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!"

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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.

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There were old playing cards, small old photos and vintage images.

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Even old hand colored postcards and school flashcards!

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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!

What Can Happen If I Don't Sleep

Another restless night, wired and tired - one of the underlying tenants of this illness. So I finally got up and went up to my studio. I was exhausted, so that was not the time for beginning a serious art piece. Instead, I opened my journal and opened one of the scrap drawers, grabbed a glue stick and a pair of scissors.

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Closeup

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The base is an old book page I had painted with left over paint from another project. I added paper scraps, some torn and some cut out. Then I detailed with a micron pen, Spica pens and oil pastels. The Russian postage stamp fits in well - it shows people on a ski lift! 

And I did go back and try to sleep, but alas, it was not to be. After another glass of wine, and sitting out on the porch for awhile, I came back in and tried again. I did drift off, but woke up continually. So, I will be spending a lot of time lying down today, and praying that tonight goes better!

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

Finished Postcard - Magic Carpet

Yesterday, I started this postcard (here) and today I was able to complete it. I used a new stencil, and I think I will have to be particular about what I use it for, because the results are not quite what I had hoped. But all in all I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

Magic Carpet

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The base is paper made from a milk carton, with a paint stained baby wipe attached. the mixed media includes 4 international postage stamps, ribbon, Lumiere metallic paint, Golden acrylics, heavy gel medium, buttons, embroidery thread and stickles, which do not show because they have a glitter in it (so it's a bit sparkly in the grooves). I also used some Stabilo pencils. Now it will be sent to another continent!

Last night was a rough one, had a hard time getting to sleep and then staying asleep. The good news is that it is not happening as frequently as before, the bad news is that I am really wiped out and this post will be the biggest event of the day for me! :)

Please leave a comment, I really enjoy them!

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

Another Postcard In The Making

Using the leftover piece of milk carton paper from yesterday, I folded it in half to make another postcard. This time I glued a piece of baby wipe which had been used when I was working on a painted piece of art, and was nicely stained with colors of paint. After gluing it, I stitched it just to make sure it wouldn't move, since it's textured and it will eventually go around the world. 

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I also used some rubber stamping over the baby wipe

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I briefly considered using some images cut from wallpaper samples....

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.......then looked at some international postage stamps....

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....and chose to go with the stamps, plus an interesting scrap of ribbon.

Next, I put a stencil over it and pushed heavy gel medium through the stencil and am currently waiting for it to dry to continue with the creation. Hopefully, you will see it finished tomorrow!

We've had a rainy day here today and yesterday. A cool front came through with rain, which we really needed. Yesterday morning and this morning, I even had my studio window opened for a few hours, it was so pleasant. Never would have happened in Charleston! I know it will get hot again, after all it is July, but we are enjoying it!

Also, something which is good news is that ampligen, the one drug which showed promise for ME/CFS/FM sufferers is finally back on track for continued testing. It will be a while yet before it becomes available, but the idea that it could help millions of sufferers is very encouraging! If you're interested in reading about it, here's the link.

PS - I notice that I get a lot of people reading my blog, and I would LOVE to have some comments, even if it's just to say "hi"! I feel like I'm speaking into space and nobody's listening. Since I am not able to get out and socialize, it's brings a smile to my face to see your words. Please comment!

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

Texture Postcard

Yesterday I created some more paper from a flax milk carton, which leaves me four panels in one piece. I cut it in half, and folded two panels together to make a long postcard (apprx. 7.5 x 3.75 inches), painted and texturized it, and am now sending it to a friend. I do not worry that she will see it, because she has no internet service! :)

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I had fun with this! I painted a base color, added some torn and dye stained pieces of a coffee filter, and put on some heavy gel medium through a stencil. I also imbedded some metal clock faces and a small gear, added some gems and waited for everything to dry. Then I added more paint detail, micron pen, and covered the uneven edges in copper leaf pen. And out it goes today!

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Another Milk Carton Page, and A Story, The Messy Artist

I finished this page from the Milk Carton Book series right before the old camera died. Here it is now, front and back:

 Page 3, Front

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Page 3, Back

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I had purchased some special Japanese papers, and was looking for a chance to use them, one is on the front page, and one is on the back. I had a tiny cloth kimono, which I fixed onto a cut out map piece, which was attached to plain black card stock. There is also a tiny origami crane on the map as well. I also added 3 metal fans, and a little plastic card illustrating the written images for the picture images, although I will say that they may be in Chinese. I love the red veined paper, and scattered some black paint around. On the back, I collaged some strips of the other paper, which has a fabric feel to it, and added some gold foil lanterns, and went around the edges with a gold leaf pen. It's hard to see, but the gold and reds in the back sheet has a foiled, shiny look.

