I don't know until I try!

Is what I say when I try something and it doesn't work. Yesterday I tried sauteing radishes because I read that they can taste like potatoes. (I really miss potatoes but now I am a Keto-Eater and potatoes have too many carbohydrates) THEY DON'T TASTE LIKE POTATOES! So all that good butter right in to the compost! Ah well the microorganisms will enjoy them!
Same with the brilliant idea I have to re-make a wide-brim-inexpensive-straw hat into a Boater.

Its because I want to wear one and I had the straw hat and found a tutorial and I love to make...so...The Boater is not done. But maybe it will work, but if I didn't try I wouldn't know.

Today's journal page led to new discoveries about surfaces! I love when that happens! I've been using stencils in unusual ways to add depth to plain paper backgrounds. I have been inking the stencil, misting the page and burnishing the stencil to transfer the negative area of the stencil. Its so beautiful to me.

Frida Dog calendar is nearly ready for photos! Its a low-tech job as is most everything I do.

POOF! Journal Entry # 3997

Am visited by negative voices that tell me yuck about myself and my work. It seems to be a common occurrence. I understand the usefulness of such insights but many times its unproductive and dangerous. I really don't want to censor my ideas. I'd rather let them see the light of day and make them better.
Made a journal entry about it.
My creative energy (purple poof) has sent it scurrying!
Frida Dog calendar is all printed. I am waiting for the binding rings to come so I can bind them together.

Recovery Day

Continuing Frida Dog Collage Calendar Project. This is the October Beauty!
I was making dog pictures with Frida (Kahlo) headgear in my visual journal last December. A friend suggested this would be a good idea for a calendar. That's what I'm doing. Utilitarian + Aesthetic! I am saving the actual calendar bits for the final stage of all 12 images.
Yesterday was Recovery Day.
I had a brilliant massage on Wednesday. The brilliant massage unleashed bunch of stuff and it takes a day to recover.
I napped.
I read.
I rested.
And I built all the heads for the Pixie Ghost Ring for the front yard. I am hoping I can store these from year to year and reassemble for each October.
My collages are NOT digital.They are all hand cut and glued.
Its a Captain Kangaroo thing. The sound of his scissors determined the course of my life.

Have such a glorious time making these journals:

1. Covers are collage, each set of front & back are made together. I use transparency overlay for layers of visual dee-light
2. Interior pages are a mish-mash of various papers & perhaps a pocket or envelope to store collections
3. Spiral bind allows book to lay flat for maximum use
4. Each is unique

Had to re-teach myself lots of skills to get this photo to my PC. I guess that's good. I do tend to get a little pissy.
I need to find a market & thought I might like to try various book festivals. Will be begin that research.
I LOVE BOOK FESTIVALS!

Fishes

Back to stenciling fishes. Lots of them.
I guess I am adding words to the work. Seems the right thing to do.
The rain woke me up.

Blank Journal Page #28

#28 for posting today.
Some clay tile work & a puppy. What could be better?
I have another idea! I am very excited about my next blank journal project!
I have loved doing "ABCEDARIANS" for all sorts of things. My favorite is the one I did, as an edition, about my trip to Spain. I was planning on doing an Abcedarian for summer adventures (which I plan on having) & I have always wanted to do one on "Mythological Micanopy".
BLANK JOURNAL IDEA TWO!

#13, April First

Today is a palindrome: 4-1-14! Been out of studio for 2 days--felt bliss to be back among my papers, scissors & glue. Still using from the table pile. Of course, I am tempted by all sorts of new images calling to me from within pages of books & mags.
Who is that guy on the beautiful 50 Cent Poste Italiane stamp? I don't know yet, but I know where to look. I think.

Sometimes Images Put Themselves Together

Red Thread.

#10 Journal Page

Still working with things on the table. I found myself leafing though a book & had to put it away. Using what is in front of me. Another gray day here. It is still cool which I dee-light in. The heat will be here all too soon & over stay it's welcome.

