TED

Watched an inspiring and thought provoking TED talk on the power of vulnerability this morning. You can see it here.

Loving

Loving these performances.

Highly Prized - Picasso

While surfing, found a photo on Seth's blog of La Lecture by Picasso. Estimated between $18,570,000-$27,860,000, this painting is certainly highly prized.

So, here is my ode to Picasso. If you'd like to pay me even a fraction of the estimate, do let me know...

Winter wonderland

We are having quite the winter season in these parts. Another snow day today - an additional 8 inches of the light fluffy stuff. At this rate school will be session till July.

Had to drive to the airport in the slop this morning - took about 2 hours each way. Could have been halfway to Hawaii by then! Fast moving storm has already cleared out and the sun is out this afternoon. So pretty outside - kinda magical.

Centered this journal page around the drawing of a woman who caught my eye.

Loving

Loving a night of poetry and scones. Loving the smells of a crackling fire. Loving having a stash of firewood to make fires. Loving snow days. Loving watching the snow fall with no place to go. Loving lazy mornings in bed with tea and a book. Loving fun book club discussions. Loving galloping with a dear friend. Loving good food and excellent company. Loving the inspiration of spending time with other art journalers. Loving the calm after the storm.

Highly Prized - el Morro

I love forts. Maybe it is because I grew up exploring Fort Jesus and it captured my imagination. It was like history coming alive - forts built in strategic spots around the world to secure trade routes and provide the first line of defense to attack from the sea. So highly prized.

I visit forts every chance I get, and the beautiful el Morro did not disappoint.

Faces

This year I am exploring how to draw faces. Here are a couple of sketches from a couple of nights ago.

It is hard to draw the face of someone I know - I cannot quite capture a true likeness yet.

I find sketching strangers easier to do - there is less emotional context attached.

Highly Prized - Butterflies

In the midst of this nor'easter, I've got butterflies on my mind.

The background color is oil pastels, and the butterflies images are from napkins in my stash.

Stripes

The thing about January, is that there are so many new things to explore. I'm dabbling in many of them, and one is the Art Journal January 2011 by Milliande. She is playing with a theme the entire month - in this case stripes. If you have not seen her videos yet, do check them out for some inspiration.

Since I'm dabbling, I'm not playing in a particular order - decided to play with Day 5. I love the work of Guido Daniele - simply stunning, so was delighted to play with my hands and create this zebra. I used ink, markers and watercolors. Fun no?

Blizzard warning

There is something about an upcoming snow day - blizzard in this case - that gets my creative juices flowing. Maybe it is the nowhere to go feeling of a snow day that brings it on.

I started this page with a certain idea in mind and ended up here. Love it. I painted the background with water colors with some masking tape used as resist. Then attached this piece of tissue paper/napkin using gel medium, and love, love, love how it turned out. Got a stash of napkins from a member of my art journal group and decided to play and see what I could create with them. There needs to be some writing to finish the page - will post that when completed.

It's a new year. Get out that stash you've been saving and use it. Sometimes beautiful things happen.

Ephemera

Another ephemera page. I create these as I go along - simply start sticking things on the page until full, then I flip to another set of pages in my journal and start over.

A fun way to capture a place and time.

Wild Card Weekend

A weekend of fantastic football games - and several upsets. Fun.

Saw this image in a paper several months ago, and have had it on my desk for ages. Decided to draw it - captured the essence of what I liked - though I find faces tough to draw. Practice. Practice.

Recent Reads

1. Kid Chat
Had fun flipping through this book as I looked for journal prompts to add to the journals I gave my nieces and nephew in December. They would be good questions for adults too.

2. The Last Ember
Don't bother. Not sure what all the rave reviews are about. While I did like learning some of the historical events the book is based on, the story and writing are both really poor.

3. Black Swan Green
Loved it, and it has stayed with me since I read it. It is classified as a YA book, but the writing is crisp and intelligent and I loved everything about this coming of age story.

4. The Space Between Us
Loved it. This is what my book club is reading this month. It is well written and there are so many things to ponder and discuss after reading it. Looking forward to my book club discussion next weekend.

Recent Movies

1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Woof. Woof. Why did this movie even get made? Could have been an interesting overview of the recent crash - great talent in the movie - but total waste of time.

2. Inception
The smartest movie I've seen in ages. Loved it.

3. The Road from Coorain
Have yet to read the book, but really liked this movie.

4. La Mission
Like the actors and the story, but the movie could have used some serious editing.

5. Rudi Y Cursi
Fun, light movie about sibling rivalry and life in the fast lane after growing up poor.

Highly Prized - Full Moon

I've always been a sun girl, but as I've gotten older have begun to appreciate the beauty of the moon. I love big fat yellow full moons low on the horizon.

Highly Prized - Crescent Moon

Beautiful crescent moon out last night.

Playing with watercolors trying to capture that little sliver of light.

Titles

Here are some recent book titles that amuse me:

1. The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becomng Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
2. You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News by Cracked.com
   
3. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - A Love Story by Ree Dummond

Would these be non-fiction then?

Food for thought

Listened to an interesting talk by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on Why we have too few women leaders. You can see it here.

Bellagio

A visit to the Bellagio is one of our regular outings whenever I visit my family in Las Vegas. I am always amazed at the creativity on display. You can see pics from the most recent outing here.

Highly Prized - Window Seat

Love the view from the window seat - this is a view from a trip to the Maldives several years ago. Stunningly beautiful. So many islands, so little time.