Ready For Valentine's

I lost all momentum for Christmas stuff, but I'm down with Valentine's Day. I hung the banner we made last year:

All the snow out there with sunlight bouncing off it made for a very bright background.

I also made painted rocks for the kids. A couple of years ago I gave them each a rock with a heart mod-podged onto it, and my youngest peeled hers off. This year she informed me that she needed a rock with a permanent, painted heart on it. Our supply of good painting rocks is running low, especially since she went through a heavy period of rock-painting earlier this autumn. But I managed to find three.

So sweet!

We also have a tradition, in this family, of giving the kids books for Valentine's Day. I accidentally started it, and one year when I didn't give the boys books--I knit them treasure pouches with a knit heart inside--my oldest looked stricken. "But we always get books for Valentine's!" Books it is.

My four-year-old loves all the Ladybug Girl books, so when I saw Bumblebee Boy (which we've had out of the library) on sale locally for half off, I picked it up for her. My eight-year-old likes origami and Star Wars and all those Star Wars origami books, and my oldest has had my little laminated tracking guide outside while we wait for the bus in the mornings so he can try to figure out who visited the snowy yard overnight. I figured a more complete guide would be welcome.

And finally, I didn't forget myself, either. My husband is away this week--we're starting a heavy travel period with one trip each of the next four months, this one being the only one that's not international (and thus the shortest of the four). I'm sort of head down about the travel, looking no farther than the week I'm in, because stacking trips like this--oh, they are hard, and it just gets harder as they pile up. But this week's trip is over Valentine's, and I'm by myself, and truth be told even if he were here I'd probably only get a card anyway, and I wanted something else, something special, and realized the only way that would happen is if I got it myself.

So I did. Two pairs of earrings, because I couldn't decide between the two, and yes, I had them wrapped, because I'm worth the pretty packaging.

How about you? Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

Blue in the Mail

These are finally on their way to Karen for the Mail Me Some Art Blue Postcard Swap. I've been meaning to join one of her swaps since she began them. It took me a while...on the plus side, I am so pleased with these four cards. They were fun to make, and I think I've improved quite a bit since my first postcard swap. The "rule" for this swap, as you might have guessed, was to use blue. A bit of contrast is okay, but mainly, we're looking at blue. Why blue? Karen also lives in New England. Have you visited New England in January? It can lend itself to the blues, if you catch my meaning. So.

These four began as one 9x12" sheet of Bristol board, collaged and painted. Then I sliced it into four pieces and added more collage pieces individually. Here's the first:

 I added the circles of text and the ghostly image on the right-hand side. It's a cut-out ghost sunprint of a skate egg case, but it kind of reminds me of someone with their hands over their head.

To this second one, I just added some washi tape, a strip of text painted blue, and a blue circle sticker. One of my kids was given a game for Christmas that had stickers that needed to be applied, and there was lots of leftover background sticker on the sheet, so I saved it to cut shapes out of.

I really like this third one. Those are more sunprints, cut out and glued on.

And the final one has this little girl in a blue-checked dress, cut out from a vintage sewing pattern envelope.

I really like beginning with something larger and then cutting it down, because I enjoy the found compositions in the smaller pieces. They each become their own little world that I can work into in various ways.

The swap is open for another week, if you're interested in joining in--the postmark day is January 21.

AEDM2012: Day 8

Wednesday I felt a Sick coming on, so I crawled into bed around 7 pm with some tea and honey, the heating pad, and a bunch of books and knitting. I mainly ignored the books and knitting; I finished the tea and dozed on and off, crawling out of bed only to dispatch children to bed at their appointed times. I felt better on Thursday, so I suppose my proactive approach worked? But all I managed on Wednesday was a little bit of sketching.

So Thursday night, I headed downstairs to do a little daily art plus some. First, a map. I rarely go to my childhood neighborhood even in my head (never in person, anymore), but I decided to create this quick, childlike map in a sepia watercolor pencil, hoping for an old-time look.

