Once In a Blue Moon

I heard this a lot as a child, my mother said it all the time, so often that how could it have been just once.

So inspired by a little melancholy, a new year, a new moon, thought about painting out some of the emotion that simmers on days like this. Soup is simmering as I find a wool sock, and remember the things I meant to send home with my daughter that I didn't. I remembered most things the day our youngest daughter left. I like arrivings so much better than leavings.

Wishing you a new year filled with the things that are most important, and the things you love.

Mulitple From One

It has not been easy to paint and I haven't, my daughter is here and we get talking and or just doing things and I feel uncomfortable going to the art room, so I don't and I really want to enjoy her visit. I did spend time on the computer tho. we both did.

I took a painting that I was pleased with the background but wished I had a face that was more distinctive in personality and not so demure. So I left the face but did a lot of cropping, copying, and pasteing in photo shop and it looks like this.

I am tired of cooking, tired of groceries, and meal planning, we need some meager meals. We all need more water, soup, and some self denial. We need to feel a little empty.

Things Remembered

Some days ago just wanting to paint faces and really wanting something with some dreary colors that I do like, this painting and mix of materials came about. It felt so 50s and of course I remember those years well. When I was done I kept thinking she needed a red plastic purse, and I mean purse as we never said bag when I was a child. It could of been the ruralness of our life as the term "bag" was not used as it is now. It is mostly likely the polka dots in the dress that gives me this feeling. Vintage is the word that comes to mind even if it was not intended.

Quilt Increased Size

I am not quite sure how this will look when posted, I have am having some trouble with the photo. I used 9 fabrics including the binding,and some dotted ribbon in the quilt. A bit of stamping with permanent ink. Fabric on paper that peels off for the faces. There is no hand quilting on this piece of work. The quilting is done with machine straight stitch in a random fashion.

Woman of Scraps

I saw this paper in a bin when visiting a friend, it was in a bin to be shredded. Stripes and tulips are the paper, I used rubbing plates and paint. You will notice a blurry line in the painting as

it was scanned in two parts and then put back together with the computer. An odd size 15X8.

At this point our family is having Christmas gathering today. I should be doing preparations

and not on the computer. I didn't sleep much, thinking of icy roads, what has to be done, and now I am not even doing it.

The art quilt you see was made from an old dress and the two faces which you see were done in crayon and printed on fabric. You may not be able to see, but the snaps are still on the dress.

I saw this dress in a thrift store with the wild colored swirls and had to have it. The quilt is

24X12.

Thank you bloggers for coming by and your comments.

Distraction

This painting started when my husband and I were looking at a tiny drawer form an old sewing machine, it was his mothers and I remember asking for it as things were getting tossed at her house. He mentioned that I could use it for the design on the front of the drawer, so I did some rubbings with a burnt sienna crayon. These are done on tissue paper and glued. I wanted swirls in the work and curves, plus a rather pouty face that was more to the back of the painting, plus I wanted an unlikly situation. Also I wanted to use some pages from and old gardening book. The main purpose was to have a plan when I start. Also the plan was try to do some art that is simple in design. I failed at simple. Having too much fun always leads to just a bit more. The stenciled swirls were just too dark, so added the dots, I wanted them to compliment the birds shape.

Thank you for your visits.

Angel Youth

I have to be honest, I have said this before, faces are rather new to me, I don't understand quite how I got this young angel. I usually get a woman's face, and lately I frequently get an older

seasoned woman. It could be the roundness of this face. I would rather have character in a face, sort of pretty but sort of odd at the same time. Often when doing a piece I have to take what I get. I can go through times of feeling I know exactly what I want and times of not knowing what next to do, what additions. I have two pieces that I have not posted that were like that, I will post them if I dare, but today is this young angel who just happened.

It is time to loosen up and just paint, I will give that some effort today. We have not had family gather yet, too stormy.

Poppies, Ships, and SNOW

The snow is outside not in the painting. I was in the mood for poppies yesterday, thought how a lovely bouquet of those on the table would be for Christmas. Poppies are floppy in a vase and need searing at their ends to be fresh for a while.

This is a painting of mood, I wanted to paint a face and I wanted red and green. The other purpose was to not have a blended background overdone or too blended. I put the color on the background, then put a piece of wax paper over it and pressed the color around. I should of had two pieces of paper prepared so I could of then put the wax paper on another gessoed sheet to create another background. The poppies are from a napkin, I pretty much used the colors already on the paper for the face. A bit of stamping and a very vague ship.

