Greens surround me...

Spring and all its beautiful colors, not as showy as fall colors, but easily as rich. Each tree species has its own hue,they get closer in color as summer approaches.The morning sun at its spring angle lights up the grass and the shadows are a dark green. What are all the names for green?

Still no sighting of orioles in my yard, but they are eating the oranges. Maybe, because the apple blossoms have already gone by, I don't see them.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
May 13 the text refers to the puppy classes. On this night, I crawled through the tunnel to get Deezel to come to me; I got no treat when I crawled out the far end !!! This entry has a piece of green vellum, over the puppy paw tissue, the grass/barcode stamp and the bird stamp for the orioles. The date serves as a ground line.
delicately green
leaves flutter each its own hue
spring is here slowly

May 12 The leaf stencil was a mistake. I tried to punch the oak leaf into a piece of mylar, but could only do this much of it. It worked perfectly for the small maple leaves. The ground is another piece of vellum.

April and May connections

Another chilly start to the day. I didn't bring in the pots of pansies, but I thought about it because a frost warning was issued. That's unusual for May.

Yesterday,I finished a spread in my Art Journal.
This photo shows the spread with all of April's Haiku written in free verse, printed in spring green on vellum. The borders are of the photo with all of April's entries. On the far right you can see part of the next page because I trimmed the vellum to just beyond the printing.
The second photo shows this page and the back of that page on the left.I printed out the entry from the blog, tore off the extra part of the page, and framed it with scraps of the same papers on the entry, and a piece that remained from the paper where I glued the Haiku/free verse for April. On the left,the back of the verse page,I glued the shapes I cut from a photo of a quilt where I quilted the ferns.
The grass stamp and stencil are the "barcode" stamp & stencil. Some of the spirals are stamped and some I drew. On the right,the extra paper is folded over to secure the three pages that are glued together.It shows on the next spread.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
May 11 consists of several scraps used before -the birdy paper, brown paper and the tissue with dog paws covered with a scrap of tracing paper and the writing. I free wrote in pencil over the card before I attached the scraps to enrich the creamy background.
creativity
blocked by effects of the season
can't think of new lines.

spring notes

It's very cool for May this morning. Looks like a long walk followed by some gardening. One of the front gardens still needs bark mulch. The rhododendrons don't have many buds. Last year they were full of blossoms. I didn't see any signs of the hibiscus bush in that garden yesterday. I replaced one of the oranges for the orioles, but I haven't seen them yet. The cool weather and the systemic poison seem to have done the trick in killing the red bugs.
Yesterday I glued some elements into my Art Journal and will finish the spread later today. Since it's about the change from April to May, I'd better get it done before May ends. Paula, Dawn, & I meet this Sunday for our "art share"...
Deezel's waiting for his walk with his head in my way... I'd better get done.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
My notes for today include the observation that I sat down with no idea for either text or image...sometimes those are my "best"days...
We took Deezel (3 1/2 months) to our neighbor's house for a short visit. Her daughter's family, sister and mother were there for Mother's Day. They are all dog lovers - our past dog, Monty, was a favorite with even her 94 year old mother.

This entry combines the colors of spring in the papers, the paws on the tissue for the dog, two bird images (one a stamp, one on the paper) and a simple green line for a frame. Each paper piece is roughly a rectangle. They meet in the center. The text is on tracing paper. This became a regular thing because none of the writing tools bleed on its surface.
intersections
people, places, time, events
lovely day in May

P.S. Even though I haven't been doing any new work, reconnecting with work and describing it on this blog keep me in touch with the powerful drive to create.

Mothers' Day...

We're having another windy day,so much so I'll probably not take a long walk with the dog, even though he needs some exercise.
We moved my plants from the beams in the kitchen to the sun porch to get them ready to go out for the summer, even though it's only in the high 40's today. I wintered rosebud impatients and a fuschia.

