Collage and Drawings

Hello Readers!

The Easter-A-Thon is in progress over at AFA this weekend. (The link's up there on the sidebar.) I've been doing some drawing.

I'll probably be doing some more drawing this evening.

Tomorrow, which is Easter, I will probably be doing some more drawing. In the morning, round bout 11 or so my presence is requested next door at my sister's for Brunch. I'm supposed to be bringing the sausage gravy and biscuits we're going to be eating for brunch. 

I got that covered...all but the actual making of said biscuits and gravy. That will happen between 10 and 11 in the morning. I think I can handle it! Luckily I just have to get it all across the backyard to sister's house. Will have to commandeer a body to carry the dutch oven. I have trouble picking that thing up when it's empty. Half full of gravy? Ain't no way I could carry it across the backyard!  Head count for brunch is right at 12, so I'll be needing a good bit of gravy! 16 biscuits as well. I cheated with the biscuits...I bought canned. I may whip up a batch from scratch too...those people can put the food away...we may need more than 16 biscuits. Scratch biscuits are ALMOST as easy as canned!

My muse isn't really into making art today. 

I'm thinking a change of scenery is what is needed for the muse so I'm going to go sit in my chair in the living room after I'm done here and see what I can do with a needle and thread today.

I made all of these in the last 30 some hours. I offered them all up for trade in the Athon, traded a few of them. 

Gray Winged Cat

ATC

markers on cardstock

This one found a new home.

Bunny's Prank

ATC

markers on cardstock

Orange Pig

ATC

markers on cardstock

This one found a new home, which surprised the heck out of me!

I really thought the marker I picked up to color the pig, was pink. Some days I see alright and other days; I'm blind as a bat!

 It usually works out that the drawings I think suck big time, are the ones snatched up the quickest! 

Orange Pig is headed to The Netherlands and an APC (altered playing card) is headed to Kansas! 

Red Winged Blackbird

Bookmark

markers on cardstock

Scratching Bunny

ATC

markers on cardstock

Tiger In The Woods

ATC

markers on cardstock

This one found a new home.

Blue and Orange Jug

ATC

markers on cardstock

Winged Bunny

ATC

markers on cardstock

Zentangle Taurus

ATC

markers on cardstock

Lady Bug

ATC

markers on cardstock

Nothing But Luck

ATC

markers on cardstock

Spotted Sexton Beetle

ATC

markers on cardstock

Around my neck of the woods we call these Rove Beetles. Any beetle with short wing covers is referred to as a rove beetle. These guys eat decaying matter. When I was in high school (oh so many years ago!), in Zoology Class we had to assemble an insect collection. I really like bugs so this wasn't a daunting task to me. It was an adventure!!  I came across a barrel of rotting grain in my search for bugs one day. In it were five of these guys. The one's I found were black and white, not red. I caught 2 of them for the collection. Turns out these black and white rove beetles were not supposed to have been in my neck of the woods at all! They were well out of their known range. I kept one of the beetles for my collection and the other beetle went into the collection of the high school I attended. I had about 65 individuals in my collection, all housed in a wood and glass display case.Years later, my husband gave my insect collection away to a little boy who came to our yard sale with his mother. I was out running errands when this occurred. The Mr. never did like that insect collection, even though he knew it was one of my prized possessions. I was so mad at him for giving it away!

I still collect insects, though not on the scale I did before I was married! There are a couple of dead bugs in my freezer right now, waiting to be pinned and preserved. 

Drawing bugs is a lot less time consuming and no bugs die at the hand of the Bug Murderer. 

There are a few unfinished ATC drawings laying on this desk that will probably end up in the circular file. My muse jumped ship on drawing and trying to go on without her is like me trying to captain the ship when I'm just the lowly maid who makes the beds. Disaster is sure to happen!

So I switched to making postcards. Almost every postcard I've made is made in collage. There are a few painted ones, but there are no drawn postcards from me. I've no idea why that is. My muse just doesn't draw postcards apparently.

At any rate, I proceeded to drag out all the paper bits and bobs. I decided owls would be the way to go...

Pink Stripe Owl 

Postcard

collage

I really need to practice with collage. Some times the elements just fall in place with little thought needed for a successful collage to emerge. Other times, all the thought in the world isn't going to help! 

