Up and Down

One of those up and down weeks. I feel better, then I have a period of exhaustion. In the meantime, I have been able to do some art during the "better" times. I wanted to try something different than ATCs and Skinnys, so I joined a swap to alter a clipboard. My partner loved the color orange, and bright colors in general, so I had fun putting this together!

 I think it turned out pretty well. I finished it yesterday. It's truly a mixed media, and I had to finish off the back with a fixative to the watercolor paint I had used (that was a mistake!) will not come off when held.

Later today I worked on an ATC for a swap that is due on the 18th. Since I am having a medical procedure done on the 16th, I thought I better go ahead and get it out of the way. It was for the Asian Series #2-Turkey swap. I chose to do a rendition of a pattern found on Iznik Pottery tiles. Iznik Pottery has been made in Turkey since the 1500's.Again, it was rendered in mixed media - watercolor, micron pens, Sakura pens. and a touch of acrylic paints. I'm pretty pleased with this one too! I will get these in the mail tomorrow.

The baby wrens were still in the nest on Monday, but left it on Tuesday. They are still being fed by the parents on the limb of one of the trees. The bluebirds have been feeding their juveniles the past week, and yesterday the juveniles started following them to the feeder, begging and flapping their wings. So even when the babies leave the nest, a parents work is not done!

We voted in the primary yesterday and in two of the races there will be a run off in two weeks. It's been awfully depressing watching the news in the past year or so and one wants to walk away and tune it out. Some times I do that, but I don't want to pretend nothing serious is going on. I am thankful I can pray about it and know that God is still sovereign!