Hair New Era

Oh boy, I'm late for Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday! This has been a busy morning, and I'm on the go again, but I at least want to post my contribution this week before I have to leave for my next appointment.


This is a mixed media painting on a 6x6 canvas. You sure can tell that I like orange and red... I just love bright happy colors. This is not done yet, I hope to finish her over the weekend. Again, it took me quite some time to work on this and I didn't like her for a long time until finally it somehow came together.

Acrylic paint as a base, I cut head and neck out of my old worksheet (the sheet that was lying under all the work I did and turned very colorful over the weeks) that I then finger-painted with gesso. The colors of the sheet still show through and give it some texture. I really like that, but it was hard to get the color of the face - I used PITT pens and more gesso for that. Eyes, nose and mouth are cut from the same worksheet. The headband is a piece of fabric, the dots and flowers cut-outs from the worksheet. I also stamped it to give the background more texture. Some glitter on her hair. And of course she's crooked...

Don't forget to visit all the other amazing artists participating in Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Studio!

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, I decided that it is time to move on. This was a horrifying week, and I sincerely hope that it was the worst week in 2011. A HUGE thank you to all of you for your comments, prayers and e-mails - this has been so much help, and I know that one day Katie's family will feel the same gratitude for this wonderful community as I do (they already do).

But I think it is time to move on - and I'm convinced that this is exactly what Katie would like us to do, living life to the fullest just as she did.

I visited Inspiration Avenue just to check what their weekly challenge is, and it's an easy one - about color. Which is my color? Well, of course it's


Orange is bold and bright, daring and full of life, feisty and fun. It doesn't always fit in and it doesn't get along with everyone. It brightens up a dark place and is the light in spooky times. It's earthy and strong, powerful and magical; warm and welcoming. It stands out, is different. But it is also maturity and wisdom combined with playfulness, though sometimes plain silly.

I need more orange in my life, and I'm determined to get it!

It's been some time since I participated in any challenges. But when Louise at Kard Krazy's newest Tag Tuesday challenge was "black and orange" I knew that I had to make a tag. I got the idea for the shape from Lou and Mel at Scrap-ology.


I had so much fun with this tag that I decided to make more and give them to my guests at our upcoming Halloween party. Here's an entire coffin full of bats and skulls.

Good morning, WOYWWers -

yes, it's morning here, and I know, most of you probably already enjoy their afternoon tea. I'm still at my first cup of coffee!

So here's my desk this morning:


I'm decorating those paper mache pumpkins that glow in such a nice orange. I painted them with acrylic paint and now am going to decoupage them with all those little paper squares I'm currently cutting. I have no idea whether this will work out, I've never done this before. So it might be a disaster, it might be nice. We'll see.

If you want to peek at work desks around the world, hop on over to Julia's blog to find more!

On Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch. It's one of our favorite things to do in October.

It was a brilliant day, with a deep blue sky, bright sunshine and the temperatures were pretty high as well. It always seems to be hot when we visit a pumpkin patch - hot, dusty and dirty. And lots of fun.

Kaefer brought along her friend and both girls took off happily - first into the corn maze, an excellent one this year that kept us occupied for the better part of an hour. Our rule in a maze like this is to always stick to the right which really works, although I sometimes thought "hey, I've been here before". But can you really tell among all those high stalks of corn? This time, our rule worked again and we made our way through the maze.


There were farm animals to visit and hay bails to play on, but we headed straight to the patch and while the girls went on the search for the perfect pumpkin, the Geek and I were in photography heaven. The bright light, though, was quite a challenge! But who can resist that orange?

The last day of September...

The past days have been pretty toasty here with temperatures topping 100, but today it's way more comfortable and even though it's still very much like summer, autumn is definitely on its way. Tomorrow starts my favorite month of the year - I simply love October with all its colorful abundance.

So here comes autumn - this week's theme at Tuesday Taggers. I'm a real sucker for pumpkins - hey, they're orange! - and of course I had to contribute something pumpkinish. I saw these pumpkins in the garden of a winery up in Mendocino County.


October also means pumpkin patch - oh, I can't wait! All the beautiful color this months gives out with full hands, and at its end there is the best holiday ever. Did I mention that I'm also a BIG fan of Halloween?