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Focusing on Illustrating Stories

I have been quiet here for quite some time. Life has a way of taking new directions and opening different doors. 2009 is full of possibilities and crazy new adventures for me personally and professionally.

I have decided to end this dear blog of mine. I will now be dedicating all of my blog time to Illustrating Stories, where my heart really lies. We have big plans for our wonderful IS site and I want to dedicate all of my time and energy into making it everything that we dream is possible.

Thank you so much for visiting and sharing with me over the past couple of years. I hope to continue our blogging journey over at Illustrating Stories. You can also follow my 365 project on flickr.

Many blessings,

Jackie

Illustrating Stories turns 1

What an awesome day! It is a birthday celebration over at Illustrating Stories...we are turning 1. I have had so much fun working with my good friend Liz over the past year and can not wait for the year ahead.

To celebrate we are giving away a canvas collage...so go check it out!

It took me awhile

I love technology and the way that it helps me accomplish my daily list of things to do. For some reason I was slow on the uptake when it came to Facebook. I don't really know why, just busy doing other things and didn't want to get sucked into another technology. 

Well I signed up and now I am fully addicted. Tonight I chatted with a friend that I haven't talked to in almost 20 years. I pulled out the old year books and we had fun reminiscing about "the good old days" of Illahee Jr. High. Marisol, it was so fun, thanks for an awesome chat this evening!

Are you on Facebook? If so friend me up (Jackie Roper Wood), because I believe that it is my new unbelievable time sync!!

Thanks so much to my friend Cathy, Lynnae, and my sister Jill for inviting me to join. 

Project 365

I am joining the masses and participating in Project 365. What is 365? It is a year long project of taking a photo a day and has gotten to be a really big deal for 2009. Just google "project 365" or jump over to Flickr and see what everyone is up to.

My goal for this project is to take snapshots of the ordinary everyday things that make up my world. Through this project, I want to see more and appreciate the little things. I am not going for award winning photos, just clear enough shots to capture what I saw. Along with the photos I am including words or stories to help capture the feelings behind the photo. 

You can visit my 365 photo album by clicking here or click the link on the left which will be up all year.

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This is the photo of my treasure that I mentioned in this post. It is a felted purse in my favorite colors....LOVE IT!!!

While I was away...

...this was left on my desk

Wow, how lucky am I!!!!

Play Day

What a truly spectacular day! Reenie, Liz, and I went shopping in the Alberta district in Portland. It was fabulous (my new word of the day!) ! 

• Our first stop was Scrap, this wonderful fabulous place to get all sorts of fun treasures for your art.
• Then onto Ink and Peat, a store that I just want to cuddle up in and never leave. So many nummy things to see and touch. I want one of everything!
• Next we ate a super delicious meal at 5th Quadrant. Blue cheese and horseradish together on a sandwich, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
• Off to Imp, a very artsy bohemian store with all sorts of trinkets. I got an amazing metal basket for all of my art supplies. (pictures coming soon!) We all loved this place, but alas they are moving to Boston soon. So glad that we got to experience it before they were gone.
• We then strolled into Collage, a great art supply store. My mind went into overload and I got a little giddy. We were like crazy people in there, but oh what fun us crazies had!!
• After all of that it was time for coffee and sweets at Petite Provence. 
• Refueled by coffee we made one last stop at Digs, a unique home decor shop. I found an amazing treasure in this shop that just makes my heart sing. I will share pictures tomorrow!! 

 

I had such an unbelievably good time. I am so blessed to have two such great friends to hang out with. I can't wait to do it all again next month. Oh yea baby, this is becoming a tradition! Next month the Hawthorne District!

Happy New Year

Our holidays have been full of snow, snow, snow...then gifts, treats, friends, family, and lots of quite time. I closed up shop in my studio for the last couple of weeks and have spent my free time reading. It was nice to switch gears and take the time to be still.

