One Of A Hundred

As a general rule I don't like having my photo taken. But letting my hair go gray.....and having lost some weight in the last few years to become healthier, I'm more and more comfortable in my own skin.  In some ways I feel better physically as a 60 something....than I did as a 40 or 50 something.  Remember I did say SOME ways....I do feel my age in many ways too.

I wrote about a little bit more about my self image journey a year ago in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2022/02/how-i-feel.html

When Gina Ferrari, an artist I admire, put an all call out for photos so she could do a 100 portraits for her 100 Day Project....I answered her call and sent this photo:

I remember this day well.  I had just gotten back from Colorado where I had purchased this necklace at a consignment shop. I sent the photo to Alyson and Liz to show off the necklace....but I now see that I was also showing off a new me....a more confident and comfortable in my own skin me. I actually asked Paul to take my photo!

Gina posted my portrait today on Instagram today.....and I'm pretty tickled with the result and I think she captured the way I felt that day. She's pretty incredible!

You can see some of Gina's other portraits here on her Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/gina_ferrari_art/

I'm proud to be one of a 100!

Something New

"And suddenly you know....it's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings." Meister Eckhart

I've started an art exchange project with my friend Becky and her friend Brenda....both from Wisconsin. Brenda is an artist and knitter and knows of me through my blog and she and Becky often get together to make art.  Becky thought it would be fun if the three of us started a weekly exchange to encourage our creative practice...connect us through art.....and help support the post office.  

When I was visiting Becky last summer she gave me a box of 4x6 file cards that would have otherwise been thrown away at her work...but she knew they were worth saving.  I was in the middle of my 100 day project at the time where I was using the smaller ones....so she thought they might come in handy....for both of us.

I have fond memories of my 100 day project! I enjoyed making every card and I flip through them now and again to revisit that journey.

http://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2019/09/100-days.html

We've decided to use these 4x6 cards as the base for our exchanges. We'll be on a three week rotation and this was week one and I've already sent my first one on to Brenda.  Week two I'll send one to Becky and I'll keep week three.  Then we'll repeat....over and over until we decide to stop.  There are no rules....no expectations...and we're just going to keep it simple and create something.

I'll write about it tomorrow because everyone should have theirs in the mail by then....so Saturdays is likely when I'll share what I've been up to on this new little project.

100 Days!

"Do something quick, creative, and do it without fear.  Don't think too much or better yet, don't think at all.  See where it leads."  The Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge 2019

Today marks day 100....of my 100 day index card project. I was in Maine this past whole week quietly puttering away in my studio when I had the chance wrapping it up.  It was important to me to finish on day 100....so that's what I did. This has been one of the best disciplined activities I've done in a long time...just for me....and for no reason that just to do it.  But I'm glad it's finished...it's time to move on...I have no idea what's next.

Here's the home stretch all in one post.

I used some of the brightly painted deli-papers gifted from Lynne for a 

little weaving on card number #90. 

  

                         

A year or two ago I bought a watercolor coloring book...the floral images are outlined in either gold or silver metallic so "resist" the watercolor.  I've only painted a few pages...but punched up some of them for card #91. 

This is what it looked like before I trimmed it up.

I was thrilled when I found this box of  pre-cut are magazine squares and circles left from a previous project.....perfect for card #92 with leftover circles for #93.

Back when I made the tree quilt with the metallic confetti dot fabric I did an experiment with the fused scraps.  I never really liked it....so there it sat.  I sliced off a chunk for card #94.

Several years ago....Becky and I traded little bird watercolors.  I probably did 5 or 6 versions before I was happy enough with one to send. This is the only reject that was sized about right for a card.  

This is a little piece of one of my experiments with an acrylic under-layer...then overpainting with white.

Just a random doodle in one of my sketchbooks.

This was originally an attempt at a whimsical landscape painting inspired by something I saw on line....turned sideways it's abstract art.....right? 

The half circle is left from the project above.

Turned back the other way....it's back to a landscape with a setting sun.

An overdone marker and pen doodle....became card #99.  The larger wonky circle has been floating around for about 10 years....but chopped down to size it now has a purpose.

