Notes From The Ancestors

I seem to have lost my regular posting days of Monday and Friday. I'm sure you're not watching the calendar or your clocks to see if I post to my blog "on time" or not...maybe this is a good sign that I'm going a little easier on myself!  The weather is ever so slowly inching toward the lovely stage, but it's quite a tedious process that includes a fair amount of cold, wind and rain.  Still in the 50s this morning, but should be warmer this afternoon and I can't wait to get back outside and continue the weed pulling and communing with the fresh growth in the garden.  I've been here nearly six years now, but having come from decades spent in Florida, it still astonishes me each spring to see plants coming back from "the dead"...that's what it feels like!

So, I have begun working again on the full size sheets of my husband's delicious handmade paper, as I mentioned at the beginning of the week.  Here's that piece I showed in an incomplete state earlier...now listed in my shop here.

Notes From The Ancestors

Lots of layers of drawing underneath the photos and the organza "envelope" that holds snippets of text and image from vintage family photographs.  I have a few more pieces in the works...a fragment below of one on a background of beautiful soft pink....a color I discovered comes easily when adding white to burnt sienna!

Actually, this photo doesn't capture the color quite right...it almost looks lavender here...I'll make sure to have it properly photographed for you when it's finished....this is just a small teaser!

I've stitched a few more rows of blue on the river piece and have spent my own time doing a little "repair"work on Violett (my new sewing machine for those of you who are recent readers of this blog)...the thread kept getting caught from below in the bobbin and I spent many a frustrating attempt trying to sew, with the same bunched up chunk of thread each time.  I'm happy to say that I was able to clean out the little bobbin case nicely with the brush, provide a few drops of much needed oil exactly where the booklet said to place it and sure enough, I practically heard Violett breathe a sigh of relief before she headed off sewing that line of blue like a dream!  Such a victory for me who is so very unmechanically inclined!!

Well, hope you are having a great weekend.  I will continue to mull over the large and small questions...what defines success, how can I keep myself moving forward, how to make sales without sacrificing my artistic integrity, how to find balance in life, etc. etc.  Oh, and still working on building my new website!  Keep your hands moving, that's my mantra!

See you at the first of the week!