the joy of life & my art therapy

Everything is better with brownies. Today was a better day. I took a walk while Cary went running. Beautiful weather. I saw a Cormorant (a bird with long legs and neck that dives under and fishes) drying its wings in the Beaver Pond up the street. Usually they are in the harbor or on the river drying on the buoys. This pond is so funny to us because it used to be a field...till the beavers came along.

Later today I played the computer game World of Warcraft with Cary before he went to work. I haven't played in a long time. He absolutely loves the game and is able to keep in touch with his friends in Maine because they play too. I am not good at it but its something fun we can do together. After he went off to work I got involved in some art...and a conversation with my Dad. Tearful follow up from all the junk of yesterday. He is one of my favorite people in this world and it meant so much to me that we got to talk. It definatley influenced my work on a mini album. "Understanding the Joy of Life."

This color in this photo is awful. I used a olive green paint on the chipboard and layered the spring green lace cardstock over the top with modge podge. I used the same design on a previous mini book and was inspired by one of Ali Edward's Weekend Creatives. The two greens I used are very similar in color...in the photo they look like a sharp contrast. The book has many pages...some off-white, some brown, some green, and some layered with the lace cardstock. The back of the cover has a quote on it from the conversation I had with my Dad tonight.

I only completed one page tonight. I used Staze-on White opaque ink to stamp the lettering onto an overlay. I used white acrylic to paint the circle and the word "Time." The words and photo have meaning to me in light of the book theme. They are hard to explain. Timeless. Stone Walls. History. Past. Now. This was really my own art therapy tonight.

After I worked on a two-page spread about my two workplaces. Again, inspired by Ali Edwards and her blog post today...I scraplifted her layouts. I don't usually do this but there was something about her use of paint (which I've been into lately), and the imperfection in hand drawn text boxes, and the organization of the square photos and journaling. Here's my take...

I apologize for the poor quality of my photos today...
Well...off to eat some of the brownies I started this post with...I haven't actually had one yet! And to read some blogs and unwind.