Karen's Muse and Musings

Documented Life Project Week 5

Well, I'm running a little behind. Nothing too unusual about that. At least I am staying on track and continuing this project. This is my interpretation of this week's theme, rather last week's theme, which was:

Art Challenge:  Under Paper (paper on your work table that gets all inky while you work)
Journal Prompt:  What Lies Beneath?

I used under paper in my last spread, so I was ahead of the game on that one. This week I tore strips of that paper to form the ground for my tree. Why did I choose a tree and its roots to illustrate the prompt? I can't really tell you. All I know is it came to me in the middle of the night, and I can't argue with my muse. I started to draw in the roots when that pesky muse spoke again, telling me to cut them out of old encyclopedia text. So there you have it. I started to have a bare tree, but my dear husband said it looked eerie. Normally I would just ignore him, but I'm longing for spring and decided a few spring leaves were in order. On to next week's spread!

Documented Life Project Week 4

What? It hasn't been another 3 years? Well, only 1 day later, and I've actually created a new piece to share. This is also for the Documented Life Project. This week's journal prompt is Words with Friends, and the art challenge is Writing. Above is a close-up of the right hand page and below is the entire spread.

I'm really proud of this spread because for the first time in ages I actually felt inspired. The theme helped. For several years now, I've been corresponding online with someone in the Netherlands who has become my very special and close friend. We've shared a lot of words over these years. The dictonary pages in the background were a gift from her, coming from an old dictionary that belonged to her father. The bird is a print of one of my own painted birds, and the colored paper strips behind the bird are torn from newsprint that I keep behind my art while I work. I save them because every now and again, they provide the perfect serendipitous touch.

Coming out of the funk

So, have you missed me? I know at least a few blog followers out there have noticed my absence because they have contacted me. Sometime in August, I totally lost any interest in art or blogging. It could have been the heat (which thankfully is now a thing of the past — soon I'll wish it would warm up!) or perhaps just a burnout. I don't know. I'm not sure I'm really out of the funk yet, but I have created a few things this week.

I painted three trees this week. The first two are spooky. As my friend Trinka said, "Yikes! They're creepy."

These ghostly collage/paintings are for Lisa on my OhMyGothic yahoo group as part of our 4"x4" fatbook page swap. I had so much fun painting these trees — imagine that! actually having fun doing art — that I decided to paint another tree, not spooky this time, for Trinka's 4x4 page.

If you follow my blog, you may remember that way back in August I wrote that my next post would be my 400th and I would offer a giveaway to celebrate the occasion. My math was off (that's not surprising) and this is actually my 399th post. So stay tuned. Next post I will offer a piece of my art to one commenter. I will do my best not to wait another two whole months before my next post!

Every Inchie Monday — Sunset

A quick and simple interpretation this week. I used a 1-inch piece of a background I had previously made and added the setting sun with a Marvy LePlume pen. I haven't used those things for so long. I'm amazed they weren't all dried out.

Summertime Spread

I just finished my July pages in the Holidays Altered Book round robin. I worked in Karen Campbell's (also affectionately known as Karen Brattypants) book this time. Choosing a summertime theme, I painted a seagull on this side and a rainbow trout for the opposite side.

This was the first time I painted a fish, and it was fun. I'll probably do it again. My sister has told me that I post the photos too small to see the paintings well, so here are close-ups of the bird and fish. You can click on the photo and see them even larger. Just kindly overlook any flaws you might see then!

Every Inchie Monday — Nest

Nest is today's theme at Every Inchie Monday. My art time has become so limited since I babysit my two grandsons 2-1/2 days a week that Every Inchie Monday has become Every Now and Then Inchie Monday. For this one, I cut a 1" square from a textured background I made a while ago. I sculpted a nest with lokta paper twine and glue, then I made tiny eggs from polymer clay. I used a mixture of turquoise and pearl, then dabbed a bit of brown paint on them. I made the photo here larger so you could see it better, but it's all pretty tiny.

Another 4x4

My second page for the 4x4 fatbook swap is for Leslie Anderson whose theme is "Wings". Naturally I was very happy when I saw her theme — another chance to use one of the birds I recently painted. I wanted to add a special touch so I created little egg "buttons" out of polymer clay.

From Skinny to Fat

If you follow my blog, you know about my Oh My Gothic group. We formed about 3 years ago to do a collaborative art swap each year. First year we made gothic arch-shaped pages, and the second year we made house-shaped pages. Last year we did skinny book pages, 4" wide by 8" tall. Now we are creating fat book pages, a 4" square. We are wising up in that we are now only seriously arting up one side. Still, I managed to be late. The page above is my June page, and it's for the very creative Lenna. It's a fabric collage stitched onto watercolor paper. You may recognize the bird. It's a scan of the Lincoln sparrow I painted a few weeks ago. The words (oh, by the way, Lenna's theme is quotes) are from Emily Dickinson.

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.

Lenna puts together the most amazing swaps. You should check out her swap blog here if you love to create and swap art.

A Cute Birdie with a Funny Name

This is my latest fabric collage featuring my painting of a little British bird, the long-tailed tit. I made a slight mistake when painting him by making his eye a bit too large, but it had the effect of making him quite cute, at least in my opinion. I have been wanting to mix in some paper into these collages, so the postmark and stamp are from an old envelope, dated 1906.

 

Sing Little Bird

Here's my little Carolina Wren all set up in his new home. This is the sixth bird fabric collage I've put together in the last week and a half, but this one is smaller, about 5" x 6". I love this small size. Also, this one does not have the original painting, but a scan of my original painting printed on fabric. The wren is standing on a "branch" of wired ribbon that I ruffled. Now, unfortunately, I have to take a break from these because I have a couple of art swap commitments to fulfill.