more busy days fly by & fuzzy photos

It's interesting and reassuring as I revisit my 2009 work that a year ago, I was behind on entries because I'd been busy and Sean had my computer -  the same as November 2010. Life's patterns and art patterns are  themes of a journal I started in 2009, and am still working on.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

November 24 Why am I incapable of getting clear photos? I took this three times.
This is one of my favorite entries. I cut windows in the natural colored card. They were placed to frame elements on scrapbooking paper. I'd cut the latter the size of the cards I'd used to have a tiny border of the mustardy colors around the smaller card. I used a "LePlume" pen/brush to highlight the central motif. The text is written on scraps of the colored paper and glued in the frame over the text I'd written with a Flair pen

The text  documents sharing of Pierre Bonnard's work with the third graders.

November 23 was the day I finally caught up on DAILY work and did several entries. I cut this one from an insert in Derwent coloured pencils I'd just purchased. It's the French section. The colorful shapes came from that also.

November 22

often times straight lines

lead to fabulous events

sometimes they restrict

I wrote on the card in two directions. used  the pattern from a return card for a subscription on the sides, stamped with a new lines stamp on a piece of vellum, and attached the text I'd written  with a calligraphy pen on a piece of white paper. The piece of vellum has an irregular shape; some edges are torn and others are cut straight.

November 21
I used a small piece of Japanese paper from "All About Paper" mounted on white and red for the image on this entry. Before I glued it in place, I decorated the border with red and gold ink pads. I wrote the text to float using a uniball VISION pen.

November 20
Dawn gave me a copy of a print she'd made of some of my quilts. It's a custom piece I did for Mimi several years ago using some silks she bought in Seattle.

Former art builds small

Structures for new ideas,

New inspiration.






November 19 Another blurry photo of a simply drawn entry. The floating text occupies the center of the page. One year I kept a beach journal and did  these kinds of line drawings for each visit to the beach. On this day, I had Deezel with me.
High tide deposits
 piles of seaweed, intriguing
 odors and sea glass

November 18
I wish I could get a clear photo of this entry. I've taken several.

November 17
This is another in the "red" series. I cut the shapes from the white card that has red lightly stamped over it. I glued it over a piece of red scrapbooking paper.  the text is written in the floating forn largely within the red shapes.
Untried colors bring
novel ideas from untapped

vein of thought

The syllables are not correct, but I just couldn't find the word/words that would work. "Sleeping vein of thought" is the best I could do.

a week's worth of entries, Mercer Museum and Diana's Country Dog Inn

We've had a busy week. On Friday, we left for Wyncote, PA. to spend the weekend with my sister, Elizabeth, for her 70th birthday.

On Saturday, we visited the Mercer Museum in Doylesville, PA.http://www.mercermuseum.org/ . It's filled with a collection begun by Henry Mercer. The collection numered in the hundreds of thousands of items and varied from a whaling boat and conestoga wagon to a loom and musical instruments. The "stuff" was fascinating, but the building made of cement without blueprints was just as interesting.

He was an archeologist and a potter. He made the Moravian tiles at the pottery works. www.buckscounty.org/departments/tileworks

We got home Sunday about 3:00.We picked the dog up at Diana's  where he must have played for three days. He's been pooped since we got home.http://www.dianascountrydoginn.webs.com/

Yesterday, I went to the doctor's twice to get help for the pain and loss of use of my thumb on my right hand. I now have a soft brace for everyday use and a small splint for flareups and night. It's amazing that, yes the pain has subsided. I also had a parafin bath (for my hand) !!! WOW that was wonderful. I'm on my way this morning to invest in one for home.

DAILY HAIKU 2009
November 16  This is a copy of a trading card with a red theme (see also Nov 14). the papers are from an advertisement torn and rubbed to look distressed. I sketched flip flops and spirals for the dog's paws with a gel pen in the corners. The text is written on tracing paper in a funky font.

The season's fresh fall
Rich mahoghany, red leaves
Fade to tan and brown.

November 15
I went with Paula and Dawn to an art share in Concord. It was interesting.
This entry has scraps of pages from an old book over a small piece of tissue, edged with a little pencil shadowing and the text is written over the book's text with a marker.

For November 14 I copied another trading card with a red theme that I traded. I glued the copy to a 3" x 5" card.The trading card is a stencil of a leaf I've used many times. Around the edges  I used a red gel pen to write:
pomegranate seeds
 cardinals, candy apples
autumn leaves, sunsets
I glued it to a red 3" x5' card that has "rain" written diagonally on the larger side.

November 13
We went out to dinner with Mary, Bud, Nancy and Roy to remember Barbara. I simply used a piece of commercial scrapbooking paper stamped around the edges with gold and a piece of tissue paper for the text handwritten in a fancy cursive.
Let's meet for dinner
refresh long friendships,toast friends
 who've left our embrace



This is self explanatory -  a photo of Deezel on the beach for the first time, wind in his ears....
low tide, wet, grey sand
tennis ball, playful puppy
breeze ruffles your ears

November 11
Tracing paper stitched over cheesecloth and tissue with dog paw prints has the text written in pencil.








One extra day off
creativity catch up
6 Daily Haiku

This entry celebrates the numeral for the date - 11/10/ 09 .

They decorate the card in varied fonts and styles. Other dates are marked along the top.  ( 7/8/09  and 8/9/10).The verse is written on a piece of printed vellum in blue and  it is glued over the large central numerals.

              Today's numerals

         run consecutively in

       descending order.

