sources of inspiration

Another sunny, but cool, morning with work ahead. I'll be spreading bark mulch in my 7 gardens after a walk with Deezel. I'll not do all of them today. My gardens are quite nice. The biggest, in the front yard, always has grass. When I started it nearly 30 years ago, I didn't remove the clumps of dirt with grass. So it's been me agaianst the grass ever since. Usually the grass wins.
The newest garden, in the backyard, near the screenhouse looks very nice also. The lilies are very tall. The peonies have sprouted. The clematis' vines are climbing the iron cage. The tepee of poles still stands, but one of the birch sticks fell apart this winter.

April 24, 2009
A handful of us went out to kick off the vacation with some time at the Holy Grail. I used the label for the basis for this entry.

April 23, 2010
On a quick loop this morning, with the dog through the woods, I found the bed of jack-in-the-pulpits. If you've never seen these wild flowers of the woods, I'm sorry. They are just wonderful. Their spires slowly open with small pointy leaves and the "blossom" somehow form. It's a tall cup, with purple and green and a little lid. It eats insects that fall into the cup.

April 23, 2009

One of many calls to Social Security brought a letter from them with a wonderful barcode.I began saving interesting barcodes from many sources. This started me on a small series of "Barcode Studies" now in an envelope. I'll post them later today. I created a stamp with both the positive and negative barcode. Also a small stencil. These became favorite tools for texture,and grass. They show up in many subsequent entries.
On this entry, I used a copied image of the bar code, enlarged it and trimmed with stylized leaves when it was attached to the card. I shared the barcode project with friends; none of them even flinched that I had become interested in this ubiquitous line image that means something only to machines.
Inspiration is everywhere, it takes training to catch it. One becomes more sensitive to possibilities when working consistently and when actually pursuing the inspiration into its options.
The commercial, stampbook paper on this entry with pale green and blue stripes repeats the line of the barcode. It also has a spring feel because of the colors. The tracing paper softens the colors more. I wrote on the tracing paper.
morning sunny cool
clouds edged with pink & purple
for evening's beauty