briedah » mixed media collage

no more rehab

briedah — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:26:14 +0000

Amy Winehouse Dead at 27! she had been in and out of drug and alcohol rehab since she hit the entertainment scene in 2007. Was this untimely end a total shock to anyone that followed her career? Unfortunately, not.

I am going to rehab for my back,hip and now knee. Is this a shock to anyone? No. I am almost 55 with too much weight on my joints and blessed with the loveliest syndrome: degenerative joint disease. I do not want to be in rehab. I do not want to use a cane. I do not want to end up in a power chair.

Yesterday I got an injection of synvisc in my knee to help with the pain of protruding meniscus and joint effusion. I haven’t noticed an improvement yet…

guess i will go to the pool now and get some exercise…

the price of deprivation

briedah — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:49:39 +0000

the hidden heart

briedah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:21:33 +0000

My friend constancet2009 on Flickr mentioned an artist named Junelle Jacobsen whose blog had some fabulous ideas for art journaling with paper crafts. This above 6×6 collage is based on her own journal page called ‘little beating heart’. I took a piece of brown journal paper (Darice Paper Mache Journal) and crunched it up into a ball. I stained the ball with distress ink then unraveled the paper and smoothed it out. I stamped images with various rubber stamps, cut out the heart, and glued a distressed page of text to the back (so text shows thru heart) I then glued down images culled from the stash and wrote text and added stickers. Page then was glued to larger square sheet 6.5 inches from pad of My Mind’s Eye Stella & Rose cardstock. Punched ring holes thru all sheets.

time 2 change

briedah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:11:10 +0000

About two years ago I was urged by my primary care doctor that I needed to lose weight as I had serious co-morbidities that would ultimately shorten my life. My health issues were complicated by the fact that I needed to have a cervical laminectomy to repair a herniated disc in my neck. Those of you who follow my blog here may recall that my pain was blinding and constant. I used art as way of coping. Now that I am recovered from the neck surgery I am free to pursue further improvement of health issues that stem from being morbidly obese. I learned about Dr. Emma Patterson through an article in the news about weight loss surgery. Her clinic, Oregon Weight Loss Surgery, (OWLS for short) is a center of excellence, first of it’s kind in the Portland metro area.

I have chosen gastric banding as a tool to assist in my weight loss journey. Here is my visual journal that will document my hopes, fears and affirmations as I cope with life without sugar and unhealthy eating behavior.

a new me

briedah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:38:15 +0000

It seems like I abandoned ship in October-for that I apologize. I am back to entertain you with my latest journey. Be prepared for some incredible art journaling…best wishes, briedah

Blissful Autumn Spooks

briedah — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:40:29 +0000

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I prefer Halloween over Christmas. I love orange and red and black and purple; the fall colors: gold leaves against a crisp blue sky. October light is magical to me….I made almost all these collages digitally. The 3rd one down Live Life is cut and paste on 8×11 paper.

You can get lots of Halloween card ideas at www.Deviantscrap.com! go the the shoppe and check out Crowabout Studio B. Nancy’s stuff rocks!

I am getting much better in my neck dept. But now I have the cold that turned into the croup….I sound like a barking walrus with my asthma cough. Today I forgot to bring my Ventolin inhaler to work and by two o’clock I could hardly breathe!

Got me some steroids and Casero rub…I think eucalyptus is lovely this time of year…all I need now is some pumpkin pie…

song and dance

briedah — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:48:34 +0000

Here are the two latest: one is for Deb’s birthday present and the other is made out of leftovers from Deb’s present…

Deb saw the ‘Be Glad’ 16×16 commision and decided she wanted HER favorite Psalm done for her birthday April 25th:

and this one is the leftovers: while making a collage for a friend, little leftover scraps and pieces kept catching my eye. The central body shape was for a jewelry spread in some fashion rag. The are always extras of everything I cut….arms, legs, flowers. She was wanting to dance I guess so I found this quote on the interwebz and learned that Mata Hari was really Dutch and not the double agent I thought she was…back ground paper Life’s Journey K&Co; distress ink, pen, TOMBO markers, black sharpie….

