Queen of Dreams Radio
Archive for the ‘Art’ Category
I received an email a few days ago from PJ Spur. She shared a doggie portrait a good friend of hers painted. This doggie portrait is sooo cute. If you’ve ever loved those psychedelic cows or those other animal prints, these will strike a chord. When I opened this image, one of the dogs, in particular, really spoke to me. I could literally feel her spirit coming out of this canvas! How can that be?
But, like I’ve shared for a long time over the years, a true artist can capture the energy…the essence… of, well, anything. Sheba’s loving and excited energy bubbles forth right off of this canvas! Can you feel it?
When I went to learn about the artist who creates these wonderful creations, I found that she also creates women’s self-empowerment portraits. How divine!
If you’ve been mentally writing your Christmas list like I have…perhaps a Paula Mitchell original is the perfect gift for that special someone who has everything!
Looking for a Dream Life:
Sue Bleiweiss started the Sketchbook Challenge back in January of this year. A sketchbook is a book filled with dreams and inspiration. Each month, artists of every type and in every medium can follow along with Sue and other artists as they issue the Sketchbook Challenge of the month. It’s a fun way to unite with other creative spirits and also to take personal creativity to another level.
Now, Sue she has just made available in ezine format (PDF) 83 pages of the Sketchbook Challenge. In this first ezine, Sue has spotlighted herself and 12 other artists as they share their sketchbook challenges. The ezine is full-color and filled with how-to, technical art tips as well as plenty of inspiration for projects.
Some of my favorites from this issue (I’m sure there will be many more issues to come) are from Kelli Nina Perkins who shares how to use text in collage. If you are a lover of words and collage art, THIS is for you! I loved how Kelli showed so many ways to use and re-purpose old books and text. And, speaking of collage, if you’ve ever wondered how artists make those funky backgrounds with varied patterns and colors, you’ll definitely want to check out Carol Sloan’s “Blank Page Remedies.” She walks you through step-by-step to create wonderful foundations for your collage and other creations.
By far, though, my favorite in this first ezine is Violette Clark’s piece about “Journal Pages Using Your Inner GPS.” For those of you who have ever wondered how to connect more consciously to your muse, this piece shows you how. Listening is a vital component to following your Inner GPS, and yet Violette shows us “how” to listen! I was stunned by how wonderfully practical she shared this inner guidance.
To learn more about the Sketchbook Challenge Ezine and to see what other projects are included, visit Sue’s Sketchbook Challenge Ezine page.
Looking for a Dream Life:
This is one dish that will have people wagging their tongues for more. If you take it to a 4th of July picnic, get ready for the fireworks!
Yes, I have reformed myself on sugar, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share the MOST WONDERFUL COBBLER in the WORLD with you who could eat it!
WARNING: This food could and probably will become addictive. You may dream about it. You may have visions in your waking hours about it. It may even hunt you down in the middle of a sweet daydream!
Blackberry Cobbler from page 178 of the 1976 edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook:)…with Miss Debbie’s edits:)
1 cup sugar
4 cups fresh blackberries (I use the one’s frozen in the bag from the freezer section and they work fine)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 T. butter – cut in small pieces
Milk
Love xoxo
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put frozen blackberries in bowl. Pour sugar and flour over them. Add lemon juice, salt and almond extract. Mix thoroughly. Put in pie plate or shallow pan….spread pieces of butter over the blackberry mixture. Top with a Pillsbury Pie Crust (the kind in the red box:) – there are 2 pie crusts per box but you only need one – unroll the pie crust and lay on top of the blackberry mixture and tuck it in around the edges….intended to look more rustic than picture perfect pie crust. Brush milk lightly over top of crust.
Take a sharp knife and make slits in top of crust. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour ….depending on how brown you like it.
Enjoy!!!!:)
P.S. You could probably substitute any fruit you want, but man, if you like blackberries…. oh my! 
Looking for a Dream Life:
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- berry cobbler store bought pie crust
- how can i make a blackberry cobbler using a pillsbury pie crust?
