Art Hearts

"I think the most special souls are those who see the humanness in others and choose to hold it with kindness instead of judgement." Helen Marie

One of things I've been playing around with is what I'm calling Art Hearts. 

I've done things like this before....I did a full calendar year of "handwritten hearts" for my sister Nancy in 2022.  

What I'm finding...again...is that the possibilities for Art Hearts are limited only by my imagination.  

I made this one today...and I quite like it.

All kinds of paper can work for Art Hearts.  I've been using gelli prints, painted papers, scrapbook paper, and now catalog snippets.  But junk mail, handwriting, cut up art, book pages, greeting cards and old calendars all would work well too.  Or a combination of any of them.  

This Art Heart started with a small collage of catalog scraps that I glued down on a piece of drawing paper with a glue stick . If the base paper is too heavy....the hearts are difficult to cut out.

I traced as many hearts on the back as I could fit and cut them out. I like them just as they are...but recently I've been mounting them on a background.

I glued together more catalog scraps and stitched on the heart.

I trimmed it up...and stitched it onto a piece of watercolor paper. I'm quite fond of this Recycled Art Heart. I'm putting together a few small Art Heart collage kits and I'll be reporting on that part of my journey at some point soon.

Open The Blinds

It was a whirlwind of a day....and I'm grateful for all the meaningful interactions with family and friends...and the tasks and chores I checked off my list.  I'm putting my feet up....taking a deep breath....and sharing one little joy nugget that landed in my day.

During a text conversation with my art buddies from Madison...Tracie shared that when she opened her blinds this morning this little work of ice art was on her window.  

It's beyond fabulous....and a good reminder of the simple beauty that is out there just waiting to be seen.  And sometimes...all you have to to is open your blinds.

And another thing I love about the photo is that Madison's Orton Park in the background....where Angie's tree is planted. 

JOY! 

Making and Cutting

Becky recently shared a quote from artist and educator Corita Kent. It's actually from a set of rules she posted in her classroom for her art students: "There's no win and no fail. There's only make." 

With no clear plan or path forward I've been busy making hearts....and cutting up papers in my studio. Known in my world as joyfully puttering.

I have decided it's time to clear my studio of almost ALL of my painted papers and endless supply of snippets and fodder. I want to move it out into the world one way or another.....because I know I will always make more.  

I'm going to try and let things go in an artful and creative way like putting little kits and collections together.  I may try and make a little money along the way...but my plan is to be generous. I'll keep you posted here....maybe some of you will have interest.

Becky's text came smack dab in the middle of this making...and cutting project. "There's no win and no fail, there's only make."

I first heard about Corita through my artist friend Muffy....so I knew just a little bit about her.  But Becky's text got me doing a little research....and the more I read....the more I loved her. "Corita's work reflected her concerns about poverty, racism, and war, and her message of peace and social justice continue to resonate with audiences today."

Her whole set of rules that were posted in her classroom resonated with me.

1. Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for awhile.
2. General duties of a student - pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.
3. General duties of a teacher - pull everything out of you students.
4. Consider everything an experiment.
5. Be self-disciplined...this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way.  To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.
6. Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, there's only make.
7. The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
8. Don't try and create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.
9. Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.
10. "We're breaking all the rules.  Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." John Cage

Hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on.  Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything - it might come in handy later.

Margie Morning

It's been a bit too icy for morning walks....

but the light was beautiful in the backyard when I went out to feed the the bluebirds.

As a general rule....Thursday mornings are Margie mornings...and that's always a good thing. There are two things to report.

She had a beautiful puzzle finished on her table....but I forgot to take a photo before I started taking it apart. I like to share what she's been up to.....it tickles me that puzzles bring her as much joy as they do me.

This color explosion will be on my table at some point.

Margie was gifted an amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  She liked the idea of it...but not the idea of tending it.  And she wasn't sure she had enough direct sunlight to get it launched. So I took it home....potted it up and hoped for the best. I've never done this before....so I wasn't sure I'd be successful. 

A week ago I noticed that the large bud was just starting to crack open...so I thought it needed to go back home.  I wanted Margie to be able to watch it unfurl.

