Sunday, August 30, 2009




Painted all by herself, we didnt touch the canvas or mix her paint, She had bottles of ceramcoat in white, red, aqua, yellow and later a squeeze bottle of red transpaent fabric paint..I wanted to stop her several times because We liked what she had, but SHE wasnt finished and SHE didnt stop!!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

I am..

I am from Crawfish from the Louisiana Swamps.
I am from the house on a quiet dead end street, facing the fairy woods behind the Elementary School, scented from the open canals draining in the summer heat.
I am from the Magnolia Grandiflora, heavenly perfumed , dark leathery leaves with soft suedeundersides
I am from Treacherous River Swimmers, sandy beach picnickers , homemade peach ice cream at Ruzenas and paintings supplies at Magdelines.
I am from tempermental and nostalgic Irish and German Czech ancesters.
From Swamp Angels and Flower Fairies.
I am from Faithful Methodists ,Lapsed Catholics .
I'm from the Texas panhandle, born to a Southern Father and a Yankee Mom, Fried Catfish Filets and Cold Boiled shrimp.
From the the Uncle who rode a horse up to the second floor of the High Scool, Botany Professors,Masons, Watchmakers and immigrant Irishman sent to Canada.I am from city founders,farmers,linemen,librarians ,needleworkers and homemakers
I am from early genealogy lines from Bohemia and Ireland.. I am a Southern Woman



A beautiful inciteful prompt from The ARTISTS WAY GROUP MEssage Board

Thursday, August 27, 2009

What is my Identity..

The Artists Way prompt for the week is "What is your sense of identity?
I definitely know that I am a grandchild of the founder of the town I live in. I am my Fathers child. I am a Daughter, Mother, Grandmother,Greatgrandmother , Sister, Aunt, friend and cat owner, but most of all I am a product of loving union of immigrant Grandparents .

I couldnt realize it more than I did today as I was in the Historic area where a Scifi film is being filmed and chatting here and there questions were asked and I was so proud to say..I am an Exner, my Grandfather was a founder of this town.

He was jeweler, watchmaker, grocery store owner who bartered away his inventory , taught Sunday School in his heavy Czech accent . His first Marriage of convenience was a young widow , pregnant with her 4th child ,who died in childbirth, then married a hard working woman sent to him through his homeland church. raised eight children and they both died longing for Northern Bohemia.

I am my Grandfathers granddaughter.

Blue Heaven


Well, this is it.. i found it (here) , finally.. home in the trees, I want this!! What I would give for a spot al my own up in a moss covered oak ..

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

It's Hurricane Season Again


This ancient oak was spared in the last storms.. lost a lot of branches , but it is still a beauty. Every hurricane brings such destruction here..I'm documenting this tree..it represents security, important security

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Judi, Judi, Judi

well actually only Judi at Mindmists and this Judi(me) have Hurricane preparations in common. She just snatched up a chainsaw.. and we love 'em here!! We were affected by Katrina, Gustav and Ike in this house..I lost most of a home in Ocean Springs MS in 1979, Hurricane Camille was on my Daughters birthday..

My Daughter, an MBA computer guru, is our resident handyperson.. during Gustav a turban blew off our two story house and was leaking into the attic.. she and My Granddaughter devised a "plug" using an inflatable exercise ball.. just stuck it thru the hole half way and inflated it.. shouldn't that be copywrited?

Susie Ridler was apalled that her husband requested "Hurricane Food" I stockpile candy, chips, cookies, canned meats, peanutbuttercrackers, canned cheese(ugh)canned fruit, lots of Toilet paper, cans of water and gas.. batteries lanterns, Ativan,, but I get so nervous waiting days for a storm, I eat most of it in a frenzy.. I hate hurricanes, they just keep on going and going and after effects going and going.

my sassy comment on this years Hurricane names? KATE>> i was a great Jon and Kate fan.. I think a hurricane KATE could be trouble

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Important things .. smiles!!


My heart tugging GreatGranddaughter..helping me do posts today
.
Nothing profound to add..I am listing dolls for sale that I have put off for ages..I have the need to purge, thin it all out.and know that what I have is what I need or love..I'm told its a GOOD THING.. so it says in The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.. have you joined My Artist Way group? see side bar for a link

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

My Wolves are hungry


The Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.


One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret , greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.


The other is Good.

It is joy, peace , love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,Empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute
And then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'


The old Cherokee simply replied,
'The one you feed.'


anonymous


I've started The Artists Way, I'm not sure I am ready for it at the moment,..my brain seems scrambled






Who Am I? I am a searcher What do I wish formyself? a clear path

Monday, August 17, 2009

Seven Motifs in Design

This is a practice page in my WTJ of the Seven Motifs

There are seven simple motifs that make up all design,, each is known and familiar and very simple.


The First is the spiral..suggested in a whirlpool, or rolled shapes like a snail's shell


The Second is the simple circle.. as in the sun, moon, ripples in water after a stone is dropped.


