Oh Wow, OWOH, Ooops!

Ooops, I already posted my One World One Heart giveaway but Lisa Swifka, the organizer of this international bloggers' event told me that the event "does not begin until the end of the night of January 30th after midnight" and so I had to remove my post and will repost it at that time.  I just have to email my lovely visitors who left comments in my first post.  Sorry about that!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday: Too Much!

Happy WOYWW, blog friends!  Yes, there is just too much on my workdesk this Wednesday.  After last Wednesday, I had a tidy up but right after, it started to fill up again and so, today is no different! The drawer is open again to make more workspace.

Among the hodgepodge of things, aside from the art materials, I dumped my mail on my desk and you can see copies of The Word Among Us, a daily devotional my whole family reads (or at least I hope my kids read their copies), an ATC that I got from a trade I made over at ATCs for ALL, and...

a lovely surprise from fellow WOYWWer, carola bARTz. Carola takes amazing pictures so I assume the awesome picture on the card she sent is one of hers.  She also sent me a really cute glitter snowman ATC for my collection and...


a lovely bird tag.  Thank you so much, Carola!  It is so wonderful to get surprises in the mail, isn't it?





 
On the shelf is a portrait that my daughter drew when she was young.  I found it in the attic and decided to enjoy it for a while.  One of these days, I will write a post about her entitled "So you think you can't draw?" and tell you how, when she went to college, she found out she could draw after all.  Perhaps those of you who think they can't draw will learn something from her!

Laying on the open drawer is a background I started, using paper scraps and gesso.  Some of the papers were extras from the ones I used for my latest painting...

the giveaway for One World, One Heart.  I will tell you more about it when I make my OWOH post on January 30.  On the shelf above my painting you can see the ATC I'm giving away in my previous post.

I got so engrossed in making this painting (and our internet connection was so slow over the weekend) and so I didn't get to visit many of your desks for our WOYWW link party.  Now that it's finished, I hope to visit more of you.

Father Make Us One and an ATC Giveaway

This week, from January 18 to 25, we are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This is especially meaningful for me because I belong to a community that is a member of the Sword of the Spirit, an ecumenical association made up of more than 65 communities in 24 countries, with members belonging to Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions.  Besides, my Dad is a Methodist and my Mom is a Roman Catholic!

This year, the prayers and commentary for the observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were prepared by a group of Christian leaders from Jerusalem. They chose as the key verse Acts 2:42, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

Jesus prayed, "that they may all be one", John 17:21.  Together with all the Christians observing this week of prayer, let us focus on what we have in common and not on our differences. And as the prayer guide says,
"God, from whom all life flows in its rich diversity, you call your Church as the Body of Christ to be united in love. May we learn more deeply our unity in diversity, and strive to work together to preach, and build up the Kingdom of your abundant love to all, while accompanying each other in each place, and in all places. May we always be mindful of Christ as the source of our life
together. We pray in the unity of the Spirit. Amen."

And to celebrate, I'm giving away the ATC above.  Just as a garden of various flowers is beautiful, let us appreciate our diversity and strive to be united in love.  If you would like a chance to win my simple giveaway, please just leave me a comment in this post and I will draw a winner next week!

The Giveaway is closed and the winner is Saskia!

Thank you for joining!

WOYWW: OWOH WIP

Do you ever have to google the abbreviations you come across in the internet?  I do!  JICYDK ("Just In Case You Didn't Know" according to this Internet Slang website) my post title means "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: "One World One Heart" Work in Progress."

Hmm, seems my desk is in need of a tidy up since there wasn't even enough space on it for my project.  I had to pull open a drawer to find somewhere to work on!  And no, I do not read Chinese, if you are wondering about the Chinese pages.  I just use them for collages.

Not that much progress in my project.  So far, I have transferred the sketch to a final sheet coated with gesso, and I have started to color it with watercolor and colored pencils.  I am deciding whether I will go for light, monochromatic shades this time. I am also planning to add some lace and paper, and as usual, who knows how it will turn out.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said " "Life is a journey, not a destination."  And I think, so is art!

Today I will keep my WOYWW post short and try to post some other stuff on other days.  After all, there are over a hundred desks to visit.  Come join in the fun of WOYWW!

ATC Trees

Here is a set of mixed media ATCs that I made last year.  I started out by coating the cards with some gesso (or maybe it was wall putty), painting it on randomly.  

 

Then I used watercolor to paint each of the cards in different colors.  I also painted book pages in a darker shade of the same colors as the cards.

