My desert life .... A good life indeed! : )

I have always been a city girl , a Hollywood chic at that LOL! I remember Dave and I had said we wanted to get out of the city and really focus on our dreams,being so close to everyone wasn't really allowing us to dive into our music , our art . That was 17 years ago . We're only 40 minutes away from Hollywood so it is still close enough to reach out and touch , we still have a place in Hollywood in called ," The Hollywood Dell ", its walking distance from the Hollywood Bowl . We're fixing up that place for the tourists who come into town, they can rent it for a couple of days, or weeks for those who do business out here . I love being in the desert , since living out here , I am really able to focus on myself , no distractions from family and friends , don't get me wrong , I love them very much , but as an artist trying to get your art out there you truly have to be in this meditative state more often then not . When I go out to do business in Hollywood I am so excited to go into town . Its such a treat now . I catch up with my neighbors at The Dell and sometimes we will spend a weekend out there and we hang out with friends and family , walk down to the lil' cafe down the street , its really beautiful , or watch one of our friends bands play at a club that night . Being out here in the lil' town of Agua Dulce , is beautiful I wake up to these amazing desert hills , see the bunnies outside my windows and squrriels , I hear the owls at night , sometimes I see them . The stars are amazing , and its very quiet . My neighbors are a 1/4 acre away so privacy is nice . My mind is clear and yes sometimes I can get a lil' bonkers at times being isolated but I always bring myself back with my art journaling , writting a song on the keyboard or making a video , those things always bring me back to my true self... my real self... the me I want to be.... free to be... and I wouldn't have it any other way .

I am grateful for all that I have , I really am . No matter how difficult things may get I really shouldn't be complaining about anything in my life LOL! Sometimes I feel like Im one big whinning complainer LOL! There are no excuses for me not to full fill my dreams and I have been working toward them everyday . My biggest problem is believing in myself that I can do it , and not giving a whole hella beans what anyone thinks LOL! Not everyone is gonna like what you create , not everyone will agree with you , thats just the way it is right ? Living in the desert is my rock ( as well as my soulmate Dave : P) and Im holding on to it ! Real tight !

Thanks for stopping by and listening , it really means alot friends : )

Maryannk.

It doesn't really matter what anyone really thinks...

If its one thing I can not deal with is people not being able to just be themselves , yet try to find a place where they can be excepted . Theres always artists trying to disclaim other artist because to them they might be fonies or aren't what they feel real . I think all we want as artist is ,well some of us anyway , is to be able to just be the artist we want to be and not be judged for it . I may not be right all the time but then again no one is perfect . I am an artist who loves to be inspired, learn from other fellow artists , and grow from my life experience . Sometimes I find that some people just want to know you to find out your not; not see the beauty and realness of your thoughts . I am who I am , you are who you are , I am glad to know you , and I hope we have a friendship that we can both relate to in the arts . If you are here to find something you can judge than please , don't be a friend if your here to judge me . I have put my comments on private now because now I have certain artist trying to disclaim what I speak of , and say its not true when , maybe they refuse to believe that even artists do things to expand their minds . I am NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD DO DRUGS BECAUSE THIS OR THAT ARTIST HAS! all Im sayin' is artist have used hilusinigenics to do so , and some sorry to say are FAMOUS ONES! Sorry to hurt those who don't believe they have . I am from Hollywood , I have been around the art scene all my life , I was always around musicians and have seen what drugs do . Have I dabbled ? Yes. Have I been an addict ? No. Have drugs expanded my mind ? Yes! Do I still do them ? Only Mary Jane on occasion but that is it . Am I a bad person ? of course not!

I am an artist just like all of you , we have a lot in common we do ! If you look up Carlos Castaneda , he has books out , tons actually , and he speaks of how these drugs expanded his mind . I choose to tell what Im about and speak my opinions because Im tired of society making us all think we can't! I am not gonna be afraid anymore to tell you what I think or what is or what I find fasincating about certain artist of the past , and sorry for those who feel that they have to hide behind SOCIETIES EYES! If this makes you feel uncomfortable about knowing me , Im truly sorry I scare you . Im just speakin' my mind and making art . I hope that if theres anything I can inspire in you , is to be you , be free to speak your mind , don't be afraid . It is ok .

