HOMAGE TO THE BIRDS!

This is a collage I gifted to my Sister.

Last Christmas I bought my sister a gift of art supplies to use in her own beautiful artwork and told her as much a couple of days before Christmas. She told me she was disappointed to know this because she had hoped to receive something hand crafted by me. (This sounds almost too good to be true, but I wanted to believe.) In case she wasn’t just being nice, I couldn’t resist the urge to create a piece of art just for her - but I only had 2 days left! I already had made a base sheet on canvas paper as per the instruction in Cloth Paper Scissors in an article by Kelli Rae Roberts (who recently published a book on the same topic). It is a collage of bits and pieces of scrap papers, text, stamped or inked images. Then the main event is layered over the top of these and covered with paint, gesso, or ink and then wiped off so that some of the layer underneath peeks through. I decided that I would make the first of a pair of green works. I constructed the work from pics and text saved from magazines and the computer generated phrases "Don’t forget the birds!". I also stamped white hearts and "Hot" into the gel medium while it was still soft to give the work depth. After this was dry, I wrote randomly in white gel pen the phrase "Bring back the bees" and added black musical note brads which I spotted with white gesso so they wouldn’t look so new (just snap the prongs off with wire cutters). I painted some white silk leaf ribbon various shades of green and attached down one side. Then I added a little three dimensional compass and a smooth pebble with the work "Nature" inscribed on it. For the final touch I used a piece of vintage white embossed wallpaper to construct a bird feed that stands out from the page. I painted it with Golden fluid acrylic paint in bronze and then dry brushed it with a turquoise color to make it look like it had a patina. I glued real bird seed inside the feeder.

Here's a closeup to show the dimension.

Here's a closeup of the wallpaper "bird feeder."

MR. EYE CHING CROW ARRIVES HOME SAFE FROM HIS TRAVELS

Some months ago I signed up to participate in a round robin of scrap crows. You can read about it here and here and here and here. Please meet Mr. Eye Ching Crow who was returned safely home to Terry this week. Mr. Eye Ching Crow (yes, as the artist describes in the accompanying booklet) is a play on words. He left home with an acrylic eye made from a symbol and all his other accouterments he had added by other artists along the way. Various artists who worked on him added the feet, 2 reflecting buttons, a calligraphy nib, some yard and beads, some coins, and some papers for a coat. He arrived at my place in such splendor that I had a hard time thinking of anything to added that would not distract from his magnificence. In the end, I added some black velvet and black satin feathers from an old vintage hat I de-constructed. I added pure silver ground glass to the edge of all four wings and sent him along his way.
Here is Mr. Crow from the back. Isn't he fabulous????

I DON'T MAKE THE RULES!

I have been away from blogland for most of the last six weeks. I have been culling my misfit collection of worldly goods into a more manageable size in various ways and otherwise reorganising my life and my art stash. I have missed my art and each of my bloggy friends tremendously, but it had to been done. Now that it is almost completed, I am anxious to get back to Bloglandia and art. Greetings to all of you! And thanks for taking the time to read my blog and leave a comment. Please know that I appreciate you all, whether you leave a comment or not, and that I am grateful for each and everyone of you.

One of my favorite television shows is the NBC comedy Earl. If you are not a televisionphile like me, Earl was a not so good guy, who one day had a blinding revelation that he was affecting his own current luck with his past bad deeds. In episode one, a down on his luck Earl buys a winning lottery ticket only to have the ticket blow out of his hand when he is hit by a car while celebrating his good fortune. During his hospital recovery, Earl sees a show where Carson Daly attributes his success to doing good for others. Earl makes a pack with Karma to right every wrong he has ever done and the winning lottery ticket is accidentally returned to Earl when the wind blows it back to him. This is the only evidence Earl needs to become convinced that he is on the right track. All the following episodes are comedic versions of Earl uneasy dance with "Karma". As Earl so succinctly puts it, "I don't make the rules!

This weeks during my stash purging days, I collected a bag of stuff and forced it on my friend Pat earlier this week. Pat is a sometime crafter/artisan who has been having a great time in the last year crafting with her little great niece. I saved things I thought she and the niece could use together and insisted that she take the offering. I included crepe paper, stickers, ribbons, flowers, etc. that I thought would be useful in crafting with a pre-schooler.

Yesterday I found myself in the vicinity of one of my favorite antique malls (for the first time in months) and I dashed in to see if there was anything new I couldn't live without. One of the clerks said that she had been saving something to give to me - if I wanted it - from her booth. What was it? The red basket above and its contents! I've also included a closeup of some of the items. How generous was this gift? Just the kinds of things I love to buy myself when I go there.

When I was telling my friend Pat about it it last night at Starbucks, she said: "Isn't that funny? You gave me that big bag of things this week and now you get this unexpected windfall of vintage supplies. Hmm....I was reminded of Earl and his continuing uneasy dance with Karma.

Were my free supplies some Karmic reward???? I don't know. It would be really nice to think it works that way, but I would like to think it does, but I don't really know. After all, I don't make the rules.

CURRIED DAL WITH VEGETABLES OR THE CASE OF THE CONCRETE COLORED LENTILS

I just found an old recipe I had saved from a Moosewood cookbook and I wanted to make the Curried Dal with Vegetables for dinner last night. I have been eating mostly vegetarian meals these days and I thought the substantial curried vegetables with lentils would be a nice change. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except that I did not have the yellow split peas or the red lentils it suggested. I just had a bag of plain old lentils. I reasonably thought - they are the same vegetable - what difference could it make?? Maybe they will cook a little differently????Well, the recipe itself turned out fine, except the color of my lentils made the whole meal look as though it was held together by gray concrete - it tasted just as good, but it did not look so appetizing.

