Queen of Heaven

THE QUEEN DOWAGER KEPT BEES
so they called her the "Queen of Heaven."


As I'd mentioned in my previous post, I was going to paint the 2-fold accordion style little book (with the woman on the front and the title 'feeling mauve') again in a better rendition. I did this and of course I should have guessed that the muse would step in quite quickly. This happened, and the little book turned into a Queen Dowager who kept bees. Because of this, because of the glorious heavenly honey available to everyone, they called her the 'Queen of Heaven.'

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope I'll see you soon, N. xo

Feeling Mauve

dc104: Saying

I would not say that I am feeling blue these days...it's more of a mauve tone of mood. And I put it down to the realization that I have neglected to honour my word and this letting of myself down has pulled a mauve curtain over my days. I have made more promises than I can keep (in the short term) and I hold promises sacred sort of. So for those of you who have not seen the package in the mail with my return address on it, I apologize, for it has not been yet mailed. The same goes for those who have not received a thank you from me, nor even a mention that what you have sent to me arrived! For shame on me. So I am ready to rip aside the mauve curtain and start putting things in packages for the post office, and to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) to say my very belated thank-you's.

I've been engrossed in making the little books that I make, and so for this drawing challenge I have adopted the theme of 'proverb or saying' into another of these books. This time I have a gal surrounded by mauve. Her rice plants are even mauve [dark] and the saying is thus: Consciousness of an honourable intention is the greatest consolation in troubles. ~Cicero

As you can see, this little book is quickly done. I'll be doing a 'better' one.

For more words of wisdom, see Patrice! Thank you so much for dropping in today. I hope to see you again soon! N, x

Horsey Face

dc103: FILLIP [lover of horses]


The drawing challenges have pushed me and encouraged me in my development as an artist. I have learned to draw better, and more importantly to explore my own style of making marks. I go down some whacky roads let me tell you. Once again, this is a whacky road for me.

This is a drawing which is only just started and will not be finished in time really, for the showing this current weekend, but I am letting you see what has developed so far. This drawing/painting/mobile/mixed-media piece grew and grew and grew. It was going to be the simplest of drawings with barely a mark and only kisses of watercolour added. It was going to be some lady who loved horses, and which I hadn't exactly figured out how to show yet, when I began the drawing.

As I started to make the first mark, it started to grow on it's own (my muse is heavily involved here.) It is a woman gazing at a looking glass to commune with her animal nature, which we can't see as the mirror is facing away from our view. But, if you turn the drawing to the back, you are able to see what the woman sees reflected back to her in the looking glass. We see that it is a horse.

The paper [THANK YOU Lynne Hoppe] was given to me to try out to see how I liked working with it. I think it was a combination of the automatic pencil and this paper that completely dictated the look and style of the drawing. It kind of drew itself. I am not going to rush it so will show you this simple beginning. I will continue to work on this piece. Here it is:


The paper is a 200 lb. something (I'll have to get more details.) It is so strong and so thin it is like a sturdy wafer. I have erased in one spot it feels like a hundred times, but more likely 15 times (I could not get those chicklet teeth to save my soul.) I splotched watercolor and the color would NOT lift. Good to know.

I wanted you to be able to flip the paper easily to see the back showing the image and so decided a mobile would be in order. Then the muse came up with East Indian trim and I went with that. Then the muse dictated a little 'story' to go with, so I went with that. The back of the mirror is decorated with a Lynne Hoppe species of flower. I could not resist painting in the chicklet teeth with a gel pen from the Ranger line of products. And her red lipstick and matching nail polish. She sports a gold hair clip and after the whole painting/drawing is complete I'm going to glue on a little flat zwarovski crystal on the cabochon. Her pompadour hair style is influenced by Dita von Teese.

Thanks for dropping in today, and I encourage you to go view the lovely Stefanie's blog as she is the host for this drawing challenge and it is she who chose the theme for us to play with. All who are joining in on this theme are LINKED at Stefanie's site so go have a look!!

Smell Pink Rice

dc102: smell

BarbaraBee is the host of the drawing challenge for this week and she has selected the theme smell!

I've been working on a new design for a little accordion style book with two folds, and the idea of a bird taking the time to smell kind of tickled my fancy. So I plugged along with my project and added the idea of a bird smelling. The pink rice was the muse's idea (I never question this.) Here's the front cover:



It's tied closed as usual. This time with a barrel bead and two matching flower beads. When opened you can see the inside, and then when flipped, the outside (or other side as I like to refer to it.):



The back cover (when book is tied closed) looks like this:



This is painted with watercolour, using sumi-e brushes. The paper is a very heavy hand made sheet which I've torn into the smaller size that I need for a little book.

Have a look at BarbaraBee's blog which is linked above, and you will see more offerings from the artists who have played along this week. I always enjoy the variety of ideas here. Remember that all are welcome to join in the drawing challenges.

Thank you for dropping in today, and I hope to see you again, soon. Hugs, Norma, x

She danced burlesque...

...he saw to it that she had fresh flowers every day of the rest of her life.

dc101: burlesque


Our gal has put some time between her burlesque days and these days. Her eye sight dimmed with a cataract perhaps, only her eyebrows the chestnut brown colour she was known for, and her stature a bit smaller with time, she has yet the presence of a great beauty, the confidence of a woman loved, and memories of the burlesque dance she perfected many years ago.
She sits by a table smelling of chanel no. 5 perhaps.
This drawing challenge was hosted by the mysterious, exciting, vibrant dancer Tania, who has chosen this wonderful theme for us to explore. You will be amazed at the differing takes on this theme, and to view what the players in this challenge have prepared for us all, just pop by to Tania's blog where you will be easily linked to all of the offerings.
I had a bit of a time with this weeks' drawing challenge, and went from watercolor, to line drawings, to collage...of silhouettes of babes from a Taschen book of 'icons' (lots of pasties here,) to drawings that did not work, to despair that I'd not be able to do anything with this at all. I've been lately revisiting a study of the Tarot and so I decided to get help there. I asked the Tarot to Speak to me of Love and I pulled out one card. The five of coins. This could be a whole separate post, but let me briefly say that I believe that if a person has an attitude in one area of their life, then they likely will have the same attitude in other areas as well. So I think the card while obviously giving the message of destitution (financial) and the feeling of barren prospects, this could be equally transferred to the area of love. One can feel destitute of love and hopeless to embrace potential prospects. I thought about how this would transfer to a burlesque dancer and came up with a quite older woman who was once loved very much. So much in fact, that the fella saw to it that she receive fresh flowers all of the days of her life. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he was married and the church forbid divorce and she and he could not bear the pain of being together and not being able to be really together, perhaps he is in the other room making her a cup of tea. We don't know. Our gal is not rich, nor young, not beloved as a youthful dancer teasing the world with her charms, she does not give romance a thought. But she has flowers and memories and chanel no. 5.
Thanks for dropping by today. I am having a major struggle with my computer, uploading, picture editing, etc. and if I can re take a picture of the drawing, I will. It's crazy out of focus. Yarrrrgh!! N, xo