Extra Seating

Just yesterday the table was covered with fabric again...but today it was all set for a family brunch with a festive fall centerpiece gathered from Winslow Farm. 

My niece Clarke and her boyfriend Seth from Chicago are in town for a week...and we were able to gather with our two sons Nate and Sam, and Margie for good food and lively conversation. I absolutely love when our home is filled with family.

And we did a trial run with the new yard sale chairs....they tucked in nicely for the extra seating.

Smitten

This leaf caught my eye this morning. It had lost all its true edges...and what was left was an interesting weathered and worn version of its former self.  It's like the edges had been aged and burned. I was smitten with the perfectly imperfect artfulness of it.

Then I saw this amazing hydrangea at Patty's. And again...I was smitten....but this time with the nearly perfect soft transition from the white to pink. 

There's beauty in perfection...at the same time there's beauty in imperfection.

Paul spied a garage sale while on his bike and clued me in. It was just a short distance from the condo....so it became the destination for a morning walk. The lawn was covered in vintage...mostly painted chairs....and I was smitten. All of a sudden I thought I needed chairs. But I exercised restraint....at the time. 

The scene was like an art piece on its own. The owner of the home was a wedding planner....so used the chairs for some of her gigs. How fun is that!

I showed Patty the photo when I was helping her with a garden project...and we got right in her car and drove down and sat in almost every chair. She purchased a couple fabulous soft mid-century modern ones in a bright aqua blue. I didn't get a photo....but I know where she lives!

With restraint out the window...these two little purple chairs came home with me...they were quite cortable. I will paint them another color....and maybe pass them on to Sam for his new apartment to go along with the kitchen table I snagged for free a month or so ago. We'll see if he's smitten with them too. 

More Recycled/Repurposed Cards

I know it's silly...but I was excited to finally connect my puzzle from side to side today. It's still slow...but I am making progress.

Do you see the path there along where the heart is! 

Now I can just dilly dally along working wherever I want! 

Another highlight from yesterday was spending a little time at the Winslow Farm Store.

I delivered the cyanotype print order to Sarah...and it's always fun seeing the shop covered in produce. 

Colorful abundance!

I can finally share last two recycle/repurpose cards. Brenda's card went to Becky...and Becky's card went to Brenda. They both used notecards, practice gel print pages, and leftover pieces from the art exchanges. Perfect!

This is the card Brenda made. 

Calm and serene.

And this is the card Becky made.  

Colorful and clever!

Colors and Textures

I've had several colorful and creative interactions/events in the past few days....and I want to share them all. But I'll start with just one....and spread the rest out over the next couple posts. They were all meaningful and full of joy.

My neighbor and friend Dan INSISTED that I get to the Portland Museum of Art to see Woven....an exhibition by Jeremy Frey...a seventh-generation basket weaver from the Wabanaki Tribal Nation. It was a moving and powerful experience...and I'm so glad Dan encouraged me to go.

"This show is thousands of years in the making. It comes from the people who are from this land, who help to make it possible. As such, it is dedicated to the Wabanaki people." Jeremy Frey 

"Each of his baskets has a unique personality that seamlessly weaves the contemporary with decades of family tradition. One finds themselves getting lost in his patterns, attention to detail, and profound accuracy." Phyllis Rappaport

I watched a video of his process....from making his molds....to cutting down the ash trees and stripping the canes and finally the intricate weaving of the baskets.  It was breathtaking. I did a lot of close looking and put together these photo montages highlighting some of the colors and  textures.

The detailed and intricate patterns were absolutely stunning. 

Sea urchins are a signature form of Jeremy's baskets.

Butterfly Weed

I helped host a neighborhood pizza party this evening...and I'm a good kind of tired. 

So I'm keeping it simple and celebrating a late summer butterfly weed bloom from the neighborhood. A welcome pop of orange on a beautiful late summer day. 

Ready to Frame

A gift of onions from Alex came beautifully braided.....and it captured my heart.

Sarah, from Winslow Farm, has commissioned me to put together 7 ready to frame 5 x 7 cyanotype prints for an event. So over the past several days I've been assembling and adding to my collection so I can give her several choose from. The prints were already made....but I've been trimming and stitching them onto watercolor paper and thought I would share my process here again.

I make most of my prints on mixed media paper cut to about 4 by 6. The small substrate helps me with placement and design...then I know the print will work for a card or a piece to frame. 

I trim the print down to fit whatever card I'm using or trim it to 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 to mount on white 5 x 7 watercolor paper for framing. I use inexpensive heavy watercolor paper for my background frame which is easier and more affordable than matting them. And...I like the stitching. 

The watercolor paper is 9 by 12 so I cut it into two pieces roughly 5 1/2 by 7 1/2.  I used to cut the backgrounds exactly 5 by 7....but it is nearly impossible for me to perfectly center the print on the card. So I eyeball the center on the slightly larger paper and secure it with double sided tape and take it to the sewing machine. If there is a place in the print where the image goes off the edge

...that's where I start and stop my stitching helping to hide any irregularity. 

