Just add Water, Silly.

Artist's Play Room #59

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 25 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Please scroll down for the newest Artist's Play Room Challenge and to enter your artwork throughout this upcoming week.

If you haven't read the rules & guidelines, please go here. If you've landed here after this challenge has been completed but would like to participate in a current or future Artist's Play Room Challenge, just either click on the APR button in the sidebar or click here and you'll be taken to the latest APR Challenge!

Are you having trouble using the Mr. Linky to add your submissions to APR? Well here's some help! Just click on HELP and you'll be taken to my Linky Help Page. Cool, huh? I've got your back!
I have a happy theme for this week's APR challenge... "RAINBOW". Color makes me so happy, I'm totally passionate about colorful art, it makes my spirit soar. That's why I picked this theme. Now, don't think that you HAVE to actually make a rainbow, if you want to do that, fabulous but you can just make something colorful! Make a mash up of all the colors or highlight a few of them, just make art that makes you think "OOh, HAPPY COLOR!". Here are some terrific examples...


Just Add Water Silly	Robin Mead	Diane

Best, So, my lovely bloggy friends, have at it! I can't wait to see your colorful submissions. In fact, I'm just giddy with anticipation. :o)

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Artist's Play Room #58

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

So we need a new challenge theme don't we? I thought this week could be a "do what you want" week. Paint up or create something you want to do then come back here and show us all your fabulous artwork. Let us all see your genius at work. GO!

No examples, how would I show the future?? hehehe.

Thank you to all of you who wished me a happy birthday. It was a lovely week, actually, filled with calming and peaceful moments, several great Oscar winning movies and birthday cake. What could possibly be better?

Best,

Artist's Play Room #57

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Ok, here's some self aggrandizement... This week, go forth and make birthday art. What do you think about when you think of birthdays. (Oh, this is self aggrandizement because May 16th is my birthday, YAY! hehehe.) I'll be celebrating all throughout next week, from the 12th through the 18th since I believe in birthday weeks, not days. ;o)


I so totally want this little guy! I'v been jonsing for him for ages and he's going on my birthday list!	Ooh, did someone say cake?	...gotta have balloons!

Enjoy, talk to you all soon, and thanks for all your caring and concern, it's greatly appreciated.

Best,

Artist's Play Room #56

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

I was thinking about the famous artists that I love so much and how I wish I let them inspire me more. So, I thought we could do a theme around being inspired by a famous artist (living or dead). Let their subject matter, colors, brush strokes or style inspire you to create some cool art. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!


Vincent Van Gogh	Claude Monet	Pablo Picasso

Best,

Artist's Play Room #55

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:01:00 +0000

So we need a new challenge theme don't we? Well, since it's April and it's been raining here, I figured go with the obvious... "APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS". At least let's hope so! Have fun with this challenge, rain, colorful flowers, spring, April, May, lots of ideas to go with here, let your imagination fly off on gossamer wings. Enjoy.


Rain & Showers	Paris In The Springtime	April Flowers & Colors

Best,

Artist's Play Room #54

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 19:01:00 +0000

So we need a new challenge theme don't we? The other day I was humming a little ditty while I was coming up with new challenges and I realized that it was the childhood favorite, "Head and shoulders, knees and toe... knees and toes... knees and toes." hehehe. I thought it would be some fun to do the song as a challenge, sound fun? Let the song spur on your imagination and come up with art that blossoms from the song. GO!


Eyes	Heart Sounds	Shoes for Feet


Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes!	For Pretty Fingers	Blue Birdie Feet

Best,

Artist's Play Room #53

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 19:01:00 +0000

So we need a new challenge theme don't we? This week I thought we'd do another color challenge but with a cool little twist. Remember several weeks ago we did BLORANGE as a color challenge? Blorange is the dual combination of BLUE & ORANGE. What I want you to do is make up your own color combination word then make art using that new color word.. here are some examples!


YACK = Yellow + Black	GRINK = Green + Pink	TURCHSIA = Turquoise + Fuchsia

Best,

Artist's Play Room #52

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 19:01:00 +0000

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away". Well ya, but I'm allergic and like pears better. Oh, you like grapes or mangos, well ok, those are good too. Oooh, I forgot about cherries and strawberries, I LOVE those when they're in season. And of course there's always raspberries, blueberries and oh ya, the one named after it's colour, the orange... There's peaches, plums and lemons. Then there's the unusual ones, starfruit and kiwi, how about papaya. I could go on and on but I think you've got our theme for this week. FRUIT. As you know, I don't care how this theme influences your art, use their colours, their shapes, their JUICE, lol. Just be creative about fruit and at the end of the week we'll make a fruit salad, hehehe.


