Indecision Has Made Her Appearance!

This is a piece I drew shortly after I moved into my current apartment just before the end of 2011. This is an apartment building I've lived in before, and I just love it here! There's a ravine behind me and I make sure that I step out onto my balcony every day, just to revel in the appreciation, gratitude and beauty of it all! I am so thankful to be back here - it's definitely home for me, and a place of serenity and peace. I can truly call my home my sanctuary. But, like everyone else, I've had to go through some uncomfortable and unpleasant things to get here. Once my boxes were unpacked, and I was feeling a little more settled, I drew this piece. As I was drawing the figure of the girl, divisions appeared. As the drawing neared completion, I thought she looked rather divided - conflicted and consequently indecisive, which is exactly what I had been going through prior to my move. So I decided to call this piece Indecision. The light around the tree is energy - the force of life, and in the middle of her conflict and indecision, she realizes that she still holds the thread of her life. She can still move forward and ultimately everything will work together for good. As we make decisions and move forward, our lives unfold. And this unfolding happens in the most interesting and beautiful way! For this piece I used ink, watercolor and pencil crayon.

Updated Journal Cover & A Silly Page

Buon Giorno my dear friends,
Here's an updated photo of the cover of my visual journal. You know how it goes with collage...it's never completely finished. You keep adding a little here and a little there. It's like a bowl of potato chips - you just can't leave it alone! But eventually you have to stop or it gets ruined! I'm hoping to fill up this entire journal (it's not that thick) with pages that look similar to this. I love the rich, deep colors and the random images here and there. Some of the images are hand drawn, rather than clipped from a magazine. If I can't find exactly what I want, then I try to draw it. The teacup is cup is cut out from wrapping paper and shaded to look like a cup. And the numbers 2012 are my own. Even though it would have been easy to find numbers, I just drew my own.

And the newsletter! Ahh, yes! What a forgetful ninny I am! A friend asked me about this in a comment, and she kindly gave me the benefit of a doubt, but the truth is, I haven't sent them out yet. I'm still finishing up the winter issue, which will be pages from January to March. Like the collage, I keep wanting to add more. These Silly Pages are just as addicting to me as the collage is...and the potato chips, and the m&m peanuts... funny, the things that keep us fueled - that and delicious art books! Anyway, I digress...I have lots of work to do, so I will get to it and finish up those Silly Pages, get them scanned and send them out! Just for being late, here's a little preview...

There is one thing I would like to ask, however... my right hand needs prayer & healing. I am getting a lot of pain, tendonitis type of pain in the wrist and pain in the thumb joint from a dog bite in 2010. Funny how our injuries come back to haunt us at a later date! I've been ignoring the pain (somewhat) and working on my art anyway, especially on the "good" days. So please, send healing thoughts my way! I still have much beauty and silliness to add to the world of art!

Love to you all,
Kate