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.