pear	grapes	lemon


fruit salad	limes	blueberries

Best,

Artist's Play Room #51

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:01:00 +0000

I really do love colour, in all forms. We were lucky enough (before we moved) to live across the street from a beautiful park that had a small petting zoo. In the zoo there were about six peacocks, two white and four in spectacular colour. They were allowed to roam the park freely and sometimes they'd fly over across the street and strut around on our street corner like highly painted call girls. I used to love watching them randomly raise their tails and show off their colour. So, this week's theme is peacocks. Feel free to do anything about them or just use their colours, whatever. Have fun, here are a few examples...


watercolor peacock	peacock feather	peacock eyes


peacock doodle/zentangle	peacock head (satire)	peacock abstract

Best,

Artist's Play Room #50

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 19:01:00 +0000

Thank you to all of you who have commented and cared about my health. I appreciate every one of you for caring so much. Don't worry, I'll work diligently to come back in about six weeks bright eyed and bushy tailed. Enjoy this week's new challenge!

If you haven't read the rules & guidelines, please go here. If you've landed here after this challenge has been completed but would like to participate in a current or future Artist's Play Room Challenge, just either click on the APR button in the sidebar or click here and you'll be taken to the latest APR Challenge!

Are you having trouble using the Mr. Linky to add your submissions to APR? Well here's some help! Just click on HELP and you'll be taken to my Linky Help Page. Cool, huh? I've got your back!

How about this week we do FLIGHT as our theme? Did I hear any distension?? No? GOOD!! Hehehe. So, things that fly or flight... what do you think of when I say that?? It can be an abstract or a literal, hehehe. Here are some examples, feel free to steal them!!


hope takes flight in your heart	birds fly (obviously Jenn, lol)	Flight of the bumble bee


kite flying	on the wings of angels	paper airplanes

Best,

The Next Four - Six Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Hi everybody. Remember about a week or so ago I asked for your understanding and forgiveness for my need to stop replying to your lovely comments because I needed some "me" time so I could do more art? Well, there was a white lie in there. Yes, I needed more "Me" time but not for art, I've been having some significant health issues and I hoped by lowering some commitments I could work on the issues. I've realized this week that I can't hide from this health crisis any longer and I have to take a significant chunk of time off to deal with my health.

This means that although the APR challenges will go up every saturday (I have six weeks of them prewritten and scheduled), I will not be able to put your pretty art at the top of every week's new challenge. The only blogging I will be doing will be a few book reviews that I have promised publishers previously. They have already sent the advanced copies and I feel obligated to do my due diligence because they sent me the books. Hopefully with four to six weeks of concentrated effort I can turn this health crisis around and get back to the business of a normal life.

Please bear with me and don't leave permanently, I am coming back and I don't want to lose any of you! I'd miss you all too much. :o)

Talk soon? Ok, make that a little later, I promise.
Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Book Review: Take Five

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

I was thrilled to win an advanced copy of Jack Batten's newest mystery, Take Five. Mr. Batten brings back the witty, jazz loving, vodka swilling Toronto criminal lawyer named Crang. It has been twenty years since Batten wrote a Crang mystery and fans will be happy to indulge in the character's smart mouthed dialogue and follow along in a meaty mystery.

As a Canadian, it's refreshing to read a book that's based in a Canadian city. Crang lives with his long time girlfriend in an area of Toronto called the Annex. If you know Toronto at all it's a joy to know where the character is going as the author describes the environment and streets.

Crang, our criminal lawyer has a client, Grace Nguyen, a beautiful and treacherous woman who is the mastermind of the biggest marijuana grow-op business in Canadian history. After Crang works diligently to get Grace a fair deal for her guilty plea, his client disappears on the day she is supposed to turn herself in. The problem with that is she owes Crang seventy-five thousand dollars! Crang has to find his client in the next three weeks or not only will he be in serious trouble with the court judge, he'll also be out a huge amount of money.

This is where the mystery begins. Although the author fleshes out the Crang character for those of us unfamiliar with his earlier work, the author is careful not to overwhelm the reader with superfluous details. Through the cunning and investigative mind of Crang, the plot develops and the mystery deepens. Take Five is a gentler mystery than I'm used to but that can be a good thing when you want a book that you can break up into smaller sections and not feel so compelled to stay up all night to read. Don't get me wrong, it was a good mystery with complex plot twists but it doesn't compel you to read just one more page because "I'll DIE if I don't find out what's gonna happen." I would definitely read more of this author's mysteries.

Let me expand on what I was saying in the previous paragraph. To me there are two types of mysteries. Those that you don't dare put down, they consume all your time from the moment you read the first page, then there are mysteries that intrigue the intellect, they make you think about the twists and turns. It's ok to put these mysteries down for a few hours and let the details sink in. You read these books on lunch breaks and before bed but you can count on them to be a little gentler on the psyche. I used to read "The Cat Who..." books by Lilian Jackson Braun. Her mysteries were gentler and Jack Batten's book is similar. You still got right into the characters and the who done it of the story but reading the book over several days didn't cause heart palpitations, lol. This is not a "Mission Impossible" or "The Davinci Code" type of book where you're running headlong with the character, going a thousand miles a minute in your brain, trying to keep up with the words as you gobble them up. It is a solid, interesting and complex mystery that will intrigue the reader and definitely wet the appetite for the next Crang book.

