Seeing and Celebrating

On this very day back in 2017, I assembled this rainbow wreath.

I was a few weeks into my first Conscious Creativity class with Philippa Stanton...and I was collecting a rainbow of nature colors and textures. 

Little did I know how this one class would change the way I see the world.

It was a beautiful day in September day on the porch in Lexington....and I remember feeling such a sense of excitement as I started this new way of seeing and celebrating.

And it was during this class...when I started picking up found objects on a regular basis. 

This was my first grouping in rainbow order of grungy objects I found for the class. I'm pretty sure I still have them all. 

Here's another favorite wabi-sabi rainbow arrangement during that same fall. Seeing...and celebrating is one of my favorite things to do.

Shadow Stories

In between my tulip celebrations this past week I was quietly collecting and studying shadows. I submitted my last homework project for the Conscious Creativity course yesterday....and if you are interested you can view it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7KNaazxhl6/ 

Shadows are fascinating. The obvious ones in the bright sunshine come and go and sometimes dance and frolic in the light. But others are always there in the nooks and crannies even on a cloudy day or at night. They give things depth and create mood and ambiance... and they're always magical.

I visited Winslow farm to pick up my hummingbird garden plants early last week and Sarah caught me taking photos under the counters in her shop. There were interesting boxes and crates stacked up and the earthy colors and shadows were quite lovely. She and I had a wonderful conversation about shadows.

As I was checking out there was a plant on the counter that was casting a shadow on a flyer so of course I snapped a photo. Then I picked up the flyer and the shadow on the counter was more pronounced and so beautiful! I thought it made an interesting abstract shadow duo.

Shadow week took me on early morning walk around downtown Portland and along the working waterfront. It's always a magical place filled with patterns, colors and textures. I was absolutely smitten with the shadows in these blue barrels. 

Once of my shadow experiments was using my gelli plate stencils in the sunshine on the patio.  The blue daisy you see here is a stencil shadow on the blue folder I carried it outdoors in.  

At first I thought I was going to do a whole montage of stencil shadows...but it felt a little much. In the end I just added a few here and there.  Stencils may come back out in the sunshine again...I think it's a thing. I'm going to call it shadow painting.

Here's another one in this montage of circles and dots.

This is the stencil montage I didn't use.

And this is another one paired with another shadow image.

OK....you have to admit that this is kind of fun. It's all about finding the right background to cast paint the shadow stencil onto! I'm not sure the yellow folder is right...

but the stencil looks pretty interesting on the cushion! The world is  just a big playground!

Paper Tubes: Part Three

Subtitle: Using Our Senses

I visited Bessie the hackmatack tree today. I kind of feel like a mom when I visit....watching these little pine needles grow up.  

This time I touched the needles and was completely surprised at how they felt. I expected them to be stiff and rigid like most pine needles....but they were a soft as a makeup brush.

I think she's just beautiful! 

And now I know she's soft and beautiful.

I submitted my homework project for Using Our Senses week for the Conscious Creativity course yesterday. I got out the old Shupe family typewriter for my cover page.....I just love all the sounds that they make and the feel of the keys and I smiled all the way through making the video.  I messed up a few times so had to make several passes at it but finally got it. I wanted another typewriter video at the end...but something happened to the ribbon and it stopped typing. Figuring that out is another day. 

This is the first page.....and in the reel it's a video of me typing the cover.

And this is the last page....with videos of  making the pickled vegetables in between. The sounds are great! It was certainly a sensory celebration!

If you're interested you can check out my project here on my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/p/C63u0KuLutk/  

This is the last week of the course...and it's shadow week!  I love shadows!  

Paper Tubes Part Three:

Just a quick step for today....painting the edges. This is something that Ellen taught me...and I still do it. I remember her saying that everything looks better with a frame.  And these little gold tips just seem to finish off the tube while giving it a little bling.  Clearly...it's completely optional.

I've tried all kinds of gold pens....and they all work. But this is the one I like the best. Once it's primed, it's very juicy so covers well. It does take a minute to dry so be careful about that. 

I just dab the ends and draw a little line around the end. They don't have to be perfect.  

This is a corner of a mirror I covered in indigo magazine tubes.

I think the gold really makes a difference setting off the blues and celebrating the transitions.

Painting the edges is another one of those 

mindfully mindless things I do while watching TV.

Noticing Textures

Alice Walker said that "Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."  I totally agree...and I am itching to do more creating. It does nourish my soul.

But for today's post I am changing it to "Whenever you are noticing beauty around you, you are comforting your own soul."

I thoroughly enjoyed putting the texture project together for the Conscious Creativity class. I always love to look and notice...but it takes time to edit and group...but it's a peaceful and calming process so it does comfort my soul. I actually think I love texture as much as I love color.

It was interesting being in a new space looking for textures....I noticed it everywhere.

If you want to see my whole project with the little video clips you can link to my Instagram page. But I will put a few of the images with some of the stories here. The stories about the journey are my favorite part.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6kE-VKxzXu/

Rusty fencing, a spider web....and rain drops on a car....all with interesting and beautiful texture and I thought made a beautiful cover.

