Stella and Picasso in glass for Katie Jane

For Katie Jane the idea was born in an instant....

I knew directly I wanted to create her cats in stained glass

An illusion............

On the back, the real thing, hand-made paper with bits of nature (bought in Bangkok)

Both sides very simple, but the best things in life are the simple things.........

Then this song came in my mind, which is one of my 5 favorite songs

Page for Lynn by Soulbrush

This is my page for Lynn's incredibly beautiful book. And I found this apt poem which is now on the back of this page.
(The background is printed with lots of layers of poster paint, the images are done using inks.)

Toris Okotie (The African Poet) NY

Africa my Africa

Africa my Africa
Africa my Motherland
Mother or Fatherland
Childless you went almost
But he that intervened
The God of all nations

Africa my Africa
Mother of nations great
Nigeria in the westEthiopia in the east remains
With labor pangs
You brought them forth

Africa my Africa
Father of Egypt
To the north, be so plantedAnd Zimbabwe, the south remains
And for Africa that mothered them all

Africa my Africa
Your discovery had brought you pains
Children and grandchildren
To the great sea you lost
Continents with them were fed

Africa my Africa
In Vain labor no more
Loose a child, but to no one
Your great nations do protect
For he shall intervene
When you cry for help.

Colors for Caroline

What better subject than colors?!

With 9 Artysoulsisters it wasn't difficult to think about what to create.

# 9!

In my mandalas I (nearly) always use rainbow colors for number 9.

Of course the rainbow only has 7 colors.

1= red

2= orange

3= yellow

4= green

5= heavenly blue

6= indigo

7= purple

When making numerologic mandalas I use violet (red violet) for number 8 and pink (magenta) for number 9

They form the perfect rainbow of colors for me and all their traits, which I wrote on the edge for binding.

Both sides form a reversible painting when you should take the edge away.

The back side is an acrylic painting in a passe partout, an abtract painting of a colored sky.

It was wonderful to admire all the pages in real!

Hope you like my addition Caroline!

The Back of Suki's Page by Lynn

Just back from Mendocino with a small envelop of sand from the beach at the Pacific ocean...and photos of me overlooking the scene in the second photo of the beach allowed me to finish up the back of Suki's page. California Cohen...

Big C for California and beach sand just for you Suki completes your book! I'll mail it as soon as the glue adhering the sand dries.

A Page for Mim by Soulbrush

As Mim's theme is 'women', I decided to do this African woman for her.
I used oil pastels, drawing black outlines round the shapes.
I covered the whole image with black ink, and let it dry.
Then the hard work started. I scratched out the patterns with a small screwdriver (that hubby uses to tighten the sides of my glasses when they loosen). It was finicky and my fingers ached.
But I really like the result.
She imbues all that is fine, noble, proud and strong in African women.
I will send her on her way to Marianne after Christmas.

Suki's Page Completes Her Book!!!!

Clicking to enlarge these photos enhances your ability to see more detail of color and texture.

I made a beach scene for Suki as we all know she loves Cape Cod...

I used four fabrics (brown rolling hills, orange sun, burlap that is mostly covered now, and some netting over the sand fabric. Candy wrappers make up the water and waves...

Embroidery floss adds texture too.

And beads add sparkle!

The sun is cut crinkly paper as is the sky at the very top and this blue paper

wraps around the back.

Every part of this was made with recycled materials.

It is machine sewn with invisible thread first then hand embroidered

and beaded. Both of which are very relaxing aspects of the creation

and allow me to feel such an intimate part of the piece.

I loved creating this page.

Suki's book is now finished.

Suki's page by Mim

Somehow when I think of Suki - I think of houses - so here is a strange landscape of paper houses for her to look at.
Backed by a heart and suns and some not-yet-determined text.
I hope you enjoy it Suki - I also believe it comes back to you next

A page for Marianne by Caroline

Marianne's cat Sjimmie arrived in Kulala Lumpur some days ago and has been shown around town by my 3 cats! He's had a few adventures whilst he's been in Malaysia, and decided to send a postcard home to his Mama and stick his holiday pics in an album.



I made the card with watercolour pencils, batik fabric, wrapping paper and black japanese paper. It's attached to the page with photo hinges so you can take it out to read the back! You may need to click to enlarge to read Sjimmie's writing. The photos are also removable - I used a pen with watercolour pencils for these.

I'll be sending Sjimmie on his travels again tomorrow. Bye Sjimmie, you're heading back to the States to Lisa now!

Mim's pages by Lolo

Mim asked that we make the theme about women.

Strong, smart, magical...every woman :)

I looked back over my illustrations I've done the past couple of years and made copies of my Wallfowers and my Bagladies. Guess what? There were nine of them. NINE!! Kismet.

I printed them out on the finest photo paper and made a collage of them. I'm letting them stand alone/together. No words are needed on that page.

