trust: one little word for 2015

I said I wasn't going to do it this year...I can't make up my mind; I don't want to confine myself to just one word; I usually forget about it by February anyway; I have too much else to worry about...

...and then it came to me. In the dark of the night (actually the wee hours of the morning, when I tend to wake up anyway, with my mind/heart in gear for the day):

t  r  u  s  t

Actually, I have been 'trusting' for a few years now - albeit sporadically and in varying degrees - in two important areas of my life: Faith and Art. (Relax, family and friends...you all are in the Love area, which is inextricably linked to these two.) This year I am really going to focus on it, pray on it, and reflect upon it on a daily basis.

1.

Trust in the Lord

Fear is useless,

what is needed is trust.

Luke 8:50 and Mark 5:36

(paraphrase)

(and a favourite of my Canadian husband's)

"Fear is useless, what is needed is trust," seems to be a pastoral translation, and while it strays a bit from the literal meaning of the underlying Greek, it does seem to speak to men of our time. I know many people that have this particular translation memorized instead of "Fear not, believe only," without actually owning a copy of the St. Joseph Ed. NAB from whence it comes. People hear it, remember it, and take it to heart. I was shocked when my search for 'fear is useless' in the 'Faith Database' came back with nothing in all of its Bible translations. That is what lead me to this discussion forum. I am glad to know which Bible translation it comes from so that I can continue quoting the phrase with a bit more certainty.   ~ Carson Parker

detail from the piece

'Faith, Hope & Love'

which I made

a few years ago

And believing that art - whatever form it takes - is my Creative Calling, it goes hand-in-hand with Trust in the Lord. So (note to self)...

2.

Trust the Process

There's been a lot written about the creative process, and I have studied it for many years. At some point, pretty much everyone talks about trusting the process...for good reason. Here are a few of my favorites:

The War of Art, by Stephen Pressfield

The Creative Call, by Janice Elsheimer

The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp

The Everyday Work of Art, by Eric Booth

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron

Walking on Water, by Madeleine L'Engle

Art for God's Sake, by Philip G. Ryken

and anything by Frederick Franck

A quick google search netted many hits such as these:

10 ways to let go of fear and trust the process
Trust the Process: the Creation of Holistic Art
...and a handful of blog posts by artists like me

It was actually Ali Edwards, one of my favorite artists, who first introduced me to the annual One Word concept many years ago. This year I am finally taking her class: One Little Word Project. I'm hoping - trusting - that it will help me follow through this year.

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

Ali Edwards

re: ephemera, wabi-sabi, still-life, and light

Start where you are.

Use what you have.

***

So

I started with

a scrap of

ephemera

from my Dad's

old stamp collection

'stash'

and dug up

this old chunk

of wood

and sifted

through

some

old potpourri

and

sorted

through

some

old buttons

and

in a

free-flowing

wabi-sabi

state of mind,

I

quickly

composed this

little

still life

it was if a story

was unfolding

as I assembled

the bits and pieces...

I've been to Wyoming

'though I don't know exactly where

Upton is.

Champa Street

is in

downtown Denver.

I searched for

some

early morning

light

and

the rest

is

history.

Or

rather

photography.

***

CAMERA SETTINGS:

Camera: Canon 6D (full frame)

Lens: Canon 28-135mm

Focal Length: 135mm

(Lens Image Stabilizer turned off for tripod use)

Mode: Manual

Auto Focus (center point focus) with Evaluative Metering

ISO 400, f/18, 1.3 sec

(I was going for 'tack sharp'

to emphasize the

assorted textures

and

light/shadow play)

***

PHOTO EDITING:

Lightroom:

lots of experimentation

with

cropping, snapshots

presets (mainly Kim's LightAiry Workflow)

then edited in

Photoshop CC:

just a bit of

layering

from Kim's Home Sweet Home Set

kk_hsh3 (Multiply 52%)

kk_hsh (Overlay 17%)

***

Linking up

with

Start to Finish 2

Friday Finds

(late as usual)

good friday: why focus on the cross?

It's somewhat Pollyannish to say, "Christianity is just about the Resurrection, and not the Cross." To say that is to deny the gritty evil in the world. But once you get past childhood and start reading serious books and watching more sophisticated films, you find people desperately wrestling with evil. That's what any serious novel, film, or play is about. Just look at any of Shakespeare's plays--there's always someone engaging profound evil. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to say, "Let's not focus on the Cross; it's too sad, too dark, too evil." 

Pressing the issue theologically, what is the Cross? It's God journey into God-forsakenness. God enters into human dysfunction in all of its forms. In the Passion narratives you have cruelty, violence, hatred, injustice, stupidity--all of human dysfunction is on display. And Jesus enters into that, thereby redeeming it. 