Today....just one week later...it's several inches taller and the bud is opening up and at least two of the blooms will be unfurling soon. And I think there will be more.  We both admitted that it's pretty funny looking....and at this point we wouldn't really call it a handsome plant.  But we're pretty excited to watch what happens next....or at least I am.  Keep me posted Margie....I'll have to visit it...and you more often.

Noticing

I saw this quote on Instagram several days ago....and it reminded me that noticing goes beyond what's beautiful and interesting about the things around us. It's also important to notice things about the people around us....and respond accordingly.

"I love the art of noticing. Someone noticing your favorite snack, noticing the way your face lights up when you get excited about something, noticing the way you react when you don't like something." Perfect Sayings

We have a fresh 5 inches of  fresh snow on the ground here in Portland...but I didn't get out in it at all.  That's not like me....this day just disappeared!  

But Alyson sent me this incredible photo of her fresh snow in Denver a couple days ago....and I love everything about this little pile of fluffy flakes. I'm noticing that she's a great noticer!  

Our evening photo swap continues to be a source of joy for me.

Making progress on the puzzle....and I'm not even minding all the browns.

In Motion

I've got at least a half dozen projects in motion right now.....I'm having trouble keeping them straight.  There are piles all over the studio...and it would probably be a good idea to focus on just one...or even two.  But that's not Wanda's way.

If that last line doesn't make sense....you can read this post.  The whole quote about Wanda's way is at the end of the link.  For better or worse....Wanda's way...is my way: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/03/mediocrity.html

More common ground with Wanda:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/03/back-to-mud.html

There are a few things finished...or nearly finished.  I made a little tag from a pan pastel print. It was a simple circular design that I didn't necessarily love....but once I added the white swirl everything changed.

I added asemic writing around the edge with a paint pen.  I know what I was thinking when I wrote it...but it's unreadable.  

The back is commercial paper that I tinted with pan pastels....getting good use out of Roseanne's gift. There's a lot on my mind.

I couldn't get this idea out of my head until I tried...and it's one of the things in progress. It may end up in the art journal.....I think it could be pretty cool with a quote along these lines.

I stitched strips of the pan pastel prints together on thin interfacing using decorative stitches on my machine.  Then I filled in some of the spaces in the stitching with white paint. 

     

I love these little bottles with the pins.....you can get a nice dimensional dot of paint with them....and great swirls.

I keep Art Glitter Glue in one (new favorite)...and slightly diluted white paint in the other.  I had to add the washi tape around the glue...because I've gotten them mixed up before.  These bottles are easy to squeeze and they don't clog....very often.

You can see in the background of the bottle photos that I have a heart project going on too.

I've got an idea in motion that's got me playing around with all kinds of hearts. More on that soon...ish.

Let's Stick With Love

Today is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday...

....so I thought I would share this piece by Lynn Giunta with one of his quotes that caught my eye this morning.

Her post is actually a video of her making it...check it out if you are interested: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2H14bos9dx/

Life is complicated...and sometimes even difficult....so let's stick with love.

Upside Down

There's been some crazy weather around the country. We had wind and rain here in southern Maine yesterday and many coastal areas were flooded. The combination of the rain, severe wind, and high tide in an already very full ocean always puts the coast at risk.  Water from the ocean made it all the way to Jane's house at the beach...and she's a block or two away.

They had heavy wet snow in Wisconsin making it difficult to get around....and now they're having sub zero temperatures.  The climate is in distress....and a bit upside down and all topsy turvy at the moment....and it's a bit concerning.

But my sister LaVonn sent these two photos...the upside down rainbow from her daugher-in-law...and the rainbow spot from her husband. Good reminders that there is still beauty in the midst of chaos.

I have never seen an upside down rainbow before...but learned it happens when light refracts through ice crystals. The light actually bounces off the ice crystals and sending them back up rather than down. They aren't all that rare....but we usually don't see them because they are above the clouds.  Who knew!  

Grid

A week or so ago I seized an opportunity and uses my gelli print rejects to make an art journal spread.  At the time I wished I would have stitched a grid rather than a swirl.

Today I seized another opportunity and cut up my recent not so great pan pastel pints and made another scrappy piece. And this time I stitched a grid.

