• Blog

    T Tuesday: shopping edition

    January 24, 2017 - By 

    Another Tuesday is upon us. I swear that Monday is a lost day for me. I have great intentions of getting something ready early but something seems to get in the way.

    Yesterday was a teacher workshop day so the kids were home. Mini-me and I went to the mall to spend some of her Christmas and birthday money. She’s such a thrifty shopper…I love it. Goes straight for the clearance racks like a pro. Not that she doesn’t ever pay full price but it’s got to be the thing that she wants/needs and can’t wait for it. I am happy to say that isn’t the norm…more like the exception.

    Did you know that indoor shopping malls were born here in Minnesota? The very first one was built in Edina MN which opened in 1956.

    Here’s an excerpt from an article on MNopedia.org:

    Southdale Center was built at a cost of $20 million and had eighty thousand square feet; it opened with seventy-two stores and two anchors, Dayton’s and Donaldson’s. Seventy-five thousand people attended the gala opening on October 8, 1956. Another 188,000 visited the complex the following weekend, most taking advantage of the mall’s five thousand free parking spaces (organized into lots identified by clever animal symbols—an innovation, like the mall itself, that would inspire countless imitators). What did visitors see? Gruen’s interpretation of the best of European cities: “streets,” cafes, two department stores, and many smaller boutiques surrounding a “town square” with a garden court spotlighted by an enormous skylight. A fishpond, mature trees, and a twenty-one-foot cage filled with brightly colored birds. In short, a prototype for the malls that would fuel suburban growth throughout the country. 

    Then, of course, there is the monstrosity called Mall of America built across from the MSP airport. Most Minnesotans hate the thing. I haven’t been there in well over 10 years even though its less than a 20 min drive.

    I’m not really sure how I got off on a tangent about shopping malls but there you have it.

    This was my view a little earlier this morning.  Lunches were made, everyone was up and moving on their morning routines…it was time for a cup of coffee and a little browsing on my iPad before moving forward with the day.

    I wish it were light enough to take a decent photo of the journal pages I completed the last couple of days but we’ve had nothing but grey skies so I have to wait until later in the day to get any natural light.

    Today I’m planning to do a bit of crafting and continue work on our taxes. Fun stuff…blech.

    What are you doing today?

    T stands for Tuesday
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Mixed media girl

    January 22, 2017 - By 

    I had to try out another girl right away but on a sturdy substrate this time. 

    I glued random bits of papers down onto a discarded book cover for texture and a first layer of color. I added paint in various colors covering up the blank areas next. I loosely sketched my girl and began filling in with paint, gelatos, neocolors, charcoal pencil and even plain old colored pencil until I got the look I wanted.

    NExt I added stamping with Staz-on and lightly colored them in with watered down paint. Again I used Tim Holtz stickers for my words. Lastly I added the yellow lace trim at the top to give it a finished and feminine look.

    I’ve already sketched another face this time on an old canvas. Hopefully you’ll be seeing that one real soon.

    I’ve been very prolific with my art over the past few days. I have two journal pages that I can’t wait to share as well. (well…I am going to wait until the next post to share them) Stay tuned.

  • Art - Creativity

    Be your beautiful self

    January 21, 2017 - By 

    I’ve tried drawing and painting people in the past with very little success. They generally were disproportionate and had really scary eyes. I mean truly frightening.  I decided to check a couple books on drawing out from the library to see if I could teach myself.

    After paging through several step by step tutorials, I felt a had a much better grasp on the technique. Of course not being someone to make things easy on myself, I grabbed a “mop-up” piece of paper to begin sketching on. Perhaps I’m less intimidated by a messy garbage page than a blank white one.

    Since the sketching of the girl went well, I decided to challenge myself further and attempt to paint her. be yourself

    I had to be really careful not to get the paper too wet as it was only copy paper. You can see that I wrinkled up some of the fibers of the paper in her hair. Luckily I was able to get it to lay back down and not rib a hole in the page.be yourself

    The words are from a Tim Holtz sticker pack. They fit my mood…being proud to be a woman and no one can take that away from me. And that’s as political as I’m going to get. 🙂

    Linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Every page tell a story.

    Art Journal Journey
    Out of the mess of everyday life she finds a way to shine ~Hålle