nanke's stuff

We were in Nashville to celebrate our little grandson's second birthday.  It was so much fun to be with him, our son Ben, and our daughter (in-law), Sarah.  CC (our grandson) is talking and gets more interesting everyday.  He declared in no uncertain terms "I wuv birthdays!", and who can blame him?  Neighborhood children came over to play almost everyday we were there, (all considerably older than CC), and they treat him kindly and with generosity.  The food was great, the company was great, the dog (Monkey), was pretty good .... she has a habit of running off.  She's the only dog I've ever known who can do some sort of flexing of her body and maneuver her way out of a harness (that's as tight as it can be without cutting off her circulation).  She does it in a nano-second, and then off she goes to "visit" someone in the neighborhood.  We started working with her using treats, but it's slow going.  I do dearly love her, though.

I've done no art since before we left, so I thought I'd share 2 things I did in my journal 2 years ago.  The first one is a collage I did when Sarah was pregnant and we were so excited about the new grandbaby, and the second one is a rather quick pencil drawing I did of him when he was just a few hours old.   As you can tell by the note on that one, it's version 2 - I really didn't like version 1 at all, so I did it again.   It's fun for me to look back on that time and remember how excited we were!

All of you wonderful readers have been urging me along, so I spent some time with my art journal doing a modest mixed media piece.  The photo is a copy of one that is from a really old album that my sweetie's mother had.  They are family pictures, but most of them have no names on them and there isn't anyone still alive who knows who they are.  I love that they are related to our children, and wish I knew something about each and every one of them.  They are fun to look at, wondering who they were and what their lives were like.
Anyhow, here it is.  I used gesso, Golden Acrylics, tissue paper,  postage stamps, skeleton leaves, various stamping images, French text, and a Pilot Gold marker.  The scan didn't really pick up the metallic look of the gold - it never does, though, does it?


Today is my day to volunteer at the county health department - I'm there from 9 to 4, then we're going to a combined Christmas/birthday celebration at the home of some friends.  I doubt I'll have much time for art, unless I whip something off between bites during my 1/2 hour lunch break.  Who knows, tho, miracles do happen!  

I've been really busy lately, and haven't taken (I almost said "haven't had") time to spend on art. I know that the time is always there - I just have to find it and do it. But, sometimes I get distracted and find that by the end of the day I'm really tired and just can't find the energy to go to my studio and do anything. Also, I've been in a bit of a slump lately when it comes to knowing what to do and how to do it. So, I decided that I would do a bit of collage (which I haven't done in quite awhile), and just play with paper and ink. Since I have a few postcard addresses from Postcrossing that I want to take care of, it seemed like a perfect match.

I'm not sure this card is finished yet, but I thought I'd share it anyway while I ponder what, if anything, to do next on it. I first covered the background with ink using a makeup sponge, stamped and embossed the plant on the left, added the torn paint chip in the lower corner (which is textured like sand), then put the picture of the fairy and Pinocchio on it. The blue paper on the top is a torn napkin, and I stamped the 2 birds on. I have a really ancient manual typewriter (I'll post a picture of it some day - I mean it's really, really old) which I used to type the quote on old, yellowed paper that I have, then added the red German scrap top and bottom. The silver star is cut out of some stickers that a charitable organization sent in a "send us some money, please" mailing. The card is nothing special, but at least doing it gave me the feeling that I spent a bit of time on art.

Tomorrow I'm going to a friend's apartment to help her paint it, then Friday I have to finish baking 24 dozen cookies for a party my son and his wife are having. I have 4 kinds baked and frozen, but I have 4 or 5 more kinds to bake by Saturday afternoon. I'll try to post again before the weekend .... I'm sure I'll need the break from painting and baking!

Well, our trip to and from Nashville was wonderful. We got to spend time with our wonderful grand baby at the zoo (just the 3 of us), while Ben and Sarah went out to lunch and to a movie. We had a great time, and it's so amazing how fast children grow and change. Clyde is truly a joy - he's sunny, funny, really cute, and so smart! .... OK, enough of the grandmotherly bragging.

Unfortunately I got sick when we arrived home, finally went to the doc on Monday to find out I have pneumonia. I guess that would explain my lack of energy and motivation to spend time here. I haven't done anything artistic for far too long (it's probably why I got sick! lol), but I thought I'd share another old trick of mine to use when I'm having trouble getting started on something.

I like to tear out pages from catalogs that have interesting colors, textures, patterns, etc. to keep in one of my stash drawers. I use my 1" square punch to cut out little squares that I then put together in various ways to form some sort of design. Often just manipulating the paper and moving it around frees my mind to move on to other projects. Here is an example of what I'm talking about.