For the back page I wrote a short poem to describe them and all women out there.

To describe us.

Wallfowers and Bagladies,

Strong.

Independent.

Thinkers, dreamers, doers.

Conquering fears,

persuing dreams,

rising to the top

like the finest cream.

Here's to women everywhere!

Thank you Kj for your editing services ;)

Lynn's Page by Lolo

Man oh man did I struggle with this one! You all know how creative and prolific Lynn is. I just had no idea how I could represent her. I finally went way back to an old children's book illustration style I used to use and painted a lady sleeping with her kitty under a dream quilt.

Of course the lady is Lynn and the kitty is Henry V.

I painted this with watercolor on loose canvas...I know, go figure!! It was hard. The watercolor kept beading up but I persisted, darn it all because I had it all drawn in. I then embelished it with glitter and shine here and there because I could :)

When it came time for the back I went into my digital card program and looked at quilt motifs. I wrote a quick little poem and dropped it in and...voila!! This is my page for Lynn, front and back.

The painting looks a bit muddy for some reason. I think it's because glitter doesn't scan well.

Whew, these journal pages are challenging!

Two Pages by Soulbrush: Lolo and Katie

Lolo's theme is 'Journeys', so I decided to go to Egypt.
Hope you like it Lo. I didn't attach it, left it loose, for you to do.
It goes off to Marianne tomorrow before the Xmas mail rush.

Katie's book is looking so lovely already. Her theme is 'Nature', so I painted this one and called it 'Underwater Life'. Also not attached, as Katie requested. Hope you like it too K.
This will also fly off to Marianne tomorrow, and await her when she gets home again

Kate's Page for Lisa

This is a watercolor page I made for Lisa's sketchbook. I got the inspiration from a photo she posted on her Greenbow Gardens blog of a window box she made for her house. I loved the simplicity of her arrangement with hydrangeas and her "wandering jew" plant trailing out of either side.
This will be a little reminder of warmer times for her while the snow swirls around her house this winter.

Mim's Page by Lisa

This is Mim's page.  This time the haiku came before the page.  The front is watercolor with the haiku. I can't seem to think of Mim without thinking about the fish she likes to draw.  So here I have us as fishes in the big ocean of life.

While the back has a cocoon of sorts with us as butterflies ready to emerge.  Like magic butterflies emerge. 

From different fabric

we are sewn together with

wit, strength, compassion

Although it seems like

magic, we are bound with our

heart and muse. It is love.

A page for Joss by Caroline

Here we are - Joss's page complete now! I've dithered over what to create for Joss's page for over a week! With no particular theme for the book stipulated by Joss, it seems that most of you have decided to follow Joss's first 'flying' page. That was as good a place as any to start and I reckoned an owl might make a suitable subject. This time I decided to dust off my lino cutting tools and have a go at a relief print. I'm always very nervous of this technique - to a certain extent, I like to be in control of the media in my hands and whilst I love it when the results are unexpected I've always found that lino/woodcutting is haphazard to say the least (in my hands!!). Well here is my owl printed on handmade paper (the same I used for the flip side of Mim's page) and layered on turquoise and tangerine coloured japanese papers. On the second half of the page I used a feather stamp that I had carved from an eraser and added other odds and ends from my stash. I hope you like this Joss - I had fun with it!

Lynn's Page by Lisa

Here is the front of the page I did for Lynn's Book.  Since Lynn is a master seamstress I got the ole sewing machine out and did a stitch or two for her.  This page depicts the giving heart of all of us and each lady is holding in her hands things she loves as I see it on their blog since I haven't met any of them in person.  I have a bee and smiley bead, Joss has a zebra and Snuffles in hand, Suki has a house and basket of flowers, Mim has fish in each hand, Caroline has a palm tree and the sun, Marianne has Sjimmie and ying/yang, Lolo has a raven and flower w/butterfly, Katy has a cat and flower and Lynn has a sewing machine, thread and thimble in hand.  Each lady has her initial as a necklace. The beaded jet stream shows to which lady their books go to.  The blue object in the middle represents the world.  There is a seed packet and a dove of peace on the world.

It was so heavy I glued it to a heavy watercolor paper.  The back has a Haiku I wrote along with some stamps and watercolors. 

I will get Lynn's book into the mail going on to Lolo tomorrow.  Cheers everyone.

Suki's page for Lisa's book

acrylic on watercolor paper. Dried johnny jump-ups. gold pen.

Back page: acrylics, gold pen, micron pen. It took awhile for these to shape up. I especially had trouble with the first side, going over it several times with paint layers. The blessing of acrylics. I wanted a sense of nature and the garden via the dried flowers. It's a beautiful book and now I send it to Katie Jane. I think there are only three books I havent received yet, Katie Jane's and Caroline's and Lolo's. Have fun you guys.

