Motivation is when your dreams put on their working clothes. 

Milton Berle

Sledding along...

Trying to post some progress!  Still bustling along, getting ready for art show on Sunday, mixed in with all the other activities of the week.  Time out for collage class today!   On Dasher! 

Christmas Art Show and Sale
Sunday, November 20th
12 noon to 4 pm
at
The Log Cabin Center for the Arts
12700 Southwest Hwy
Palos Park

http://www.thecenterpalos.org/ 

today

Thought about them all day.  Today is their birthdays.  Born on the same day, seven years apart, my Mom and my favorite Uncle Albert.  Happy Birthday.  I wish you were here. 

Getting ready!

Bustling along with my list of things to do, I'm getting ready for the art show & sale at The Center next Sunday!  Packaging and packaging and packaging notecards, greeting cards and gift cards.

I have my sheep card printed in black & white, but then hand color them just a little bit.  They come to life for me.  You can hardly see it, but they get a little "Blush" on their faces, a little "French Grey" on their wool and a tint of "Raw Umber" for the hay in the background.  I took a photograph of these sheep, years ago at the Will County Fair, and the next year I won a blue ribbon for the photograph.  The picture haunts me.  They were so sweet; like they were consoling each other.  I loved them.

And this is "Farley", my son's lab.  Sadly, he's gone now.  He was a wonderful "companion". 

I add a little "Yellow Ocre" to his fur and a little "Canary Yellow" to the sun coming in the window.  As I color him, I can feel the softness of his fur and feel his tail thumping against my leg when I would come in the door.  He would follow me around the house, when I would be babysitting Danielle there, and plop down wherever I sat...always near. 

Frost Moon or Full Beaver Moon

I didn't see it Thursday night, but early Friday morning, there it was peeking through the trees. 

The Full Beaver Moon.  For both the colonists and the Algonquin tribes, this was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs.  This full Moon was also called the Frost Moon.

and then, looking out to the East...a new day begins.

collage and beyond

Yesterday, Danielle came over and she wanted to make a book about dogs.  Here is her "beginning" page.

And then she worked on a collaged page of dogs.  Love her background!

Back to Wednesday's collage class, I had made more papers for my "forest-y" backgrounds, using tissue paper which I gessoed with a sponge brayer and then layers of paint applied the same way.

Well, this one is upside-down, but you get the idea.  I see sunrays shining through the trees in the forest.

Judy is working on her darling altered book of a  "hedgehog's world".

Teri has caught my interest with her book named "The story of Transformation".

 Here are two of Sandy's pages satisfying the theme that I gave of "The Call", creating with the colors that call to her in her beautiful artwork.

 Bernie is concentrating her pages on "what makes me happy"!

Lora Lee had fun with this one, showing lots of action and movement and color!

Barb working on her book, and her workspace is a lovely collage all by itself. 

Mary Ann has added some leaves to her serene landscape and we are all likin' it!

and Mary Ann's little book in progress.

 Denise has some beautiful colors going on here with her Fall landscapes.

and here she shows us, besides working on her landscape series, she designs a quilt square a week with fabric.

Another beautiful landscape in the making, Lora Lee has a great start here!

Bookies!

Yesterday was book club at Sue's.  The chosen book was "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett and Sue beautifully provided the atmosphere of the times.  There are 983 pages to this book and I have not finished...but I will.  Disturbing how the times were then and there is not a boring part to this book.  A well-researched and well-written book.