Two More Art Postcards

I'm thrilled that I feel strong enough to sit at my art table and do a few things. I have cut back on the postcard Round Robins because I just didn't have enough brain power to stay focused on many things, but I am still getting some great postcards in the mail! I also have a stack of postcards to file, which is overwhelming just looking at it. I wish I had an invisible helper, or a trained robot sometimes, to give me a hand because I get so easily overwhelmed. I remind myself it's just part of this illness and I can only do as I can on this day. :) It helps, but the stack is still there. Maybe I should just move the stack!

I was able to play some with art yesterday before I had to head downstairs to my bed. I put together 2 more art postcards and here they are:

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Scraps from the scrap drawer, gesso,  acrylic paint, oil pastels (I love those things!), punched butterfly, rubber stamps, vintage music, a bit of fabric, small tag, vintage images, and there you have the mixed media art collage!

Something else I did this morning - I trimmed my "Friends" list on Facebook. For me, since I have such severely limited contact with people, Facebook can be an important way to stay current with people I care about and who care about me. I realized that I have over 100 people who were either long gone from my life, never stayed in contact with my family, had moved on with their lives in a different direction and had expressed no interest in us, or we in them. So, click click and off the list. Now I have a current list of people who are local, or have have maintained a relationship over the years. It's been very freeing! For me, it's not so much about that number listed on your Facebook page, but the quality of the friends who are there. 

Hooray!

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

Tag Tuesday - Soft Pink and Green; And a Story: THE WILD EAST

Today's challenge is using soft pinks and greens. I actually made the background sometime ago when the challenge was simply to make a background tag. Now it's completed and has a new life!

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If you would like to play along, please visit Tag Tuesday Blog Challenge Garden.

The Wild East

20th in the Tuesday Story Series

Kicking aside clumps of newly plowed ground, eyes kept downward as he walked slowly in the hot sun, the young boy spied a small point thrusting though the soil. Reaching down and brushing it off as he straightened his back, he studied his prize - another arrowhead for his collection. Painstakingly finding them in plowed fields, creek beds and areas newly washed out by rain, he had a small but growing collection of artifacts used daily in a time long before his own life had begun. 

When the Europeans settled along the South Carolina coast, there were many Native American tribes in the area claimed and named by the English settlers as Carolina, and later divided into North Carolina and South Carolina. From the Cherokee in the northwest section of SC to the Waccamaw and Waxhaw at the coast, there were many different tribes and communities. Most of us grew up thinking of the Wild West as the place of cowboys and Indians, buffalo and wolves, but before Colonial times buffalo (or bison) and wolves were indigenous to the Carolinas and the Wild West was located right here. As far as the human characters in the drama, the trapper and Indian trader stood in for the cowboy, but the Indians were plentiful. As Charleston grew and pushed into Native American territory, there were major concerns of an attack which could wipe out most of the colonists in the town and on the farms in the surrounding area.

Around that same time, petitions promising land to new settlers were being sent around Europe, bringing German Lutherans to the center of South Carolina, where many of them entered through the port in Charleston. The officials of Charleston were glad to see it, thinking that they would provide a buffer between themselves and any Native American uprising. So gradually, as more settlers came, the tribal lands shrunk and buffalo and wolves diminished until there were no more. The Wild East became the Colonial East.

Some of John's collection.

The young boy above used to wonder about the people who had used the arrowheads, their day to day lives and how they looked and what they accomplished. Each artifact he held had been shaped by hand and used for bringing in food or for protection. Chips and breaks indicated usage, chiseled points and symmetry showed an artisan's care. He held on to his small collection as he grew up, and when we married they moved to a new home.

Thanks for reading!

Rebecca

Tag Tuesday - Happy Easter! and a story: START AT TWO

For this week's Tag Tuesday, the theme is Easter, as we approach Easter Sunday. This is my tag, and if you would like more info on the materials,and to see the work of other artists, please click here. The basic image came from a postcard my grandmother Alice received in 1911.

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Last week Tuesday was not a good day health wise, so there was no story. It was nice to know, though, that it was missed!

START AT TWO

Sixteenth in the Tuesday Story Series

My father was an upright man who worked hard for his family and was a faithful loving husband to my mother. When he was in his fifties, and I in my thirties, we developed a close relationship which lasted until his death in 2005. Before that time, our relationship was distant, for diverse reasons. Most of them stemmed out of how I was raised. My grandfather on my dad's side was very autocratic; Dad was one of six children, 5 boys and 1 girl. They grew up on a farm during the Depression, so no one was a stranger to hard work and thriftiness. Dad did not have a great role model for how to be close to your children, although he did a much better job than my grandfather did. Earlier I wrote about a cherished time I spent with my father here. I was six then, and over the next decade, my parents had six children; Dad worked many long hours and there just didn't seem to be time to parcel out his attention to all of us individually. Years later when I was in high school, he realized he was putting too many hours in at the office and changed professions. But by that time for me, it was too late. As I had grown up, he became more uncomfortable about being alone with me, and we couldn't seem to talk about anything without it turning into a lecture. I think that changed a lot when the youngest were in high school, thankfully. And as I stated earlier, we did develop a friendship as adults.

Many years later, when our daughter Tabitha was born, I asked my husband John to promise me he would spend one on one time with her, especially during the teen years. He did so willingly and began almost immediately. I had read once that if you want to have a good relationship with your teenage children, start when they are two years old. I would amend that to "start right away"! 

John began reading to Tabitha early on and did so into her teen years. He and she would go on "dates" for Saturday morning breakfast and he would listen to her chatter about everything as they sat eating at McDonald's. As she grew older, they would eat at more "grown-up" places, and although the subject matter would change, he still listened. I was very grateful.

As she was growing up, John made a point to be available for any kind of discussion and so as she changed and hormones would sometimes cause confusion, she knew that she could talk with her Papa about anything she was experiencing and he would not pull away in embarrassed silence. As a 27 year old adult, she still spends time with her Papa. A couple of weeks ago they went to see a play together. I'm not saying John always understands her, after all, Men are from Mars and all that sort of thing, but they have a precious relationship! And that certainly makes me happy too! 

Hope you have a blessed Easter this Sunday!

Rebecca