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A Messy Artist

55th in the Tuesday Story Series

First, I will say that all artists are messy. You can't help it. Now I will admit that there will be certain degrees of messiness, as some of us sort of follow behind ourselves, putting things back when they are through with them. I have an excuse - I have a chronic illness which makes me have to lie down, before I may have had a chance to straighten up. Not saying that I would if I were a well person, you understand, but it does make a good defense! Anyway, if an artist is showing a technique, or giving a workshop, his or her studio will usually be in pristine condition before the camera starts rolling. But that is NOT how they create art when nobody is looking!

Now, I just purchased a new camera that has movie making capabilities! Yesterday I took a couple of trial runs with that feature, and then had difficulty figuring out how to load them onto the computer. This morning, a bit more clearheaded, the Lord answered prayer by having it happen very smoothly. No, I don't know what I did differently other than turn the computer off, went to bed, then turned the computer back on this morning.  I impulsively took a video tour of my studio, and that is why I preface this with how natural it is to be a messy artist. I was so excited to have it working, I didn't bother to straighten ANYTHING up in preparation. You will see paint bottles lying on their side, stacks of stuff, a brown paper bag waving around on the floor. I described some things wrong (John's arrowheads are called sharks teeth, and a otter is called a beaver!) and it is out of focus more than in focus. I called something else by the wrong name - I don't remember what (I blame brain fog), and at one point, the camera simply stopped filming, but I think I was able to make it into one movie. I can't figure why the focus was giving me such trouble (when I shot a view out the window, even the trees were out of focus!). I can tell you that what you are seeing is after several attempts, and at the end I was standing too long, and had orthostatic intolerance flare up and fled to my bed to stay flat for a while, so don't be too hard on me, you can hear the tiredness in my voice toward the end. You may laugh while you view it, but please, not in derision! :)

And so...TA DA!!! Welcome to my studio!


Well, no....... now I am told the video is too long. sigh. I will see what I can do about that, but I am not promising anything right away! :(

OK, now I learned how to edit and we will try again..... (the editing is a bit raggedy)

HOORAY!!


boy it's been a long day

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Hurray!

It took while to get my new camera (Canon SLR EOS Rebel T3i), then I had to find the memory card for it, with John driving, came home, realized I got the wrong one, and then go back to the store this morning, with Tabitha driving. Hurrah though- it's working well, and here some of the first pics from the camera, with apologies because it's going to take me a while to finesse all of the fine points of this thing! 

Our sweet girl, Abby, one of our dogs.

Tabitha the country girl, on her way back from dumping the compost.

Kit, Tabitha's sweet girl, looking quite regal.

Across the road, shot from the front porch.

Buddies, but not in good focus!

The back gate and the pergola, with the barn in the background.

Pink geraniums.

Playing around with the effects on a piece of old iron & flower pots.

Same here.

Lantana blossoms.

Portulaca which volunteered from last year's plantings, next to a thrift plant; it's our "rock garden"!

Click on anything you want to see closer!

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Micheaux - A Journal Page

I decided that it was clean-up-scrap time for my art table and used gel medium and paint to add scraps to a journal page. After finishing the background, I was rummaging through my drawer of images and came upon this information about Oscar Micheaux. His parents were slaves, but as he was growing up, he had several positive experiences that led him to become an author (first book, 1913, The Conquest, the Story of A Negro Pioneer). Several more books came after that one. In 1915 D.W. Griffith produced The Birth Of A Nation, a silent film which promoted white supremacy, the Ku Klux Klan and racism. Micheaux became one of several black filmmakers to produce a film to counteract Griffith's film. Called Within Our Gates, it was extremely well done. Micheaux went on to produce 24 silent films and then more than 20 sound films. After his death in 1951, his name faded into history until the 1960's when South Dakotans rediscovered his works. He has earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and several other posthumous awards.

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Mixed media background is made from scraps lying around on my art table, gel medium, acrylic paint, rubber stamping; images were aged and added, and oil pastels help to give depth. Some of the scraps are torn baby wipes, stained with paint.

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