You can click to make it bigger. If you lived in that neighborhood with me (hi, Jill!) you may not recognize what I chose to put here. The BIG HILL is of course not all that big; but it seemed that way. And I don't know if we always sledded down it--how could that be? didn't they plow streets in the 70s/early 80s?--but I remember doing it at least once. The "deep dark woods" was really just a patch of trees on a hill between streets, but I loved going there and pretending I was Far Away. The "pond" was probably just an exaggerated puddle in a swampy area, but I did fall into it once, when Michelle (whose house is at the top of the BIG HILL) dared me to walk out onto the ice, and I did. As I said, it was a puddle; I only got wet up to my knees or so when the ice broke, but the rocks--which were there as fill, because they built houses on that swamp the next year--all froze to my corduroys, and it was funny. And I marked the way to Stop & Shop because at five years old, I figured I'd have to live in my parents' neighborhood forever because at least I knew how to get to the supermarket from there.

Well. That's more childhood reminiscing than I am likely to do for the next year. And how about this --I realized a couple hours after I drew this that I signed it with my maiden initials, abc, rather than my current ones. I signed it with the initials of the person who lived there. Funny Brains.

Also last night, I made some postcards for iHanna's latest swap, which has a theme of "empowerment," which can be interpreted any number of ways. I chose simply. Here's my group of cards to choose from (we only need five):

I already had all these backgrounds ready, so it was just a matter of deciding what to do with them. I am partial to the "Grow" cards; I think I will have to keep one for myself.

 Also using the theme of trees and growth:
 

And finally, more of the compass rose from earlier in the month. It's not the best choice with these backgrounds, but I think these two hold up okay.

There's still plenty of time to sign up for the postcard swap, if you're interested--right here!

AEDM2012: Days 5 + 6

As anticipated, I didn't manage any art on Sunday, but I completed these three pieces between Monday and Tuesday. The first uses contact paper image transfers of a black and white photocopy of a Berlin street  map. It's an insert on a AAA road map of Central Europe from 1968. It happened to photocopy in pieces so that's how I used it, deciding to fill in the center with my own map-inspired lines.

Before applying the transfers I used red watercolor and plastic wrap on the paper for the background.

The second piece was also inspired by a piece of this same late-60s road map, the legend describing the international road signs:

You can read it if you click on it. I decided to take the organization of shapes (triangles for danger, circular for instructions, and rectangular for information) and apply them to babies/toddlers. I brainstormed quite a few possibilities and decided to include two of each. Wouldn't it be great if babies came with instructional signs?

You can click on that to make it bigger, too.

The final piece is an abstract road map using tape resist and a secondary color palette. The compass rose is an older stamp I carved quite a while ago. Without it, I think it's just an interesting abstract. Hopefully with it, it starts to make you think "map."

I'm having fun. It's a good challenge to ask myself to create pieces that can be considered complete, although I could see going back into some of these later, too. I've noticed, though, that I spend quite a lot of "art every day time" facilitating the kids' art. When I have time, I'll post their artwork, too.

AEDM2012: Days 1-3

November is Art Every Day Month, and while I have no hope of posting daily, I do hope to create daily. Actually, I do that daily anyway--rarely does a day go by that I don't at least knit a little. But my goal for November is to create 30 pieces dealing with the theme of maps. Why maps? My kids like to make maps. I like maps--new ones, old ones, imaginary ones...they're intriguing. I recently borrowed Mapmaking With Children from the university library, seeking inspiration and ideas to use at home. My younger two kids and I found some old maps in the local antique store and made some color photocopies for collage purposes, and then while I was ordering some books for my daughter on Amazon, the site suggested I might like Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking. Why yes, Amazon, you smart cookie. Why yes I would.

So in other words, I have maps on the brain. To get ready for AEDM, I collaged with some pieces of an old US wall map (it hung in our hallway until it finally got too shredded around the edges and I replaced it). Around the collage, I brainstormed some map ideas, and when the Amazon order arrived, I read my new mixed-media mapmaking book. (It contains more step-by-step instructions on how to re-create the author's projects than I like, so I'm mostly looking at the pictures and reading the text for inspiration.)

November 1, I only managed sketches of ideas for compass roses--I spent most of the day vacuuming, doing laundry, and zipping things into allergen-free barriers thanks to my middle child's newly diagnosed dust-mite allergy. One of those sketches led to this painted rock, Orient:

I like clean geometric lines, but this was definitely informed by Mondrian, especially the color scheme. (Yes, a rock can be inspired by fine art; why not?)

