My "Hidden" Mess

For a LONG time now my studio has been uninhabitable....I mean MONTHS!!!! It had everything from barbed wire (for a future project) to bank receipts to pens to fabric to my sewing machine. Do you think I could use *anything* in there? Absolutely not! Then I started the big "MUCK OUT".

I uploaded books to sell on Amazon.com, craft supplies to ETSY.com, Craig's List.com, and Artfire.com. I started sorting and so the mess was gradually taking over the area where the ironing board is and the bedroom where my closet is. It started to be impossible to get to my closet OR my dresser. 

Along came a stint in the hospital....and my dear, dear husband and equally dear daughter decided they needed to take this project in hand so I could actually get into my studio. 

Now let me tell you that this pile of my "STUFF"....except for what they left in my studio so I could work on my art and sew, plus get in to my dresser, is about 4' high by 8' long by the width of a car and is in our garage. I tried taking a photo for your but it came out pretty bad because I have been a bit shaky from some new meds. But let me tell you, my husband now parks his truck outside because his side of the garage is FULL of my "STUFF"!!! 


They made it so I could get in to my closet in the other bedroom, so I could work in my studio, draw or sew, and so I could get in to my dresser. If I were to say I am relieved beyond measure that would be an understatement!!

So now the plan is: Either my daughter or my husband will bring in one box or container at a time, I will go through it, and the sorting will begin. The end result is that I *WILL* be selling a lot of it at a garage sale in June or July. Craft supplies are expensive to come by up here and I know I will probably sell everything if I make it a decent price. One container alone holds about 500 sheets of various colored scrapbooking paper and card  stock. 

This is how it looks now....a wonderful place to be my creative self!!

The window with some of my favorite "comfort things" and a large canvas Zentangle I did.

I now have a place to work and it feels so awesome!!

My sewing table actually has room on it for a light and whatever!!!

I cannot relate to you the relief I felt when I returned home from the hospital and they had taken care of this monumental weight for me!! Now I have work space and LOVE being in it again. 

BEST MOMENT OF TODAY:

I went to the hairdresser!! Yay!!

ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

I'm working on several right now and don't have a photo to share today (tomorrow, I promise) but am sharing a closeup of some beautiful yellow roses my sweet and loving husband brought me a while back. Enjoy them!!

I hope that your tomorrow is wonderful!!

Janie

PS. If you were serious about me designing a cell phone skin please contact me at janie.brackney@gmail.com. I would be delighted to.

Pot Holes?

 I had to drive to town today and we live about 18 miles outside of town. Our road is a country road, dirt and gravel and then it finally gets to the main road and of course, that's paved. But as I was driving down our road, I had to deal with three places on the dirt road that are full of terrible pot holes, some hidden by water, slush, and snow...while others are large and well defined. Sometimes no matter how carefully I drive, I hit one or more of those pot holes! 

Smooth, ice-free road!

Series of pot holes ahead!

Whoops! Big pot hole!!

So, I was thinking that life is a lot like driving down our dirt road right now. You can be going along, enjoying the smooth dirt road and the great view of spring in Alaska and all of a sudden the car is shaken up by one or more of those pot holes.....like problems in our lives. We can be going along just fine but we can't avoid them no matter how hard we try. The results? A really dirty car!!! 

And in life? Depression, anxiety, fear, anger, etc. I have been bothered by a lot of depression and anxiety this year and maybe that's why this all popped into my head. I thought it might be worth writing about, since this blog is mainly for me and my growth. I do hope that you, my readers, get a little something from my blog once in a while. 

While I'm on this whole "pot hole" thing....I want to thank you for reading "me", even if you aren't listed as a follower or don't leave a comment. It takes a little of the precious time we are each allotted in our day to do that and it means a lot to me....so THANK YOU!!

I hope that your days are not filled with very many pot holes and that the ones that you do encounter are not too messy and don't throw you around too much!!

BEST MOMENT OF TODAY:

Finding a new home for my guinea pigs. It is getting really difficult for me to take care of them so they are going to a new home. It will be sad to see them go but also a relief.

ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

Happy Spring,

Janie

Some Things Just Aren't Fair!

OK, I have a rant....we have gone to many musical presentations by a concert association here in Fairbanks over the years. We love seeing and hearing good music of almost every kind. They have presented Celtic musicians and they have all been great and even had Garrison Keillor here, who is a great story teller. We have seen a large variety of groups and soloists. So we really have supported this association for a long time. 

