Birthday In Vegas!

Hello all, listening to this song today, it's been playing around in my head since coming back from a very special trip yesterday. My hubby surprised me and whisked me off to [planet] Las Vegas for my birthday earlier this week! I say planet because it really is like stepping into another world, so much to see and do. Thank goodness it was only a short trip (4 days) because we didn't sleep much - it really is the city that never sleeps, let me tell ya!

Now that I'm back down to earth I really need to concentrate on getting my portfolio put together. I've had so many stops & starts with it, everything from distractions & creative blocks to everyday life pulling me away from getting it done. What do you do to move beyond this kinda stuff (crap) ? I even took my 'Art & Fear' off the bookshelf today for a quick reread to see if that helps...

Anyhow, I hope you're enjoying much creativity, a little bit of fabulous & a whole lot of whatever it is that inspires you in your little corner of the world. As always, be well.

Postcard Exchange - My trade

Finished my postcard for the art exchange I set up with one of my favorite artists, Emila Yusof, so thought I'd share it with you. Emila had sent hers to me a few weeks ago and I only had a general idea of what I was going to create for mine. However, after sketching out my entry for IF's 'Alphabets' last week I was inspired to create this card with the letters H and I (hi) with different greetings from around the world - so fun! I've been totally inspired with these whimsical flower illos and want to thank you all so much for your wonderful feedback and support - and yes I am considering your suggestions to make this into an alphabet book or card collection!! :)

I used a few techniques on this for the watercolor - wet into wet, salt resist, stippling etc. then when dry I detailed it out w/ prismacolor pencils. Finally I sealed it w/ a fine matte finishing spray.

This started out as a sketch in my moleskine, I then cut the page out (eeek! I'm sure if there's any moleskine purists out there, they'd shudder hearing that - however I've learned that if I don't take my supplies too seriously I have the most fun and the BEST results so no problem here 'wrecking this journal' hehe!). To give it more stability for going through the mail and to write my greeting to Emila, I glued another moleskine page to the back, weighted it until flat and then for a nice clean finish, rounded the corners.

Postcard Exchange

Today was a great mail day- yay!!! About a month or so ago I emailed one of my favorite artists, Emila Yusof, a hugely talented illustator, to set up an exchange of original art with her in the form of postcards. I was blown away when I opened my mailbox and found her BEAUTIFUL artwork sitting in there! Not only is it gorgeous it's huge for a postcard, about 4x9 and in my fave colors. It got a little bit marked up going through the mail but hey - it came halfway across the world to get to me!!

Anyhow, I didn't even turn it over to read the back I swear, for at least five minutes. Oh my I will treasure this forever, I love it Emila - thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart!!!!!

Yipes, I haven't finished hers yet so I better get busy! :)















Postcard from Emila, Malaysia
© Emila Yusof