The Church fathers liked to say, "What has not been assumed has not been saved." Jesus assumes the human condition in all of its dysfunction, going all the way down, so to say. And it's only for that reason he can bring us all the way up. 

The Resurrection without the Cross is superficial, just as the Cross without the Resurrection is despair. It's the play between the two that matters. 

~ Father Robert Barron

http://www.lentreflections.com/why-focus-on-the-cross/

I made this little piece awhile back, and it hangs next to our front door. Symbolism abounds:

• the color red = the blood of Christ
• dried rosebuds = the five petals of the rose symbolic of the five wounds of Christ - enclosed beneath the crucified Christ (a vintage remnant, sans cross, from an ebay lot of religious medals)
• which I nailed to the wooden support = the cross itself
• (freshwater) pearl - symbolic of Godly wisdom

I assembled it all on the back side of a small stretched canvas (4x5"), which I painted and distressed, then added mica, fiber and metal.

***

For God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten Son

that whomsoever believes in him

shall not perish

but have everlasting life.

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

new life

2014

is shaping up to be a memorable year.

Sometime in mid June

the world will welcome Baby McFadden.

I made this little assemblage for Kelly and Aaron for Christmas. Kelly had texted me her first ultrasound image in late November; not long afterward I was thinking of it as baby's first portrait and decided to make something to that effect.

I knew the jpeg file would be quite small, so I edited it and printed it out to about 2" square. Then I dug up a small primed wooden cradle board and went to work. The front was already a pristine gesso white on the outside, so I gessoed the back of it since I wanted to use it as a shadowbox. I sanded and scraped it, then added some text fragments and comfy, nest-like cheese cloth, plus a paper flower + freshwater pearl center, for a soft, organic feel. I suspended an old eyeglass lens with wire over the focal area (since I initially had great difficulty 'reading' the image - LOL).

 original image

(sticking out his/her tongue: already some attitude?)

edited image

I played around a bit in Lightroom and then in Photoshop, where I added a layer of kk_isobel (Soft Light 100%). I added a Levels Adjustment layer to lighten it up for printing (necessary because the monitor image is so bright that when it translates it to printed, you have to adjust).

***

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together

in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13

***

Linking up with

Texture Tuesday

hands to work part 3

As is often the case, I wasn't quite sure of the end product until well into the process. In this case, I started with Nellie Wortman's online class, Tattered and Timeworn Banner, which I discovered via Pinterest when I saw images of her amazing work. An excellent class, with fascinating videos of Nellie's creative process. Nellie is very generous with her talent, and I learned a lot from her.

See Part 1 and Part 2 for the 'backstory' on this piece. As I was assembling my own banner I realized that the photo I had been playing with would be perfect for a focal point. And once I had a focal point - a raison d'être - I had the necessary fuel to drive the creative engine in me (I think they call that synchronicity). Soon I was happily in My Zone, with assorted bits of fabric, threads, lace, buttons, paper, and a rusted tin lid, all shouting, "Pick me!" It just doesn't get any better than this!

I gave this to Mom for Christmas, and she now displays it in her sewing room...where she likes to play with needle and thread.

***

I'm a bit late with the Show & Share link-up, but I would love to see what you might have made for Christmas...or whatever you'd care to share. This week's link-up will be open thru Tuesday, January 7th.

An InLinkz Link-up

***

Happy New Year!

special delivery

It's the same thing every Christmas season: an underlying sense of sadness, gloom, depression in the midst of this 'joyous' season. How many people wander about amidst the trimmings and trappings, 'just not in the Christmas spirit,' merely enduring it all? Aren't we supposed to be feeling 'merry and bright'? Seriously. All this Christmas Cheer seems only to magnify the human condition...the misery, the injustice, the evil of this world.

But it is for all mankind, especially these people, that Christ came into this imperfect world. (And who among us are not one of 'these people'?) And to top it off, we celebrate it at the darkest,  gloomiest time of the year: winter solstice. Ironic, eh? Or maybe not...for didn't Jesus say,

I am the Light of the world;

he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness,

but will have the Light of life.

John 8:12

Linking up with
Texture Tuesday

***

I assembled this little collage as part of an assignment in a wonderful online class with Roxanne Evans Stout: The Thread that Weaves. I didn't really have anything in mind when I created it a couple weeks ago...it just sort of happened.

The other day I scanned it so I could play with it in Photoshop, enhancing it with some of Kim's

lovely textures: kk_1216 and serious magic. Also a bit of fun with Kim's new Vines & Lines brush set.

Thank you both, Roxanne and Kim, for sharing so generously the gift of your creative talent!

***

Wishing you

Peace & Light

at

Christmas

waiting for salvation

I have waited for Thy salvation O Lord.

