A Little Bit

This is our last morning on Cranberry Island....then we are heading to Deer Isle for the afternoon and evening to be with our friends Dana and Anne. I'm posting this early in the day before we catch the ferry...as I don't want to interrupt the flow of our time with friends this evening. 

We did have time to take a little hike this morning on a trail through this woods that landed us at a beautiful rocky beach.

A little bit of beach!

And a whole lot of rocks! That's a Maine beach for you!

But I also wanted to share just a little bit of the more on the that later I mentioned yesterday.  This is more on my searching for swirls, swoops and curves these past few days as inspiration for my class. And this isn't even all of them.

It's been fun having something to be looking for as we been exploring the island. You know how much I like looking! Especially looking closely.

There are so many swirls...swoops and curves in the world!

Sea Pea

Subtitle: More On That Later

Maybe it's the sea air...maybe it's the lack of distractions and quiet down time....but these getaways seem to unleash my creative energy.  I've been painting every day (more on that later)...collaging every day (more on that later) and searching for swirls as inspiration for my Swirls 2.0 class (more on that later) during these past few days. 

But first...did I mention it's lupin season! 

Ha ha....I think I did.

 I continue to be just gobsmacked at the beautiful shades of purple and blue...

and the never ending fields of lupin here on the island.

 

But for this post....I wanted to highlight another...more subtle bloom.

Along the shore there are flowers I assumed were sweet peas.....but when I plugged them into my plant ap it told me they were sea peas...also known as beach peas! 

How sweet is the sound of a SEA pea! 

I'm smitten!

And just look at the beautiful and graceful swirl of the leaves and the tendril.

This morning when I sat down on the beach to really get up close and personal with the sea peas....I found all kinds of swirls, curves, and swoops.

It's official...I'm in love with sea peas!

Small Town Vibe

One of the first times Paul and I visited Cape Cod we saw one beautiful white sandy beach after another. Pretty soon they all started looking the same. But it was a delight...and we kept looking.

So I had to chuckle when I was reminded of that the last couple of days as we have walked...and golf carted around the island.....seeing one beautiful lupin field after another that they're all starting to look the same.

 But it's such a delight...so we'll keep looking. 

I am starting to look for interesting backdrops....just to change it up.

There is no shortage of photo ops...so you haven't seen the last of the lupin.

I am horrified and saddened about what has happened in Minnesota. Violence is never OK.

At first I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to be in Portland for today's No Kings Protest. It's energizing for me to be part of a mass gathering and reminds me how many people understand the trouble we're in. There is strength in numbers. 

I do wish....however...that there was nothing we needed to protest. 

But it was just as powerful to be part of a protest with a small town vibe. There can also be strength with even just a few.

Paul and I walked with about 20 local Cranberry Island folks from the church down to dock...and we picked up a few along the way. 

There was laughter and joy as we walked....all hoping for a better world.

This is what democracy looks like!

Choose Love! Do the Right Thing!

I still have hope that our democracy will survive.

Lupin Season

Paul and I got up early this morning to make the drive to Manset, Maine where we picked up the ferry to Cranberry Island. Ministers can preach on Sunday and get free lodging in the parsonage. Paul had his pick of Sundays....and it was my request to go during lupin season....and so far it's exceeding my expectations. 

There were lupin all along the highway driving up....which made for an enjoyable 3 hour car ride.

We got down the long pier to the dock with our stuff and I noticed an eye catching lupin patch way back up on the shore that I had missed. I hiked back up to take some photos because after all.....we had 15 minutes to spare. 

It was totally worth it.

I was happily taking photos and enjoying the view...but then I saw the ferry boat down at the end of the dock...so I had to hightail my way back down. I even had a few minutes to spare. Phew!

Lupin....as far as my eyes could see! And we weren't even on the island yet.

This is where we will be for a few days and nights....and I'm looking forward to sharing a bit of the island with you again. And I will certainly be looking for lupin!

Dancing

My bloodroot from my sister Nancy is blooming...it's one of my all time favorite perennials! The plant is airy and interesting....and the blooms are lovely without being overwhelming. As I always say....perennials need to be handsome plants because of their short bloom time...and this one is quite attractive. 

I think the blooms look like they're dancing. 

My little yellow day lilies right behind it are just starting to open too. This photo was from this morning with just one open....

   

And this one is from this evening with 5 or 6 blooming. 

The setting sun was shining on them...so this photo isn't great. But they are such a pretty little lily.

I played a little more with some fabric and fibers for Swirls 2.0 in the last couple of days....this time with curves, transitions, and using invisible thread to couch fibers. It also kind of felt like dancing. 

I absolutely love the catalog collage words peeking through from the background. It's so unexpected in a fabric and fiber piece.

