Collaborative Art

This is a journal piece I did recently experimenting with background, color and design. I had some wonderful little ATCs that Kimmie from Art In Red Wagons had sent me in 2009 and I thought it made it more interesting to lay them on top and possibly develop the idea later with a design of some ATcs (of my own), on canvas. It felt for a minute like I was collaborating with her on an art piece which would be so awesome.

Do you ever think about that? I love collaborative art. I tried to do it with my 5 year grandson, Cash. He was to make a mark and then I could make a mark. He was not happy about me changing what was already pre-determined in his little head, but we'll keep trying.

It has been fun to share some of my paintings and ideas with my daughter as she designs her web-site. (get ready for the big announcement). I feel invested in her adventure- two heads on creative crack make for some wild, fun, crazy stuff.

Next month I was invited to my art guild to share my inspirations and motivations for art journaling. It's something I find easy to talk about and share but I'm still a little intimidated by a big group setting. But simply sharing my journals, my favorite art supplies, my inspiration sounds like fun- who knows- I might really ignite someones creative fires and they go on to make awesome beautiful art that in turn inspires me to my best art.

Don't you think this blogland feels like collaborative art sometimes. But wouldn't it be fun to really share the page, paper, canvas. I have a handmade journal that I could send around. And then we could donate it for a fund-raiser for some great cause that we agreed upon. If anyone is interested, please e-mail me at krantzfarms@dfn.com - on the subject line add: art journal.

This will probably be my last post of 2010 as I'm taking a slight vacation from all things computer.

I thought I would take you on a tour of my home and show you how Sweet Farmer and I decorate for Christmas in New Mexico. Nothing elaborate, just simple and fun family stuff. 



Penguin family in a winter wonderfland on top of entertainment center.

 I just want to thank everyone who has stopped by my blog and commented throughout the year. I can't even express what your encouragement has meant to me as far as furthering my art exploration. You all continue to astound and amaze me with your own creativity. Your blogs fill such a great need in me - to renew my spirit with the beauty that I hunger for from art and creative hands.

This is a favorite wall quilt I made several years ago.

This beauty is a intricate cross-stitch that my mom did for Sweet Farmer and I.

This is a scherenschnitte which was a passion of mine several years back. I never got really good at it but I love the simplicity of this one anyway.

This folk art snowman sits on my piano along with my favorite old photograph of my two children when they were very little.

I truly wish for each of you a wonderful holiday season -safe and blessed

and a fresh spirit of JOY

to take you into the New Year.

Remember to LOVE beyond yourself, even beyond anyone or anything brought into your life that is breaking you. We may never be able to change our circumstances or the people who have wounded or crushed us but we always touch the heart of God when we show MERCY,

act justly and walk humbly. (Micah 6:8)

Until next year my friends....

Secrets

journal, acrylic

shhhhhhhh....
You want to know a secret?
I think I'm afraid of canvas. And Oils. And Permanence.
Paper is safer. Paper is thin, cheaper and can be tucked under your bed, slid behind your bookshelf, torn-up, unnoticed, unverified, closed up in your journal.
CanVAS. OILS!! oMG! So expensive, a "real" painting, lasting decades. Someone might grab it up and say, "Hang it here", or "I want this one"... or what is this back here, under here??
And then every little mistake - your crooked eye, your disproportionate hand, you strange color palettes, your missed mark, your held breath,  will be there for everyone to see, to point out, to make a mountain out of..... 
The perfectionist must meet the randomness of your creativity. Not a good couple. They fight all the time.
Someone might have a great expectation if you got an easel out and a canvas and spent weeks on a painting... and it still didn't measure up.
Michele Cassou says: "The Dragon of Control has many faces; don't let it fool you with cleverly disguised arguments."
                         I say:

Never trust your secret face. 

It's a secret for a reason. 

This is truly one of my favorite quotes in all of QuoteLand.  I found it beautifully calligraphied by a dear artist in Cloudcroft and it hangs in a place where I read it at least once a day.

Have you ever been loved like that?

The bigger question is (I ask myself everyday):

                          Have we loved like that?

ARE WE THERE YET?

I heart Herons

      Some Herons by Mary Oliver

A blue preacher

flew toward the swamp,

in slow motion.

On the leafy banks,

an old Chinese poet,

hunched in the white gown of his wings,

was waiting.

The water was the kind of dark silk

that has silver lines

shot through it

when it is touched by the wind

or is splashed upward,

in a small, quick flower,

by the life beneath it.

The preacher

made his difficult landing,

his skirts up around his knees.

The poet's eyes

flared, just as a poet's eyes

are said to do

when the poet is awakened

from the forest of meditation.

It was summer.

It was only a few moments past the sun's rising,

which meant that the whole long sweet day

lay before them.

They greeted each other,

rumpling their gowns for an instant,

and then smoothing them.

They entered the water,

and instantly two more herons-

equally as beautiful-

joined them and stood just beneath them

in the black, polished water

where they fished, all day.

My Wildest Dreams

There is not much time for long sketches and drawings or paintings but my art journal is always handy for lap painting and dreaming. Though this piece is small, it is greatly symbolic to me in my heart of hearts.
In my wildest dreams:
   * I wanted a great love and a best friend 
   * I wanted a beautiful, loving family - children & grandchildren
   * I wanted a strong body and a curious mind
   * I wanted a home on a hill, where I could watch trees grow and have flower beds that came up from my own planted seeds, that I could lovingly decorate with holiday decorations and invite friends and family to enjoy
   * I wanted a work that I enjoyed and looked forward to when I woke up in the morning
    * I wanted a real and living faith
    * I wanted many dear friends that laugh with you and cry with you
   * I wanted to create art and paintings that would add beauty to my home and to the hearts of others
   * I wanted to travel

All this has ALL come true for me. It makes me cry to realize it. Should I dream wilder dreams when all my dreams have come true? Should I hold on tight to this season of realized dreams and hopes? Should I feel guilt for those who haven't reached their dreams?
  I am content. Truly. In this place. In this time.
 And no matter what happens in my life in the years to come- I can always tell myself to be gracious and grateful  in what ever valley is ahead because there were years I lived my own wildest dreams.