This one is a bit in between somewhere. In other words, I ain't real crazy about it!

Hedgehog Owl

Postcard

collage

And then this ugly thing comes along...I ruined it by outlining the owl with the fat sharpie...or so I thought I had any way. The addition of the hedgehog and the kitten should have been second thought. I knew the second I glued the kitten down, something wasn't right! I am not fond of this one at all, but what the hell do I know???? This one is headed to South Carolina. And it's going naked which means everyone can see the ugly thing! Art really is in the eye of the beholder! Those who create art know nothing!

I'll be getting a lovely altered postage stamp ATC in exchange!

Things got a bit better when I gave up on the owls.

Apple Pie 

Postcard

collage

I like this one best of all the postcards! 

That's about all I have for today.

The old body wants to go back to sleep but I really need to stay awake for a few hours.

We'll see what happens in the living room!

I'm off to play with fabric and thread!

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831

Some Fishes, A Cleaning "Lady" and Stripes

Hello Readers!

I've been a bit lazy the last few days. 

The trash men didn't get a chance to have their work cut out for them when they picked up the rubbish on Wednesday. All that crap in the burnt house is still in the burnt house cause it didn't make it to the trash bin on Wednesday morning. It rained on Tuesday and Wednesday is the reason all that crap's still in the house. We really wanted it to dry out a bit before the trash men came to get it so we just stacked it all by the front door and said we'd take it out on Wednesday morning. It was raining Wednesday morning. I was sleeping Wednesday morning and Ma didn't really feel like getting out in the rain to wake my hide to help her take it to the trash bins.

Two things were accomplished....the crap dried out somewhat cause it wasn't out in the rain and it wasn't still sitting under the leaks in the roof of the burnt house. Hopefully, the weather permitting and my old body cooperating, it will be in the trash bins come Wednesday next. The trash guys will be much happier with a heap of dry cardboard boxes full of paper than they would have been with wet crap!

I have been lazy in that there isn't a lot to show since the last post. My muse isn't gungho at the moment and I'm pushing her! All I really want to do these days is sit in front of this stupid machine playing Mahjongg! That is not a productive day! 

The day before yesterday I started on yet another project. 

I was straightening things up on the shelf in the kitchen where I keep the painting supplies. I was looking for the gold paint actually...I came across a basket of chipboard fish I had started way back in September, October?, somewhere round there...I abandoned that project for the same reason I have abandoned (apparently) the flamingo...the muse just was not talking about it! 

Well, she changed her tune when I unearthed them again and we've been going at fish like gangbusters!

26 of the little devils!

At the moment, the fishes are just armatures.

I'm waiting for the glue holding the fins on to dry right now.
I intend to have all 26 of them paper mached before daylight! 

Yes, I have changed my days and nights around again! 

I did a couple drawings since the last post:

Cleaning the Lair

ATC

markers on cardstock

Zebra

4x4

markers on thick mat board

I need some new Bic Markers! Gonna have to raid the piggy bank and buy me some!

That's all I got today, people!

It's cold, rainy and I want the sunshine to return!

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

831

Paintings, Drawings A Few Birds and Weather

Hello Readers! 

I finished the fish glue painting. 

I didn't exactly follow the tutorial for a glue painting. I drew the koi and outlined with white glue as you all saw in the last post, but that's about as far as followed along. I did my own thing instead. The tutorial that gave me this idea had you cover the whole thing with gold paint and then after that dried a wash of brown to highlight the raised areas. Gold would have helped this koi a bit but I couldn't find the bottle of gold paint to save my soul last night so we have no gold on the koi. 

I covered it all with black paint, let it dry and then did the blue and white on the background and then the yellow and orange of the fish. I let it dry overnight before I added the finishing touches.

This one is 4x4 inches on illustration board.

Orange Mountain Lake

Chunky Page

Monochromatic Orange ....I used only orange, white, black and a bit of yellow acrylic for this one.

It is 4x4inches on thick mat paper

This one was started sometime last month. It is an oil pastel resist with regular pastels, colored pencil, graphite and a bit of marker. The regular pastels and the markers do not play nicely so there isn't much marker on there! This one is on cardstock, 3x4 inches. I'm thinking it will be part of a handmade book cover in the future. Either that or a postcard. It's not the best owl I've ever drawn!

