Purple Pride

I was inspired by this adorable photo Patty sent me....

her Proud Purple Pig was her caption.

And here's a little purple a the pond.

So in honor of the Purple Pride Pig...I painted purple between my squiggle lines....

...and colored in my day 16 ICAD (I painted the acrylic swirl last evening) while enjoying a beautiful afternoon on the patio. 

A while back Christine had asked why I sometimes use gesso on my index cards. It's works as primer for the surface so certain media will stick better. Today I tried to watercolor on right on the manilla card ...and it just beaded up. That's why I use gesso. So I switched to markers and colored pencils.

ICAD # 16...celebrating purple pride! ✔

I've mentioned several times that another creative daily practice for me is trading photographs with my sister-in-law Alyson every evening. It's a great way for us to connect and celebrate the beauty of the seasons.

Just a few days ago she commented on my Instagram posts where I used the Unfold App....so I hooked her up. So now we're creating Unfold montages for each other that capture our moments of the day...often including a little video. 

It's such a simple app...and we're both having a good time with is.

Here's a montage for today celebrating purple pride!

Spring Greens...

....and hints of blue.

The baby hackmatack needles are spreading their wings....and I get so tickled every time I visit her. This tree needs a name....so I might call her Bessie after my grandmother.  

Before I cleaned up the dining room table...I used up the leftover paint on Ida's pallet and did a few more gelli prints.  Some might need more layers...but the colors reminded me of both the spring greens and hint of blue in the hackmatack. 

Speaking of greens....

I finished the rainbow marble puzzle this morning. It took me a while...but I loved every minute.  

About 1/2 way through I started searching for where this brown piece went...and I became totally convinced it didn't belong. 

Sure enough.....I got to the end (I thought) and there is was...the only one left. I  don't know how many times I searched the photo and the puzzle looking for where it might land. I just couldn't see it.  

There's no brown in the rainbow.

Lo and behold....it did belong.  Can you see where?

The dark space in this green marble was hidden by the dark brown table underneath.  This has happened to me before...and it happened again....and it made me chuckle.

A little Less Perky

Back in May of 2021 I wrote a post about some fabulous magnolia blooms and created this little montage. 

They appeared to be dancing....and I remember I couldn't stop looking and photographing. I'm not even that big of a fan of magnolia....but the graceful curves and colors were mesmerizing.

Yesterday morning the same thing happened...but this time the magnolia blooms were starting to fade and the background landscape was way more brown. But I had the same feeling I had back in 2021....and I couldn't stop looking and photographing. I was smitten with these wabi-sabi beauties.

I got to chuckling as I was making this montage. If the version back in 2021 reminded me of young ballerinas in their prime....this year's montage is the senior citizen version. Still beautiful and graceful.....but the curves were a little saggy....and overall...just a little less perky.

I can make senior citizen jokes now that I'm 65. I've got a few several brown spots...and I'm a little saggy and less perky myself...and I'm just fine with that. I actually don't mind getting older and all that comes with it.

Paul and I were on the road this afternoon and have landed in Perry, Maine for a few days with our dear friends Patsy and Brian.  We're excited about a change of scenery and time with people we love in their beautiful home on the coast of Maine. I will find nuggets of joy and maybe some color in unexpected places to share here.

But finally....I couldn't help but share this on the heels of yesterday's color post. My neighbor and friend Patty is active in the Portland Rotary and her team recently painted this US map on the playground at the Amanda Rowe Elementary School.  

It's 20' by 30' and will not only be an educational tool but fun for the kids to play on!  Hawaii is there....just didn't make the photo. Well done Patty and your Rotary team!

I'm looking forward to seeing it in person....it's just a few miles away.

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!  

Color Memory

One of the places my color journey took me to this week was to the graffiti wall along a walkway between Casco Bay and Portland's Water Treatment Plant. I hadn't been there for years....and I was glad to have the nudge. 

It's a stretch where graffiti artists are encouraged to express themselves....and it's constantly changing. 

It took me back to 2013 when one local artist did a painting in honor of my oldest son Nate when he was going through treatment for cancer.

His friends and family did have his back....

and Nate has been cancer free ever since. 

Feeling joy...with this color memory.

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!

Comforts of Home

Today has been a little challenging....and somewhat emotional... but how can a day not be improved when this much color lands on your phone screen.  

Dotty sent the photo...and I have no idea where she got it. But THANK YOU to Dotty and the  artist who took the photo!  

Paul and I have parked ourselves at the public library in Falmouth for a little while this afternoon.  It's such a beautiful space...with most of the comforts of home including power, heat, and internet.  I'm hoping ours will be restored soon...but in the meantime...we're doing just fine.  

It's hard to do art with gloves on....but I'm dreaming and scheming in my head all the time. 

I hope there is color....and joy in your day....and that you have all the comforts of home.....even it it's not at home.   

Color!

It was foggy this morning....and things look a little other wordly in the fog. 

These hazy reflections are just as beautiful as the crystal clear ones.

And we found a pop of spring color.....

such a nice contrast to the still very brown landscape.

This photo is a little blurry....but the water droplets were incredible!

And Paul picked up a fabulous found object....

I couldn't 💕 it more!

And speaking of color....

this is a spread I've been working on in my watercolor journal.  Watercoloring in the evening is a good way to wind down the day. 

The lines are a little wonky...and I've got some smudges....but the more detail and layers of color I add...the better it looks.

Matchy Matchy

It's always a treat when I visit Patty's back yard this time of year. 

The soft pinks of the hydrangea make my heart sing! 

We're having an incredible start to October....my favorite month of the year. 

And they match two early fall rain lily blooms....as well as the sepals that are starting to appear on our seven-son flower tree.  The tree blooms white late in the summer leaving the pink sepals behind...and it's almost like you get a second bloom.

And Patty's hydrangea also happened to match the corner of the new puzzle I started yesterday.  This is going to be quick and fun!

It's a full rainbow....with pink!

Gotta love a matchy matchy kind of day.

Just for the record....this is what Patty's backyard berm looked 

like just 2 years ago.  What a transformation!