Artist Sam Jowers

Inktober word for October 9 is Precious.  "Get your fuzzy butts off of my precious flowers!"  Not sure what good caterpillars are for the environment, other than food for birds.  This fairy is tending to her duties and collecting fuzzy bugs for the birds and protecting her precious blooms.

I love washi tape and I like to use it in my artwork.  The problem is that my student's can not use it in competition work because it is copyrighted.  This caused me to try making my own washing tape.  I believe I like making my own better now!!  I means making it to work specifically for the page.  for this washi tape, I took 2 inch wide masking tape and painted it black.  I then took black glitter glue and made designs on the surface of the tape.  because it was so wide to begin with, I was able to rip it vertically to create my burned tree stumps. The word "scorched" is for this years INKTOBER day 19.

Sometimes I come across great images that I just can't throw away!  In this case, I purchased postage stamps and they were Disney Villains.  The outer paper (its also sticky like the stamp) was too gorgeous to throw away so I saved it!  I found some hands in the James Avery catalog that were holding love letters at valentines day. and...I absolutely love ransom note letters!  So, I had my wicked queen enforcing her "Eat the Unicorns" edict!  I also had Unicorn Duct tape.  I used a unicorn cookie cutter to create my outline.  I am putting together a book for my room so that my students can see examples of the different techniques I am asking them to do.  I thought it would be fun to show them off on here.

Composting: Its a beginning.  You take what you don't need, pile it up and let the bugs do the work.  I remember watching "water world" and the people would save every piece of trash, food, human body and put it into the "compost".  It was all so precious!  It happens so naturally and very few people keep a compost.  Grow some vegetables!  Be kind to your bugs!  

My last page of "Lost at Sea" is bitter sweet.  It is quite simple.  Disaster hits every one of us.  And, even though it seems like the end of the world, life does go on.  Our disasters don't even impact other people most of the time.  We always change and hopefully, it is for the better. Our troubles strip us to the bare essentials and shake us to the core. We can let it get the better of us or we can rise to the challenge and find our joy.  We can find a way to live with the new person we have become.  The mermaids certainly did.... My Book is finished. I think having the silhouette of a mermaid on a surfboard would not be the best of ideas.  Sharks might mistake it for fish food!

Let me just say that I have not finished the last page of the mermaid journal but had to stop to make this for my cousin.  She needed an invite to my mom's family reunion in October!!!  My mom is the youngest child of 12 kids and my grandfather died when she was two.  I used to hear stories about how they came over in a wagon to settle in California.  The older kids set my grandmother up with a circus tent to live in with the five younger kids.  She raised chickens and would kill a chicken every morning for breakfast to feed her kids.  At some point, Sun Maid raisins planted an orchard of green seedless grapes behind her property and mistakenly planted an entire row over the property line.  we had giant boxes of raisins sent to us for as long as I can remember.  She would take old tables and put newspaper on them, lay the grapes out and let them dry naturally in the sun.  She had apricot trees, Walnut, Peaches and lots of other wonderful trees!  We loved to go and visit her and

The counsel of mermaids has convened.  They came to the sad conclusion that the seas won't be safe for mermaids for very much longer.  The problems are too overwhelming to consider trying.  A decision has been made...They will become daughter's of men.  They strip off their tails and learn to walk.  The magic is lost.  They must change to survive! I have been saving these images for quite some time and now, they just seemed to come together to make this page.  I love seahorses.  Amazingly, I was watching a show on Chanel 8 and they said that the Greek word for seahorse is Hippo campus!  It is the gland in your brain that controls your life!  It is shaped like a seahorse!  We have to change how we think to save ourselves!  Such a great serendipitous moment!!!