Beautiful Imperfection

I was stopped in my tracks when I came across this urban sunflower patch in Portland.  

I loved the beautiful imperfection and character of the blooms that were fading more than the perfect ones.

I was also captivated by the blooms that were just beginning to open. 

The beauty of imperfection at its finest.

On The Road

I'm up in Maine for a nice long stretch.  Paul's sister and her husband from Colorado are coming next week so I'm here to tend to some projects....clean and putter.....then enjoy the company. It will be the first time Alyson has seen her mom in over a year....it's going to be fun.

I didn't want to leave my one hydrangea bloom behind....so I decided to bring it on the road with me.

Now I can watch it in my window sill....and enjoy it in a different kind of way.





I'm a little out of sync with my 100 day project....but I'll get back into my groove now that I'll be in one place for a while.

When I visited Muffy I was reminded that I can shrink images....so a few days ago I resized one of my larger doodles and used it on a couple cards.

I sliced up a photograph of the cornfields across from my sister's as a background for the one on top.  The next one has a background from the inside of security envelopes.  The bottom one is another of my first gel plate experiments....and a Christmas card laser cut overlay.  Sometimes they just need to be simple.

At some point I'm going to play around with the gel plate again....just another thing on the "want to" list. This texture was made using bubble wrap as a resist.

Phew!

Waaaaay back in May of 2015 I started a stained glass piece for Jane's bathroom window.  They had just done a remodel of their beach house and there was a perfect spot for a piece in the small main floor bath.  I made good progress for a while....but life got in the way and years and years and years went by. You can read about it and see my inspiration with the link above.

At the beginning of the summer I set a goal to have it done by her daughter's beach wedding in early September....so I've been quietly picking away at it again over the past few months. I kept it quiet because I had totally lost confidence in my skills and I had no idea if I could pull it off.

On my way to Maine today....I delivered it....and all I can say is Phew! I think it's going to be OK. It will hang by little chains from the window moulding....but I'm going to let her husband and son install it.  In this photo it's just sitting on the sill.  I think the patchwork of textured clear glass is just lovely.

There's a good chance this may be my last piece of stain glass.  I played around with mosaic for my last show....and I think I like that process better. But we'll see....you just never know.

This piece is far from perfect....but I think it will be just fine.  Phew!

Blue Balloon

I've had a bright blue Ford Focus station wagon since 2005....and I've loved it. Paul and I bought it brand new after finally letting go of the family mini-van and it was the first car that was mostly mine.  The only thing I've longed for was cruise control for my trips to Maine.....everything else I needed was right here in this simple bright blue car.  Still looks new...doesn't it?

Not all cars have stories....but this one does....one of which is honored by this bumper sticker.

Back in July of 2007....the night before my friend Patsy was going to ride with Janice and me in this car as I moved from Portland, Maine to Madison, Wisconsin, her younger brother Allan Parsons was killed in a tragic accident.

As an EMT Al was responding to a drunk driving accident on a country road in Maine and was hit by yet another drunk driver and killed instantly. I will never forget the horror and heartbreak of that next day as my dear friend and her family started their grieving process.....and I had to drive away. This bumper sticker has been on my car ever since.

When the car was still brand new I bought an antique dining room hutch with money from my grandmother and I couldn't believe it fit in my car. Yes...I drove over an hour with the seat tilted a bit forward and as far ahead as it could go....but it worked and I've hauled many surprisingly large things since. I've filled it with yard trash going one way to the transfer facility and bark mulch and compost coming the other....it has served me well.

Yesterday I cleaned out all the nooks and crannies (I found three missing umbrellas and $20)....gave it a good vacuum...and drove it through the carwash one last time. Today we took it to a mechanic friend who it going to get it ready to be donated to Place of Promise, a Christian based organization that lifts up and supports the poor and powerless helping them to build a better life.

Just before we drove it away today....I did one last check and found this blue balloon deep in a crevice next to the front seat.  Coincidence?  I think not. Often times when we let go of the past we get to celebrate something new.

We picked up our "new used" car today that will be more reliable and energy efficient.  It has more bells and whistles than I really needed but I'm sure it will serve us well.

Is it silly to feel emotional about a car?  Probably....I'm going to miss my bright blue car!  💙

Mid Summer Blue

"If you listen carefully the silence is beautiful."

