the layers of me

with every layer
each new texture
added
scratched away
I wonder

will I ever find
my true
real self

then remembering
with each new layer
the self emerges
differently

alas
each new layer
each new day

another
yet more unique me
a different
wonderful me

© Wendy Burton

I have spoken before about how much I embrace creating layers and textures within my art. The wooden pieces above are newly textured, awaiting further developments. I am planning additions to my long neglected etsy shop with these pieces and have only to do photos and set up for a number of smaller items. I'll let you know when that ever happens.

In the meantime I found this video of Bruno Sasfilippo Piano Textures III which I would like to share, ever more "textures".



And if you also adore textures, please think about this exciting opportunity to join Dale Anne Potter and me as we look at mixed-media techniques. If you want to learn, or are already experienced and want to practice textures, AND numerous other techniques, this is a fabulous time to be doing either.

something I need to remember more frequently ~

"Time is my Friend" by Julie Andrews.



This is a lovely song found by our St. Peter's Chorus director, Maxine Moore. We sang it as the final selection for our 2009 Spring Concert last night which was held at Marysburg, Saskatchewan in the Assumption Church.

I always feel so privileged to be part of the Chorus. This is an amazing group of singers - assisted to do our very best by the wonderful Maxine.


And about time - feels like I so frequently am having difficulties managing it. I could choose to remember that "time is my friend".


I am hoping this beautiful carousel which I purchased last Thursday will help me to get a bit more organized in my studio so that I will not be required to spend so much time searching for my art supplies. Organizing my studio space is something I will be trying to focus on in the next while. I did get a bit of a start on Saturday but I need to do more. All in good time.

"When you're smiling"

In the last couple of weeks I felt quite often that the word "floundering" wanted to hold some huge space in my thoughts. Then I stopped to look back at all the good that has happened in the past years and I found much that this video represented was so true. Thank you dear Elena.



I had done the following piece about three years ago. At that point in time I had already identified that hope was very important.


I observe the "darkness" of the above creation. Yet it was probably about the same time I wrote the following poem.

The Color of Hope
“Is what you see hope?”
Oh yes, It is hope.

Hope ~
In abounding quantity.
“You do not give up.
You will never give up.
You must never give up!”

A time,
A place,
I feel like giving up.
And again.
And again.
It haunts me.

Maybe that is the black hole inside of me!

Optimism is hope.
I strive to optimism.

Maybe that is why pesstimism angers me so.

Patience also walks hand in hand
With hope.
If there is not patience,
Hope
Will be near
Impossible to find.

What color is hope?
It can be Orange,
Yellow
Or Pink.
Blue is my favorite.
It can be Blue.
Or Purple ~ Majesty, faith.

But regardless
Of the color of hope,
It is bright.
There are angels hovering all about.
Hope.

And even yet I see darkness in the words. I have come to be much more relaxed with the understanding that some people choose the path of pessimism. I have come to realize that rather than anger me I should just try to step away from these folk that have chosen a different path. Sometimes that is more difficult than others. I have to say that I still let others' impressions affect me (part of the reason for the floundering?) but I am not nearly as concerned.

I try to remind myself of the individuals I have touched in the past years by something I said or more recently by something that touches in one of my creations - be it a video or photograph or words or art. I am astonished at the number of views for some of my photographs like the following which has received over 2000 views, at this point 95 comments and 41 people marking as a favourite.



The number of views on my videos has been astonishing. The most viewed video is this one called "creating an art quilt - tutorial".

This one about art journaling has had over 3000 views. I am so pleased to be helping people in some way with the sharing. Maybe you would be helped by it also.



The list goes on. I am certain that if you took a moment or two you also could find many ways that you have touched people's lives. Sometimes we have to think about it but I am certain that you could make a VERY LONG list.

I do want to return momentarily to the difficult years. I created this digital art last week. Click on the image to get a larger version at flickr so you can read the words.



Please remember you can find links by clicking on the words with different colours and if you click on the images in posts you may get an enlarged version so that you might be better able to read the words, as in the link to "suicidal tendencies". "They said" speaks to the suicidal tendencies (particularly of about five years ago) and depression (long term). I do want to emphasize that while I chose no medication, that is certainly not for everyone. It is what I chose but there were some family and friends watching closely over me, offering prayers and support. If you are going through a situation in which you are feeling hopeless and especially if you are feeling alone, medication is probably an excellent choice. I have included a couple of links to the more difficult times. If you want to search for more feel free to go back to earlier days on my windyangels blog. You can do so by going to one of the links mentioned above and scroll down to just above the delphinium photo. You can go from there to older or newer posts.

