Friday, December 6, 2019

Winter Raven up at Redbubble

hi there.  sweetie was able to get my raven online at my redbubble shop, but society6 was having issues so that will be another day.

heres Winter Raven as it is on canvas
*click link to get to all merchandise



it can go on shirts



you can have it on coasters and other home decor




on totes and drawstring bags




and hardbound notebook, greeting cards, stickers....


I didn't do a whole big bio on this painting like I usually do for my spirit animals.  I just wanted to get this lovely guy out into the world.

enjoy your shopping, and be sure to check out my other artwork!

until later,
Jenny

Thursday, December 5, 2019

new raven canvas in progress!

today I was motivated to start a canvas, and knew the raven wanted to speak again.  I found a reference photo on unsplash.com, cropped it a bit, and got to work creating a busy background for it.

it has gold twirly bits as well as lots of colored pencil scribbles
 to add to the texture of the piece


I then did a quick sketch, hoping I'd be able to fix anything with paint later on



I then toned down the background a bit with some gesso and red iron oxide



then I got to adding some black and adding initial color to the eye



as soon as it started feeling like work I stopped.  I want this loose and easy, not tedious for me.  these days when I get motivation and energy at the same time I need to encourage it as best as I can, and not punish myself by thinking things must be photo-perfect.  if I wanted that, I'd find a raven and take a photo, not create a colorful journey into the heart to find the messages that lie within.


after more scribbling and eye-work.
oh, do I love working on eyes!



updated with the finished painting!

"winter raven"

until later,
Jenny

the newest tarot card art journal spreads

I've been slow with making these, but I'm happy that I've been able to dabble in paint and collage without judgement from my inner critic.  baby steps in getting back to physical and mental health.

the next cards drawn were the 5 of pentacles;

meaning financial loss, poverty, lack mindset, isolation, worry.
read more about 5 of pentacles here


and the queen of swords;

here are her elements before figuring out composition and such


symbolizes independent, unbiased judgement, clear boundaries, direct communication.
read more about Queen of Swords here



the high priestess was next.  I had some difficulties when I scrubbed part of the ink off the collage piece for her face while affixing it to the page.  I had to trust that I could enjoy my time correcting the colors and making her face mine (and not 'perfect')

symbolizes intuition, sacred knowledge, divine feminine, the subconscious mind.
read more about the high priestess here


until later,
Jenny

Friday, November 8, 2019

tarot art journal spreads

I was able to get back to the art table on November 4th, after a little break from things.  I always worry when I take breaks cause I wonder if I'll ever have the energy to get back into art of any form.  I also have to hold myself from criticism with these journal pages.  other artists may spend hours futzing with every little detail in their art journals, but I want to do quick pages just to let off steam and get something down on the page that represents the tarot card that I chose that day.

my first card of the month of November was the Tower.  it's not a sweet card to draw, for sure, and I found some good images to represent the chaos of it.




I laid out all the collage pieces and took a photo (above), but when I went to glue the elements down things got shifted and I couldn't shift them back.  I liked the composition above much better.




the way it turned out seemed to have a bit of disconnect with the woman and the tower.  the eye didn't move freely with the image as a whole and got stuck where her hand is.  movement is much better in the unglued version!  I had an inward chuckle that this spread was giving me trouble, and fixed it a bit with fire images.

it is what it is

I also like that the woman in the fetal position in the image has a soft ball of yarn.  to me that tells me that what is happening is for the better in the long run; that I will come to the end of this phase stronger from it.  read about the Tower card here.





I worked today with the Page of Cups.  for some reason I felt the energy of my son, Winter-Orion, for this card.  Winter is in the spirit dimension now, but he was very creative and intuitive and this is the energy for the card.  I thought about using a photo of him for this, but realized it might get in the way of knowing the card better instead of always relating it to Winter.  again, I chose the images that spoke to me and just created without too much thought.

and the end result has become another favorite;

read about the Page of Cups here


it was a good creative outcome today, and glad to have my boy join me in it!

