Blues to Purples

Positive people are not ignoring the darkness of this world, they have dragged themselves into the light and are sharing it with you. Donna Ashworth

I'm moving from the blues to the purples in my minerals puzzle....I do a little bit every day. 

The same is true with my rainbow stencil doodle concertina.....I'm moving from the blues to the purples. This has been a fun project for little bursts of time here and there.

Here are a few closeups.....I'm totally enjoying the mixed media approach.

Exam Paper #2

I had one teeny tiny meadow rue cyanotype in my stash that I turned into a teeny tiny card.

Somehow I have a handful of these tiny cards and envelopes in my stash....so I might as well use them up. More teeny cards to come!

Speaking of cyanotype....today I did my second experiment with Roseanne's exam paper. I coated a chunk of it with the chemicals yesterday....so it was nice and dry for some sun printing this morning.

I have to coat papers in a space where there is no natural light so I've set up a cyanotype prep station in my garage. It's working well....and I don't have to tidy up. This is the treated exam paper.

I put down layer of airy plants and covered it with glass. I exposed it to the sun for about 45 seconds before putting down the grass and another piece of glass. 

This what it looked like when I took it to the sink. It's still on the glass.

It seemed to hold up well to light rinsing.....better than tissue. But I still was careful and never took it off the glass.

This is after rinsing the chemicals out and spritzing it with peroxide to speed up the processing.

I'm pretty tickled. I left it on the glass until it was completely dry.

A few hours later it was perfectly dry. I love it!

How pretty is this exam paper! 

Thanks Roseanne! I'm going to think of a special project for it.

Shadow Photos

We're getting a welcome break from the heat and humidity. The windows are open and I can hear the birds singing....the fresh air feels like a fresh start! 

When I went on my walk this morning I took a plain white piece of paper. Inspired by Rebecca Chapman....I was on a mission to take some shadow photos. She shared the idea in this post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ91YJvK4YK/

By taking the photo of the shadow on a white piece of paper you get a clean silhouette that can be printed onto tissue. Or in today's case....exam paper. Yes...that stuff that covers the exam table in your doctor's office. Roseanne gifted me as much as would fold into an envelope....and I'm going to be doing several experiments with it. 

Today I used it for printing shadow prints.

I cropped and resized this photo and printed along with a few others on some of the exam paper.

This isn't a great photo....but it shows how I print on tissue/exam paper. I tape the end that gets fed into my printer onto a piece of copy paper. You can see the resized shadow photo in the bottom right corner.

There was no better place to put it than my Playful Pages journal that I made in a class with Rebecca Chapman who inspired the shadow photos. This journal is an ongoing project....and plants printed on tissue is an ongoing theme throughout. 

I glued it print side so the ink wouldn't run using matte medium. You can barely see the edges. It works very similar to art tissue...but I do think exam paper is stronger.

Thanks Roseanne! More experiments to come.

There's a little something special tucked in the vertical pocket on the left page.

One of the only things I have of my mother's handwriting. 

This is just a few of the shadow photos I took this morning...Once I started I couldn't stop. I like that a bit of the actual green grass and purple salvia made it into the photo. Can you see them?

Here are the original photos of those two so you can see how the plant parts got into the photo. I also got the shadow of my wire leaf sculpture behind the salvia. I had a lot of fun taking shadow photos today!

250

Happy 250th birthday to our country....it needs us more now than ever! 

Birthday Wish

may we find courage

to seek joy while we resist

and hold onto hope

I chuckled this morning as I got ready to sort this 3rd bag of puzzle pieces. When I put this 1000 piece Marvelous Minerals puzzle away last time I divided into 4 bags of approximately 250 pieces each. Maybe I did it for Margie (my mother-in-law)....but I'm totally taking advantage of it....250 manageable pieces at a time. And I'm falling in love again with these hand drawn minerals by artist Abigale Kramer....an artist I admire. 

Good Day

It was a good day for a nice long lunch with Rebecca and Patty.....a great way to kick off the holiday weekend. 

There's nothing better than time with people who share you values and celebrate your joys. 

Thanks for getting us together Patty! 

 It was also a good day to make indoor cyanotypes.

I experimented with some lace pieces....and got back to basics with simple layering. It was nice to have the indoor option on this very hot day.

Dotty combined haiku, sisters, watercolor and puzzles into her post today....and it all made me smile. 

Taking her lead....I tried my own 5-7-5 syllable haiku. I am NOT a poet.

Shades of Blue

clipped and pressed with care
these precious plants became art

all in shades of blue

Some wins....others not so much...but lots of lessons learned. Some of these will get a bit of watercolor and some will stay just blue. Some will be made into cards...and some will be cut up for bookmarks. All in all...it was a good cyanotype session.

BSOS

OK....one more rainbow. For now anyway.

Paul came across this fence on his early morning bike ride....and how can I not share it here! You gotta love their enthusiasm. 

We're in a full on hot and humid summer stretch here in Maine and I treat these days like snow days. Other than early morning swims and taking care of the birds....I stay inside where it's cool. Thank goodness I have a few hobbies....ha ha. 

I've mentioned the Bright Shiny Object Syndrome (BSOS)  before....when your trying to do one thing and are distracted by somethings else.

