This photo is of my grandmother on my mother’s side.  The baby is my uncle and the little girl is my mother. My uncle is the only one left alive from this image. I can see a theme developing in my art already — I used a wooden board as a base, adhered white tissue paper with gel medium (I really like the texture), then cut the image up in pieces — I wanted to experiment with dividing a photo into separate parts.  This technique fits my grandmother well, as she was never a happy person.  In this photo I

Loving Advent Christmas is coming but Advent is here. A time of waiting – Not for gifts to open but for our very selves. Our hearts open slowly. We must wait and wonder. Something new will come out of the darkness. Let yourself sink into the unknowing. Bring a pillow, get comfortable. Waiting in Advent is like planting bulbs for the spring. -Pamela McCauley Pam was one of the participants at our Awakening the Creative Spirit program last month and a longtime reader of this blog and poetry contributor.  I love her poem about the waiting of Advent — “Not for gifts

**I added some information below on the tools I used for the stamp carving I have been really captivated by rubber stamp carving these days.  Bette got me started and now I keep thinking of things I want to carve.  I love making a design and then carving away the excess until only the form remains.  It becomes very meditative as I am fully mindful and present to what is before me.  I also love the look of the metallic ink on black paper:    I love trees, so of course had to carve one!   This cross is from