bIG fREE stReeT pArADE

briedah — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:25:21 +0000

I was not feeling my best after doing taxes and so this turned out sort of rushed and jumbled all together. from flickr:

The Little Cuties Processional was the same day as The Tea Party so not too much effort went into getting all the cuties to show up (most of them chose to DO their taxes and cough up some dough) The baby stroller was part Naturalizer sling back and part BMW and The Old FreakShow That Lived In A Boot came because she was grounded due to the ash flying over her home town in Iceland. There was so little money left over after the tax payment all the commitee could afford for refreshments was jelly sandwiches which many shoved into their faces making quite a picture…or crowabout…
8×10 mixed media collage with images from Nancy B crowabout collage sheet(s) some dover freebies and some assorted mag clippings.
the best part I think is Bjork in a boot…

oh yeah…I have been DENIED by my insurance company an artificial disc replacement due to ‘investigational and experimental’…and the leave coordinator at work explained if I really wanted job protection during the time off for surgery I would have to return to full time duties for the next six weeks….so basically I can work until my arm goes completely numb and continue to take pain meds until I appeal the insurance denial. fun.

I want to live in a BOOT!

time to dream of an exotic place

briedah — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:47:25 +0000

this is a work in progress…from flickr:

sorry this is still so blurry; thank you to constancet2009 for this weeks sheet which had the proper credits listed right on the images-but so tired and bleary eyed you guys have to trust me; here is a a monster crowabout. 12×12 central piece on top of 16×16 wooden artboard. the central figure I found stashed in one of those “folders’ of images that was cut out of a 1954 Good Housekeeping. Clock was ALSO in that folder and I have a feeling it was from a flickr freebie grp. interiors from a little french home & garden design mini book I found at a flea market in 2004.
I began with a 12×12 K&Co sheet from the pad that has the ancestry family record tree sheet in it (cover is missing). I then used TPC Studio clear stamps (Christmas Glamour) and stamped the swirly borders (later painted over with white acrylic paint!) I also stamped the chandelier and chain with clear stamp from INKADINKADOO and vintage sepia ink.
Main focal point images model, checkerboard interior and french wall clock placed first.
Model was completely handpainted with a combo of watercolor pencil, acrylic paint, black sharpie, Tombo ABT markers, and the uncooperative WHITE Marvy UCHIDA opaque paint marker. (forgive me, I am biting my tongue as I write this)
I also painted the interior with the same. Clock I left as found. The collage sheet images were hand cut and hand-colored with watercolor pencil, distress ink or PITT pen.
I found some other images from ‘paperscraps’, ‘rubyblossom’, and doverpublications.com. Borders on 12×12 were outlined with both red and black ink.
Finally I used white acrylic paint and a fine brush to add the clouds and swirls.
The 16×16 board had been prepped with one coat gesso and the trim was cut from CIAO BELLA. This is a work in progress. I am prepared to incorporate the center with the outer trim but it’s so late and I am so tired….
I also think that Dirk may be hiding out in one of these exotic places she is dreaming about…I’ll have to await the verdict on that since I think ZiB bailed his lazy ass outta Skankytown jail.

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

briedah — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:28:10 +0000

paper doll with moveable legs on back ground cardstock from Ciao Bella. legs, face and partial arm from Vogue. body parts painted or embellished with watercolor or pen. used six images from mixiepixies rad sheet for week 70 Collage Play with Crowabout. border bevel by artist on computer. some digital paint programing including the quote from the fabulous French bon vivant and writer, Colette, who sported the en vogue pear shape at the of the turn of the century. Her scandalous bio here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette
crown embellished with scraps and rhinestones by artist; coffee cup from paperscraps.
size is approximately 10×12

It has a bit of green in it but since she is a coffee drinker you can assume she is on the wagon today….Have a grand day in parade or what ever you do today-and unless you enjoy being pinched you’ll be wearin’ the green, I hope!