Acrylics on cardstock.

Sea Nettle Jellyfish 

ATC

You all realize I've never seen a real jellyfish. They are rare as hen's teeth, maybe rarer, here on the plains of Kansas! This one was a challenge! I'm not sure I captured the true essence of a jellyfish. It resembles my reference picture, but I don't know....I had the paints out when I came across a request for a sea nettle jellyfish so I looked it up on wiki and JUST had to paint one. I hope it really does resemble a sea nettle!

At the Wedding

ATC 

markers on cardstock

I drew this one on the 31st of March but colored it just today.

I changed the paper on the painting table!

Those paper tube flowers are still not done though.

Instead, I played around with the paper mache birds that have sitting on the painting table since before Thanksgiving! I thought there were only four of them there but when I got to digging around, I found five of them! Two of them are now ready for their hangers but the other three need some finishing touches still. I'll show them to you all when they get done.

This one was PURPLE before I gave it a coat of black and a dry brushing of white. It still needs help.

I told you about two monsters in the works yesterday. I was going to cut out a monster this afternoon but my mother came along and we cleaned out in the burnt house this some. Then we went to town for an hour or so. When I finally found the spare moment to cut that monster out of that rabbit fur collar, it was raining out so I couldn't take it out on the front porch to do it. I learned my lesson about cutting that thing in the house! There was green rabbit fur all over the carpet in front of my chair in the livingroom when I cut the satin backing off that collar! That monster will have to wait till tomorrow!

I did get a picture of the front edge of the rain storm that's happening as I type. This is looking to the south out the back door. It's a crappy picture cause someone didn't change the setting on the camera from close ups to distance! 

This is looking northwest out the backdoor. Another sunset!

It's raining to beat the band right now! I battened down the hatches good before it started so I won't have wet seats in the van in the morning and there shouldn't be big puddles in the burnt house from the doors being left open.

I do not want to, but I must go out to the burnt house with my flashlight and see just exactly where those leaks are in the roof!

Ma and I got the tub room cleaned today. There's not a tub in that room any longer but it's called the tub room cause there used to be a claw-footed bathtub in there before the house burned. I loved that tub! There are boxes of koosies, key chains, plastic bags, hanging lights, awards folders, magnetic clips and presentation folders in that room now. There's a nasty old sofa in that room too but it's out of there as soon as my brother comes along to take it out!  I don't know why those boys didn't take that bachelor couch out of that room instead of stacking all those boxes on top of it. It wouldn't have been too bad but it leaks in that room and the sofa and a bunch of those boxes got soaked! That sofa is DISGUSTING! We can't even really call it a bachelor couch anymore! It's trash now!

Yesterday that room was packed to the rafters with just a path to get from one side of it to the other. We threw away about half the contents of that room cause it was ruined from being wet. 

The leaky roof is on the west end of the house. It's a flat roof on that section and when the house burnt, it burnt twice in that part of the house. First at about 5a.m. and then again around 10p.m. The roof was never really fixed, it was only patched. That was almost seven years ago and the patches need patched again! Only good thing is, the house has concrete floors!

My workroom out there is coming together nicely also. 

Alright!

I've rambled enough for one day!

You all be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace, friends!

831

A Trip to the Lake, Stars and UFOs

Hello Everyone!

The weather has been GORGEOUS in my neck of the woods for the past few days! 

I took advantage of having wheels again and took my sister and the dog to the lake for awhile Thursday evening. It WAS Susan's idea, but it was a good one!

Rooks State Lake is about 5 miles from my front door. It's way down from the last time I was out there. When we drove into this spot, there were about 4, maybe 5 dozen ducks on the water but they all flew to the middle of the lake. You might be able to see some ducks if you look at the picture full size. It's probably a good thing they did move away cause Fred dog was faunchin' to get in that water! 

That dog hadn't been swimming since probably September. 

I think the water is still a bit chilly. Highs in the 80s for a few days is not enough time to warm the water considerably. 

Fred really didn't seem to mind the water temperature though. He swam a bit, ran around a bit, swam some more, ran around a bit....there was exploring to be done! 

