Noticing Textures

Alice Walker said that "Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."  I totally agree...and I am itching to do more creating. It does nourish my soul.

But for today's post I am changing it to "Whenever you are noticing beauty around you, you are comforting your own soul."

I thoroughly enjoyed putting the texture project together for the Conscious Creativity class. I always love to look and notice...but it takes time to edit and group...but it's a peaceful and calming process so it does comfort my soul. I actually think I love texture as much as I love color.

It was interesting being in a new space looking for textures....I noticed it everywhere.

If you want to see my whole project with the little video clips you can link to my Instagram page. But I will put a few of the images with some of the stories here. The stories about the journey are my favorite part.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6kE-VKxzXu/

Rusty fencing, a spider web....and rain drops on a car....all with interesting and beautiful texture and I thought made a beautiful cover.

While we were in Lubec we stopped in a fabulous little place for lunch.  

This charming scene was across the street.

In the little diner there were old gunny sacks on the tables under glass and I took note of the texture. I also noticed the tin ceiling and admired the detail and texture. Later it occurred to me that the two were a similar pattern yet so very different....and I loved this pairing. 

This was the only place open in this small easternmost Maine town...and it ended up being a fabulous lunch place for so many reasons.

I loved putting these groupings together. When you look closely at something that is worn or rusted...there are often beautiful colors and certainly interesting textures.  The clouds at the bottom are a timelapse video in the reel.

I always take note of the blueberry fields as we drive Downeast.  The colors in every season are so beautiful...and right now they are beautiful shades of reds and golds.  

Paul indulged me on the way home and stopped along one of the fields so I could take a little walk and snap some photos and take a few videos. It was fun being up close.  

The top image is a slow motion clip from a video as I swept my camera through the plants. 

But my favorite wabi-sabi moment was when Patsy's granddaughter Yamaya gave me this bouquet of dried stems that had wintered over.  

Yes...they had baby goats!

She didn't know it was texture week...and she didn't know how much I love all things wabi-sabi. I carefully carried it home....and knew I needed to find a way to honor it...and weave it into my project.

I added a few mossy sticks I picked up on Patsy's property and weaved it all together with some rope I picked up on one of the beaches we visited.

I strapped it to one of the trees in the woods that I can see from the patio. I'll leave it there for a while...remembering this sweet little moment I was given a very special bouquet during texture week.  

If you're interested in seeing the whole project....you can find it here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6kE-VKxzXu/ 

Texture Weaving

I'm submitting my homework later this evening for the Conscious Creativity class....and at the last minute I added a bit of color and joy with a bit of a rainbow texture weaving.  

I used some of the magazine strips I cut for color week and wove in some words and fibers creating a colorful texture piece. 

I love that texture week took me here.

I'm so glad I added the words...I think the black and white makes the colors pop.

And this particular weaving tool made the project pretty simple.

It worked for both the paper and the fibers and I described it in detail here in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2022/08/game-changer.html

Here's a wide view showing how I taped it onto a board.....now this colorful texture weaving just needs a good home.  And I have an idea.

Pieces and Parts

During color week of the Conscious Creativity class I did an experiment with of dripping paint. I was hoping for a video that I could add to my color project.

With my paper up at an angle I added drops of liquid watercolor then spritzed them with water as they were dripping. Fun things happened as I spritzed on the water....but the video was kind of a bust.

But once the painting dried....I had some good pieces and parts to use in some projects.

Some of the best parts were at the edges....and I cut out a few motifs for a couple projects to get in the mail before I left on our trip.

I made this little piece into a birthday card for Tracie.  I thought it looked like a little landscape.

And this little part I added to Becky's May calendar. It looks like a landscape too.  

I really like the effect and will most certainly be trying it again. Next time....so pressure for a video!  

Textures

One of the first thing I wanted to do this morning on our morning walk was visit the hackmatack tree. There's a little progress...but I'm glad I didn't miss too much while I was gone. 

Although sometimes I wish it was a little warmer....the cool spring is especially good for the bulbs and flower trees so the blooms last longer.  

I know I'm a broken record but I just love the fuzzy texture of these baby pine needles.

Patsy and Brian have several hackmatack on their property....they're pretty common Downeast.....but I'm still pretty tickled I have my own to visit.

I've been editing and putting together montages for texture week for the Conscious Creativity class.  All of these images have a lacy quality to them but they are so many different textures. 

There are barnacles, the back of a metal chair, fuzzy growth on a tree, lichen, a crocheted tablecloth. and white foam from a waterfall (which in the final product will be a video).

In Plain Sight

After a leisurely morning Paul and I headed home. We we had such a wonderful time with our dear friends in an absolutely beautiful part of Maine....but as usual....it's good to be home.  

