Happy New Year!

First things first
Happy New Year! This may well be my last post of 2009. It's been a wonderful year overall and one of the most exciting for me in a long, long time. I send you my very biggest wishes for a creative and successful and happy 2010!

Dad Update
My dad had gall bladder surgery today. Had a couple of delays with blood pressure and needing fluids, but in the end they got it out laprascopically and without a hitch. They kept him overnight but he should be able to go home on Thursday. Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes! They did the trick and I am so very relieved!

New Piece
I haven't made anything in over a week but have done lots of inspiration shopping. Have so many things I want to try. I need to make a couple of pieces for a charity function I'm thinking about donating to - it's kind of a big one and I'm a little chicken to put myself out there, but after my inquiry, I was invited or maybe allowed, to send work. I may take the plunge. The charity raises money for the arts in the Los Angeles area. This is the first piece I'm thinking of sending. Wish you could see it in person and framed. It's so much better in person.

One


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/20/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a large 8 x 10 mixed media collage using a face from flickr's picassowoman, a body from the Library of Congress, boots scanned from a catalog, wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com, a birdcage from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, and a dove from Holliewood Studios at Oscraps.com and used with a commercial license. The floor is from flickr's JoesSistah and the main background was made from layering and altering a texture from asunderephemera.etsy.com. The red and white borders are from my own vintage popcorn bag and the other border pieces were created from parts from LandofEnchantment.etsy.com and Crowabout.etsy.com. All pieces were reprinted and most were hand colored to some degree. The face and body were printed in black and white and hand colored. All pieces were hand cut with scissors and attached to the background with glue. This is not a digital collage.

(One detail)



Interesting website that shows the work of many of you
While inspiration shopping I somehow ended up at this site . . . Formations. I think it may be comparable to Flickr River, another view of flickr work that links to your flickr images, but there are some pieces I noticed were not linked. While I found a great deal of inspiration from this site, I am a tiny bit concerned that probably no one has given permission for their work to be shown there. I found one of my pieces there and decided to leave it. But, since I saw many many pieces from many of you, I thought you might like to know. It is a very beautiful site. Just wish she asked first but appreciate that she attributes the work to the artist and links it most of the time to the appropriate place.

New Teesha stuff!
Also visited one of my regular spots for inspiration and realized that Teesha Moore has redone her store and has some new collage sheets and features. Here's the link http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/php/sunshop/

The days between . . .

I get stuck, with a bit of melancholy.
In the days between Christmas and New Year I always feel stuck, sort of. The big build up for Christmas is over and the late nights and power multi-tasking days that pulled it off, always seem to catch up to me. I feel like being a vegetable these days. And, of course, the holidays don't really feel over because New Year's is right there peeking around the corner, the kids are home from school, and there is still a festive shimmer about. There is a feeling of accomplishment, conquering and surviving the year before, and a bit of anxiety over what the new year will bring . . . hoping I can handle whatever it throws at me and at the same time hoping to squeeze every last drop of joy from each day the new calendar offers. I like to lay about and ponder, remember, dream, reflect, anticipate, plan, make wishes, make new commitments, and believe the best is yet to come. I feel quiet.

Update to this post - later in the day
I may be feeling melancholy with things just on my mind. Many of you know it has been a rough year with my dad. Just got word a few minutes ago he was admitted to the hospital today immediately after an ultrasound revealed the culprit for some pretty agonizing pain he's had the past few weeks. He is having gall bladder surgery tomorrow morning. He doesn't think it's serious enough for me to come but this will be his 4th surgery this year, poor man. The pain has been so bad they called 911 one night thinking it was his heart but the bypass and aorta repair he's had this year seem to have managed well. Just two weeks ago he had a defibrillator "installed" to keep his ticker ticking properly. He almost refused the surgery due to the pain he was having in his chest and back but not until today did the doctors confirm my suspicion that it was his gall bladder. It's enlarged, with thick walls and plugged with a stone. So, I always worry when surgery is involved but thankful this may finally get him on the road to feeling good again. Prayers very much appreciated! Now, back to the original post today . . .

