Another Day of the Dead painting

Ok this one is a little creepy... yet makes me happy at the same time! Huh?? I call it "He Gave Her His Heart". It's 16x14 acrylic on gallery wrap canvas, sides painted black.

I went to our annual Division picnic at work today, we have one every year. The weather was perfect, 2 days ago it was 100, today was 77! Nice. This year, I played some of the games that I sat out of in prior years, but I am feeling so much better, now that I'm doing water aerobics, I played!! Simon Says... Simon says raise your right hand. Raise your left hand. No, Simon didn't say raise your left hand! Simon says put your hand down. Simon says clap once... clap twice. Duh Simon didn't say clap twice! I failed. Ha ha. I also was part of this relay race. First leg of the race, I had to walk holding a spoon in my mouth and balance an onion on it. Next was rolling a lemon with a pencil. Then throwing spaghetti at another team mate who was wearing a garbage bag, they had to stick 10 noodles to them. And the last leg was one person holding a hostess cupcake that was dangling from a string hanging from a ruler, while the other person ate it. I think I got the easy part! But it was fun!! Good to spend time with co-workers having fun... not so stressed out.

I was going to go to the Y for a class tonight, this would have been my 6th day in a row, but the pool was closed. They are having some problems with something. Bla... So no exercise for me today! Oh well. I came home and finished this painting!

That is all for today. Be well and go create! Tj.

Post Card for Day of the Dead Altar and Art show.

I just thought I'd share the post card for the show... Yes my art is on the front! I have one more painting almost done, I'll post it when it is complete! And once my altar is set up I'll be sure to post pics! I am really excited about this show!!! I hope all is well with you... now go create!!! Tj.

Day of the Dead paintings

Ok, just a quick update. I finished 3 small paintings to hang by my Day of the Dead altar that will be on display at the Marco Fuoco Gallery here in Sacramento. They are acrylic on 4x12 canvas. I'm having fun with these! I have one more skull painting in my head I'm going to try to finish also. We'll see!

I think I"ll call them, Lighting the way...
Side view shows the marigolds painted down the sides. Well it's hard to see in the red one but they are there! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! Tj.

Blog award!

Thanks to Kathleen Harrington for picking me as a recipient of this Kreativ Blogger award. I so appreciate it! Do check out her blog, she is quite the artist herself and I am honored she included me!
I am to pass this award along to seven other artists for their impressive art blogs. And, post 7 things about me that you may interested to read, so here some interesting facts he he he:




1. My art is my hobby. For now until I can retire from my State job… 2 years and counting! Check the counter on my left nav!!


2. I am an adoptee, and a few years ago was reunited with my birth family! Including my brother I grew up with, I have 9 brothers and sisters!


3. I have 2 great kids… ok they aren't kids any longer but still great! And a wonderful step daughter and son in law (who is a Rabi.) and 2 very cute step grandchildren!


4. I am married to a great guy, who gets to do what he loves for a living! He is a professional musician, always has been… yes I am often jealous.


5. I started painting just 3 years ago, just before I turned 50.


6. I play the ukulele! And I may be playing in a concert for the holidays!


7. I am a trekkie… well I've never been to a convention but yes, I love Star Trek! I do really! I even made Star Trek uniforms for my husband and I and all 3 of our kids for Halloween one year.


And here are my 7 blogs who are deserving of this award, please go check out their blogs:


Folk art by Campbell Jane. My friend Janet, she is a wonderful artist and a really nice person! I am happy she is my friend.



The Cart Before the Horse. Jo James and her husband make the most adorable and wonderful folk art dolls and things. The also live on the Oregon Coast where I would love to retire to!



Different Strokes from different folks. Karin Jurick who is an amazing artist herself, maintains a painting challenge blog that hundreds of artists participate in. If you have not checked it out you should!



Art Propelled. Robyn Gordon who lives in South Africa makes wonderful carvings of wooden totems and panels. Very detailed and creative!



Notes from the Voodoo Cafe. Ricë Freeman-Zachery is hysterical! Her blog is very active, often multiple updates every day about art, writing and the creative life! She has a new book out called Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art and it is available now on Amazon.com.



Laurelin Gilmore is an amazing artist, writer and beautiful human being. I am so lucky to count her as a friend. Her blog and website is often full of wonderful art and kind and interesting stories.



Art Full Musings. Caterina Martinico's blog always reflects great artistry. Caterina is a wonderful Encaustic artist and her mandalas are awesome! I hope to travel and take a workshop from her one day soon!



So that is my seven plus seven... I hope you take the time to explore and enjoy the artists I have chosen they are quite inspiring!