Things I like

Another painting of a house, I did this a few years ago when we had a brown Christmas, the swamp scene I had done earlier. The lovely Tamarack turns gold in the fall. Hard to get just the right color, a little alizeran in the raw sienna and a bit of hookers green. a tough recipe to get just right. I had done those little pillows a time ago also, they are palm size and I wish I had left them colorful, in my program once the border is there I can't change the photos. I could make a gadget of them tho. An old lamp from childhood and chalkware angels. You can also see some hand knitted socks there, my daughter spins and knits a lot. They are on an old penny rug.

As I look toward Christmas not far off, we prepare for a winter storm that will delay things with family. It has not started yet, but I hear the winds in the pines that has a mounful sound. The juncos are gathered in mass around the feeders which are indications of a pending storm. I can hear John Denver singing about a storm and supper on the stove.

I want to paint and I will, I need to sew and I will, and run a couple errands. I may practice with my camera also.

Angel of Survival

I say this about survival as this painting was getting very close to the wastebasket. In fact I had pulled the basket closer to the work table and was clearing away scraps and cuttings. Scraps and cuttings are infact hard to toss sometimes as they hold possibilities, it is discouraging to see the scraps and snippets look better than the piece I am working on. I also tend to save the really good things and I do understand that if I used some of the really good things perhaps success would be less of a struggle.

To get to the point, as I was cleaning up I thought maybe this will work on the wings, and maybe I could change this tiny face, so small, smaller than an almond in the shell. Maybe this paper doily could add something, and some paper punch birds. All this on the floor and table. I seem to have a short term memory that most art work has a stage of looking awkward, like anything developing, like a seed started in the house it gets long and stringy before it gets just the right thing to make it stronger. So here she is.

A story of Ifs and Mights

I had spent quite a lot of time on a photo collage mixed with a couple landscape paintings, If I had done my select all before the save I would of had more than the border to show you. If the angel I had painted wasn't going down hill I would of showed you that. If I wasn't worried about Christmas travel for family I might of not made mistakes on these projects. I might be able to rescue both these things but it will take sometime IF I didn't have to do other things that concern the season. It isn't that I am wishy washy, I just don't know if I should and it might not work anyway. :>)

So here is a gaudy woman who says if only I looked like the woman in the corner and I might if I didn't have green hair.

Angel Of the Day

I have painted many, 5 of them are in a large collage 18X24 behind glass , theire background is

stenciled newspaper plus stamping in the various colors of the paintings. How many times does something turn out exactly they way you want? It did for me this time. I cannot get a clear photo of it even without out glass. The angel yesterday is in the collage and the angel with the tree is also.

This kind of art is so much fun, one of the reasons it is so much fun for me is I don't have to worry about the perspective of things in the painting. It also offers a lot of surprises that are good.

What I learned today has nothing to do with art, but it helps a lot to have a pretty face to wear a stupid hat.

Angel Of Certainty

Not feeling so certain this morning, so much to think about this time of year, then it is remembering to think about the right things. Then there is always art floating around in my head, especially the betterment of the art. Betterment might not be a word. Like eyes and why

they are difficult to get lined up correctly across a face or the same size so at least they are simular. Also the presenting of the work on the blog, how it can look one way in imaging and another when posting, plus still another way on the camera screen. Just when I think I know something I find there is so much more to know. It is me or the equipment? There is pleasure even in the struggle.

Mac and Me

Good morning, and thanks for coming by, so appreciated.

This is me in 1953, age 8, I was a tall kid and became a short adult. In school group photos I stood in back row.

In one of the Somerset magazines Lisa BiBi had a how to on altering photos I was captured by the work. As a Child once said, Dad when did the world become colored it must not of happened yet in this photo of Mac and me. Mac and Me is what I wrote on the picture at that time.

I made a copy on card stock, did some watercolor painting on me and the background, I added the dots from paper. I am sitting on and old broken table that was quite low. Somehow it has a floating feeling. I get a Wizard of Oz feeling when I look at it. The original is also in this altered photo.

This is not important at all, but that dog was the naughtiest dog I can remember in my life. He sure looks cute there tho. We have all learned that cute and naughty can go together.

Frosty leaves

Funny how something tossed aside can become part of a piece of art work. I had stamped these leaves on paper, the stamping was not clean or crisp. It was on the floor, yesterday while painting, and I wanted something sort of dreary, they seemed just right. The texture you see in the background are crayon rubbings on a piece of old wood, wood that no longer has bark. The rubbings were done on tracing paper as it is stronger and takes pressure better than tissue. I hope to try dreary again today.