And finally #100.  This is actually part of a larger square piece I made for my stacks show.  Interestingly enough it's one of the few pieces that Dr. Adams didn't want to hang for reasons that aren't important right now.  I ripped it apart (in frustration at the time) and reused the canvas....but for some reason I saved the parts that weren't ruined in the destruction process.  I still love the colors and working with stacks of fabrics is something I'll go back to again and again. It seemed perfect for #100....part of an ACTUAL reject.  Repurposing leftovers and experiments and honoring rejects was the overall theme of this project.  

I just bought myself a $20 overhead tripod and had fun playing with some videos. You can check them out in this Instagram Post:  https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Kqeobn7K7/

The joy of completion...my 100 Day ICAD project of summer 2019.

Color Vibrations

"Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances." 
Maya Angelou

I played around with more bleeding watercolor circles....this time with the rainbow spectrum and I chose the one I liked best for a card #87. The lines in the fabric and wavy circles remind me of color vibrations.....it has a rhythm.


I decided to embellish my two other attempts and make a card trio.  The paint wasn't wet enough to bleed....so the colors are pretty opaque and kind of muddy.  I'll just keep practicing.

Getting close to 100!

Blend and Bleed

I was compelled to play with watercolor today just painting simple circles. I enjoyed watching the colors blend and bleed....and tried hard not to overwork them....something I usually do.

I turned this one into card #85 and added a few circles cut from my Sun Stars and Moon calendar scraps. I'm not loving the black around the glued circles....but the stitching border balances it a bit.

I splattered this one with paint that was too dark....

...but resolved it just a bit with the addition of some fused scraps from my stash for card #86.

I liked the orange and red one better before I added something...and the blue and green one better after.  You just never know.  

Match Boxes

I used to be able to get Diamond brand matches at the grocery store where the logo had a white edge so could be covered easily.  

I used images from Christmas cards and other colorful papers to cover each side and sold them at our church fair and a few other places....by the hundreds.  But the box design changed and the branding image now wraps around the edge making them impossible to cover.

I continue to make matches for Folly 101 but I buy plain white match boxes from an on-line party store. 

So....what's the point is of this story? 

I came across a whole bin of pre-cut match papers several days ago for the old kind of boxes....pretty useless now. It's hard for me to throw things like this away....but at some point they might have to go.

 But in the mean time over the last few days I used papers from the bin, a 

couple of punches, and a pair of scissors to make 3 more simple cards.

Used what I had....and honors the past.  Win win!

And....I had another evening doing something mindfully mindless that required absolutely no thought or creativity.  I planned ahead and cut all the papers for the inevitable Folly 101 Christmas match order. My future self will thank me!

Color and Shapes

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way....things I had no words for." Georgia O'Keeffe

I dug into my colorful catalog scraps again for card #79.

These glass ball images from an Artful Home catalog have been floating around a while.....now they're shapes of color on card #80.

Then...to round out the colorful trio I used a reject photograph I had taken of one of my paper tube projects.  Either I over edited the photo....or the processing was off because the colors were way to intense to use for anything.....except card #81. 

Blue Mosaic

Today I made a third photo card....this time a little blue mosaic. I pulled a few more sky photos to punch and came across a photo of blue wool and thought it would add interesting texture. Punching new squares also gives me a chance to show my process again for making a photo mosaic.

Since the photographs have a white edgeI outline them with a sharpie....

giving them a nice little frame and the effect of grout.

This time I experimented with glueing them onto deli paper making them quite easy to re-punch.

It's helpful that I can see what I'm punching in the view finder.

 I outlined them again with the sharpie.

I didn't have enough to cover the card....and I wanted keep moving forward

so I stitched a reference line/frame to work within and glued on the mosaic squares.

Laziness?.....or good design?....maybe a little of both.

And there you have it....mosaic blues of #78. Generally I glue the original squares on black paper so white doesn't show between the small pieces....I think I like that better.  And I can see that I should have rotated a few so small pieces aren't right next to other small pieces....but all in all I think it works OK.

and...I think they make a colorful photo trio.

New Love

I'm going with with the photo theme.....and today it was all about purple in honor of my "New Love" bush clematis that's just starting to bloom. 

All the squares came from that same box I found yesterday.  It was my friend Lynn from Madison who first introduced me to putting the squares at an angle.  Check out this post to see a photo collage she made for me in a blue theme.

The New Love clematis shrub is neat and tidy and it blooms in clusters along the stem....often hidden from view. It's always nice to have new bloom this time of year....and this plant is just getting started.