My sister sent me this LINKalso. Go there to make sense of what I am saying here. It's instagram, so I didn't know how to import it here.
While I thought at first that the instagram post was just humorous, before it even came to an end...there was a certain bittersweet quality to it. How we all wish to go back to a simpler time. Yet, here I am writing my personal thoughts (my diary) for all the world to see. That one just keeps feeling weird to me, yet I continue. Huh.
At any rate, the news of the world, the news of anything has me shifting from bitter (sad, angry) to sweet, again and again, and often a mixture of both. At least I'm able to keep my humor alive too.
I think I'd like to escape to this kind of place! And I know which one I'd choose on most days. haha
I love how the pages in the GLUE BOOKS just fall into being. It is very freeing. I'm appreciating how even in the ease and fun of this new form of creativity, I'm able to see some connections to other parts of life. Of course I am. I mean, really...even without trying, deeper meanings come through. I couldn't stop myself if I tried, real hard! haha Wild.
Today quotes keep popping into my head, as they relate to myself and others. Playing with words is always a fulfilling thing to do. Playing with images, colors...just playing are all such good forms of self-care.
If you've lost focus,
just sit down and be still.
Take the idea and
rock it to and fro.
Keep some of it
and throw some away,
and it will renew itself.
You need do no more.
~Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Online weather reports it will be 90° today and 61° tonight. Then were set up for 80° 's - 90° 's until the 31st of March. April first = rain? We'll see! This porch thermometer is very old and sits in direct sun much of the day. I'm not so sure it's accurate at all, but perhaps it's close enough. However, in some moments it really does reflect a "feels like" temperature! Kinda like the whole 'wind chill factor' - but with intense sunshine!
Okay then. I'm still busy with paper. Today it was the color brown. My current resources include the gifted subscriptions to TIME & SMITHSONIAN magazines, among other free local magazines and grocery store flyers. I came across a lot of browns , black (or grayish) and white and some other interesting images. My sister may have some magazines or catalogs for me to use. Yay, I hope so!
The steps to creating a "glue book" include prepping the book by taking out some of the pages and adding washi tape along the sewn middle page to make it stronger. I'm glad I had some old washi tape from long ago. So far, what I have is dictating what color book I will work on (i.e. green, brownish, blue, pink, purple).
Once you've done that, you can add 'background' papers to each page, which also makes the pages stronger and provides a base to add your images by covering up the white pages of the book. The 4 pages above are background pages, so much of what is seen may be covered in the end. This does not matter, it is the way of going. Or I may keep some of the images showing (like the two children in the muddy water). We'll see.
On the background of the map, I added the bowl of food and the little bird. One image came from a magazine, the other from a daily calendar. It is not a complete page to me yet.
Next or at the same time as the images, I will add words and/or phrases (as I've done on a couple of these). These steps are my favorite so far. I like that you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT! Again, it does not have to make sense, be important, be deeply meaningful or executed perfectly (just like anything else one chooses to make)...it is for practicing to gain skills, playing, and having fun...zoning out. I am doing just that.
So, does that kind of bird live in that desert environment? Who knows! Could those mules (or are they donkeys?) really be in that area, looking in that too small for them door? Heck if I know. Would those geese (?) fly over that canyon, which is not a canyon because I ripped up the papers and placed them every which where? Yeah, probably not.
So, what will I do with the goats? Will I leave "SHIFT" showing or cover it? These are still unknowns, which is another aspect I like about doing this project. I can skip around and do bits here and there, completing a page over time. No rush, no stress.
Today I am loving this page from the green book. We joke around a lot pronouncing 'deal' as dill, so this one makes me smile. The 'all natural' is half of the sticker from a lemonade bottle. We're on a big lemonade kick on these hot days.
Speaking of hot...it is. It was 98 here today, but the porch thermometer read 106, sitting there baking in the full sun of the late afternoon. That was not a correct reading of course, but it feels that hot, mostly because we know in our heads that it is still just March and the first day of Spring!! Oy.
This was in a link my sister sent me. Ugh. I hope not!
When do instructions help? Are there instructions for everything we need to learn?
Once again, March 17th has rolled around. St. Patrick's Day...but also the day we were sent home from work due to the pandemic. I've done posts in the past to honor that moment in time. Today, while the art is green, no deep reflection on this day, except to say that 6 years ago many things changed in my life and most of them never returned to what they had been. Not even close. That's it.
