Tuesday-8:45am

Good Morning!

We had the most gorgeous fall days (40s to 70s) Sunday and Monday and it is still cool this morning (55 F right now), but we're suppose to be right back up close to 90 again today.  Oh well.

Elizabeth said we don't have to have pictures actually from Tuesday for T Stands For Tuesday...so I'll show you what I was doing and drinking over the weekend.  I finished a page spread for the "Following The Wild Winds" workshop (from 21 Secrets).   

I was wondering what to do with those gessoed layers and the hockey tape border...add more layers, right?  May as well really test this acrylic thing out to the max, I figured.  So...for this workshop we were supposed to add some collage...including a picture of ourselves (see toddler me down in the corner).  I added small sections of the local newspaper's pet ads, too, with pictures of cats and dogs.

All those small craft bottles of paint with the white caps in that tub were a gift from Joe's wife, Betty, after he died.  I worked in the office (days) and was the live-in emergency services person (nights and weekends) in an independent living senior building in Minneapolis before I moved up here to Fargo-Moorhead to go to college.  Joe had a stroke years before I met him and had lost the use of his right side but he never complained and was always grateful for any kindness.  He loved to play cards, could walk with a leg brace, and learned to paint simple drawings left-handed.  He also had a woodworking friend that cut shapes from thin balsa wood that Joe would paint and then add a magnet to the back.  When I left he painted a card...with a picture of Dagan and I driving away in my car...

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Anyways, when I was still able to travel, I made it back down for a visit.  Those people had become like a big extended family to me.  (I still hear from Betty at Christmastime.)  Joe had recently died and Betty wanted me to have his paints.  I was honored to take them...even though I had been trying to learn watercolors and didn't know much about acrylics.  It occurred to me that was over ten years ago...as I was finger painting--(yes, using my fingers!)--to add another layer of color to this page spread...

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I was thinking of Joe.

Then I added another thin layer of gesso.

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BTW--I am using an Agave Nectar bottle for my Dick Blick gesso.  I spied this in my pantry and it has a spout of sorts--so I moved the nectar to a glass jar, cleaned this out, and it is exactly what I was looking for!  Works really well and is much easier for me to handle than the big quart jar.

I digress

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Face it.  

I am going to always be in trouble for long posts with T-Tuesday and WOYWW.  Those of you who already know me know that I really can't tell a short story...ask Dagan and Leah--LOL!  ;)

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So, I gessoed... 

...and left my baby face peeking out. 

It was hot as Hades.

Naturally, Karma was outside heat soaking. 

I added stencils and splattered (with my fingers!) some yellow about. 

I knew it needed something else.  

Let it sit overnight. 

Just stared at it. 

Still didn't know what to do with it.  

Went to check the mail.  

handwritten:

"Ever since I first watched the videos on the Vision Quest walk I wished I could go on one and find a feather.  Feathers were my favorite things to find since I was a kid.

When I am working on this--lo and behold--what do I find in the hallway...

a gift from the angels."

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I've lived here since February of 2005 and I have never once seen a feather in the hallway...let alone on third floor.  Yes it was right down the hall waiting for me on the carpet.  Looks like a wild bird feather, too.  Must have come in on the wild winds, eh?

The page was finished.  :)

And all the while I was drinking black coffee in my dented thermal mug.

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You can go here to see what others are doing and drinking. 

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See you tomorrow!  :) :)

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"A heartfelt smile gives warmth enough for three winters."

Mongolian Proverb