Somerset Studio
I'm looking through books and magazines - refilling the inspiration tank and ready to start some new fresh work, wondering if it will actually turn out new and fresh. I am delighted to see so many friends in the pile of Somerset and Stampington magazines I bought myself to look through this week. I'm so proud to know you all! You're so talented and you inspire me so. I'll be blog visiting later this week and can't wait to see what's happening with all of you!



If I'm going to be honest, I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed in my recent publication in the Jan. issue of Somerset - they changed my title and completely edited my work description to the point I don't hardly recognize it. Says "color copy and cut out collage faces" - I've never color copied in my life. These were black and white images that I reprinted and hand colored with ink and pastel. I never added "additional lines" and they left out all but one of my image credits. And, I don't think they were photographed true to life - seem a bit overexposed. Oh well, it is always a compliment to be published no matter the snafues. And, I should just shut up and enjoy it as I won't be published again for awhile. I haven't sent anything in since last summer.

Hope you all are having beautiful Holidays!

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Merry Christmas!

From my house and family to yours, we send wishes for a very VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you have safe journeys, warm cozy shelter, delicious and decadent meals, fellowship and fun with your loved ones, and every Christmas wish you dreamed of.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/19/09. All rights reserved.
Special thanks to collageanonymous.etsy.com, LandofEnchantment.etsy.com, Itukupilli.etsy.com, whymsicalmusings.etsy.com, SuzeeQue of flickr, and Lauren Bavin of Scrapbookgraphics.com for image pieces used in this card.

Contest winnerS and more!

Housekeeping issue
First need to let you know that someone has "spoofed" my email, meaning they haven't technically hijacked my email but they are using my email address to send an email with a link to a web site. Just wanted you to know that it's not me. It's been reported to the FTC by Yahoo and myself but it amounts to about the same thing as if someone used your house address as their return address on snail mail, which is also illegal by the way, but not much you can do about it. Let me know if you get the email though - would like to know if they got my contact list somehow.

Present Angel

Finished a custom order today. It's for the aunt of one of my best friends. It's her picture you see on this character. She takes care of everyone and is very special, not just to my friend but to many of us.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/19/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a 5 x 7 collage using the face of a friend on a body from lisasalteredart.etsy.com, legs from the public domain, boots scanned and altered from a magazine, wings from Itkupilli.etsy.com and a crown from whymsicalmusings.etsy.com. The hearts are from designer Nicole Young and used with a commercial license. The outside border pieces are from LandofEnchantment.etsy.com with the exception of the two partial photographs. The blue and white stripe piece at the bottom is from scrap paper and the scalloped border is from designer Lauren Bavin of Scrapbookgraphics.com. All pieces were hand cut with scissors and most were colored and shaded by hand before attaching to the background.


Without further ado - The Contest WinnerS! Yes - as in more than one winner!
It was too hard to choose just one! We could've chosen all of them! You all had such great ideas but after long deliberation we had ended up with two we all agreed on. The first is from Stacey of Primarily Primitives blog. We only used part of your suggestion as that is all that would fit. Stacey suggested "if I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense". I hope that's okay, Stacey. And, the second winner is Nancy Lefko of My Collage Art blog who suggested "perspective is often found with that first step off the beaten path". So both of you will be getting one of the first two Limited Edition Prints in the mail in the New Year (maybe a little sooner) and credit with your blog address in the image description wherever it is shown. Thank you so much for your help! So ladies, I'll need your addresses to mail them to!

I still have a bit of touching up and a few details to add and shading to do but I am already so late with announcing the winners, thought I'd better get something up for now.

