Virtual Celebration

Yesterday was my dear friend Patsy's birthday....we've been friends since 1987.

She's hunkered down like the rest of us...but I celebrated with her by making her a card with some abstract daffodils...she loves daffodils.  I texted her this series of photos in honor of her special day.....it was fun for both of us!

It was a virtual celebration! 🎈🎉

It started with a quick painted background and a few ripped circles.

I mailed it to her home address and it will be there when she gets home.

Another card in its new home. I was quite taken with Janet's jar of cranes she
made over the course of a year.  What a wonderful idea...making them....and displaying them this way. Now I  want to know more about her crane story.  See....shared joy comes right back at you!

Shared Joy

I've been tucked in my studio making cards again.....this time ripping paper again rather than cutting it.  "Shared joy is double joy"....because I get to make the cards and send them out.

I do like the abstract quality of these....giving just the suggestions of spring flowers rather than being literal.



I'm going to try different backgrounds and floral combinations.,,,these three were done on lightweight card stock.

The card stock was a little flimsy....but once they were cut out and mounted they were fine. I'm all about using what I have...not going to spend a penny except on stamps.

I was also low on interesting green papers so I paused the afternoon to print more on my gel plate.  I forgot how fun this is.

Here are a couple of my cards in their new homes....it's fun when the shared joy bounces back!

Virtual Church

"Still, what I want in my life is to be dazzled...to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even float a little above this difficult world." Mary Oliver

Some sweet signs of spring on my morning walk.

I settled in this morning with Joan's puzzle and watched live streaming of virtual Hancock Church. Paul, Barbara, David, and staff and church leaders are doing a great job keeping people connected with each other providing virtual social, learning, and worship experiences. It's a different world we're living in....and the church is adapting.

And I finished the puzzle just in time for the benediction.  It was a wonderful service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLAtIlGsOAQ

And this was a wonderful puzzle and I'm kind of sad it's done.  The perfect puzzle at the perfect time.  Thanks Joan!

Keep Creating

https://www.instagram.com/flow_magazine/

It's been a bit of a strange day....but a little hand stitching was familiar and comforting.  I finished adding the colors to the first of the last three strips of my cathedral window wall hanging and today I started connecting it to the quilt.

When you stitch the rows together you create another space for colored squares.  I connect a little then I add colors just to change it up. 

As I'm adding the colored squares I go down one side until I run out of thread then down the other side.  If I went all the way around the square I'd be starting and stopping all the time.  Make sense?

Then every once in a while I have a little chocolate....a very important part of the creative process.  Trust me.

My Day

If I stayed away from the news....it was a good day. It continues to feel strange to just go about my day as if things were normal....because they're not.  But that doesn't mean we can't lift up the things that are normal....so here's a few of my everyday little joys. I hope you had some too.

I was able to push my puzzle up and connect the bottom edge.  It's coming along and I'm loving every minute of this brightly colored explosion of spring.  Thanks again Joan!

I finished the manuscript collage.  I'm going to let it sit for a while.....but have a few ideas in my head that might improve it.  One thought was some sort of an antiquing wash to soften the lines a bit...but we'll see.  I think it looks better in person than it does in these photos but overall I'm quite happy with it.

And I do like the way the finished edges look. 

This afternoon Paul and I took a drive to Cousins Island then on to Littlejohn off the coast of Maine....all accessible by car. 

Littlejohn has twisty little roads and you get lots of glimpses of the water through people's back yards.  It was a lovely way to spend a beautiful afternoon.

Manuscript Collage

I got back to a project today that has been patiently waiting since the beginning of the month. I had painted some of my precious manuscript book pages with my gel plate, added leaf stenciling, and wanted to do some sort of a collage.

I covered a 10 x 22 repurposed paint panel with tinted gesso and using soft matte gel I started collaging the papers.



I worked small areas at a time letting it dry while I planned and cut the next section. The book pages are pretty heavy so adhered really well without buckling.

