Princess Bubbles Creates

 I like bright, bold and cheerful.  That is often a feature of my art.  What is the story behind that?  Some people say there is always a story behind a piece of art.  I am not sure that is true for me.  I have a strong need to create and doing so makes me happy.  I hope it makes others happy as well.   I like that other artists want to make a statement with their art.  I have thought about making art to call attention to certain things.  I have started on one idea but it isn't anywhere close to ready to be shown.   I like the beautiful weather we have been having this week.  I have been able to do some art outside on my deck.  Always a pleasure! I like that my youngest son and his family have been living with us these last two weeks.  I also like that they will be moving into their new home this weekend.  I like that they have shared in some of the cooking responsibilities!  What a lovely break! I...

Last year I stitched a word a month.  Those journal pages have sat on a shelf until now.  I am happy to say that I stitched them all together to form a concertina book.  I feel like a couple of pages could use some help.  They aren't quite up to snuff.  It would probably have been easier to work on them before putting them into the book form.  Now I have a long length to juggle.  I still need to come up with a cover for this book.  I don't have any idea about that at the moment.  I know for sure an idea will come.  They always do.  As always, I have other projects to work on so I won't be sitting around wasting time waiting.    

 I love that some of the transfer foil on this mandala was captured well by the camera.  Too bad not all of it was.  It looks grey and dismal.  I would love to use transfer foil on my larger mandalas for the meditation banner circuit.  Unfortunately, it would not work well.  Oh well, I will have to make do without it.  This mandala really sparkles to the naked eye and I love it.   I am pondering what to do with these smallish collage mandalas.  Possibly they could be housed in a journal.  Right now they are in a box but that is not going to be permanent.   This mandala is truly mixed media.  I used paper, a couple kinds of paint, and transfer foil.  I am linking to https://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.com/

 I love the way this mandala is coming along.  The colours just make me happy.  However, working on a wool fabric in the summer isn't my brightest idea.  It is rather warm.  It hasn't been an overly hot summer here thankfully.  It looks like today will be a good day for stitching outside.  I don't know what the next round of stitching will be on this mandala.  I will enjoy looking at it until I do know. I wasn't planning to do a lot of beading on these wool mandalas but I can't resist.  Counting the beads as I stitch them on just adds to the meditative quality of a mandala.   I am linking to  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

  I like Thursday is a great time to stop and think about all the things I am grateful about.  In general, I am grateful for my life.  I like to think that my attitude is always grateful.  These blog posts make me think about specifics.   Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my friends.  I am so grateful for old friends and new friends!  What a joy it is to have such great people in my life! I am grateful for eyes that see.  I am grateful for a phone that takes good photos.  I am grateful for all the beautiful nature I can see when I walk through our neighbourhood. I enjoyed watching Transantlic on Netflix this past week.  It is a limited series based on a true story.   I like taking part with the wonderful bloggers that join  LeeAnna  every week to be grateful.

 My son and his family are living with us right now.  There is a short gap between leaving their apartment and getting into their house.  We are happy to help them.  Having my granddaughter here is mostly a delight.  She was with me all day yesterday as she was sick and couldn't go to daycare.  She loves our time together as do I.  I thought she might enjoy looking through some of my fabrics.  She is a budding stitcher after all. She picked out some pretty pieces and helped me put together a floofy book page.  The pink, purple and turquoise piece is a bit of hand-dyed silk.  There was a piece left over that she really wanted to use for the dolls.  It actually works well as a shawl or a wrap.  I remember doing the exact same thing with the scraps left over from my Mom's sewing projects when I was about her age.  

 This mandala is almost two feet wide.  This is the largest mandala I have ever made.  At first, it was kind of intimidating but I got over it.  It is mainly watercolour with markers and acrylic paints added in.  This mandala is getting close to being finished.  I will be using it in my mandala meditation circuit.  The banners will be hung at Knollwood Park this October. It is a complete joy to be working on these banners and I am so grateful to the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund for the grant to do so.  Also, grateful to all those who contributed to my Indiegogo campaign to help make this happen.