Toe in the water.....

Have almost forgotten how to upload........its been such a long time since last I did.  My creativity has taken a beating this year but I have found some inspiration at my local artists outlet and Gallery, the delightful Opendrawer in Hartwell.  Every nook and corner of these rooms is filled with the quirky, the fascinating, the beautiful.....and all made by someone local.  To my great delight there are classrooms too and I find myself stretched gently in different directions.  Here's something I made at the first class.  A great way to use up a boring book, providing its spine is intact, and the paper is not too cheap - takes about an hour and a steady hand.  I love them.

Branching Out

........there are trees so dearly loved by Electra, and there are other branches in ones life too.  Some of the paths they take are not expected.  However, zendoodles fill all sorts of interesting spaces, and this one of mine fits the latest Opus Gluei challenge.  

Thanks to a new friend who inspired me to fill some time doodling, this came to mind.  Amazing what you can accomplish in quiet evenings, armed only with paper, pen and a glass of wine (not compulsory, but good all the same....).  I do love ATCs, if for no other reason than they're little.


See what other people have created too......................

Simon C Thomson 

2 June 1987 - 26 February 2012

Watch the birdie.........

What did I do before ATCs?  Little pieces of whimsy, or just a smaller place to make a mess!  Some things work better in my head than on the page, but NOBODY's perfect, and the world hasn't crashed to a halt.

The Poobahs at Opus Gluei decided on a bird theme (its called Tweet, chirrup and trill) and the other entries are so cute.  Go and look (or if I get the Mr Linky thingy working, they might even be here on the bottom of this post).  Mine are an odd assortment on the avian theme.........  I started with the bird cage and the little silver dove and added a chain to hang the cage from, then I went hunting in the Busy Room.  First to light was the emu family and their very disapproving stares.  I don't think they like being on a card so I apologise to them right now.  I love their double feathers and the stripey chicks, and they have a penetrating red glare that follows you.  Their beak is sharp and unforgiving too. 

Next was a scrap of a Kay Nielsen illustration for "A Thousand and One Nights".  There's a whole other story about how I came to discover his work but I'll leave that for another time.  In the original, the flamingoes float in deepest blue so I made it the night sky.  The last is a protective mother bird, except that I think she should be sitting on the eggs, not watching them from a branch.

See what other people have done......

Opus Gluei #122 Take a picture, it lasts longer.

Can you imagine how many things in my life I should have taken a picture of?  A pair of patent leather shoes I wore to death and had re-heeled over and over again; a black silk jersey jumpsuit (I was very thin); my Aunt's black and white tiled floor under her grand piano; my first boyfriend; the house my grandmother used to live in.....

Being a quiet retiring sort of person (in my dreams) it seems I have few photographs of me, and none I'm willing to share any time soon, though I could have photoshopped out the green horns I dare say (this will make sense to some people and just bemuse the rest).  So I hunted out some images that could have been photographed but weren't until they were painted.  Don't go trying to play the music above the image of Beethoven because its definitely NOT one of his best works, which is why he looks so grumpy.  The other is a piece of a larger image of a dancer complete with maracas.  I gave her flowers instead because she needs to be exotic and a bit more mysterious.

More ATCs, just love them cos they're little and collectable.  Can we have another swap sometime soon?

Opus Gluei 121 "Out with the old and in with the new"

There's something about staying home that gets me in the mood to spring-clean, even when its summer and so hot the roads melt.  So far there are 6 boxes waiting to be collected by the charity people, but I'm not ringing them yet because I know there's more to find...........I've started the "out with the old" bit.

I even winkled out a few things from the busy room, then I remembered my New Year resolution for 2012 (well, one of them) which is to spend less time on the computer and more time getting gluey, so the first port of call HAD to be OG.  After a day with friends, making cards and eating and laughing and giving eachother advice on every topic under the sun, I had to keep going and raid the boxes for this challenge.  Its all very well saving things to use, but eventually, you actually have to use them (Rosemary, this applies to you too).  My 3 ATCs are my way of getting rid of some old, and recycling them into something new.

The cat is a mosaic from a postcard along with some cord from a parcel. Orange cord is so good you HAVE to save it, but maybe not forever.  The oriental one has a piece of a wrapper from my chinese tea, another snippet of a postcard with tea-mugs, and a brad which just might have a tea leaf or two on it.  The third uses my last piece of handmade gold paper from when I started making cards, oh-so-long-ago, along with an image that reminds me of my Mum's button jar, right down to the rusty lid.

And of COURSE the backgrounds are black; some things never change!!