If the star rating systems on book sellers' sites would allow for half stars, this book would get a solid 3.5 stars. To me it's a good B+ type of book but since I cannot give half stars I will unfortunately have to settle for giving it a 3 star rating, although it is better than that. I look forward to Jack Batten's next Crang mystery, let's hope it's not another twenty years before he writes another!

Jack Batten's book Take Five will be coming out in paperback on April 20 of this year. It's ISBN number is 978-1-77102-273-6 and is published by Thomas Allen & Sons.

Jack Batten's Facebook page
Take Five on Amazon.ca
Jack Batten on GoodReads.com

My review of Take Five is being submitted this month to the ARC challenge on Art & Sole. The Artful Reader's Club, started this January by Darcy challenges us to read one book a month, review it and then make a piece of art to illuminate something in the book. My illustration refers to Crang's addiction to good coffee, in the book he covets his neighbor's coffee so he goes out and purchases a whole coffee bar set up for his office. I can totally relate to that addiction. ;o) The cups he bought were cobalt blue so I decided to do those blue mugs.

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Things I Overlook...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

My name is Jenn and I kill plants. I am officially starting a plant-a-holics group, feel free to join me in my shame. It's not like I want to kill living things but I am notorious about forgetting to water them. Maybe this is why I don't have a pet... ;o)

I have a gorgeous plant that sits in the window of the living room. It is not beautiful because of anything I'm doing though. I swear I have tortured this plant for ten years. He must think I hate him because I notoriously forget to water him. Only when I look over and his leaves are hanging over the rim of his pot and I swear I can hear him choking out, "water, wwaaatttteerrr!" do I actually water the poor suffering guy. It's pathetic, he is what I overlook all the time.

I actually think of him as a SuperHero plant, he defies the logic of Nature. How does a plant who hasn't been transplanted in five years, where his terra cotta pot actually cracked from the pressure this winter, survive with so little water, fertilizer and attention? I haven't got a clue but I have to admit, I admire his tenacity. Let me add, we totally love him, just because I forget to water him on an ongoing basis doesn't mean that I don't love looking at his beautiful happy green leaves. He's bushy and thriving despite my neglect. Do you think he'll forgive me someday?? Mom and I intend to transplant him when it's warm enough to go outside. I want to get him a new and shiny big square turquoise pot, give him the pretty pot he deserves. He's my SuperHero plant. His resilience makes me truly happy and I've immortalized him in my Moleskine. Let's call it "Ode to my SuperHero Plant". ;o)

Title: "Ode To My SuperHero Plant"

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Artist's Play Room #49

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:51:00 +0000

This last week has been in celebration of women. I know this theme made many of you think and I'm happy to have helped all of you explore what being a woman or the women in your live means to you. I found myself looking inside and accepting things that I tend to hide about myself, realizing that by maturing, it's ok to be truly yourself and even if that's unusual or different, that's ok. I so enjoyed reading about how you all came to do the art you did this week, let me show you all that you accomplished...


Parul	Boo	Natalie


Michelle	Jez	Boo


Gloria	Morag	Cat


Arnoldo	Currie	My own Art


Add caption	Stephanie

If you haven't read the rules & guidelines, please go here. If you've landed here after this challenge has been completed but would like to participate in a current or future Artist's Play Room Challenge, just either click on the APR button in the sidebar or click here and you'll be taken to the latest APR Challenge!

Are you having trouble using the Mr. Linky to add your submissions to APR? Well here's some help! Just click on HELP and you'll be taken to my Linky Help Page. Cool, huh? I've got your back!

Two weeks ago the theme was "What do you Treasure?", and I thought it would be fun to do it's opposite, "WHAT DO YOU OVERLOOK?", so that's our theme. This can mean so many things, are you clumsy and tend to trip over stuff? What, does the cat get underfoot? What things do you just forget to do all the time? Have some fun, think outside the box and create something that maybe just seems to fall off your To Do list all the time. Here are some things I thought of...


watering the plants	dust bunnies	the dirty laundry


I forget about the veggies in the crisper. ;o(	I lose track of time	overlook the trash

Best,

Celebration Of Women

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This week's theme is in honor of International Women's Day that took place on March 8th. I thought it would be a good idea to do our Artist's Play Room theme centered around women. When I thought about what I wanted to do, I must admit, for a while I was seriously stumped. Then I happened to go get the mail. I live in an apartment so my mail is downstairs in the lobby and to get it I have to use my key ring and my mail key. That's what rescued me.

