Karen's Muse and Musings

Gothic Arch — Viva la France

Viva la France! This week's theme at Gothic Arches was selected by Frieda Oxenham, fabric artist extraordinaire. Click on her name to visit her blog and see her amazing art.

East Meets West

Asian is the theme for this week's Gothic Arches. It's funny because it's not my first choice for art style, but my friend, Shirley, has been here this weekend, and on Friday we ate Thai food, and yesterday we ate sushi! So something definitely is in the air.

Shirley and I have had a delightful time together. Eating, of course, was one of the highlights, but so was shopping. I took her to some of my favorite local stores where we definitely did some damage. (Warren, honey, if you're reading this — Shirley did most of the shopping!) Afterwards we came home and drank Grey Goose martinis and shared art tips — the perfect way to spend an evening.

Boy with Goose

Make up your own story to go with this one.

You can now order prints of my artwork such as this one at Etsy.

 

Goose photographed by my good friend Joanne Thieme Huffman and used with her permission. Thank you, Joanne.

Blackbird

Another arch for Heather.

The quote is from a poem by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903).

The Blackbird

The nightingale has a lyre of gold,
    The lark's is a clarion call,
And the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute,
    But I love him best of all.

For his song is all of the joy of life,
    And we in the mad, spring weather,
We two have listened till he sang
    Our heart and lips together.

Enough said?

A Thing of Beauty

When my husband brought home those precious, old baby shoes, he also brought a portrait of a beautiful woman. Unknown and forgotten, now she has a home in my studio, and she is the focal point of this arch I made for my friend, Heather. I photoshopped her with an arch we photographed in Siena — two beautiful objects combine to make "A Thing of Beauty."

Transitions

I was honored to be asked by Nancy to be the guest hostess of Gothic Arches this week. What does that mean? It means I get to pick the theme, and it's ... Transitions!

It has already begun to look like Spring here in Georgia, so my inspiration was the gradual change from winter to spring, and sometimes winter doesn't want to go! Like this weekend, it's cold and yesterday snow fell on the budding trees and daffodils in my yard. Oh, but spring will win. Eventually.

Memorial

Last week my mother-in-law, Kitty, passed away. She had Alzheimer's disease, and in many ways had left us several years ago. Still, it is very sad to know that she is no longer with us in this world. Kitty was a remarkable woman, beautiful with a bold spirit. In 1939 she became one of the first stewardesses for Delta Airlines at a time when being a registered nurse was a requirement. This past Saturday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution printed a lovely article about her along with a gorgeous photo of her in front of an old Delta airplane. I scanned the article, and hopefully it will be readable when I insert it at the end of this post.

In one of those interesting twists of fate, this week's theme for Gothic Arches is History. This gave me a perfect opportunity to use this historic photo of Kitty and make a little tribute to her.

Now here's the article. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Old School

This is my entry for this week's Gothic Arches with the theme, Old School Days. I did the photo transfer of the school children a while back, and I dug it out because I thought they would be perfect.

Thinking back on my grammar school days, my favorite memory is of a yellow vinyl raincoat, hat and galoshes that my mother bought me. I actually loved rainy days because I could wear my yellow treasures when I walked to school. Boy, have things changed!