Altering Spring

Good heavens it took me almost as much time to do these photos as it does to paint a face. But I enjoy it. So it seems the days are brighter longer but shorter, so many interuptions it seems. Cleaning and cooking seem to interfer, and being outside is a pleasure. The mail lady brought my neo crayons and was thrilled with the garden, such a nice interuption to have someone exclaim over something I have worked hard at.

I have beedn painting, but I had such a prim person in the painting it bothered me,
she wasn't just there I felt she was judging the world. It seemed things weren't up to her expectations, which we all do somewhat, but I don't want someone looking at me that way.

So I took photos of the garden, the sky, and the dog. Josie is rather scared of the camera,she thinks I will put her photo on the internet, silly dog. So the basic photos, and my altering. Background in the altering is fabric.

Spring collage and Laura's News

A lovely spring day, such cool air from such dryness. Early spring flowers last.
If your a gardener, and an artist, and all the other things most of you are, your feeling spread a little thin, not to mention a job that also interferes with your
day. No time to paint so I did a collage of a book, garden flowers, and a bird.

Also Laura Pace has a giveaway which has a lot of interesting things to add to your collection go Laura's Giveaway

I also have a photo on the right of her Misc. fun stuff. and you can also click on Found Memories to the right. You will find her.

May basket for Mae

I have had May baskets on my mind lately, when I was a child we made them and put real flowers in them, mostly fern and violets. We wrapped the flowers in damp paper and used saved wrapping paper over that, they were quite perishable but pretty.
We folded colored paper in funnel shapes and put handles on the with glue or those push spead apart fasteners. There was not an abundance of things to use for
artful creations like now. We didn't even have a stapler. You had to hang the basket on someones door knock and run and not get caught. I think if you got kissed you had to do the same next year and if you didn't they had deliver.

I think now of the pretty flowers you could make with ink blots and a little yellow paint. So many things to use and all the pretty papers. I even know we could of been much more imaginative then we were, we had blueing for laundry and food coloring. We could of made potato stamps, and cut papers for stencils. I do think we used left over wallpaper sometimes. Fun, I want to do another.

The Torn Veil

That is what I think of when I look at this, I like it but it seems rather sad to me.
and the facti is it is a bit messy, but still it suggests a day not gone well. It also suggestes a scattering of things for me this month and more scatterings of things next month. It is all listed, mapped out, and hopefully remembered. In fact I made two lists incase I lose one. This leaves you no place to rest your eyes.

My garden

In the fall when I plant bulbs I always think I will remember the new ones in the spring, I don't, I don't even remember if it was more tulips than daffodils I planted, in the spring is doesn't really matter because I am so glad to have green and flowers. I sort of wonder why I do this to the extent I do, gardening takes a lot of time and energy. I do it a lot for the look out the window, flowers for inside, and the exercise. Now I can't keep flowers on the kitchen table as Hermie, my cat gets up there and takes them all out of the vase. Silly of me not to have more discipline for my cat.

I brightened some of these a bit as it was quite dark outside, we did get a bit of rain. It usually looks like this about sunset time.

Unrest, ailing

I believe this rabbit has colic and a slight rash, and angel needs to come and do some holding and consulation, plus consultation with mom. Mom is off eating clover.

I did a sketch of this weeks ago or around Easter, it looked sort of lame, but it is what it is and if nothing else it has color and a story. I feel that the baby and the angel sort of look alike and that in itself is amusing.

I never quite know what I am going to get I just go along after the background is in and add or subtract, mostly add, until I think it is done. the baby didn't have a rash until I put dots on her jacket. My opinion is it is the red dye that is the cause. It could also be that I am messy with painting lately, can't keep colors clean and sharp. Also a little of that spring thing of staring out the window and thinking. It is a slump of sorts that rambles from one thing to another. Things that can't quite get finished up, Things I don't have control over, always pending more information, more calls, more appointments. Anyway here is the painting.

A Bolder Rabbit

Back to painting, can the bin of compositions be getting empty? Sometimes one thinks I can't think of anything different, and themes sort of take over, like this rabbit who is showing up in my work lately. Then there are backgrounds trying to be more creative and have things take a different look. Then there is trying to stay original which isn't so hard, because I paint a lot it seems to come out as me.

A good friend's daughter recently lost a dearly loved pet rabbit, so I have one more
rabbit painting I am working on, have had the beginnings going quite a while, and keep changing it before I do too much and make changing really difficult. This one I did with a May Basket idea but then it also changed. There is acrylic paint, stencils, colored pencil, napkins, in this work, a painting with collage.

With so many things to be focused about right now it is hard to focus, should be doing and the I want to be doing, and not to forget I have to be doing all get
jumbled. Spring is always like this, and because spring came so early to the North this year, some of the have to be doing doesn't even have to be done yet.

Stress Quilts

Stress quilts, I have a lot of them, tiny 4X4 some smaller made on felt, I make them when feeling stressed and can't think how to compose a painting or can't do much of anything, especially in the winter. In summer I can go outside and do things that help. However, I did these because I was moved to do blue and rather dark blue. Blue isn't my favorite color but it strikes me more than other colors and gets my attention quickly. Not a blue mood either. Just a mood and an inspirtaion of tiny bits I have saved in a box, and a lining of a jean jacket.

Misc. photos

Today's photos, a day outside, I really have some scrubby looking roses this spring I hope the pruning and feeding will give them inspiration to put forth new growth.
The weeds are highly inspired. And I have started the buying of plants, pansies and mums, mums so they hae a chance to really grow before late summer and fall.

Hope you can see the angel in the wear to the old silo, and the board with the diamond shape reminded me of a collage. The light hitting the blue on the counter looked pretty and the rest what is blooming.

Painting and Quilt

What I want to do is have a little personal fit, but if I have it here it won't be personal will it? Public fits aren't in very good taste.

The program not the printer scanner, the program that holds my images would not enlarge my thumb print photos so I could work with the photo. Then there was another program that came with the printer and I downloaded that, but a window came up that said it was fixing my problem, and at least for now it seems fixed.

I went out then and after to pull weeds for a while, I noticed that the rose bushes need a good pruning of dead branches. I hate that job,I always looks like I got a new cat and it isn't tame yet. You have to put on heavy gloves and a winter coat.
I will do that shortly.

The quilt is only 8X8 inches, the painting is quite bright not quite what I had in mind, if you visit Norah's you will see she gave us a challenge to paint our background in bright squares and I did this,
but maybe my mood was not quite right as things didn't go as planned. I may try again and do a better plan. I want to do some things that have a May, the month of May feel. It is a month I like a lot.

Suddenly I feel better, one has to remember if you state your inner anger in a proper way it will reduce the size as much as if you make a scene. If I make a scene then I have to get over that also and I have two things to work through.