Blue

Subtitle: That's Exactly What I'll Do! 

It rained most of the day today...but I'm celebrating blue. 

This blue sky was from a few days ago...but what an amazing cloud formation it was! 

And while Sue and John were visiting....Sue and I played around with a few cyanotypes....this one of a fern with some vinegar spots

Here's the fern at the bottom which is growing like crazy...and there's a lot of new growth on my foxtail fern. 

I spent most of the afternoon in the studio. I came across this sunflower stencil cyanotype and decided it would make a nice cut out journal cover. Here's the front and back.

I used a mix of papers and pockets...mostly in shades of blue. I hope to make a handful of these for the free little art library in Falmouth and I will include snippets and collage fodder.

Today rainbow is a Dotty collage inspired by my rainbow collage I posted yesterday. I couldn't love it more and seeing it again inspires me to try something a little more organic like this. Maybe I'll make a small one for a joy journal cover! Yes...that's exactly what I'll do.

Summer Project

Butterfly Weed is one of my very favorite early summer plants to watch. I don't have one...but there's one in our neighborhood that I walk by almost every day. 

Every single stage is so special. The tight green buds turn to bright orange balls which open to fabulous flowers with tiny yellow centers. It makes my heart sing. 

I acquired a large watercolor pad from a friend and cut and folded a couple of concertina/accordion books a while back. I have several things in mind....but it was time to do something with one of them. Completely inspired by an Instagram post by Connie Fong I used my stencils to trace overlapping designs on one side.

I wondered whether I wanted to color....paint or doodle....so I decided to all three.  I'm also going to add collage and fabric elements. It's going to be a quiet...ongoing summer project.

This was a collage I did back 2024 for Color week of the Conscious Creativity Class with Philippa Stanton. I love it enough to revisit the wonky technique. 

Late Last Night

Jane and I had a micro adventure today. There's a store in nearby Westbrook called Past and Future Craft Exchange and I've been curious about it for quite some time. They take donations of usable craft and sewing supplies and resell things at low prices.

I took in a pile of sewing books and a bag of fabric to donate....and came home with some fabulous blue nubbly string. I certainly didn't need it....but it has all the colors in the cyanotypes! I do love blue! 

I sat at my work table late last night intending to tidy it up. 

The blue and white papers and ephemera were piling up and I needed to clear some space to work. But what I did instead was punch small blue squares from geili prints and other painted papers. 

Then I found a pile of butterflies that needed to be cut out.

Long story short....I still have a messy table...but now I have a sweet little page for one of the journals.

I mostly want these journals to be a blank slate for the recipient to do their own thing...but it's hard not to add a little project of my own. 

And....I got some papers in the mail!!! Margaret was one of the ones who through her name in the hat for the blue and white journal. 

Everyone was a winner......and she sent me some of her blue and white papers to include in hers. There's some fabulous stuff here....enough to share with others! 

My head is already spinning with ideas.

Something Different

Subtitle: One Man's Trash....

Several years ago Paul moved all of his CDs (yes...he still has CDs) into some sort of a binder...and he got rid of all the cases and inserts. I rescued the inserts from the recycling because what I saw was collage ephemera: colorful artwork....and interesting text. They've been sitting in my studio closet for several years.

As I already mentioned....our son Nate just turned 40 and I wanted to do a little something personal for him. 

Following in his dad's footsteps....Nate is a big Bob Dylan fan. I skimmed off some of the Dylan CD inserts from his dad's collection and made him a collage. 

I adhered them to a thrifted board canvas that I had painted with black paint. I glued them on with gel medium...and coated the whole thing in matt medium to seal it all up. 

It was a deep canvas...so I was able to collage all four sides with snippets.

I was pretty happy with this trash to treasure project....

and Nate was pleased too. It was fun to do something different.

 

Moment of Kairos

Paul and I voted early this morning! That's what democracy looks like. 

We're sliding into the crunchy browns of fall. We've had some big wind...so the trees are getting more and more bare. So when there's a pop of color...it really stands out.

I had a quick errand at the bank...and as I was pulling out I noticed this bayberry shrub right in front of my car was just glowing. So I pulled back into my parking space....and got out to take a closer look. Time stood still for a little while and I stopped rushing. It was a moment of kairos.

I played with snippets this afternoon....in pinks...oranges and reds. 

I wanted a few more cards to spread around....before I switch gears.

Joy....in the scraps.

Other Things

The more you have, the more occupied you are. The less you have, the more free you are. Mother Teresa

We had a wonderful afternoon/evening with Dana and Anne on Deer Isle....

...another incredibly beautiful place. 

I just love the coast of Maine!

And now we're home. 

I was thrilled to see the bloodroot still blooming like crazy....and so many yellow daylilies! And there are more coming!

I took a very limited amount of art supplies with me: A travel watercolor set I inherited from Connie, some new pens from Becky and Emily...and a few of my own along with a pencil, my favorite eraser, a couple Gudrun catalogs, and a small bottle of glue. I also took a small sketchbook, my watercolor journal, and my joy journal ....formerly known as my junk journal. 