This year the list of musicians/groups/acts that are being presented for next season do not in any way shape or form appeal to us. In fact, they all sound just about the same. I have no clue where they dug up these folks even though I'm sure they will appeal to someone. My problem is that they are also presenting k.d. lang and Lily Tomlin as separate "special events". The deal is that we cannot buy tickets to see these two special events if we don't buy a membership or a subscription! So I would have to pay out $431 for three tickets (and that is with senior prices too!)

Can you say RIP OFF??????.....anyway, I do NOT see k.d.lang or Lily Tomlin in my future. I just had to rant about this because it really has me perturbed. I know they need to make money somehow but couldn't they get more of a variety as they usually do? Thank you. That is all.

BEST MOMENT OF MY DAY:

Getting a phone call from my youngest child, daughter Lisabeth. She is awesome and it brightened up my day to hear her voice.

ZENTANGLE OF THE DAY:

This is a new one on brown paper (recycled and not very good quality) but I used two sizes of Micron pens - a dark brown - and water color pencils. Afterward, I used a water pen to go over the water color pencils and I think this will be good in the right frame. I added some white highlights but don't think this is my best work lately.....

Have a great day!

Janie

Is it a phone? Is it a plane? Is it a drawing? NO!!

OK, I must be hard up to post about this but I have been so boring lately that I decided to post this. I got a Windows phone back in March and because of where we live I couldn't find a case for it. So online I went....is there anyplace else where you can buy anything you need? 


I found a site that let you design your own cell phone "skin". So, I dug up one of my favorite Zentangles and make it into a skin for my cell phone!! It came yesterday and I think I could have done a better job at lining things up, but nevertheless I think it looks pretty awesome.

Over the top of this skin is a clear plastic hard case I also purchased on the Internet. Now I love my phone and no one will ever have one that looks like this one.


BEST MOMENT TODAY: 
Getting up and knowing I'm loved for who I am and not what I do.


ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

This is all black ink with some highlighted blue ink areas. Poor photo, sorry. :(

I hope your day is filled with sunshine!!
Janie

Dog Day Afternoon

Our wonderful little Gracie needs exercise and as our dog daycare specialist says, "Gracie has a social life". So today she went to doggie daycare for the day to see her friends. She knows the minute I say "friends" that she is going over to play. It isn't s long way from our house but it takes a few minutes to driver over there....sort of an "over the hills and through the woods" kind of drive.

Long and straight Road, taken on my way home from doggie daycare.

I saw the front of the door going into the dog kennel place that other dogs were anxious to go there too. I just had to take a picture of it! 

Does this door say "Let me in, let me in!"????

They have done some remodeling and now have a rather large homey-type building where the dogs are "sorted" as to size and age, I am assuming. These people are so good to the dogs and provide lots of services.

When Gracie is picked up she comes home and is "wiped out", which is the point after all!! 


BEST MOMENT OF TODAY:


It was very quiet today when I came home from the store with Alan at work and Gracie at daycare. I was sleepy and laid down on the bed and slept for 1 1/2 hours. I LOVE retirement!! :)


ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

This Zentangle was done quite some time again when I was just learning. 

I hope you have a wonderful kind of  "doggie daycare wiped out" sort of day!!!
Janie

We Are Never Too Old.....

I have discovered we are never too old to enjoy "childhood" things, or at least things associated with being children. For instance, I have a long-standing collection of Boyd's Bears....and other bears that have been given to me. These also include mice and bunnies and other animals. Most of my bears are in a big box because I have never had a place to display them that the dog won't be able to reach. 

Recently I was looking, really "looking" at the things of comfort that I have displayed in my Studio. I was heartened to see that most things are my bears and animals. I thought I would share those little things here with you. Each year at Christmas I usually get a new bear or animal to add to the collection. The older I get the smaller they are but the more precious they seem to be. I hope you enjoy this small insight into what is known as "Jane".

White bear given to me by my husband and the duck was my mother's favorite animal when she was in her 70s.

Cat with one eye I fell in love with at a bazaar and the doll was made for me by a co-worker a long time ago.

This pig was sitting inside a Guinea Pig cage on Christmas morning 4 years ago,  letting me know I had a Guinea Pig coming too.