I love this color combo...it reminded me of the sky in Becky's anchor image.

I decided to leave the irregular edges...and loose threads and started working on another spread in the art journal today.  I'm not quite done...so will share the finished pages tomorrow.

There was a pre-cut stubby page in the middle of the spread I'm working on....so I added a focal point. I used the pan pastels to add color to this commercial metallic paper....and sealed it with a fixative so the color wouldn't rub off. I couldn't stitch it into the book....so I pre-stitched the zig-zag and glued it in.  I think it looks stitched in!

I love this paper from Paper Source...and the beauty is it can be painted any color you want it to be. 

Full disclosure....soon after I did that last project I had enough scraps to do another piece.

I couldn't stop thinking about stitching a grid.

So that's what I did. I should have just left it alone....

I loved it with just the stitching.

But silly me....I painted a checkerboard with a white paint...and didn't like it at all. 

I lost all the color variation and texture in the green prints....I almost threw it away. 

But today I use the pastels to cover another piece of this fabulous Paper Source paper....so maybe I can turn this gridded disappointment into another opportunity.

Puzzle Post

It got cold enough to freeze the watery edges of the snow....so they transformed into beautiful icy edges filled with shapes and texture. 

The little polka dots stole my heart!

It was mostly a chore day today....so it's a good day for a puzzle post! 

Look what was finished on Margie's table when I visited yesterday!  She loved Jennifer's fabulous wooden puzzle from Swallowfield as much as I did!

This year my niece Clarke did Tiny Christmas for everyone....and I mean that literally.  

Everyone got tiny little gifts....and Margie, her grandmother, got a tiny little puzzle. It's absolutely adorable...and Margie had it displayed on her console.

Margie still has the peace card I made last year....and if you look closely you can see the bluebird that she fussy cut out of a newsletter sitting in front of it.  I was impressed that she even got the space between the legs. Well done Margie! This little grouping makes for a sweet little moment in Margie's apartment.

I'm making good progress on Philippa's art table puzzle.  This watercolor paint palette was fun....it was my starting place.

This puzzle has been a challenge....but I was up for one! 

The second /12 is going to be more challenging...lots of table and similar looking paint brushes. But....I'm up for it!

And the best thing is that I was able to make path from the top to the bottom AND from side to side. These silly accomplishments always make me smile.

Snow Rollers

Subtitle: Who Knew!

Wisconsin recently had a wet snowfall...and LaVonn posted some photos on our sister message board that captured our hearts. We were all mesmerized....and I couldn't help but share them here.

Tim took photos of these strange...almost ghostly snow formations at the farm.  

They are naturally occuring snow rollers and can only form when the conditions are just right. They are also referred to as snow doughnuts, or snow tumblers. Who knew!  None of us did!

According to this article from howstuffworks.com there has to be the perfect combination of the right snow quality, terrain, and amount of wind for these snow doughnuts to form....and they're actually quite rare. The article was fascinating if you want to know more...you can follow the link above.

photo from the article

The very best thing about this....is the conversation that lasted over a couple of days.  Nancy described it as the "wind playing in the snow"....and/or work "done by snow fairies."  What a delightful image that created in my mind....thinking of the wind playing.

LaVonn reported today that as they were driving into town they notice hundreds of snow doughnuts in the fields.  They were hard to capture on camera while they were driving on the busy road....but she said it was amazing!

That led to both Marilyn and LaVonn sharing snowmen built by their grandkids...and beautiful shots of the heavy wet snow.  

This is what those snowmen looked like the day before they got snow covered. An extra one was built after this photo was taken.....Marilyn's family is famous for their snowmen!  

I think the snow fairies actually live here....

and they know all about snow rollers!

I found this snow roller on this site. I'm completely smitten!

Did you know?

I Spy....

 ....the bluebird in the tree.

I continue to put out dried mealworms every morning...and the bluebirds keep coming. I absolutely love watching them....this photo was taken right after our snowstorm.

But we had a couple inches of rain overnight into this morning....and it got up to 50 degrees so much of the 14 inches of snow is already gone.

The warmer temps made for nice walking this afternoon and I was quite taken with the winding streams of water and the reflections in the puddles. All kinds of fun to spy with my little eyes.