Be well, be kind, and mostly be creative! Tj.

First items for my Dia de los Muertos Altar

I am participating this year in an art exhibit for the Day of the Dead, (Dia de los Muertos.) Those participating are creating Altars (Ofrendas) to honor friends and family members who have died. Mine is going to be to honor my parents. I have never created an Altar so I had to do a lot of research, I wasn't even sure I would know what to do. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I've learned so much about this holiday. I am honored to participate, and feel very fortunate that I have the opportunity. I've started to gather items for the Altar, I went to a great little import store here in Sacramento today, Zanzibar Trading Co. and purchased a few little things. Paper flags, a Day of the Dead wedding couple, a tin heart, and a small statue of Guadalupe. I am also creating paper marigolds, so far I have 18! Marigolds are traditionally included, since my altar will be showing for a month, I didn't want to use fresh cut marigolds, although I may purchase a small plant. Here is a photo of my marigolds and the few little items I've gathered. I am really excited to see how this all comes together! To learn more about Day of the Dead, Wikipedia has some good info. Or do a google search, it is lovely!

Other news, I have been honored with a creative blog award! Kathleen Harrington has picked me!! Now I must pay it forward. More on that tomorrow! Be well my friends... Tj.

Saturday fun...

This past Saturday night was fun. I went to the Lodi Grape festival with my hubby. He was playing with the Wingnut Adams Blues Band. Wingnut is a great entertainer and really funky musician and puts on a heck of a show! This is a photo of Wingnut playing the harmonica, my hubby in the back ground doin his thing...

They played in the evening, before them was a country band. The Bobby McDowell Band, they were ok. Not the best music I've ever heard, and kind of korny. He seemed kind of well… like his ego was slightly inflated. Here he is (cowboy hat) signing an autograph on his promo photo, using Joe's speaker cabinet as a table. Joe is standing there just waiting... dude, Joe was trying to get set up! He finished signing his autograph stood up, chest all puffed out and looked up at Joe and was standing there like hand me the photo of me to sign. Joe pointed to the speaker, and Bobby moved out of the way. Geez really? Egomaniac, get out of the way we want to set up!

I did a little walking around, but it was really hot, so not much. There was a bungee jumping trampoline thing that the kids were having a great time on. I stood in the shade and watch for a while, they were having so much fun!






There was a reptile exhibit, I loved these big tortoises!! A juggler riding around on his unicycle. A big band with musicians of all ages. Really quite the county fair festival!

There were 4 music stages. That night Blue Oyster Cult was the headliner on the big stage but I never made it over there. But I did go see The Ralph Woodson Experience. A Jimi Hendrix tribute band and they were really good! I never did have the chance to see Jimi Hendrix live… so this was the closest I'm ever going to get! I enjoyed that very much. The band was great and he really sounds like Jimi, and kind of looks like him too! I also took some time while Joe was playing, and went to play Pitch. It is the Lions club version of Bingo! The catch is, the players throw a baseball into a cage thing and the ball goes into a grid and that is how the numbers are picked. You call the number you are picking as you throw your ball, if you actually call the right number, you win sausages. If you get a Pitch (bingo) you win a ham! Yep it was very quaint!!! Enjoyed myself very much.

I am working on an Ofrendas, or Altar for a Day of the Dead art and altar exhibit. I had to do a lot of research on the subject since I've never done one. Mine is going to be honoring my mom and dad. I'll post photos as I get parts of it done. I was working on making paper marigolds last night, after my water aerobics class. I got one done, it was a little time consuming, I'm going to have to figure out something a little quicker… really I think I used too much paper on the first one, and it was really larger than I wanted. I'm going to try another technique tonight! Well that is it for now! Be well. Be creative. Tj.

International Day of Peace

Today is International Peace Day.

Take a few moments and reflect...

A few moments to be still...

A few moments to vision peace for all.

Be well... Tj.

The virtual paintout challenge

Ok, well I think I've finished this one... I'm calling it done! The Virtual Paintout, a city is chosen for the monthly challenge, this month was Lisbon Portugal. Each artist must use a view of the city found using Google Street View as the reference for the painting or drawing. I virtually walked around Lisbon and found this little street where it seemed every window had laundry hanging, so I call this "Lisbon Laundry" it is acrylic on 24 x 18 gallery wrap canvas.