Another sketch became this hand-carved stamp:

That was Day 2, Friday. On Saturday, I created these 2-dimensional pieces. I'd cut a stack of paper into 6"x9" pieces, so each finished work will be the same size...easier for compilation later, is what I was thinking. The first piece, Find Your Way, used the stamp and some purchased alphabet stamps.

I scanned this in, and the background, which is a mix of blue and green watercolor with plastic wrap on it while it dried, for the texture, is not quite as light and washed-out as it appears here. I used black block-printing ink for the stamps. The second piece, Map of My Brain, is also a scan.

You ought to be able to click on both of those for a bigger view. My brain hasn't been the best place in which to travel lately. For months now, actually. I don't usually get this personal on this blog, so I think I will just share the artwork without further explanation.

I may only manage sketches today, as well, as I'm heading out shortly to my assigned clean-up spot. I have to park, check in, and take a shuttle to the shoreline, which is under restricted access. I'm not sure what to expect, beyond coming home chilly, tired, and perhaps a little gutted.

List-It Tuesday: 15-Minute Creativity

 

The topic this week is "creative things I could do in 15 minutes or less." This was a fun list to make, using a combination of watercolors and Pitt artist pens.

How about you? What can you do in 15 minutes or less? Go!

Linking up with Aimee for List-It Tuesday.

Display

I'm still trying to work on this schedule of mine. Meanwhile, all I have to show is that I've finally managed to hang the two paintings that came out of the Pages and Paint workshop that I actually wanted to frame. Both of these are hanging in rooms that don't get very much (or good) natural light, so the pictures are just so-so. Both were also painted on 6x6" flat gessobords, and I decided to frame them using Blick's gallery frames in the same size. I was just waiting until I had to place another order at Blick, and I just did, for the co-op art class that begins this week. (!yay!) These frames were each under $10 and I'm really happy with how the pieces look in them. I didn't cover them with the plastic front piece; I prefer these to be framed but still open.

This is the one I did using a sketch of my daughter playing at the beach, and it's hanging in her room now.

And this is my poetry quote (from Prufrock, of course). It's now hanging on my (still-unpainted) bedroom wall, where I can see it when I wake up.

You can see both of these paintings in much better light in photos from previous posts: beach and quote.

I've also finally gotten around to getting my birch trees ready for hanging. I always envisioned this hanging loosely, so I added casings at the top and bottom and bought some really beautiful oak dowels at the hardware store. I hemmed the sides, sewed the casings, and cut the dowels to size. The bottom one isn't meant to be seen--I may add a few stitches to hold it in there securely--it just adds weight so the fabric hangs nicely. The top one extends two inches out on either side, but you can't really see that, because my assistant (my younger son) has the dowel in a very firm grip, being very mindful that dropping mama's trees (which he likes very much) would get them dirty.

This isn't quite ready to hang--my original thought had been to gently carve into the top dowel near each edge, just deep enough so that some hanging wire or fishing line wouldn't slip out of it; I'd wrap the wire on each side, with some slack, and hang it from the middle. I still want to hang it that way, but I'm going to look for some finials or end caps that fit the ends, instead of carving indentations. I think it will give it a more finished look, and also make sure the wire or line doesn't slip off the ends. This requires another trip to the hardware store, so it may take a bit to finish this off completely, but I'm almost there. Another plus of hanging it this way is that it doesn't hide the back, which is just as interesting, in its own way, as the front.

Gifts for Nieces

Last week I made a couple of small things for my nieces, which of course couldn't be shared until I gave them to them yesterday. My oldest niece turned sixteen last week, and she'd asked for a special birthday shirt, like the one I made my daughter. Of course, I was happy to make her one!

There are some smudgy bits that I'm not happy with, but I stopped myself from pointing out each and every one to my niece. Once the first coat of paint had dried, I had to touch up a few spots, so I did, but those spots (don't know why) began to look different as they dried, so I covered the whole thing with an even coat of paint, but those touched-up spots still look different to my eye. This has never happened before with this paint, so I'm not sure what caused it or what to do differently next time. Other than that, I think it's adorable and it looked really nice on my terribly grown-up looking niece.

Since we were bringing gifts for my oldest niece and a gift for my nephew (whose birthday was last month, but I was a little late!), I thought it would be nice to bring something for the youngest in the family, a five-year-old who has to wait all the way until February for another birthday. Using her Zodiac sign of Pisces as inspiration, I painted her a rock.

