when i saw this on facebook i thought about painitng it on the street in front of my house

i live across from a high school and always see the kids walking by with there

heads down, texting

so look up!!!

We'd never know how high we are, till we are called to rise;

 and then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the sky

. ~Emily Dickinson

Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes, but I'll work it out...

  ~Dave Matthews, "Dancing Nancies

I never get tired of the blue sky.

~Vincent van Gogh

The sky is that beautiful old parchment in which the sun

and the moon keep their diary.

 ~Alfred Kreymborg

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water,

or watching the clouds float across the sky,

is by no means a waste of time

. ~John Lubbock

classes with marie

just a "heads up" for anyone interested

my friend marie is teaching two of her fabulous classes

starting in the next few weeks

i have take all of her classes and

have really enjoyed them and learned a ton

marie's classes are filled with wonderful project

and lots of tips and tricks for creating

beautiful photos

see some of my projects i've learned from

marie on my flickr page here

barn quest

someone asked if i had any photos of barns

which sent me on a quest to rifle through thousands of photos

to find some of my favorites

above, a beautiful red barn near claremont

i must get a shot in the fall

below, barns from the back roads of

ontario and upstate new york

abandoned

on one of my country road trips i found this abandoned house

since no one was around and i was feeling brave

i decided to take a closer look

the kitchen had the best grunge and texture

from the floor to the ceiling

the upstairs bedrooms had the best wallpaper

i wish i had gotten a sample

resin and photos

i've always wanted to try this

adding  resin over my photos

i had tons of small wooden boards just siting around and

lots of my photos so i finally decided to give it a try

with all the supplies laided out and a level table i got started

i was a little nervous but my friend carmi, aka the resin goddess , assured me

that if i used a brush and "painted" the resin on my photos

i would get great results.................fingers crossed......

and a little prayer for no bubbles

the next day i woke to some beautiful images

i wish the pictures did it justice

but take my word for it , easy peasy, then perfect photos that really pop!!

encaustic class

it's been a while since i got out the shellac

today i just wanted to experiment to see what could happen

above, an old piece from last summer

it was just sitting in my studio looking really plain

so i thought it would be something i could play with

 i used a thin brush and just started adding shellac

along the water lines and the reeds hit it with the blow torch

it was too thin, so i added more shellac with a bigger brush and tried it again

for this board i started witha map and a few layers of wax

i wanted to create a landscape so i covered the bottom with shellac

after waiting a few minutes i hit it with the blow torch

since today was all about experimenting i decided to cover the bottom

again with shellac and only hit some spots with the torch

then i added just a bit more in a few spots to add some depth

once i was finished the top was looking a little bright so

i did a thin coat repeated the same process

now i will decide if i want to add a photo transfer

for this one i added several photos first and then the shellac

i think i will play with this one some more

resin and wire jewelry

my favorite so far

on my last trip to   john bead   i bought several bezels with matching wire

my friend carmi gave me a package of the new jewelry resin by envirotex 

she also has a fantastic resin blog where you can find out all kinds of tips and tricks

i used some of my favorite photos to get me started and then used the resin

it worked wonderfully, no bubbles!!!

next i drilled some holes around the bezels and then they sat

i wanted to add the wire but with a twist, so i kept looking and deciding

finally a spark!!

one i started twisting i couldn't stop, the beads started flying and before i knew it

i had several done

one thing always leads to another

for weeks now i have been working on a flagstone patio

first i had to dig up the sod, then level the ground, added some fabric screening and

i was ready to head to the local landscaping store

4 trips with 200lbs each

did i mention i love my bug!!! it's great for any job

once i got all the stone moved from the car to the backyard the puzzle began

it took me several day to finally get it just right

i used sand to level and heighten some of the stones

once it settles a bit i will add in the mortar

while i was at the landscaping store i found some really interesting rocks

and of course the forklift had some great texture on it

which lead me to photoshop where i converted it to b/w and added it to my poppy photo

i duplicated the poppy  and texture photos several times

tried on several filters and played with all the blending modes

finally i added a layer mask from shadowhouse