art heals

the sadness of letting go our beloved TJ still lingers… but, as they say, life (must) goes on.  we have to take comfort knowing that we did the right,  most loving and kind thing for him.  he’s not suffering any longer now and i’d like to think that he is still with us in spirit.  it will take some time getting used to not seeing him around… but time heals…

and for me, art does too.  i have been more than ever wanting to draw and paint what i am feeling/ experiencing.  i just have to make a more concerted effort to do so.  otherwise, i will continue to be the stressed out, uber cranky yiatch that i’ve been lately.  & omg, i so do not want to live my life like that.  no friggin way.

lately, i’ve been admiring the fabulous works of teesha moore and tessa mcsorley.  i revisited teesha moore’s work when i recently stumbled upon many of her youtube vids on art journaling.  i had forgotten that she really pioneered many techniques/trends that you often see (& perhaps take for granted) now in the world of art journalling.  i have an even better appreciation for her work after viewing her videos.  

i came across tessa mcsorley’s work also by accident.  and her wonderful sketches of girls and forest animals really struck a chord with me.  i really love that she takes her artwork straight from her sketchbooks & then turns them into functional art via  silkprinting onto tee-shirts, bags, small posters, etc.  i totally LOVE that.

another bit of news that is lighting a spark under me to create more  is that i just learned that my sketchbook for the sketchbook project is being viewed! wow, how’s that for a boost to the ol’ morale, eh? 

so, i am hoping that in the days to come, i will be more diligent in my art-making & i’ll be sharing more of creations here… & i am really loving the idea of functional art… so who knows, i might dream up something along those lines 🙂

slowly but surely, i will get out of this funk i’m finding myself in and make the art that i know is within me…

& is waiting ever so patiently to come out.

little miss darling

i was inspired by seeing the shirley temple dvd commercials recently. & it brought back fond memories of watching her old flicks growing up.  while i created this yesterday, this song kept playing in my head 🙂

“The Good Ship Lollipop”
music by R. Whiting and words by S. Clare

  I’ve thrown away my toys
Even my drum and train.
I wanna make some noise
With real live aeroplanes.
Some day I’m going to fly.
I’ll be a pilot too.
And when I do, how would you
Like to be my crew…

On the good ship lollipop.
Its a sweet trip to a candy shop
Where bon-bons play
On the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay.

Lemonade stands everywhere.
Crackerjack bands fill the air.
And there you are
Happy landing on a chocolate bar.

See the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll
With the big bad devils food cake.
If you eat too much ooh ooh
You’ll awake with a tummy ache.

On the good ship lollipop
Its a night trip into bed you hop
And dream away
On the good ship lollipop.

i found a vid of shirley temple actually singing this tune in the old flick, bright eyes… & was a bit disturbed to read people’s comments saying how “perverted” this was…  OMG.  people need to get their heads out of the gutter.  that flick came out in 1934 and times were different back then.  a WHOLE lot different.  it kinda makes me mad that peeps would taint that sweet & innocent film with their ludicrous comments & jaded, perverted 2011 eyes.  oy vay… 

ugh…whatever…

anyway, i had fun drawing this & then digitally coloring it… i am planning on making some postcards with this for a valentine swap i’m in (hosted by my pal, lisa kettell)  as well as creating atcs and incorporating it in an up-coming mini-zine i’m working on.  since having participated in the sketchbook project,  i have been enjoying drawing again, especially of these little girls that i’ve been fond of creating lately.  

last summer i experiemented on drawing figures just for fun.  it was just a little break from drawing “realistically”, which is what i tend to do when it comes to drawing.  i had never really tried to “illustrate” before.  but one summer day, while i waited for the hub in the car, i got my lil moleskine out & my micron pen and started doodling away.  & before i knew it, i started drawing these little girls in different outfits.  i didn’t show anyone, not even the hub. mainly bec. they were a bit rough and really studies to my way of thinking.  last thanskgiving time, though,  when i visited my bff, i showed my crude illustrations to her and she liked them instantly.  well, i didn’t do anymore with them until i got in gear for completing my sketchbook project during christmas break.  i decided to incorporate them in my book & found it quite fun to add my own drawings to the book.  so since then i have continued to draw these little girlies 🙂  i am loving how i’ve gotten to draw them more and more lately.  pretty soon, i will have a small army of these little darlings, hehehe…  i’m thinking a series of drawings, paintings or zines may be in order… hmmmmm, will see how it goes, especially with my wonky *ugh* work schedule….        