Please remember ~ try to smile.

trying to look with my heart as well as my eyes

There is something about trying to see things with your heart instead of, or at least in addition to, your eyes. While I usually do not formalize resolutions, I think "someone" is trying to tell me this year to use my heart more for looking. One way I can do this is to find what I can in the backgrounds I have made. So often I tend to see eyes or the shape of a face. When I started into mixed media a couple of years ago, the wonderful Nance of "collage play with crowabout" taught a quick and easy way of doing backgrounds. I remember the fun we had finding a shoe and many eyes in the backgrounds I initially did with that quick and easy technique.

I believe that seeing with my heart requires me to be relaxed and not rush into things. Sometimes it requires stepping back, letting a piece "rest and formulate" for awhile. I get quite excited when I see this happening. Art journal pages are a great place to do this. I am reminded to say - if you have not yet started an art journal - this moment is the moment to do it - a very freeing decision to make. Please leave a comment first though. For your journal just grab a notebook or chunk of paper if you have nothing else handy.

These are a couple of new journal pages from this year. The first one in particular was a discovery in the word "love" and also the forlorn little creature that developed. I know that I love her. I hope you might also.


For this second one I loved the background texture from some hand carved stamps. The page was a bit plain to start with so I decided it needed a bit of glitter. I am not so much a glittery kind of girl but I am glad I decided to use it.


This one is just a photo of the previous. I chose to play with it a bit on picasa. I liked the result.



In case you haven't had a chance to see my art journal videos I'll share a couple of them here:



This one actually shows "looking through heart". I had forgotten about it.



Welcome to my new blog. I hope you will take a moment to leave a comment or mark yourself as a follower if you have not already done so.

angels be with you

Finding inspiration:

with blues

and golds


outdoors


and in




with my eyes

Susan Tuttle

and with my ears

"The Prayer"

inviting you to visit my shop and to watch for angels all about you

that one leaf


and then many

caught my eye


the time for contemplation

was past


someone else wanted

to play



What better place to do a “tribute to nature” than the outdoors? We had wonderful summery weather this past week even though it is the beginning of October. I had to spend some time enjoying it because in Saskatchewan you never know when the weather will turn wintery.
And so for this week 8 of collage play with Crowabout I chose to use four of the images which spoke to me of nature. I was having a great time and decided to share some of the fun with another video. Video creating is something I really enjoy. I have shown some of my techniques for layering in backgrounds. I again did mostly transfers with the images I chose to use, as well as some quotations about nature. Some of the quotations are backwards - gives an interesting feel.
I want to thank the musical artists I used in the video – Loreena McKennitt and Liona Boyd. Please take some time to check their websites to learn of their new music and activities.



To see what I've shared to this point with this picture I used for a sketch and water colours


please see my previous post.

"LOOKING BEYOND" - gel transfers
I have completed a video which is about my experiences with using gel transfers. It is a tutorial of sorts. Please find it here:



If you are not able to view the video and would like the tutorial in a typed format please contact me through flickr mail or you can leave a comment here telling me you are trying to contact me through my profile here. I believe you can access it.
I would also love to receive your comments so that I know about future videos, future tutorials. If you do not have an account with youtube then please comment here or at my flickr site.

Here's a photo of the art journal page in the nearly complete form.


The final page is at the top of the post. I did learn that ink on stamps does not necessarily work well on Tim Holz crackle paint. Always learning - that's a good thing, I think. I do want to give credit to Misty Mawn and Claudine Hellmuth, both of whom are mentioned in the video. They have taught me much. I love both of their abilities as artists. I could look at Misty's blog and art for a long time. Well - but when would I get my own art created? Please take a moment to look at their blogs and be inspired.

I also must mention Loreena McKennitt who has very kindly given me permission to use her music. As I say by the video - the magic of the video (if there is any) would not be apparent if not for the music.

Please also take a moment to check my etsy shop at your earliest possible convenience. I will be adding a number of items over the next couple of days.

Angels be with you.

"I had only to look. She was there - always?"


