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.

Every Inchie Monday — Heart

A poor torn heart, a tattered heart,   
That sat it down to rest,   
Nor noticed that the ebbing day   
Flowed silver to the west,   
Nor noticed night did soft descend
Nor constellation burn,   
Intent upon the vision   
Of latitudes unknown.   
 
The angels, happening that way,   
This dusty heart espied;
Tenderly took it up from toil   
And carried it to God.   
There,—sandals for the barefoot;   
There,—gathered from the gales,   
Do the blue havens by the hand
Lead the wandering sails.

– Emily Dickinson (1830-86)

St. Cecilia

I just completed my skinny pages for the month of February. These pages are going to Lisa who likes cemetery images, saints, gothic anything, gargoyles, medieval, Renaissance images, angels, the Madonna/child, contrasts between the dark and the light, Marie Antoinette, historical royalty. So you can see that I had a lot to choose from, but I chose a saint and a medieval woman. The collage above features St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. It is said that while being put to death, she sang to God. Oh, that I would have the courage and the peace of mind to do that upon my death! The actual image of St. Cecilia above is from a painting by Guido Reni done in 1606. Isn't she beautiful? I love the porcelain quality of her skin and the rapturous look in her eyes. She lived and died in the 5th century, and the violin had not yet been developed, but who cares?

For the other side, I chose an image of a medieval shepherdess. I'm assuming she was a shepherdess because of the sheep and the shepherd's staff, but wasn't she well dressed for herding sheep? She's a scholarly shepherd too, reading a book while tending her flock.

It's the last weekend of the month, and I have several projects to mail off by Tuesday the 1st. So, it's on to the next one! Procrastination — isn't it a lovely thing?

Lovely Day!

In spite of the cold and rainy weather, my day was lovely because of all the beautiful things that arrived in my mailbox. First of all, there were my Valentine welcome banners. If you haven't seen the other banners we've done, each of us in the swap took a letter to spell out the word welcome.

These cheery hearts will now brighten up our entry way. Next are the matchboxes altered by my talented friends and filled with tiny surprises.

from
Joanne Thieme Huffman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Kari McKnight-Holbrook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Kathy McElroy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Beth Bricker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  from Sue Trump who unfortunately does not have a blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both the banner and matchbox swap were hosted by Kathy McElroy, and she is the best hostess ever. She always sends goodies to accompany the swaps. Anyone who sends me chocolate is my BFF. What can I say? I guess I'm easy!

Last, but certainly not least, are my charming chunky Valentine blocks from my friend Jean Carter.

 

Stone Angels

If you follow my blog, you probably know how much I love stone angels. So, when I had free choice of subject matter for my friend Debby's skinny pages, I gladly chose angels.

Our skinny pages are 4" x 8", and I find these proportions very easy to work with.

This round robin has been a long one, beginning in January 2010 and ending April 2011. Now that it's coming to a close, I have mixed feelings. I'm sad it's almost over, but I'm elated that soon my entire book will be complete, filled with artwork from my 15 friends who participated along with me. I'm also excited that in a couple of months I will be able to share all of the wonderful art within my book with you.

RAK

I was delighted to receive this beautiful collage from my friend Trinka Seals. Trinka is unfortunately blogless — unfortunate for you, that is, because her artwork is fabulous. Thank you, Trinka. I love this whimsical piece.

Every Inchie Monday — Maudlin

MAUDLIN |ˈmôdlin|
adjective
self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness : the drink made her maudlin | a maudlin ballad. 

I must admit I thought I knew the meaning of this word, but I did not. I was thinking it meant something more like macabre, dark or sinister, so it's good to learn the correct meaning. It wasn't an easy word to illustrate, but I decided to go digitally this week and recycle a digital artwork I did a while back.

I love this stone angel, maudlin as she is. She is located at the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

So much to do, and so little time!

I've been feeling very stressed this holiday season. I should start earlier with my preparation. I say this every year, but I don't do it. Therefore, I get stressed. My jaw hurts from clenching it so tight, and my shoulders are permanently hunched, I think. I've finally decided to try and let it go. If I don't do everything that I think I need to do before Christmas, so what? The world will keep spinning, and life will go on.

But ... if you have been wondering where I've been and what I've been up to, here are some photos to answer your questions.

Here's my tree decorated with the cones I made. Thanks again to Nancy Maxwell James of the PaperWhimsy design team for the inspiration.

This handsome gentleman is my great grandfather.

And this beautiful lady is my great grandmother.

These are the Christmas dresses I made for granddaughters Leighton and Kathleen, finally mailed off to Arkansas yesterday. I mailed them priority, and I am praying they will get there by Tuesday at the latest.

And here's 2-year-old Bobby peeking in while we're taking the photos of the dresses. He keeps me hopping on the 4 days a week he is here, but he is a joy to have around.

I have also complete some knitting projects, but since they are gifts, I can't show them now.

With all of the hubbub and stress around here, I just keep reminding myself that Jesus is the reason for the season. And deep breathing, lots of deep breathing!

The Butterfly Effect

 

I recently found out that my friend Trudi from Two Dresses Studio is sponsoring The Butterfly Effect for a great cause. Click on the link below to find out more about it, and perhaps (hopefully) you will join us.

The butterfly at the top is my first attempt for my entry. I like it, but there is text and music in the background, and I had wanted the color more transparent. So, I think I'll make another one. I do really like the texture in this one though. The black dots are fresh water pearls that I dyed with black alcohol ink. I discovered that if you really want to, you can scratch it off, but as long as you're gentle with the pearls, the ink will stay on.

You can see my very talented sister Lauren's butterfly here. My mother is making one also. She doesn't have a blog, but I'll share hers when it's done.

(I am very proud of myself that I managed to type butterfly correctly each time — at least I think I did! I tend to type butteryfly, which I have decided I really like.)