Near Center

"Choosing to have joy is not naively thinking everything will be easy.  It is courageously believing that there is still hope, even when things get hard."  Morgan Harper Nichols (Thanks Janet)

This little flower dried up before it got too cold....so has been unaffected by the deep freeze.  Such a delightful pop of color in the brown landscape. And just look at that perfectly dried curled leaf.

And I love looking at the frost up close!

Liz offered me a set of underwater coloring postcards while I was visiting....and of course I said yes.

I'm not likely to do the coloring....but they are the perfect substrate for making my own postcards.

So I did a quick little scrap collage experiment using some of my Fodder School painted papers. I collaged them onto a piece of copy paper first....then added stitching.

I didn't want my dividing line in the center....I wanted to follow the design rule of thirds. I drew some guidelines for the postcard size...and even made a mark at the third line. 

Then I completely ignored it during the collage process.

So I ended up with a near center line anyway....not my design intention.  But I enjoyed the project enough to do more. These little experiments always teach me something. This time: use more neutrals and solids....try staggering the line...possibly do a glaze or white wash to unify the piece....AND actually use the guidelines!

And the most important lesson this time: embrace the near center line.