Monthly Archives: April 2010

Apr28

The Muslin Journal came today!

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The little muslin journal arrived today, along with a beautiful dark blue feather, and a sweet little print of “Lester.”  Thank you Lynne so much!

 

The journal is so homey and old-fashioned looking – it looks like I should be sitting by lamplight and writing my thoughts and doings of the day from another time and place!  I love this kind of thing.  I love the vintage button that closes the whole thing up!  And those little needle dots Lynne complained of are definitely not a problem – they only increase the character of the object!  It has a lot of good energy, and can I say again!  I really LOVE IT!

 

 After I read Lynne’s post about the pogo prints – which I had never heard about before – I was really wanting to try it for myself!  Now that I see what the prints look like, I am even more anxious to buy one of these little printers.  The small print size is really appealing to me, and they seem very clear.  Perfect for quick photos of art work – and they peel off so they can be stuck to anything!  Thanks again to lynnehoppe.blogspot.com

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Apr23

Waiting for Spring

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                  “Lillith quietly awaits the springtime. ”               

 Mixed media, crumpled paper, hand painted aged newsprint painted green and hand torn into  small leaves.   Wadded tissue, matt medium,  a small piece of watercolor paper underneath for support and attached with matt medium to a journal page.  Mostly enjoyed the wadding and textures created with that and the molding paste, a  failed transfer print of a butterfly  began the composition with  more hope than technique!    I did try to talk Ms.Lillith into letting me add some hair, but you can see by her expression that she preferred being argumentative – so I boxed in her face and planted seedlings on top of where her hair might  have been – she didn’t mind.  She announced she rather liked the small roots growing from the seedlings which gave  her the impression of a “fringe,” her word not mine.  She has also begun to make reference to something she calls a “Lilith Faire.”  I believe it is a concert, as she has been quietly singing some Sarah McGloughlin songs – which is rather nice at times.  I think she believes she is a “free spirit.”

I wish it would warm up here, and there were some flowers hardy enough to withstand below freezing at night for at least another six weeks.   I actually had to turn the heat on today, although I held out until about 3:00 PM when I just could  not stand it anymore.  I had a portable heater that worked very well in the studio, but it broke last week so we are back to sitting hunched over our work thinking of fingerless gloves and Dickens in a freezing room much like the very cold and haunted rooms in scary movies -the  ones that emit strange sounds and doors open and close without human touch.  (there actually isn’t any “we”, unless you count Cookie Moon who doesn’t wear fingerless gloves – mostly because she has paws, not hands.) Anyway being cold doesn’t really do much for my creative endeavors!  So I went off to wal-mart to buy another heater, something simple, just basically a blow dryer on legs – but they had not a one!  Just shelves filled with every shape and size of air cooling fans, which won’t be needed for at least two or three more months! 

The trees that are not evergreen having nothing on them –   it looks yet the dead of winter.  No wonder Lillith has that petulant expression of  “why can’t I have it now!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apr20

Lynne Hoppe –A specialThank you…

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I just have to thank lynnehoppe.blogspot so much!  I was the lucky receipient of her muslin book give-a-way!   I have long coveted one of her unique little handmade artist books – and I can barely wait to get started using it! 

In the meantime, here is a thank you card just for Lynne.  I know the little lady looks kind of sad, and maybe she was, but having this special gift really perked her up . . . . . . as you can tell by her purple shoes – her magic do a little dance shoes!

Thank you to everyone for all the nice emails about my last “boo-hoo” post!  I feel a lot better and even managed to paint a little today, well, I had to make Lynne a thank you note!

Apr18

Boo-hoo days and nights, and weeks, and months… Where am I?

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1988 Just Before Christmas

 

Those were such difficult times back in 1988.  That may have been the year I prepared a handmade Christmas for the girl’s dolls.  I made everything, from fuzzy houseslippers to lunch sacks with tiny (sculpy) food inside and handmade napkins, party dresses, play dresses, sweaters cut to fit from thrift store finds, pleated skirts, and gingham blouses,doll size jump ropes, chairs, and scoured thrift stores for doll size possibilities.  I even found three tiny tooth brushes and sawed the handles off to fit doll size hands;  everything you can imagine an 18 inch doll might need, I tried to make, including towels, washcloths and one inch bars of real soap. The girls say it was their best Christmas ever even though I didn’t have a dime to spend.  I presented it all on the dining room table, nothing wrapped, just a magical scene of doll land spread out to ooh and aah over!  We didn’t even have a camera to take a picture of that magical array, nor the reactions of those three little girls who still believed in magic!  But they remember it in every detail and remains so special in their memories.   

I wish I could gain some of my enthusiasm from back then.  Lately I have been stuck, unable to pull myself up and get busy creating again.  I have hundreds of ideas, I have the time, I have the materials, but I don’t have me.  I don’t know where I’ve gone.  I know 2009 was a very difficult year for me;  losing my job and not being able to find another one.  Trying to overcome the humiliating experiences I endured just before termination.  Then getting sick and spending every day coming to terms with that; endless doctor visits, treatments, and more treatments.  Now it is all behind me, but I can’t get myself moving. I think I should feel so joyous that I am okay and have a solid future ahead of me, so why am I acting this way?   Sometimes I force myself to join something, or attend some art related event, but I am no sooner there than I want desperately to return home.  Have never been a very good joiner, but was certainly better than I am now! I have practically become a recluse and I don’t even care.   I go to visit my daughters in Portland and spend the entire time fighting an overwhelming desire to come back home.  This whole thing is exhausting, and frustrating.  I keep thinking I’m going to run into myself any time now and things will get back to normal, but it hasn’t happened and now 2009 is many months behind us — so — what do I do?  I am not a whiner, I do not complain to others about my problems, I have an aversion to this kind of behavior.  I know I am a strong woman, I know I have been through much worse than this – but somehow it seems to all have accumulated and grown into such a force that I can’t get past it these days.  

Sorry to be so down, sorry I haven’t got any art to share – just boo-hoo poor me.  Boring.