Little Scraps of Magic

Of Whales and Women

 
Last weekend, my sister, Denise, and I spent hours chatting about her recent trip to Oregon and Canada. The "divas," as they've named themselves...because, don't we all need to be a bit of a diva?...spent 5 or 6 days visiting lavender farms, whale watching, shopping, and more. Each and every lady is a caretaker in some fashion, many of them for elderly parents. They're there to listen, to support, and to boost up each other. Until this past trip, they've mostly attended local events, but they decided to "fly" a bit, to see what there was to see. Each and every one has realized that our time here is limited, and life is to be lived. So, off they went!

My sister shot the above photo; I cropped it a bit and added text to it, and emailed it back to her. She fell in love with it and forwarded it to the rest of the divas. And, along a glass or two of wine on her back deck, we schemed and planned a dream for our "retirement." "What ifs" filled the night air as we plotted until midnight.

Most women I know reach out, support, and love each other. They help us get through those days and nights as we struggle with what to do for an elderly parent, waiting for the cancer test results, or figure out how to hold up a faltering child. They're our life lines.

 
Like many pages, I laid down its background weeks ago, pre beach vacation in June, and here it is, more than a month later, I'm collaging, tracing, and journaling. Denise shared with me many many photos and stories of whales she'd seen. And, whales, for one reason or another, have been popping up in my life. So, I decided to do a bit of research, and I learned some very cool things. (Click and read!) How appropriate! I am really hoping (family drama time!) for that "entering a period of peace." Don't you love those old chairs? I gleaned that image in Lk's swap at Art & Soul.

 
Here's to my sister, who's discovered her passion, photography! (This image belongs to her as well.) Here's to all women who reach out to and support one another.

Inhale the lavender.

Reach out to someone.

Live life this weekend!

4 Views of a Barn

Controlled chaos reigns supreme in my art space. I'm reorganizing, destashing, and discovering troves of treasures. Fun!

I came across some altered photos created in a class with LK Ludwig last May at Hampton's Art & Soul.  Using my own imagery is becoming more and more important to me. I know how to "blend" the image into a page, but knowing how to manipulate the images, whether manually or digitialy opens up so many more worlds!

LK asked us to bring some of our photos with us, and from there we explored and played.  I shot this particular image a few years back on our way home from an "Apple Blossom Festival."

 
Not an "awesome" photo, but I love barns, and the image itself seemed open to possiblities!

 
Along with bringing a few "original" shots, I also brought some black & whites, just to see what I could do.

 
We coated the images with some clear gesso, let it dry, and then "drew into the images" with colored pencils. LK wanted us to really look, and not just to see "green" grass, but all the other colors hiding there. It's a slow process, both waiting for the drying during that humid afternoon, as well as training myself to "see" what was right in front of me. I also discovered that these techniques work better on images printed at home. The professionally printed ones have some sort of finish to them that creates a bit of a struggle.

 
I began with one of the black & white copies here. The clear gesso hadn't quite dried, hence the funny blotch on the roof. If you begin too quickly, the gesso just lifts right off the image. Ugh! I worked here with neopaque crayons, and chunky ones at that. Not a good idea; I really longed for the thin version. To be honest, this one had to grow on me; my classmates loved it, but I think my struggles with the technique hindered any appreciation I had for it. I love it now though!

Rediscovering these in my stash has me wanting to print a bunch of images, gesso them all, and them alter them as time allows. And, I think I'll go do just that!

Hello, Weekend!

 
Hello, weekend! You promise to be a busy one...off to PA to see dad and to try to wrestle some related business under control. It's all a sea of forms and reasons why one issue or another is not covered by insurance.

Right now, quiet and stillness reign, and no cruddy issues have poked their nose into the morning. Time enough for that and all that I have to do. Time enough to do battle with this ungodly heat.

Time to just enjoy these flowers and their riot of color, which makes me smile. They make me realize that the weekend will not be so bad after all. There will be a visit with my dad and time with my sister. We'll solve life's problems over a glass of wine and with Zeus, her cat, firmly ensconced in my lap. She'll share memories of days just spent with another group of women...days of whales and lavender blossoms. I snagged one of her photos and surprised her with a lttle giftie. I'll share that later...it lives on the downstairs computer, and I'm typing away on the one in my art room. Ever since Fios, the two have not spoken to one another. Phil attempts to reconcile them every so often, but no luck.

