All the world's a stage -William Shakespeare (As You Like It 2/7)

Continuing my education in digital Art. This is my latest ATC for Paperwhimsy.  The theme was All the world's a stage.

Digital Art

I'm continuing my lessons in digital art. Monday is my lesson day. Today I learned to add a floor and make a silhouette out of an object.

Have a great day!

More Digital Art!

The weather here is pleasant and balmy.  The water in the swimming pool however is freezing.  I took a dip yesterday and much to my surprise the heater had not been put on.


I've been spending some time downsizing my junk and I am getting bogged down. So today I'm taking an art day and am continuing my education in digital art from Rande Hanson at Paperwhimsy. I'm loving what I am learning. Today I erased the background of an old plate and added it to a garden.

I also learned to duplicate layers and add drop shadows.

Hope all is going well in your corner of the world!!

Happy Halloween!

   We don't get into Halloween like the folks up north and I kind of miss that.   So keeping with the orange color theme I give you an orange sunrise from our beach.

                                   Hope everybody has a great trick or treat day!

Creative Connections, Minnesota.

I was very fortunate to attend The Creative Connection Event in Minneapolis.  Besides learning valuable information on how the craft world operates, seeing some very original artwork, meeting some of the most amazing women, and being treated to many goodies and eye candy, I was able to participate in a couple of classes.  I thought I would shake things up a bit and take something I knew nothing about.  That would be The Folk-Art Portrait Painting by the delightful and talented Laurie Meseroll.  That is her dipping her brush in the paint with her attentive students around her.

And here was my work in progress.  I found I really enjoyed having a paint brush in my hand again!

I also enjoyed a little sight-seeing.  It took two days to do the Mall of America.  Junk Bonanza was fantastic!  And I was able to fit in some bird watching.

The most relaxing part of the trip was a side-trip to Duluth.  I wanted to see Lake Superior.  It was the prettiest blue that day.  I discovered a mansion on the lake and took a tour.  There was a mansion, a gardener's cottage, a boat house and carriage house.  Such a beautiful peaceful place on a mid-September afternoon.

Glennsheen  Mansion

Flowers in the Gardens

Saying good-bye to Oliver.

     God gives us love. Something to love

         He lends us; but when love is grown

      To ripeness, that on which it throve

          Falls off, and love is left alone.

                                                              Alfred Tennyson

It was with great sadness we had to say good-bye to Oliver.  He developed a saddle thrombosis causing paralysis of his legs with congestive heart failure.  We always knew he was living on borrowed time.  He was born with congenital heart failure and severe allergies. He wasn't quite 2 years old.  He loved being the center of attention and we called him Oliver the Frolicker. He is sorely missed.

Portland, Oregon

I was very fortunate to have a week of perfect weather.  After the heat of south Florida the 70 degree weather in Oregon was very refreshing. The skies were clear and blue!  I was able to slip away to take a couple of classes at a terrific store called Collage.  Check it out!  It has everything you need for a variety of collage projects!

My favorite class was making a small collage for a glass tile pendant. Here are the two I made:

I tend to like the unusual.  I could show you pictures of Mt. Hood, which was very pretty.  But you can get those from any travel sight.  Here are some of the things I enjoyed:

Caught this bicycle outside Powell's City of Books.  Even if you don't like books, you have to see it to believe it!

        An arty fence in the arty neighborhood of Alberta where one of the Collage stores is located.                    

                                                                                                                       Interesting birdhouse.

And for something I just thought was pretty:

                          The backyard of a florist shop in the village of Multnomah! Love that birdhouse!

Will post about some of my finds at the antique stores next post!

Have a great week!