There was nothing like an art class about perspective to make my mind wander.

This is probably the best picture of me!  My daughter drew it when she was four.   She draws quite differently now.   I'm taking a class in which we are making altered books and after learning how to prepare the pages and getting about 1001 suggestions I have no idea what I want to do! I glued this fabulous picture of myself into the book but so far the only thing I like about the book is this picture.  I'm definitely stuck.  This must be like writer's block only with pictures.   It's not that I don't have any ideas, I have too many!  But none are quite right.  I'm paralyzed by indecision.  Any suggestions?  Hopefully I’ll get “unstuck” soon and I’ll post pictures.

Here's the picture I call, Little Garden 4.   I already have Little Gardens 1, 2 and 3 and so you may wonder if I've  gotten really lazy about naming my pictures.  Well, yes and no.  It is hard to think up names for abstract pieces.  I suppose I could really call it anything...  Aliens from the Blue... Traffic Jam at Dusk...Flowerhead.  I'm sure you can think of some better ones!  The real reason  I called it Little Garden 4  is because of a  sketch in my notebook that I randomly doodled  and thought of as a "little garden".  I've come to value these little doodles because they're somewhat unconcscious.  Malcolm Gladwell,  in the best seller, Blink,  called it "the mind behind the locked door".    Our conscious brains can't stand that there's so much back there that they can't control!  I like to try and peek through the key hole.  I know that's where all my most creative ideas are.  Have you ever sat in front of a blank sheet of white paper and consciously tried to decide what to draw?   I find that my conscious brain goes as blank as the page.  That is why, when I do a little doodle, I take it seriously.  I even make a whole series out of it!  

This week I had two projects that I wanted to accomplish and they got inextricably melded in my brain.  I couldn't imagine doing them separately so they became one.  The first project was to illustrate the word "propagate" for Illustration Friday and the second was to take the picture on the left and make a collage out of it. Lisa, from Belise on Paper, and I exchange pages once a month and make "something” out of each others image.  We call it the POD project (point of departure).  Her picture reminded me of suburban sprawl.  People in my area are propagating suburban sprawl at a furious pace.  I guess there are just too many of us.  I'm not one to point fingers because I live in a house and have children, but we do need to slow down and start thinking.

This is the second time I've caught them together.  The first time they jumped up as soon as I grabbed my camera.   I feel like a tabloid journalist!  Gatsby, our cat,  usually sleeps with me but lately he's been sneeking down in the middle of the night to visit Basel!  I've been betrayed!  There must be something in the air this week.  Illustration Friday came out with the word, "Propagate" for everyone to illustrate.  I can't wait to see all the illustrations for that word!!!

Being an artist in the digital age can be challenging.  It's amazing that I can have an on-line store and that people from anywhere can see my art.  On the other hand there are those little details... For example, I happily painted the picture here and thought what a great print it would make for my store.    Somehow printing it was harder than it seemed.   I have a very good printer, but it's tempermental.  Sometimes it just spits out half printed pictures for no good reason.  Sometimes it decides that the picture should not be centered on the page, again, for no good reason.    I can go through alot of paper this way!  Do you have little details in your life that drive you crazy?    After what seemed like ages my printer complied and I have my print.  I know I shouldn't sweat the small stuff but think how much we could get done if we didn't have to deal with details!

I had lots of ideas for Illustration Friday this week AND I had a new toy,  so I couldn't resist doing two.   Would you have guessed that my new stamp is...a lotus root?

Lately I've been dreaming about red japanese paper.  I've been thinking about how well it would go in various pieces I'm working on...or may work on.   I am quite frugal, so I don't like to just go out and buy things, but today was a sunny Friday afternoon and I just couldn't resist the temptation anymore.  So off I went to my local art store, which shall remain nameless.  They were all out of red japanese paper although they had every other colour under the sun.  They were also out of the colours of speedball ink I needed and they were out of the size and kind of sketch book I like AND out of my favorite kind of markers; Faber Castell, which they aren't going to carry anymore!   Well!!!  Needless to say I came home empty handed.  However, I did feel good that I hadn't spent any money!  I have decided to make my own red decorative paper.  It won't be Japanese, it will be CranberryCloudies.  Here is a little idea I am working on.  This is just a beginning.  Hopefully soon I'll show you my beautiful cranberry papers!

Last weekend I managed to get to Ikea and pick up some little frames for my art.  I love the idea of acrylic, instead of glass in the frames because it won't break when shipped in the mail.  However, my favourite part about going to Ikea is the food!  I love the swedish meatballs, the $1.99 organic pasta and the salmon.  I can never decide!  Forget the furniture, I just like the treats.   Being CranberryCloud,  of course I  love the cloudberry jam and the orange and elderflower marmalade is  good too.  Swedish sour cream potatoe chips are irresistable. The best, bar none, are the Skumkantarells!  Who could resist!  Jelly foam candy in the shape of little mushrooms all pink and white!  On the label they are shown washing themselves with little toothbrushes while wearing dark sunglasses!  With a bag of these and my little frames, my life is now complete.

This is just my attempt to get claimed by Technorati.  Sounds space age to me.  If you ask me what this is about, I may not be able to explain, but I think its a good thing. Yes?