Genesis 49:18

***

Here's a little mixed media still life I made - an assignment for The Thread That Weaves, an online class I am taking with Roxanne Evans Stout. I am excited to be getting my hands dirty again and playing with all sorts of possibilities. Just can't settle down and stick to one thing I guess.

The theme of my class project is Revelation. Here's what I emailed to Roxanne last week:

Hi Roxanne,

I am absorbing all your videos and images, letting it soak in. Notice I didn't say "hard at work." I have learned to let stuff simmer and percolate and evolve. Took years and sometimes I revert to old ways, but here I am.

I just knew your class would be a catalyst for discovery...and I'm right. There is so much going on inside my mind, heart, and soul. A bit of Artistic ADD in me LOL. So beware! Might be a bit of real ADD says my dr.
I don't think or act linearly but often in a web of tangents. :)

My theme is Revelation...in the Catholic, biblical sense...we're at the end/beginning of the liturgical calendar year at this late autumn/early winter season. It always feels a certain way this time of year.

I've collected some revelation quotes and passages that speak to me and periodically review them. I'm not very eloquent.

I've built my base book and am having fun compiling a still life collection of stuff to photograph. Love doing this...makes me be patient and persistent.

Studying wabi sabi lately...it has long attracted me, but for years I have done controlled stuff...mainly quilt and embroidery. Dropped that long held passion about 10 yrs ago, burnt out designing and teaching. Rediscovering my love for stitchery, but can't go back to the way I was. Life has changed me I guess. It's all good.

Creating in fits and starts, early mornings before work. The time limitation due to returning to work full time after years at home with kids is really good for me.

Pinterest has been a great way to collect my thoughts and dreams.

***

So I started with these berries,

which I photographed and collected awhile back.

I found one sprig that appeared heart-shaped to me

(a Sacred Heart icon maybe?).

I grabbed a seasonal page from this old devotional

and layered it with some lace

and a scrap of cardboard

onto this old movie tin lid

and a china saucer (resembles a Eucharistic host?)

I'm liking the circle imagery...Alpha and Omega

and set it all up for photography.

Here's the original photo...

...which I edited in Lightroom,

including one of Kim's LR presets: kk_likeadream.

Then into Photoshop

for some texture play:

(note the unused/invisible clone layer - I experimented with

'enhancing' the heart-shape by filling in with cloned berries,

but realized I was being over-controlling...not in keeping with

my new-found passion for Wabi Sabi-ness).

I was planning to use the image in my little book, which is the class project, but it would need to be quite small - too small to see the details. So here it sits in my studio, unsure of its fate.

***

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up with

Texture Tuesday

Vintage Fest

show & share: peg 'o my heart

In honor of what would have been my parents' 60th wedding anniversary, here's an altered book I made for them over 10 years ago:

I gotta say this is my favorite way of working: gathering artifacts and mementos of a special event or loved ones, then pulling it all together and telling a story with all of it. I had a lot to work with here:

• my favorite wedding photo of Mom and Dad (Mom says that Dad had just cracked a joke as the photographer pressed the shutter button. This was so Dad!)
• photocopies of assorted newspaper clippings, plus the handwritten receipt for rent for their first apartment, in Dad's own handwriting
• snapshots from their courtship and wedding rehearsal
• bits of vintage chantilly lace from the 1950's
• crucifix

On the back of the book cover is the text of the Denver Post newspaper article.

I was greatly inspired by by Cindy Pestka's article in the Jan/Feb 2002 issue of Somerset Studio magazine. I played around with the concept, adapted it and made it my own, eventually teaching an Altered Book class at a local scrapbook shop, where I worked at that time. I later wrote an article about my books for Legacy magazine (Oct/Nov 2005). I will share more of these books later...

***

Here's a more recent photo of Mom and Dad, one which I took just five years ago at Thanksgiving - which we have always celebrated simultaneously with their wedding anniversary. I love this shot!

Have a listen to this old tune 'Peg 'O My Heart' which was a favorite of Dad's:

Peg o' my heart
I'll love you don't let us part
I love you I always knew it would be you
Since I heard your lilting laughter
It's your Irish heart I'm after
Peg o' my heart
Your glances make my heart say
How's chances come be my own
Come make your home in my heart

***

Kim's Beyond Beyond lesson for Day 34 last week happened along at the right time: making a 'magic' texture and applying it to a photograph for a subtly rich effect. It was just the right touch for the white background in these photos, which seemed a bit sterile for my tastes. Thanks Kim! How do you know just what I need at the right moment?

I used Kim's kk_waterfront20 for my 'experiment' and tried the Color Dodge blend mode @42%...just perfect for my purposes!