speaking of zines… i had a few comments on my OWOH post below (which btw i am just now getting to read them all… & wowza!! i am super overwhelmed with all the wonderful, kind words… i know i keep saying this, but  i will take an hour or two later today to get back to as many bloggers that i can!  it’s just that i am so easily sidetracked by about 101 kajillion other things around here…never a dull moment, let me tell ya!)… basically, zines are short for “fanzine or magazine” and are  usually handmade and self-published works on any given topic imaginable…  a couple years ago, i started a zine project that i called “follow your bliss” (surprise, surprise :)) but i have yet to see that off the ground… but i am hoping that one day i will get that out there.  anyway, i got back into making mini-zines last summer when i got involved in some swap fun on swap-bot.  mini-zines, as opposed to a full-size zine (which my follow your bliss zine was to be) are typically made out of one sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper.  they are referred to as “1/8th” sized zines.  so long story short, i joined a few mini-zine swaps on swap-bot and pretty much was hooked.  i find mini-zines so very  quick and easy to crank out.  i think to date, i have somewhere in the range of 10-12…& currently, two more are in the works, which i may (or may not) include in the OWOH giveaway… hope this answered some of your questions about zines. 

the other question i wanted to address is why my blog is called “firstborn” and also why you might see that  i often refer to myself as such is really because of my parents.  they still call me that to this day. LOL no joke.  so being a cheeky little daughter, i dubbed my blog name that, all in the honor of my parents. 

alright,  i think i haven’t written a long blog post such as this one in a very long time.  well, i suppose i was in a blog-chatty mood.  but now, i have chores and other such things to do before the day is over!  but this afternoon, i hope to go blog-hopping & return all the kindness to as many of as i can!  xo mary ann   

 

snowy MLK day

it’s snowy here on this monday MLK day… & i whipped up this lil sketch this morning and then digitally colored in PSE.  i have been drawing these lil girlie illios lately and so it’s no wonder that another one of them popped up in this sketch 🙂

oh well, off to the store to get some stuff before the big snow really comes down!  enjoy your day and my lil cuppa warm wishes! xo mary ann

silo-ness

i hadn’t expected to blog again so soon, but i am quite proud of myself & had to “show n tell”!

i mentioned that i am learning how to be better adept with digital art via the internet tutorials as well as good ol’ fashioned trial & error, right?  well, i spent pretty darn all weekend working on my latest digital project that i created all by myself. 🙂

i made nearly all the elements from scratch (that was labour-intensive, let me tell you!) & i even made a custom brush using a vintage music sheet (thought the brushwork is kinda muted in the background…but nevertheless, i know that they’re there!).  anyway, i am pleased with how these little digi-cuties turned out.  silohuette portraits seem to have come back into fashion in the art/craft world now & i am only too happy to oblige.  esp. when i made those batches of silo tags for the be smitten swap (talk about wicked TON of work!), i kept thinking, there must be a FASTER & EASIER way to make these darlin’ little badges without all that labourious &  tedious cutting n pasting. 

 well, voila!  my solution & take on the whole silohuette craze>>>

 i’ll be listing this soon in my etsy…”we are family” digital taggies that can be printed out again and again.  i’m so excited to be able to offer these cuties to the general public.  🙂

also, in between creating those digi-taggies, i’ve been cracking away at another deSTASH mission in the studio this past weekend.  i unearthed a bunch of artsy books and magazines that i will also be listing soon in my shop.  i have accumulated soooooooooooo much art junk over the years that it is getting to be OUTTA CONTROL, lol.  so, i am trying my darnedest to get in deSTASH mode at least once a month!  i did rather well with downsizing my unused rubber stamps, those sold quickly.  i am hoping that i can unload a ton of my old reference mags and books too. 

welp, i am beat.  i just wanted to share some fun stuff.  at any rate, have a super week!  xo mary ann

we must

as hard as it is, we must carry on.  slowly but surely, we must.  life is for living & i am sure our loved ones would want us to move on.

the grief & shock are still fresh, but we are hoping– no, counting on!— that time will loosen the pain that grips our hearts. 