Nonsense


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/19/09. All rights reserved. You may not print, copy, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a large 8 x 10 collage all hand cut with scissors with tons of hand coloring and shading. The face is from flickr's picassowoman, the body and skirt are from my own vintage pictures, the legs are from collageanonymous.etsy.com (altered and colored), and the boots are from my own scanned and altered catalog picture. The hat was made from paper scraps and the horns are from clipart.com. The hearts are from designer Nicole Young and used with a commercial license. The blue background is from flickr's SkeletalMess and the checked floor is from flickr's JoesSistah. The borders are made from scraps and some pieces from collageanonymous.etsy.com, cemerony.etsy.com, Itupilli.etsy.com, designer Sande Krieger (used with commercial license) and suppliestogo.etsy.com. The moon is from the public domain and the earth globe from cemerony.etsy.com. Quotes were suggested by Stacey of http://primprimitives.blogspot.com and Nancy Lefko of http://nancylefko.blogspot.com

The Contest . . .

Family hasn't voted yet on the winning quote for my art piece two posts down this page - last night didn't go as planned. I may not get the piece finished today but will announce the winner tonight! (I just had a last minute custom order come in that I have to squeeze in today)

Enjoy the season! Quote from Albert Einstein . . . "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Here is a free picture for you! This is cleaned up from one of my own antique pictures. I'm sure it will show up on one of my collage sheets in Etsy soon, but until then thought I'd share this. The Holidays are all about family for me and this family looks so happy! (Please don't sell this image in a collage sheet or image collection or share with anyone else. It is for your personal use only. Thank you! You can click on it for a larger version.)

Thought you might like a little giggle

Found this from visiting FishStikks blog for the first time this morning which I got to by way of EggStudio both of which have been enthusiastically added to my blog links list!

I'm drinkin' some Evian today . . .



Don't forget the "give me some words" contest in the post below! Deadline is tonight!

Oooh! A contest for you & more!

The Contest . . .
My daughter and I like it when I include words in my pieces. My husband doesn't and the discussion over this piece left me empty as to what words to add. So, if you interpret this piece in a quote that I can later add to it, you will win the first signed full size Limited Edition print of the piece below when it's finished with your words included! I'll even mat it for you prior to mailing. (the original will be offered in my Etsy after it's finished). Just leave me a quote below and my family and I will choose the one we like the best, keeping in mind the concept of this piece. Hints: perspective, introspection, she is stepping off the path and away from the rest of the world. Leave your quote by Friday night!



copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/15/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download or use this image in any way without my permission. Image credits will be given this weekend when the piece is finished.

Fabulous Mail from friends. . .

I have received some of the funnest mail lately. Some from swaps and some because there are just very thoughtful folks in our art world.

from my friend Renee (flickr's Nayski), this gorgeous postcard from a swap . . .



from my friend Mary (flickr's PaperScraps), this beautiful postcard from a swap . . .



from my friend Danny of FiDOart, this spectacular and oh so fun festive pendant . . .



and last but not least, from sweet Hanne of Limoglitter, this exquisite handmade card . . .




Thank you friends for so much magical mail! I love them all!

A little gift from me to you . . .
Here's a collage sheet for you that you may use in your art for resale. Please do not sell the images themselves singly or in a collage sheet or collage image collection. It is for your use only.
You can click on the sheet to get a larger version good enough to download and use.

Have you given up on me yet?

I'm here. I really am. I have been so sidetracked. I don't know what possessed me to start painting the inside of the house but I started and had a hard time quitting. I did quit before it's finished but will get back at it right after Christmas. Had some other house issues going on and before you know it, it's 10 days since my last post. I have lots of cool stuff I've received in the mail to share with you, but I'll save it for early next week. For now, thought I'd prove I AM, in fact, still making something!

Dream Some Wings


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/10/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download or use without my permission.
This is an approximate 5 x 7 original collage using a face from collagevisions.etsy.com, a body altered and made from a piece from cemerony.etsy.com, tape measure from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, crown from spiceitup.etsy.com, arms from collageanonymous.etsy.com, legs and boots from my own collection of images. The wings are from Itkupilli.etsy.com. These were all hand trimmed and hand colored with ink and pastel. The word wish and many of the border pieces are also from collageanonymous.etsy.com, again colored and altered. Other border pieces are from Studio Maya at Scrapbookgraphics.com and my own collage sheets at tumblefishstudio.etsy.com and scrap paper. Letters for words were created from vintage music sheets from shabbychicpapirskatter.blogspot.com. Everything was attached by hand to a background from flickr's SkeletalMess that was further altered with ink and pastel.