until later,
Jenny

Sunday, November 3, 2019

introducing frank the skeleton; a halloween tale (photo heavy)

my sweetie loves halloween.  I mean, he is passionate about it.  he's gotten a big outside display going now, thanks to friends and family getting good deals on after-halloween sales and giving him halloween decorations for christmas.  he sits outside with his cauldron of bite-sized treats waiting for trick-or-treaters to come.  though, in our neighborhood there is usually a non-stop parade of kids, so it's practical to sit outside anyway.  he goes 'reverse trick-or-treating', which means during a quick lull in kids he will take said cauldron of goodies and go to our neighbors houses to let them have their pick.  a few of our adult kids and some friends will sometimes come over to hang out by the fire with us,  all because sweetie is such a kid on this day.  halloween is a big deal for us!

this year we saw some life-sized (for me, at 4' 11") skeletons at a good enough price and sweetie grabbed one to bring home and call our own!  he carried it by it's neck around the store like it was walking by his side, making people smile to watch, and buckled him in the car to go home.  I was happy and excited to add to our growing display.  (we're gonna need a bigger yard, soon).

sweetie's been stressed out at work and I thought a little intrigue and lightheartedness was in order so I decided to make his coming home time a little brighter by displaying our new purchase in different scenarios, ala "elf on a shelf".

the first day, October 2nd, saw our new skelly, frank, getting rid of some unwanted pounds;

actually, I wasn't sure this was going to be an ongoing thing,
but the reaction I got from this first surprise cemented the idea of doing it all month


on October 3rd frank wanted to read sweetie's fortune;

what sweetie saw when he walked in the front door

a crow friend stopped by to see what cards would be dealt



October 4th had frank helping to take Lucy-pup outside;



but he kept passing out from losing weight from day1, so needed to sit and take a drink of iced tea before sweetie got home;

I think pixel kitty is confused by the whole situation


on October 5th sweetie was home for the weekend.  frank wanted to enjoy some fresh air while we took Lucy for a walk; 

"I'll just wait here"

he might have fallen asleep by the time we got back to the car.  
who could tell- no eyelids...  or eyeballs, even!


October 6th was my birthday and sweetie took me to the fair.  frank didn't seem to miss us much;





sweetie was back to work on October 7th and frank was cleaned up neat and pretty to welcome him home that night;




I had a load of laundry to do on October 8th, and frank was kind enough to give me a hand.  what a nice houseguest!  




frank was being a little silly on the 9th.  he'd seen pixel kitty hanging out on the cat tree and wanted to see the house from that vantage point;




on Thursday, October 10th frank figured he needed a good scrubbing from all the fur he sat in while on the cat tree;

"hey!  a little privacy, please!"



on the 11th I caught him coming out of my bedroom after he woke from a nap;





Saturday, October 12th, frank decided to help sweetie with yard work;


he couldn't stop playing in the pile, though, so not much help was had;

"wheee!"



it was D&D night on October 13th, and frank wanted to join in on the fun.  sweetie said if frank helped set up he *might* be able to be a guest player;




after a busy weekend frank fell asleep with some light reading on Monday, the 14th;




frank had a mishap on the 15th.  he fell down and broke his wrist, poor thing!  he took a look at sweeties 3D printer, but found the break is in too bad of a location to be able to fix...  frank has a sad;

he's holding his own hand,  hoping for a cure to his dilemma

**cries**



sweetie surprised me the next morning, the 16th, when I went to move dear frank, and I couldn't find where his hand had run off to!  I figured it would have fallen out of his other hand in the night with pixel kittys rampages (cause "pixel is crazy", said in the manner of the SCRUBS line "hooch is crazy", if you know the tv show).  I looked on the floor near where frank was located and couldn't find it, said oh well, and went to move him, only then looking directly at his face;

he must be very hungry by now 
to be gnawing his own hand!


saddened by his new lifestyle change with a missing hand (well, not missing anymore, just not attached), frank went to mope.  he was soon joined by a pack of alpacas trying to cheer him!


see the cute little alpacas on either shoulder?




on October 17th frank wanted to meet my sweetie at the front door;

no slippers or beverage with him, though



frank decided to check to see if the bathroom sink drain was leaking on Friday the 18th;

even minus a hand, he's still quite handy


another busy Saturday for sweetie and myself.  when we got home on the 19th, we interrupted this cozy interlude;

bun-bun assured me frank was a gentle-skele-man 



Sunday morning on October 20th was a quiet, relaxed time spent at home, just chilling on the computer with the family;





Monday the 21st was spent with me on the couch.  frank kept annoying me by asking what we were going to do that day.  he would not let up, even though I told him I wasn't feeling well, so I put him in a time out;

someone pointed out he looks like he's peeing.
guess he was mad at me.
and look at pixel, egging him on!



the next day, October 22nd, frank apologized for being annoying (and then peeing in the corner while in time out), by making me a vegetable pot pie.  he's forgiven, the scamp;

"ta-da!"