This art journal page was started in February for valentine's day lol I did the background in the colours that were my faves at the moment. I was once again surprised to see, very clearly, parts of a face within the background which I had done so randomly. I had sketched in the face exactly as I was seeing it. The page was then set aside and forgotten. I had actually been planning to do a video with the page. I was drawn to it a couple of days ago and immediately was struck by a need to just darken the sketching with my black caran d'ache crayon.


"I had only to look. She was there - always?"

Reminders to self:
I have been intrigued by a couple of friends who have done a workshop in which no glue is used. Other methods were incorporated instead. I found this easy to do in a small place and then pick up and put away. Our space is still very cramped as we try to unpack and organize after the huge amount of smoke damage.

some sample pages:






I have also made a new video about the journal. Please take a moment to enjoy.



Don't forget to leave a comment for the giveaway if you've not already done so.
Angels be with you my friends

plenty of pink and some purple too:



They caught my attention.
I must find a time to savour their beauty



before they were gone



before they were only a memory



And as purple is one of my favourite colours, very representative to me of spirit, I have chosen to share the beauty of magnolia pearl with you today. This image is from "Country Living" magazine, I believe the March/April issue.



I really love her creations. This video is about her "humble beginning". Take a moment to watch. Let her inspire you.

biding time:
I'm working on a new video but until that is done I'll share this celebration of a wonderful young lady who directs our St. Peter's Chorus. She celebrated a special birthday a couple of weeks ago. We surprised her with a song for her birthday at our spring concert. Greg was able to videotape it and one of our members put together this video for youtube. Please watch to the very end to see the photo of Max taken at her actual party



I feel especially proud to know Maxine as she too has faced many challenges in her life.
Happy Birthday Maxine.

The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials, but the ones with the concern.

Max Lucado
Inspiration Peak

Angels be with you dear friends,
Wendy

On a May day: These photos were all taken on last Thursday evening. I was at St. Pete's with a friend. There are no classes at this time. The beautiful wooden floors, the tall old windows, the light at just the right height shining in - a fabulous set up for photos. Ummm - I feel so pleased to know, to recognize, these opportunities and take advantage. I hope you like them too. I've some more. I'll share them another day.





Another new video - this one is totally different. It is only my landscape photographs together with a song of St. Peter's Chorus. St. Peter's Chorus celebrated it's 40th anniversary last year. I have been with the chorus for the past 29 years, only having missed a few years in between. I love to sing. This particular song is one of those we did for Saskatchewan's centennial year in 2005. It is a song written especially for Saskatchewan's centennial by Stan Garchinski. For those that may not be aware you can get a full screen view by clicking someplace on the video which will take you to its homepage. Then just below the video on the right side is a little square which you can click on for full view size. I believe there is also a place to click where it says "watch in high quality". There are at least four of the photos where you can see the moon. I believe they are all on the left side just a bit above horizon.

Please enjoy my video. See more of them at my channel.

I am following the lead of the lovely Karen who gave the idea of putting the little photos at the beginning of sections. And as I'm always thinking of angels I thought what an appropriate way to embellish my posts. I have also been sent so many angels I wanted to share some of them with you.

I am in a place where I have so many works in progress at the moment and I am feeling uncertain of where to turn. I think I will begin by showing you my latest creation from the weekend. That is a new carved stamp. I had borrowed Ruth Issett's book from the library. Through her book Print, Pattern and Colour, together with various articles from Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines I have drawn so much inspiration.

And since I started this post yesterday morning I decided to do a tutorial video about making stamps.











I've also completed three postcards using the recent stamp and have posted them in my shop. YES! I'll show photos of them tomorrow. It's getting too late now. (PHEW! THANK GOODNESS daughter's Home Ec. project is done. There was much turmoil today after school.)

Unfortunately the planning was just a bit slow in that I learned the dear Karen had advertised my blog and shop in a post she did yesterday. Oh well, there is only so much I can accomplish at one time and my left eye wants to keep twittering at me - take time to rest, take time to rest.

I have also learned that my dear friend Elena has started her very own blog. ***YAY ELENA*** I hope you'll take time to visit her and comment. I also hope to be stopping by some of the fabulous blogs she has introduced to me and putting links to hers AND numerous of these others in the near future.

Getting very late so I will have to be back with you all tomorrow.

