Here are 2 more pages I worked on this past Saturday in the current book I have been working in for the last couple of months. As reported last night, you could hear the U2 concert from our house. I watched the concert live on YouTube and by the time the Arroyo cleared out all those cars, it was close to 2 a.m.! I got about 4 hours of sleep and am pretty beat. It looks like I am going to get to bed early tonight! Watching the concert and being able to hear all of it from our front yard, felt (almost!) like I was there @ the Rose Bowl.

I may be fucking sick, but I am loving life right now! U2 is performing live @ the Rose Bowl and we can hear the entire concert from our house! YES! If I had not been sick, I would be in that crowd! It is NO secret that U2 is my favorite band. Still amazing after all these years. Well, tonight, the Arroyo is hearing something besides Mother Nature and those coyotes we hear every night!

I have been sick since Sunday afternoon! I have the flu. Thank God I got a flu shot a couple of weeks ago. I get a shot each year. This bug hit me hard, but I think it would have been much worse without the shot. I have been home all week! I am experiencing MAJOR cabin fever and am glad to be back @ work tomorrow. Being sick has really made me slow down - not to a complete stop, though! Since I haven't had too much energy to do too much of anything, I have been working on some new art.

These pages I started last week. I drew the hand and skull (calavera) last Thursday, but I finally made some time (what else is there but time when you are sick?!) to paint these pages last night.

Since I was on a roll last night, I cranked out these pages too. I had just the images glued down last week. But last night, I was able to finish 6 pages in the book I am currently working on. Maybe that is what the doctor ordered...

Back in early September, I had an art day @ my home. I invited a few of my girlfriends and we spent the day making art. I taught the group how to make their own Soul Cards deck. Besides making art, we had an elaborate lunch. Each of my 5 friends got a box that I put together specifically with them in mind. The boxes were stuffed with supplies for them to make their decks: a pair of scissors, collage images, paints, a box of Portfolio crayons, glue, rubber stamps, decorative papers, and a few surprises! I told my girlfriends everything would be supplied for them - and boy, were they surprised! The boxes were covered in upholstery fabrics. Some of these fabrics such as the ones on these boxes are in the collage packs that are for sale. I LOVE these fabrics because they have a real French feeling to them such as the red ticking above.

A modge podge of items are in each bag.

A bag of ribbons - hand-painted silks, Midori, French, tapestry, lace, etc.

Another view of a ribbon bag.

I have been SO damn busy @ work! I am trying to finish up my last days @ my school so that I can move to the new office and job. There has been really absolutely NO time for any art. A few days ago, I received a request for a collage pack, so I have made up a few bags. And I do mean a few since they take a lot of time to put together! The collage packs (2 gallon ziploc bags) are loaded with decorative papers, a quart-size ziploc bag full of ribbons (several types of ribbons including silk and Midori), fabric pieces, several colored copy collage (including full page) pictures, stickers, labels, and little surprises. I have posted some photos of the contents of the packs. The price is $45.oo, which includes shipping. If you are interested, please email me @ millan0206@yahoo.com. Thanks.

A couple of new pages in my latest journal. I doctored up this image I found in a magazine to make it into my own. Today was an incredibly exhausting day, but although I am pretty beat, art ideas are percolating in my head. I painted several pages in my journal with a buttermilk-off-whitish paint to create a base or background. When I have a moment, these pages will go from buttermilk to who-knows-what! That is the luxury of working in a book, a journal: spontaneity!