365 DAILY HAIKU 2009
May 9, 2009

This entry shows one of my favorite techniques of utilizing daily ephemera. This is my appointment card from the hairdresser's. I added a barcode and made lines around the edges in green and purple. We had moved some jack-in-the-pulpits because we thought they were threatened. This entry and the verse take note that they were doing well. I did a light pencil drawing.

many missing days

I'm not sure why I am so far behind in blogs for this week. Tuesday, my morning home went too quickly. Thursday I went to EKES to meet Peter H. Reynolds, author and illustrator. His book The Dot was the inspiration for our school-wide project. Everyone in the school made "dots". (I posted photos on an earlier post, and will include one here.)
I attached them by class to large(4') foamcore dots and all 12 are on display in the halls. He loved them and we loved him. Everyone should own a copy of this book. Check out his website at www.FableVisionLearning.com and his business in Dedham, Mass. "The Blue Bunny".

I had a fabulous "Art Afternoon" with one 3rd grade class on Wednesday. I showed them a form of monoprinting. We used foam to make our designs on. I had 10 kids for nearly an hour then we switched and I had the other 10. It was the way every art class should be. Due to a scheduling demand,sadly it's not going to work out that effectively for the other 3rd grade class.


DAILY HAIKU 2009
May 8th I used small strips from a postcard for its color and texture as a frame to reduce the space. It's from the Hood Gallery at Dartmouth College. The simple image has the stamped sun and the grass stenciled.

May 7, 2009
An irregular scrap of grey-green paper with a piece of tracing paper over it for the text and spirals for the raindrops make this a satisfactory entry. The verse lists rain words and has the middle line in common with the 6th.
May 6, 2009
Day long steady rain
rain puddles, rain rivulets
grey, somber, sleepy.
I used a stamp for the 6 and 9 over a stencil for the same numbers. A Flair marker makes solid black lines and crosshatching.The text is on tracing paper so I could use lines under it to get straight writing.






May 5, 2009
I wrote the text using a calligraphy point on grey-green scrapbooking paper and glued them over a background textured with pale pink and green. I used a stamp with flowers on it and only inked portions. The pink flowers in each corner are from a stencil I bought.

May 4, 2009
The return to school after spring break is noted by the text and I missed my coffee date with Paula. The turquoise is from a renewal card in "Cloth, Paper, Scissors". With white and a lighter shade of turquiose it has a springlike texture. I used a fineline gel pen to make the curved lines.

orioles, oranges, sprouting leaves

We shortened our walk this morning. The air was so humid the dog was panting before we left. I braved a quick dip into the pool - refreshing. I have not seen or heard the orioles. A year ago they were here.

May 3, 2009

The entry shows the feeders with oranges hanging on the branch. the text lists spring observations.
Hosta, lily of
the valley sprout freely green
spires through the dead brown leaves.

I like the simplicity of this art work. The verse balances the tree as do the stamped birds.

summer in May

It's projected to be in the eighties today and I'm sure it will be. Our pool is full, but cool. I walked the dog this morning and did some more "spring" cleaning. Still percolating the next spread in Art Journal. Looked through all of May 2009 entries as I cropped them. I noticed a couple dated the same and I didn't photograph the whole month.
I've been hand sewing on some glasses pouches - one for me and one for Ila for her birthday. It's nice to sit on the back deck, enjoy a cold drink and accomplish something !
I finally repotted my pansies. I've not seen the red bugs in any quantity since I poisoned them. The lilies are looking promising. The leaves have sprouted quickly Got a supply of oranges for the orioles - although I haven't seen or heard them, yet.

DAILY HAIKU May 2, 2009
The rainbow is on one of the stencils I got at the Currier yesterday. I inked each line separately. The bird stamp is orange for the orioles. The spring paper is a commercial paper. I highlighted a couple vines with a gel pen and did a delicate trim around the papers.
The text is on the paper with the dots.It's a list of the day's events.

May 1, 2009
My sister, Anne, & I went to Manchester to the Currier to see David Macaulay's art work.I had some fun with this architectural drawing. I used a stencil and shaded with a pencil and a sharpie ultra pen.