Quiet time

Dear friends, This is a super simple piece of art celebrating the quiet times in my rapid cycling moods with bipolar. Life is simple and gentle when I am quiet and sometimes I feel like a blue butterfly.
lots of love from susan in australia

Stacey

Dear friends,
My friend Stacey Apeitos died of breast cancer a week ago. Check her name online and read all about her. She has been a wonderful inspiration in my life and continues to be even in her death. Her enthusiasm and love of life and her limitless energy was awesome. Love you Stacey. This is the art I did to celebrate her including things from a wonderful online friend Carol.
lots of love from susan in australia

I am magic

Dear friends,
I am magic is part of an online course called 21 secrets I am doing. it was wonderful to celebrate what a magic person I am and that we all are. The instructor gave instructions as to what to do and away I went. I have 20 more workshops to do!!!
lots of love from susan in australia

TAW C1 ...safety

Dear friends,
i was going to study The artist's way by Julia Cameron with a friends art course but it didn't work out and they are now just doing general art. I have had other commitments and abandoned the idea but will do this in future. I will make a note in my diary.
Wait and see in my next post the latest huge, huge adventure I am on with my art
lots of love from susan in australia

Life...what do you want?

Dear friends,
This is a collage exploring the fact I have done so much work on my chakras and have really got in touch with my 7th chakra and the divine. I love all the colors. I loved doing this one
lots of love from susan in australia

Success is a mind game

Dear friends,
I have had works on my computer for 3 weeks but haven't put them on. I never do it during my quiet time I always have to wait until I am zippy. I will catch up now. Not sure how many to put on.
This one is a collage I did about life and time and how it passes for me and how much of it is a game with my mind and dealing with my rapid cycling bipolar. The yacht near the edge shows how I often feel I am on the edge and not coping but the child with the lady is me taking care of my inner child. The heart is for love
Lots of love from susan in australia

First textile beads

Dear friends,
These are some of the first textile beads I made and similar ones to those that I swapped with an online friend. I am adding the yellow and red ones to a bag strap for decoration and the blue one is the beginning of a new necklace.

lots of love from susan in australia

First textile necklace

Dear friends,
This is my first textile necklace. a special thank you to a friend for sending me the beautiful textile beads which we swapped. I had to celebrate with them and made my first necklace. i would love another one made of similar beads I sent my friend. I love, love, love it and I am going to wear it to meet an online friend for the first time. How exciting making friends online. I have met one online friend so far and hope to meet another one at the end of the week. Lucky, lucky, lucky me.

lots of love from susan in australia

Altered book page celebrating 6th chakra

Dear friends,
This altered book / altered text page is celebrating winter, august and my 6th chakra. I took a tip from a friend to gesso the page add some paint and spritz with water then wipe off with a paper towel. I also did some other pages for my artist journal.
I am really enjoying doing the altered book and do a double spread each time I celebrate a new zippy time with my mental illness.
lots of love from susan in australia

Exploring quiet time

Dear friends,
I am exploring how I can cope better with my quiet time which occasionally is quite dark. I can get quite reflective and moody. i am trying to find a better way to travel these times by finding more pleasant activities than sitting. I tend not to do my art work or creative things. I am going to encourage myself to do more gardening, cooking and other varied activities.
The collage has me sitting on a seat pondering about my decisions. I want to be friends with my quiet time not just my zippy times. I want to nurture my mind, body and soul.
lots of love from susan in australia

Inner child collage

Dear friends,
This is my inner child collage where I am exploring my inner child. I love to meditate and converse with my inner child. There is some darkness for my inner child and I am journaling to work through it and with it. There is a tree of life in the work and gold paint to show the wisdom.
Thanks for your comments.
lots of love from susan in australia

Stamping

Dear friends, It has been awhile since I posted any art. I did this in my last creative, zippy time. It is where I have used a homemade flower stamp and applying glue to it and stamping on the page and letting it dry and then stamping some more with purple acrylic paint and then applying acrylic paint wash over the top. Interesting bit of play.
I have also been doing a collage about my down and quiet times and have posted it on my other blog....
susanhosken.blogspot.com
I post art when I am able and if I have anything to share.
thanks for being here with me.
lots of love from susan in australia