the folks at the preschool have been so very kind & understanding.  i plan on returning back to work tomorrow. it has been a relief to not have to worry about work.  i am grateful to them.  i don’t know how i will be tomorrow  but i will just play it by ear.  the tears come without notice, you know?  hopefully working with my preschool students will be enough of a healthy distraction.

then my parents & their overseas visitors will be coming up tomorrow.  i have cleaned & tidied up as best as i could.  don’t know how much of a hostess i will be when they get here.  mom says not to worry.  i just do not feel like my self these days.  neither does my husband, poor dear!  it just tears me up to see my dh so utterly beside himself with grief.

i nearly forgot that my welding class starts tonight. i’m going to play it by ear today on whether or not i will actually go.  since i already paid for the class, i’ll likely go.  but i don’t know how attentive i’ll be.  we’ll see…

it’s hard to get excited about things when i am feeling as numb as i do.  i signed up a while back for this wonderful workshop with misty mawn at valley ridge art studio for this coming weekend.  i am still planning to go through with it, though, again, i don’t know how attentive i will be… i am also worried about leaving my dh alone for the whole weekend.  maybe if he is up to it, he can come with me?  idk, i’ll be such a wreck, i think, if he is having a time of it & i’m not there…

like i said before, it’s going to be a slow heal. & will need to take it one step at a time.

impromtu weekend

in from my garden last friday, i picked the remaining peonies.  i felt i had to bring them in before their luscious blooms faded away. that would be such a terrible waste, you know?  so, i went to “rescue” my precious petals… i must have cut over 24 blooms!  their sweet fragrance was enchanting.  i took more pix of them, well… because i could & they were oh so charming. 🙂

(below btw is the old chippy desk that i am planning to use in my closet -turned-studio-space redo.)

i finished a couple of swap wips.  one was for jessica‘s red, white & blue tag swap.  we were to create 17 patriotic-themed tags.  i also made a few extras as a lil thank you to jessica for hosting this fun swap. 

i did mention that i finished making some tags for the swap hosted in the paper whimsy group…

i kinda, no totally,  goofed up & created 12 tags, instead of making only ONE tag & sending a variety of TWELVE napkins. 

 lol…i am not usually a dumkopf, hehehe, but i was/have been so overloaded lately with the art projects…so it was easy, yeah, yeah, to get mixed up!

luckily for me, the hostess was gracious & understanding & still let me play.  🙂  my bad will actually be their good because everyone will get one of my tags.  alls not lost then…after running some errands saturday morning, i happened onto a tag sale near the post office & found these lovelies…

i was tickled to find such pretty things…& at good prices. always a good thing! 🙂

i created these digi-collages for danielle‘s birdsong collage swap.  i had planned on printing them out & putting 3-d embellishies on them when the dh announced that we were going in to chi-town to visit his dad & other family last saturday afternoon. so i had to put my arting on hold…

we visited my in-laws & had dinner with them saturday nite.   it was nice to visit & spend time with my fil.  he’s been ill, but he was in good spirits.  we share the same birthday, hehehe.  we’ll have to stop by his house on the way back from our east coast road trip next month & celebrate together then. 

i had also been playing phone tag w/ my sis jo, who lives a few blocks from my fil.  i tried to give her a heads up that we’re coming to town on the fly…but i totally forgot that they were  spending a luxurious couple days downtown.  last winter, my lil niece, shioban (jo’s dd) won a guessing contest & the grand prize was an all-expenses paid, 2 night stay here.  omg, they had a taste of  the high life. it was hard for them to come back to reality, hehehe… i am sure my sis will blog about their adventures soon.  my sis & i did finally connect & we got together yesterday for dinner.  my bil put the kiddie pool together & my niece & nephew were in 7th heaven! 

this past weekend was the 1st really disgustingly hot & muggy summer weather we’ve had.  we had been so spoiled with the cool, mild temps we’ve been having up until this weekend. figures the yucky weather would rear its ugly head on father’s day/summer solstice! 

anyway, inside the much preferred temperature range, hehehe, the kids sure love their uncle joe! 🙂

 

whenever we go into chi-town to visit, i always find it hard to split my time evenly with my in-laws & my sisters.  but this weekend, we got to see both sides of the family, even if only briefly.  it’s virtually impossible to see everyone & do everything in a span of less than 2 days.  oh well, we gave it a shot…

by the time we reached home last night, we were, as you can imagine, exhausted.  lots of running around, trying to visit our families.  i had grand ideas that i would work on those digi-collages i created above, but nothin’ doing. as soon as i hit the pillow, it was lights out for me, hahaha. 