The other day I proclaimed that I'm starting to feel like an old car. You know how that goes. First the right rear passenger window breaks. But, usually no one is back there and the left side works, along with the air conditioning. So all is well. Then the paint chips and/or fades. It looks ugly, but the car runs fine. Next, maybe it's a turn signal or tear in the seat or some other luxury one decides they can do without. But, the car is paid off and it works fine, really, so you nurse it along and ignore the little broken things and try to maintain the bigger things. That's me. An old car. All that to say that I am still doing little walking and mostly resting my foot. I've become quite used to the velcro shoe, which now looks like normal attire to me.
With the old car in the garage and the country in an even worse state, this gal has been seriously searching for distractions. So, I've been watching this gal, Nicole's channel. Paper crafts. Glue Books. Relax, Cut, Glue. In my new quest for fluff - meaning something light-hearted to make with my hands. No deep meaning. No deep expressions of my values in my 'art'. Just plain old play and fun.
So, after watching enough videos to get some of the lingo, techniques and some inspiration...I started digging through all of my paper stuff. I have a very small amount, but figured I could do something or another. I "harvested" any free magazines or mailers that came my way. I cut squares, circles, around shapes...I did some "fussy" cutting, picked up a 3 pack of mini-composition books ( sized 3.25 in x 4.5in) from the dollar store and jumped in. From what I learned at Nicole's and the other paper crafters I checked out...this is all about relaxing and having fun. Period. It doesn't have to make perfect sense, be executed perfectly or be beautiful. It just has to be.
Even though this feels very different to how I normally work, it feels great so far.
Some of the quotes have been hanging around here for years, some reflect current events only because we were gifted a subscription to TIME magazine! haha
I would love more images to work with since I have so few. I wouldn't mind more variety either...or some that show things I like. But, so far this is working for me. My self-imposed rules are to spend as little money as possible and use up what I have here. Other than that - anything goes.
I do still plan to warp the little loom again real soon, so I'm not leaving my roots completely! ha
Where do you look when searching for something different?
May you find something new when you need it
May you relax your expectations on yourself and others
Draw a line that suits your mood or the day's general temperament.
Change or amplify its meaning by scattering its path with meaningful or random bits of collage.
So, after the bridge, I pulled out the papers again. Things had changed and then began to happen. I had "drawn a line" the other day, but it did not suit me (and I forgot to photograph it). I'd had a feeling about lines - jagged and up and down - think stock market or a heartbeat, as in an EKG...but I was also wrapped up in thoughts of the line (and life) "circling around" - as in changing, continuing, getting worse and then better and then worse again...and better again. My lines looked like some freaky beast that was not communicating what I wanted it to. So, I put it away and sat on it overnight.
Today, using what was at hand, I tried to convey mere 'representations' of this complicated feeling in this complicated time. I also went back to Grace's first days of collage and was fed by her words, images and processes and many of the comments (there were so many in fact, but I did not allow myself to get lost in the conversation of 5 years ago, but instead read some here and there...ones that jumped out at me. I was completely touched by all of the familiar names there, chatting away - like not a day had gone by between now and back then). As I worked, I reflected on my own process and how I was working within, beside and around Acey's prompts. I considered how the images I was choosing seemed to be just falling together, in a way similar to the WORDLE stories. Nice. I got very involved in the whole activity, finally noticing that I'd better go get my shower!
I again wished I had more choices, a more earthy, diversity of papers to choose from - even with my recently pulled out old scrapbook...I wished for more rawness. But, I made do, which harkened back to the goals - rules I'd made five years ago and implemented again this time around.
So, in the end, what you see here is a rather choppy, random selection of images - meant to represent so, so much.
The "make it sturdy" foundation paper is a center spread from one of those old magazines. This image is of trees in the spring and some kind of growing fields, edged by big trees. The white flowers reminded me of trees in my valley right now and of my birth story - both beautiful backdrops to life. The left page (seen above) has a big flight of outdoor stairs, mimicking the jagged up and down of my previously drawn line, EKG, financial woes...life. The Rolex watch boldly shouts out to the haves and the have nots. The child within the blue hanging disks is an old exhibit in Sonoma, in which visitors could write their "wishes" on the translucent blue circles...reminding us that wishes and hopes need always be just within reach.
