Karen's Muse and Musings

For a Worthy Cause

I'm participating in Ties That Bind, an effort to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Here is the mission statement which also describes the project, a handmade doll to be auctioned for the cause.

Our mission is simple in concept. Artists united in their creativity to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Our project: Ties That Bind. A hand made doll created with heart and soul, donning hand embellished men's dress ties and hand born charms. 100% of the profit goes to the OCRF, in support of their mission to help ovarian cancer patients and their loved ones.

The doll will be auctioned at some point in the future, and I'll keep you informed. I created a charm to decorate the bodice.

The collage is tiny — 1-1/4 inches — and I added it to an acrylic tile, Clearz Tilez from Tim Holtz. I used DG3 Art Gel from JudiKins to attach the collage and the hope charm to the tile. My inspiration came from Emily Dickinson's poem.

HOPE is the thing with feathers   
That perches in the soul,   
And sings the tune without the words,   
And never stops at all,   
 
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm   
That could abash the little bird   
That kept so many warm.   
 
I ’ve heard it in the chillest land,   
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,   
It asked a crumb of me.

Little Things Get Me Through the Day

Don't you agree that it's the little things that make life worth living? As much as I look forward to big, wonderful events such as the imminent arrival of my grandson, I think it's those small bits of happiness that get me through the day. The soft persistent snoring of my dog underneath my desk as I type at my computer. A fresh new bar of soap in the shower. The happy memories evoked by an old song on the radio. And sometimes a little unexpected surprise.

Yesterday when I stepped out onto our patio, there was a leaf lying upside down on the table. (It's been unusually windy and strangely fall-like here in Atlanta, very unusual in August.) I picked it up to throw it away, but when I turned it over, I saw the most beautiful colors, ranging from pale yellow to beautiful coral. I scanned it to preserve the moment, and here it is, but of course it was even more beautiful in real life. How I'd love to have a silk scarf in these colors!

Recently I had a another serendipitous moment when I opened a package of old letters I had purchased on eBay. Of course, I bought them for the beautiful penmanship and the history in the letters, but when I turned one of the letters over, I was amazed at what had happened. The letter had been folded, and the side hidden from the light remained pale while the exposed side aged.

Just for fun, I combined my two surprises in Photoshop, using the multiply blending tool.

I have one more thing to share — my final artwork in the colors round robin. This is for Joyce's book using her choice of colors, robin's egg blue and old paper.

Three-Part Harmony

I've been working in Sue Berry's book for our pock-et-FULL round robin. It wasn't exactly work, it was a labor of love. Her book, Angels and Icons, is so beautiful. She constructed her pages out of paper bags into an arch shape with a pocket — clever girl, that Sue! I used some more of the old Schirmer choral music for the background. At the top are the words, Women's Voices, and underneath that, Three-Part Choruses. Imagine my excitement when I found an image of three cemetery angels. I think monuments with three angels must be fairly rare. Here is the insert that fits in the pocket.

Here's the back of the page which actually turned out to be my favorite part.

 

The cross rubber stamps are from Layers of Color's Gothic Crosses stamp set. I also used rubber stamps from Stamper's Anonymous and Stampington & Co.

Meet Bobby

A beautiful cabinet card arrived in my mail yesterday from Christine. I just love this little boy with his ball and his adorable toy horse — so much so that I sat right down and created this collage sheet.

Here's a little poem from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Looking Forward

When I am grown to man's estate
I shall be very proud and great,
And tell the other girls and boys
Not to meddle with my toys.

Time for a New Look

In honor of the recent first anniversary of my Typepad blog, I decided to freshen things up by trying a new look. After completing the "remodeling," I searched for a poem to fit the renewal theme. However, I found this lovely poem by Robert Frost, and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so this is my offering for you today.

The Exposed Nest

You were forever finding some new play.
So when I saw you down on hands and knees
In the meadow, busy with the new-cut hay,
Trying, I thought, to set it up on end,
I went to show you how to make it stay,
If that was your idea, against the breeze,
And, if you asked me, even help pretend
To make it root again and grow afresh.
But ’twas no make-believe with you to-day,
Nor was the grass itself your real concern,

Though I found your hand full of wilted fern,
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clover.
’Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over
(Miraculously without tasting flesh)

And left defenseless to the heat and light.
You wanted to restore them to their right
Of something interposed between their sight
And too much world at once—could means be found.
The way the nest-full every time we stirred

Stood up to us as to a mother-bird
Whose coming home has been too long deferred,
Made me ask would the mother-bird return
And care for them in such a change of scene
And might our meddling make her more afraid.

That was a thing we could not wait to learn.
We saw the risk we took in doing good,
But dared not spare to do the best we could
Though harm should come of it; so built the screen
You had begun, and gave them back their shade.

All this to prove we cared. Why is there then
No more to tell? We turned to other things.
I haven’t any memory—have you?—
Of ever coming to the place again
To see if the birds lived the first night through,

And so at last to learn to use their wings.

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.

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.