Flowers

Dear friends,
I did this print of flowers a while ago but just adding to my blog. I did a lino print and painted it with acrylics for the effect.
lots of love from susan in australia

Inspiration

Dear friends,
This piece of art was inspired by a checking out some art online and being inspired. It is wonderful to be inspired by the net....so wonderful.
lots of love from susan in australia

Pink

Dear friends,
Here is some pink art I did quite awhile ago to celebrate pink. I have been wearing more pink in my life which relates to the heart chakra.
i have been busy doing more photos in my travel journal, a mandela celebrating color and being a rainbow warrior and some art celebrating a new blog I have found that is so inspiring to me.
lots of love from susan in australia

Tip ins

Dear friends,
These are two tip ins I did for friends. Have been doing lots of artist journal pages and pages in my travel journal but nothing much to share here.
lots of love from susan in australia

Gratitudes

Dear friends, I did this collage on gratitude for a group prompt on one of the ning groups I belong to.
lots of love from susan in australia
srhosken.blogspot.com
susanhosken.blogspot.com

Shamanism

Dear friends,
This is a collage celebrating my interest in shamanism at the moment. i am enjoying animal spirits, time change, crystals and other things.
lots of love from susan in australia
srhosken.blogspot.com
susanhosken.blogspot.com

Rust

Dear friends, These two artist journal pages are to celebrate rust which was a discussion on my friend Robyn's blog. She explores different art and life issues and I love being inspired by her discussions.
lots of love from susan in australia

Mary Anne

Dear friends, This is Mary Anne a doll a friend asked me to make as she liked my orange power doll I made which is also on this blog. I enjoyed making Mary Anne for my friend. it is nice to share ones art.
lots of love from susan in australia

My home is my castle

Dear friends,
I had a challenge from the Milliande ning group to do "my home is my castle" and here it is. I love my home and it fulfills so many of my dreams as a child and adult. i am so blessed.
lots of love from susan in australia

First doll

Dear friends,
I found this doll recently in a drawer. I made this doll out of a lavender bag and hanky and ribbon that I was given when I was in a psychiatric hospital. It still amazes me that I made the doll for comfort in a challenging situation. It still means a lot to me and I wanted to share it here.
lots of love from susan in australia

Latest collage

Dear friends,
This is my latest collage that i have done for an online course I am doing hero's journey workshop I also did it as a response to another challenge on wisdom for another group.
lots of love from susan in australia

Tip ins

Dear friends,
I was introduced to tip ins late last year and swapped a couple and now I have swapped with two of my friends. Here they are. I like working on tip ins because they are a nice size. i also enjoy my ATCs that I do.
lots of love from susan in australia

Autumnal collage

Dear friends,
Challenged to do an autumnal collage for one of my online groups. A lot of the members are doing spring collages to celebrate spring in the northern hemisphere whereas I am doing autumn for the southern hemisphere.
lots of love from susan in australia

Collages from an online workshop

Dear friends, i am doing an online workshop on the hero's journey...hero's journey workshop and these are two of my homework collages which are a reaction to my heros journey. They both show things in my life that are important on my journey and how I see myself as a traveller.
lots of love from susan in australia

Celebrating my curves

Dear friends,
This is my latest doll which celebrates my curvy figure. I have had so many problems with my body image and weight over the years and am still working on it. I am the healthiest I can be at the moment and that means curves. I celebrate my curves.
lots of love from susan in australia

Keep a green bough....

Dear friends,
On the catalyst prompt number 98 at creative therapy someone gave the quote "Keep a green bough in your heart and the singing bird will come" I loved it and did some art to celebrate. I carved an eraser in a leaf pattern and printed the leaf into a tree and added one of my favourite black birds from my garden.
lots of love from susan in australia

lessons in life

Dear friends,
One of the prompts at creative therapy is What are the most important lessons you've learned in life? One of my best lessons was from Oprah Winfrey...when you know better you do better and here is my artist journal page using stamps and little mirrors.
lots of love from susan in australia

Mask

Dear friends,
This is a mask I made a while ago and wanted to share it with you. It is made out of an old atlas page.
lots of love from susan in australia