Something Found

I am at odds and sods this morning, I wanted to show you altered photo of me and my dog in 1953. I had it ready with some other tampering and decided I didn't like the bright white area in the work. I have tried to get some color behind objects and it is not working well so I will do that later. Plus it would be nice to have the original there with it, I have searched the files and can't find that. So odds and sods.

So I decided to post a pic of Hermie, he has become a rather Tubby Tabby, his excuse is he just wants to fit in. Meaning of course he is looking at us with a critical eye.

The butterfly is a rather charming piece of unique work, it is a lense from a pair of glasses, the butterfly paper was put on the back side of lense glued, and then a white piece of paper glued, last, the artist put gold cord around the lense, and a pin back. The piece has a curvature of course from the lense. I am always quite charmed by these little things found in thrift stores. I have charming all over the house. Too much sometimes.

Thre is also a pice or needle work in this done by me, it is twisted fabric sewed by machine unto felt, a doily piece in the center and some french knots.

I remember being charmed in 6th grade, for Christmas we wrote the Lord's Prayer with alphabet macaroni on a piece of plywood and then painted it with clear substance to give it a shine. Schools could not do that now, but I think of it often as a labor hunting those tiny letters and 35 children doing this at the same time. The glasses lense would of been much more simple.

I chat on...This writing is sort of about making something out of not so much. I had a photo of a blustery day and a strange setting sun. (Still learning about that camera) The bottom of the blog page shows some work with a not so good photo. So more making something out of nothing.

So simple, a dog waiting

I show this because, simple beauty is hard for me, I see space and want to put something there. I have even purchased books on keeping things simple, I can't find them, and if I do tend to disregard the advice.

Frequently I see this sort of look in rural Wisc. At one time Sharon had a photo on her blog that reminded me of this painting. This is the landscape now, we have had early snow compared to some of the past years. People do still hang clothes on the line in Dec. next to a lighted tree.

I want to paint today, and not thinking simple at all.

Remembing Family Home

This quilt was done of my Inlaw's home, rural Minnesota. The house burned a few years ago.

I always liked it and the location along a river that you can somewhat see at the bottom.

There were Oak trees in the yard, geraniums around in pots and bird feeders. It was green like you see in the biggest photo. The creating of this didn't go as planned, I wanted more of the back door with the red broom and flowers. just couldn't get that photo to be a big enough statement no matter how hard I worked with it. The trees got to be a more prominate feature because they turned out well with the minipulation. Some of the minipulation is not realistic and I wanted that.

These photos were printed on on ink jet printer on fabric covered paper, the fabric peeled off well. It took nine sheets of this and I only wasted some tiny bits. I didn't have many photos to work with and choose parts from, only two. There is also other fabric used and some stenciling that is rather vague, but still adds color. Measurement 22 inX 22in.

Quilt Sections

I changed my header, I thought viewers might wonder what that is. These are two more sections of the quilt It only measures 17X13. The photos of it seemed to be rather dark so I scanned it in sections and every part does not show. It is old fabric and new, painted faces that are really rather small. If you see embroidery, it was on the fabric already, it is also machine quilted. Even the swirls you see on fabric were already there on an old Nero Jacket.

I posted a photo of the tableleg angel. The person that made this carved the head separate, and made the wings out of other wood. The bottom has had an addition so she stands more firmly, this is just glued to the real end of the leg. Some of the fine gold trim is gone and there are chips in the heavy cream paint. Nice little carved hands. It is about 70 yrs. old.

Loving Angels Still

A favorite color combination, and I had been thinking of a scruffy tree with an angel. It was a plan 75% complete in my mind. The decorations falling from the star came as I was nearly done with the painting. Also I didn't have a proper looking bird for the work, I was looking at my papers and there it was, seemed just right. There are days things go quite right. Except.....

Fixing a very old angel made from a table leg, I got gorilla glue on my hands. Horrible stuff to get off, an hour of different products and finally. Nail polish remover did the trick

Be Calm and Rest

At least be calm, I feel more clam today, except still doing several things at once. I had to run the vac, I don't want my new cat to get dirty. He is so calm except when I run the vac, he leaves. He is from the shelter, I just walked in one day and said, I will have a slightly used tabby please. He is slightly used as one eye does not open as far as the other, sort of the Rocky look.

I love to paint angels in these colors, so I painted a calm angel, she is painted on a brown paper bag. I also used a book page and parts of a hymnal. There is some stamping also, that crackle look is a stamp. Today I was not so scattered, I put in a background first. If you look carefully you can see a cat looking at the angel.

