REFLECTIONS ON FAITH & ART

So back before Sean was born, I went shopping with a friend of mine to find some paper to make baby announcements for her first baby.  We ended up in this crammed-full little stamp shop in an old Victorian house.  Neither of us knew anything about rubber stamps.  The owner saw us staring blankly at a container of embossing powder and happily demanded that we come over and let her show us how it worked.  She spent the next hour stamping and embossing and answering questions.  We left the shop with stamps and paper and embossing powder to make baby announcements and Christmas cards.  But she didn't just make a sale - she inspired us.  We were really excited about what we'd learned and what we could do with it.  And?  We actually went home and used everything we'd purchased. This is why I tell you that:  It's time for a field trip.  You need to get out.  You need to see what's out there, check out the supplies and fun stuff waiting for you to use them, and see what ot...

I have a post written and am uploading photos now.  Liam is home sick (day 2) so it'll be about half an hour or so before it's up.  But be sure to check back!

...as in "Ike."   There is no challenge this week.  No art challenge at least.   Because of this (click to read.)

**UPDATED TO ADD: As far as I can tell, the challenge post and the canvas post are now posted.  They're showing up on my screen so I'm hoping that means they're out there for real now!  ~ Stacie  2:42 PM, Tuesday 9.9.2008 Compliments of my sister, Lianne! For some reason blogger does not like my last two posts.  The canvas and a challenge are supposed to be posted (I actually wrote out the challenge last night!)  But when I try to post it, Blogger says it can't connect.  I'm working on it.  I promise!  But here's something fun to look at while you wait: A tin pail full of dinosaurs and jewelry and baby doll bottles.  This was a random shot from my sister's house and I think it perfectly illustrates her life as a mom to two little girls.  This was totally not set up, it was sitting on the kids' blue Ikea table when I walked into the family room.  And the great thing about Lianne is that she totally saw the beauty in this image as well and is the one who s...

So I wanted to post a few photos of the canvas I was working on for the challenge involving words you love. I chose a book passage by Madeleine L'Engle, one that I've posted to the Art Chick blog in the past. What started out as a Target Dollar Spot children's canvas (with a cartoon frog printed on it) was gessoed over... Then inked and collaged a tiny bit. But here's the deal: I can't figure out if I want to use the entire passage on this one canvas, which is quite a bit to squeeze on text-wise but I like the idea of smaller writing in greater quantity.  Or if I want to do the first part of the passage to give it more space for larger printing on this canvas and do additional canvases for the rest of the passage.  That idea has the advantage of getting to do more inking and bits of collage and have a set of canvases when I'm finished.  I'll be using white paint/ink and a combination of stamping and free-hand writing to do the tex...

Alright, so, if you have an email address?  You've probably gotten one of those "Get to Know Your Friends Better" emails.  The ones with a bunch of questions like "Do you like chocolate or vanilla better?" or "Are you a beach or skiing vacation person?"  Yeah, those.  Well, we're going to do a variation of that for this week's challenge.  So get ready to do some self examination! Ok, I'm going give you some questions.  Here we go: 1.  What is your favorite color to wear?   2. What is your favorite color with which to decorate your home? 3. What is your favorite color in general? 4. What is your favorite season? 5. What is your favorite flower? 6. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? So those are your questions.  I want you to go ahead and write down the question and the answer.  That shouldn't take you too long, but please be honest.  Don't come up with some answer you think ma...

Just letting you know that I was doing some updating of accounts and code and switching things around (nothing you'll see on the page but stuff that goes on behind the scenes.) We're back from Maryland, school started last Tuesday, we had four birthdays within our extended family and soccer is in full swing for Liam as well as Rusty's coaching and training for Cincinnati United (formerly known as Lakota United.) There will be a new post on Tuesday and now that school is back in session I plan on having those posts up on a regular basis again.  I really welcome your email and comments and photos.  And like I said, if you send me something but you don't want it posted in any way please let me know when you send it, ok? Also, if you're interested in writing a post or issuing a challenge of your own?  You are more than welcome to let me know and we'll figure out when and how to put it up.  This isn't "my blog."  I want it to be a community...