Faery's Child

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheek a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

I med a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long;
For sideways would she lean, and sing
A faery's song.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew;
And sure in language strange she said,
'I love thee true.'

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she gazed, and sighed deep,
And there I shut her wild, wild eyes--
So kiss'd to sleep.

And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings, and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
Who cry'd -- 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,
Hath thee in thrall!'

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke, and found me here
On the cold hill side.

And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John Keats

This journal page is a 10" x 12" collage using a photograph from Vogue, anemones from a Springhill Nursery catalog, and roses from The Avalon Rose Collection All images were hand cut and colored with acrylic paint, inks, and Prismacolor pencils. The background is Arches coldpress watercolor paper which has also been painted and stamped with watercolor and acrylic paint, colored pencils, pastels and inks. (for Creative Therapy) and Wednesday Stamper.

Shark Week Reruns

I haven't had much studio time this week because of long days (and nights) at school, and what time I've had I've spent working on two big pieces, so here's a postcard I made last year for my oldest son, Andrew. I'm also going to rreprint what his Aunt Ava wrote about him because that girl can really write. I think you'll enjoy this.

"In his adolescence, we'd hoped Andrew would channel his fascination with the sea into marine biology. I bought him scientific guides and thought he might go study at Woods Hole; Alberta dreamed of having birthed another Winslow Homer; Mr. Alberta speculated whether Andrew could develop a patent for fiber optic underwater cables or some such that would link the world and lead us to a liberal democracy modeled on Atlantis.

No. Instead, Andrew just waits all year for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week with the same giddy fervor with which Dutch children set out their wooden shoes in December. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he trades in his August birthday for Shark Week presents, delivered in bubbles and adorned with algae.

Oh, it could be worse; Andrew could be encrusted with salt. He could be the Dread Pirate Roberts. He could make us watch The Little Mermaid over and over like his little brother did; he could make us all go live in a biodome under the sea. He could make us all miserable by simply talking like a sailor, and with Alberta for a mother, it's a wonder he doesn't anyway. But we love Andrew and his obsessions. To kick off this week, Alberta made him the above collage, I wrote him a poem, and Magenta and Amaryllis watched Jaws I, II, and III. But I'm a little worried. If his obsession grows, we're gonna need a bigger blog."

Thanks for the great challenge Sunday Postcard Art!

In The Night Studio

It rained again last night




but up in my Art Attic





















there is color and inspiration













on every wall




























and every corner





















and every shelf


















color spills across my work table


























flowers bloom

















treasures glitter























paint spills

















jars gleam with color


















It's always snug and bright

New Journal Page

for The Three Muses


"I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit." George Bernard Shaw

Journey To The Center

Sometimes when I'm feeling creative, but brain dead, I go to my list of art challenge blogs for inspiration. I keep file folders and cigar boxes full of magazine images that I like, and I try to use them with combinations of prompts to create my art. This journal page which became a postcard evolved from Inspire Me Thursday's Pink & Orange Challenge, Theme Thursday's Orange Challenge, Saturday Workout's Make a Journal Page Challenge, and Sunday Postcard Art's Glamour Girl Challenge. When I'm back in school, like now, my studio time is severely limited, and sometimes I have to mull over ideas for days before I can actually pick up a paintbrush. So this approach works well for me. This page began with a Diane von Furstenburg ad that I glued over a newspaper page and embellished with acrylic paint. I actually wanted to throw in some stars and a bird or two to satisfy a couple of more prompts, but I just couldn't quite make them work with this composition.

If You Want To Get Ahead, Get A Hat

A little advice from me and the Three Muses to Andrew on his 28th birthday (the quote, which I took some artistic liberties with, isn't too bad either, sweetheart). Created By Hand for you. Hope you had a wonderful birthday. See you tonight.