The Third is a half circle.. found in a crescent moon, the rainbow


The Fourth is two half circles,... like the letter S, the flames of a fire


The Fifth is a wavy line..like waves of water or hair


The Sixth is a zigzag.. like mountain peaks or lightening


The Seventh is nothing but a simple straight line




The simple fundamentals of this type of design has two rules"
Never cross lines and when when using one or more in a border type line, they should be drawn parallel and equidistant apart"




Paraphrased from a 1926 book by Adolpo Best- Marguard"A Method For Creative Design" out of print of course, it took me 13 years to find a copy.



Its been noted that Walter Anderson studied with Best-Marguard and its obvious in his work..the simplicity of the motif

Walter Anderson Museum Of Art, Ocean Springs, MS is a must see!! I embroidered from my drawing, a copy of "Birds and Thistles"one of his best known watercolors and it was charted and sold in the museum as a fun raiser, I lived in Ocean Springs form 1979 to 1994 .
Walter Anderson contracted with the city of Ocean Springs to paint the walls of the community center.. for ONE DOLLAR..It where I exhibited yearly with OSAA and taught classes for the public on Mondays ..to be surrounded by the 4 walls of exquisite art is heaven. There are several really interesting books about Walter and his work..he was a very unique person, to say the least.. He rowed a bateau out to an island and lived and painted there alone for months at time, documented in "The Horn Island Logs of Walter Anderson"




Friday, August 14, 2009

Oh YES, I CAN Swim

Leah over at Creative EveryDay has a great post on learning to swim and asking how we ...can learn apply the experience to our grownup selves.


I learned to swim..
I was 18 and one week from eloping to marry.
I wanted to swim, but was terrified .. to a point of hyperventilation even talking about it. We are blessed
in South Louisiana with lost of free waterways. Most people here can swim when they are toddlers .
My Father grew up on a farm located about 1/2 a wooded mile from the most gorgeous sandy beaches on the banks of a fast moving stump studded dangerous river.
A river that could rise well above flood stage and wreak havoc with the surrounding area.
It was where we went for family picnics and I loved to play in the sand and hang my feet in the water and grip my Fathers back when he would take me out in the deeper water.
When I was Seven he decided I needed to learn how to swim. after all , he and his 7 siblings were all thrown into the river at 6 and told swim or sink.
We attempted the "duck your head under the water" a few times and I screamed and ran out of the water and sobbed I was scared.
This infuriated my Father,
so he pulled me back out kicking and screaming and told me to STOP blubbering, at which I started screaming
"I don't want to swim"..
he threw me out into the middle of the river and didn't rescue me until i came up for breath the second time..
to my Mothers horror.
Not only did I not learn to swim that day, i didn't get back in anything deeper than knee deep pool, pond or tub ';
I had a friend who was a lifeguard and he said he could teach me.., I joined is 5 year old class in a public pool that was divided with a chain link fence to section of the
kiddie side from the swimming side,.
I was six feet tall in a 4 foot pool,,.. I had to do the" head under the water " exercises on my knees.. I was too apprehensive to be embarrassed. I learned to side stroke, backstroke, butterfly stroke and float like a balloon. I never made the "real " dive off the highdive that was required to get a Swimmers Certificate: but I at least jumped off of it.
I have been swimming until a couple of years ago when I developed anxiety problems ( long story, ..caused by a damn MRI).. but learning to swim after the terrifying experience in the river taught me that.. I will never again let someone scare me into forgoing something that I really want to do
I may not conquer this current problem, and it's okay..because
I DID LEARN TO SWIM

Friday, August 7, 2009

Peeling away layers

One of my favorite words is pentimento.. *
it has a musical quality .
I remember I first read the word..
in a novel written by a woman.
..or is Pentimento the name of the novel?
Pages in my WTJ that are done in markers have bled thru to the back of the page and sometimes on to another.
The color is not as vivid, as the original..it has a faded, peeled look..layers are gone.
I feel like I am living in a pentimento state.
I have been peeling back the crud, the barnacles .. rust,
I am suddenly feeling old.
I know all the beauty, creativity, experiences are in there somewhere..I just can't touch it.
*pentimento
Pentimento by Lillian Hellman
"Old paint on a canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter "repented," changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again. That is all I mean about the people in this book. The paint has aged and I wanted to see what was there for me once, what is there for me now. "
Introduction to Pentimento
*pen·ti·men·to

(pěn'tə-měn'tō)
n. pl. pen·ti·men·ti (-tē)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

oh my ..today's security word

Fun with PhotoFunia.com..this is my Greatgreatgrandaughter in her Minnie Mouse glasses
citonit.. need I say more?.. I actually have done several pages in WreckIII
but forgot to charge my camera battery. I shopped today.. i needed fruit stickers.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Security Word of the Day

ourrin..of course ,it means:
"if those are yourin, then these are ourrin."
no?how about
" if you put an ourrin every day, you will finally finish the project"

Monday, August 3, 2009

Slides of COMPLETED WTJ Act !!

I'm reposting Wreck This Journal Act II ( I think!!)
without the aggravating music..enjoy, stay tuned for Act III..
you have to click on VIEW and SLIDESHOW

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Want to play security words?

notatic......note taking fanatic, notary with a tick problem, someone with no plans, or the exclamation from a flea..... (i ducked!)

broup..cant be anything better than a group burp..or maybe an older Brother to his younger sibling "oh, bro up"