I'm still right here, giving blood, keeping faith.

My apologies to my readers for my silence. I am making art, which is always a good thing. It appears the slump has passed, or at least just faded away. There was no big bang, or major revelation that spurred my recent creativity, it just crept back in, silently, as it's done many times in the past. I'm grateful, but wish I had more insight to the workings of my own artistic mind. I'd love a guidebook on how to not fall into a rut again, but I know at some point, I'll feel less than inspired, and the cycle will repeat. For now, though, I am creating.

Lately, my mind is all over the place. Many days, my mind, as well as my heart, is in a secluded spot by Rush Creek, off of Highway 395 in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It's a familiar place that I've been many times. Nearby, several aspen trees bear the carvings my brothers and I made on past visits. Behind me is a flat-topped hill with 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. It's so quiet there you can hear the earth breathing.

Other days, I find myself thinking of the high desert of the American southwest. Red rock country. Another home for my heart.

The traveler in me is restless, and has been for a very long time. I yearn for the ocean, canyons, sagebrush, mountains the scope of which Virginia can't touch, endless night skies where the stars burn brighter than you could ever imagine and roads that lead to new, magnificent discoveries that take your breath away. Forever the dreamer, that's me.

I seek to pour this longing into my artwork. Not sure if I'm succeeding yet, but that's never stopped me before.

Mixed media tentacle triptych made for a swap with an online friend and fellow artist.

Work in progress.

Art and life are both works in progress. i enjoy taking the journey, even with the bumps in the road.

Altered Book Round Robin

i'm still here! i want to update my blog more often, really i do, but it just seems to be put on the back burner over and over. However, i'm mostly not here because i'm busy making art, so i don't feel the least bit guilty...ok, maybe a little. 


i have ideas brewing for a post about fearless art journaling - not an original concept, but i want to offer tips and suggestions of my own to those who don't know where to start with the medium. i actually have a good chunk of the post already written up, just need to find time to finish it. i may use the post as a jumping off point for a swap on swapbot, so any followers here from sb who may be interested, be on the lookout for that!


So, how about some new art?

i joined an altered book round robin over at flickr, and that has been a lot of fun. If you'd like to see what our group is doing, check it out here. i am going to share here my own work, but there's great work to be seen by the other players over at our flickr group.

This is my book:

Front cover.

Inside cover/first page.

Second page/layout.

Third and last of my layouts.

The book is now being worked in by the other players. i chose this theme as a result of missing San Francisco. i haven't been able to get back since we left in 2003, and it eats at me. That place sticks with you, that's for sure.

Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully, i'll be back to post again before too long...