this is LOVE..

A few years ago, I was in Minneapolis. On the very last day there, I visited the farmers market at Guthrie Theater. Gorgeous weather. Gorgeous city. There were music, flowers, farm animals, happy people and happy pets alike. One of the things I like to remember about that day is 'the boy who pat the dog' moment. I saw the sweetest act of LOVE ... first there was a cute dog, sleeping on the stairs. Then, came a boy walking past me and went up patting the dog [which I doubt, was his]. Too cute!.

Perfect for this week's prompt at Our Beautiful World. 

Our friend, Linda is our guest this week and she has chosen a word for us to play;

'LOVE'

I sure LOVE to live here, and coming to this market every week. Do you have a favorite market to get your fresh produce?. Or do you grow your own?. I sure LOVE to grow my own food, learning to do so lately. Here's what else I saw that day;

musicians at the entrance

sweet fiddling

lovely flowers

fresh vegetables

gorgeous baskets

and farm animals!

Up on the observation deck at Guthrie Theater, the view was stunning everywhere I looked. I just had to share :).

the market down below

St. Anthony Falls to the left

the Heritage Stone Bridge up ahead.

I hope you are excited to join us this week. Such lovely prompt!. 'LOVE'. Come play with us for a spell. Just link up your story at Our Beautiful World. See you soon!. HUGS.

save your page!

Dear ones,

I have to smile at the newest post of Art Journal Cafe today :). I have LOTS of PAGES needed saving! lol. The challenge inspires me to try save one spread I'm not the least happy with. 

Ouch. I do not like it.

With one intention in mind, I gave some happy thoughts and started to work. In about 2 hours, they became these;

I sponged all over some pink acrylic paint, stenciled patterns with aqua acrylic paint and then stamped large circles with various sizes of can lids. Then I wrote beautiful teachings from the internet with a little paint brush dipped in black india ink.

It is ALL about LOVE. Have you heard that, the scientists were able to determine the force holding all galaxies, stars, planets which we called 'gravity' is in truth; is COMPASSION??. But of course, the Tibetan monks knew this thousands of years before :).

Love the woven texture from the underlying scrap paper. I let part of the older mossy background shown through the new coats of paint. Simply because I LOVE Donna Downey's velvet iron-on words so much!.

That's it. One journal spread is saved. Ten more to go?. With this, I leave you another beautiful thoughts;

LOVE is the answer of all sufferings. 

Never cease to LOVE one another.

Hugs.

A gift from the Universe

I walk a lot. To run errands, to go lunch or just have a quiet time on my own at the park. Just yesterday while about to cross a small road, there was a little breeze and I saw a tiny white feather falling from the sky. But there were no birds!.  Wow, I said ... a Forest Gump moment. I picked it up and went home smiling, knowing that someone is watching over me :). 

And my journal today is a tribute to the beautiful Universe. My gratitude for the love and light that fills me from the heavens.

I'm playing with image transfer and boy, it was hard to get a good one!. 

The two large orange fuzzy blobs were image-transfer-went-wrong. LOL. I wanted to imitate the distant nebulae in faraway galaxies in our universe. I added multiple layers of orange/yellow/tan soft pastels and watered down gesso to get the depth of these gaseous heavenly bodies. I especially love splashing diluted gesso on the page to create the stars :).

Yeah, that was the feather that came to me :). Added a few strips of washi tapes and tissue papers before finger painted the page with aqua acrylic paint. I think aqua is the better color than black for the dark space of the universe. And here are my three cats making a debut appearance on my art journal pages. Love them to bits!.

Don't forget to hop over to LESSology Challenge #15: Bookends. You could be wining EAD Designs $25 Gift Certificate. Great deal.

Till next, have a great Friday!. 

Hugs,

Shahrul