Kerin Rose ......................

For the past year, I have been going through a lot of self exploration, not only in my art life, but personally. Just one of the "gifts", to myself, that has come out of this self exploration, is a deeper understanding of symbolizm in our lives. I'm sure you're all familiar with my crows as a symbol for my need to always keep Shane's life close to my heart and mind. We lost Shane over a year ago and the crow played a very large part in his burial ceremony.

I've never really been interested in having a tattoo needled on my body; although I've had thoughts of doing it over the past year. I enjoy seeing some tattoos that people have; art, in itself, that is gorgeous and very meaningful. I just cannot get myself to have it done; it's the needle thing. I even had trouble getting through the flu shot the other day :) But; my understanding of wanting something to symbolize someone or something has become very clear to me now.

I have been cyber tagged by Kerin Rose. I first connected with Kerin a few months ago from visiting the Etsy website. I was searching for a "tattoo" ring, of sorts, that would symbolize my heart taking flight and healing. I found the perfect ring!

This is a picture of it here and it actually symbolizes a Mexican Milagro. But, to me, it was exactly the symbol for my personal need. I am not a jewelry, person per say, not to say I don't admire it on others. I was always having trouble with earrings; allergic to certain metals, etc.

I ordered the ring, from Kerin and it arrived in record time! I wear it all the time. I never have occasion to take it off and I never will! Kerin designs her jewelry to conform to our bodies and, while this ring is very wide, it's so comfortable on my finger that I can no longer even feel it. It's not really a "tattoo" ring but I like to think of it as such because of the way it fits - just nice and snug and so comfortable. But; I can remove it very comfortably. Kerin was able to advise me of the perfect size.

As part of being cyber tagged, I'm suppose to list 7 facts about myself and then pass on to others. Frankly, I've never been fully comfortable with this as it's not listing the facts, so much, as it is passing it on to others who may feel pressured in doing this and they just don't have the time, etc.

I was honored being tagged by Kerin. It was nice to hear from her again and knowing that she's still creating her beautiful jewelry on Etsy and off of her website.

Here are the links to Kerin's Blog and Website. Check them out when you have a chance:

Her blog address is: http://www.kerinrose.blogspot.com/ and her website is: www.Kerinrose.com/

Thank you for thinking of me, Karen! I love my ring!

Best to all and hope you're having a good week. Parts of New York got hit with lots of snow already!!! Yikes! We lucked out, in my area, but up North really got it!

Much love, Marilyn

Rainy days..........................

Rainy days sometimes "set the tone", for me, to slow me down a bit; something that I need to do lately.

I picked up a book at the bookstore today. I need to start reading again; I've missed it. I used to read a lot and when art entered my life, the only kind of books I read are art books or articles in art magazines that I subscribe to. There's nothing wrong, with that, but I felt like switching gears a bit. Today is the perfect day to sit in my favorite chair and begin my new book.

The book I am reading is called The Soloist by Steve Lopez. I just started it and feel it's going to be a really good read. It's a story about an unlikely friendship.

I hope you're all having a good beginning to your weekend and that you are able to catch some quiet moments for yourself.

I'd love to read your comments to include your favorite quiet-time activity.

Much love - Marilyn

"Built"

The Albany Historical Foundation is offering a really neat auction project to the community that is called Built. The event is coming up on November 8th.

It's a call for art that has to include something that symbolizes the architecture of Albany.

Karen Schupack (owner of the Albany Art Room where I teach), and a friend of mine, asked me if I'd be interested in working on this project, with her, as a collaborative piece! I was thrilled!

Karen found this wonderful cabinet door at an Albany salvage store and I felt it was perfect for the substrate for our project. We prepped it by sanding it, gessoed, then coated with absorbent ground and got to work!

We took a lovely walk and took some pictures of some rowhouse fronts as we both are attracted to stairways and doorways, etc. We found the shot we liked the best, Karen took a picture of it to a friend of hers to enlarge it in black and white for us.

We cut out the doorway, left part of the bricks, stairs, cut out a window and began our design. We used acrylic paints, tissue paper, pumice gel, real flower petals, images and some wonderful hardware embellishments! Karen had a wonderful street map of Albany which was included and we decided on adding some beeswax as a final touch!

We just found out our project has been accepted into the event! The pieces that have been accepted will be juried and there are monetary awards that will be given.