but this morning, i did finish up the collages.  one is for the swap & the other is for danielle. 

i always try, if at all possible, to create a piece of artwork for the swap hostess, especially if we are to send our works to the hostess.  then i typically will make something.  i may have mentioned this before, but i am becoming increasingly more comfortable with creating collages in my pse.  i find that i can whip something up relatively quickly, in a matter of few minutes, than in the traditional methods.  what an incredible timesaver, you know?  so wicked convenient & efficient, esp. for someone like me who has a crazy-busy art schedule!

speaking of keeping schedule, it’s back to the studio for me.  i’ve got teacup books to bind!  until next time, hope your week has started off on a beautiful note. 

& don’t forget these lil gems: &

   xoxo mary ann

just like SUMMAH

the past couple of days have been HOT, just like summah.  it’s tooooooo early for the humidity!!! lol

just a quick post to let you know that i’m still kicking…just busy with more end of school year business (blah blah blah) & getting some custom orders done.  after today, it will be the start of my long holiday weekend.  i can’t wait!  my garden beds need BIGTIME tending & i can catch up on a lot of my arty wips i have waiting in the wings. 

ok, i’ve got to run.  have a super day! 🙂

art challenge plus swap in one

omg, did you see the season finale of grey’s anatomy?!  was that not totally CRAZY?!  i cannot believe that not one but two grey’s character’s are f’ed up.  talk about major cliff hanger, ya know?  are izzy & george really getting canned from the cast?!  idk, haven’t been keeping up with my grey’s gossip. 

anyway, as i got sucked into the grey’s drama, i worked on this arty wip.  it’s actually part art challenge and part swap wip.  the 1st part is a challenge that i stumbled on while persuing the blogosphere & i came across this cool art meme>>>

from what i understand, the hostesses provide a specific theme & participants create a piece of artwork.  i just happened to come across their site when they provided this lovely vintage photo prompt  (this prompt will end may 22 & then a new one will be announced). 

here’s my digi alteration…

the “blob” (for lack of a better term, hehehe) on the gal’s shoulder is supposed to be the lil birdie that seems to be away from its cage. i am such a softie when it comes to all things aviary & so i had to do something with this challenge image.

then i thought about what to make for my swap partner, val d.  she and i have been paired up in ele‘s sweet tweet swap (another birdie related themed swap).    we have been emailing each other & having fun getting better acquainted (she lives one state away from me!)…she is also nuts about birdies.  yay!  🙂

so i thought i’d print out the digi collage i created for the art challenge.  1st i thought i would make an aceo or a small wall hanging. then an idea struck me.  why not experiement with printing on fabric?   i had some left over pink polka dotted fabric & i thought, what the heck.  there’s always a first time for everything, right? 

here’s how things panned out>>>

wow, i couldn’t believe that it worked.  well sorta…some of the digi layers  (like the sheet music & old handwritten text; tho the ruler came out rather nicely) didn’t quite translate onto the fabric.  but i’m still amazed.  not bad for my 1st attempt.

i made a tussie mussie not too long ago for the paper whimsy swap.  & i still had the template.  it’s a really nice one with scalloped edges.  so i thought i’d make one for val. 

i hope that she will like.  my lil sewing machine kinda went haywire with the stitching.  lol…i was having all sorts of stitching mishaps so i had to switch to hand stitching/gluing during the second hour of the grey’s season finale. 

i think it turned out ok.  i like it.  hope val does too.

tomorrow on will be a whirlwind…i’ll be participating in an art fair again the next couple of days & the the big antique/flea opener is this sunday.  ART and ANTIQUING…two of my fave obsessions.  i will be the featured artist at my dear pal’s gorgeous boutique & then i will finally be a BUYER instead of a dealer at the humongo antique fair!  yay!  i’ll be sure to take pix of my adventures.  🙂

okay, it’s late & i’ve a big day ahead tomorrow.  until next time, have a great weekend!!! xo mary ann

soon

to my mom & all mothers out there~

(distressed tag & dress form image from here; the rest digitally altered by yours truly 🙂 )