I've Been Tagged

The talented artist Linda Silvestri has tagged me for a meme. This is the first time I have ever been tagged so I hope that I do everything correctly and don't bore you too much in the process. Linda is a very gifted artist and her sketches are so much fun, so do visit her blog and have a look.

The rules of this meme are:
· When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you.
· Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself.
· At the end of the post you must tag and link to eight other people.

8 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

1. I am very much addicted to COFFEE. It is not the caffeine that has me hooked, but the taste. Coffee ice cream has been my favorite flavor since I was a child, long before my first cup 'o Joe. I love the scent as well....mmmmmmm. I probably, no definitely, drink too much.

2. I think I was born in the wrong decade. I would have been a perfectly happy June Cleaver or Donna Reed. (although housework in heels would have been a drag.) I long for a simpler time and watch the old black and white sit-coms with yearning. Probably not a very PC thing to admit, but I am very content as a stay at home mom.

3. I didn't learn to drive until I was 24 years old.

4. I love the color combination of pink and green. Sage green and baby pink...lime green and hot pink...it all works for me !!

5. I am a die hard Cubs fan. My dad was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago and I am a New Yorker who was raised to cheer on the Cubs. I have indocrinated my husband and children and every other year we make the pilgrimage to Wrigley.

6. I LOVE the beach. Maybe it is because I was raised on Long Island and the beach was never very far away....but it is in my blood. The sights, the smells, the sand, the shells...it rejuvenates and soothes me.

7. I am a lazy gardener. I love my flower beds, but I clearly do not spend enough time improving them.

8. I'm a bit...just a bit...of a Felix Unger. (my kids call me the 'clean freak'...but that's just in comparison to them !)

Here are my tags:

Diane at Duda Daze

Lindsay at Painting My World

Susan at My Sweet Imaginations

Patty at Papor Artist

Paulette at Paulette Insall

Roberta at A Mouse in the House

Paige at Fox in Socks

Leigh at Murphy Girl

© Nancy Lefko

Hot Stuff

After looking at this finished collage for a few days, I began to wonder if green was the wrong backdrop for a work entitled 'Hot Stuff.' Perhaps a warmer palette would have been better. In any case, I get the feeling that this little lady made quite an impression wherever she went. She is listed on ebay now, which with any luck will stay as hot as she is !!

© Nancy Lefko

Cosmopolitan Gal

This little lady has been traveling the globe and living the good life...I'm just glad that she (and her accompanying text) survived the dreaded "spill in the studio."

© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ The Zoo

For the Illustration Friday topic, the zoo, I thought of the many creatures my youngest son likes to collect at the beach. We spend countless hours at the tide pool filling his buckets with hermit crabs, snails, clams and small lobsters. He feeds his marine friends with Dad's fishing bait and watches over them quite protectively. At day's end they are released back into the sea and he looks forward to the next day and dreams of what he'll find. There is no finer "zoo" for my little boy and he is the most thoughtful of zookeepers.

© Nancy Lefko

Busy Day

Yesterday, after baking pies and completing other pre-Thanksgiving duties, I promised myself some time in my studio. Things didn't start off well. I dropped a cutting mat which fell on my cup filled with water and paintbrushes, which spilled all over text that had been awaiting collages and also in the process my clock fell off the wall and broke. It was one big ill-fated domino effect. I tried to remain calm, but I was really, really mad. I commenced to cleaning up and scooped up all the ruined text and threw it away without even looking to see what I had lost...I didn't want to know. It was good that I was able to remain calm, because if I had gotten upset then there wouldn't have been any productive art time. I was able to finish the three collages pictured and also begin work on two larger pieces, but I was still feeling the effects of the "spill" because I was a bit clumsier than usual. In any event, at least I was productive and now these three collages are listed on Ebay. Just when I got through complaining that Ebay had been so slow, suddenly my art has been red hot. I know...it probably won't last after the holidays, but it sure is fun for now !! Happy Thanksgiving to all...enjoy all those leftovers !!

© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ Superstition

The story of this little frog prince may be more fairy tale than superstition, but I thought that it was close enough. :)

© Nancy Lefko

More Christmas Ladies

The festivities continue....

© Nancy Lefko

Christmas Gals

The Christmas girls are completed and will be listed on ebay this evening. This is just a sampling, as there are six in total...so far. I still have some great text awaiting a collage. The theme of each collage is 'Christmas in New York' and as I was working on them I was remembering the beauty and grandeur of New York City at Christmas. Ho, ho, ho....

© Nancy Lefko

Girls In Progress

These ladies are for the Christmas-themed collages that I have begun. You'll notice a similar color palette. I was trying to be Christmas-y without being TOO Christmas-y. Not so sure how it worked...I'll have a better feel for the colors when the girls are assembled. (Try not to notice the messy art desk underneath the gals.)

© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ Scale

On a SCALE of 1 to 10, these gals are an 11...according to them.

© Nancy Lefko

Deep Within

I'm not sure where I found the time to make a collage this week, but somehow I did, and here she is. This piece expresses much of what lies deep within me...hopes, fears, dreams...probably what lies deep within most women. I continue to play around with paint and gel medium and stamps when working the backgrounds. It seems that backgrounds have been the focus of my attention lately. After making a number of 8x10 collages, I think this weekend I'll make some 4x4's. The boys have a four day weekend, so without my usual chauffeuring duties, I may get some decent time in my studio. Time will tell.

© Nancy Lefko

New York Gal

My new collage, which will be on ebay later this evening, was lots of fun to create. I have been experimenting with the backgrounds of my more recent collages, using more paint and stamped images in addition to papers. For this collage I applied a coating of gel medium over the papers before applying paint, which gave me the option of removing paint from certain areas. This process gave me more flexibility and the option of changing my mind once paint had been applied. (Which for me is a good thing, as I've been known to change my mind with great frequency.) Once again, with this collage, I pay tribute to the greatest city in the world and the fact that no matter where I call home I will always be a 'New York Gal.'

© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ Hats

What good is a club without matching HATS ? These little gals know the secret to a good club...and don't they look stunning ?

© Nancy Lefko