Two bears with a mouse between...all Boyd's. I love them.

A cute little critter I just received from Bailey's Furniture when we purchased a new mattress there.

Isn't this a face you could love????

BEST MOMENT OF TODAY:

A 2 1/2 hour nap!!! (on our new mattress)

ZENTANGLE OF THE DAY:

This is something not quite finished but close. It is 16" x 20"....the largest I have ever done.

Some new designs that I'm trying to get better at. Largest I've ever worked on...NOT FINISHED YET!

Have a sun shining day....Janie

Trees

I grew up in the mountains of Montana and of course, we were surrounded with evergreens. Here in Alaska we are surrounded by Black Spruce. I get  of not seeing all the other types of trees and when I go "outside" (Lower 48) it is wonderful seeing all the different kinds of trees together.

Our Birch trees against a January Sky.

I read somewhere that trees are mother nature's poetry against the sky. I love that!!

Our Birch trees against an April sky.

We went out yesterday and bought a new mattress and across from where we were loading the mattress into the back of the the truck were a few small trees and they actually had buds on them!!! It feels so early but in actuality it is much later than everyone else.

You can barely see the buds!

I have always loved trees. They are so majestic. The Birch actually "talk" when the wind blows and I love standing outside to listen. Maybe I will have to add "learn to talk 'tree'" to my Bucket List! LOL 

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.

~Ogden Nash, "Song of the Open Road," 1933


BEST MOMENT FROM TODAY:


Getting an email from a new friend about Zentangling, thanks Sandra


ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

I hope your day is wonderful. Look at the trees!!

Janie

My Great-Grandmother

I have always felt a kinship to my Great-Grandmother, Icy Dora Phillips. She died when I was 5 years old but I remember the times I spent at her house. She was married to a professional gambler who I never saw or knew because he was never home. My Great-Grandmother was very artistic and I like to think I got a tiny bit of her talent. She used to pain her own china and fire it, hooked huge rugs (long before you could buy a kit with the pattern stamped on burlap), and painted on every flat thing she could find. When we found some of her paintings and took them apart to re-frame them, we found another picture on the other side in some cases!! She painted in oils and I love her pictures. We have the following pictures hanging in our living room.

I remember she used to have huge piles of different color rags, torn into strips and sorted in her living room. She let me play in those piles of rags.


I sometimes think she must be watching over me and helping me when I am dealing with a particular problem. Yes, I believe in Guardian Angels, at least in my case. LOL  I wish so often that she was still alive, that I could sit at her knee and learn how to do all the things that she did so well. 


When she died she was working on a set of china for me. She had already done a set for my aunt, my cousin, my grandmother, and my mother. When I say "set", it was like settings for 8 people....large dinner plates, salad plates, dessert plates, cups, saucers, soup bowls, 4 large serving bowls, and a platter. Each was in a design of her own and different from the others. Because I didn't get a whole set, my mother had all her unfinished pieces fired and I have had them over the years. There is a salad set of a large bowl with 4 smaller bowls all in various states of completion, a cocoa set with a large pitcher and 4 mini cups, various cups and saucers, various serving dishes, very small soup terrines, a couple of vases, and other assorted china. I have always treasured it but have used it for every occasion other than the everyday meals. I want others to see her work and I know she is pleased when I use it at a dinner party or as I did today for my daughter's birthday get-together. No celebration of any kind would be the same without her china being present. My mother and grandmother passed their china on to me and I gave a set to my oldest daughter and have another set which will go to my other daughter. 


I also have quilts that Icy made and we have used them until they are falling apart. What good would they be doing in a chest where no one would see them and they wouldn't be used for what they were made for? I certainly hope that when I'm gone that my children will use the things they inherit from me that are "special". 


I am very thankful for the memories I have of this special lady. She was odd in her own way and was a Holy Roller....and I remember being in her house and she would be in the church on the corner across the street and I could hear them shouting and singing....how mysterious it all was to a 5 year old. 


I drive by her house every time I get to Hamilton, Montana. The people who have it now have really fixed it up and it's very cute. I also have to go to her grave....just to pay my respects. My visits there are few and very far between but very memorable to me. I come away feeling more complete somehow.