 When he went off down the lake shore I was getting in the van to drive over to where he was heading.  He came running, about knocked me over and got the driver's seat soaking wet with muddy paw prints....fool dog! The water droplets all over the window in the picture above are in the inside! My sister was sitting in the passenger seat. She was as speckled as the windows when that giant black dog decided to shake off the lake water! Fool Dog, I say, Fool Dog! So he rode over to where he had been heading, quite fine on his own, and got out of the van to swim some more. 

Lots of flowering shrubs and trees in bloom right now. 

I believe these are either wild currants or gooseberries. 

Thunderheads building to the east. 

Love, love, love that shade of green! 

We did not get any rain from those clouds. 

This is sumac. The Native American Indians made a lemonade aid type drink from the ripe berries of sumac in the fall. Perhaps I'll give that a try when the time is right. These are last years berries you're seeing. Lots of critters feed on the sumac.

Sunset on the lake. 

It was even prettier being there!

This is Fred's favorite swimming hole.

We had a fantastic evening at the lake with the dog in tow! 

My muse is not in top form this week at all! 

I've got a lot going on but not much being accomplished.

We'll start with the glittered stars cause I have accomplished a bit with them! 

This is the other side of the stars all glittered and now waiting for the next step.

I wish I'd of taken a picture of those four stars that acted very strange when I put the acrylic varnish over the glitter after the glue had all dried. It crackled, such as a crackle medium will make acrylic paint crackle. I've never seen glitter act that way. It was two different types of glitter...I fixed it by adding a layer of glue and reglittering to hide the cracks. 

That table is a mess!!!

I gathered up all the glittered stars and put them in a mushroom box. I took them to the deskroom with intentions of making them into garlands yesterday. 

I made a bunch of wire jumprings and came to a dead standstill when I started attaching the stars together.

It just wasn't working. So put everything back in the mushroom box and sat it on the kitchen table. It's best to walk away from a project when conflict rears its ugly head! Experience tells me this!

So this afternoon I gathered up the necessary supplies and got busy from the recliner in the livingroom. 

The picture above should really be below 

and 

the picture below should really be above

There are 12 stars on each garland. 

Top picture shows the detail of the jump rings and chain between each star.

The garlands are about 5 feet long overall.

I'll be sending these to my two daughters-in-law just cause I love them! 

They are great women...they treat my boys well and they both gave me grand babies!

I need to figure out a better way to take pictures of garlands. 

I ended up with only 11 stars. That means there were only 35 of them to begin with. 

I'm thinking this is a UFO project. I need to locate the metal embroidery hoop I ran across in the burnt house the other day. It's going to be the hoop and the stars, the hangy downers of a mobile. 

That would be the blue mushroom box.

Another UFO. 

That box of orange and white paper should eventually resemble one of these. The orange paper is white on one side and was originally envelopes. The white paper is just plain ol' copy paper.

The envelope book has only been laying around since January.

I worked on it in February and didn't touch it the entire month of March till I gathered all its components together yesterday while doing some cleaning in the cutting room.

this one just lost all momentum because it once had a destination and now it does not. I lost my focus on it when the recipient backed out. I'm not very fond of the color pink. It wouldn't of been my first choice but that is the choice that was chosen and now it doesn't even matter.  Now that I've unearthed it from the 'pit' that is the cutting room, it may start talking to me again.

I have been thinking about sewing books lately. Only thinking though, no action has been taken.

Yet.

And as though I don't have enough UFOs already....I started a glue painting project yesterday.

this one will be a chunky page. 4x4 inches. 

It's a new project for me in that I've never done this technique before. You all will see it finished in the next post cause I intend to drag out the paints and finish it before I call it a day!

There's that half-done monster (yet another UFO!) 

that I was talking about a few posts back.

It has just dawned on me, there is another monster in the works at the sewing table too.

Monsters should not be as small as the colorful undone monster shown. They should be large enough to easily turn right-side out. It's going to be a chore to do that to this one when he's ready.

The other UFO Monster used to be a fur collar for a woman's coat. 

You'll get to see it soon.

Poor Flamingo has fainted from waiting so long to get some more attention!

My muse is mad at this critter for some reason. 

Maybe I should make some paper clay....

I'd have to move that stubborn bird to get to the bucket of joint compound under my orange mixing bowl and maybe that would jar things up? Probably not. I think what's holding me back on this bird is his legs. I need to tackle that issue and then things should go smoothly. 

Paper clay will have to be made sometime soon though.

