also happily joining in at Paint Party Friday. Happy new week to you!

     " Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August."     Denise  Levertov