While we were in Lubec we stopped in a fabulous little place for lunch.  

This charming scene was across the street.

In the little diner there were old gunny sacks on the tables under glass and I took note of the texture. I also noticed the tin ceiling and admired the detail and texture. Later it occurred to me that the two were a similar pattern yet so very different....and I loved this pairing. 

This was the only place open in this small easternmost Maine town...and it ended up being a fabulous lunch place for so many reasons.

I loved putting these groupings together. When you look closely at something that is worn or rusted...there are often beautiful colors and certainly interesting textures.  The clouds at the bottom are a timelapse video in the reel.

I always take note of the blueberry fields as we drive Downeast.  The colors in every season are so beautiful...and right now they are beautiful shades of reds and golds.  

Paul indulged me on the way home and stopped along one of the fields so I could take a little walk and snap some photos and take a few videos. It was fun being up close.  

The top image is a slow motion clip from a video as I swept my camera through the plants. 

But my favorite wabi-sabi moment was when Patsy's granddaughter Yamaya gave me this bouquet of dried stems that had wintered over.  

Yes...they had baby goats!

She didn't know it was texture week...and she didn't know how much I love all things wabi-sabi. I carefully carried it home....and knew I needed to find a way to honor it...and weave it into my project.

I added a few mossy sticks I picked up on Patsy's property and weaved it all together with some rope I picked up on one of the beaches we visited.

I strapped it to one of the trees in the woods that I can see from the patio. I'll leave it there for a while...remembering this sweet little moment I was given a very special bouquet during texture week.  

If you're interested in seeing the whole project....you can find it here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6kE-VKxzXu/ 

Textures

One of the first thing I wanted to do this morning on our morning walk was visit the hackmatack tree. There's a little progress...but I'm glad I didn't miss too much while I was gone. 

Although sometimes I wish it was a little warmer....the cool spring is especially good for the bulbs and flower trees so the blooms last longer.  

I know I'm a broken record but I just love the fuzzy texture of these baby pine needles.

Patsy and Brian have several hackmatack on their property....they're pretty common Downeast.....but I'm still pretty tickled I have my own to visit.

I've been editing and putting together montages for texture week for the Conscious Creativity class.  All of these images have a lacy quality to them but they are so many different textures. 

There are barnacles, the back of a metal chair, fuzzy growth on a tree, lichen, a crocheted tablecloth. and white foam from a waterfall (which in the final product will be a video).

Color Week

I turned in my homework for week three of the Conscious Creativity course late last evening and posted it on my Instagram page. One of the suggested exercises was to cut snippets from catalogs in rainbow colors to play around with.  

I do love the mixture of images and words from catalogs...and I will probably continue to add strips to this stash. They will be handy for collage.

I decided to use this photo for the cover of my project this week.

If you have any interest in seeing the whole video reel summarizing my color week you can link to it here: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PxMUarNVW/

But in case you don't...I'll post a few of the pages here.

I made two rainbow montages from my found bits of color. The blue spiral is one of my tops and it's actually a video in the finished project. 

The Unfold app has several layouts including grids with six squares I used above.

But of course I had to add some pink....so it has a page all to itself! 

I also collected blue tones and hues....and this is one of two pages.

I included a few color combos...and a few pages relating colors to the way they make me feel.  These two pages featured close-ups of fire hydrants.

To view the whole color project click on this link:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PxMUarNVW/

And speaking of color....I've SLOWLY been working on the colorful marble puzzle starting with the swath of green. It's been slow mostly because there's been a lot going on lately.

Just yesterday I finally connected the top to the bottom.....and since then it's going together pretty quickly.  The second photo is earlier this evening...with my reader in the background.

I had a little moment with these balls this morning on our walk.  They were piled under a hoop on a dead end street...and I could just imagine the the sights and sounds of the kids playing. I absolutely love this unexpected variety of color!

There was such interesting texture close up....and I know the texture lesson is coming!  

Unexpected Places

Thank you for the birthday greetings and well wishes. I'm still celebrating...I even got a couple more cards today. But I'm also celebrating color today.

It's color week for the Conscious Creativity course......sounds easy right?  I love celebrating the colors of each season...I collect and make colorful things....and I surround myself with color all over my home. 

But I have been charged this week to look for color in unexpected places.  It's been a challenge....and has become a bit of an obsession. In a good way. (Paul is walking in circles a lot on our morning walks.)

There is so much expected spring color...

and I will continue to celebrate that including this lawn of scilla.  This is a different one than the one I've been watching...and it took my breath away.

And I'm going to celebrate the tiny daffodils that are blooming in my garden...

and the grape hyacinths in my neighbor's yard. (There's Paul in the background.)

But I'm doing my homework and looking for color in unexpected places....

and I've become quite taken with the colors and textures on fire hydrants. 

Maybe some of you will find 

pops of color in unexpected places!