Several years ago when I wanted my key ring to be a little more fun, I went and looked at some dangles I could add to it. I chose three decorative dangles to add to my boring keys. Each piece has a special meaning to me. I chose them very carefully, I of course wanted them to look cute but no one would actually guess what each little dangle means.

Purple Hat Dangle: My mom has a saying, "When I am old I will wear purple", this saying is what made me choose the hat. I want to live fully and free, not worry what people think about how I am in the world. Is it ok for someone over forty to sport long sparkly turquoise nails or vibrant strips of color in her bangs? Who cares, if I want to do that to express my individuality and rock my artistic nature then I'm gonna have at it!

Pink High Heel Dangle: It sometimes may be uncomfortable to be yourself but it's worth it. You also have to stand for what you believe. I particularly love limousine platform shoes (I'm short) and they're hard to wear but just like it's sometimes difficult and hurts a little to put yourself out there, so it is to wear those gorgeous shoes. But it's so darn worth the pain! Besides, it's so good to rock that sexy attitude.

Flirty Dress Dangle: Remember that you are a girly girl, even if it makes you uncomfortable. You may not wear bows in your hair but it's ok to let that flirty nature out and let others see that part of yourself that you keep hidden. It isn't a weakness to be beautiful or lovely or feminine.

I wanted to bring everything together and when a friend sent me the "Dreams" heart it all did. That's what my dangles are, dreams for myself. The way I want to walk through my life. I work on it everyday, to have the strength to be my best self, warts and all, to accept who I intrinsically am and to do it proudly. I think that's what women's day is about, being the woman you are in all your glory. It should be celebrated everyday, not just on March 8th.

I drew this up in my Moleskine just using pencil and a couple of pencil crayons. I took a page out of Andrea Joseph's style book and ran with it. I have to admit, it was such fun to honor that perfectionistic lean I have and allow myself to be picky about where every shadow went. It took some time and effort was was well worth it!

Talk soon?? Yes? YAY!
Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Stretched A Little Thin...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Hi everybody. I sure hope you'll all understand, but I've realized that I have to take something off of my table of "things to do" so I can immerse myself in my art in deeper way. What I've decided is that for a month or so, I will be seriously limiting the number of emails and comments that I respond to. I really appreciate all your comments and enthusiasm but I must create some personal time for myself. I'm hoping this will clear off some of my schedule and allow for more art time for me. I'm feeling really disorganized at the moment.

Please forgive the potential rudeness of my not responding to your lovely comments, it does not mean I don't appreciate you all but it's absolutely necessary at this time. Thanks so much for understanding. I will still certainly be putting up the Artist's Play Room Challenges (don't worry, they're all already written so that pressure is off) and I will participate in each challenge, I just won't be getting back to every comment and response. I really do hope you all understand.

Thanks for listening, I will be back soon with a prewritten Stillman & Birn paper review, finally. LOL. I've only had the sketchbook for two months, see, totally overwhelmed. And all I really want to do is paint, really get into it and get down and dirty. I need it. And I'm gonna to it. NOW. Thanks all.

Much Love,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Stillman & Birn: The Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:32:00 +0000

I was so thrilled and surprised when Dion offered to send me a Stillman & Birn sketchbook for review. She uses S&B exclusively and actually is one of the artists that they feature on the front paper flap that encircles each sketchbook. Her specific painting hasn't been revealed on the flap yet, it's a secret which painting will adorn the wrapper and I have to admit, I'm so thrilled for Dion and excited to see her art on a Zeta cover banded sketchbook! Click here to see a sneak peak of the art that will adorn the cover bands.

I did several paintings in my new Stillman & Birn
Gamma Series Sketchbook. I wanted to test
its Multi-media capabilities.

Stillman & Birn sketchbooks come in two bindings, wirebound and hardbound and in a wide range of sizes for each. There is a large amount of choice in kinds of paper too. Here's a chart to help you choose...

• Vellum – distinctive tooth, suitable for all dry media, and will also accept multiple washes
• Cold Press – Substantial tooth, enhanced wet and tear strength, suitable for multi-media
• Plate – smooth surface, suitable for pen & ink, colored pencils, and water-based markers

Dion sent me the Gamma Series 100 lb Ivory Vellum surface sketchbook. The actual color of the paper is a very soft ivory, to me, it's kind of like an off white so it's not as stark as pure white paper. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated with a pure white page and this paper made me feel a little calmer when I first put pen to paper. I didn't find that it affected the color of any of the paintings that I did at all and that was my only concern about the lovely colored paper. The paint came out the exact color that I expected it to, no yellowing at all from the ivory. In fact, as you can see in the painting to the left, the Campbell's can is white and red, I don't think it looks "off" at all, do you?

No buckling, even though I threw a LOT
of water at this piece.

