Merry Christmas to all!  Hope you are enjoying this very beautiful and special day, no matter where you are!  xoxo

How I Have Spent Some of My Vacation...

I have been off for almost a week now for Thanksgiving break.  The time has flown!  Since the new school year started, I have been even busier than normal.  This year, I am teaching a class during the school day.  I am teaching "Creative Writing" during our third period.  I am loving every minute of it too!  Last month, I taught my students how to create mail art.  The students also added a short message to the mail art.  Once everyone completed their postcards, I walked them into the post office and had each piece (24 in total!) hand-cancelled and off to their new homes they went.  I must confess several of my students had a hard time giving up their mail art.  So to lesson the anxiety, my dear secretary and friend, Valarie (I KNOW YOU ARE READING THIS!), made copies of all of the art work and suspended each piece to the ceiling, in our main office.  This looks SUPER cool and very inviting when you visit.  During my break, I created 10 new postcards/ mail art.  The top left corner card was the piece I used as my sample for teaching the lesson to my students.   I have a lot of art I have not posted, including 2 journals I have completed in the last few months.  Being principal doesn't give me a lot of extra time to do very much outside of the job.  But creating, even in spurts, is good for my soul, like my dear red-headed friend, Kelly, says.  Speaking of Kelly Kilmer, I will be meeting her and a few other very interesting and special women, in the next few hours.  It's our journaling group and we will be hanging out at Farmer's Market and journaling. 

Happy Thanksgiving and A Gorgeous Autumn Day

Photo by Roseann Cazares

Happy Thanksgiving no matter where you are!  Today has been a spectacular day in our beloved neighborhood - just look at these colors.  Stunning.  I have been on break for the last few days and I have been making art like crazy!  Very soon, I will post the art I have made.  Enjoy the rest of your holiday and thank you for your patience and checking in on my blog from time to time.  

The Woman in a Chair Page

Another page from my journal.  I did this page in shifts.  I started the page prior to us leaving for San Francisco.  I continued working on this page while there.  I actually completed 2 pages while we hung out at the Ferry Building, in the Embarcadero.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  It was 85 (yes, 85 fucking degrees in San Francisco!).  Every time we are in San Francisco, I do not want to come back home.  I sure missing living there.  On another note, my mini-vacation is quickly winding down.  I go back to work tomorrow and although I have LOVED every minute of being on vacation, I am ready for work and the new school year.  Have a great day no matter how you spend it. 

Tattooed Hands

Another page I created in my journal when we were recently in San Francisco.  I worked on this page while at the Ferry Building, sipping on a glass of iced tea and hanging out with hubby.  If you look carefully, no matter where you are, there is inspiration, even in the daily and simple things, even in the beauty of tattoos. On another note, yesterday, I created my new blog,"Fabulous At Any Age".  I have been wanting to create a fashion blog for quite awhile now and I thought, since I am on vacation for just 2 more days, it was now or never.  I subscribe to several fashion blogs and although I find a lot of inspiration in some of them, most blogs are for young girls and women in their teens and 20's.  I am neither, but I love fashion SO much.  As a kid and into my 30's, I would sew my own clothes if I couldn't find what I was looking for.  I wanted this new blog to look at fashion from a different perspective - a middle-aged woman who is not exactly ready for the glue factory just yet.  If you want to check out my new blog, here it is:  http://fabulousroseann.blogspot.com/

P./S.  Let me know what you think of my new blog! 

My Vacation Is Winding Down...

I am getting ready to start my day,  but wanted to do a quick post.  This page is from a journal that I started back in 2009!  Ridiculous!  Recently, I was cleaning my studio and re-arranging things and found this journal tucked away with my finished journals.  I started flipping pages and found only a dozen pages had been completed.  So, finishing this journal before the end of this summer is on my to-do list.  I completed this page while we were in San Francisco last week.  Something about the city that always inspires me.  On another note,  yesterday,  I was supposed to spend part of my day with Kelly and Kara, @ Farmer's Market to hang out and work in our journals.  Instead, I had my physical, @ Kaiser.  In a very surreal moment, the power went out while my doctor was finishing up my exam.  I have been seeing this doctor since I was in my early 20's.  I said to her, "Well, at least you could do a physical with your eyes closed.  You know where everything is located."  She finished the exam in the dark.  Have a great weekend wherever you are. 