I had been sitting in Patsy and Brian's living room off and on for several days enjoying the company.....the view of the water and her fabulous collection of plants and succulents.  

But it wasn't until this morning that I noticed a bright pink bloom on one of her cactus plants. I think sometimes joy hides right in plain sight.

I was smitten with the intense color and beauty of this delicate flower...but I was most intrigued with the contrast of the prickly cactus and it's beautiful bloom. It was just glowing right there in plain sight waiting to be seen.

Smitten

"I look forward to small joys becoming recurring motifs, foreshadowing moments that were worth waiting for."

I am smitten with Patsy's succulents....

....and the rocks I picked up on the beach. 

It's texture week for the Conscious Creativity class....

and I've been collecting images to play with and ideas to fiddle with when we get home. 

 

We have had a fabulous time here in Perry with Patsy and Brian....

we head home tomorrow.  

Spectacular Views

There is no way I can capture all that got packed into this beautiful Maine day. 

It was a get out and explore day and it started with a trip to Campobello Island over the Canadian border and a visit to the East Quoddy lighthouse.  It involved a bit of a hike which included bridges, a rocky beach, slippery seaweed, and some sketchy stairs. But it was worth it.  

Breathtaking views!

Then back on the US side we spent some time in Lubec and visited West Quoddy Lighthouse which is the easternmost point in the US.  

I've seen this candy striped lighthouse in so many photos and it was fun to finally see it in person.   

 

Again...breathtaking views.  

More hiking....and more spectacular views. 

And that's not everything...but it's all I have time for today.  

The downeast Maine coast is pretty spectacular! 

And the view from Patsy and Brian's house is pretty spectacular too!  

How lucky are we!

A little Less Perky

Back in May of 2021 I wrote a post about some fabulous magnolia blooms and created this little montage. 

They appeared to be dancing....and I remember I couldn't stop looking and photographing. I'm not even that big of a fan of magnolia....but the graceful curves and colors were mesmerizing.

Yesterday morning the same thing happened...but this time the magnolia blooms were starting to fade and the background landscape was way more brown. But I had the same feeling I had back in 2021....and I couldn't stop looking and photographing. I was smitten with these wabi-sabi beauties.

I got to chuckling as I was making this montage. If the version back in 2021 reminded me of young ballerinas in their prime....this year's montage is the senior citizen version. Still beautiful and graceful.....but the curves were a little saggy....and overall...just a little less perky.

I can make senior citizen jokes now that I'm 65. I've got a few several brown spots...and I'm a little saggy and less perky myself...and I'm just fine with that. I actually don't mind getting older and all that comes with it.

Paul and I were on the road this afternoon and have landed in Perry, Maine for a few days with our dear friends Patsy and Brian.  We're excited about a change of scenery and time with people we love in their beautiful home on the coast of Maine. I will find nuggets of joy and maybe some color in unexpected places to share here.

But finally....I couldn't help but share this on the heels of yesterday's color post. My neighbor and friend Patty is active in the Portland Rotary and her team recently painted this US map on the playground at the Amanda Rowe Elementary School.  

It's 20' by 30' and will not only be an educational tool but fun for the kids to play on!  Hawaii is there....just didn't make the photo. Well done Patty and your Rotary team!

I'm looking forward to seeing it in person....it's just a few miles away.

Color Week

I turned in my homework for week three of the Conscious Creativity course late last evening and posted it on my Instagram page. One of the suggested exercises was to cut snippets from catalogs in rainbow colors to play around with.  

I do love the mixture of images and words from catalogs...and I will probably continue to add strips to this stash. They will be handy for collage.

I decided to use this photo for the cover of my project this week.

If you have any interest in seeing the whole video reel summarizing my color week you can link to it here: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PxMUarNVW/

But in case you don't...I'll post a few of the pages here.

I made two rainbow montages from my found bits of color. The blue spiral is one of my tops and it's actually a video in the finished project. 

The Unfold app has several layouts including grids with six squares I used above.

But of course I had to add some pink....so it has a page all to itself! 

I also collected blue tones and hues....and this is one of two pages.

I included a few color combos...and a few pages relating colors to the way they make me feel.  These two pages featured close-ups of fire hydrants.

To view the whole color project click on this link:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PxMUarNVW/

And speaking of color....I've SLOWLY been working on the colorful marble puzzle starting with the swath of green. It's been slow mostly because there's been a lot going on lately.

Just yesterday I finally connected the top to the bottom.....and since then it's going together pretty quickly.  The second photo is earlier this evening...with my reader in the background.

I had a little moment with these balls this morning on our walk.  They were piled under a hoop on a dead end street...and I could just imagine the the sights and sounds of the kids playing. I absolutely love this unexpected variety of color!

There was such interesting texture close up....and I know the texture lesson is coming!