- dreams of blackberries
- blackberry cobbler with store bought crust
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If you like Oprah like I like Oprah, you’ve been checking out the various shows on OWN – Oprah Winfrey Network. One I knew I wanted to see is Why Not? with Shania Twain. I have loved Shania’s music ever since she came out with The Woman in Me. At the time, I worked part-time at Circuit City as a sales person and her video played repeatedly throughout the store.
Like many others, I felt mesmerized by her voice, her beauty and her authenticity. I could feel that her lyrics came from a true place inside.
As I watched her show, heard her tell the story of unraveling and losing her way – in the process losing herself and her voice – I felt a surge of tears that came from someplace true inside of me. She spoke of not being able to sing, of not being able to write songs, of not being able to find her voice, and I knew that feeling. I’ve been there. I have stood outside of myself wondering why I couldn’t force myself to just ‘do’ what I knew and had done before.
My tears flowed not for her pain, but for the thought of her never writing a song or singing again. I could not fathom never hearing another song written from her heart. I felt that if she never sang again, this world would be less because of it. I cried for the loss I felt inside my heart and the ache I felt for the songs my heart was already connecting to and longing for – something I had no conscious awareness of!
The intensity of the feelings overwhelmed me because in that moment I realized this is how God feels for each one of us…when we do not express what is true inside, when we withhold our beauty…our highest expression of the love we are, then the world is less somehow.
I sat, by myself, watching Shania struggle to reconnect to her voice again, and I knew, in that moment, we are all the same. And, it is this connection that uplifts us and others all at the same time. Each one, a shiny gem of the divine, sparkling like a radiant diamond.
That path back to this connection is different for each one of us, but it is essentially the same process…surrendering, trusting and, eventually, opening to the love we are.
We are all worthy of expression… each person’s as valuable as every other person’s. Let your light and love shine!
Looking for a Dream Life:
Most of you who read my blog know I love art. I come by this naturally as my mother is an artist or what Spirit calls, a craftsman artisan, meaning that she works with her hands and is more of a ‘craftswoman’ than a ‘fine’ artist. She has sewn, painted, woodworked her way through life, and I often came along for the ride. My nature is to ‘finish’ things…in the StrengthsFinder talents, this is called an achiever. My art tends to look like things I can open and close in a single session. When I get out to my mom’s workshop, my achiever goes crazy wanting to finish all of her projects, but she, like me, works from inspiration. If I am inspired, I can start and finish anything. If I lose my inspiration anywhere along the process, I’m done. So is she.
When Minette and I did our 5-month project with Violette’s journal bliss online class (highly recommended!), I learned how to focus in on starting and finishing a single ‘step’ and to be happy with that.
Most recently, I took that wisdom and applied it to a Zentangle project I was inspired to create for a friend. The first night, I collected all of the pieces I would use to create the ‘shape.’ Then, I flipped through a Zentangle pattern book to see which patterns felt good. Then I slept on it.
The next day, I started with the motif, and filled in the rest of the pattern.
The next day I started Zentangling and did not want to stop, so I didn’t. 10 hours later, it was finished.
Inspiration can fuel us to the greatest heights! In inspiration, time slows down and evaporates.
If you have not discovered ZENTANGLES, please go to the site now. I have always loved to draw in pen and this is a new twist on that art form. I am forever grateful to Minette for introducing me to it!
I also am including some pictures of my art date with Sally Felt where we created jewelry! She commented that she thought it was interesting I flipped through a book, found something I liked and said, “I’m going to make this” without any regard of whether I would be able to according to my current jewelry making abilities. That’s where my mom’s influence stepped in… if we can ‘see it,’ we can usually create it!
By far, one of the best things about crafting together is the conversations that flow upward in the creative energy. I hope you will try this out for yourself if you feel pulled to do so!
Can you believe Sally made EVERY single one of those line pieces? Isn’t this so pretty? 
I made some heart earrings with rose quartz.