SPECIAL MOMENT FOR TODAY:
Today is my youngest child's 30th birthday. It is Lizzy's birthday and I have spoken of her here before. She is a wonderful young woman and I'm very proud to be her mom. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:
This is a Zentangle in process. It started out with the A and the word ALWAYS....which are rub-ons. I'll photograph it again when it is completed.

Have a wonderful spring day!!
Janie


I hope you have a great day

Animals Both Large and Small

Ever hear the saying, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"? Well, I'm starting out my blog this morning with a photo or our beloved Gracie. She is an Australian Shepherd and the love of our lives, our "little girl", our Princess. She has taken up ownership of the couch and her Master's chair. The couch is for sleeping...full out sleeping,...while his chair is for napping during the day when he isn't here. Last night I finally got this picture of her. Yes, she sleeps with her head on a pillow or her whole body on two pillows....hence, the name Princess.

Sunday we went to see our friends that we got Gracie from because they had another litter of Aussies that were just being readied to go to their new homes and this picture is of one of the little cuties.

This picture is of Pippin who we puppy-sat last year while her "mommy" Taylor (also shown here) went to Hawaii. Pippin was 8 weeks old if you recall and she sure has grown!! It seemed like she remembered us and when we got ready to go out the door, she was sitting by the door like she was going too. So cute!!

Then the other night Alan said, "Look!" pointing out the kitchen window. Our window looks up on a slight hill outside our house to the road. There stood these two most amazing moose!! As long as I live in Alaska I will always be in awe of their size. They are so huge!! Anyway, I did get a couple of good shots so here they are. 

BEST MOMENT OF TODAY:


The best moment of today was waking up from a full night of sleep! For me it is so rare and I feel so much better when I actually get some sleep!! 


ZENTANGLE OF THE DAY:


I don't know if I have shown these before or not. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. I have worked on the originals so that there is a lot of color blending and so forth.


ORIGINAL DESIGNS:

Bright Pink Ink

Red Ink

NEW UPDATED DESIGNS:

Reworked Bright Pink Zentangle

Reworked Red Zentangle

Have a wonderful day,

Janie

An Addendum to One of This Week's Posts

It has been brought to my attention that it was not just my daughter, Lisabeth, but also my husband, Alan, who "dug" out my studio for me. This was something that had been hanging over my head like an axe ready to fall. They took it upon themselves while I was in the hospital to get everything moved to a different area where I can go through it all at my leisure and then fixed up my studio so I actually have a warm and welcoming place to work.


I want you to think about one thing in your life that you wish someone would do for you or take away from you that you no longer want to deal with. That is what they did for me. Words will never express my gratitude to them for all their hard work but more importantly, their thoughtfulness. You must understand that this was simply something I could not do for myself....and they loved me so much that they did this for me. 


I love you so much....
Janie


PS  If you have someone in your life like this, love them with all your might!!!

Animals

New Green on beige paper. The photo isn't very good but the green is actually that green!

Yesterday my Love took me to the 3D IMAX show about two women and their work with abandoned baby elephants and abandoned baby orangutans. It was a great show but way too short. I have been realizing that I love animals, almost all...except those that slither on the ground. There was an Aardvark and a Warthog in the movie and it was fascinating to see them. I have always been fascinated by Anteaters. Anteaters (South America) and Aardvarks (Africa) are similar but not in the same areas of the world. The little baby elephants and Orangutans were just so cute!

Anteater

Baby Orangutan

Aardvark  

Baby Elephant

Sorry I can't figure out how to do the pictures any better here!!! Grrrrr

Anyway, I was thinking that maybe I like drawing "Woodland Creatures" because I really love animals. I love all the Woodland Creatures that live in my imagination.

POSITIVE HIGHLIGHT OF TODAY:

The day is only half over and we are going to go look at puppies this afternoon and I know that will be a highlight but the most significant highlights are: 1) Seeing the now open yellow roses from my Love sitting on our dining room table this morning and feeling the love that brought them to me, and 2) A loving and very intuitive letter from my brother. There is just the two of us and there is 5 years between us so we have never been extremely close but we have always tried to be there for each other. He is awesome in so many ways and I love him dearly. 

ZENTANGLE FOR TODAY:

Here is are two of my very recent Woodland Creatures:

Is this a two brain? LOL  Purple on white paper.

I really like this one. Black on white paper.

I hope each of you have a wonderful day and if you are where I am, enjoy the sunshine!!!!
Janie