The May Day Basket of Iris's

A couple of weeks ago Lynda and I decided to take a class being offered at Collage called Representational Collage - Floral. We were told to bring a picture or pictures of our favorite flowers. I decided to bring a picture of the flowers that Cliff had just given me.



Told it would probably work out better to just start with a single flower, I chose one of the instructors...an Iris.



Listening to our instructor we both began our masterpieces.






And while creating our masterpieces, I began to tell Lynda the story of why I love iris's so much.

It was May 1st and I was in the 4th Grade. Coming home from school with my May Day basket of flowers I had made for my mother, I noticed these wonderful tall purple flowers across from our house. Even though they were in other people's yards, I decided to pick a couple of them and make May Day baskets for the two houses that had elderly ladies living in them. I remember sneaking up to pick the flowers and hurrying back to my house to make a paper basket to hold them. I then went back out, left them on their porches, rang their doorbell and ran.

Well.....both houses paid a visit to my house when my Mom got home from work that night. The first house told my mother how awful it was that I had picked some of her flowers. The second house told my mother what a touching and thoughtful action I had performed (because even though this lady was in her 60's, her mother in her 90's lived there and received this May Day basket). That moment held a life lesson for me.





So everytime I see an Iris, I remember back to that day. And I remember those two totally different takes on the same situation. There has never been a flower in my yard that was too beautiful that a child could not pick it. Iris's will bloom again, a child's spirit may not.

Birthday Ladies at 93 and 2

Today was the birthday of two wonderful ladies. One happens to be the oldest lady I know and the other happens to be the youngest lady I know. They were born on April 3rd and they both have my heart.

Minnie is my 1st Grade Teacher who taught me to read....




And Ava is my great niece whom I hope to teach to read....




I know I am blessed!

Babalu

Today, I along with many others celebrated the life of Marv Schaffer. He is my uncle and I will greatly miss him.

He was the first man I ever loved.



He had nicknames for us all. I could have gone through life just as Roberta or Bobbie, but no....I was given the name "Babalu". Upon walking into a room and hearing him call out my name, I would immediately feel so very loved and special. He had that special knack of making you feel important - he always wanted to know what was going on with you and always had at least one story to tell.

The last time we spoke was a couple of weeks ago, I had stopped by to cheer him up. He told me the story of how he got his nickname Hank (and to this day, his grade school chums still call each other by their nicknames). He then went on to ask me about school. I told him how excited I was to graduate this June. From the side of his bed he looked at me and said, "You know who would be so proud of you for doing this Babalu? Your Dad". Tears welled up in my eyes...I was there to cheer him up not cry. He started to apologize but I was so thankful that he said what he did - he knew what I needed to hear.



Such a stand up guy - a man that stood by any child that needed a cheerleader. Thank you Uncle Marv for being that person for me.

Feeling Groovy

Round 3 of The Gluebook begins this week! The theme I chose for this round is "Feeling Groovy"! I was listening (and "maybe" singing in front of the mirror with my hairbrush microphone) to The 59th Street Bridge Song and thinking to myself how perfect those words will be in just four tiny weeks when I am finished with school!

"I got no deeds to do
No promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life I love you, all is groovy."









Ba da da da da da da, feeling groovy.....

"Then She Got Better"

I got a call about a month ago from my BNF Lynda asking me if I could teach/facilitate an art class for Kay's birthday. What....me? I knew immediately what I would want to do. It was a class that I have taken from the wonderfully creative Dayna Collins. It is called Collage Up A Storm and I have taken it three times from her (that's how much fun it is!).

Tuesday night when I met with Dayna for our Vein of Gold meeting she had ready for me the recipe for "Stone Soup" and the instructions from Sally Jean Alexander's book, Pretty Little Things.

Everyone was asked to bring two baggies full of precut vegetables. When all had been added to the brewing pot, Amanda put in the stone. The afternoon of fun was about to begin ~ a group of lovely funny ladies ranging in age from 14 to 74!!




I gave them the easy to follow instructions for the day.....It's called "Abracadabra....Just Do As I Say".
With a blank canvas in front of them, I would pull a word out of the bowl which would tell them what they would be doing for the next five minutes ~ Paint, Scratch, Ink, Text/Words, Pastels, Chalk, Charcoal, Pictures, 3-D, Smudge (my favorite!), Sand, Stamp ~ and so on.



For the next two hours they eagerly followed each command....










Their collages finished, it was now time to savor our delicious Stone Soup. But before we ate, Amanda read to all the story about how Stone Soup came to be.




Every one's collage turned out perfect! (I even heard Aislinn say that this class was more fun than any art class in school...pitter pat went my heart!).








As a thank you, Lynda had brought me a bottle on wine knowing how much I love the name on the bottle and a tiny heart to keep in my pocket!




Such a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, smudging and getting hands artfully dirty....



....with a group of amazing and VERY funny ladies.



I think the words Kay used on her collage apply to all that come to her with an ache or pain. She is that tiny portion of people in the world that will always take the time to sit and listen and cheer you on....until you get all better!

Happy Birthday Wild Woman!!

I Remember You.....

A year ago I was taking a train up to Seattle to see Nikki Soppelsa's (and a couple others) Sketchbook Project 2011. As my fantastic luck would happen, two people bailed "but" I met two other fantastic people (Keri & Latrice). After seeing the submissions Keri and I decided that we were going to do the 2012 Project.

50 themes to pick from....I decided mine would be "I REMEMBER YOU". Not so much "you" but definite times in my life that hold a huge place in my heart.

And so my book began. For my birthday last year, Dayna Collins gave me this wonderful watercolor pen and pad. All of my pages that were sketched and painted were painted with Dayna's wonderful gift to me!

Each page....has my heart.

The tour will be coming to Portland, OR (come see me!) and also Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Portland Maine, Los Angeles, Melbourne Australia and London England amongst main other stops.

I love my book, I love each page and I love the moment in my life each page repersents and reminds me of that moment.






















I hope these pages will touch your fingers and remind you about.....that moment!