REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Day 11 - 12 Days of Mother Love - Blessed Art Journal Page

This is an art journal page I created last night after I got home from volunteering at the used book sale at the Malaga Cove Library. I call this page "Blessed." I pull many of my images from used books we sell and recycle. In addition to the images, which I cut from copies of other media I've created in the past, I used paint, glue, rubber stamps, ink pad inks, stencils, pens and Pan Pastels.

If you would like to see more of 12 Days of Mother Love creations, go to Rebecca Brooks Recuerda mi Corazon. This is our next to last post for 2016. Watch for Our Lady of Guadalupes on the 12th. 

Day 9 - 12 Days of Mary - Our Lady of Cobre and Haiku

Religion is gone

from Cuba, Mary isn’t

El Cobre proves it.

Several years ago I created this page in one of my art journals and named it Our Lady of Cobre. She is the patron saint of Cuba. I got the inspiration from one of the late Thomas Merton's poems "Song of Our Lady of Cobre," 1944. Merton's 1948 autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain  played a key role in my life when I first read it in the early 1970s.

Her statue is in the mining town of El Cobre outside Santiago. She is also known as the Virgin of Charity (La Virgen de la Caridad). 

She was designated as the patron saint of Cuba by the Pope in 1916. Pope Francis visited Cuba last year (2015) and said Mass at the Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre. I found this article from the New Yorker very interesting. The Pope visited the late Fidel Castro and Raul Castro had visited the Pope at the Vatican earlier that year. The Pope apparently had a key role in healing U.S. and Cuba relations. I wonder what Thomas Merton would have thought about all this had he been alive to see it. 

You can visit Recuerda mi Corazon to see the offerings of other participants in 12 Days of Mother Love. 

SoulCollage® Card: In Honor of Seena Frost

As many of you know, the founder of SoulCollage®, Seena Frost, died on January 13, 2016. If you click on the link, you can read about her life and there is so much to celebrate. I made this card in her honor at a SoulCollage® group today and wanted to share it with you. 

I have put my Seena card in the community suit and this is what I wrote. I, Fran Pullara, am the one who synchronistically tripped across SoulCollage and the founder Seena Frost in an article in Somerset Studio Magazine in 2003. I knew her method would be a great addition to my inner journey toolbox not only for myself, but for others I teach and mentor. I bought her book and for the next year I became obsessed with making cards and writing about them in my hand-written journal and placing them periodically on this blog. In 2004 I flew north to take the facilitator training at a beautiful private home in the Santa Cruz mountains. That weekend was the only time I met Seena in person, but I knew she was one of my teachers. She radiated light and peace. The training really changed my inner life. I am the one who was deeply shocked and saddened by her recent death; in my mind she had miles to go before she slept. What a gift Seena has given to the world. I am the one who, particularly as I've grown old myself, wants to somehow leave the world in some small way better than it was when I was born. I have had many teachers on my life journey and I am grateful for them all, but I'm especially grateful to Seena and to those who continue to carry her legacy throughout the world. Through her, and through all my teachers, I guess I have made a small contribution to a better world. Rest in peace, Seena. 

These days I post my cards on my Redondowriter Pinterest site, my own Facebook site, and on other sites where SoulCollage cards are shared. When I have an opportunity to lead a group, I do. 

 

 

Hail Holy Queen - Day 9 of Twelve Days With Mary Art Journal Page

Hail Holy Queen Art Journal Page by Fran aka Redondowriter.

This art journal page was made several years ago, but just tripped across it.  Though it's not a SoulCollage card, I probably could make it into one. That's the nice thing about scanning and photographing your own work. You can repurpose parts of it endlessly. 

Several of us have joined Rebecca in celebrating her 12 days of Mary love at her blog. Everyone is invited. While this is not about religion, it is about sharing, opening hearts, rejoicing in ultimate mother love. It is about light, compassion, inspiration, and the sweet chance to begin each day together in beauty and peace. Thanks, Stephanie at Mango Studio for the words in this paragraph.  

 

Our Lady of the Angels: Day 5 of Twelve Days of Mary

This is Our Lady of the Angels I created in one of my art journals.  

If you would like to participate in Twelve Days with Mary you are invited to link up with Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon who started this lovely tradition of creating a Circle of Mary love five years ago. This goes beyond religion or culture, but unites a community in these days leading up to the Feast day of Guadulupe on December 12.

 

Fabulous "Paint In" Day at Torrance's Destination Art

All days are magical, but some are just more magical than others. That's how I feel about today.  I joined Destination Art in Torrance, CA as an associate member and one of the perks are two days per month attendance at "Paint Ins." Ten of us gathered in their main gallery today and we each got our own space to create. Here are some of today's artists.

This is Mike Ishikawa who was working in pastels and watercolor. 

Herlinda Giandalia was creating a large experimental art canvas with acrylics. We felt like old souls meeting for the first time. 

Bob Barrett was also working on pastels and shared bottled water with me.

Rosemary Bandes, who was our coordinator today, is one of the artists who has a permanent studio at Destination Art and helped in its planning. She is an experimental artist and I hope to attend a class with her this month. 

Lorene Barker works on a lighthouse scene in pastels. 

I neglected to write down Diane's last name but she was also working in pastels. 

And this is Rebecca Nasoir working on canvas with acrylics. 

Diane Reeves was working on a piece right down my alley. She does photography, mixed media and assemblage. She is working on a very special altered book for her grandson, if I recall correctly. It contains a lot of collage and then her son is going to write the family story inside. 

