Wonky Stars

This was just one version of the sunset a couple nights ago...it changed color by the minute.  

That sliver of blue sky at the horizon was such beautiful compliment to the pinks and purples....it was breathtaking! I went out to take a look 5 or 6 times over a 15 minute period.  How could I not!

After a couple late evening painting sessions I've finished this small negative space wonky star painting. 

It was 4  layers of paint....and I intentionally splattered and created blooms in each layer trying to give the background sky more interest.  

This morning in the light of day I thought it needed a little something...so I splattered some gold watercolor.  

I was a little hesitant....but I think it's just what it needed.  Phew!

I'll finish it up in the next few days and get it on its way as a 1st birthday card for Max....he and I have a star thing going.

This is the only "in progress photo I took.  

I covered the paper with a very pale wash and the lightest stars were sketched on top of that. Then I painted around them in the next darker value and so on.  I used a blue watercolor pencil to draw in the stars on the last layer so I could see them easier. 

It's always that last dark layer that make the other values really pop!

I just realized I might have missed a spot with the darker blue....but I can still go back and fix it. That's what happens when you paint wonky stars late at night.

Time to Put the Balls Up!

One of the very first posts on this blog over 9 years ago was called "Time to Take the Balls Down."  

Inspired by my friend Laura...I used to hang my glass ball collection from my dining room chandelier every Christmas....and enjoyed them for months.

I reinvented the arrangement every year...and never minded putting them up and down.

But when I chose the dining room fixture in our current condo....I didn't think about the balls...and the drum shade doesn't accommodate them.  So they've been tucked away....waiting for the vision in my head to come to reality.

But it was time to put the balls up!  I finally got the ladder Jim built installed against the ceiling in in my dining room window....and the balls are up!

It took me a good chunk of the day...and it was trickier than I thought. If they need a tweak...it's going to have to wait because my arms are tired. I think they all could be an inch or two higher. 😳

The ladder was inspired by the one my sister Angie had hanging in her bay window in Missouri.  She had all kinds of interesting and colorful things hanging from it and I always admired it.

I couldn't believe I didn't have a better photo of her window...this is the only one I could find....and you can just barely see the ladder there in the back.

It will be interesting to live with it a few days and see it in different light.  And it's not lost on me that the window valance has polka dots....so the balls are a perfect compliment.  All the colors are represented.

I'm pretty tickled that my vision is finally realized....and I'm pretty happy with it.

I think I'll be on the lookout for a few colorful vases and bottles at thrift stores and trade out a few of the blues and greens.

Late afternoon light.....I'm going to enjoy the shadows and reflections!

Just before sunset.....they had a whole different feel.

The balls are up!

Imagine

This spring seed puzzle was all finished on Margie's table today.  

I celebrated seed season last fall....but spring is actually seed season too!  So this puzzle is very timely....and it was so pretty sitting on the coffee table.  

I'm actually starting to imagine spring.

I've had a focused...and busy couple of days...so no time for art.  But some quieter at home days are coming....and I've got plans!

But late this afternoon I spent some time going back through some of my collage posts looking for ideas and inspiration....and these are some of my favorites.

This wreath was quite a project....and maybe one of my all time favorite in the end.  

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2020/04/life-of-its-own.html

A birthday card for Alyson during my torn paper flower kick!

I do love touches gold touches....and the addition of stitch.

 

I ended up being quite fond of these little plant pots....

and this one made from the edges of gelli prints!  I like the simple doodle focal point....and the combo of straight stitch and zig zag.

Then there was all the birds.

I'm going to get back to birds at some point.  I love the birds!

Except for the bird....this whole collage is from one Ethan Allen Flyer.

Collage....can be anything that you can imagine!

At some point soon....it's time to start imagining collage again!

Normal?

Trudi posted this quote on her Facebook page....and it made me stop and think.  

"Only when normal things are not normal anymore do we realize how special normal things are."  unknown

I will say....I do like what I call everyday normal: no surprises or problems to face...no big decisions to make...and plenty of time to putter. 

But maybe abnormal is really the new normal....and we need to remember to make time to putter and dance. (see the poem at the end)

Spring was in the air today....and it was a delight to be out for a couple of walks.

It was foggy this morning....so most of the trees and shrubs were covered with water droplets.  It was magical.

 

This particular view was Strikingly Pleasing.  The hazy sun through the distant trees....the small pine (shaped like a water droplet by the way) next to the perfectly placed rock...alongside the towering birch and tall pines.....made me stop in my tracks.

It's hard to tell....but the birch branches were covered in water droplets reflecting the sunlight.....it was an everyday normal kind of magic.

And another beautiful poem came to my inbox...this time from Patty. It's just the message I needed to hear today.

I sometimes forget

that I was created for Joy.

My mind is too busy.

My Heart is too heavy 

for me to remember

that I have been

called to dance

the Sacred dance of life.

I was created to smile

To Love

To be lifted up

And to lift others up.

O'Sacred One

Untangle my feet

from all that trap

Free my soul.

That we might 

Dance

and that our dancing 

might be infections.

