Simple Tasks

Today I'm choosing kindness, but we'll see, it's still early.

I chuckled when I saw this quote. My mood is always a little touch and go when the humidity starts to rise again. 

I'm excited about our family gathering and Sam's birthday celebration tomorrow evening....followed by some special lunch guests on Saturday. Having people in my home pushes me to tidy things up a bit and that's always a good thing.

I was struck this morning how satisfying it was to do the simple task of sweeping the front door area and walkway. I want the entrance to our home to be warm and welcoming....for us...and our guests. 

I was out for.my after dinner walk and Patty's hydrangea shrub was glowing in the early evening light. 

And while I'm celebrating her hydrangea...here's  a montage of her pink hydrangea from her backyard with photos I took several days ago. Well done Patty! 

Things to Celebrate

The Maine Senate race is in turmoil right now....but I remain hopeful things will turn out OK. There is so much to be concerned about in our country and the world....so it so important that we celebrate and find joy in the things that land in our day. 

I'm celebrating these tiny mushrooms today. They are popping up all over our yard...and doing great things for the soil.....helping break down decaying matter.  When I pick one....I toss it into the woods and it becomes food for the animals or gets composted into the forest floor.

I'm celebrating two new rain lily blooms today. A couple at a time are coming pretty regularly now and that makes me happy..

I'm celebrating a busy bluebird house as mom and dad go in and out....feeding the babies inside. It's so much fun to watch.....and really hard to photograph. Today they were trying to ward off a couple of bluejays that were getting too close. It was interesting watching these small birds defend their home turf. 

I'm celebrating my son Sam who turned 37 on Monday. I'm also celebrating Kelly who decorated their campsite for the occasion. Don't you love the birthday sunglasses! We're having a family birthday party on Friday. I just love it when we gather.

And finally....I'm also celebrating this beautiful gifted handmade booklet from Candy G. 

It's full of pockets and pouches holding snippets, poems, and fun things that I can pay forward...and use in my own projects. Thank you Candy for giving me one more fabulous thing to celebrate today. 

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!