#8 Journal Page

This is my NEW RULE (that I imposed on myself after a very tall stack of images that I have been hoarding fell to the floor & I had to pick them all up) I must use what is on my tabletop. I am not allowed to go looking for new imagery until I've made a dent in what I have so carefully been collecting. This is another "Creator taking stock" composition. One of my very favorites of layouts. I re-visit it ALOT.
The stamps are from a magazine so they are not real, they commemorate the 70th anniversary of the German Derby. They are barely readable.

Everything & Everyone with Bears & Mona.

I love these bears. They are very old timey rubber stamps that I got at Renninger's in January. I am able to build collages again. My Little was busy being an adult & the energy was not there. I kept my journal up but collages have to say everything & not just be surroundings for words.

2 More Pages

For the last 2 mornings I have not been able to get anything going on paper. That is very unusual & this morning I understood why. Gone was the Little that I depend on when making these collages. I had shut her out again & was trying to make "Art". Not a good idea. Without my Little making decisions my work is boring & contrived, when she is in charge it is lively & unpredictable. Reunited, la la  la   la    laaaah.....

Protected by Lipstick Pink

New source materials! Am still in love with my vernacular of fishes, paper boats, sky & ground. The composition is still formulaic but I'm not exhausted by it yet. I'm not sure if the stamps are Chinese? Some text from a French magazine.

Ker-splash

This great image of the western hemisphere is from the Publix sale circular that came in the Sunday paper. What a gift of an image, thanks Publix! I recently heard Lynda Barry speak about creativity at the National Book Festival. She was hilarious, but also explained to all of us the need to create. I felt glowing from the inside out b/c I truly understand that need & am engaged, ever so quietly, in it. These collages come from my physiology.

Was thinking this morning of my source for images. They come mostly from magazines, BECAUSE...it is most like finding something on the street. Something overlooked, something transitory. That's what makes my heart sing.
The thing overlooked
The thing that is found
The thing that has no worth
The thing that sometimes has history
AND then, of course, I have a weakness for beautiful old things that I buy occasionally: atlases, dictionaries, primers, storybooks.
My main concern with this collage is that the hands are too much perfect. I covered them up & colored the fingernails gray.
In the upper right corner is a 1898 Two Cent Documentary Stamp. This is a revenue stamp  first issued during the civil war for collecting taxes, but then the government kept using them & collecting taxes long after.

Bunny Love

Just when I think I can't squeeze out another collage. Another one appears. Sometimes an image has to stew overnight, or several nights to get the interest of another image. This is one of the collages I thought I would have to throw out b/c it just was NOT WORKING! And then one morning it did! I am learning patience.

Something to say to the fish

I hope the fish is listening.
Another transparency & a precious bit of paper measuring paper that I got free at HomeGoods. It black on one side & white on the other. I peel apart the paper so I can use both. Many times paper is layered so it can be peeled apart. I LOVE that.

Beach Umbrella

Lovely Stamp featuring Ruggedy Beach, Stewart Island, New Zealand.
Using a transparency for the Beach umbrella woman. AND I cut a new stencil for cloud shape. I was looking all over for a stamp that would give me some good etching-like clouds, but no luck. This stencil makes me happy. I've been pokey about getting collages done. It must be time to re-evaluate my strategy. I feel myself sinking too much in to a formula & not letting my "Little" make decisions. BIG MISTAKE! These works are all about her.

Being Carried

Started with just a white sheet. Then I started looking for images to fill  the space. This page from a bird book captivated me: an egg being carried, then a chick being carried. AND I forgot to take note of the type of bird who does this! Actually it looks like 2 different birds. I will date this one on the back.
The scene started to tell me a story. That's just the way I like it. Actually the collage MUST tell a story.

Walking the tightrope

This one is serendipitously wonderful in that I was able to use part of the tightrope walker image as part of the mouth on the Shadow-Man. When that happens with disparate images I feel like dancing around! AND then, it looks like the rope ladder is coming out of Shadow-Man's nose! Ha!