Rumi

Vision

Jim, our handman stopped by yesterday with something he built for me.  He primed it...and I put a finish coat of paint on today...and I'm pretty excited about installing it.  It's something I've been thinking about since we bought the condo 6 1/2 years ago....and I can't wait to see if it matches the vision in my head.

It's clearly a ladder type thing....but do you have any idea what I'm going to use it for?  Here are a few hints:

1. It was inspired by my sister Angie.

2. It will solve a problem because of a decision I made in this condo.

3. It will allow me to display a colorful collection of things I love.

I also worked on my doodle glazing piece today.  It may be done...but the more layers of glaze here and there...the more depth it will have.

Do you see the touch of gold? (I had to take the photo at an angle to turn the light on.)

And that odd shape at the bottom is a cutout covering up a big misstep. Shhhh.

I don't know what happened at the end of February....but I completely forgot about Becky's March calendar page.  She's been traveling....and gets home today...so maybe she'll barely notice that it's late.

Continuing my theme of whatever is on my table...I scrambled to get something in the mail yesterday.  

I had one last piece of a woody pencils/gelli print sitting right there....along with my page of fusible joy tags.  So simple and sweet.....March is on the way!

Welcome home Becky and David!

I'm going to sift through the other things on my table and start working on April's!  

Glazing

One of the many topics covered in this week's Watercolor for Relaxation lessons was glazing!  I've done it before....but I didn't know that's what it was called. It's basically just over painting with thin layers of wash...and I think it might be one of my favorite techniques.

And now that I've watched Wendy's videos and seen some of her samples I know so much more....and have lots of ideas for patterns and ways to to play with the technique.  

It was a busy and focused kind of day....but every so often I would find myself pausing at my table working on this Wendy inspired glazing doodle exercise in my watercolor journal. 

I have a ways to go....but the repetitive doodle patterns and fussy painting was really quite fun. It was hard to stop!

I actually did some glazing on this spread a while back....

I just didn't know that's what I was doing.  I just thought of is as a wash upon a wash upon a wash.

At some point I'll finish the right hand spread....

and there will most certainly be more glazing!

Sunday Catch-Up

Through her blog, Dotty Seiter introduced me to the writing strategy of appropriation where you use the framework from an existing piece...and make it your own. 

So for a Sunday catch-up I'm going to "loosely" appropriate Mary Oliver's poem, Mindful, from yesterday's post as a way to celebrate a few things that captured my attention over the past several days.  

Apologies to those of you who are actually writers.

Joyful

by MaryAnn Shupe

Everyday I see or taste something 
that fills me with delight... 

leaving me humbled

by my joyful abundance.

With help from artists I admire...
I've come to understand that it's important to look....
and then look again....

and celebrate everything.

To appreciate one of Janice's 

home cooked meals 

because they are as much art 

as they are cuisine.

To just roll with the silly delight 

I feel that moment when I choose

to leave just a few puzzle pieces for

 the next morning's coffee...

....and when I smile as I hold the piece 

I've known all along goes in the spot

under the lamp. 
I wanted it to be the last one.

I've learned to take the time to pause and celebrate 

what was hiding in plain sight....

like an unexpected bloom 
in the living room.....

....or the first sign of spring in the patio garden

or a stick that caught my eye in the woods.

  
Because when I got closer...
it did not disappoint.

You're a lucky one...I said to myself.  

Lucky to have a partner who sends

a moody view of the salt marsh in Scarborough 

because he knew it would move me...

...and who took the time 

to pause and capture 

a magnificent sunrise I missed 

on a cold morning's walk. 

And at the end of the day

that same guy handed me
a simple found object.
Joyful indeed!

Mindful

Ida sent me this Mary Oliver poem....

and it's all that needed today.

Mindful

by Mary Oliver

Every day

I see or I hear 

something

that more or less

kills me 

with delight,

that leaves me 

like a needle

in a haystack

of light.

It is what I was born for -

to look, to listen,

to lose myself 

inside this soft world -

to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,

and acclamation.

Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant - 

but of the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.

Oh, good scholar,

I say to myself

how can you help

but grow wise 

with such teachings 

as these - 

the untrimmable light

of the world,

the ocean's shine,

the prayers that are made

out of grass?

Outside of the Lines

Today didn't all go as planned....and that's just life going outside of the lines. Sometimes that's good....sometimes it's a challenge. 

But I actually thought this little watercolor went a little better than planned....and I'll take it!

I cropped it a bit and stitched it onto a card (I forgot to photograph it)...and it's on its way to a friend for her birthday.   

I've had this stencil for years...I absolutely love the whimsical and loose lines of the sunflowers. I've had mixed results on the gelli plate....but I'm still hopeful that I'll come up with a successful printing strategy at some point. 

So there is sat...waiting for the right inspiration. 

But rather than using it on the gelli plate...I put it on my lightbox and traced a corner of it onto watercolor paper. 

I started late one evening....and finished the next day.

late night photo with poor lighting

And I enjoyed every minute painting inside the lines.

And I'm chuckling as I write this....because I actually DID paint outside of the lines in several places.

....so I added the speckles to camouflage them.  

Turns out....the speckles are my favorite part...and they seemed to pull the whole thing together!  

Good things can happen outside of the lines.