I forgot a pair of scissors...but thank goodness there was a pair at the house. 

Here are just a few of the other things played with at the kitchen table at the Cranberry Island church parsonage.

I spent time collaging using snippets from the catalogs I brought with me.

These thumbnails were all about swirls...swoops...and curves....intended to get me into the swing of things for my class.

Some friends of ours have a place on the island and Jim is one of the local Indivisible organizers for events including the No Kings Protests in Portland. His wife Sam is a poet and artist...and they are both such a delight.

I learned it was Jim's birthday while we were on the island (thanks Marian) so when we visited with him and Sam on their porch I took him a birthday card I made with watercolor and catalog collage.

I also did some painting....

...including the first page in my JOY JOURNAL. The page was originally drawn with a fine line black pen around one of my favorite stencils. I may add a little more texture to the flowers.

I love this well loved travel watercolor set I inherited from Connie.

It's still good as new (as far as I can tell) and I love seeing her handwriting above the colors.

I doodled and painted this simple wildflower page in my watercolor journal....

absolutely inspired by Tammy Garcia of Daisy Yellow.

There are other things.....but I'm calling this post a wrap! 

To Be

I read somewhere this morning that it's better to have a to be list......than a to do list...and it's been rolling around in my head all day long. I had chores and tasks I wanted to do today.....but spent most of my time just playing around with things that brought me joy. That's who I want to be.

I've made several shifts in the way I am approaching my Words of Encouragement tags. I was excited about what I worked on yesterday....and as excited about what I worked on today. I'll report on yesterday today...and today tomorrow. Got that?

Yesterday I made some simple background collages and continued to layer things up.  The layers aren't glued together...they dangle freely so a second message could be tucked underneath.

I also typed out some of my own words and phrases giving me more control over the size. I love found words...and will continue to use them...but for now I'm using the typed messages.

I'm also shopping my stash for interesting papers to mount the quotes on. 

I printed this kaleidoscope paper years and years ago from a CD Rom program (showing you how long ago it was) that turned my photos into beautiful patterns. This original photo was probably a pink floral...I love the way it turned out. I wish I still had that program...but I'm sure there are newer versions out there.

I think it works well with the collage and sets the quote off nicely.

For this tag I glued the quote on a chunk of a 2023 desktop calendar gifted to me from Roseanne. 

I couldn't lay my hand on the calendar page I used....but all 12 months have beautiful colors that will make great mounts!  

I may take out that middle green layer....I'm not sure it's necessary. Or maybe slim it up a bit so more of the collage is showing. Or just leave it alone.  

And for this one...I used a cyanotype print strip as a middle layer. I've got lots of those laying around too. It's a nice dark contrast to the collage layer.

I used gelli print scraps and cutoffs that I couldn't bare to throw away. The prints don't have to be great...as a matter of fact the grungier...the better.

Yesterday was a great day...just BEing.

Words of Encouragment

I've been playing around with an idea that I've seen over and over on social media from artists I admire...so it's nothing new. 

But it's newish for me....and I'm having fun playing around with these dangling and layered words of encouragement.

They're not very big...but could be any size.

I started with cast-off collages I've found during my studio cleanup. I embellished them a bit more....cut them up and added "found" words and layered them up with old watercolors etc. Some of them may have gotten a little busy....so I may calm things down a little as I move forward.

I layered this one over an old watercolor. It's not glued down....it's just connected with the ribbon. So the under layers could have words and messages too.

I attached one to a bag of nuts I took to Dana and Anne....and I made one into a bookmark that I sent in a birthday card today. 

We're in tough times right now so we need loving reminders and words of hope...joy...and encouragement. 

I might call them Words of Encouragement. But I'm open for other clever names if anyone has an idea. 

I did it! I cut off the first stem off my amaryllis and am enjoying it on my table. 

It think it was the right call. Now I'll keep an eye on the second stem.

Stubby Stems

Whatever's good for your soul...do that!

I collaged the stubby stems and marbles magazine image I plunked into my art journal. I'm not sure it's done...but it's done for now.

Using a pre existing image as an underpainting of sorts...was a fun way to collage. I could have never pulled this off without the guidelines of the image.

Here's what it looked like before. And now I see that more white on the marbles would be helpful. 

I think the swirl could use more depth of color now so it would flow with the marbles....but that will have to be another day. 

I called this post Stubby Stems....partly because of the stems in the image...but mostly because of the stubby stems of Dotty's amaryllis. 

Her bulb is encased in a wax form and needs NO water. She told me it has all the water it needs right in the bulb. Who knew! A neighbor has one in a wax mold too...and hers is also stubby. Maybe that's a thing.

Roseanne's amaryllis is tall like mine and has had several blooms...and I think it might be the same color as mine is going to be.

I wonder how many other amaryllis blooms are out there right now....with either stubby stems or tall ones. 

Mine has opened up a bit more and is showing a little color.