I was pleasantly surprised at the great strength of the paper, since it was 100 lb, lower than I usually work on (I usually work on 140 lb), I was thrilled to see the paper hold up to everything I threw at it with minimal buckling. I really hate it when paper "crumples" so badly that watercolors slide around where you did NOT intend the colors to go but the S&B Gamma paper was really great. I also loved it's texture. I'm used to cold pressed paper and this vellum had less tooth than that, which made it easier to get straight lines with both pencil and pen. I found it had some tooth, just enough not too be so smooth that I felt there wasn't enough drag, does that make sense? As a lefty, I find a little drag in both my paper choice and my pen/pencil choice is really helpful to control where exactly my lines go.

On the subject of being a lefty, the one thing I will do next time is get the hardbound sketchbooks. This is a personal choice. The wirebound gets in the way of my left hand as I draw and paint. So, only for that reason would I get the hardbound. I'd have to give up the convenience of being able to rip out a page if I hated it, lol. The paper in the wirebound books moves over the wire expertly, no pulling or sticking, this actually shocked me. I normally hate wirebound books of any kind. I'm always worried that the little paper bits will rip and then someday I'll lose a page out of my sketchbook. I didn't worry a bit about turning the pages in this sketchbook, so cool. Well done Stillman & Birn!

The paper let me erase pencil lines without pilling and all the multi-media I threw at it showed the terrific quality of this paper. I used pencil, archival ink, watercolors, Neocolor II's, Twinkling H2O's, pencil crayons, Copic and Prismacolor markers, charcoal and even gel pens on this vellum surface and as you can see, it all came out wonderfully. I had absolutely no problems with any medium. In fact, I'd have to say that this paper didn't "streak" as much as some other cheaper papers have when I liquify any watercolor pencil crayons with a water brush. The vellum surface handled everything really excellently.

The great thing is that the series of six kinds of paper, from Alpha to the new Zeta, all come in a plethora of sizes. In fact, if you can't find a size for you I'd be really surprised. I'm putting both the Beta and the Zeta hardbound sketchbooks on my birthday wish list. I want to try even wetter media and also acrylic paint and Silks on the thicker paper. I'm so glad to have the Gamma already so now I only have two to wish for!

Thanks again to Dion for sending me the Stillman & Birn Sketchbook, I'm so happy with it. I am looking forward to getting my hands on a Zeta hardbound 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook, not only because I want to see Dion's artwork on the cover band but because I'd love to try their hardbound books, I'm thinking they'll end up being my goto sketchbooks too.

Stillman & Birn Links:
Website: www.stillmanandbirn.com
Inquiries: info@stillmanandbirn.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Stillmanandbirn
Twitter: www.twitter.com/stillmanandbirn

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Artist's Play Room #48

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:27:00 +0000

WHAT DO YOU TREASURE? That was the theme for last week's APR challenge and what a wonderful challenge it turned out to be! I so enjoyed reading all about everyone's treasures and what they hold dear to them. The collection of art ranged from a dining room table to family and quotes. I feel like I really got to know all of you better this week and I thank you for sharing all your lovely trinkets, thoughts and feelings with me. I realized that I treasure all of you and hosting The Artist's Play Room every week. Let me show you all the lovely art that was created over last week, it's really the best week to go read everyone's blog as you can really get to know everyone better!


Mary	Bellallullo	Mo


Jez	Morag	Tracey


My Art	Hwee	Boo


Cat	Valerie	Vonny


Robin	Currie	Darla


Arnoldo	Ritu	Gloria

Stephanie

Did you know that March 8th was International Women's Day? I wrote a post to celebrate it, if you'd like to read it, click here. In celebration of International Women's Day I thought the theme should be WOMEN. If you are a woman, what makes you tick, who are you? Tell me about you. If you're a man, what do women mean to you? What things do you feel and think about when you think of the women in your life? I can't wait to see the art everyone comes up with.

No pictures this time, I can't illustrate YOU, I want YOU to do that. :o)

Best,

I'll be cutting down on my comments and getting back to emails for the next month or so. I'll explain more on Monday with an explanatory post. Hope you all understand. Thanks.

International Women's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:36:00 +0000

I scouted around the other day, remembering that I'd written something for Women's Day a few years ago. I found it covered in mothballs (hehehe) and thought it was good enough for a second play, hope you agree. :o)

Today is International Women's Day. Wikipedia states that today, March 8th is the major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations range from general celebration of respect and appreciation towards women, to a celebration of women's economic, political and social achievements.

Today, I'm inspired to put down my opinion on a subject close to my heart. I think it's quite misunderstood. Currently, many view "Feminist" is a derogatory term that's equated with being masculine and strident. This is a falsehood. To be a feminist simply means believing in the equality between men and women, supporting the idea that women deserve the same rights under the law as men. Feminine and feminist are not mutually exclusive. One can have the wonderful qualities of womanhood and still be a Feminist. It is also true that men can still be masculine while also holding the belief that the women in their lives are their equal.