Now I am back playing in the studio and thanks to my good friend Liz I have a new technique to get sucked into....wax. Yesterday Liz came over for a studio play date. Boy did we have fun, the picture here is my first waxed page (Day 11 in my Christmas Art Journal). It has tissue paper, cardstock, music paper, and metal embedded in wax. 

It was so much fun to do and didn't take long to get addicted! The best part, if you don't like where something is placed or the amount of wax in a certain area, just heat up the wax again and move things around. It is like an undo button!!! LOVE THAT!!!

We recorded our playtime and will be sharing the video on Illustrating Stories soon.

_________Onto something else_____________

This evening we have been playing a game called MindTrap. It is a brain teaser/puzzle game. Here is one of the questions from the game...can you figure it out?

What word from group B belongs to group A and why?
A) FRONT, SKI, MELON, FALL
B) ROAD, TIRE, TOWER, CLIFF

I wish you all a very happy, healthy, joyous, and safe New Year!

In love with Claudine Hellmuth's Paint

Here is the project that I mentioned on Saturday...

This is the first time that I have used Claudine's paint, I am in love. They go on smooth, mix incredibly well, and the best part you need very little to get a rich vibrant color. I ordered 6 colors to start, but after playing around with them, I need them all!!

This is day 19 in my Christmas Art Journal. Our advent box said "Watch a holiday movie", we all picked The Grinch. 

  

For this project..

• I drew the Grinch and then painted him in with dash of red, landscape green, and yellow pastel.  
• I then added Snow-Tex on his hat and collar.
• While that was drying, I tore a piece of cardboard (the right size for my journal) from the box that the paints came in.
• I painted the cardboard with landscape green and  layered on some paper
• Then cut out the Grinch and glued him onto the page 
• Added the quote from the movie 
• Ready to add a quick page into my Christmas Art Journal 

Holiday Tradition

We are living in a winter wonderland here. Nine inches and counting, it has been snowing for 24 hours and is not supposed to stop until tomorrow sometime. It is absolutely beautiful. 

What is it about having the world covered in white that makes everything seem so peaceful?

Elden and I took a late night walk this evening to enjoy the snow. We took the dog to her favorite field and watched as she romped in the snow, hopping like a bunny. 

Carefree, relaxed, special, that is what our delightful walk brought into our lives.

Every year we have a tradition to go look at Christmas lights. We pile into the car with our hot cocoa and popcorn and drive around to all of the best displays. Today our advent treat was "Go look at Christmas lights", due to the weather and the fact that Rachel away from home this evening we decided to walk around our neighborhood to enjoy the lights and the snow! Here are a few things that we saw...

  

I did get a chance to play in my studio this morning with Claudine Hellmuth's paints, they are fabulous. I got distracted by a big bright shiny object (9 inches and counting of snow is a big huge shiny object for the Pacific Northwest!) so I will have to share pictures of my project tomorrow.

Happy Winter!

Look what came in the mail today....

...Claudine Hellmuth's Studio line paints and sticky back canvas. Oh I can't wait to play, so many ideas. I think printing on the canvas has to come first! Or maybe some art journal pages painted with those nummy colors! Big decisions and lots of playtime.

This weekend we took it easy and just hung out as a family. Oh, we accomplished a few things but at a slow pace with no "hurry up" in mind. It was WONDERFUL, a really nice retreat in the middle of the crazy season.

We also got our first snow of the season over the weekend. It wasn't much, but we will take what we can get. Now it is unbelievably cold, going to be 15 degrees tonight! Hello, this is still the Pacific Northwest right?

I want to leave you with one last image. Yesterday as the snow came down, Rachel of course headed outside. Since she is 10 I don't feel the need to bundle her up myself, I can just say "put on your heavy coat" and trust that she will. While she was outside playing I walked past the window and here is what I saw...

...it shouldn't surprise me, she has never liked socks. My first reaction was to open the door and tell her to come in and get socks and proper shoes on, instead I grabbed the camera and smiled. 

That's my girl!!