Teesha Moore's Journal Workshop

The beginning of one of my pages. I altered a magazine photo of a girl.

A couple weeks ago, Paula and I were so excited to be students in Teesha Moore's wonderful art journal weekend in San Jose. Not only did we have a blast and learn so much, but we met a talented and fun group of ladies from all over the country...even Canada.
For me, the highlight of the trip was spending the time with Paula and sharing our mutual love for seeing and creating art. Another reason was meeting talented and delightful Cathy McMillan, a wonderful caricature artist. She did a caricature of me when we had to draw the person across from us for a warm-up exercise.
Actually, Cathy is more than a caricature artist. She does all kinds of mixed media work as well as teaches classes herself. You can check her out in the "Very Cool Sites" category to the right, at "Caricature Girl."
Since we got home, Paula and I have been working on our pages as often as possible and we plan to teach a class in creating art journals, Teesha style...with Teesha's blessing. She told us to all go forth and spread the ideas in our classes. She is such a generous and talented lady. I was surprised to find her kind of shy and not so comfortable as a teacher, though she clearly likes doing it...just maybe not the process.

Burki Cools Her Heels

I haven't posted here for awhile, so I thought maybe a cute photo of Burki at the dog park, cooling off, would be nice.

She loves the dog park and I like taking her. Besides, the doggie mommies and daddies are fun to talk to.

Just the other day I took her there and for the first time we went into the small doggie side. Usually, we go in the big dog side, as Burki is very strong and energetic and weighs more than 30 pounds (of solid muscle), which means big dog at the dog park. But, this time I wanted to try the small dog side as she gets so beat up and skinned up on the big dog side. She thinks she's just as big and rough as the 100-pounders, even though she only stands 12 inches tall.

I was afraid she might be too aggressive with the smaller dogs. Happily, she was just great. Loved running and playing with doggies her own height (even though she is heavier).

So, from now on, we'll be visiting the small doggie side, I think.

Scrappy Collage

This was the example piece for a class I taught in making your own art stamps from fun foam and foam core board. The finished piece is 8x10.

The doggie is my own doggie, Burki, that I drew and made into a stamp, as well as the word "companion."
But first I added a little more ink to an 8x10 piece of paper that I had used as a "clean your rubber stamps" tool. I added some other stamped elements and finished off with a heart cut out of a dictionary.

A button was sewed on in the middle of the heart and I framed the finished piece under glass, hence a couple of glare spots in the photo.

This was a project that was very much fun and my students made absolutely wonderful stamps of all kinds.

Better Days...1968

Here I am in happier days with my brothers, Johnny, 17, on the left with dark shirt, and Bucky, 24. I'm holding Bucky's new son Guy, who was just five months old. I was 28 and almost six months along with Cheryl.

Doggie, Doggie, Doggie!!!

What a little couch potato!

First one is Burki and me, next is Paula and Burki, snuggling in bed. It didn't take long to spoil her. She knows she's the princess already.
Yesterday I took her to the dog park again. She was so happy and excited to see all the other dogs and people. She ran and played, chased and was chased, soaked her fat little belly in the mud, and trotted around like she was the most important dog there. One of her new friends is a great big adorable blond bulldog named Dozer, who's human is a great big guy named Gabe! Dozer's sooo sweet!
Not so lovable is Burki's unwanted boyfriend. He's a five-month-old Chihuahua who annoyed the heck out of her. Let's just say he got a little too amorous with her trying to show her how much he liked her! haha!

Sly Little Devil

Don't I look innocent?

Burki loves her bed, but has discovered mine during the last couple of cold nights. She looks small (and she IS short), but tiny, she's not. This little sawed-off girl weighs 30 pounds and is strong as a bull, so sharing a bed with her can be a little strenuous when she decides to hog my side. But, how can you resist that adorable little face.
Yesterday, Paula and I took her to the dog park. The staff at the Placer County SPCA, where we got her, advised us that she would be too aggressive to take there. We tried it anyway and she absolutely loved it and was a perfect little angel, running and playing with all the other dogs. She was just ecstatic and looked like she was smiling the whole time...and, best of all, she used up some of her incredible energy. I'm going to try to make the dog park a regular part of our days.

My New Doggie

Who could resist?

Burki Biscuit Burkett Jr. is the official name of my new doggie. Burki was suggested by my friend Sandy Brien and Biscuit was grandson Jack's contribution.
Burki was born October 29, 2007, so she turned one just days before we adopted her.
Paula and I found her at the Placer County SPCA on Friday, November 7, 2008. She is Welsh Corgi, Pit Bull and something else. She is the most loving, adorable sweetie ever, except for a really bad habit she has that we have to cure her of: chewing! Chewing everything. In just a couple days, she has pretty much destroyed my watering system in the back yard. I hope I can get help for her and help her lose this terrible habit. Dog books say this habit comes from boredom and/or separation anxiety. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it makes me sad and afraid. Afraid that we cannot cure her.