Being Happy

You know that I love clouds.

 Now aren't these beautiful?

 I took this picture while my son was driving us to the lovely town of Buffalo, Minnesota. These are big fluffy, white, clouds. I just love them. They remind me of soft cotton balls, all soft and "warm."

 I don't know why I associate fluffy and soft with warm but I do. I also associate these characteristics with a warm, loving feeling. I love fluffy, soft animals too. Bunnies, kittens, puppies, and teddy bears.

 I had a teddy bear when I was young so that is probably why I connect these things.

Comforting

love

warm

happy

I think of quilts too when I think of comforting.

 I make quilts.

 I love to piece together the top of the quilt. When I am done quilting all the layers together I like to cover up in it and "feel" the quilted fabric.

 It is very pleasing to touch.

 Does that mean that I am a tactile learner? (Learn by touch?) I am also very visual (seeing). I don't learn as well by lecture (hearing).

I hope this doesn't sound too weird.

 I am sharing these things as part of my journey into discovering what makes me happy for my Life's Lesson project.

It is very interesting to do this project and I am only on the second topic. It is a self-discovery journey like the Art Journal Caravan project I am doing with Tangie Baxter on Scrapbookgraphics.

 I am posting my scrapbook pages every so often here on my blog.

My ART Journal Caravan topics are verbs.

 It has also been an interesting journey.

My Life's Lessons topics are "Be (insert word)" I guess these can be verbs too. I am enjoying the journey.

Art Journal Caravan - Live

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."  Albert Einstein. 

This is what it says on the bottom of my page here. This is one of my digital scrapbook pages from the Art Journal Caravan 2011.

I took a picture and opened it up in my photoshop CS4 program, then I altered it using some of the tools in that program. I changed up the colors, added some elements from Tangie Baxter and the AJC 2011 project folder.

The theme for this page is LIVE. I have it laid out on the page as if it says, "Live!!! a journey of discovery."

 It is my way of saying that we should look at each moment of our lives as a way to be thankful and grateful for what we have, for what we can do, for what we can see, feel, hear, touch, smell, and for what opportunities await us, etc. I could go on and on.

 Live in the moment is good too. Don't worry about things that have not come to pass and don't worry about things that are in the past. Live in the moment. Relax. Life is to short to live any other way.

 I'm not saying NOT to set goals and make plans, I'm saying to pay attention to what is going on around you and within you right now, in whatever thing you are doing. When you are driving, then focus on driving; when you are with your kids, then focus on your kids; etc. Too much time is spent on stressing about tomorrow or what we are going to do in four hours from now.

Speaking of tomorrow....I just signed up for: The SKETCHBOOK PROJECT 2012.

it will be awesome!

I will be making a sketchbook full of my artwork and it will be physically going on tour across the country and digitally throughout the digital highway! It will be totally awesome, I am so excited about this. I got this idea from Tam who just signed up to follow my blog. Thanks Tam!

Clouds

Okay, here are some......clouds.

 Do you think they look like clouds? I made the picture this brownish color. I drew it in pencil on white paper. That is the fun part of PhotoshopCS4-you can do all kinds of effects to your pictures.

I also started taking some digital pictures of clouds. It has been stormy around here lately in Minnesota. The humidity has been high all summer, but that is nothing new. What's new is the heat and humidity all over the country! Wow!

So, I am going to look forward to drawing more pictures of clouds.
 I love clouds!
 I always notice clouds when I go outside. I also notice the colors of the clouds especially at sunset.
 Have you ever noticed all the colors in the sky at sunset? It is so colorful and beautiful sometimes, well, just always!

Again, thanks for visiting!

My Life's Lesson Project-Be Aware

BE AWARE-I've been working on this project all month.

Most of it has been me noticing what is around me. I know that I always look at clouds when I am outside. I am starting to take photographs of clouds and I actually did a drawing of some clouds and will post it soon. I am also trying to be more aware of what I say to people. I want to be "soft spoken," or at least the type of person that people like to talk to.
 I am also trying to be more aware of what I write on my blog, in my e-mails, in letters, etc.
 When you write things down they are more permanent, and therefore one should be more careful in what they write. A person can read and reread something that is written down and if it is pleasant then that is uplifting, but if it is condemning, then it can hurt over and over again.

I don't want to do that!

I also noticed that I love to draw portraits and all things in nature.
 I don't particularily like to draw buildings or automobiles or very many "man-made" objects. I will have to practice drawing them sometime though if I want to be an illustrator or designer.

I do love all things old!

I love the Victorian era and the Impressionists.
 Leonardo Di Vinci is one of my favorite artists and so is Auguste Renoir.

I've decided on my next topic for this month in my Life's Lessons Project. The topic I've chosen is to

 "BE HAPPY"

Art Journal Caravan 2011

In January I started an ART JOURNAL.

 It is a lot of fun. I have always had trouble just doing "scrapbooking."  Now I incorporate my art, designs, and sometimes "wacky" ideas into a scrapbook page with some journaling- or not. I totally enjoy my "art journal scrapbooking" pages now.

What I do is to start with a 12x12 digital page. I either "paint" it myself or I "place" a pre-made page onto my background in Photoshop CS4. I then add pictures, artwork, and journaling. I have about 12 pages already done and more to work on. I belong to an Art Journal Caravan which is a group of people from Scrapbookgraphics.com.

The group is led by a designer named Tangie Baxter.

Tangie gives us a word and then we use that word to make a page. We also get quotes and affirmations and sometimes free digital art. If you are interested in joining, either leave me a comment or go over to scrapbookgraphics and take a look. I used some design elements from Tangie Baxter from the Art Journal Caravan 2011 intro set. (StudioTangie@www.scrapbookgraphics.com)

 It is a really fun way to journal your life.

 It is also fun to use the photoshop tools to make a unique page. I will be posting my pages when I am working on other projects so you have something to look at on my blog. It would be great if you could leave a comment so I know someone is looking at my stuff. Thanks for visiting!