Angels be with you,
Wendy

earth day Part 2:
Of course I have to keep reminding myself that I CANNOT do everything at once, even if I think I can. And so I am working very slowly at trying to introduce more items to my shop and do networking. I really wasn't sure what I was going to do for my dear friend Suze - today is her birthday. I thought of something to send her and I truly hope that she likes it. I wish I could have done more but that's all time allowed right now.

I'm a bit late but finally got this video prepared from earth day, April 22. I'm working on other projects too. Earth day may have to extend into next month (: I'll see what I can do.

I know there is much more I could do for Mother Earth but I am doing what I am able for now. If you want to hear the words from the t-shirt with the words you'll have to listen to the video.

I'll be offering 4 x 6 inch prints of some of the photos from the video in my etsy shop - hopefully I'll get then listed sometime tomorrow.







Till next time
may angels be with you,
Wendy

Wishes for today:

1. that I could dance - more like this:



2. that I could speak my comments to people's blogs and videos and etsy and pictures, and have them automatically typed. Even better would be if I could think them. Ummm - it would automatically be able to pick and choose the appropriate thoughts to type :D - typing with just 2 fingers sucks (and takes a lot of precious time) : (

3. that the sun would shine a bit more these days.

Thought for today from inspiration peak:
There are no accidents... there is only some purpose that we haven't yet understood.
Deepak Chopra
Indian Author and Medical Doctor

PEACE GARDEN art quilt:



I've posted a new video and a new item to my etsy shop. The quilt is not actually new but perhaps new to you.

Stay tuned. Hopefully I'll have another video and more items for etsy in next day or two.
Please see yesterday's post where I mention More cheerful things

Taking some time to recuperate. I was feeling quite uncomfortable on Sunday but in my way, kept going, through the morning anyway. Yesterday was better and today even more so. My family commitments should be diminishing somewhat, I think. My main area of discomfort seems to be in my jaws. I could barely open my mouth on Sunday. I carry on though as I know there are folks much worse off than I. I also can wreak havoc with family who over-react to discomforts. OR they think they have to compete - with a worse cold or a more sore head or WHATEVER! So you see - I am fine :D

I am trying very much to complete a video about the "strong, free, me" girl. I am planning to introduce a "line" at my shop around her. Next week, if not sooner.

In the meantime I wanted to share this new video:



I was also astonished to learn yesterday that I have a couple of pics on flickr with over 1000 views. I can hardly believe it. Here they are:





May angels be with you dear friends,
Wendy

Bits and pieces:
If you haven't already, please take a moment to check the pink artist doll. I believe this is a spectacular project to raise funds for breast cancer. Love Squared, as she is known, has been a wonderful collaborative project of Monica and many artists. Thanks Monica. I have chosen to put my blog in pink for a few days to honour those who have lost loved ones to this painful entity of cancer. Also I want to recognize those who are survivors. Interestingly, I have a cousin whose name is Monica, that is a survivor.

As I plod along my artful path I have chosen to share this video which contains one of my favourite songs. It's a little bit of a unique presentation.



And finally I'll share a self portrait from this morning. I did it mostly in preparation for some of the videos with which I'm working. I've written words to go with that speak a bit to where I am at the moment:



relax?
WHO? ME?
I don't remember
what that means
maybe
I could
try

Dreaming for spring: Over the past days I have put together these journal pages as well as doing a video surrounding them and the idea of waiting for spring. One of the pictures on the video actually shows the journal on top of snow. I fear we may have snow for many weeks yet. If we are fortunate it will disappear sooner. If not, well, I'll just keep dreaming.




I had so much fun with these journal pages. I look forward to creating many more. And the next step will of course be canvases. I've one started, a flat canvas. I must see where I might take that.








I have also been adding items slowly to my etsy shop. Between writing descriptions, taking pictures, listing items, putting together videos, and trying to do my regular routine, sigh, there's little room for creating. Ah, creating. I will get to it, all in good time.


Thanks to everyone for the support through these times when I've had little room for visiting your lives. I do intend to get back to that. And thanks for any prayers that might be coming our way. They are so greatly appreciated.

Please remember to stop by my etsy at angelsdreams.

Now it's back to investigating - a place where I might get my photos enlarged. I hope to put many more photos on my etsy shortly.

Angels be with you in all your endeavours.
Wendy