Where people seem to be getting confused is when manners and common courtesy enter the picture. Just because a man opens a door or pulls out the seat for a woman doesn't mean he thinks of her as less. A gallant man is not sexist, he is mannerly. It is gentlemanly behavior to have manners and be polite. Holding a woman's chair should be equated to using please & thank you. It is a form of politeness and shows good manners.

Unisex is not the goal of Feminism, equality is. Men and women make a great team working together. Each gender brings their own strengths to the party. The value of those strengths is what's equal. This is a good thing and anyone misunderstanding what the Feminist Movement really is can be comforted by that. As the French say... "Vive La Différence!"

And last but certainly not least, here's a great quote by Caitlin Moran, a columnist for The New York Times. She really says it like it is...

“We need to reclaim the word ‘feminism’. We need the word ‘feminism’ back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist – and only 42% of British women – I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? ‘Vogue’ by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?”

Best,

To all the women before me who have helped me along the way and to all those who have befriended me, supported me and generally made my life better, I say Thank You.

Treasure Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 08:01:00 +0000

This week's Artist's Play Room theme is What Do You Treasure? When I think of the things I treasure I think of both physical and sensory things. I have a silk pouch filled with little trinkets, a jade heart from my mom, a tiny glass flask filled with fairy dust from a childhood friend, my Girl Guides pin, my alumnae pin from the University of Victoria just to name a few. And although at some point I may take the time to draw up all of these lovely treasures, what I also treasure are things like beauty and color. So, I decided I'd cover COLOR. One of my very favorite things, I treasure how color makes me feel.

I find that just looking at bright vibrant colors invigorates my mind and excites my senses. Color actually makes me happy, supremely, giddily happy, particularly when it's in a liquid form like nail polish! ;o) Yes, I know it sounds kind of vain but I LOVE nail polish for just the exact reasons I mentioned above. It also helps that with a great selection of color I can make my nails look awesome! I actually have a lucite holder with shelves that mount on my bedroom wall to showcase all the cool colors I have collected over the years. It's like looking at all the watercolor paints I have in my palette, just in pretty little bottles. It's a rainbow of color!

I have a ton of colors, turquoise, red, taupe, gray, fuchsia, purple, lavender, wine, pink, grass green, olive, black etc. in both plain and glitter. It's a real love affair, I must say. (Oh, I can't wear orange or yellow, they make me look dead.) I'll tell you something that I'm sure you'll use against me later... I have them color coded. Yes, I'm a nut, but you love me anyway, right? The gradation of color on the wall almost looks like art and seeing it every morning as I get dressed truly does ding my bell and make me smile. I'll admit though, it sure is hard to pick a color to use when you have so many choices! I try to be fair to all the colors and use them equally (I mean I wouldn't want a color to feel unloved) but it seems that my penchant for green and pink tends to rule most times. Do you think the other colors will forgive me??

Anyway, I thought I'd paint up my favorite colors of nail polish into my Moleskine. Even in the Moleskine they make me happy. :o)

I'll be back soon, I want to review the Stillman & Birn sketchbook paper I generously got from Dion and I also hope to finish a book for "review and art" to participate in The Artful Readers Club over at Art & Sole. It'll be a fun and busy week!

Talk soon? Yes?? Good!
Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Artist's Play Room #47

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:13:00 +0000

This week's theme was "BLORANGE", the combination colors of blue and orange. It seems that color theme weeks are exceedingly popular and I intend to do more of them in the coming months. I found myself finally liking blue and orange a little more than in the past, they work together like peas and carrots (yes, I know peas and carrots are GREEN and orange but work with me here people!) In the future I'll suggest that you think up your own favorite color theme, combine two colors and name them, but that's in the future. Until then let me show you all the blue and orange art that we produced this week!


Boo	Morag	Jez


Bellalullo	Parul	Boo


Sharon	Gloria	Mo


Jez	Mo	Maria


Cat	Neesie	My Art


Darla	Lisa	Robin


Currie	Tracey	Debbie


Arnoldo	Stephanie


Vonny	Mary

What do you treasure? What things are important to you? That's our theme this week. So, search your heart for the things that mean the most to you. Maybe you keep a treasure box and you could draw that or maybe it's all about family for you or how about colour. Is color what lights your world? Think about the things you treasure and the word itself, make art to illuminate that theme. GO!! Here are some things I treasure and some other ideas of how to bring the word TREASURE to light...


A treasure box	Color & Candy	Love, Pets & Animals


A Treasure Map	Beauty & Nature	Reach for your Treasure, Trees

I hope everyone has a great upcoming week and we all get warmer (or in the case of Australia, drier) weather. I'm totally crossing my fingers and toes for an early Spring! I want warm! I'm sick of being c-c-c-cooold!! Go forth and do art my lovelies!