This was my second curvy practice piece.

And this was the first...with a few issues. But that's what practice is for.

It is helping me identify which techniques and stitches I like best before we move on. The two black and white catalog papers at the bottom are very distracting. Lesson learned.

In the next lessons we will start to think about design. That's where I am challenged...that's where doing the work will hopefully pay off in the end. 

Herre are a couple close-ups of some of the stitching in that second piece. It's really amazing what my simple little machine can do....when you take it out dancing.

Lucky Day!

It's our lucky day! The boys are coming for dinner tonight for an early Father's Day celebration (we will be away this weekend). So it's a good day to celebrate the lucky clover that I've been adding to my front yard. 

Every time I need to patch the grass...I add a little bit of clover to the grass seed. Clover is good for lawns....it needs less water and actually puts nitrogen back into the soil instead of taking it away. If you want more information...read this post:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2020/06/embracing-clover.html

Grown up clover after the rain.

Baby clover settling into its new home.

A little goes a long way....but I wouldn't mind if the whole lawn was clover.

Here's a backed out view. Tomorrow is mowing day....so the clover is extra long and lush today. You can see my foxtail fern is outside again...and don't you love the antique metal rolling laundry basket with the begonions. It's something Patty passed on to me..and I love it. The begonias are planted one of those moss liners...and it works like a charm. Ha Ha...lucky charm!!! JOY!

Decision

I made a decision this morning to get of of my own way and seize the day....and it ended up was a good combination of chores, errands, and projects. Sometimes having good day is just a decision.

I am mostly trying not to take too many classes...I have a lifetime of projects to do. They have to really draw me in like with the recent Visual Sentence....and it's almost always worth it. I so enjoy learning from artists I admire.

One of my favorite classes was Izzy Moore's Swirls of Color back in 2020.  I have often wished I could refer back to the lessons over the years...but it disappeared. 

This was my class project...and this post gives you a little window into making the piece: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2020/07/yarns-strings-and-bling.html

But lo and behold Izzy is offering Swirls 2.0 , and gave a nice discount to those of us who paid for it before. I made a quick decision....and I was in.

It's just like riding a bike...much of it is familiar so far. I'm a little wobbly...but it feels good to be sitting at the sewing machine again playing with fabric and fibers and I will appreciate the structure of the class. 

We're starting with several little practice projects before we make our bigger swirl beginning with straight stripes. I decided to make it my own by turning it into a weaving of sorts. 

I can't share much about the process because it's a paid class...but I can share progress photos. 

My background is a page from a calendar...treated and backed in a way to make it very sturdy for stitching. 

It's nice to have peaks of the paper coming through...but I should have had more contrast with my fabrics. Oh well. I had a good time getting reacquainted with the decorative stitches on my machine. 

It's kind of wild! 

I think it could become a journal cover or something like that...but that's a decision for another day.

(I kind of like when I can circle back to my title at the end of a post)

Wild and Unkempt

Some days I just can't get out of my own way. So when I sat down to write this post I had no idea what I was going to say. Then I looked back at my photos and there it was. There is always joy....sometimes you just have to look back.

 Paul and I walked to the sidewalk wildflower garden this morning. 

It's still wild...and a little unkempt...but more and more is blooming and the new color this time was pink.  

I love this garden...maybe because I feel a little wild and unkempt sometimes. 

I'm pretty sure they're all perennials or annuals like bachelor buttons that reseed....and I think it just takes care of itself. 

Paul waited patiently while I took it all in and snapped my photos. 

And he was patient with me today during my funk.

Dotted Swiss

This quote made me chuckle: If you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a plastic lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.  

I'm currently missing three of my favorite socks....one from three different pairs. I guess I better check the plastic container drawer. 

Does anyone remember dotted swiss fabric? I had several things made out of it growing up. I think this painting technique looks like dotted swiss.

I painted the dots with white acrylic paint using a fineline applicator. After it was dry I watercolored over it. I love the way the paint stains the dots just a bit....but mostly they resist the paint.

The page is in an extra junk journal I made back when I made mine for the art group trade. I thought this was one might be too big...so I made a second smaller one for the trade. Just today I decided it was time to start working in it and added this dotted swiss page. (I was supposed to be cleaning and organizing.)  

The opposite page is from the Reverse Watercolor book that Becky gave me and is calling for some doodling and/or collage at some point.

I found the circle paper cut in my stash and added a couple Margie card strips along the edge.

I used a page from a Gudrun's calendar for the cover.....just the right weight.

I used another page from the same calendar for my trade journal.

I'll share pages as I go along....but I'm quite fond of this little journal and I'm going to enjoy working in it.  

Here's what it looked like with just he acrylic dots.