A Perfect Day

I am coming down to the last few days of my very, very, very short break before getting back to work next week.  Today, my husband and I spent the day together.  The best kind of day requires minimal planning.  First stop was at the Village Bakery and Cafe, in Atwater Village (our old neighborhood) for pastries and caffeine.  That was our breakfast.  Then, from there we cruised through several neighborhoods in West L.A., from Hollywood, to West Hollywood, to Larchmont Village, to Westwood, to Santa Monica's very quaint Montana Avenue neighborhood, to a late lunch/early dinner @ Patrick's, in Santa Monica beach, to eventually, making it to the beach. It was a short block walk to the water.  We had to walk through a tunnel to access the beach (the tunnel consists of mostly sand) on Pacific Coast Highway.  As soon as we came out of the tunnel, I immediately took off my shoes and walked on the sand barefoot.  The sand was cool and so was the temperature.  But that's okay - I LOVE the beach any way I can experience it.  As I got closer to the water, I took out my camera and started shooting and because no visit to the beach is complete without getting your feet wet, this fish girl dipped her feet into the beautiful, cold Pacific Ocean.  Yes, this was a perfect day for many reasons....

Your Own Art Vocabulary - I Love Hands!

One of the many things I have learned from Kelly over the years is about each of us having our own "art vocabulary".  An art vocabulary can be made up of words, phrases, colors, objects, and symbols that specifically "speak" to us.  My art vocabulary consists of hearts, hands, flowers, and women (in all different shapes and colors).  Recently, I took all of these shots and tried to focus on specifically the hands as the main subject.  I have interesting hands - they are bigger than your average woman's hands, but I have long, thin, and crooked fingers (I have my Aunt Vera's hands).  I have very, very tiny wrists, so my hands and wrists do not match well.  My husband, on the other hand, has the most beautiful hands I have EVER seen on a man.  My dad's hands and feet were beauties too.  In this photo, I captured part of my face and left hand. 

Here are my hands cradling a peony.   Peonies are my favorite flowers.  Believe me, it is NOT very easy to take a shot like this when you are holding a flower with both hands and your camera is snuck in between them, ready to shoot.

As the great bard, William Shakespeare, once said, "A rose by any other name would still smell so sweet."  Now, this was much easier since it only involved me using one hand to prop up this rose, freeing me to capture the shot with my camera.

And another shot of the peony in both hands look.  Except this time, I changed the setting to only capture the peony as the main attraction.  If you look closely, you can see my hands in the background. 

A Page from Kelly's Journal

 

This is a photo of one of Kelly's pages from one of her journals.  Kelly has had a lot to say for the last few days regarding getting started as a teacher to why journal to less and less venues being available for her to teach, particularly in the L.A. area and Southern California, in general.  There are not enough words for me to write that could truly do justice to describing Kelly Kilmer, both on a personal or professional level.  Kelly is one of the most generous persons I have EVER encountered in my life.  She is all about her family, friends, and her art.  Although we don't see each other as regularly as we used to, I know that each time we do spend time together, it feels like no time has passed.  That's just how easy it is to hang out and catch up.  As an artist, I took my first class with Kelly back in 2001.  I was SO excited about being able to make my own books and journal in them.  For the first few years, I LOVED making books, all kinds of books, but I could NEVER seem to finish working in them before moving on to the next new book.  Then, on a whim, I asked Kelly if she would teach a class on just journaling (for folks like me who had accumulated many blank books and needed a jump start!).  Kelly obliged me and the rest is history...  I know when I get stuck, am in a creative rut, or need some inspiration, Kelly's art has always inspired me.  And after taking all of the classes I have with her, Kelly continues to inspire and push me as an artist.   This summer, I have a very, very short break from my day job of being a principal, but I decided to take Kelly's new online class, "This and That Finding Poetry in the Everyday".  As Kelly has said millions of times, "everyone is an artist and if you have 15 minutes a day, you can make art."  Well, if that doesn't inspire you to go out and make some new art, I don't know what you are waiting for!  When you get a chance, go to Kelly's blog, www.kellykilmer.blogspot.com.   Thank you, Kelly, for your friendship, generosity, and inspiration.  I love you!   

David Bowie - "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)"

One last Bowie video, his latest video, "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)", from his new record, "The Next Day".  What an imagination!  And I love how Tilda Swinton morphs into a Bowie-look-a-like! At 66, my fellow Aquarian, Bowie, still has it - he rocks this video!  Which leads me to that old adage about "age is just a number..."