Monday, November 9
This entry has several layers.  First, I used a bare tree stamp around the edges. Under everything several tiny red strips of a commercial paper are arranged casually. The card is from an advertisement for an open house at a local greenhouse( a portion of the zip code and address are somewhat visible) . I used a piece of red parchement from the mail and a red from an advertisement to write the text on with a pen. The grass is stamped with the barcode stamp and the trees are stitched. I like the verse.

               Candy apple red leaves

           drop to Autumn's green grass.

                  Black branches are still.

floating fonts and birdnests

The sun illuminates the leaf covered ground, wet from the overnight rain. I may get a walk in soon.
I've been re-photographing November's pages. I got a glare from the surface they were on when I first photo'd them. They look better with the felt background.

Yesterday I found this lovely birdnest beside the road. I thought the leaves were stuck to the sides, because it was on the ground. The branch they are on is woven into this work of art. It's about 5" across and top to bottom. It has white and blue plastic strings also.
Birds nests are one of those icons I have long admired and studied. I have four in a box at school to let kids draw. Several years ago I made a small wallhanging with a birdnest in it. I never liked how the birdnest looks, but have accepted my poor skills compared to those of the birds for this endeavor.

The nest is balanced at the end of the branches.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

November 8

We went to a party for my brother, Richard, on his 65th. I used the "party" stamp on the card with soft colors. The text is from a birthday present I made for my sister, Anne, on her 70th. That project had alternative ways to think of our numbers for ages: 70 is only 35 time 2 !!!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I stamped the edges of the card with ink, and glued a piece of parchment over some scraps. The verse is written in a floating font with marker.

Beach trip - very high surf, great waves

Roger and I went to breakfast then to the beach with Deezel for some play and sniff time.
Now to yard work. It's damp and chilly, but not so bad for outside work.


DAILY HAIKU 2009
November 6 We went out with Justin, Kimberlee and friends to celebrate their engagement. The maple leaves, disc and ribbons were decorations for the party. Kim is an avid scrapbooker. For some reason the photos all were blurry. Perhaps it's due to using tracing paper for the text.
Celebration for new love, joyous commitment. Not long ago, us.

November 5 I used motifs from Japanes pape for this entry. They are drawn with a brown marker with a wide tip/brush and a narrow tip. I started work on a journal about patterns -  that is
images, text or motifs that occur again and again in art.

Picasa, computer needs,rainy today and feeling like SNOW

Well, the computer is a time gobbler today. I finally got Picasa downloaded along with a virus detector. But, when I try to upload a web album, it defaults to my old email on MSN - looks like another call to the computer expert.
Someday, I'll have all the photos for DAILY HAIKU 2009 on web albums and accessible for members.
I'm working on a new purse. I got the pattern at the Cocheco Quilt Show in October.Good way to use some fabrics from my stash.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

These are two shapes that I've created to symbolize my connections to textiles. I teach about weaving to 4th and 5th grades about this time at school.For this entry, I traced the templates and added the inner designs. 

Lines, shapes and color

Pattern and texture to mix in

Creating beauty

November 3

I doodled designs on scrap papers as if they were a single piece of paper. When I glued the pieces on the card, I lrft a little space between each. The designs were based on a piece of Japanese paper and were done with pencil with select areas outlined with a fine line marker, as is the text.
                                        I do not need snow
                             shoes to scuff in deeply piled
                                       blanket of oak leaves.
              

Election Day

A pleasant day is forecast. It looks like no wind, finally.

fall 2008 used as a writing prompt with 4th grade

detail of a giant oak leaf -2009

The oak leaves are perennially a favorite. They are nearly the last ones to show their autumn colors. They vary from gold to burgundy to mahogany. Even on the ground they are lovely and create a textured surface.I printed the top photo for a writnig prompt when I worked as a para.   I have November 2009 photos of a giant speciman, that I salvaged from the roadside. .I used the  photo below yesterday an for ART JOURNAL 2 :July- Dec.entry for November 1-2.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

I did a double take at the spelling of "squawking". The only way to fix it is to re-write the final line on a piece of paper. This entry began with the rectangular shapes highlighted with fall colors. I stamped the flip flops amd drew a sun and spirals for Deezel. I didn't like it.

Keep working on it....

I adhered strips of tracing paper and still wasn't happy. The scrapbooking paper with the fun birds - I used one on Nov. 1-was handy. I tore three strips, wrote the text and glued them over everything I'd done. I guess the spelling error came because I was concentrating on getting the visual "right".

It looks"right" because it does express the layers, colors, variety , and complexity of November in New England.



November has a chilly start

Backyard, October 31 as the sun gets low

October came to a stunning and windy close.

November's first day is equally stunning - I feel compelled to photograph the oaks as the sun illuminates them.

I did more winter preparations this morning - the last of the clay pots to pull out the spent plants and put away. I was surprised at the number of blossoms there were despite the cold we've had.
One pot that I decided to over winter has a fuschia blossom in it.I brought in garden ornaments also - my beautiful glass gazing ball and the clay fox that sits in the front garden. I made two trips to the leaf pile with the garden cart then took Deezel on a quick walk through the woods.

I photo'd November's entries today. There are several with  floating lettering. Others from scraps of paper are spontaneous. A few have stitching and fabrics.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

 The  clear, calendar sticker is over  precut oak leaves I bought at All About Paper in Hampton.

November 1 is a busy entry with stamps for birds, sun, and a walk with Deezel. The bird of cut paper is from a commercial piece of scrapbooking paper. It was amazing to see, and hear the cedar waxwings so late. They must have been getting ready to go south for the winter.