OH! AND BY THE WAY TO THE PERSON WHO SAID THEIR WAS NO DRUGS , YES THERE WAS(NOT THAT IT MATTERS BUT IT MATTERED TO YOU!) THE ONLY INFO I WAS WRONG ABOUT WAS CARROLL HANGIN WITH THESE GUYS, YOU ARE CORRECT THAT HE DIDN'T MY BAD! BUT! HE DID GO TO THE OPIUM DENS BACK IN THAT TIME AND THE OTHER GUYS DID HANG OUT AND ALL THAT IM AFRAID, SO SORRY THE TRUTH HURTS YOU.

To the rest of you its just a story, and my thoughts on it . thats all . thanks for listening and the controversy..... I guess.... : / Maryannk

Hey Everyone! This is what I've been up too! Keepin' it green by using old jeans!

Hello! So sorry I have stepped away for a while . I thought it would be best to step into my imagination for a bit so I thought it would be wise to not be on the internet until I figured out what I was going to invent LOL! I see all of you working so hard and speaking about it on your blogs and thought , " I don't think Im working hard enough ! ", so I became a mad scientist in my art room and cooked up this for a submission to a magazine, its my deranged , estranged Alice.When I was a teenager I read the books from the author, Lewis Carroll ," Through the looking glass " and , "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland", I found them very pschycadelic and trippy. I, as some of you might know, am a musician so growing up I loved listening to Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles , Janis Joplin and then there was Jefferson Starship!

I fell in love with the song White Rabbit , and when listening to it I realized that ,this was totally what Alice was to me! A girl who fell into a hole , a rabbit hole to be exact, and basically started to hilusinate on ," the drink me" and , " the cookie" and thats when she went into wonderland for an adventure that we all enjoy the story. I mean Lewis Carroll was buddies with , Dr. Seuss, J.R.R. Tolkien(Lord of the Rings),and C.S.Lewis , ( Chronicles of Narina ). These guys were true DaDa Movement big time. Politically envolved and always hung out together. They also did hilusinignics to expand their minds. So it made sense that Alice would be trippin'

so! I made this in that way and its recycled denim Im using . An old pair of jeans I had lying around , the hole is the hole in the knee LOL! Very inventive huh ? I have always been a fashion designer , I love making clothes , I went to art school to become a costume designer so thats my main favorite medium of the art world , but since discovering mixed media , I've learned to incorporate both together , nothing that isn't already being done by Danita and various others in the freemotion quilting world, but I think I truly have a nack for it and Im lovin' it big time! : P

This is what I've been up to and also making bags with this concept in mind, Im also gonna start designing clothes again with the freemotion,mixed media design and it will be in a trippy , pschyidelic look , like my favorite storytellers , I love being trippy and speaking my mind and most of all speaking and breathing my art!

Thanks for listening and stopping by , more to come ! : )

Taking a break from the art studio & what a good life !

I have really been bustin' a move lately , with my cool bags Im gonna be selling on Etsy . So I told Dave we're gonna start hiking everyday now just to give our brains a break . This was just an amazing time of the end of the day , it completed Daves & I's day .

Lately there have been blog hops that ask what are you thankful or grateful for ?

I am grateful for this sunset everyday , I live in a beautiful place in the high deserts and the weather right now here in the lil' town of Agua Dulce , Ca. is very " Crispy " thats the perfect word to use because thats how icey it feels out there , which I haven't felt in a while. I have so missed chili nites , so Im thankful for this very much. Im also grateful for my family . I adore them , I love my soulmate with all my heart and I love & adore my daughter & grandbaby , the Universe couldn't give me more than I already have , OH! and my precious kitty Bondean ,and my funny ol' dog Ms. Panda Woo.

thanks for stopping by ! : P Maryann k.

Hello ! Welcome to the Bomshell Blog Hop !

Hello ladies Today is the Bomshell Blog Hop , fun! fun! fun! So here we are , just before Halloween for Halloween , I love this holiday , I can totally be my normal ,weird self and is all good ! LOL! So you should be coming from Meredith's blog and if so your in the right place .