Wednesday October 23rd and all is well.  frank was feeling dapper and tapping his toes to some internal music when sweetie got home that night;


he reminds me of Jimmy Durante 
without his famous nose
"ah-cha-cha-cha!"



frank got on the floor to play with the critters on Thursday the 24th;

Lucy wasn't sure she wanted to be friends
even though she likes bones

 "really, mommy?"


pixel was ok to give a good sniff


and then frank fell over with the giggles



frank said TGIF on the 25th, and stopped to smell the flowers;

 he's been envious of sweeties mustache, 
so got out the pretty paper and tape

you may notice he planted his hand.
he said it was to see if he could grow another one

I told him I dont think it works that way, 
but he wanted to try



Saturday we did some more preparations for our halloween display, and frank got into the spirit of things;

he hasn't taken off his mustache yet, here.  
maybe he thinks its a costume?



on Sunday the 27th, frank was getting pretty anxious to open the candy.  not, yet, frank!

he doesnt think we'll have enough candy for kids AND him

stop trying to eat through the bag, frank!

frank's not a patient fellow




October 28th and halloween is getting closer!  frank seems to be getting ants in his pants, or something;

frank fit
so frank sat
just like pixel
our crazy cat



frank heard through the grapevine that we're expecting rain on halloween, and he got a little glum;

"please don't rain on our special day"

pixel saw the sadness settle in and tried to comfort poor frank

frank even did a little sun prayer for a favor




Wednesday, October 30th had frank happier, as he heard trick-or-treating would be postponed until Saturday for rain and high wind worries.  frank went upstairs to chat with pixel... possibly to plot something.  I worry about them telling secrets; you just never know whats next with those two!



"yo, dude, wash your knee!"



it's halloween!  sweetie had the day off, so we went shopping and came home with a couple new pets for frank;

I think they like him

pixel wasn't so sure about things, though.  
he had a 'fuzz incident' a bit earlier, but I didn't catch photo proof.
he was swatting it, and his tail was HUGE


friday, the day before the big trick-or treat day, and tension was high for frank!  he knew he had one big day of the year, and he had to be on point with the scare.  I caught him giving a pep talk to some of his co-actors;

"I know you'll all do a great job!"

I caught pixel listening in a little later;

looks like he didn't agree with some of the spooky talk.
either that or he wants to be part of it


sweetie came home with a surprise.  when we went shopping for on-sale pets for frank on halloween I got the thought of getting this guy only after we had gotten the chihuahua skeleton, and cracked myself up;

meet "Ferter"
(please tell me you got it, so I'm not over here cracking up by myself)




todays the big day!  November 2nd, trick-or-treat day for our town, and sweetie and son #4 had some help putting things together;

frank met Steve the dragon for the first time

frank saw how many parts Steve was in and passed out.
he does that a lot

"you put tab A in slot B?  are you sure?"

yay! all together now...
YAY!

"look at me, now I'm a dragon!"
what are you dragging?
"NO!  me!  I'm a dragon!  nevermind"

frank has Steve all tied up for tonight
and even Lucy is pleased with the display

resting time

sweetie still setting up

frank now has a sword and a guard dog at his side

part of the cemetery

pretty!




the night was very busy with tons of happy kids (they were circling the cauldrons, 5-6 deep waiting at times!), lots of neat costumes to see, some pups to give special treats to (the owners were thrilled), and lots of praise to the mastermind behind the amazing display!


sweetie was in his element

frank and the whole cast of characters got a lot of complements
and a few photos were had with them



"bye everyone!  thanks for letting me play!"


"now into the trunk I go, until another spooky day"


I hope you enjoyed our tale of frank.

until later,
Jenny