CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DREAM - Paint Party Friday Week 48

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DREAM
DREAMS ARE THE WHISPERS OF YOUR SOUL
THE WHISPERS THAT TELL ALL OF YOUR UNDYING DESIRES
THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART ♥

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DREAM  

                                                              ~ Annabelle 2012 ♥

A new year and a new batch of art dreamed up many moons ago.

Recently the local library in North Gower asked me if I'd be interested in showing my art work and doing their artist of the month, of course I obliged happily. Too shy to show my picture next to my artwork that my daughter M took.... still my work and name went out there; a very good thing. 

It's been some time now since I last participated in Paint Party Friday but here I am now. For many personal health reasons my muse and energy wasn't there for many months but hopefully I'm back on track, I better be, because now I have another artist of the month this coming October 2012 and that's when my book will most definitely be done....wish me luck!

The main work of art I am so very happy to show case this week is my painting for my storybook I'm working on. 

Done on wood panel board, wood burned, and painted with ink and acrylics.

♥ HALLOWEEN TWILIGHT  ♥

Twilight is turning dark and grey,

The Spooks are coming down the way

Tis Halloween and this night they say,

The Witches will dance and sing and be gay.

Meet Cassie and her dog named Boo

Of course my usual spider and web is never too far and the little saying I've written along the bevelled edge of the painting with some gilded dandelions, stars, wheat and cattails.

Need to take some pictures of the writing...too dark to see here.

I'm still not sure of the Witch's name although the title "Cassienadognamedboo" is my Etsy shop's name which hopefully I wouldn't tire of too soon : )

And here is more art work that I've done in the last month...

♥ The Woods are Lovely Dark and Deep ♥

 Robert Frost...."Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

A Piece of RoseWood given to me by my father, of course what better way to use it than to in-still one of my very favourite poem excerpts ....a reminder of the spiritual calling of the wild wood and immortal poetic words of Robert Frost.

I think I'll make more of these....so many poems I adore and maybe some of my own.

♥  Snowcat ♥

handmade from recycled wool blanket and hand embroidered

♥ Who the Owl ♥ 

Again same as the SnowCat

Blue Heart ♥

 

    Charlotte in Love ♥

Cherry Blossoms ♥

Blue Bird of Happiness ♥

Pumpkins and Hoot the Owl Under the Tree of Enchantment ♥

....Don't you just adore this tiny miniature weeping Pussy Willow?

 Last Fall I asked the farmer down the road from me if he wouldn't mind if I gathered a few pumpkin stems from his field..... Happy he obliged... ..Thanks for sharing ; )

Whimsical Pumpkins  

And finally a Rose wool felted vine garland ♥ 

Adore the twine covered wire I found for it

And now enjoy the words to the song sung by no other than one of the most romantic crooners of the thirties in the UK

Al Bowlly ~ Close Your Eyes ♥

Close your eyes 

Rest your head on my shoulder and sleep

Close your eyes,

And I will close mine.

Close your eyes,

Let's pretend that we're counting sheep

Close your eyes,

This is divine.

Music play

Something dreamy for dancin'

While we're here romancin'

It's loves holiday

and love will be our guide.

Close your eyes

When you open them dear I'll be near,

By your side

So won't you close your eyes.

Until Next Time Happy Creating 

Annabelle ♥

An Angel to Watch Over Us

Last year's Christmas Fireplace Mantel....This year ???

Busy cleaning, decorating and shopping.

Will be posting some decorating pics and ideas.

 Just so much to do during this time of year : )

The Blue's Cure

Hope you are enjoying the music down memory lane. Always a perfect Blue's Cure.... at least it works for me. I'll be returning shortly with many pieces of art work I have been working on in the past few months. Music and Art are always my constant companions when battling the blues... : )

Hopefully they will give me the incentive to carry forward with what I had previously wanted to do in the month of October. A party with a few very special original prizes to give away...... ; )

N.B.  photo belongs to Possum Prints

I smile to think of what they used

To help us kids survive,

But I am "going on" 69

And very much alive.

My sorest throats were eased, and I

Still hold no bit of rancour

To think of sucking sugar lumps

With a drop or two of camphor.

And camphor mixed with goose grease for
A winter chest congestion:

Baking soda cleaned my teeth

And helped my indigestion.

Because of Mother's tender heart I hereby sing a Gloria!

She never gave me castor oil,

Just Syrupy Castoria.

Salt for all mosquito bites,

Cobwebs on the scratches,

The sickroom fumigated with

Our sulphur kitchen matches.

Somehow there's quite a bunch of us

That never had a shot,

But here we are still kicking

And enjoying it a lot.

~ Author Unknown

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

 from "For the Fallen " Laurence Binyon , 1914

War had many casualties and among them were the animals that served the forces or were owned by the families that left the war torn villages behind in seeking refuge. Soldiers found some solace in the company of orphaned pets such as dogs and cats , even our famous John McCrae had a war pet , a dog named Bonneau.

And did you know that a Lt. Harry Colebourn from Winnipeg had a bear called Winnie; yes the same bear that inspired the story for A.A. Milne's Winnie - the - Pooh.You can read about it here : WINNIE  

Doctor Harry Colebourn with Winnie

NB: If you'd like a good read about World War One do check out this book by Linda Granfield 

" Where Poppies Grow " 

Halloween Music Vid - "Trick Or Treat"(Version 2)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY M ~^..^~

LOVE MOM DAD AND TY XXXOOO

Imagine ~ Relighting the Peace Tower ~ John Lennon

Join Yoko in the relighting of the Peace Tower 

in Iceland

today at 4: pm our time 

Isle of Golden Dreams ~ Paint Party Friday Week 29

Doing just that , dreaming up art work for Paint Part Friday, art work for my Halloween Blog Party this coming month of October and everything-else in between  during our home renovations.