Here is my painting:


















And here is the photo of the street from google maps:









I changed the angle a little, and made the walls much brighter! You know me and color. I've always thought to do a whole series of laundry hanging in the wind. I have been asked to participate in a group art show in November called Urban Landscapes at Vox Studios in Sacramento. I believe I am going to run with this theme and do laundry hanging in urban settings. My dear friends Carolee and David are in Italy right now and have already captured a couple of images for me to use. I am very excited and appreciate it! Thank you both and I hope you are having a great time!!!

That's it for tonight, off to bed... be well everyone! Tj.

A few pics from our weekend...

Wow, what a weekend. So peaceful and relaxing. The cottage we rented was so perfect! The owner Louise is also an artist. The cottage really reflected that. It sits on 6 acres of bay front land. She has a wonderful garden, with lots of veges and fruits growing. Her greenhouse has an aviary attached with 4 beautiful doves that live there. Past the garden is an orchard with trees of many kinds… there were apples that looked nearly ripe. The orchard and garden are totally fenced, if it wasn't the deer would quickly find their way in and help themselves.

The garden was full of whimsical statues and stuff and pots overflowing with succulents and flowers of many kinds.

The other side of the house was open to the bay, there was a large grassy area that led to a board walk to the bay side bench. Joe, Bosco and I spent several hours sitting and watching the tide roll in and out and the birds eat. Day one we arrived around 4 pm. It was slightly overcast and gray but the cool air was wonderful! We watched the sunset and listened to the quiet. The egrets arrived at dusk as the water flowed in. There were other birds that came at low tide walking around in the mud finding lunch.

Here is the view back to the cottage.

Day two was our full day there. We had a lazy morning, I took a long bath in her big jetted tub, we spent time on the bay side bench and watch a storm move closer. We decided to take a drive in the misty fog to get some lunch. We went to the little town of Bolinas. It's located about 30 minutes south of the cottage, along the coast, accessible only via sometimes unmarked roads. Why are they unmarked? Well, road signs pointing the way into town have been known to be repeatedly torn down by the quirky local residents. But we found it! HA! A little seaside town full of poets, artists, musicians. We fit right in! We ate in this lovely little café, I had great clam chowder and garlic bread! Yum! We made it back up the coast and decided to drive to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was so wet and foggy we couldn't see a thing from the car, and we weren't dressed to hike to the lighthouse! But it was a fun adventure... full of cows! There are many ranches along the lighthouse road. Some areas where the cows are open to the road, and in the fog that was really interesting! We came up on a few, and fortunately I was driving really slow, it was foggy. Driving along I was like, honey what is that? Oh hey there are cows in the road! That was worth the price of admission!!

I just love cows… ok, not to decorate my kitchen or home… but as a creature. They just make me giggle for some reason! I got these few shots of them as we passed on by.

On the way back through Inverness to the cottage we stopped and picked up a little pizza for dinner. Poor Bosco was a nervous wreck when we got back to the car after lunch, we didn't want to leave him again for dinner. So Bosco and I stayed in the car and Joe went in to order. Back to the cottage, watched the rain and ate pizza! It was a glorious day with my honey and my pup!

Day three, my birthday and we didn't want to leave!

The clouds broke and the sun came out. But Joe had to teach at 4 so we packed up and came home. A wonderful but all too short trip. I think we will go back again!

My birthday evening was spent with my children, Nick and Lindsey. My brother Tim and nephew, Thaddeus and my sort of adopted daughter Jamie... ok she is my friend Patti's daughter... just part of the family. We had dinner, then cake and ice cream! It was a perfect birthday!

That is it for now. Be well, Tj.

Am I crazy??

Well I asked myself that yesterday. It was another furlough Friday, so I was off all day. I knew I wanted to do 2 things, go to water aerobics and paint! Well my daughter had rehearsal last night and would not have been able to go to the 6pm class with me, and she really wanted to go, so we went at 1:00. Good class, the day teacher is good, but I really love the Friday/Monday evening teacher. His name is Marcus and he REALLY makes us work hard! It is all deep water in his class, and I always feel great after. So, I went to the 1:00 class with Lindsey, then went back for Marcus' class at 6:00. I was thinking I was crazy... but it felt great and I'm not any more sore today than I would have been anyway! This is week 5 of my new water aerobic life, and I'm feeling really good. Stronger, well lots stronger, taller... yep I feel taller, but I know it's just because I'm standing up straighter!! Woo hoo.... heck I'm just feeling better all over! The old me, just fat, old and tired. The new me, well still fat... but it's ok with me. Old? Well I turn 53 on Monday so, you be the judge, but I'm NOT tired!!! My husband was playing last night with the Steve Foster band, and Lindsey had rehearsal for the musical "Bat Boy", so it was just me and the dogs. I relaxed for just a bit, then got my paints out. Still working on the Virtual Paint out piece of Lisbon Portugal. It's coming right along!