Do you remember this watercolor I found in my stash....then doodled? 

It's been floating around around the studio since then...and today it became the bright shiny object that I couldn't look away from.

I wanted to be picking up the studio and making space for what ever is next....but this bright shiny object kept calling me.

So I cut it up.

I shifted the strips and did a decorative machine stitch in the ditch....then painted the little leaves white. I wish I would have done the leaves a little wonky with free motion....but I did what I did.

It is better? I'm not sure...but it's still bright and shiny and it won't be distracting me anymore. There's nothing more that I can do except send it to someone. I actually think this may become the graduation card for my nephew Charles! He deserves something bright and shiny.

Actual Rainbow

I thought it was fitting for the last day of Pride Month to share an actual rainbow in our neighborhood from three years ago. I got a call from my neighbor shouting "GET OUTSIDE!" That's all he said...and when Dan tells you to go outside...you go outside.  I wrote about it here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search?q=neighborhood+rainbow

It may be the last day of June...but I hope I never stop searching for...and sharing rainbows. 

Patty invited The Traveling Flowers for a play date today with her yellow evening primrose white astilbe. She had fun doing a little photo shoot. 

It's kind of ironic....because as I was following the rainbow three years ago around the neighborhood I ended up in Patty's backyard and photographed this delightful spring bloom.

So I'm ending this post with the end of the actual rainbow in almost the very same spot in Patty's backyard You can't make this stuff up! https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search?q=neighborhood+rainbow

Everyday Art

Hang on to people who find joy in your joy! Case Kenny

And I would add....find joy in other people's joy...and maybe they'll hang on to you!

Tracie sent me this photo calling it a fun found object! She knew I would love it...and I do!

It seems odd to find things like this at the very beginning of summer....but they remind us that nature is constantly in motion.

Don't just scroll by the photo. Zoom in. Look at the colors and patterns in the leaf. It's a work of art!

Then notice the placement of the leaf and the shadows and backgrounds. Did you notice the stark shadow of the stem? Everyday art! 

Well done Tracie. I'm celebrating your joy and I'm hanging on to you! 

 Caught this bee on the foxglove on my walk...natures everyday art!

Don't You Love It!

Making progress....and enjoying every minute. Here's how it started.

I'm halfway.

Don't you love it when things like this happen!

And don't you love it when a surprise comes in the mail! Linda D. sent me this fabulous Kaffe Fassett puzzle. It's going to be a challenge...but I'm up for it. I recognize...and have many of the fabrics. I just started one...but this one will be waiting in the wings. Linda was the recipient of my blue and white joy journal giveaway....and once she finished it she payed the joy forward to her daughter. Don't you just love that! 

New Respect!

Subtitle: Little Did She Know

My last yellow daylily of the season just bloomed and that reminded me that it was time for an update on the Traveling Flowers. If you are new to the blog...it's a little hard to explain the WHOLE story...but this is a good place to start: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search?q=Chuck

I have new respect for Cherrie and Dale as they carted The Traveling Flowers to all the sites as they made their way from California to Pennsylvania. They're a bit heavy because they sit on a solid rock...and they're a bit awkward to carry. So kudos to them as the played along and had fun with that wonderful adventure. 

Here is a little bit of the journey they made around Parsons Pond. After spending several weeks in the TV room...they did a little more traveling. 

(Hang in there...this ended up being a long post.)

They were in the dining room for a while on Connies fabulous hutch. I enjoyed them for a few weeks...but it wasn't quite right. Too much going on.

Early this spring I put them out on the patio....thinking this is where they would be for the summer. But there was too much going on in that corner...and that's where Paul has to pull the grill...so I need to keep it really simple.

Just for fun.....a couple weeks ago I took them to the pool with me. While I was swimming they sat in the corner getting a little sun.

And don't they look pretty against the catmint.

They sat in the shade on a lounge chair next to me while I drip dried a bit.

A week or so ago Patty suggested we take the flowers down to the pond. She has enjoyed the journey of The Traveling Flowers as much as I did and liked the idea of them touring around Parsons Pond.

My photo isn't that great...but it was a beautiful day and the flowers were pretty sitting up on the railing.

I continued around the pond  to talk to another neighbor and Patty offered to drop them by my front door. They would have been a bit cumbersome to carry around the pond.

Little did I know that Patty had a little photo shoot of her own before she dropped them off.  She posed them in the little rock garden at the end of the street.

Here they are by the vintage metal laundry basket she gave me that I've filled with begonias. They are sitting on my precious granite heart rock that I've had for years.

And she took one more shot by the pots on the other side of the door.

I had a great idea earlier today that I thought Patty would enjoy.  Little did she know...that while I knew she was gone...I took them down the street and photographed them with her rainbow parade of pigs. Perfect for winding down Pride Month! 

In the end....they have landed back in the TV room where I spend almost every early evening writing these blog posts. I love them here....and it's where I appreciate them the most. Cherie and I have stayed in touch...and these fabulous Traveling Flowers have given us a very special connection...and I am grateful. And a shout out again to her dad Chuck...who made it all possible. I have a huge amount of respect for his handiwork...and his generosity.