Are you a fan of the Pretty Little Liars

Alison's Pretty Little Diary


You can read Alison's Diary on ABC Family

http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/pretty-little-liars/photos/alisons-pretty-little-diary/473081/473004

College Days and The African Thinker

This weekend I was invited to a farewell party for a lovely young lady who is flying off miles away for college. Having recalled my own college days (a looong time ago) in a foreign country I wanted to make a gift for her that would be unique and at the same time remind her of home. I was going for something intellectual but at the same time cool (since this is a teenager). I must confess it was somewhat of  a challenge for me and having had a number of sleepless nights I ended up dozing off at my computer, when I woke up the image of Auguste Rodin's, Thinker came to my mind and I was like that's it! I will do a metal art card version of "The Thinker," with a graduation poem inside and a "cool" quote on the front. I also decided to use an earthy palette. I am glad to say she liked the art card! Quite an accomplishment pleasing a teen. I hope the words will carry her through her college years and I wish her much success and happiness as she embarks on this exciting new journey. All the best Wendy!

 Wendy's Thinker: Quote reads, "Question Everything."

Sienna Thinker: To Buy Artwork E-mail minjete@gmail.com ($30)

Description: 4 by 4 inches, Embossed Metal Miniature Painting

Blue Poet Thinker: To Buy Artwork E-mail minjete@gmail.com ($30)

Description: 4 by 4 inches, Metal Miniature Art

At the same time that I was thinking of an art gift for Wendy I was mulling over what to make for a new friend who was nice enough to share with me some of his wisdom a few weeks ago. He was described to me as an, "artistic genius who is ahead of his time," and lest I embarrass him I will stop there. Anyway having met him and in line with the genius description I thought I would create a metal art, Africanized version of "The Thinker," for him. Since I was also told he used to have dreadlocks I titled the piece, "African Thinker/Maina with Dreadlocks." I am at the sketch stage, I still have to transfer it to metal and then decide on a paint color. I will add the pictures of the completed metal art piece once it is done. You can find art gifts with the the "Thinker Art Pieces" at my Zazzle Store.

Thinking of You_African Art Postcards by Injete by Injete
More African art Postcards

Beware Thinking Man: Miniature Metal African Painting

 African Thinker: Handmade Metal African Art Card

Again??? Really???

Ok so what's up?  Forbes,  really? All of a sudden we're on everyone's radar! Very cool though! check it out here.

Flashback

It was late 1960's early 1970's.  There is a picture of me with peasant top, bellbottom jeans and "frizzed hair" the style of the times, I would braid my hair in as many braids as i could and then let it dry and unbraid it for effect.  Yeah, I was cool.  Artist in training.  I stood in the picture amongst my best friend and siblings, all who looked quite "normal". My Nanny cringed at my independence and free thinking.  She would tap me on my bare belly when I wore short shirts and very low bell bottoms and lecture me about how I looked.  It didn't matter. I knew who I was then and it didn't matter to me what anyone thought.  Boy those were the days!

In junior high we had all the required classes to take in a specific order, the usual curriculum, plus the girls had home economics (sewing and cooking) and the boys had woodshop. I loved home ec. we all had to sew an apron, mine was a purple calico with a heart shaped pocket with the word love embroidered on it. It was one of several chosen to be on display during a PTA luncheon for all the Mom's. ( my apron round robin friends will enjoy this)  Invaluable lessons were learned in those classes and I feel sorry for today's students who because of budget cuts and other reckless decisions don't get to experience this.

Then came freedom.  We could choose what we wanted to pursue further. well, I wanted woodshop. The times were just starting to change and it was a whole new experience to let a girl into woodshop.  The first day of the new semester, I was on my way excitedly to class when I was met at the door by the teacher, my guidance counselor and another student, a boy.  well it seems they overbooked the class and a choice had to be made. I knew as they all stared at me as they told me of the dilemma that they expected me to bow out gracefully.  Sorry fellas, not happenin. So it was decided to flip a coin, i won and promptly excused myself and went in to take a seat in class.

My mother loves to tell the story of how at Christmas break, all the boys got off the bus with a jewelry box they had proudly made for their Mom's for Christmas. Me? I got off the bus with an end table!  I loved woodshop and continued to take it until I went to high school where it was no longer offered.  In addition to the end table, I made a coffee table, 3 legged stool,  a reproduction of the art stools in our art class, a baseball bat on the lathe for my brother, bowls and mini woodturned vases.  I spent every available minute in that shop, even skipping lunch to work there.

At home I was embroidering on my jeans, making candles and in general probably driving my family crazy with my next "project"

My muse was loud and strong and I followed her with conviction.