Joe and I are going to Inverness CA as soon as he gets done teaching today, we rented a little cottage on Tomalas Bay. I am so looking forward to it!! Hurry up honey so we can leave!! Ok, patience, deep breath, we will get there soon.

That is it for today... except here is a painting I did for my daughter Lindsey. Staring into the sunset, yep I'll be doing that tonight, well minus the dolphins I'm sure!

Be well, go create and remember to breathe!!! Tj.

Hey it's 9-9-09!

I was feeling a little non creative today but like I must blog! Today is 9-9-09 after all. And well as much as I wanted to wait until it was 9:09 to post something, I just couldn't wait… I just love the world of blogging! I've been thinking I wanted to paint on fabric for a while now, I love to make dolls even though I've not made one in a while. I keep getting the idea I want to try making dolls with painted on faces or clothes... then my friend Patti was here visiting and re-introduced me to quilting, although I'm not sure I have the patience to quilt right now… at least I've been having trouble just sitting down to cut fabric into little squares. But my piles of fabric are calling... and WOW!!! I just found this great blog, The Cart Before the Horse. It is by Jo James who lives on the Oregon coast, a girl after my own heart already! (for those of you who don't know, my retirement plans include moving to the Oregon coast!) (Hopefully) (We'll see what happens to the economy in the next 2 years) Ok, I digress… she and her hubby are both artists and create these wonderful little whimsical folk artsy dolls! Painted! I knew it could be done.

I went to her etsy site and she sells these patterns for what she calls a cheater quilt, a quilt you paint! What? I can do that?? Ok, my creative juices are a churning now! I ordered a pattern and can not wait to get it! The photo is the one I ordered, how cute is that?? An all holiday quilt! You should really go check them out…





My daughter Lindsey and I went to go see Julie and Julia this weekend. That was really a cute movie, and to think it all happened because of blogging! Love spending the time with Linz… love you sweetie! Really fun movie, a slice of life movie, I recommend it. I also worked on some paintings over the weekend. Well the two posted below, and also one for The Virtual Paintout challenge. Love this challenge. Every month a different city is chosen and you use Google maps to find the image of the city you want to paint. Last month was London, I did a view of the London Eye! I am fascinated by the London eye so that was an easy choice. This month it is Lisbon Portugal. It took me a while to find what I wanted to do. I virtually walked around Lisbon for quite a while until I found it... includes some poor un-expecting persons laundry! Yep, there are shorts, panties and bra hanging on a wire, right there on Google maps street view! HA! We'll see what happens!!! I'll post it when it's done.

My birthday is coming up. My hubby Joe and I will be taking a couple of days off, going to the coast to cool off. It is still quite warm here in Sac this time of year, today around 100, and smog is often a problem, but a couple of hours drive and ahhhhh…. Cool clean air! I am so looking forward to it! Be well, and go create! Tj.

2 new paintings.

The first is a painting for the Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. Cupcakes!!

Here is the photo that was provided by Karin Jurick for the challenge.








The next is a photo of my painting called "Ooo sugar!" It is acrylic on 12x4x1.5 canvas. Giant ants added by my imagination! The Different Strokes blog has hundreds of great artists who participate in the challenges. You should take a few minutes and check it out!





The second is a new challenge blog I am doing for the first time. It is called Following the Masters. This was a challenge to attempt to capture the feeling of western art. I had a simple idea, this is a small painting acrylic on 6x6 canvas. Titled Saguaro Sunset. This is a newer challenge and not as many participate... yet. But also great artists to be found! This one won't be for sale, my hubby Joe LOVES cacti, he liked this one a lot, I decided to give it to him to put in his teaching studio! I love you honey!

Ok, well that is all for today (or tonight)! Be well... Tj.

Blog award...

Ok, I created a new blog/life award… hey I'm an artist I can do that right? I have a friend and she has a great blog and she is always so up and positive, (and also a great artist!) she is a spreader of peace and love. So, I have created a new award specifically to recognize her!

So Jana here is to you! May your life always be filled to the brim with peace and love!

Jana's blog Folk Art by Campbell Jane.

Please everyone feel free to pass it forward, recognize everyone and anyone you know who looks on the bright side of life, keeps it positive, spreads the love, ignores the negative, shines with brilliance, puts positive energy into the universe and inspires you! Just right click and copy the jpg below… they are my originals, you have my permission! And be sure to tell them to pass it forward!

Peace and love to you all! Tj.

5 rules to happiness!