Too Many Things

I tried to do to much at one time today, shoveling, baking, painting, and reading. Spaced properly and done without a scattered mind would of made for better outcome. The cake is sort of a solid thing, shoveling not done, and painting is Ho Hum. But I don't always have to post things that are just to my standard.

This is a painting done on a page from a book in acrylics. It is a wind swept landscape from an old Paul Bunyan reader. My intent was....just a face nothing else, failed that. If this was a game and I said find 9 things wrong with this picture it would be a success. Still it is going into the journal because, just because. Well because I have a journal of things not so great.

Nursery Rhymes and Memories

Holding my breath as we wait for a winter storm, such a big IF really.

When I look at this painting and mix of paint, papers, napkins, stamps, pencil, it was not intended to remind me of a nursery rhyme, but it does in a way, I always think of a cow that won't cooperate and jump over the moon. Well if one is holding the moon with a big dragon fly perhaps the cow is the wisest of the two. It all started with wanting to paint a woman with a scarf on her head. I have many photos of wearing a scarf like this as a child. I remember getting a new one and picking out the pattern with my mother. She said it had to match my jacket.

Of course even at age 6 I had to have a scarf with many patterns.

Have a day with good memories.

Angel Enhancement

I have to be careful, we could of had angles instead of angels this morning.

This project didn't go well for me, at an art fair I saw very pretty things done by artist, Westy Copeland, they were done on book pages. so beautiful in the simplicity design and I felt so instpired by them. First of all I have trouble with simplicity, I feel funny wearing a plain white shirt.

I found an old childrens book and took a page from it, I designed my angel and saved the parts of the printed page I liked from a brush full of paint. I added snippets of other papers also. It was quite a blah looking piece to me. This morning I scanned it into the computer and adjusted colors, added a scanned piece of fabric behind, cropped, zoomed, resized. and I do believe it is fit for a card. The computer is a good critic, it is like holding the art work to a mirror, the unsuitable parts really show up. A good art repair shop.

Yes, Angels Again

Don't you love her hair? Well maybe you don't, but flower hair is common in my angel world.

We have the Sandhill Cranes come in the spring, their chortles are so welcome and they are so brave to come early. They stand in the bare fields and look for an early breakfast. This crane was in some mail that came one day and I had to use him in some art. His guardian takes care of these early arrivings with some extra food.

Hope your day has some art in it.

A Trio Angels

This time of year we think of angels maybe more than other times. I buy angels, paint them, read about them I enjoy them in various ways. No so much heavenly angels, colorful ones.

This is mixed media, I used an page from an old cross stitch book in the background, after I gessoed the paper, I mix color acrylic with the gesso. I used flowered napkins and painted the angels, used thick sponge stamping also. You see stenciling and and tissue paper that hs been stamped.

These angels brightened my Dec. day a very dark day with thick clouds and a chill for sure.

One time my daughter told me that other mothers were baking cookies when their children came home but.......I was always painting. Being really mature now I can do both at the same time.

So long ago

I have always liked this tiny photo, 2X3 they were so little and so treasured as people didn't take many photos and it took long to send them away plus always the cost of things not really needed.

This is me at age one, and to this day I am really impressed by the size of the cake and the effort into making it. Never again have I had such a birthday cake. I am with my aunt on the Photo,

also mom and dad in this composition.

The background takes on the looks of a storm ravaged landscape, it is early May so that adds to the look.

This was practice yesterday of what I can also do with paintings. one learns things everyday, the bottom border of all those cakes, the repitition.

Oh yes, the down side, some legs never change.

Quilting today I hope and I started an art journal of just pretty stuff.

Garden Girls cont....

I didn't get my second photo posted, I do have to study to figure that out. So here are the girls.

Garden Girls

I did this mixed media art last spring, it was after reading about using napkins in Sharon Tomlinson's presentation in Cloth, Paper, Sicissors. So much fun using the beautiful napkins that are available.

I painted the faces, I never know how they will really look on completion and I knew less then than I do now. I was thinking of the garden club at this time, we have one local. They work hard and the city is pretty from the efforts, but I know for a fact that often it is one or two that work so hard on the needed days. Maybe they take turns and it is an effort of many.

These two girls were quite happy they didn't join. The other thing I see in the work, one of the women looks like a Garden Angel, Judy that I know. Not planned, just happened and she might not think so.

There are hibiscus napkins, stencil work, newspaper, tissue paper, The stamping is on tissue paper as stamps work poorly on rough watercolor paper. I stamp the tissue and then glue in position. I used acrylics on the watercolor paper. There is over painting on parts, I think it is nice to have a vague quality to parts of the work.

This published here in tow parts it is a long painting. I have it in the kitchen.