Not just one, but two UFOs. (Even more than that if you count each individual. We won't. It's bad enough I have a list of UFOs as long as it is! Let's not really count them!) :)

There are the paper mache birds that were started way back in November of 2011. 

And there are the paper tube flowers that lay scattered in a heap! 

those flowers are harder than they look! 

I spent a few hours off and on in the cutting room last night, reorganizing things, throwing crap out, tidying the messes! Wish I could say that room is spick and span! It's not. I didn't even make it half way cross the floor! Good thing it is not a huge room!

Ma has been motivating me out in the burnt house to get things organized. We spent Tuesday tidying up the kitchen in the house and then the next three days out in the burnt house. Wednesday brother helped us.

Bunch of junk out there! The trash men will have their work cut out for them! 

I have UFOs piling up, but that is not anything new really. These I've shared will be completed and there will be more to take their place! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only creative person who UFOs. I've only shown the ones of recent vintage! We won't even discuss others. I assure you, there are others!

Be good to one another!

It matters!!!

Peace, Friends

831

Some Things To Share

Hello Readers!

I really don't have a lot to show for the days that have passed since I last posted.

I'm working on a new origami project that is giving me fits.

I spent a day out in the burnt house going through crap out there so no art got made that day.

I haven't touched the tiny monster. He's still only half-sewn.

I said my drawing muse was faunchin' at the bit in the last post but there are no new drawings to show. I didn't let her run like she wanted and now she's gone off to pastures elsewhere for the time being.

I did drag out the glitter!

Made myself a right fine mess with that glitter! And left it all over the kitchen table for the last two days,

leaving these stars unfinished as well. I'll be making a bigger mess with the glitter in days to come when I finish up these stars. I'm not even certain what these stars are going to turn into. My mother suggested a mobile or two. I've never made a mobile. Ever. Not even sure how to go about it! 

I was thinking star garlands for my two daughters-in-law. They both adore stars! And who doesn't like a bit of glitter?

There are, I think, 36 stars. I'd have to count them again to be certain. Either 35 or 36. You count them and then if I'm way off you can set me straight! :)

At any rate, I cut out a boatload of stars from a cake mix box and an ice cream bar box. They've been glittered on the unpainted side of the box. I'll give them all a layer of colored paper to correspond with the glitter color they'll get on the other side.

I have TONS of glitter! Ok, maybe not TONS, but a LOT!

Each of those stars has a different color glitter. The backsides probably won't match the front sides as I don't think I can remember correctly which glitter is on which star! 

It was fun making a mess with that glitter. I haven't mopped the kitchen floor yet but when I do, that mop is gonna sparkle! I had glitter on the ends of my toes that day! 

Sparklies everywhere!

Gotta love it!

I'm working on some toilet paper tube flowers as well. You can see a few of them at the top of the picture with the glittery stars. They're giving me a hard time just like that danged flamingo and that origami project I took up yesterday. 

There are bound to be lulls in the creativity from time to time. I'll keep soldiering on though.

I updated my list of things made thus far earlier today.

By my calculations, there are 200 items on that list already so I'm way ahead of the goal of making 366 things this year! One for each day of the year.

Spring appears to have arrived in my neck of the woods!

Honey bees are sampling the pear tree blossoms, insuring pears will form. Its all up to the weather as how well they do.

I took this picture today, late in the afternoon. There were many different kinds of insects on the pear tree and on the plum bushes.

I am hoping for another bumper crop of pears this year. 

Pray for no heavy frosts. 

The winter wheat in the north forty is looking good!

That isn't my wheat...it just grows right next to my property. And I don't know that that really is the north forty either. I call it that cause it's to the north.

This is my favorite shade of green!

It was a beautiful day today! 

Fred agrees! He stayed outside most of the day.

And the last thing to show you all is the yellow zippered container I sewed up yesterday. 

It is 2 two liter soda bottles with a zipper sewn to the bottoms of said bottles. 

I got a boatload of zippers in the mail this past week for just this purpose! You'll see more of these as soon as I gather some more soda bottles. I gave up Coca Cola so I don't generate too many plastic bottles.

Any plastic bottle will work. You just need to be able to poke holes in and have a zipper long enough to go around it! Easy to make!!!! 

Guess that's all for today....

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

(if only....)

831