While artists seldom retire...

 ...there comes a time when their paint shirts are not fit for polite company.  This past week, I had to let my old one go, it being so threadbare that it could no longer protect my clothing.  The 'new' shirt was one I started on just before Covid hit, so had not yet finished the job.

While I had already started to mend some of the holes,

from this photo you can see that substantial repair needs to be done yet.  

It seems that everywhere I look there's another area waiting for a patch.

And of course, what you see it not necessarily what you get, given my penchant for outlining, over-printing and other mixed media shenanigans.

It certainly is a much stronger look than the washed-a-thousand-times old paint shirt.  I'm not even sure I can upcycle this in any way.  Unless...well, that's for another go round, I'd say!

Happy creative week to all of you, and my your own paint shirts carry you to glory!  

In polite society...

 ...one doe not talk about toilets.  I've rarely been accused of being too polite, however, and that's how this journal spread evolved.

An idle mind wonders (and wanders) while the hands are busy at mundane tasks, so mine just had to estimate how many toilets I'd cleaned in my life.   The answer astounded me, even at a conservative evaluation.    Trying to guess the point of all that led me to wonder who was cleaning who 😉 and the spread nearly finished itself.  If only that were the case for toilets.  🤣

I did manage a bit of work on the mini perforated edge book(s), at least to the point of choosing the paper for the accordion and covers.  More to come this week, with luck.

The Christmas cards are coming apace, with long hours embellishing the stars.  Now they sparkle nearly as much as do the friends and family they're meant for.

May your week have been as full of fun, colour and sparkle and may your mind's wandering take you to new and amusing places.

It's true that...

 ...I'm 'supposed' to be working on Christmas cards, but I couldn't help throwing some paint on a journal this week.  I suspect there will be another yoga-themed spread happening on this oh-so-subdued background.  😎 

And of course once I got into the paint, I came across some saved bits of stark white paper from a different project.

I could hardly leave them sitting there so boringly neutral, could I?  I threw them into four tubs of water stained with Golden high flow paints and the next day they were halfway (faintly coloured), so I switched ends and put them into different colours.  When they came out sopping wet, they were somewhat less uninspiring, so I dropped some more high flow randomly onto the papers.

The result was great fun, and now I have some interesting papers to turn into a mini book.  I suspect the size of these sheets (they'll be about 2 1/4" x 2 1/2" when folded) will be just about the right size to hold a word or two.

High flow paints fascinate me with the way they move on wet surfaces.  I'm just loving the results.

Of course, I did manage some work on the Christmas cards, as well, and really hope to finish them this week, as I know the out-of-country ones need to head out soon.

I'm hoping your week was colourful as well, and that your world is also dripping with creative juices.   

Halloween has come...

 ...and gone, and we had a grand total of 45 ghosts/ghouls/beasties and all sorts.  It was great fun, and we were delighted that the rain held off for the evening.  We were all prepped with a front porch display and a bowl of candy for our guests.

I did manage to clear off one of the studio tables, so John and I had a good deal of fun playing with a heat gun and wax crayons.

I do so like to see a man at work.  😉

And he wasn't the only one getting into the drip mode by a long shot.

Of course, the cards are continuing in progress as well, and with any luck I'll have the ones going out of the country done by mid-November so they'll have some hope of getting there before the new year.  While looking somewhat uninspiring with just the first layer completed, there is hope!

Hope your week was as much fun as ours, and that you're still enjoying the beautiful fall colours (we're hit the monsoon season here, and the rain is starting to turn to snow, so that's pretty much it for our fall, I'd say).  Happy November to you all.