Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week has passed and it is now fall, although with the weather we have had this past week, you'd think it was summer.
This past week my creative output was centred more on writing - to finish my novella for the "Easter Lilies" contest (which I did and sent off) and my novel for the SYTYCW contest for Harlequin. (If you're interested, here is my first chapter for reading at their website.I'd welcome feedback)

ATCs
I had some ATCs to work on this week. The theme was Africa and I created the Africa stamp for the cards.

Fall Intentions Vision Board
Each season I try to create a vision board for the 3 months ahead. Here is mine ( and here is the link for a closer look)

Photography
I had to go through the garden yesterday and take some last shots of the flowers.

Linking with:

Inspire Me Monday

Creative Every Day

Shadow Shot Sunday

Another gorgeous day! Sunshine, warm air, leaves turning colours. Just lovely. Here are a few shadows from this past week
.We had gone to Hamilton for an appointment and I saw this lovely old church. Luckily I had my camera and got a few shots.

(Live this door and decorative metal piece)


Be sure to visit here to see wonderful shadows from around the world.

Sky Watch Friday

Time once again to share the skies above us. Here are a few from this week:

Be sure to check here to see wonderful skies from around the world.

Fall Intentions Vision Board

It is already fall and the leaves are already changing colour! We have had a bit of a reprieve with the weather, as we have warmer, nicer weather all week.

Something I have done the past few years is create a fall intentions visionboard. It helps me to focus on goals for the next three months in a visual way.

The areas of focus are:
Creative (writing and art)

Health

Spiritual and Social

Three things to include:

Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up

This past week I played a little with paintis and created some ATCs.  It felt good to get back to creating art.
I have to make more time for it, that's for sure.

Inspiration Avenue
Inspiration Avenue has returned with a fun challenge for the past week: Favourite Artist. I created a horse in the style of Jose Merello (check here at my post for more info on him and the creating aspect)

ATCs
I created some APCs for a swap that will result in a whole deck of both  flower and bird cards. Here are my queens:

Photography

Here are a few photos from this week:

Linking with:

Inspire Me Monday

Creative Every Day

Shadow Shot Sunday

This morning the sun was out, and it was warm and humid, quite a change from the cloudy cool days this past week.
Here are a few shadows I captured:

(Our bug zapper!)


Be sure to check here for wonderful shadows from around the world.

Imitation is Flattery

The challenge at Inspiration Avenue this week  was "Favourite Artist" - to choose an artist and create a piece in their style. I have many favourite artists - most of the Group of Seven and the Impressionists.
But a new artist for me was highlighted on the Inspiration blog and I fell in love with his work. So this week I explored his work and learned more about him.

Jose Manuel Merello 

Merello was born in Madrid in 1960. He studied the Masters and is mostly self taught. His paintings are very Spanish and full of colour and line. They are so exuberant, full of energy. His paintings are exhibited all over Europe and the States.


Two o my favourite paintings of his are:  (Paintings are from his website - great place to visit!)

"Horses in Red"

"Woman With Hearts"

I decided to do a horse. I started with a collaged background with papers, then painted with 
red/yellow/orange. (Sorry - I did not take pictures along the way - was so involved in a number 
of things)
I tried oil pastels to highlight the horse - didn't work. Then painted and highlighted and just 
played with line and colour.  Although it doesn't match the vision I had, I had fun with it. 
Here is the result:

I plan to go back into it again to lighten the blue and add brighter sections in the horse. Or start 

again  - lol.

Sky Watch Friday

Both yesterday and today I took photos of the sky - both had such great clouds.

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Be sure to visit here to see awesome skies from around the world.

Sky Watch Fiday

Grey skies today - at least no snow like Alberta was getting - just lots of rain.
Here are a few clouds from the last week:

Be sure to check here for wonderful skies from around the world.

Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up

I was able to do some creating and do some writing. I also read and connected with some friends. I am currently taking two writing courses and an art course. I have worked on all three through the week.

MADE
This art course involves journalling about our connections with God. As it says on their site:  "exploring what it means to be a person who makes things who believes she or he was, in turn, made by God."
We are creating an altered book and I have been preparing pages. 

We had to choose images that had meaning for us, glue down and gesso the pages. I will be working on the images this week.

52 Card - Altered Playing Card Challenge
This is a new challenge that started last week at Claudine's blog. The cards you see above were the first task - gesso the backs of a set of cards. It will be interesting to see in the weeks ahead what we will do with the cards.

ATCs
I've been working on a number of sets of cards for swaps and trades at Atcs For All ( a fun place to share and create ATCs)

Using postage stamps:

Day of the Dead

Cats and Bugs

Photography
And of course, I took some photos of flowers in our garden - they won't be around much longer.

Linking with

Inspire Me Monday

Creative Every Day