In high school things changed though. The art teacher was intimidating, you could hear him yelling all the way down the hallway. It was a known fact that he only liked students with "real" talent, so i never signed up for any art classes. I would walk down the art hall, with the metalsmithing studio and the art studio and wish i was in there. I envied all those students who were. But I didn't feel "good enough" for the class.

OK, so i'll pursue that nursing thing instead. I got on the college prep track, became a candy striper in my free time and set my sights on my future.

In my first year of high school I was grounded for 2 weeks for spending the night at a friends' house so that i could go see the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was told i couldn't go and I went anyway.

So I spent my prison time painting the ceiling in my room. My bedroom had a dormered ceiling and i painted a scene of the Emerald city with the yellow brick road on one side and the hookah smoking caterpillar on the toadstool with Alice and all the beautiful flowers on the other all with my acrylics.

I still wore my independence proudly, making clothes that were my own style, wearing my hair the way I wanted but my muse was being silenced. Little by little her voice was growing more faint.  I started to conform. I was growing up right?

So here I am, all grown up, desperately trying to find my muse again, needing to follow her on MY path. I know I am heading in the right direction. This blog is my connection to her. There are moments now when i can hear her screaming in my ears but the words are still undecipherable. I have faith though. I am just so grateful to know she hasn't left me completely.

Back to School Snacks

Chew on Your Pencil

Ingredients

• Cheese sticks
• 1/2-inch-thick slices of bologna
• Mustard
• Bugles corn snacks
• Raisins

Instructions


For each pencil, cut off one end of a cheese stick so that it's flat. Use a paring knife or apple corer to cut a 3/4-inch circle out of the bologna.
Dab one end of the circle into the mustard, then attach it to the flat end of the cheese stick.
Snap off the end of a Bugle so that its edges are even, and gently press it onto the other end of the cheese stick. Slide half a raisin onto the Bugle for the pencil tip, and you've got a snack that's just write!

Back to School Snacks

PB & J Blossom Sandwiches

Ingredients

• Bread
• Peanut butter or cream cheese
• Jelly or jam
• Water bottle cap

Instructions


For each sandwich, cut two slices of bread into flower shapes with a cookie cutter.

Cut a hole in one of the slices by pressing a water bottle cap into the center.
Spread the peanut butter and jelly on the whole piece and place the slice with the hole on top.

Back to School Snacks!

                                    Sandwich on a Stick

Ingredients

• bread
• cheese
• lunch meat
• grape tomatoes
• lettuce
• pickles
• olive

Instructions


Cut up cubes of bread, cheese, and lunch meat (we ordered 1/2-inch-thick slices of ham and turkey at the deli counter).
Slide the cubes onto a skewer with other foods your child likes, such as a grape tomato, a piece of lettuce, a pickle, or an olive.
Set out a side of mayo or mustard for dippin.

Back to school snacks :)

                                                   Two-Tone Sandwiches
Ingredients

• 2 slices of bread (one white and the other whole wheat, roughly the same size)
• Cookie cutters, 1 large and 1 small (ours measure 3 1/4 inches for the hand and 1 1/2 inches for the heart)

Instructions

• Set the 2 slices of bread on a cutting board. Cut out the centers of each with a large and a small cookie cutter.
• Swap the center cutouts, so the wheat bread has a white bread design and the white has the wheat, then assemble your sandwich.

Back to school snacks!! Yummy

                                                        Blackboard Cupcakes
Ingredients

• Yellow, green, and white frosting
• Cupcakes
• Red Skittles or M&M's
• Small plastic bag
• Rubber band or twist tie
• Chocolate-covered graham crackers
• White Good & Plenty candies

Instructions


Cover the cupcakes with yellow frosting and allow them to sit for an hour before decorating. Dab each red Skittle or M&M with a bit of green frosting for the apple's leaf, then set them aside.

Put a tablespoon or two of white frosting into a small plastic bag for piping. Cut a very small hole in a corner of the bag, twist the top of the bag closed, and secure it with a rubber band or twist tie. Piping the frosting gently out of the hole, write messages on the chocolate-covered graham crackers. Leave space at the bottom of the cookie, where it'll be stuck into the cupcake.

Cut a groove in the cupcake's frosting with a knife, then fit a blackboard into the groove. Add one Skittle or M&M apple and a piece of Good & Plenty chalk, as shown.

Best Beach Town? Really???

This past week the news broke that our little island of Chincoteague was rated number 1 best beach town by aol travel! See the article here !

Crayola Moments

There are few things in childhood as pleasant to remember as a brand new box of Crayola crayons. So full of promise, all those sharp points, perfect for outlining and then filling in, bringing a simple black skeleton of a picture to life with all the imagination of a young child.