Black is her favorite color, and I wanted to use silver on the black, and she also likes pink...and thus the color scheme was set.

And my husband and I received a HUGE gift of our own--we left all three of our children with my sister after the birthday party and we spent the night in Boston. From about 5 pm Saturday night until about 1 pm Sunday, we were in Boston just us, doing grown-up things. We got dressed up and went out to dinner. We had brunch and I didn't have to stop eating to cut anyone's food. (It was fairly easy to find safe places for me to eat in Boston. It is such a treat to simply go out to eat.) We talked without anybody interrupting us. We slept past 7 am. When I say we have rarely managed to date since having children, that is a huge, huge understatement. This was like a decade of dates rolled into one, and it was long past-due.

(I have the best sister, don't I?)

More Painted Rocks

Two finished:

Finished: Elephant and Ladybug

Another in progress:

In progress: Crab

They are just so fun and satisfying to make!

August

This week, the one that begins with my mother's birthday on July 29 and ends with the anniversary of her death (five years this year) on August 5, has the potential for being rocky every year. I say "potential" because these things vary. Some years it's okay. Others, not so much. Sometimes bracing yourself for it just means it pops up somewhere else. I still have a lot of big, yucky feelings, understandably. To add into that, my 96-year-old grandmother was discharged last weekend from the hospital to a nursing home--the same one, actually, in which my mother died. When I visited my grandmother in the hospital I really thought, well, I thought I'd better tell her whatever I needed to tell her, and I did. Last weekend we brought the kids to see her in the nursing home--this is her third rehab stint there, all after hospital stays--and my oldest looked drawn. He remembers just enough of visiting my mother there. But we visited again on Thursday and he noticed right away how much better she seemed. She sat up and visited with us, enjoyed the kids, and she and I joked and laughed together. I felt so much better after that visit with my grandmother.

And despite the sneaking feeling that I spent a goodly part of the week lying on the couch in a heat- and inertia-fueled stupor, that's just not so (although there was some of that, too). We began the week by taking the kids to Watch Hill's Flying Horse Carousel. This was my daughter's first ride on the carousel.

While she was riding she was almost solemn. She smiled when we waved to her, but otherwise, I think she was just quietly soaking it all in. After her two rides were over and I went to help her off her horse, she didn't even say anything (unusual for this talkative girl), she just wrapped herself around me and hugged me tightly, so overcome, I think, with absolute excitement and joy. That ride was just so wonderful she was rendered speechless.

Later in the week I took the kids to the zoo, and later still, the oldest, youngest, and I painted rocks. My daughter had been asking to paint rocks again so on a hot hazy afternoon, we did. My oldest and I took our inspiration from an activity in My Art Book, which I borrowed from the library. It's based on Australian dot paintings from the Balgo Community--but really it's just taking the technique of painting dots and transferring it to rocks, not trying to reproduce the traditional paintings (which would give me pause). My son opted to paint a turtle but without the extra layers of dots; since he was painting a local turtle that already has spots, he kept his dots to the shell. I decided to paint a snake and go all out with my dots.

This was just super fun to make. And since I have acrylic varnish on the shelf (what don't I have, I wonder), I made it shiny. I want to make more--and even though we have rocks aplenty, I couldn't help but bring more home from the beach today, to become more animals, more shiny rocks, more brightly colored happy things.

Which is why I also painted this:

It's on a 6x6 gessobord, in need of a frame. It's a fragment from a favorite poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot. (I have also embroidered this fragment on my jeans.) I was trying out some different Pages + Paint techniques here, although no collage. It's just a happy piece, created to make me happy.

In the same vein as beach rocks and mermaids, this week I received a sweet little package of sea glass and driftwood from Cameron at Paint Myself Pretty.

The bag is shiny so it's hard to get a good picture of all the goodness inside, but it's also so pretty with that sticker and all that I haven't been able to make myself tear into it yet, even carefully. I'm just enjoying looking at it the way it is. But soon I will pour the sea glass into a little bowl and put it on the table so I can just look at it and enjoy it all. Thanks, Cameron!

And I've been working on my Ravellenic Games lace:

I've been trying to do a repeat per day (64 stitches times a 24-row repeat). The pattern says it took 15 repeats to get a 60-inch scarf, but my gauge must be different, because even with stretching, I don't think that will happen. That length right there is eight repeats. So while I may meet my Olympic goal of a repeat per day, I don't think I'll be done with the scarf at that point. I want to use every bit of that skein of lace weight. It's really pretty stuff, too. Here's a close-up; unblocked, of course.

