Well.... here I am again! Yeah, it's me, Jacey! What do you mean I've been quiet so long you don't remember me. LOL... ok.. that's fair.
You know what I've been doing? Same thing I'm always doing, working my 40 hour job each week, happily only 40 hours now since a really decent manager has gotten things in better order and hired an appropriate amount of people so they don't work everyone to death with constant mandatory overtime. After which I keep up my chores and play at my art. Sundays for Mom....random trips out, not too far, for thrift shop wandering.... yes, so exciting, but for real, at my age, waking up and getting out of bed by myself is pretty exciting LOL !!!
As you would expect, I brought along some fun art stuff and some random drivel for your entertainment.
I love this little piece. It is one that I originally just tried some lavender drips on canvas to look like a bunch of trees with the drips being the tree trunks. It wasn't a "piece" it was an experiment and then the canvas floated here and there and all around for months and one day, I had some transparent papers that I had painted and I glued them over the lavender trees randomly to see how they would look layered.... another experiment, then it floated around for months again. THEN, some time back, I got new stencils and while I was creating other things, this canvas floated back to the surface and I tested the center of one of the stencils over top of the other experiments and.... WOW! I loved it and now it was done.
You like it, don't you? 😄
Yikes ! What is this?? 😂
Well...it was just a test piece again....for some papers I had made new marks on in a different way than I had before. I've tried so many new ways of making collage papers, not really complicated, but just ways I hadn't thought of before. It caused some interesting patterns, so I thought I should glue a few down and see how they did, some on new papers too. Afterwards, I decided it looks like some sort of graffiti and all of the sudden, it was a piece and would not be floating around, waiting for more.
You know, living alone, I think and do stuff that is silly and weird sometimes and because I have time, I get to ponder on them a while if I want. One day I was watching an artist who is a Christian and she likes to incorporate that into her youtube videos. She has a theme she talks about, but her art is not all about crosses and Christian symbols all the time although sometimes since she scrap journals, she does include a scripture now and then on some of her pages. One day what she was talking about was making a joyful noise which the Bible says to do. She wondered if she was really doing that enough or if she was speaking negatively in her life a little too much. Anyway, that is what made my mind eventually go to..... what if the world being a better place was as simple as what happened in Monsters Inc??? What if all the negative and scary things that was everywhere and causing such anxiety and cruelty in the world, could be offset if enough people spoke happy things, did happy things, made a lot happy noises for a reason or no reason. What if by enough people doing that, could the good and the happy, take over the negative and ugly in the universe? What if that was all it would take? In the movie, the laughter and happiness generated WAY more power than the scary. What if it was just that simplistic to make a great change? Since then, just in case, I make more happy noises and do more silly, happy stuff. I'm doing my part!
Ok, now that you've committed me to the loony bin, here is some more fun art. This one is a print, not a photo print, but a print that I made using my gel print plate. Some paint goes down, then it dries and something else goes over and then over and then.... over again and this is how it ended up. I was basically in the zone of just making collaging papers and in the flow, this one came out like this (except for the edges that I later cut with shaped scissors) and I loved it so much I knew I was not going to tear it up and use it in future pieces, so later I glued it to a canvas board and now it stands alone. I love it's colorful vibes.
I was sure this one was completed in it's simplicity. Three painted and stenciled papers, two colors, floating freely. I do like how they go together. Somehow though, I am curious if sometime later, another painted paper will ask to join in. Now ... I'm not sure.
This was another piece that came out of the more recent mark making papers experiments. Its a little weird and I like it.
Sometime back, with no intentional start, (and before the above "make a joyful noise" video) I will sometimes say something out loud (you do that a lot when you live alone, whether you admit it publicly or not. (the world according to me 😂)) ... and whatever I said sounded interesting to me, sometimes more the sound of it than the meaning and I would begin to say it over and over and give it a cadence (I went to goog cadence to make sure I was using the appropriate word and sure enough, part of the meaning is " the rhythms of the tones and sometimes even the rhythm of sounds in general" ..... and I would say the phrase over and over to a happy beat and it would make me want to move a little extra, like my hands or my hips as if almost dancing as I walked through the house. It somehow gives me energy. Talk about weird.... right??? Of course after I've done that multiple times, I have to stop and ponder it now and then. Why am I now compelled to do that? I mean, it's fun, but it is not something I have always done. I wondered if the rhythm of it is touching something primal in my brain or spirit. Whatever it is, I don't feel inclined to stop doing it.
Also in my ponderings about it, I wondered if it was dementia...LOLOLOL!! ... as a long time ago when I use to visit the nursing home, there was a little old woman who was a resident there and when she talked, no matter what she said, it always rhymed! ... perfectly. I found out she had been a teacher in her work life. It was quite interesting. I wonder if I will be the leader of the rhythm parade in the nursing home if I go.
Hand me my drum major baton! There is about to be a spectacle.
Back to paint an paper one last time. This is a collage paper that I made. Again, I adore the colors. Do you recognize the pattern/design? If you said "potato masher" you'd be exactly right! I got one for cheap at the dollar store and this was how my first experiment with it turned out. Fun... right?
Last for now, after I loaded my photos for this post, an Amazon package arrived and one of the things in it was these colorful napkins. I thought they were too expensive, but I was in the mood and I loved them. Watercolor circles of all colors, just the perfect artist's napkin. I am sure I am going to enjoy using these down to the very last one. They are surprisingly decent quality and what you see here is folded twice, so very sufficient for real use.
The clothes and dishwashers have been whirring away this morning and some yogurt has been eaten and some coffee is still being sipped. I might go thrifting for a short time in a while (although my schedule is fluid so I can't be sure) ....and a little more laundry will be done and the ice machine will be cleaned and relocated and after, a pork roast will go on and cabbage will be shaved on the mandolin for stringy slaw and green beans will be cooked in the broth after the pork roast is done. I will be going to Mom's for lunch tomorrow, celebrating my brother's birthday a couple weeks ago with my other sibs and spouses. The pork is for me, the other stuff is my part of the meal. Enough to do, but having the whole day means no rushing.
I detest rushing, don't you??
ok! That is all I have for you today. I hope you are all doing well and that your hearts are happy.
