A Little Doodle

I was really feeling parched, artistically, and wanted so badly to indulge in my art. For various reasons, I just have not been able to (mostly because of my health), but today I was determined I would at least doodle in my journal. I also had some issues pressing on me, and thought playing with my art would divert my mind. And it did!

Some of my brushes and my water pail had been patiently waiting for me to begin.

This is the journal doodle. I started out using a leaf stencil with oil pastel sticks and found out quickly that that wouldn't work, so I colored in and added the lines later. Acrylic paints, Stabilo pencil, torn pages of a Shakespeare play and some doodling and some press-ons, and I was pleased to be once again doing something artistically!

My husband and I made a donation to Water Missions International as our Christmas Gift to each other and to Tabitha. They are a fantastic organization which helps to supply water where ever it's needed - third world countries or when disaster strikes in any other areas, such as Hurricane Katrina. John knew the couple who started it and once they organized it, he served on their board until we left Charleston. They have saved many, many people's lives by providing safe drinking water.

I'll share some of the fun things we received:

Tabitha gave me a great book about the painter Renoir, written by his son. Renoir has always been one of my favorite painters and this is a very thick book, blending what was happening in the world with what was happening in Renoir's life. It's a used book, she knows I like used books because there are so many choices to be had for so little money. 

Tabitha also made four lovely stationary cards for John, each one an original ink print of different leaves. She had inked up the leaves and rolled them face down once she had them arranged the way she wanted. They turned out beautifully! She also gave him several bags of boutique popcorn flavors, as that is probably his favorite snack.

One of my sisters gave me a brightly colored, sturdy tote bag and a fuzzy pair of slippers. The slippers had to be exchanged because they were a size too small, so they weren't available when this photo was taken. They have since arrived!

Tabitha surprised me with postage stamps made of one of my paintings! This picture is a bit fuzzy because I scanned the whole page, and then realized afterward that they were too small to make out. So I cropped them to this size.  I've been busy using them, so that's why there is not a better picture, they are mostly gone!

And now I am very tired, but glad I could share a little with you!

Click on any photo to see it closer.

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

Another Milk Carton Book Page

In my last post here, I wrote about beginning a new project  - making a book from milk carton paper. I've been a bit slow this week, I have had to rest more than usual, but I did a bit everyday and this is the second page:

Front

(click for details)

Back

(click for details)

The front is a mixed media collage; materials used include a chalk inks, acrylic paint, torn piece of a local map, buttons, embroidery thread, rubber stamping, oil pastels, and acrylic paint. The textured pot is a piece of the cardboard insulator used around a Dunkin' Doughnuts coffee cup, a green fabric strip for the stem, and flowers were cut and frayed from an old hankie. Very tiny silver beads were glued in the middle. The back (which is actually darker than is showing) is collaged strips of tissue paper, with some gold ground mica brushed over the surface, and then the edges were done with Gold Leaf pen. On the pot is a German stamp with the word GROEN, (means green in English).

This is fun to do; I hadn't realized that I missed doing the smaller pieces of art. I know I still do postcards, but it's nice to work on a project that will all be put together. I hope to make the book a cheerful piece of art!

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

Starting a Small Book, and A Story: Bob White

In the latest issue of Somerset Studio, one of my favorite magazines, was an article about making paper from milk cartons. I was so excited about the possibilities, I went downstairs and pulled out the empty carton of Flax Milk (alas, no dairy products here except Greek Yogurt) and by the end I had 4 pages ready to incorporate with whatever I wanted to do. I decided I will make a small book and here is what was completed.

Front

(click for detail)

Back

(click for detail)

Since I plan on including 3D objects on each front page, the back will be more neutral and flat. I used acrylic paints, oil pastels, rubber stamping, a flattened old Dr. Pepper bottle cap, Micron pens, paper scraps, and cut out words. I have 3 more blank pages, and then I will make more from the next empty carton; page size is about 7 x 3.75. Once I feel the book is the right size, I'll put it all together. 

And in case any readers may be wondering about the wall hanging I was making, I had put it aside because of the trip out of town, and I was waiting for some more inspiration for details to add, and now I have them! So I will be posting about that as well, soon.

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Bob White

54th in the Tuesday Story Series

Yesterday I posted briefly that it had been a day for spending on the bed, as I had awakened weak and fatigued. In the afternoon, as I was playing a game on my laptop I heard a Northern Bob White quail calling from nearby. Their name comes from the whistle call they make, and it's one of my favorite sounds of summer. (Click here if you have never heard it) It brought back memories of a time early in our marriage when the quail provided us great entertainment.

When Tabitha was not quite a year old, John had been offered a job in Berkeley County which would provide more money for our family. It meant moving to Goose Creek, South Carolina, which at the time was not much of a town, more of a collection of homes, different stores and fast food places which catered to the nearby Naval Weapons Station. It was growing, though, and we were able to move into a new 2 bedroom condominium not too many miles from where John would be working. We had the end unit and it had a small screened porch facing a slice of woods which provided a sound buffer to the busy 4 lane highway on the other side. There was a patch of grass about 4 foot wide between us and the woods. 

It was lonely for me during that time, because we were down to one car, which John drove to work. It was also a long distance away from our church and the friends who had lived nearby. Sometimes if John did not have plans to leave the office, I would drive him to work and then Tabitha and I would drive down the interstate to visit friends; but mostly he needed the car, and he put in long hours. 

One day after we had settled into the apartment, I heard the Bob White calling from the patch of woods behind us. Late that afternoon, I saw a pair of them come out of the woods, clucking softly to several babies scrambling behind them. John came in just then, and we quietly went out to the porch to watch them. They did not mind us, but continued hunting for food, parents and chicks busily scratching the ground. Every evening after that, we would sit on the porch and wait for them to come out to feed. We sprinkled some corn on the ground for them. It was fun watching the chicks grow.

Watching them helped ease the loneliness, and there was also a whippoorwill in the woods which would make its calls every evening that summer around 9 PM. We only stayed in the condo for about 10 months, because John was offered an even better job which brought us back to Charleston, and a job where he stayed until he retired. But we enjoyed the birds the short while we lived there.

We have Bob White living here in the woods and pastures and still smile every time the call comes through the air. Maybe some day we'll see parents with their chicks again! 

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