Lolo's page for Katie Jane

Katie asked that we do a nature theme which had me right from the start!

The pictures that have already been done are exquisite. Katie's Goddess tree, oh my Goddess how wonderful! So textural and rich and full of life.

Carolines magnificent bird in rich colors and textures to die for.

And Lisa's watercolor and natural objects in the way of butterfly wings, bird feathers and plants. Wow, a hard act to follow!

I've been anticipating my first snowy winter in a very long time. I love love love birch trees, the stark patterns and sleek trunks, the graphic branches making their own statements. I wanted to capture the last few Autumn leaves hanging on until after the first snowfall. Those hardy straglers not ready to give it up yet.

I had this fiberous bluish paper that seemed to call to me for Katie's page. I started with colored pencils and added a bit of acrylic paint, and of course I had to make the snow sparkle with some glitter glue, my new favorite staple.

It's subdued yet I think it says something.

Bring on the winter because we'll still be here in the spring!

I hope you like it Katie.

Since I'm not sure how you'll be finishing the book when it gets back to you, I'll leave it up to you if you want to glue this to something more hardy. To keep postage at a minimum for all, I'll just leave it as it is.

Light and breezy, easy-peasy. Enjoy! ;)

Lolo's Cover and pages...finally!

I got off to a pretty slow start on my own journal but this weekend it finally created itself. It started out as our journey cross-country which really ended up being a spiritual journey for me.

The snail represents taking the slow way home (car vs. flying.) We're moving house and home with Bliss and Emma trying to balance themselves on this trek. My raven guide is with us, of course!

Several times along the way we felt like giving up but we pushed on telling ourselves every day "we can do this!"

The snail has left a glittery trail to our new home.

Open the doors...

Look inside the envelope...

Keys to our 'new life.'

I'd like it if you ladies did something about journies, any type, physical or spiritual. We're all on one big journey, after all!

Just do one page that folds in half measuring 12" x 6". I'll glue the back of your first page to the back of the previous second page resulting in a book format.

This is on it's way to Joss today so she can add her special touches!

I'm looking forward to the beuty you'll all add to this journal.

Thank you! xoxo

Katie Jane's Page

Here is my page for Katie Jane's Book. Her book is about nature. A subject that if you read my blog any at all you know that I love nature. This page has a watercolor sky with dried flowers, ferns and feathers. I will be getting this sent to Lolo today (Tuesday).

To All My Arty Soul Sisters

Marianne

Mim

Lynn

Suki

Kate

Caroline

Lisa

Lolo

I wanted to drop in to your lives and say a BIG BIG thankyou to you all for the tremendous effort you are all making to get stuck into these books as they arrive, the delight you are showing in all the art you do, the pleasure you are all experiencing in receiving each book, and the thrill I get every time I see a new page.
I never in my wildest dreams ever thought this project would take off like this and be so successful
All I can say is:
THANKYOU
Joss xxx

Butterfly for Lisa Front and Back

This brightly colored butterfly is no doubt inspired by the African American quilts I saw yesterday! It is made up of machine felted velvet and woolly bits surrounded by variegated ribbon yarn, embellished with beads.

If you click on these to enlarge them you can just about FEEL the fabrics!

close up and then
the back which I left uncovered.
It makes for a rather delicate page on scrapbook paper, as the machine felting
hammers holes in the
fabric to adhere it to the paper. I did not want to weaken it further by top sewing on it.
So handle with care please.



Here you can see the hundreds of tiny holes felting gives the work.
I added brads to strengthen the side of the page that is fastened into the book cover
with all the other wonderful pages.
It will fly off to Suki tomorrow and then only Kate and Caroline need add their
artistic endeavors before it finally arrives in Lisa's hands!

Suki's pages

The first page for Suki's book is a sandcastle.

Notice the heart inside.

Home is where the heart is.

The second page is inspired by a poem by Twilight Whispers.

I wrote the words on the back

I connected the two pages by making the horizon longer.

So they formed one image in the end.

When I started I planned something very complicated. I wanted to make a collage. Use the stamp I got from Linda and her beautiful papers etc. I wanted so much and it ended so simple.........I just started and it turned out this way.

I was pleased with the outcome. I hope you will too Suki.

and here is the poem:

Finding My Home

Finding where my loyalties lie
Finding where the bluebirds fly
Finding the path that leads back in time
Is finding my home

Finding where my young years are
Finding memories from afar
Finding where my mind has gone
Is finding my home

Finding where the rainbows end
Finding where the oceans blend
Finding a quiet and calming place
Is finding my home

Twilight Whispers

It was so nice holding Suki's book in my hands!

To see all the pages everyone has created in real were a sight for sore eyes!

I will send these on to Mim this week .

Have fun Mim! In between all your busy things.