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.

Where has the time gone?

It has been over THREE YEARS since my last blog post! I knew it had been a while, but I can't believe it's been that long. A lot has happened during these years including my mother's death and the birth of another grandson. Losing my mother took away any desire to create. Thankfully, that desire has returned. So, I don't know if anyone is out there since you've probably all given up on me, but here it is — my first post in over 3 years.

In an effort to get the creative juices flowing again, I decided to particpate in The Documented Life Project. The theme for January is "The Blank Page and How to Face It." This past week's art challenge was the color wheel, and the journal prompt was a quote from Georgia O'Keefe:

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way..."

So here is my interpretation of the challenge and prompt.

I began by gluing down patterned tissue paper with matte medium. Then I painted Golden Fluid Acrylics Titanium White to tone down and partially hide the tissue paper. After that, I used Distress Paint (Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feather, Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans) to paint over my background. I dabbed and smeared with my fingers. I should have photographed my fingers during this process, but you can imagine! Then I used this texture tool with the white acrylic paint to put white spots and dribbles all over. I die cut the letters to spell out color. I decided the spread reminded me of a garden, so I cut this poem written by Vita Sackville-West.

This little space which scented box encloses
Is blue with lupins and is sweet with thyme
My garden all is overblown with roses,
My spirit all is overblown with rhyme.
As like a drunken honeybee I waver
From house to garden and again to house;
And, undetermined which delight to favour,
On verse and rose alternatively carouse.

I scattered some random words around the page, then stamped a honeybee image and a flourish in black ink.

I'm excited to approach the next week's challenge, so hopefully it won't take me 3 years to get back here!

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!

Lovely Day

So, I've had the loveliest day completing a course for my real estate license CE requirements. The course was Construction Details and Trends, and it was absolutely fascinating. Can you say sarcasm? I knew you could.

Now that's behind me, and it's on to more fun endeavors. I am joining a knit along sponsored by Joyce of Elliebelly. It's called the Elliebelly Knit-n-Telly. (I don't care how look at it, that's a much better name than Construction Details and Trends!) Click here for more info on the knit along. Here is the gorgeous Elliebelly yarn I'm using.

I am going to knit some soakers for my sweet grandson Patrick, almost 5 months old now. I don't usually post much about my knitting, but I will post photos as I go along. Here is a beautiful photo of Patrick and his mommy, Dana, taken recently at the beach.

This is my 399th post! In my next post, I will celebrate reaching 400 posts by giving something away. Come back!

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.

Whew!

This is my third week of keeping TWO grandchildren two and a half days a week. Bobby will be 3 in September, and Patrick (or Butterbean as I affectionately call him) is almost 4 months old. I definitely know why God's plan is for young women to have the babies. It is hard work, but I am getting into the swing of it now. I am not as wiped out tonight as I have been on other nights after they have gone home. I am preciously guarding the days they are not here, hoping to use them for art and sewing. Fortunately, I am participating in a fairly easy project that came together pretty quickly. It is for my Painted Page group, and the assignment is to create 2 journal pages — the backgrounds, that is. Andi will take everyone's pages and assemble them into a book. When we receive our books, we can then journal on the pages. Here are my backgrounds.

I confess that I am not much of a journaler. I have started art and writing journals before, only to abandon them shortly thereafter. I'm hoping that having all these pretty backgrounds prepared by my friends will inspire me.

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.

Father's Day Spread

Yes, I know Father's Day was last weekend, but I just finished this spread for the Holidays Altered Book round robin. This month I have Jo Ann Grissom's book, and I asked her if she had any vintage photos of her father I could use to make it more personal for her. The timing was perfect because she had just come across some old photos she had never seen before.

It was fun to work with a masculine theme for a change, and it gave me a chance to use some of those Tim Holtz supplies I've been hoarding, like the filmstrip ribbon below.

For some reason these layouts and colors remind me of my grandfather. He was a mechanic and an avid photographer. I remember going into his darkroom when I was little; everything in there was in these colors. I have an old camera that he actually built, and I'm thinking of taking it to the Antiques Roadshow. (Warren and I have tickets in August.) I know it won't be of any great value except to me and the rest of my family, but I'm always seeing a lot of interest in American handmade items on the show, so it might be interesting to see what they have to say about it.