This next piece is for a very special couple. I want to share the work (because it's always fun to show the last thing you made) but more importantly I want to share their story. I am not sure I will have the words to describe how important it was for me to find their story, but it has been one of those experiences that you remember all day every day. It has changed my life in that it confirmed what I suspected about how to live life but to date haven't fully committed to.

After doing some Etsy business, I was inexplicably compelled to google the name of the person I was working with. I am not usually so curious, but something was pulling me to them. After a full day of doing other stuff and it nagging in my brain, I googled and discovered a story that touched me down to my soul. It moved me. Maybe it touched me because it struck a chord, a deep ringing chord. If there's nothing else my husband has taught me over 20 some years of being together, it is that life is all about your attitude and you live the life you choose so there's no sense whining about what you yourself can fix or chose to live with - it's all up to you. Honestly, I am tired of those that lament over what is not going right in their lives when they fail to see it could all be so different with a little shift in good ol' gratitude and attitude for what they have or realizing their problems are just plain trivial. We can all be happy if we just choose to see the big picture. Ryan and Carrie are THE examples of that. Ryan was born with a birth defect that left him with very small arms, no hands, very small legs and feet. I want you to really think about how that would impact your life, in all areas of it. It didn't stop Ryan. He drives, he works, he has a beautiful wife, and beautiful family. He even jet skis and does so to inspire kids with disabilities! (look here at pictures) Some of you may know Carrie, his wife. She is the artist of Pinkadoo blog! Have you ever once seen a complaint from her about how hard her life is? Nope. She is inspired by her husband, motivated, and supportive. I am failing at what I want to say to you and how important they are to me, but I will leave that to another time when the words have surfaced to describe my utter admiration. Knowing their story has lead me to commit myself to permanently change my attitude about what constitutes a problem and what doesn't. And, with that commitment, maybe someday I can share Ryan's story with someone and hope it changes their life too. For now I leave you with the link to Ryan's story (Ryan also goes by Hudson Peralta) http://www.hudsonperalta.com/mystory.htm

Beautiful Souls


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/10/09. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image without my permission.
This is an approximate 5 x 7 collage using the faces of Ryan and Carrie Peralta. Their bodies were made from pieces from cemerony.etsy.com, their wings are from Itkupilli.etsy.com, and their crowns are made from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. The windows are from Studio Jen at Scrapbookgraphics.com and were used with a commercial license. The hearts are from designer Nicole Young and also used with a commercial license. Most of the border pieces are from my own ephemera or scrap paper but the piece at the top is from collageanonymous.etsy.com and the black and white portion is from Crowabout.etsy.com. The words were created from my own vintage ephemera and from music from shabbychicpapirskatter.blogspot.com. All pieces were reprinted and hand trimmed with scissors, most pieces were hand colored with ink and pastel to some degree. Everything was attached by hand to a background from flickr's SkeletalMess and further embellished with ink and pastel.

A little art . . .

Still painting the house but I had to rest a bit yesterday and today. Took care of Etsy business, installed a new printer, did laundry and paid bills. I'm a little rusty making art - can't wait to get the projects done so I can work on art full time again. Today I just had to make something before the muses leave me completely. Plan to finish painting the main parts of the house by Saturday, put up the Christmas tree this weekend since it didn't get done last weekend as planned, do a bit of shopping for the long distance folks and work on art all next week. Feeling a bit better with a full week reprieve from mother nature. I'm hoping maybe she was just throwing me one last big good-bye party the last few months. We'll see I guess. Happy December 1st!

Soul Sisters


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 12/1/09. All rights reserved.
This is an approximate 5 x 7 collage using a face and body from flickr’s Very Good with Computers (both highly altered digitally and by hand). The wings in the headpiece are from Itkupilli.etsy.com, and the stars are from flickr’s cleome1. The hair was altered from a magazine picture. The background and border pieces are by designer Nicole Young (used with a commercial license) and cemerony.etsy.com and Cassiscreations.etsy.com. The black and white border was created from pieces from Crowabout.etsy.com. The girls at the bottom were used legally from the public domain and highly altered. The crowns on these girls are from keeperofthenest.etsy.com. Most of these pieces were hand colored and all were reprinted, hand trimmed with scissors and attached to the background.