And this is me working in my art journal. Early at the paint-in Rosemary Bandes gave a brief demo on using Gelli Plates. One of my daughter-in-laws gave some to me and I hadn't tried them yet. Thanks, Rosemary. 

I hope all of you who have interest in local art will check out Destination Art. If you click the link above, it will give the address and details about membership, classes, and events. It's a very special place. What a great day!

 

 

 

Loving Lupita: Twelve Days of Mary Love (Day 3)

I'm still catching up with Rebecca Brooks Loving Lupita: Twelve Days of Mary Love.  She speaks of flowers in her post today and this art journal page I created a few months ago features a sunflower as her halo. It's a motif I often use in my art. 

Now I only have one post to be able to catch up with the others. I've been preoccupied and haven't yet visited the other participants offerings. I will slowly do that as some of these people are some of the most talented artists I know. 

Be sure to visit Rebecca's site and see the richness of the 2014 Loving Lupita posts. 

Spring Break Allows Time for Art, Reading, Gardening

One of the great perks of my part-time job is that I get two weeks off at Christmas and spring break, as well as eight weeks in the summer. That means doing "whatever" and trying not to feel guilty about it. This morning I took the time to complete two art journal pages I've been playing with for weeks. I'm also continuously organizing in preparation for the arrival of my son Joe, DIL Laura and grandsons Zach and Arlo on Wed. for a week's visit. I'm a bit of a packrat, I'll admit.

The focal image turned up on a SoulCollage^® card last week that I posted here and was featured on Daily Oasis and the SoulCollage^® Facebook page. I often scan or copy favorite images and use them over and over again. 

This page is called Triple Goddess and I am reminded of writer and poet Robert Graves "White Goddess" written in 1948. But, I always love art paired in threes independent of spiritual or symbolic meaning. My closest girlfriends growing up were Claudia and Dannie; I was Frankie. Everyone called us The Three Musketeers. Both of them are gone now, but I think of them so often and both are frequent dream visitors. 

Long posts don't work anymore our IT experts tell us and I suppose that's one of the reasons I post so seldom to Sacred Ordinary these days. I tend to get wordy because a writer is how I identify myself primarily. FaceBook has become my easier way to communicate on the Internet. But I do want to take time to thank a woman I'll name K. who has bumped up my art life considerably. When she destashed her own mixed media collage collection several weeks ago, I was the lucky recipient via Art Gang L.A., a list that local artist and teacher Kelly Kilmer facilitates. What a delight it has been to endlessly sort K's stash and divide it into boxes for other groups, as well as some boxes for just my art work. It's been like being a kid on Christmas morning -- over and over. Every time I use K's stash in my art work I just have to say, "Bless you." I love synchronicity!

Haiku My Heart Friday: Grateful for Another Valentines Day

When you really think about it, the commercial celebration of Valentines Day is a silly tradition. Culture has set us up for romance which is bound to bring expectations, sometimes fulfillment, but often disappointments. Yet, we all know that love is given and received in so many different ways. Valentines Day reminds me of one of the reasons I like to go to church regularly. It's like going to the gas station and getting a fill-up. Maybe Valentines Day is a yearly fill-up of love, a reminder of how important love in all its flavors really is. As for me, the concept of three kinds of love (romantic, filial and agape) long ago sunk in. I do, however, celebrate all of you who are blessed with romantic love today and every day. I do have some lovely memories. So,I give you three ways I honored Valentines Day with my art--and with one haiku for Rebecca's Haiku My Heart Fridays. 

Not just on this day,

But every day, practice love

and the world will heal. 

This is an art journal page I made this week. 

And this is a page created on Polyvore. 

And here is Sophia the Art Mannikin who is celebrating quietly downstairs.

Re-Ignite - Two Page Art Journal Spread

Among many art processes I enjoy, art journaling is one of them, but I haven't been doing that as much lately. An incident happened on the weekend, however, that re-ignited me. There is an e-mail list in Los Angeles called Art Gang L.A. hosted by artist/teacher Kelly Kilmer. It is lightly trafficked and mostly it tells about many happenings in the L.A. area, good places to buy supplies, etc. but occasionally some members are doing what we call "de-stashing." This means they are either selling some of their collage supplies or occasionally giving them away. 

I'm a supply addict, like most mixed media artists that I know. Many I buy new or used at tag sales. I scour the Palos Verdes Library Disrict used book sales for books and magazines. Thanks to Art Gang L.A., I contacted a woman named Kara who was destashing for free to a good home and I was willing to drive to mid-city to pick up. Kara (I call her St. Kara) had several boxes of old magazines and many bags full of mixed media supplies. She was in a cleaning out mode. Picture rubber stamps, tapes, papers, and ephemera galore, plus old issues of Somerset Studio and Cloth, Paper, Scissors. 

This two page red and black spread in my current art journal is largely made from scraps from Kara's supplies. Just click on it to enlarge. Her gift re-ignited me. And, I am once again re-organizing my own supplies. What I don't need or want will either go to Art at Your Fingertips (educational program) or to other locals in need of supplies. 

One other time I lucked out when a woman who lived nearby was moving to Hawaii and wanted to give away seven stacks of wire mesh storage drawers and the wooden door on top as a work space. It occupies one full wall of my funky studio/office and moving it in my car was arduous. Her husband brought the door in his truck.  Thanks, Chris, in Hawaii. I see her on Facebook. 

By the way, I can't recommend teacher Kelly Kilmer enough. Check out her website if you are interested in art journaling. Most of what I know I learned through her.