If you want to try it yourself - here's the recipe: Cook one cup of lentils in water. Add 4 cups of water for the red lentils or 5 cups of water for the yellow split peas. If you want your meal to look appetizing, I urge you not to use the regular lentils like I did (see the paragraph above.) Simmer the lentils on low, uncovered for 20 minutes. Let cool a bit and then add the lentils to a blender or food processor and puree for 2-3 minutes to make a smooth dal. In the meantime, cut up a whole onion and saute it in olive oil. To the cooked onion, add 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced in cubes, 1 TBSP mild yellow curry, tsp cumin, and 2 TBSP grated fresh ginger root. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes and then add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of fresh cauliflower florets. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender. Add the smooth dal and serve over rice. I think the original recipe called for one green chile, cooked with the onion, and torn up spinach to be added to the vegetables at the end and cooked just long enough to wilt, but I didn't have a green chile or any fresh spinach on hand and it was fine without it.

Good luck with yours and if anyone makes it with the red lentils or yellow split peas, let me know if it was pretty!

A MURDER OF CROWS!

Since January I have been involved in a "scrap crow" round robin with some Internet friends. The rules are that each person make and stuff a crow and add one embellishment to it and send it on to the next person on the list once per month. Each person adds one more embellishment and eventually the crow comes back to the original artist all gussied up from his/her travels. Well, my original crow, Odeana Raven, was a casualty and the person I forwarded her to never sent her on and was subsequently removed from the game...and I was out one crow. Well, I had a little problem with my motivation and I got bogged down in the decorating and making myself a new crow. I had finished my own crow and the one I was supposed to be decorating and the one for the next month arrived before I got them in the mail so.... I recently forwarded a murder (defined as a flock of crows) to Terry to work on. I didn't get a pic of the three before they flew off, but Terry was kind enough to send me the wonderful pics when they arrived at their destination. The one above is my replacement crow, Homer and you can read about him here and about his true love, Odeana Raven, here.

Cheri's crow was already superbly embellished when she arrived and I had to work harder to find something new. I added the yellow and orange rick rack to her tail feathers and hat.
I also dyed a piece of vintage trim with bright orange dynaflow and added it to the end of her tail feathers.

I had the most fun working on Felicia's bright crow! I made her orange hat by dying and shaping a little piece of straw from the hobby lobby doll section and adding the yellow rick rack and vintage flowers to the hat with glue. I sewed it to her head with green embroidery thread and gave it more stability with the green thread chin strap.

I think the real fun of this exercise is to see just how creative all the folks involved can be with a simple scrap crow! It's also a great way to use up your own left overs - a little bit of this or that. Don't you just love the different interpretations on the same theme?

A PURSE FROM CUT VELVET

I was so inspired with all the purse making that I decided to try and glue a scrap piece of cut velvet (polyester) onto a purse. The purse I choose was a vintage '40's tan lizard bag that had some discoloration on the leather. It was otherwise sturdy and in good shape - no dry rot. If you are going to try this yourself, make sure the leather connected to the metal around the handles is in good shape. I like the handles to be in good shape and the insides to be like new before I send money on a vintage bag.

To give this bag new life, I applied an even coat of Golden acrylic gel medium to the side of the purse and fitted a piece of the cut velvet material to it. I cut the fabric long enough to extend into the sides a bit and then finished each side (after it is thoroughly dry - 24 hours at least) with double-sided tape (Terrifically Tacky Tape) and aubergine velvet ribbon that is tightly fitted across top of the bag, down that side and across the bottom and up that side. I also used the velvet ribbon to cover the little metal design feature at the top of the bag. The result is a brand new pocketbook! Knowing that this type of fabric works so well opens up a lot of possibilities for more purses.

I was carrying this bag this week and someone remarked that I had a new purse and "I wasn't carrying one of own bags". They were surprised to learn how I "remodeled" this one.

LAVENDER LIMEADE: A FAVORITE REFRESHING DRINK FOR SUMMER!

I have always loved the color green and the flavor of lime. I don't know which love came first, but as a child I was always vying for the green lollipop or the green snowcone. I used to have an herb bed and grew my own lavender, but am sadly without ground for the herbs right now. This year I have revived an old favorite from my herb garden days: Lavender Limeade. I can't think why I ever stopped making it. It is so-o-o-o good! Much better than lemonade. Recently I found a bottle of organic reconstituted lime juice at a local health food store and it was all I needed to spark my memory.



I found they also had organic hibiscus and organic lavender and I was off! Here's how to make it:

Brew a strong tea of lavender and a small amount of hibiscus. It will be rosy in color. I do this by boiling water in a glass mixing cup in the microwave and when it comes to a boil then add about 1 part hibiscus to 3 parts lavender. Let it cool and then filter out the bits of lavender and hibiscus. While you are waiting for it to cool, heat a bit of water and make a strong mixture of limeade, water and sweetener. Mix the two together, serve over ice and, wallah! a very refreshing summer drink!



Sorry I don't have an exact recipe for you, but if you are still reading at this point, you will be able to mix to taste!



If anyone else out there loves lavender (or any herbs for that matter) for cooking, I would appreciate your sharing your favorite recipes. I used to have a good one for lavender shortbread, but I've lost it.

Hmmm! I am thinking this would be good with some Walker's shortbread. I must try that out soon.