At any rate, I'm itching to get out the watercolors and play. Have you seen Alisa Burke's gorgeous water colors? Sheer, utter, gorgeousness. Go take a look, okay?

Now, get off the computer and go savor some of summer's sweet gifts.

Go!!!!

Possibilities

Some pages develop quickly, but others, like this one, build up over time. I did the initial background back in June, thinking I'd use journal it while at the beach. I spent my time instead with family and simply being in the moment. Layers of gesso and tape, with various blues scraped over top, sang of the beach.

When I returned home, the spreads simply sat for a bit. Since I'd never gotten to the beach bit, I had no idea where the page seemed to be headed. So, I dove into the beginnings of reorganizing my art space, destashing, and so on, a process still in motion by the way.

The mailman delivered the new Anthro catalog, which lit a fire you know where. I carefully cut out one of the models and then used the page to pounce in the black. I nearly left it at that, doing the stamping and then the journaling, but something seemed missing.

I must have picked up the white pen and put it back down several times, afraid that I'd ruin the spread. But, then I figured that I'd just either glue on the woman I'd cut out, or I'd pounce some more black paint over it all. And, somehow, like magic, I managed to not totally mess her up; she's not what I wanted her to be, but she's not bad. She'll do!

One of the daily OM messages ignited the writing. One of the hardest things that I work on conveying to my middle schoolers is that learning doesn't stop, that life serves up so many opportunites. But, so very often, like me with my pen, we hesitate, because we don't want to "mess things up." As the saying goes, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail?"  I probably should copy this page several times and post it in my classroom, in my art room, in my car, etc. I hesitate far too often, but I'm getting better. At least, I picked up the darn white pen!

Here's What's Been Going On!

Family.

Food.

Celebrations.

Just talking.

Baby Alex got Christened!

 
Isn't this little family just beautiful? I wish you could see Alex's outfit....a whitle tux complete with bow tie and tails! And bare feet, since those socks weren't staying on for love of money!

 
Are you going "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?" I think this is my favorite pictuer of Alex with his godmother, Christina. I couldn't have been more blessed to have this lovely woman marry my oldest!

 
Speaking of said oldest, here he is! Corey, sister Kara, and baby Alex mugging for the camera. Well, I guess baby Alex doesn't appear all that interested, does he?

 
Aren't they all just beautiful? I am SO blessed!

Sunday's Musings

Outside my window leafy green trees dance and sway with the breeze.

I am thinking about today's dinner - smoked chicken and farmers' market veggies. Yum.

I am thankful for a hairdresser who knows what to do with my hair and who loves to "play" and change up my look periodically!

I am wearing sage green capris and an old white tshirt....nothing that would suffer from an accidental splattering of hair dye.

I am going to give my house a good once over tomorrow morning.

I am currently reading The Sixth Wife.

I am hoping for a good night's sleep.

On my mind is getting rid of some of this "STUFF," and creating a sense of serenity.

From th kitchen come the sounds of Phil blanching corn on the cob...more farmer market goodness to be savored later.

Around the house rest boxes and boxes of stuff from my parents' home. Photos to be gone through and sorted out for my brother and sisters, as well as different odds and ends that need a new home.

One of my favorite things dark chocolate covered pretzels. Sweet and salty...oh, my, goodness!

I'm creating journal pages that make me smile.

A few plans for the rest of the week...get ready for Alex's christening, paint my toenails purple, and smile at the new goodies from Chico's in my closet.

From my lens...

 
Twilight over Oyster Bay, Assateague, VA

 

Today

 

It's war today...me and technology.

I've won a few and lost a few battles over these past several hours.

So far, technology's winning the battle of trying to upload a journal page scan to share with you.

That battle's being fought on the downstairs computer. It just occured to me to wander upstairs to see what would happen.

Downstairs...the scanned image will NOT upload.

Upstairs...this picture uploaded almost instantly!

Hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnn....

Should I mail the image to myself?

At one point all computers in this household (and there are far too many!) were networked. Ever since FIOS, only certain computers will talk to each other. Sort of like families...right?

So, admire this picture of the sunset, taken just a week ago yesterday. Don't you just want to sigh?

The colors are true...I didn't do a thing in photoshop but add juat a tad of contrast.

As the saying goes, "Who can improve on Mother Nature?"

Life Is Good!

 
Spent last week at the beach with this cutie!

Sun. Sand. Surf.

Clams. Crabs. Candy.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat!

Life is really really good!

Catching up here...more soon. Hope you're loving your summer!