Now, I need coffee... who can I bribe to get me a cuppa? Damn, I wish I owned a smart dog with opposable thumbs. ;o)

Best,

New Art Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Hiya. I came across a very cool new Art challenge. (thank you Trace) It really feeds into two of my favorite things, books and art. Art & Sole has started a new Book Art Challenge for 2013. She explains the whole concept here, but let me cover the basics. Our hostess Darcy is calling the monthly challenge The Artful Reading Club and it involves reading a book a month and then doing a piece of art that is inspired by that book. You then do a small blog post reviewing the book and showing your requisite artwork. Link up your blog post on the last Friday of every month. What a wonderful idea! Since I LOVE to read but sometimes feel guilty reading when I think I should be painting, this gives me a reason to read. Hey, I need to have that book finished by the last Friday of the month with artwork to match so read on McDuff, lol.

Ok, here are some other details. Darcy asks us to write a first post announcing that you will be participating in this year long challenge and listing the twelve books that you want to read throughout the year. I'll be honest, I don't know which twelve I'll be reading as I'll definitely be reading the pre-release books I receive but I can at least list the books that are already on my list that need reading and reviewing. Here's my list so far (in no particular order):

Alfa Romeo 1300 by Fabio Bartolomei
The Gathering by Ann Enright
Order of The Black Swan by Victoria Danann
Take Five by Jack Batten
Broken Elements by Mia Marshall
Corporeality by Hollis Seamon
One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis
Sixth Power by Carol Nicolas
The Creative License by Danny Gregory
The Sun Zebra by R. Garcia

Wow, who knew I actually had ten to review already. I gotta get reading, lol. Go on over to Art and Sole and read all the rules etc. I think it's gonna be a great monthly challenge! Oh, and since it's all about books and I finished the bookmarks that I was supposed to finish for last week's APR challenge, it seems appropriate to show them here. Tada!


Title: "BringSpring"	The backs of the bookmarks	Title: "Rain"

Thaaaat's all Folks! Get your Blorange art in, we're running out of time this week!! I think I'll go kill someone for a coffee. Hehehe. ;o)

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Shall We Play A Game?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:34:00 +0000

Do you remember that line from a blockbuster movie from 1983?? Can you name it? I'll give you a hint, it was said by a computer. Have you figured it out yet? I watched the movie War Games that year about three times, I was fascinated by the computers and what could happen if they weren't programmed correctly. Who knows if it had anything to do with reality, it was such fun to watch all the war games going on. Ahhh the eighties, leg warmers, big shoulder pads and the Rubik's cube.

I love games. If I can cajole anyone to play with me I'll get the cards out. How about a game of Gin or Canasta? If you don't like cards, how about Scrabble? I warn you though, I have a pretty good vocabulary. (Now, I can't spell my way out of a paper bag but that's another story.) OOh, if you don't like words, how about a good game of Yahtzee? I LOVE Yahtzee!

I think the reality is that I just love spending time with the people I love. If that's playing games or having coffee or just watching tv together, I'm a happy camper. Strangely I'm not much of a social animal. I don't relish a good party. I'm not a wallflower if I'm at one but I'd rather spend good time with close friends, of which I have a very short but special list.

Because of my love of games, I thought I'd add a page commemorating my favorites to my Moleskine. This completes this week's theme of "BLORANGE" for The Artist's Play Room. Scrabble, Cards, Yahtzee... wanna play?

Scrabble, Gin, Canasta or Yahtzee

I'll be back soon with more stuff this week. I'm starting a new challenge and I'll tell you all about it in the next few days. I also want to give a shout out to all the lovely people who wrote, tweeted, pinned and Facebooked about FEATURING. You guys are so darn helpful and if I were playing a game with any one of you I'd let you win! (Well, at least the first round, hehehe.) You guys ROCK. Thank you!

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here.

Do You Know About FEATURING Magazine?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Hi everybody. I wanted to put up an update about the magazine I write for, FEATURING magazine. Right now we're diligently working on issue 4. The issue coming up to print will be extra exciting because there's a huge article about mail art. That's right, art made by you. Marit (our editor-in-chief) says she'd been inundated by some very cool pieces of mail art on a daily basis and she wants to send out a thank you to all who have sent something in.

Something cool that I know many of us have been waiting for is the ability to buy a subscription to the magazine. After issue 4 is out in about a month, you will be able to buy a yearly subscription to your favorite art magazine, FEATURING!! Even better, by subscribing you will save 15% off the cover price.

One thing we could really use your help with is getting the word out about our spectacular art magazine. We have great reviews that you can read on our testimonial page but most members of ‘the artsy world’ are still not yet aware of FEATURING’s existence. In the few occasions that we saw someone drop the name of FEATURING on a blog, the comments said: “I’ve never heard of the magazine before.” That's a shame, isn’t it? We believe there are a lot more people that would love the magazine – if only they knew about it!