I pull my threads to the back....tie a knot...and secure the ends down with some colorful washi tape.

The tape may not be necessary...but I actually like this little colorful...and almost crafty....homemade moment on the back.

Now I just need to sign it.

After it's stitched....I can easily trim it to 5 x 7 with my rotary cutter with the print perfectly centered.  

I have twenty one prints ready to frame....and it was nice having the dining room table cleaned off so I could lay them all out.  And...by the way...I'm still using the same first bottles of solution. But they're finally almost empty.

There's no better light to showcase that beautiful blue....than the natural light in the backyard. This was a double exposure print....I may have mentioned it before.  It was an underprocessed fern that I recoated...and over-printed with a large wabi-sabi leaf. 

 

And looking closely here today I had forgotten I added a swirl stencil the first time around...and there's just a hint of if. I think it adds a little texture and interest.

Purrfect

"Make space for connecting with others in a way that brings joy, love, and richness to life." 

It's a miracle! I can see my table and we're ready for cards!

Of course...I can't see the guest bed. But that's a problem for another day.

 

I just love the morning shadows of the glass balls on the dining room wall.

And you can see I'm displaying my Tiny Pages Art Exchange cards here.

I got Tracie's recycle/repurpose card in the mail today....and it's adorable. Tracie is new to gelli printing and she repurposed a few of her first prints into some clever little cats.

I think the green and purple textures make the purrfect fur. And now I'm also noticing the geli print in the background too. Well done Tracie!  

And it came inside this amazing fall tree watercolor card. 

Thank you Tracie! These trees are stunning! 

Now Tracie's cards are on display in the late afternoon light! 

Perfect for this beautiful fallish day.

New Day

"Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul." Peggy Toney Horton

The sky was blue and the air was dry and breezy.

It's warm in the sun and chilly in the shade.... 

.....and it felt more like a fall than summer.

I sat down at my puzzle table with a cup of coffee this morning and connected the path from top to bottom in less than a minute. The pieces were already right there on the table...I just couldn't see them clearly yesterday. 

Sometimes a new day with a fresh perspective makes all the difference.  

My next goal will be connecting a path from side to side...one colorful little character at a time! 

Every day I have a new perspective on my stripes project. I knew it would be tricky...but I didn't think I would struggle fiddle this much. But there's no hurry...other than the fact that we're having friends over tomorrow to have dinner and play cards and a family gathering next Sunday. I'll have to move it all to the guest room for a while....and it may have to be on hold.

I have gotten some feedback from a couple friends...and I just keep tweaking. At some point I just need to tack it all together so I can hold it up in the room and look from a distance.  That's the only way I'll know.

As I looked back at Jane's inspiration pieces...she often inserts a row of small skinny stripes...so that's what I experimented with today. I quickly assembled this strip from scraps....and didn't even think about it too much.  Maybe that's my problem....I'm thinking too much.  

But there may be too many colors going on here...but it will give me a sense whether I like the concept. 

Right now it's just plopped on top...but it certainly would be a focal point.   

So Close

I haven't written about puzzles in a while....but there's always one on my table. At this point in my life....I can't imagine not having one going.

A couple of Paul's found objects.

I've been enjoying revisiting some of the puzzles in my stash....but I did purchase a few new ones late summer.  The first one I worked on for a couple weeks....and decided I wasn't having fun. It was colorful and beautiful....but I just couldn't come up with a strategy that tapped into the joy. So I boxed it back up and will pass it along to someone who appreciates a challenge.  

When I opened the second new one....I thought oh no....this one is going to be challenging too. It's slow going...but I'm finding quite a bit of joy in this one.

It's The World of Quentin Blake....the beloved illustrator of children's books...most famously the books by Roald Dahl. 

The whimsical little scenes with their quirky characters are just a delight.

It was a little challenging at first...but once I started connecting patterns and blocks of the bright colors...it started to come together and the charming little characters started to emerge.

And just today....I came SO CLOSE to creating a path from the top to the bottom. I spent more time than usual looking for those last connecting pieces...but not yet. But I'm calling it a win just to be so close. Maybe tomorrow!

This was a fun one I borrowed from Margie earlier this summer.

End of Summer Blooms....

...and oddities.

Our seven-sons tree is just starting to bloom....a sure sign of the end of summer.

Pops of fall colors are appearing on trees and shrubs...and the evening and morning air is crisp and cool. I love everything about this time of year.

And...there are a few oddities of this time of year too....like these insect galls on the underside of the sumac branches. There's a lot of them this year! 

They are actually a sac that gets formed around aphid eggs. It's kind of disturbing....and fascinating at the same time.