I'm here and alive

I've been putting all of my energy into family stuff this last week. In addition to Thanksgiving dinner stuff (including waiting in line an hour and a half for our pre-ordered Honeybaked ham and turkey breasts - which were almost worth it), painted our son's room, ripped up the old carpet, cleaned the vintage hardwood floors, put up new base boards, and rearranged furniture. Tomorrow we're getting new blinds for him and new soccer cleats for the daughter. Then we are going to try and decorate for the holidays and sometime in the next couple of days I need to paint the hallway and put in new doorknobs. I'm pretty tired and very anxious to get to the doctor this next week I hope. Went to see Blind Side tonight - best movie I've seen in a long, long time - very inspiring and uplifting and moving. Avoided shopping this weekend and hope to do as much online as possible this year. Printer is giving me headaches so waiting on a new one to do much art - it should be here in the next couple of days. Will really try to get some more art done and get around to say howdy on everyone else's blogs next week. I miss you all and I miss knowing what you are up to - you're my army of inspiration muses. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sunday night miscellany

(An update on the Too Much Information post can be found at the bottom of this post if you're interested.)

Inspired by playing FarmVille on FaceBook, here is the first piece of art I've finished in over a week. I am addicted to FarmVille because it requires very little thinking and helps keep me awake when I want to be sleeping and can't be. You know, writing things and creating things takes so much motivation - it takes a lot to bring forth something that didn't exist before you put the letters together or brought the elements together in a piece of art. There's a place and energy you have to tap into to bring those things out. Mine is all plugged up right now. And you don't realize how much motivation it takes to do what we do until you are all of a sudden on empty! Things like doing laundry or running the vacuum have been comforting for me because I don't have to think to do them and still feel productive. Anyway, you can read more about that stuff at the bottom of this post if you want.

Soul Growing


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 11/22/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, download, print, or use this image in any way without my permision.
This is a 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 collage using bodies from the 1930 painting American Gothic by Grant Wood, and faces of Albert and Mileva Einstein from the public domain. Both of these elements were altered significantly in PhotoShop, reprinted, hand trimmed with scissors, and hand colored. The corn crowns come from my own vintage seed package, words from crowabout.etsy.com, the fish from phenomenon1851.etsy.com, the house from collagevisions.etsy.com, and the small frame from Studio Lorrie at Scrapbookgraphics.com and used with a commercial license. The backwards letters and numbers at the bottom are from Studio Maya at Scrapbookgraphics.com and also used with commercial permission. The Native American photograph and the eggs are from the public domain. The 2 hearts were cut from a 100 year old encyclopedia page. The raspberry pieces and most other border elements are from Gaby Braun of gaby-cajubrasil.blogspot.com. Thank you, Gaby for your generosity. All pieces were reprinted, hand cut, and hand colored and then placed on a background created by merging textures from flickr's JoesSistah and Itkupilli.etsy.com. Many thanks to JoesSistah for always providing such lovely textures to play with.

Did you get yours? Oh, my. Anahata Katkin's Papaya catalog is a feast for the eyes and a must have for making your holiday wish list! It is like a little portable museum of her gorgeous work and I want one of everything inside. Anahata has commented my work once or twice before so to see her big amazing 62 page catalog makes me a little star crossed and giddy. She is living my dream and I find so much inspiration in her work and from her example - another art idol to worship.



Once again, the mailbox Gods have been good to me and brought me surprises galore. I received this gorgeous and so fun piece from Janny Tricolore of Tricolore of Mixed Media blog. I have loved Janny's work forever and after gushing over this piece on flickr she up and sent it to me! I just love that guy sitting there so matter-of-factly in his tutu and boots! You'll notice the same words I used in my piece above - Replinish the Soul. They're part of a hot, hot, hot collage sheet from Nancy Baumiller at crowabout.etsy.com! Thank you, Janny, for this very much enjoyed piece! I love it.