So that's been the week, pretty much. Posting may be spotty for the rest of this month; we'll see how it goes. Pages + Paint had me in the computer a bit more than I wanted to be in July, trying to contribute to the discussions on the blog, in the Flickr group, and in the private forum. I'm feeling I need to counter-balance that and step back a bit (so much so that for two days this week, the laptop was not only off, but shoved under my bed so I couldn't even see it). Summer feels like it's slipping through my fingers, and I'm not quite ready....no, not quite ready.

What good things snuck into your days this week?

Some Paintings

For three weeks now, my art table has been covered with pastels, colored pencils, paint, my sketchbook, collage bits... I admit, I kind of what to sew something, but I have no place to do it. The table has been completely given over to Pages and Paint for the duration, so I can work on things in ten-minute increments if need be. Last week we moved out of the sketchbook and onto gessobords, which are pretty cool but unfortunately I can't find them locally. The ones I'm using here are 6x6 inches. (I can find really big, deeply cradled, $30 and up gessobords locally. Not so helpful!)

So last week we started off with a two-minute prompt game, which is also in Sarah's book. The idea is to help you approach a blank page, canvas, board, whatever--to start making a mark. All the prompts go into a bowl, you pull one out, set the timer (I used my new cell phone!) for two minutes, do what it says, and then repeat with another prompt. I struggled with this. Firstly, I am usually pretty loose when I go down there, because it's all play for me. It's not my job, and I approach this for what it is--fun--like I do with my kids. But this game seemed to shut that off. I think it was a combination of the timer, the precise directions, and the fact that some of the prompts just don't apply to me. Paint with a color I don't like? That one stumped me. And some of my favorite loose activities to do weren't included. The prompts are things that specifically work for Sarah, I'm guessing, and some worked for me and some didn't. I think I will use this "game" in the future when I need an entry point, but I will replace some of the prompts and add in some things I need to work on (leaving white space!) and some things I really enjoy (printing with found materials).

But anyway, this is the first "game" piece that I did.

"The Evolution of Useful Things"

I didn't add anything to this when I was finished "playing." Goodness, it's pretty full as it is.

This is another of the game pieces, but I added in a few more collage materials afterwards (which was a bonus assignment this week). I wasn't sure about this one at first, but it's growing on me.

"When Good is Better Than Best"

I think those gear-looking circles were added later too. I was trying to see how different pencil-type things would write over paint, and I did those with a graphite block, which worked much better than a regular pencil. Then right before I added in some of the extra collage pieces I went over the graphite with yellow oil pastel.

This last one was not a game piece. I wanted to incorporate a sketch I made of my daughter playing on the beach, and this is the result.

"A Day at the Beach"

I am still working on using collage materials--it just doesn't come naturally to me to layer in these different components, but I'm trying. In this one, the sails, bucket, sea shell, and the number "3" (my daughter's age, and what she calls "my number") are collaged in.

I am thinking I will have knitting to share in my next post. Meanwhile, I am managing to do some sort of art-making every day. Somebody mentioned in the class discussion group that it supposedly takes three weeks to set a habit, and we're there! That is an excellent thing, the habit of daily art-making, and one of the hoped-for results when I signed up for the class.

Drawing + Painting

A little of what I've been up to this weekend, not counting the knitting, which will get its own post soon, I'm sure. Part of what is making Pages and Paint pretty cool for an online course is that it's the first one I've taken that includes snail mail. Before the course began, we each received a little packet in the mail with some odds and ends, plus an envelope to open each week. (That's 200 packets that had to be compiled and mailed out--whew!) One of the odds and ends was a snippet of fabric, and this week's bonus assignment was to get out the paints and try to re-create the pattern on the fabric. What a great idea! What fun!

So this was my attempt. First off, I'd have liked some black to mix with the blue and white, because that background is really more of a blue grey, but the supply list had the primaries and white, so I'm sticking to those for now. (But yeah, I'm going to have to use some black. I like shades as well as tints.) Second, I didn't reproduce the fabric exactly. Once I had the white circles (made with my fingertip), I mixed colors and added them as I pleased, more trying to get the spirit of the thing rather than the thing itself. (With a nod to Wallace Stevens.)