The pieces are to be donated to the Foundation and will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Albany Historical Foundation as well as some community projects.

I really enjoyed working on this collaborative with Karen!

Thank you all for your well wishes and lovely comments. I wish you all a safe, happy, and artful weekend ahead.

Much love, Marilyn

I got a little somethin' :) ................. 4 x 4

I think I'm still going with the Halloween visions right now. Again; it's not my favorite day of celebration but my previous post will explain some of this.

I'm still nursing this nasty cold but found I have a little more energy today so I thought I'd try getting back to some art; baby steps ya know?

A friend of mine is hosting a 4 x 4 exchange with the Halloween theme and I thought it would be fun, for me, to join in. I'm really glad I did as I enjoyed working on the theme and the project was just enough for me on this day.

This is a picture of the 4 x 4 that I did for this exchange.

Have a joyful day! Love, Marilyn

I got nothin'.........................

First off; I am wishing everyone a good start to this new week. I hope you've been able to enjoy your holiday weekend. Our weather is glorious and I hope you are experiencing same.

I am nursing a terrible cold and throat thing, here, and have little or no energy to do much of anything. I am going nuts as I haven't had energy even to work on any art. A whole week of no art, for me, is torturous! I feel like something wants to come out but I just don't have the motivation. This should be interesting when I get my "game" back to see what spills out on the canvas. I will surely share; it might not be pretty :)

Anyway; as part of my trip last weekend to Vermont, I took some pictures (previous post) and here is a picture; well two pictures but the one on the left is the original shot I got of a window with lace curtains in it. It was part of a vacant store front and I am always attracted to lace curtains - love them! When I uploaded the picture, I could start seeing things in the patterns through the panes. Perhaps this is the cold medicine???????? :)

Now that Halloween is approaching, and frankly it is not my favorite celebratory day, I actually saw a Frankenstein head in one of the panes. See if you can see it, too. :)

The second picture is of the same shot but I fooled around with it in Photoshop and I started experiencing even more Halloween visions. I see ghosts and goblins dancing, strange fish, skeleton heads, masked figures..............oh boy! Maybe I ought to just go back to bed - you think?

Have a great week, everyone - be safe and happy!

Love to you all.................................Marilyn

Autumn pleasures.........................

Autumn is my favorite time of year. It's a short season but offers beautiful colors, crisp, cool air, great fruits and vegetables, and lots of fun activities.

This past weekend, my husband and I took a day trip to Woodstock, Vermont with my son and his wife. Woodstock is a picture-perfect little place on Route 4 that we visit every year. They were having a chili cook-off when we got there - really neat!

Once we found a parking space, we were able to walk around, got some lunch at a very quaint cafe that offers great food with wonderful homemade apple and pumpkin pies!! Yummy! They make their own ice cream, too! :)

These are some pictures I took along the way from our walks and drive. I thought the "haystack animals" were cool! They are all along the highway on both sides - fun!

Notice the shot of the window with the horse in it? Or is it a donkey? Well; this was an art gallery that inserts art work facing out from inside the windows! I thought that was very clever!

We ended our day with visiting a Llama farm! They are wonderful animals. The owners of the farm hand out Llama food to visitors so we can feed them. They are very appreciative :) We got to see a momma Llama with her baby and they actually make a humming sound while tending to the young ones; it's really touching. We observed the Llamas kind of "spitting" at one another, at times, and we asked the owners why they do that. They told us it's actually a way that they communicate with one another. My son preferred calling this activity "Llama kisses" :).

It was fun sharing some pictures of our trip with you. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and wish you a great week ahead.

Thank you for your visits, here, and I always appreciate your warm and supportive comments :)

Much love - Marilyn xxoo

"Chez Soi"......................

11 x 14

Acrylic/Mixed Media on canvas

I just recently finished this painting. I've been working on it for awhile. It all started with a torn piece of French newspaper that I found in my stash. The words Chez Soi caught my eye. I looked up the translation and it means "go home".

I decided to create this painting/collage with that theme in mind. I picture this woman taking a break from her long journey; walking with her guitar. She stops to reflect and day dream about her desire to want to reach home.

Thanks for visiting and I always appreciate your warm and supportive comments you leave for me.

I wish you all a safe, joyous, and artful weekend. Love, Marilyn xxoo