And then the very kind and talented Lorraine Stobie of Creative Daily blog sent me these beautiful Christmas tags. What another lovely surprise to get! Thank you, Lorraine! You are too good to me and so thoughtful. They will be used and enjoyed and bragged about this holiday season!




Okay more on the previous Too Much Information (TMI) post. Mother nature has given me a break for a couple of days and I've had just enough energy to do what needs to be done and just a bit more. I go in for blood work Tuesday or Wednesday and waiting for paperwork to see the gynocologist, who just happens to be the obstetrician that delivered both of my kids 16 and 18 years ago. I am very pleased with that as I loved him and trusted him completely. Anyway, I imagine I'll get to see him in the next 2 weeks. Thank you for all of the emails and comments. I told my husband it helps so much to know I am not crazy in trying to describe how very exhausted I am feeling because so many of you have been through it, came out of it, and "get" what I'm going through. I'm sure this will be all over soon. Until then, I'll do the best I can with everything! Thanks heaps for your loving thoughts and wishes!

TMI

Hi all. For my new visitors, I apologize in advance for this post . . . It's definitely a little Too Much Information, but my blog has always been about my journey, mostly art, but personal stuff overlaps sometimes. This is a personal post and I'll be posting art stuff later on Wednesday. I'm very open about what is going on in my life, usually, but try to hold back a bit from personal stuff - I don't a lot of the time because of my openness, but I try.

Anyway, many of you regular visitors know, I am 43 and relatively healthy and happy. But, to be candid, I'm having some female issues that are really taking their toll on me. I have had some ovarian cysts for three years that have caused some concern lately. I had a pap smear in August and it was normal and then had an MRI and pelvic ultrasound which revealed there are more cysts and the tests need to be repeated in about two weeks to decide what to do about them. I was feeling fine and not too worried until September and started having my "monthly visitor" every other week. Now I have had it pretty much constantly and very heavy for the last five weeks and I find myself exhausted. I keep trying to talk myself out of it and that it will all straighten out, but I am just plain old tired, like more tired than I have ever been in my life, with the exception of those first few baby weeks twice (2 kids). I have reached the point the last two days I feel I can't fake it anymore and it's not going away and I just have to let you all know I am not myself. I have calls in to get authorization to see a specialist and hopefully get this taken care of soon, but just wanted you to know that I am having trouble keeping all of the balls I used to juggle in the air now. I am so tired, I find it harder and harder to blog visit, make art, answer emails, or do things that require actual thinking beyond what is absolutely necessary to stay afloat. Coming up with original ideas is the hard part. Etsy is going fine and chore like things I can stay on top of, but mental effort is really not going well for me. I am a very determined person, so some days I pull it off and others I just have to give up. I'm not overly concerned. I think it's just one of those things some of us have to go through in our 40's (my mom had the exact same thing happen at 42) and it will get taken care of pretty routinely once we get the ball rolling. So forgive my absences and flakiness and lack of visiting. I will work through this and all will be fine soon. Thank you!

Happy Friday!

Another busy week - lots going on but all is good. I ended up not taking the job at Micheal's due to some minor health issues that need to be fixed up and that I decided were more important than the whopping $500 I might make by Christmas. Can't put a price on your body and comfort. My son sent his first two college applications out this week and we are going to visit some campuses this weekend but they're nearby.

Here's my latest piece for the Collage Dreams on Paper class. I'm not really happy with the lettering but I did it - still afraid of that darn lettering and that's probably why I'm struggling with it so much. But, as I struggle with the lettering, I'm getting more comfortable with the new background style at least. I may reuse this main figure and try another one. The main figure will be showing up in parts on one of my collage sheets soon. I'm still working on some other body parts to add to that sheet but I've got it about 3/4 done. Hope to blog visit and flickr visit over the next few days - I miss everyone and I've been hunkered down in my own little world. Time to throw open the curtains and see what's going on outside!