What does my future hold

Dear friends,
I am doing prompts from a group I have just discovered on the internet....creative therapy
The prompt is What does my future hold and I was just at the beginning of a new artist journal and so I did a cover for it with me on it and what does my future hold written on it. I used gold paper for all the gold I will find in my future and there is tissue paper to remind me to be gentle. I can't wait to see what i will fill this journal with. This is my first prompt from this group. I am so looking forward to more.
lots of love from susan in australia

Altered book...altered text

Dear friends,
Here are some more pages from my altered book with altered text. It is about enthusiasm which I love.
lots of love from susan in australia

Fabric journal pages

Dear friends,
Here are a few more pages from my first fabric journal. I haven't seen many so just did what i felt like with embellishing.
lots of love from susan in australia

Felt doll

Dear friends,
I made this doll many years ago as part of a felting workshop. I love it and it has lots of happy memories for me. She is a mermaid.
lots of love from susan in australia

Archetypes

Dear friends,
This collage is some of my archetypes including a photo of me to remind me of how I am now.
I am doing this as part of an online course on the hero's journey.
I am a homemaker and love home and doing my arts and crafts. I like to keep the home fires burning.
I also love nature and to be out in God's world and exploring.
I am quite old fashioned and love journal writing, painting and needlecrafts.
I am also fun loving and enjoy the simple things of life.

lots of love from susan in australia

Hero's journey 2

Dear friends,
The second collage I did for my hero's journey as part of the online workshop has a labyrinth in it which reminds me of the simplicity of my journey nowadays and the lovely rituals and routines I have in each day that make it enjoyable. I have put the bread of heaven to remind me that simple things are a great joy to me although I do seek excitement at times mostly I enjoy simplicity. I have also put the sea which I visit each day. I love it's different moods which reminds me of my mood disorder and how I can have continuity in my life despite my mood disorder. I love the sea. I also like the beach I visit because it also has people and I enjoy people in my life and on the journey.
lots of love from susan in australia

Hero's journey

Dear friends,
I am doing a workshop on the Hero's journey and this is my first collage about my hero's journey. The snake is the most important part. Mostly I am scared of snakes but as an animal spirit it has much to teach me.....explorations of the mysteries of life and lifes magic, exploring my goddess energies, immortality. The garden is how I feel about life and how beautiful it can be and so full of beautiful discovery. My life is very simple so the garden is also a simple and relaxing place to do my journey. The honeycomb is also about life's sweetness and all the little compartments and things that go on in life. The hiking shoes are how I walk through life although ballet shoes or red shoes would also be appropriate. I walk through life with many different shoes but one of my favourites is hiking shoes. The world globe is how much there is to explore in the world and the books how I appreciate books in my life and learn so much from them. I love the flowers too and always like seeing them on my walks.
I have another collage which I will write about in the next post.
lots of love from susan in australia

Red shoes

Dear friends, Here is a drawing of some doll shoes I have that i ordered from a doll company because I love red shoes. Reminds me of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I never knew Dorothy's shoes were silver in the book and only became red in the movie.
lots of love from susan in australia

Fabric journal pages

Dear friends,
Here is two pages from my first fabric journal.
lots of love from susan in australia

Altered book pages

Dear friends, These are a couple of new pages to my altered book.
lots of love from susan in australia

Altered book pages

Wholeness

Dear friends,
This is a delicate page celebrating my trying to be more whole and integrated this year and to smooth my mood swings out more.
lots of love from susan in australia

Agatha has arms

Dear friends,
I decided Agatha needed arms. She still has no legs. I am writing a doll journal for Agatha and she has had polio and wears calipers. Agatha is aware she isn't pretty but many people tell her she has a kind heart.
lots of love from susan in australia

Inspiration

My friend Maureen inspired me to drag out my water colors and have a play. Once again a bit of naive art. i love playing like a child would and keeping it simple. DId a little collage as well.
lots of love from susan in australia

Agatha

Dear friends,
Here is my latest doll Agatha. I baked her head too much so it went from a lovely purple to a dark black! I am also learning how to do faces and don't do them very well. SHe is so ugly. Poor Agatha and no arms or legs. I am learning to like her. I am making her a doll journal to tell me her story.
lots of love from susan in australia

Chaotic artist journal page

Dear friends, This is a rather chaotic journal page and I was in an OK mood when I did it. I find it really jarring.
lots of love from susan in australia