My ASUW Collage and Assemblage classes now open for registration!

Fabulous student work from my 2009 class, "Candy Tin Assemblage"

O.K., I know your fingers are just itching to try something new in 2010! I'm offering two classes at the ASUW Experimental College (Seattle campus, Washington) in January and February, that I think you would enjoy! The first one is called "Candy Tin Shadow Box" on January 30, and the second one is "The Painted Page: Springtime" on February 27 (click here to see pics!). Please visit www.exco.org for the full descriptions. They are listed under the category "Arts and Crafts".

You may register online, or by calling 206-68-LEARN. I'll see you in class! (PSSST! These make great gifts, too! Send that 'special someone' to art class!).

I am so blessed...

Right now (this is the closest time I will ever get to "tweeting")...right at this very moment, I am in my home by myself, on Christmas Eve, doing just what I love to do. Wrapping gifts (O.K., don't really love that too much), enjoying serenity and silence, and watching one of my fave Holiday movies, "It's a Wonderful Life". I feel just like George Bailey at the end of the film... so very thankful for everything and everyone in my life. My will to create is supported in so many ways.

"I have enough, I do enough, I am enough."

I am so thankful for friends, family, my health and even the wonderful people I have met in this crazy blogging world. A huge thank you to all the students and 'seekers' I have had to privilege to teach and share myself with this year. I do hope you all get to have even one moment of serenity and silence so that you may contemplate your many blessings and thank the people who support you and your creative endeavors...please keep peace and gratitude in your heart this year!

My Holiday Gift to you: Mom's Rum Ball Recipe

Every year, during the Holidays, I reconnect with my mom (who passed away in 1980) by cooking some of her recipes. I drag out her recipe cards and the old, tattered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, whose time-worn pages are full of family memories and 'history'. Her notations (and mine) are written in some of the margins. There are crusted remains of  past cooking adventures on some of the pages. That cookbook is probably older than I am. Here is one of my mom's own recipes, I hope you try it out! (Caution: limit intake of these cookies, you may need a "designated driver" after consuming too many of these).

6 cups vanilla wafers, crushed

3/4 cups  rum (more or less)–I like the strong taste of rum, you may want to use less!

6 TBSP white Karo syrup (sweetened corn syrup)

6 TBSP cocoa (unsweetened)

2–3 cups chopped walnuts

3 cups powdered sugar (more or less)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (hands work best!), except for the powdered sugar. Roll mixture into small balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Put into tightly sealed containers. Flavor increases with age! This recipe makes enough to share with  family and friends...Thanks mom! Love you...

For more information and history of the wonderful rum ball, visit Wickipedia.

A bit of Robert Frost saved me today...

Tracks in Snow, COPYRIGHT 2009 JonesMoore

I have a cold, my son has a cold. He's home from school today. It's wet, gray and dark by 4:30 in the afternoon. Yet, I came across this poem, one that I had used in a recent collage class. I'm sure that you have heard it.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost (1923)

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

(I feel better now...)

I will demonstrate how to make a shrine tomorrow!

The 'beginnings' of a shrine...

Saturday, December 12, I will be doing a demonstration on how I combine encaustic and assemblage to make a contemporary shrine. The shrine I have started, pictured above, will be offered online during an auction to benefit the street children of Oaxaca, Mexico. The demo will be part of the monthly Artists Connect meeting, held in Edmonds, Washington, at the ArtWorks building at the corner of Dayton and 2nd. The meeting starts at 10:oo a.m., and is for artists that live/work in or near the Edmonds and 'north of Seattle' area. I am very excited to be starting a piece of artwork that will benefit children who are in need. To read more about this cause, please visit:

Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots

This contemporary shrine will go through many phases before being complete. The online auction, featuring the artwork of many talented artists across the U.S., will be taking place in March of 2010, so please visit this blog for updates!

Pics from my "Painted Page" collage book workshop

"Totally awesome" work done by my students during last Saturday's "The Painted Page" collage book workshop at the University of Washington (Experimental College). I am always absolutely amazed and thrilled at what people create in my classes! It was a beautiful, cold crisp day outside, while we were cozy in our classroom, just creating.

Interesting note: there was a University of California alumni party going on in the center atrium of the building that day (it was football game day for the UW), and the BAND decided to start playing while I was trying to do my first demo of the class. That's something I will never forget (with humor)! It's a bit distracting to try to demo for a class while the band is playing --at FULL volume--their school fight song...the only option was to smile, and go out and listen to the band!

Be sure to check back for my new class listings for Winter 2010!

Point and Shoot Journaling with LK Ludwig

Rotting apples...COPYRIGHT 2009 JonesMoore

.

Tree roots in Sayulita...COPYRIGHT 2009 JonesMoore

I've been participating in an online journaling class called Point and Shoot Journaling, put on by LK Ludwig. It's been a wonderful experience, and has kept me "creative" at times when I didn't feel like being creative! We are working with our own photos, as well as song lyrics, metaphor and other writing assignments. LK starts a new class each month, and it's fabulous!. To see more of my journal pages, please visit my Flickr site!