The little stamp you see is not glued on. I found it on my work table and I keep it around reminding me how hard these front line professionals are working....sometimes without adequate protective gear. I heard some of their gut wrenching stories today and my heart aches for them.



I didn't quite finish....but will tomorrow and see if it needs something more.  I also want to cover all the edges of the panel.

Next Best Thing

I was supposed to fly to Minneapolis this morning.  The plan was to spend a few days with my sister Nancy and her husband Craig then she and I were going to hit the road on Friday.  Our first stop would have been Lamoni, Iowa to visit my Aunt Beverly. Beverly is my mom's only sister and an amazing artist and role model who I wished I lived closer to.

MaryAnn, Angie, LaVonn, Nancy and Marilyn

After spending a night with her Nancy and I were going to drive to Sibley, Missouri for a family reunion of sorts at my sister Angie's home.  All my living siblings and some of our spouses were going to gather to help Angie around her house and yard, cook together, play games, go for walks, laugh, and visit. Clearly that isn't happening.

This photo is from the sister gathering we had here in Portland in the fall of 2018.


 

But Nancy and I had a Face Time happy hour today....the next best thing to being there in person.  She says hi!

And earlier this evening I helped my sister LaVonn practice google video chats.  She is a teacher and needs to hold Special Education meetings on line....so is practicing the technology with me.  If you can't be with people you love....these virtual interactions are the next best thing.  

Stories....

....from friends and family.

Yesterday teachers paraded through my sister's neighborhood in Madison Wisconsin safely and separately in their cars with balloons and signs honking their horns and waving.  They wanted their students to know they were thinking about them and cheer them on as they were schooling at home. It brought tears to my eyes.

Janet and Anita went on a walk around Lexington and found these heart warming messages.

  



My friend Jane texted this morning that her school in Falmouth Maine was having a "virtual snow day" because their internet and electricity were out because of a storm.  At first I thought...what does that even mean...schools are closed anyway.  But then I realized that students were relying on information and lessons coming from school websites and internet connections....so even that had to to pause.  Mother nature isn't happy.

Then a friend posted this:

Unsettled

One might think that with all this stay at home time my house would be clean, organized, and tended to....but it's not.  I leap from one thing to another in an unsettled kind of way not finishing anything I start.

I have one crocus in my garden that's about to bloom.
and this afternoon it started snowing.

I'd rather be spending my time doing non-house stuff....making cards and sending notes and e-mails, talking to my family, and doing little hand projects. Maybe those are the perfect things to be doing right now. The house can wait.

And I had to smile at my son Sam's Instagram post this morning. He thought it was a good idea to put his newspaper in his laundry bag last night so he could read it while he was sitting at the laundromat.  This morning he just dumped the clothes in the washer.....see the blue plastic newspaper bag in the washer?  He's trying to clean up the news.  Thanks for making me smile today Sam!

 

Hope and Hand Projects

This post by artist Rachel Crawford really struck me.  It does seem that this crisis can't help but change us....and these words by Kitty O'Meara give me hope.



Paul and I have the luxury of going between two homes during this social distancing period....it feels extravagant. So today we drove back to Lexington....from the safety of one garage to another. 

Before I left the condo....I cleaned up my work table in the studio so it will be ready to make new cards when I go back. I will admit I love sifting through scraps looking for useable pieces.  It seems more and more clear that everything is precious.

I'm enjoying hand projects in the evening so I've been working on the colored inserts in my quilt strips.....

.......and rolling more of Connie's wool strips.

My friend Melodee had a special connection with Connie and is interested in this piece once it's bigger.  So I'm going to keep rolling.

Gardens

What I loved even more than this COMPASSION sign I saw on our walk this morning....

...was the lawn chair placed just right to watch the garden grow.  It was refreshing to see lots of sprouts popping up in all their raised garden beds...certainly a sign of spring.

I mailed my little tulip card this morning and decided to plant a few more.  Sending spring garden cards is something I can do.