My lone hydrangea bloom is growing darker every day....it's been such a joy to watch.



Here are a few from our walk this morning. July is so full of oranges and yellows that the blues and purples are a nice change!

 

Speaking of yellow....Janet and I came across a huge patch of tall daisy type flowers while walking in the Lexington Land Trust.....they just glowed in the sunlight!

"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." John Maxwell

Singing

The weather shifted so the windows were open today and the fresh air felt so good. It was almost "cool" when I worked in the gardens early this morning and I'll have to admit that I really liked it. I prefer cool over hot any day.

And it's always a good day when I have lunch with Muffy and Peggy....two very dear and delightful friends.  After lunch I spent some time with Muffy in her studio...where real art happens.

I came home with fresh tomatoes from her garden...minus a few I ate in the car.

Muffy made me a bookmark using punched circles from copies of the little collages I made when I helped her with her workshop....the project that keeps on giving.

I'm always quite taken with Muffy's beautiful calligraphy and I came home with a few inspirational quotes and prayers. Once she creates an original...she copies it...then plays with it adding color and sizing it for various projects.  She recently made some lovely cards from one of her little collages.

Such a simple...but beautiful design.

And isn't the title perfect?

I especially love this quote. It feels more and more these days that life needs to start anew. Things need to change....I look forward to the singing.

2019 ICAD Challenge

Before I left the condo I laid all my index cards out on the floor. The Daisy Yellow 2019 ICAD challenge was over and I wanted to mark that 60 day mark.  I'm combining it with the 100 day challenge so continuing on....but this seemed to be a good time to line them all up for a photo shoot.

Card #60 features three little plant doodles that were just sitting in a sketchbook. I cut them out and mounted them on doodled graph paper.

As I looked back at the link to the challenge....I realized it was a 2 month challenge and consisted of 61days....so that meant 61 cards. Oops! 

So here's #61.....rainbow scraps.

Now I can say:

It Only Takes One

I have two small hydrangea bushes in Lexington that have done well in the past.  This year, however, I have only one small bloom between the two....but it's spectacular. It only takes one! The first picture was Wednesday....the second was today. I'm loving how the color is evolving.

 

It goes coordinates well with today's collage card.....one of my favorites.


Way back in 2011 I bought a sweet little desktop calendar with little flower arrangements and plants.  I loved the colors and whimsy and always knew I would do something with it.  I came across it in a little box that already had a few of the bouquets cut out including some punched squares. I finally did something with it for card #59.

The calendar images are just delightful....I wish I knew who the artist was.                                                                           

                                                                               

The foreground of the card was made using scraps from my March Folt Bolt project that I also used for #57.  Card #56 is a collection of blue and green project scraps that I couldn't bear to throw away.  The background is a copy I had of a post card that belonged to my grandmother Miller.

#58 is a silly watercolor doodle I found in a sketchbook. Very much overdone....but sometimes you need a quick one and it's good to honor our mistakes.

Praying Hands

One of my favorite hosta plants came from my sister Angie many years ago. Last year I moved a few pieces to the condo and it's thriving! I think Angie told me it was a corkscrew hosta... but after a little research on-line it looks more like the "praying hands" variety. 

It's small but stands tall and slender, is slow growing, and has a very interesting curly leaves.  Now that I look at it...it does look like praying hands. Angie has ongoing and persistent health concerns so needs lots of praying hands these days.

So it's official...I'm not calling it my corkscrew hosta anymore....it's "Angie's praying hands."

I weeded my way through the gardens at the condo this morning and happened upon quite a few mushrooms.

Mostly I leave them right where they are because of what I have learned about their benefits....but there were a few I had to pick up just to take a closer look.  I celebrated their beauty......then returned them to earth via my compost pile in the woods.

Say a little prayer for Angie...will you?

Flipped

I'm loving this puzzle...it's the right mix of manageable and challenging. 

When I finished the yellow I changed things up again.

I decided I needed.....

I flipped the puzzle and the box over....and started working down...pushing the puzzle up as I went along keeping the area I was working on right within easy reach. Such silly thing...but it's the little things....right?

Paul and I are in Maine for a few days now....but this is where I left it.  It was hard to stop....it's a fun one!  I'll pass this one onto Margie....she might like it too.

A lovely view of the Marina and Portland from The Saltwater Grill in South Portland late this afternoon.