I had fun. Also, I really like mixing paints. I've said before, yes? I'm realizing that this is one of those things that I think is easy because I can do it (a common way in which I don't appreciate my own skills or talents: I think if I can do it, it must be easy). Many people are relating how they are struggling with mixing paint colors, so that is another benefit of this workshop--I do not recognize my strengths, mostly. And while I still think if I can do something, certainly anyone can learn to do it too (and I do think this is a skill, not a talent; it is entirely learn-able, and my kids can all mix colors with varying degrees of success because they have been given the paint and the opportunity to do so), I'm going to take a moment and appreciate my love of color and willingness to experiment with it.

Okay then. So after doing that assignment, I decided to vary the theme, and came up with this.

Earlier in the week we were told to play with text and different ways of writing it. I used some letter stencils and some letter stamps (which is what you see here). In this instance, I stamped on tissue paper and then glued it over the painted background--squares instead of circles, different color palette, but still a direct descendant of the fabric assignment. This is the text, which might be hard to read:I have spread my dreams under your feet/tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

They are the final lines of a poem by W. B. Yeats, "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven." Would you like to take a minute to read it all? I'll wait.

Isn't it lovely? I'd written this fragment in one of my many notebooks a year or so ago, thinking I'd like to do something with it, something illustrative, with embroidery, clearly. And I moved on to other things, and forgot about it, and found the notebook while straightening up the studio the other day, and wanted to remember it again. (I need to get better at keeping all the ideas in one place.) I love poetry. You probably knew that already though.

One more picture for you. A couple of weeks ago, iHanna posted about mandalas, and she included a video. I watched the video, and not too long after began drawing one every night before bed in a small notebook. It's very soothing. I think it's perfect to do before bed. Here are some samples.

The one in the larger notebook was done one rainy afternoon when I thought I might interest my older kids in trying it if I sat and did one myself. They were only sort of interested, but that's okay. They may decide to try at some point. All it takes is paper, a fine-point marker, and patience.

And you? Did you find some time to be creative--or contemplative--this weekend?

Pages + Paint: Sketchbook

I've only taken a few online courses, but Pages and Paint is my favorite so far of the ones I've tried, mainly because it is getting me inspired to do. Last week, Week One, was mainly about setting up our studios and inspiration board/wall. The kids and I already have a great place for art-making--it's not perfect (I'd love some natural light), but it's by far the best set-up we've had in this house and I'm so grateful for it. The walls are filled with works by the kids and me, studies we've done together using different materials, to inspire us as we work. But lately I'd been thinking I needed a section of the wall to hang up the odds and ends I've collected that I want to have out so I can see them. So that's done now.

But I just couldn't wait to get into that sketchbook! So last week, after spending a day at the local salt pond with the kids, when I wanted to remember some of what we'd seen, I combined words and sketch.

I think if you click on that to make it bigger, you might be able to read what I wrote, too. And yes! We saw a BIG horseshoe crab, and it was so so cool! There is nothing like seeing creatures in their natural habitat--while sharing their natural habitat. I can't even explain how it fills me up to be able to give these experiences to my kids.

Combining words and sketches in one journal/sketchbook was a revelation for me. I don't have to have a journal OR a sketchbook OR an art journal (the last, quite frankly, I find intimidating). I can put it all in one place. Obvious, I know, but it was something that needed to click for me. And all those photos I take (because I always have my camera with me) of random things that catch my eye? I can print them out--regular computer paper is fine--and stick them in the book.

Now, in Week Two, we are working in our sketchbooks as a class. One assignment was to make a double-page spread that felt "finished." Since I'm using an 8.5x11" sketchbook, I turned it sideways to do this.

The quote is from an e.e. cummings poem. Again, I think it'll be readable if you click on the photo. I was actually able to do this during the day (usually I get creative time at night). My boys were engrossed in their books, and my daughter was at the art table with me, working on her own composition, with crayons, stamps, and paint. Love working with her like that.

Also this week, we were given prompts. Mine was sunny*yellow*shady tree*try a sketch*happy. Because I'm trying to get more comfortable with materials I don't often use, I sketched this tree with chalk and oil pastels. The leaves were added with paint.