 

I used watercolor and colored pencils to draw the tree trunk and the ground. 

I used colored pencils to shade the background and bring out the texture...

adding darker shades at the edges and swirls in the parts that wouldn't have leaves.

Then I cut out leaf shapes from the book pages and pasted them unto the tree trunks.

After pasting the book paper leaves, I painted more leaves on in the same color.

I added "fruits" using dimensional paints and this last one even got a bird...

 

Hope you like them!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday: Mother and Child Sketch

Last Wednesday I managed to hit the WOYWW jackpot and made it to #1 on the list!  It took me a while before I could believe my eyes!  I was so "chuffed", as some of you say (I learned this word from WOYWW). To celebrate (and take the chance to say "Happy WOYWW from #1 this week"), I tried to visit everyone, but alas, I ran out of time.  After all, I did have to do some art as well!

On my desk today is a very rough sketch of a mother and child  (Today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mommy!)

I made it while I was thinking of what to make for my "One World One Heart" (OWOH) giveaway.  I haven't decided yet but I have to start making it soon to finish in time for this bloggers event that will take place on January 30 to February 17 this year.


And here are some of the ATCs I finished this week...
 

(To find out what WOYWW is and to join in the fun, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!)   Happy WOYWW, everyone!

Looking Back: A Drop of Hope at Christmas

As the Christmas season comes to a close (this Sunday in the Catholic Church), I look back with delight at my Christmas season and how I celebrated it this year.

Yes, we had our usual gatherings with family and friends, yes, we had the decorations, gift giving, Christmas Eve mass and the all the other activities.  All of these were wonderful but what made my Christmas season different this year were two unusual celebrations.

First, I celebrated my birthday on December 24.  I don't usually have a big party.  People are just too busy.  Most of the time, I am too busy!  But this year I had a hundred guests!  I finally found some people who could come to my party!  Well, actually, they are what we call captive guests.  I celebrated my birthday at the Quezon City jail, with a hundred inmates!

Those of you who visit my blog regularly perhaps would know that three Fridays a month, I go visit the jail.  Most of the time my hubby or some other man shares the Good News to the "captive audience" but once in a while, I get to share too.  Many of these men don't get any visitors and Christmastime is especially hard for them.  What a joy then for me to celebrate with them.  Who would have thought I would ever celebrate my birthday with jail inmates!  Seems like the last thing I would do just a few years ago.  Even my children (17 yrs to 24 yrs) came along.  My 20 year old daughter told me she was envious of my party and she wanted to celebrate her birthday with the indigenous Aeta community she and her friends are helping!  That was music to my ears!

The second celebration I attended was on December 27, when I went with my daughter to visit that Aeta community for their Patak ng Pagasa (Drop of Hope) project.  We brought water containers for them to use to bring water up the mountain.  We also had a simple party with them.  On their last visit, my daughters and her friends noticed that the Aetas didn't even have proper plates, glasses and spoons and forks. They had to share plates with one another and drink juice from the same bowl they ate from.  And so, this time, when they fed them, the food came in new plastic plates, the juice came in colorful glasses and they had spoons and forks (We Filipinos use spoons and forks to eat our rice meals).

The pictures here were taken by my daughter, Elyse (visit her photography portfolio). Their Patak ng Pagasa facebook page says  
 "These are just some snapshots of the wonderful places and people we met while on our mission. Their faces are reminders that Christ lives in each and everyone of us, especially the least of our brothers."

And so when I read Thursday's gospel reading from Luke 4:14-22, I offered the coming year to the Lord, that he would continue to use me to bring hope...

 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives...

to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday: New Year ATCs

 

 Happy New Year, everyone!

(I am making the number 2 in the picture above!)

My whole family spent the New Year holidays at the beach (the Philippines has the best beaches and is No.6 in Lonely Planet's Top 10 best value destinations for 2011!)  As usual, I brought along a tote of art materials. On my desk are some of the Artist trading cards I made...

I used watercolors and colored pencils...

and I decided to add some paper cutouts and other details.  This is the one I'm working on...

 

(I know, I should have cropped this picture)

Did you see the handmade card I received from Jona? Jona is also from the Philippines and I "met" her through the internet.  One of these days I hope to meet her in person.  Thanks, Jona, for this special card!

If you want to visit the other bloggers joining this first Wednesday of the year's link party, go over to Julia's Stamping Ground.  I didn't get to visit a lot of blogs during the holidays (no internet in the beach house)  but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things this week, maybe even get to post about my awesome Christmas activities or start on my giveaway for One World One Heart!  Come join in the fun!