All Star Diva


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 11/13/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image or any part of it in any way without my permission.
This is an 8 x 10 collage (approximately) using a face, body, legs, and shoes from one of my own collage sheets (not yet released), a hat purchased from clipart.com, and wings purchased with a commercial license from Butterfly Utopia. All but the wings and hat were printed in black and white and then hand colored. Regarding the border pieces: the flowers, wavy black and white stripes, teal and white piece at the bottom, and number 9's are from Studio Maya at Scrapbookgraphics.com; the parking meters were purchased from clipart.com; the rest of the border pieces are from my own collage sheets at tumblefishstudio.etsy.com. All pieces were attached to a background altered with NeoColors, PanPastels, and ink.

Have a great weekend!

Not just Veteran's Day for me . . .

We buried my mom 13 years ago today. She died very suddenly at age 66. I was 30 and so not ready to be without her. But, life has a way of working in its own way and honestly, the way things turned out, I got much closer to my dad than I might have otherwise and that has been a very precious gift to me. What they say is true, time heals things and lessens pain and sorrow, but I miss my mom.

I am starting a part time job today. I applied for one, kind of on a whim, and got it, not sure that I even really wanted it. It's no great feat - I'm working at Micheal's of all places! If nothing else, a discount will be nice. But, I have to say, it's been a long, long time since I worked for minimum wage. I hear the job and nice pay I left to make art no longer exists thanks to CA's education cuts and I'm just thankful to have a job at all in a state that has the worst unemployment rate in the country. I was sharing somewhere else today that it's just hard to not have a job, regardless of pay rates. I've only not worked 5 years out of the last 29 - I started working when I was 14 and didn't not work until my son was born. I keep thinking he's going to college in less than a year and I can't just play all day everyday. I'm not sure how it will change things art wise . . . we'll see.

I finished one collage sheet and one collage today. Here's what I wrote in flickr about my collage piece . . . "For Nancy Baumiller's Collage Dreams on Paper class . . . Well, I did it. I did what I was afraid to do. I played, no plan, no printing stuff out. I just used scraps AND I finally tried hand lettering. I can't say that I like it, but I like that I finally let go, loosened up, and faced some fears here. Heck, I even scribbled some if you can believe it."

Always


This is an 8 x 10 collage using mostly images from my new collage sheets but also many scrap pieces of paper and a few magazine pictures of trees (altered and recolored). The wings are from Itkupilli.etsy.com, the scalloped border at the top is from designer Sande Krieger, and the hat was made from a piece from Studio Maya at Scrapbookgraphics.com. The fish, all the bodies, face, and many other pieces are from my collage sheets at tumblefishstudio.etsy.com. Lots of ink, pastel, and the main background is acrylic.

Here's the new collage sheet

FrooFroo



I am so honored to be featured on two lovely blogs today. Thank you to Lorraine of Creative Daily for a lovely post. Lorraine was just published in Somerset Studio and has so many different talents. You must hop over and peruse her lovely blog. And, another big thank you to Nikki Smith (again! I mentioned her on yesterday's post). If you didn't stop by after yesterday's post, jump over now and check out not just her blog but all of her gorgeous galleries!

A bunch of stuff . . .

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. Where has the last week gone? Doesn't it always seem like time speeds up this time of year? Or do we say that all year long, every season? I don't know. I've been busy. The collage sheets I've been making take a lot of time but I've gotten a little more comfortable with it. One soccer season is over so we have a bit of a break as the new team starts practicing. And, we've been filling out or at least talking about filling out college applications with my son. We're going to finish that this Wednesday.

Nancy Baumiller's Collage Dreams on Paper class has been teaching me a lot, but my mind has been all over the place figuring out what it means or what it should mean to my work. I wrote in a comment over there that I think there was this little bit of me thinking if I took the class I would magically be able to make imposter Teesha and Nancy work. This was not the case and at first I was disappointed that my work still looked like mine. But, I've started to accept, I am me and just like I can't hand write just like any of you or you like me doesn't mean a hill of beans and is probably a good thing for variety sake. I know this was in the Being an Artist 101 class but I keep making it harder than it has to be.