As a reference I used a photo of the enormous "fort tree" in a nearby park. I wanted to try approaching this prompt in a completely different way, too, so later I did this one.

This is more collage and mashing different things together, something that still feels so challenging to me. I think I drew here with conte crayons, which are always more chalky than I think they should be.

I'm excited about the "bonus" assignment for this week too...and that's what I mean about this course. It's got me doing. I'm really enjoying it.

Like A Fish Out of Water

My challenge to myself for the month of May, which is hectic and contains some stressy bits, is to remember to breathe. But I haven't been doing too well with that; I've been feeling sort of gaspy. Like a fish out of water. So I painted one.

Over the course of a few days, in bits and pieces, which is the way I usually manage to create anything. Isn't that true for everyone, though? We all have to carve our time out. This is on a 12"x12" canvas. I think this is only the second time I've painted on canvas (the first being that little tree). I hand them over to the kids without thinking twice--these are just craft store canvases, not at all expensive--but I don't usually think of them for myself. Well. I wanted a canvas for my fish.

Painting him was fun. In some places, I used my fingers. I got paint on my sweatshirt. I wasn't thinking about breathing, or not breathing, at all.

A few people have asked if I'm beginning to get excited about Squam, which is only a month away. No, not yet. I don't have the head space to think about it yet. I have to get through some Pretty Big Things this month (non-bloggable, which means, usually, kid-related, as it does in this case), and much of my to-do-before-Squam list doesn't actually pertain to Squam. When I get back, the kids will be heading into their last week of school, so I want to make sure everybody's bathing suits are sorted and replaced as necessary so we're ready to head to the beach with no delays. We have a family event the weekend after I return, which means kid outfits have to be tracked down before I leave; a week isn't enough time to order church-suitable clothes that fit my slim boys. And so on.

But I think this is a good thing. I think, for me anyway, it's good to view Squam as the next thing coming up, as part of my life and not something outside of it. It's part of a continuum of things I'm doing for myself, starting with a two-day printmaking/bookbinding workshop last year. I'm just as excited about the two-day mixed media class I'll be taking at RISD at the end of June. And the online workshop I want to take in July. When I get through the hectic bits of May, I can turn my focus towards getting ready for Squam, and when I return, I hope, I won't feel let down that it's over but renewed and looking forward to what comes next.

And now, I'll be getting back to breathing. And making dinner. Wishing you all peaceful weeks, and if that doesn't happen, I wish you a few carved-out times in which to do something that makes you feel less gaspy.

Trees Follow Me

{There is still time to enter the giveaway--and be sure to check the comments; some wonderful poems have been shared there!}

Look what Karen sent me, a surprise just-because postcard!

Thanks for the trees, Karen. Perfect.

Remember the little blue canvas from the last post? It was destined for an experiment:

I wanted to try embroidering right on painted canvas. Because of the wooden frame, I could only embroider in the middle, so the buds on the edges are painted on. Here’s the back so you can see what I mean.

Haven't neatened my floss ends yet...

If I used a larger canvas, I’d have more area to work with, but then the French knots wouldn’t be in scale. Like I said, experiment. My mind will churn on this a bit more. Some of the French knots are wobbly, because I had a bandaid on my left thumb. Makes it hard to keep a good tension on the knot! I nicked it Sunday while stamp carving (I know better; I was being stupid) and then the next day I sliced it while opening a can of tomatoes. Whoops.

This is about the extent of my creative output for the beginning of the week, except for some knitting and two patched knees. For the second patch, I attempted to make an iron-on patch using the heat-n-bond. Alas, as I should have anticipated, the short-cut method did not work at all. I hoped it would, as I was patching jeans and it’s hard on the hands to sew through two layers of denim, but seven-year-olds are even harder on the knees of their pants, and the iron-on patch was half off by the time he got home from school. I’ll run it through the laundry and then patch it properly, with needle and thread.

May is hectic around these parts. It usually is, but this year, even more so. My goal for the month is to take one day at a time, breathing all the while. Amidst everything else, I need to lay the groundwork for leaving for five days in early June. With that in mind, I ordered yarn to make Azami, which I hope to bring to Squam to me—finished, preferably, but if not, I’ll work on it there, too. I may shift into more knitting than anything else this month, as it steadies me and helps me remember to breathe, when I might forget.

How is May looking for you?

Lots more creative people here.