I really wanted to be a part of this week's PAINT PARTY FRIDAY so I thought I share with you a gorgeous vintage painting I bought some time ago for my daughter Emma.

ISLE OF GOLDEN DREAMS

She has always dreamed of travelling abroad, especially to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand and most recently Ireland. When I discovered this print I knew it was very old but after researching it on line I found out that it was done during the thirties ; a little older than I had thought.

If any of you have more information on this print I would love to hear about it.

So this painting is for all us Dreamers and Painters who dream of enchanting magical places and are truly inspired by the many artists of before and of now.

 "Isle of Golden Dreams" a beautiful painted treasure I uncovered one day at the Sally Ann.....Hope you like it......especially you Kristin ; )

P.S. Would luv to see you all at my Halloween Blog Party October / 2011.

Will be giving away a software program and an art piece done by me : )

Again Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting the weekly Paint Party Friday : ) Do visit all the participating artists....Always an Inspiration ; )

Impressions of Life ~ WIP ~ Paint Party Friday Week 28

Here is an image that I extracted by doing a charcoal rubbing of a relief surface feature belonging to.......You Decide  : )

Can you see something?

Yes, it's a face.....

A simple way to create gorgeous artwork is by simply rubbing a charcoal pencil on paper of which has been positioned over the chosen design. Usually when the right materials are used what should happen when you are rubbing the charcoal pencil over the image is that the charcoal will only pick up " the protrusions and edges; depressions will remain un-pigmented since the pliable paper moves away from the rendering materials" but since I did a quick rubbing of this image I just used what I had on hand.

I discovered that the hard charcoal pencil worked best as the soft and medium pencils seemed to not work as well.

If any of you have some pointers on this technique I would luv to receive any information that  may be of some help to me in continuing this work.

So for now, I leave you with the impressions, imprints and patterns of some secret object I've tried to capture on paper ; it is a part of my WIP for Paint Party Friday as well as an item that I will be creating for the Halloween Blog Party on October 8th and will be part of my give away gifts.

A software program worth $50.00 and an art work by me will be part of the prizes .

So please do remember and mark the date on your calendars ~  October 8th/2011 to attend the Halloween Party.

All you have to do is just leave me a comment on October 8th to participate  and be eligible to win.

And now for a little something extra......This week's TREASURE FINDS from thrift stores in the Ottawa Valley area.....one of my incurable passions and a couple of Whimsical chairs I've been working on.

 The Old Woman that Lived in a Shoe ! Copper Piggy Bank

Chinese Vase, not sure if it's chinese or Japanese but it is truly lovely.

I adore the beautiful gold design.

My Church Gresely Carafe ~ Jug ~ Pitcher....just luv it's spout and handle and ivy design.

And of course I couldn't walk out the store without this tape of a very, beautiful dog

movie I simply adore.... "Fluke".

And here is my latest art work in a different medium other than paint

Charlotte's Chair ~ made from an old petrified wood piece and an iron rod found on the train tracks.

And a Faerie's Tree Branch Chair

 So here is the clue of where I took my impression....Can you spot it?????

Yes, it's the old furnace plate ( don't really know what it is, just liked it )

The little cherub's face is what I rubbed.

It's amazing how many relief items I have lying around the house....I am one that really loves to collect objects with some kind of base relief and so now they have even more of a desirable reason for their collection.

Some of my Treasure finds find a nook to sit in and beautifully embellish our home and other Treasures are used in my art work. Now you know why I have such a passion for thrifting....always very inspiring for me and affordable, the magic word : )

Hope you enjoyed this week's Paint Party Post....Please make sure to go visit everyone that is participating in Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday....always a treat.

" Still Life " Paint Party Friday Week 27th

The hearth's terracotta tiles bask in the glow of the crackling fire....cold brisk nights have arrived.

Pussycat and dog curled up beside me as I read my new book, couldn't ask for more for this is probably one of their favourite times to enjoy with the coming of  Fall.

Silence is golden , literally,  for the glow of the setting sun hits the living-room windows and casts it's warmth and shadows on the newly painted white walls of the room. Suddenly the silence breaks, an owl's hooting is over heard the popping hot ambers of the fire.

With Fall and Halloween fast approaching I was inspired to do this wood-burning / painting of an owl sitting on a branch of a very, very old tree, half living half fallen ,  looking out into the slowly disappearing warm setting sun.

The burl wood piece I bought at a thrift store which had been painted on previously of which I sanded off the image.

After examining the wood I decided it looked so much like a tree from the back side and that it would accommodate perfectly the limbs and roots of a tree. Not only that, but it also reminded me of how a tree in nature, sometimes in it's splendid remnants of decaying grandeur tells a story of a storm, disease or simply old age embracing it's life. 

Even though a part of this tree's life has departed a living part remains and flourishes.....Life is eternal?

Visit the artists partaking in Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin and Please do remember to come back for my giveaway blog party this coming October. I will be giving away a software program worth $80 along with a  little something I created.


Here is a little Owl video from youtube I discovered.....Beautiful....Adore Owls!