This piece was made for a one-eyed zetti postcard swap and I chose to make it in the style of Nancy's class though it is much more organized than Nancy or Teesha would organize something. Many of the elements used are from my new collage sheets and this piece is available as 5 x 7 print - all in Etsy.

Beholder


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 11/6/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a 4 x 6 postcard made for a swap. The body is from lisasalteredart.etsy.com and the flower crown is from spiceitup.etsy.com. The wings are form designer Nicole Young and used with a commercial license. The eye charts in the borders are from shabby chic papirskatter. The rest of the border pieces and the view master are from my own collage sheets at tumblefishstudio.etsy.com. The face is from the public domain and highly altered. All hand cut, most hand colored, and attached to a background made with NeoColors and Pan Pastels and ink.

There was an auction for our friend, Tina Wright, who is fighting colon cancer. I donated a couple of prints and gift certificates. One of the high bidders was so very sweet to offer me two of her pieces of work and when I went to peek I was just amazed at her beautiful and original Wee Planets. Nikki Smith is a very talented book artist but works in all sorts of mediums. Her Wee Planets just truly caught my imagination. I chose one and she sent me two.

This one is called Planet Path.



And this one, I didn't realize until I looked on the back, she personalized to be Hotel de Tumble Fish!



See in the close up? Isn't that just the coolest thing ever? I just love it! Special touches like that can turn a very lovely and cool piece of art into a meaningful and extremely lovely and cool piece of art! Be sure to go look at Nikki's other work, but here's a link to her Wee Planets http://art.flatwaremedia.com/images.cfm?pwid=0&dynid=0&tblImageCategoryID=75 You can get to her blog and other galleries from here too.




I finished a few more collage sheets . . .

Vignette-ies

Happy Day Swim Club



Scrapalooza


And lastly, you've seen this before, but it is now all glued down with lots of ink outlines and shading added. It's in my Etsy too. I wanted to share the image credits now that it's done. A lot of folks have asked about the houses and I got those from Kelly Burton's collagevisions.etsy.com.

Little Traveler


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 11/6/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a large 8 x 10 collage using a face from the public domain, glasses and crown purchased from clipart.com, legs and boots scanned from catalogs and altered digitally and by hand, skirt from the public domain, bodice and arms from cemerony.etsy.com, hearts and wings from designer Nicole Young and purchased with a commercial license, houses from collagevisions.etsy.com, TV screens & exit sign purchased from clipart.com, word "entree" from designer Lorie Davison of Studio Lorie at Scrapbookgraphics.com, black and cream border from crowabout.etsy.com, scalloped and straight red and white striped border from crowabout.etsy.com, small red and black border from crowabout.etsy.com, inside side borders from Gaby Braun of gaby-cajubrasil.blogspot.com, scalloped borders with numbers from designer Sande Krieger and purchased with a commercial license, scraps from Graphic 45 papers, other scraps from the public domain and my own vintage ephemera, and clouds & view master reel from tumblefishstudio.etsy.com. Most of these pieces were hand colored to some degree and all were hand cut and glued to a background made from NeoColors, ink, and PanPastels.

First digital collage sheets are done!

Whew! I had no idea how much work was involved in digital collage sheets! All of you image sellers I buy from, my hat is off to you! I don't know how you get so many done. I worked pretty much non-stop from Friday to this afternoon and I only have 5 sheets done and have only used about 12 of my 100 or so vintage pictures. I have a long, long way to go! But, here they are . . .

Fun House



Borders and Scraps



Paper and Tin



Little Geishas



Snappy Dressers


I am taking a break from all things art tonight and doing some laundry, going to a soccer meeting, and watching TV later. I might even wear my new lovely bracelet to do these things. I won a prize from Monica Magness's Pink Artist Project and the prize was this very gorgeous bracelet from my friend Sharon of Livewire Jewelry! Sharon, I haven't even written a thank you yet but I'm off to do that now! Thank you so much! I love it and am already fighting my daughter over it! I can't believe I won!