Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Hate to say this.....

...but I'm going to have to give up a regular Story time on Tuesdays. My fibro pain, caused by the ME/CFS, is just too bad. My fingers hurt and it is painful to type. In fact, if I didn't have spellcheck, you wouldn't be able to read this! I will still add stories, but just not always on the same day. If I have the energy, and less pain, my first choice is going to be art. So, to the small but faithful group who read my stories, thank you, and I apologize, but please try to visit on a regular basis to read whatever I have time to write.

And to my friend Chris in Brisbane, the link for the vintage goodies I posted about is http://www.etsy.com/shop/SongbirdsNest


Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Old Mine

All right - I finished my latest painting!

The Old Mine
(click for details)

This is 12 x 12 wrapped around canvas. I used torn pieces of corrugated cardboard, with the paper backing pulled from one side so I could have the ridges to work with. Also, I used a cardboard protector that comes around a cup of coffee which had lovely circle texture. The painting includes acrylic paint, heavy gel medium, some stencils (they are in the background) and some really great old iron rings found on a friend's property which are all nice and thick with rust. There are also gear shapes I cut out of the corrugated cardboard. What a fun piece to do! And now, I shall rest the remainder of the day, 'cause I'm worn out!



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Friday, July 27, 2012

Another Collage Postcard

The reason I do a lot of postcard art is because with this illness, it's a lot shorter timewise to create a postcard, so I can still have the joy of creating, and yet go back and lie down! But I miss making bigger things, so I have started a painting which I've wanted to do, but have been putting off. For right now, here is the latest postcard for you to enjoy!

(click for details)
Mixed media includes collaged tissue strips, various paper bits, acrylic paint, rubber stamping, part of a lace doily, texture strip, stabilo pencils oil pastels, and then the top images and gems. The original postcard was a black and white advertising card. The texture strip is something found in the sewing notions, but I forget exactly what it was. The bird is a Dresden Scrap, as it was originally published in the 1930's. 

While I was on the porch photographing this, I could hear a storm coming, so I tried a few shots of the sky and clouds, and even took a couple of shots of one of the 6 hanging baskets we have on the front porch.

AngelWings Begonias, Petunias, Sweet Potato Vine and I don't know the name of the really small leafed hanging plant on the left.






Click on picture you want to see closer.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Postcard Art and Tuesday Story Series: 67 Plymouth

Recently we purchased the dogs some new toys - stuffed animals without the stuffing, so they are very flat. Well, not having the stuffing took all of the interest away for our dogs! But I took a photo of one of them because it is a great illustration of how I felt this morning when I got up. Or tried to get up. Last night was very rough and I honestly can say that I felt just like this:

Yeah, he looks cute, but I didn't!


In the afternoon I began to feel like I had a little life in me, so I finished a postcard I had started yesterday evening.

On My Way
(click for details)

Mixed media includes collaged tissue strips, cheesecloth, rubber stamping, Russian postage stamp, acrylic paint, vintage earring, metal sun, gem brad and liquid watercolors. It also has some gold accents.

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'67 Plymouth
56th in the Tuesday Stories Series

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we had once lived in the community of Goose Creek. Before we moved, we had been living in a small rented brick house where we had started married life. When we met, John was driving a nice, navy blue Buick Skylark, and I was driving a slightly run down red Ford Maverick. John, being the true southern gentleman that he was (and still is) insisted that I keep the Skylark for when I needed it and he would take the Maverick to work. This was a sacrifice in several ways on his part - the car used a quart of oil a week, was not reliable and as the head of the agency where he worked, it was a step down to be driving that car. It left him stranded several times on the Interstate, and sometimes he would come home with a face as red as the car's paint! 

After Tabitha came along, we decided we needed to get rid of that car, and find something more reliable. We knew a man who fancied himself as an expert on cars, especially old ones, and had several contacts in the car world. We asked him if he could recommend someone to us for buying a used car, because our budget was tight, and he said he had just found out about a good bargain. One of his friends had just rebuilt the engine on a 1967 Plymouth and the body was in great shape. He took John over to see it and give it a test drive and talk with the owner. We decided that the price was right, the owner was honest and the car was much more reliable than the Maverick. So, it became ours. It was huge, a white boat of a car, and when in it, you had no fear of being squashed if you were hit!