Here is what I have done for the hop . If you didn't get a chance to head to the store and get a Halloween bag for your trick or treaters no need to fret , just get a paper bag , its also being green /recycling and make a trick or treat bag heres mine .

I painted gesso all over it to give it more sturdiness then painted purple acrylic paint all over it and put glitter glue around the edges of the white and purple . I also painted the gold into the eyeballs and silver on the wings , as well as stamped into acrylic silver paint which the stamp took well to , if you don't mind having paint residue on the stamp , which I don't because I do alot of mixed media art so it doesn't bother me , I just wash off the stamp as much as I can and make sure that theirs no glumps in the stamp which is easy to scrape off the stamp.

For the sides I drew in my scary, " SPOOK U " , Then put purple glitter glue around the words,

you can do anything you want , get creative and let your artistic mind go wild!

This is the prize if ya win , good luck ! : P MaryAnn K. ( Ms. October )

Make sure you leave a comment before movin' on , so you can have a chance to win! : P

I hope you are having fun hoppin' along head on over to click on Kapree !

v

v

v

Kapree

Check out my art journal page I did with Tam in her free Heart of Art e-course!

I am so delighted to say I am enjoying this art course online FOR FREE ! With Tam at her Willowing Ning site . I have known of Tam for quite sometime now ,and spoken to her from time to time , we both love to do art videos on YouTube . She has been teaching online classes for about 2years now ,and is an amazing artist not to mention a beautiful, earthy woman that Im glad to know . One day she had a giveaway of one of her courses she teaches and many of us went to try to win it . Alot of us had told her that we really wanted to win the course because we couldn't afford to buy her DVD being that times are tuff right now. After hearing what all of us had said she then decided to give all of us a art course for free . We all were so excited ! This is the first week of the course and it is amazing ! You feel like your in a class in a college , you don't have to even be looking at the video all the time, just listening to her tell you how to do shading and what to do , I find myself glancing back and forth to my work and then looking at my computer to see if Im on the right track , its awesome . Not to mention its therapy which Im always feeling about art , especially art journaling . So please ! mozy on over there and sign up to be in the free art course , if you can give a little back in the bottom of the site there is a donation button to give anything you can , it helps for Tam .

I hope to see you there ! Heres what I have done so far in the first week :

We have learned how to do backgrounds in her techniques she is so known for on YouTube .

What I enjoy the most is learning how to use watercolors with white acrylic paint. I have always loved watercolor pencils and crayons and Tam really focuses on this which for me is a joy. I have been art journaling for a while now , but what I learned through her class also , is how to do the face with not only the watercolor technique but with pencil shading which is very new to me . Heres the face I did , very different from what I have learned from other online classes I have taken in the past.



This class is open to everyone and is free . You can join at anytime and as you can see , you will get wonderful results , and its a healing class which is a plus for me because Im all about healing through art .

Again, hope to see you there !

It's "WISHCAST WEDNSDAY!" What do you wish to fly free from ?

Hello! I have not did the Jamie Ridlers Wishcast Wednsday in a really long time , I have missed it terribly. You all have to check out this weekly wake up as I like to call it , what I like about it the most is that its in the middle of the week , so it gives you a mental check on yourself , which I think is so needed . So I say hello to all my Wishcast buddies and Jamie I have missed you all. So here we go,the question was ," What do you wish to fly free from?". I would have to say ,procrastination. I have been wanting to get my etsy up for a while now , like literally for about 2yrs now . There was always something getting in my way , but now in the last 2 weeks I have organized my time and kind of put my foot down and the family and said, hey! my time is my time , just because you think my day is spent doing and making art does not mean you can interupt or think I can do favors , those days are over! LOL! Now I tell the family , you have to schedule the time with me and let me know in advanced because I am busy . At first the kids and hubby we're a little thrown back , but they were very respectful to the fact that I had finally put my foot down on my art creating time. I should have done it a long time ago , but Im sure it was because I wasn't ready to take myself seriously , and now I really am . Im proud of myself , now Im finally doing what I love to do and not afraid to do it and no more excuses , so I fly free from

PROCRASTINATION!! Its a great freedom. : )

Thanks for stopping by until next time Wishcasters : )

Maryann k.