Love,
Mom

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I made this journal page for Inspire Me Thursday's positivity challenge and Theme Thursday's purple challenge, and as a celebration of reaching an important goal that I set for myself in June. You probably don't know that I've been a runner for over twenty years because last year I got lazy and slacked off on all exercise, and, as a result, I put on some extra weight, and my blood pressure went from my typically low/normal rate to what my doctors referred to as "borderline." Since I have heart disease on my sides of my family, this really concerned me. So, at the begining of the summer, Ava and I began to walk one hour every morning and one hour every evening, about 6-8 miles daily. I also significantly changed my eating habits, eliminating most carbohydrates, cutting back on red meat, and eating mostly vegetables, fruit, fish, and chicken. In two months, I managed to take off twelve pounds, but, best of all, I'm physically fit again. Last Thursday Ava couldn't go for our nightly walk, so I decided to use the time to try to run and see how it felt. It felt incredible. I ran through the twilight for two and half miles, and afterwards I sat on my screen porch sweaty and loose and euphoric. For some reason, I'd begun to perceive running as a burden, but I see now how lucky I am to be fifty years old and still even be able to run. I won't take it for granted again. Not only am I going to continue my evening walks with Ava, but I'm going to alternate those walks with some runs and add swimming laps to my exercise routine. I'm going to do what I have to do to stay healthy and active for as long as I possibly can, and I think I might even treat myself to shopping trip for some new clothes exactly one size smaller!

Creative Therapy: A Dream Come True

Not the painting, silly, you! Painting this weekend was so frustrating, but your responses to my quandry, were so helpful. When I started blogging, just over a year ago, I had no idea what the purpose of an art blog was. I soon discovered that it's the relationships that you form based common interests. Then, something amazing happens, and you start to care about these people that you've never even met in person, and then, lo and behold, you have new frends. So many of you have much more experience than I do, and I learn so much from you, but, more importantly, I just like sharing things with you: art, experiences, words. Saturday you helped me regain my perspective and helped me start having fun again. I took your advice yesterday and just played. After making a postcard, which you can see below, I went back to my painting and played with that too. First, I slapped a bunch of turquoise paint on in the upper right and lower left corners. I thought it looked harsh and didn't add anything good to the composition, so I covered it with gesso. Then I used a Sharpie to add some black scribbles in some flat spaces. I don't think you can see them, but up close and in person, they might actually add a little interest. I also layered on some pages of old books (Babar, in fact) because I used some book pages in the first stage of the painting, and like the text, but all the paint and gesso obliterated it. I also liked the magenta tones of the flowers in the lower right corner, so I added more of this color in the upper left. I like it, but I think that there might need to be some transition between the crimson and the red violet. What do you think? Has it gotten any better? What does it need now? My mother used to use a couple of words to describe me when I get in a determined mode. The nicer one of the two was "relentless." The other one was "hell-bent." I think the second adjective most accurately describes how I feel about this painting right now. A couple of times in the last two days, I've almost just put it away and decided not to finish it. I don't know what point there is to it. I don't like it, but I think I should work through this. As my dear friend and muse Kim, the Queen Of Arts, told me, "They can't all be mistresspieces." I'm pretty sure I'm learning something from the this process, but, even if I'm not, I just too stubborn not to finish it. Hell-bent, in fact.

Sunday Postcard Art

If you read my post yesterday, you know I was struggling, so today, on the advice of some very good friends, I decided to play!

Seeing Red

Today I am. I'm in the mood to paint, but I don't feel inspired or successful. My head hurts. I pulled out this painting that I started in February. When I started it, I was inspired. I had a concept. I sketched the composition, I textured the whole canvas, and covered it with color in one day. Then, I don't know what happened, but I think I didn't really like what I saw; it seemed garish, so I put it aside because often, when I do that, I come up with a solution. I thought I knew what I wanted to do to it today, but I'm so frustrated. I'd added some turquoise and some green, and I hated it! Next, I decided to go over all the colors, except the pinks, yellow and oranges in bright red because it was just looking muddy and gaudy at the same time, if that's possible. Here's what it looked like in February.






Don't like that either. Maybe this whole thing was just a learning experience; maybe I'm not meant to finish this one, but it's really hard for me to give up on something. Maybe I just don't know when to quit. Anyway, now I'm going to let the red dry, and I'm going to go take a shower and hope that this thing miraculously improves while I'm gone. We'll see.