(This is not a picture of our car, but the one we had looked just like this, except it had hubcaps on the tires)

Soon after that, John was offered the job in Goose Creek, we found a place to live, and started packing our belongings. It was summer in Charleston, it was hot, we were very tired and after our friends had taken the truck on up to the new place, we loaded the rest of the things into our cars, including a cranky baby, and gratefully drove off to meet with the rest of the moving team. I mentioned in the other story that Goose Creek was some distance away from Charleston, so we had several miles to go on the Interstate. John was driving the Plymouth and I was following in the Skylark. Suddenly, white smoke came billowing out of the Plymouth, so thick I could hardly see the car ahead of me. I didn't know what was going on, but we were near our exit and John was able to keep the car limping to our new condo, where it died. It seems the engine blew. The new, rebuilt, engine.

A couple of days later we sold the car to a scrap dealer who came and towed it off. As I stated before, we spent our time in Goose Creek with just one car. At John's next job, in Charleston, it came with a car as one of the perks and once again we were a two car family. When we mentioned to our friend what had happened to the car he recommended, he said he was really sorry. It wasn't his fault, necessarily, but we never asked him for advice again about car purchases!

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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Visit to Campbell's Covered Bridge

John thought I needed to get out of the house, so we drove to Campbell's Covered Bridge, not too many miles from us. We walked around, slowly, and I brought my new Canon camera, so I had fun taking pictures. It was very encouraging for me to be outside, and it wasn't terribly hot, so all in all it was a great time. I'm very tired now, of course, but thankful the strength was there today!



It crosses Beaverdam Creek. 
(I don't know who the young girl is.)


Some soft moss growing near the creek.


My handsome husband!

The End.

Click on any picture you want to see closer.


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Friday, July 20, 2012

Canvas Postcard

I had a 7 x 5 canvas which had something painted on it, and it was in my scrap box because I really did not care for it. So I pulled it out and spent some time altering it for a post card.
INFINITY WITH RED

Using a light coat of gesso, and then wiping some of it off, I stenciled some black dots, and added some stamped stars. Next was a cutout piece of red paper, and a rusted iron ring, then using my favorite number stencil, I added a layer of heavy gel medium. After it dried, I started layering paints and wiping and laying some more. I also used micron brush tips and spica pens. At the end, I used some touches of gold Rub & Buff. If you are wondering why I bothered stenciling the dots and adding the stars, it adds depth, and if you look at it closely, they are there. Your mind sees what your eyes cannot sometimes and so you perceive depth!

And it goes into the mail today!

Feeling very tired today, and not nearly as up as I was yesterday. Will probably be spending more time today resting. Still learning about pacing and eventually I hope I will get the hang of it. Thankful for all of the prayers which have gone up on my behalf! And for those who asked about the address of the Etsy Shop from yesterday's post, I haven't forgotten - I will list it for you as soon as I find it! :)



Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Birthday Gifts

If you were looking for the Tuesday Story series yesterday, I apologize, I just couldn't do it. This morning I went to my twice a month acupuncture appointment, with a 1/2 hour massage afterward, and it seems to have freed me up a little bit and taken the pressure off. Usually I will feel better for about a week and a half and then start going downhill days before my next appointment. With acupuncture, it seems to help temporarily, and although I may still be in a flare, it doesn't seem quite so bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a great gift I received for my birthday, which was a little over 2 weeks ago. My sweet husband went to Etsy, and purchased vintage papers and images for my art work. He didn't realize it at the time, but he ordered it from a seller in Holland, and was a little perturbed when it didn't show up in time for my birthday. Once it arrived, we figured out why it hadn't - it had to come further than John realized. He looked at the package and murmured "Well, I wondered why the shipping seemed high, now I know!"

(click for details)
The seller had everything wrapped in bundles with pink satin ribbon, and enclosed in an old wallpaper remnant tied with an old piece of lace.

(click for details)
There were old playing cards, small old photos and vintage images.

(click for details)
Even old hand colored postcards and school flashcards!

(click for details)
Old French dictionary pages, a turn of the century French magazine, and several other large images, some in color and some in black and white.


I look forward to using all of these in my art and told my husband that this was one of the best gifts ever!



Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!