I converted the 2008 photo of Mom and Dad to b&w in Lightroom, playing around with the duo-tone concept, and even made it into a preset. It seemed to need warming up, so I added a layer of kk_waterfront12 (Overlay 34%, and then desaturated it a bit).

Linking up with

Beyond Beyond Day 34

Texture Tuesday

Vintage Fest

***

An InLinkz Link-up

show & share: that sad parting hour

art journal page

11/3/13

Slowly, and not always surely,

I am finding my way back to what I want to do

...by simply doing it.

***

I picked up this leaf awhile ago and brought it home. I set it on my studio table, where I could see it in passing and enjoy it in its fragile beauty. And think about it. And maybe do something with it...

I opened my art journal, with its few still-blank pages left. I've been flipping through the pages lately, rediscovering...something. Thinking how I might do some things differently now. My tastes have changed a bit. One day I tentatively started laying down some gesso on a clean white page; I textured it a bit with a big cardboard tube. Later I added some bits of paper: old book pages, scrapbook paper, tissue paper. A bit of scrim stuck down with acrylic medium.

Not much color yet. I still liked it white with touches of old-paper tan.

The leaf seemed to fit nicely within the circle. It seemed at home there. I loved the tilt of it on its stem - like a tree blowing in the wind. But it was curling and crumbling. I had visions of glueing it to the page, mercilessly flattening it...and possibly ruining it. Both the leaf and the page.

A few days more of just thinking about it all.

Meanwhile I let the leaf inspire me with its colors: rich rusty browns and golds, just beginning to fade. So I grabbed a few bottles of liquid acrylic paint: brown iron oxide, celery green, bleached sand, interference oxide green. I brushed on some light washes and rubbed them in/wiped them off, leaving just a hint of color. I painted a watery green onto a scrap of sequin waste and 'stamped' here and there with it.

Okay. It's time to 'fish or cut bait.' I decided to embed the leaf as best I could with matte acrylic gel medium. It's called faux encaustic. I've played around with this before, so I knew what to do: Daub some gel medium on the page and press the leaf into it. Uh-oh...the inevitable crumbs!! I liked them on the page, so I just brushed them away, painted some gel medium on the page and re-sprinkled the leaf bits and anchored them with more gel.

Now walk away and don't worry about it for awhile. After it dried I spread a bit more matte gel medium on top of the leaf, letting it get thick and waxy. And I gently brushed some more on top of the crumbs.

I think it needs some more random organic-ness. Some watery drips maybe: a spritz or two of Cinnamon-colored Glimmer Mist. Now I gotta leave it alone, or the water-based spritz will disappear. I could spray it with a matte sealer...but I think I'm done.

It needs a few words. Open an old book; look for a fragment of a sentence or verse that might speak to me. First page: I found it right away. (Either I was lucky this time or I'm learning to be less controlling.) I did want to have it sort of float on top of the page, so I attached it to a bit of cardboard and trimmed it up before I glued it down.

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

***

An InLinkz Link-up

show & share: see clearly

I made this assemblage for Bob for Christmas a couple years ago, and it hangs on a wall in our dining room in a spot where I can visit it every day. I treasure it dearly for both the emotions and the memories it evokes.

I gathered a few precious souvenirs of our 2007 trip to the UK (rocks, sea shells, a piece of driftwood, a bit of dried heather - all gathered on the coast of Ireland) and combined them with some vintage lace, buttons and trim, and a bit of Gaelic text I found on the internet. The vintage photo mat I scanned from one of Rebecca Sower's photo art pieces, whose mixed media art inspired this piece. BTW, I have been inspired by the work of this amazing artist for years. And it's not just her art, it's the way she truly lives her faith, honoring the Lord in everything she does.

I started with an 8x10 canvas I bought at Michael's. I distressed the wood a bit, then applied some Golden molding paste with a palette knife. Once it was dry I sanded it, then began adding layers of liquid acrylic paint - rubbing, scrubbing, sanding the surface until it looked like driftwood. I painted the canvas in the same way, leaning more toward the wonderful faded aqua tones I remembered from the little seaside town where I took the photo. I did a bit of editing in Photoshop Elements to give the photo a dreamy, misty feel.

I assembled everything within the wooden frame (this makes a nice shadow box) and enclosed it with a piece of glass. Then I wrapped some annealed wire around it all to hold it together. I did use some strong glue (hidden under the driftwood) to keep it from slipping.

***

This layout is from the scrapbook I made to commemorate our trip. Waterville - located on the west coast of Ireland - is the one place Bob continues to mention as the place he would like to return to...

The journaling is in Bob's own words:

I would have been content to spend

the entire 24 days here...

walking the shoreline

and counting the waves.

***

An InLinkz Link-up

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