David Bowie and Queen, "Under Pressure"

One of my all-time favorite David Bowie songs, "Under Pressure" is performed in this video by David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, Queen's frontman.  David Bowie is still one of my all-time favorite artists and in my humble opinion, truly epitomizes the word "artist".  I have loved his music since I was twelve and have truly grown up listening to his music and watching him morph from one persona to another, from "Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke" and many others, throughout my lifetime.  As for Queen, they too were magical and epitomized the "glam rock" era of the 70's like Bowie, Mick Jagger, Peter Gabriel, and Genesis.  Freddie Mercury was quite a showman!  Very sad he died so young. 

"David Bowie Is..."

Just got back from being up in Northern California.  We were up there for a few days and a mini-vacation before I go back to work and start preparing for the new school year.  Dealing with getting all of our mail re-delivered and delivered is always interesting, but today, I got a nice package from England.  And although I have NEVER been to England, if I could be there right now, this is definitely one of the things that would be on my top 5 things to do:  visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, and take in the "David Bowie Is" exhibit.  Go to this link and you can find out more:  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/.  And by the way, I got a couple of fun things in my mail today from the Bowie exhibit.  ;  )

That Prada Lip Skirt

I am TOTALLY obsessed with this Prada lip print skirt!  This skirt was part of Prada's 2000 campaign, but lately, I find myself coming back to staring at it again and again.  What got me started on this current obsession was getting a glimpse of the "Schiaparelli and Prada Impossible Conversations", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.  I saw the images online and knew I had to have the book (the same name as the exhibit) and this damn skirt!  I have the book and the images are stunningly gorgeous.  Art and fashion have become a perfect marriage.  So for now, I will continue to hunt on ebay  and hope to find this skirt, in my size, for sale. 

Some More Artwork from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition Project

I am getting ready to call it a day, but wanted to do a quick post of some of my pages from the 3 books I created for the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition Project.  It is exciting to know our books are now traveling the world, being exhibited, discussed, and our collective message will continue to spread throughout the world as a result of our efforts and artwork. 

Farewell to a Great Actor, James Gandolfini

For 6 years, I faithfully watched each episode of "The Sopranos".  I was saddened by the news of James Gandolfini's sudden passing last week.  Although I loathed the character, Tony Soprano, each week I was glued to the television.  Mr. Gandolfini was an incredible actor who brought Tony superbly alive.   And although my favorite part of each show was the weekly interactions between Tony and Dr. Melfi, his psychiatrist, I couldn't think of a better moment than this very powerful scene between Tony and his son, Anthony Jr., to showcase Mr. Gandolfini's great talents.  Rest in peace, Mr. Gandolfini.  

Pages from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition Project

I CANNOT believe I have blogged 2 days in a row!  I think that is the sum of all of my blogs for this past year!  Of course, I don't want to disappoint my one follower:  Kelly Kilmer, my dear friend!  I was off from work today.  Yesterday, I was supposed to have part 2 of the root canal I had 2 weeks ago.  Unfortunately, things didn't go well: on Friday, I felt something odd and thought I had cracked my temporary filling.  Instead, yesterday while in the dentist's chair, I found out I broke part of my tooth, the dentist had to change the game plan and do a partial extraction, and I have an infection in the area where the root canal was done 2 weeks ago! Needless-to-say, I didn't get any sleep last night.  I had a fever all night and was in a lot of pain.  I have NEVER wanted so badly to have part 2 of a root canal like I do now.  So, back to the blogging and what the hell is the significance of this blog post... while taking it easy today, I surfed the internet and came across our project, "Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition", and the project and our books have landed in the U.K.  I joined the "Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition" last year for several reasons:  1) I abhor censorship, 2) it involved a subject close to my heart, the Middle East and current events occurring in the region, 3) the project included using book arts as the medium, 4) Kelly talked me into it (!), and most importantly, 5)  it involved expressing the themes of social justice and justice through my artwork.  Here is a link to the U.K. show:  http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/mainmut12/754.htm.  And if you go to my blog, I have the "Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition" listed in the section labeled, "Get Involved In Our World".  I posted these specific pages to honor an old friend of mine and his mother, who passed last week.  These pages are dedicated to Mary Samara. 

My Favorite Flowers

I love this time of year!  I especially love the month of May for many reasons, but specifically because this is the season my favorite flower, the peony, blooms.  The peony has a very, very short season.  It blooms in May and into early June (if we are lucky!).  On Monday evening, my husband and I ran several errands together and more importantly, he didn't complain once about us going to several markets in search of those last peonies of the season.  He patiently drove us around and dealt with the evening commuter traffic.  Like the peony, Mike Cazares is a keeper. Until next year, my love...