Who am i kidding? I STILL love a new box of crayons, this one pictured here is mine, Oh yeah, I said that I bought it for the grandkids to use but in truth....mine. And yesterday i got to use them, legitimately. I had high hopes of coming home from work in the morning and doing a little picture taking and uploading, posting here on my blog and then getting ready to return to work having fulfilled a little creative urge.

It was during the picture taking in my garden that my grandaughter spotted me and wanted to come to "Nanny's" house. Well, wanting soon turned to wailing and so the plans changed. How could I refuse????

"Can I color?" Sure you can. "will you color with me" I'd love to!

When I think back on my childhood, art and creativity was always an important part of who I was. The story in the family goes like this.. when i was about my grandaughters age, 3, I am told that when i met my Aunt Elaine i promptly told her that I was going to be a nurse and an artist when I grew up. I remember waking up in the morning and playing with colorforms in my bed. Not the kinds you see now, but the originals, the ones that just had colored shapes with which you had to build your own pictures. As I mentioned earlier, a new box of crayons and a beautifully illustrated coloring book was a treat.

At Christmas we were told we could ask for something special, not like kids nowadays whose lists are endless with mega electronics and everything that goes with them, no we could pick something special and then maybe a few smaller things. My list ALWAYS had some form of art supply that i HAD to have! There was the year i got REAL artists oil pastels and a REAL artists' easel and canvases. Then there was the REAL wooden artists' box complete with REAL oil paints and turpentine and linseed oil in the small glass bottles. Can you smell that? That's the smell of a REAL artist! Next came the acrylics and the watercolors and the calligraphy sets and pens with nibs and the ever exotic India ink. There was the year of the battery operated pottery wheel which was great until I tried to actually put my hands on the clay and form something, the pressure slowed the wheel to a complete stop. One day I will get a REAL wheel I promised myself! There was sewing, and cutting and pasting and saving everything in sight because "I can make something out of that, Mom!" There was no place that we went that i didn't inevitably come back with something that i was going to "make something" out of. Not much has changed but I'll leave that for another post!

I always wanted artist lessons, not something a young growing family can afford so i signed up for a program at a local library when i was about 8. It was on Saturday mornings. The last project we did was to illustrate a story. Each of us had a part, I don't remember the story but the part I had to illustrate was the melting of the ice cream mountain! Perfect! I had just the pastels for the job! I think I used everyone I had, colorful melting ice cream mountain. We were actually critiqued and i remember the instructor told me my technique was like Salvadore Dali and i should research him.

The first real validation I felt as an artist was when my Aunt Elaine asked me to do an oil painting for her. Really? Yes, she wanted something Jackson Pollack-esque. Just go outside and splatter brightly colored oil paints on a canvas. Are you sure? That's all? But the cool part was she actually hung it in her living room, for like a long time, not just to make me feel good. It was really part of her decor. Thank you Aunt Elaine!

So my point with all this rambling? As children we seem to instinctively KNOW who we are and what we're meant to do. It's as we get older that we lose our way, we let the everyday get in the way of our true purpose. We let the voices creep into our head telling us, "you can't do that, you're a grownup now, you have responsibilities" " what makes you think you are an artist?" Stop in the middle of the day and color? Nonsense.

Well, I say raise your box of crayons, declare "I am an artist" and toast to a hefty dose of nonsense!

Happy 4th of July!

Every year , family and friends gather for the annual 4th of July harbor party picnic, held at the harbor on Chincoteague Island. All of the boat slip owners get together and have a picnic/party which ends in watching the local fire company set off the annual fire'works display on the carnival grounds. The fireworks are visible from the dock which makes it a perfect place to watch from. The kids ( now all growing up) always ask my husband to go sit on the bow of our boat and watch from there, this year being no exception. It was especially nice to have our grandkids there to celebrate this year. We all shared a feast of hardcrabs, steamed oysters, clams, scallops, steamed shrimp, grilled vegetables from someone's garden, fresh vegetables and dips, salads of every description, fresh salsas, hot dogs, hamburgers, and carribean jerk chicken, cakes and pies and puddings oh my! We had a birthday cake to celebrate my son in law's birthday, I made chocolate covered strawberries and Ray and i made snow cones for the kids. Food and drink was followed by sparklers and then the fireworks. A good time was had by all!

I am dedicating this post to my nephew and Godchild Daniel who is currently serving somewhere in the gulf, on the USS Truman out of Norfolk, Va. It is because of all the men and women like him that we are able to sit home comfortably and celebrate our freedoms, relaxing with family and friends, having a cold drink and watching re-enacted bombs bursting in air! May we never forget how we got here! May God Bless America and all who love, serve and protect her!

Happy 4th of July 2010

Have a great and blessed 4th of July 2010

                         Mommy's Blog