On the right page, the lines become more active, more abrupt...there is a small circle showing a city scene for all of the millions that live on top of each other - a far cry from the beautiful landscape placed there beneath it. There is a tortoise...for all living beings and a seeing eye dog...for the collaboration and support for those who need extra help, in one way or another. Coming down the circular line on the left is a 'library bus' - for literacy and learning and public spaces. Along the bottom are "people" looking very much the same and different...but equal (under the law?). Lastly, there is an old stamp from Cook Islands, which speaks to far away places and one world as well.
I'm positive that there are dozens of other ideas, ideals, and concepts I could have included, but I used my images to give an overview. As I type this, I'm thinking that I probably could have found a small rainbow to add in for magic, diversity and acceptance. Maybe later.
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It was so peaceful at the bridge today. A weekday amount of folks there, which means hardly anyone...just a few bike racers and a couple of walkers. A crow on the bridge-top and on a wire, a hawk crying somewhere out of sight and many, many songbirds providing the soundtrack to my walk. Not too many lizards, but the red ants were so busy! One of their abodes had a dual entrance/exit floor plan.
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I have been viewing "happy things" (along with meaningful or inspirational things) on my you tube explorations. 3 recent videos are here, along with a link that came in my email. I love finding these bits of joy. Along with the "happy things"...I've discovered some very, very funny comedians. We've watched some of them together and laughed until tears rolled down cheeks or sides ached. It's been good. I highly recommend humor at any point in your days.
I was interested in the trees along the beginning of the path. In answer to Dee's previous question...the trees that were in B&W, with one cloud above - are not cottonwoods, but I am unsure what they actually are.
There were workmen down by the river. At first I thought they were working on power lines...but, then I decided that they were trimming trees. That makes sense to me as I've been noticing how thick the growth is. I guess I'll learn more on my next visit. But, seeing all of the cars and trucks parked down there sure changed the vibe of the "lovely place for a picnic", which was noticed the other day. And of course, there are always more "locks for nothing" - protecting the open gated areas.
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Please do go here to read 34 Questions from First Grade from "Looking at Picture Books" co-author Mac Barnett. It is so rich, so full of small and large truths, questions and concerns. So full of things we need to pay attention to.
How do you adapt instructions so they work for you?
Sometimes things just circle back around to where they were
Prompt #8:
Draw a line that suits your mood or the day's general temperament.
Change or amplify its meaning by scattering its path with meaningful or random bits of collage.
I remembered this old "scrapbook" from the late 1990's. Thinking there may be some things saved in it (there are tons of loose images, many already cut out), I pulled it out and flipped through the pages. It is interesting to me that many of the pages I made back then, still speak to me. A lot do not. I had also thought that I may rip out the pages and have a new book to work in, but I haven't done so yet. There are lots of "nature" type photos from the many "country" type magazines I liked back then. You know the kind...they show only the beauty, but not the bugs, bad weather or awful parts of humanity. These two saved full pages cracked me up. The top one "Can you help me?" readers could send in a request for some kind of help or an answer to a particular question. They often contained the readers mailing address. That felt like such a moment in time. The bottom page "Circle Letter" was a printed journey of a letter that traveled from reader to reader to reader. How lovely and old-fashioned.
Anyway, I started playing with this prompt, but did not get very far. My focus was not there, so I'll come back to it.
It was super hot, 87° and sweaty, today at City Park. Where plant growth had been cleared, it has grown back - seemingly thicker than before. Water was seeping back in to the cracked earth spots. By the time we got to the bridge, we noticed something new...something never before seen there.
As we walked, we saw dozens and dozens of small birds zipping to and fro. I instantly thought of the swallows at our local community college. Is that what I was seeing? Once closer to the bridge...well, can you see them up there on the underside?
In every single crevice, a small mud nest...a swallow nest. Nature's best organized multi-dwelling neighborhood!
I zoomed in to try and get a better look. With the dozens of birds flying in and out of this area, I captured this one out of the many photos I took! haha
I know from past experience, while working at the community college, these little birds can cause a big mess and are not always welcomed. However, out here on the walk, it was delightful to see something new, something not seen here before or even on our last visit to this park, just one week ago. They've been very busy!
I stood and watched - keeping my eye on one particular bird - as it flew up to a nest and then away again, making a swooping arc over the wash. I counted 6 times it did this before I lost it in the crowd of other birds. Why? Was the nest occupied? Do they only use the nest they've built or is it community housing? Lots to wonder about.
Tissue paper flower, shining in the sun and others brighten up the view upon arriving home.