We, at FEATURING, want to give the magazine the possibility to grow and earn its place in the arts and craft world but that will only be possible when more people know and buy the magazine. Soooo… we need your help to get the word out!

Are you a fan?
If so, you can lend us a helping hand by spreading the word and promoting the magazine.
Tell your friends about it. Share your enthusiasm on your blog. If you are a member of a forum, make a comment on the discussion boards and share a link to the FEATURING website. Also, Marit has said that if you take your magazine to an art or craft store and show them how fabulous we are and they order FEATURING for their store, YOU will get a free one year subscription to the magazine. Woohoo!! Total bonus! :o) Just send us an email telling us which businesses in your town you showed FEATURING to and you'll get credit if they order. And just so you know, we at FEATURING truly appreciate your help. We think our fans ROCK!

If you'd like to Tweet, Like, blog or connect to FEATURING, here are our links.

Website: www.FeaturingMagazine.com
Twitter: @Featuring_Mag
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Featuringmagazine
YouTube: www.youtube.com/featuringmagazine

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here. I'll be back soon with a bunch more content and MY submission for this week, I will participate dammit, lol.

It's Good To Have Friends!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer McLean) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:07:00 +0000

I am spoiled, did you know that? Yes, spoiled with good and generous friends. I was reading Serena Lewis' post about her beginning to venture out and do some sketching in public. She posted that she found the coolest all-in-one pencil case-type organizer and that it worked perfectly because it held her moleskine, pens and other sketching supplies perfectly.

Scuffs Hardhead "Owlly"
pencil case.

The blog post was called "I Love My Owlly" and I must admit I totally drooled over her Owlly too! This all-in-one travel kit is not only perfect for holding everything an urban sketcher would need but it's totally cute too!! See, I had been looking high and low for a good pencil case but to no avail. Even worse, I had just ordered the large Moleskine Cahier notebooks so I could (hopefully starting this Spring if I get my sh*t together, lol.) start venturing out into this big beautiful world and do some impromptu drawing. I've been inspired by the likes of Andrea Joseph, Danny Gregory and Serena herself (I absolutely LOVE her sketchbook entries).

I see myself sitting in a Starbucks with a large mint mocha latte drawing everything that I see. Maybe I could even find some parks around here that I could draw my natural surrounding. I have the duckpond out back and those ducks are just begging to be drawn. (Ok, they're begging for duck food but I'm not judging, lol.) The thing is, just like Serena, I'm a bit trepidatious about trying to draw in public. The great thing though is that I now have the perfect travel set for urban sketchers all because of Serena, just the sweetest person ever!

What happened is that when I saw her Owlly I went hunting the brand down only to find it was not available in Canada or the US. Eek!! Serena is in Australia and the Owlly is an exclusively Aussie product, not for sale outside her lovely country. I left a bereft comment on Serena's blog, a tongue-in-cheek harangue that it just wasn't fair for her to show off her lovely new travel kit when the rest of us suffer without a totally cute Owlly. (I can be known for my sarcastic lip.)

Scuffs Hardhead "Piper" Pencil Case

Now, I did NOT mean to make her feel guilty or force her to go buy me an Owlly of my very own but that's what she did!!! She actually said she'd gone to buy several (I'm guessing for other friends) and did I want her to send me one? I'll admit this stunned me for a while and I had to give it a minute of serious thought. (Out came the guilt, had my sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek comment made her feel guilty?) Then I got over myself and realized that NO I wasn't all powerful OZ, making people bend to my will, Serena was just über generous and wanted to be nice. I love that about her.

The Owlly arrived yesterday even though both Serena and I expected it to take at least another month to arrive. YIPPEE, the Canadian mail system actually worked for once, lol. My Owlly is actually bright pink and called Piper, lol. Isn't it just the cutest? It fits everything I'll need and even some stuff I didn't think I'd be able to fit in any travel case. It just fits the large Moleskine cahier nicely and then the center part holds my pencil and micron pens and a smudger. In the back pocket I was so lucky that all of the colored Pentel R.S.V.P ballpoint pens fit perfectly along side my Graphitint Derwent pencil crayons. It couldn't be more perfect. The ballpoints shouldn't bleed through the cahier paper and the Graphitints will allow me to add just a hint of color. I'm so thrilled about how it all came together, it must have been kismet.

Thank you Serena for contributing to my first forays into sketching in public. Now that everything is in one place, I won't lose anything and I'm betting the journey will be successful and you know how success builds on itself! I'm so happy to be your friend. You Rock!

Best,

If you're looking for this week's APR just click here. I'll be back soon y'all, there's just so much to say! Hehehe.