Sunday, October 31, 2010

October Sky

What could be more beautiful than a blue October sky?

But it is, after all, Halloween... so we need to make this more sinister.  So, is that a beautiful blue sky with the moon and a wispy cloud?  Or is an evil government experiment?? (Okay, even *I* am having trouble taking myself seriously now!)

In fact, that is not a cloud at all.  It is a chemtrail from an airplane.  You can tell because an airplane contrail disappears as the plane goes along.  The chemtrails linger for hours.


 I don't know that I believe all the conspiracy theories, but I do know some facts.  Fact is, these seem to occur more and more often.  It is not unusual to see grids in the sky almost daily.  I am more inclined to believe it is some kind of training exercise, but I have no idea for sure.

I just know that three hours elapsed between the first photos and the next one.  When I went outside later, the sky was literally covered with lines and grids. 

But the trees sure are pretty, with the sun shining through the leaves.  And that's a fact, Jack.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Being Brave

This is me doing something I've never done before. 


(Note to self:  Standing on a stool, looking up and painting on the wall does not work well with bifocals.)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mike Meador

Life goes on.  We work, we play, we carry on.  But there still seems to be a void in the world where Mike Meador used to be.  Gaye and I went to Indianapolis yesterday to attend the memorial service.  I'm so glad we went.  The service was just wonderful.  Even though we have known Chris and Mike for many years, it was a lot of fun to hear what he was like in his high school years and on into adulthood (not to mention seeing the great slide show of old pictures).  Much was made of his time helping youth groups, and encouraging kids develop an interest in music.  In retrospect, it should be no surprise to hear his quirkiness was something he was apparently born with, as he has been that way his whole life!  Tales were told, starting with his mandatory time at his parents' dry cleaners after school each day, where he sat at a desk in the back with only a box of paper clips to keep him entertained for hours on end.  I guess that explains where he got his ability to make things and develop his uncanny skills with inanimate objects.

And speaking of such objects, where else can you attend a memorial service where there are trinkets on a table for all to take home with them.  I almost jumped up and down when I saw the tiny version of my favorite stencil, the little happy girl.

I didn't open the clear box it came in until I got home, and there inside I discovered the little book called "Little Lucy Rhymer".  It says at the end that it's a story by Mike Meador, 2004.  Sometimes I feel so dense.  Back in June, he posted comments about the name of the girl in the stencil, and I didn't know what he was talking about, but it makes more sense now - well, not really, but now I see why he recited that odd poem, because it was one of his previous projects.  (See his comments here.)  I'm going to miss his comments on my blog.  I knew when I was getting boring and when I was making someone laugh.  But that is still my favorite stencil, and she means even more now each time I use her.


He is having fun now, that's for sure.  And he knows so many things now that we can only dream of knowing.  Peace, Mike.  Hugs, Chris and Andy.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Words

Sometimes there just aren't any. 

When I got off work today and checked Ginny's blog here, I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach.  I learned that we have lost our friend Mike from Coffee Break. We have all lost a good soul on this earth.  He is on a grand caper, and oh, my, we are all safer now because heaven is getting some new gadgets.  There is a new inventor in town Up There.

I'll bet all the stories people will tell about Mike are funny ones.  He had a way of making everyone feel like they were in on one of his secret pranks.  He was made up of goodness and kindness.
Our thoughts, prayers, and love are sent to Chris and Andy.


Friday, October 15, 2010

Art Frenzy

I have been in a dead zone artistically lately.  I chalked it up to simply a heavy work schedule, with little play time.  So when I started rummaging for my clear packing tape (to use for its intended purpose of sealing up a box for mailing) all that bottled up creative energy escaped and set forth to make things.  A couple of hours later, I had these.

One is a calendar idea I've been working on.  It's still not finished, but I added a few more things to it.  The middle book is one I had made a few weeks ago, but had never put the covers on.  That was because I wasn't totally happy with the book in general.  I was trying out a new size and a new plastic type cover.


The top book is just pure randomness (if that's a word).  I had some strips of paper left over from cutting some larger sheets.  It was nice paper, so I put it aside for the time being.  When I came across the paper again, I decided to either do something with it or toss it.  So I tore and folded, folded some more, and ended up with a little book about 4 x 5 inches in size.  Some paper strips were longer, so if they stuck out, I folded them in and sewed them on the machine.  The covers are scraps of watercolor paper where I had cleaned off my paint brush when I was playing with acrylic inks recently.  I added other scraps and bits (including a felt button on the cover).  As you can see, most of what I do is in the blue family, so when I have leftover scraps, they all work together well.



I still don't know what I'm going to do with this book, and it has no intended purpose right now.  But I sure had fun with it.  It pays to go with the flow, and follow the muse wherever it takes you.
  (Unfortunately, the box I was taping up never got mailed...)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Bundles

I like to sometimes drop in at the only fabric store in my area.  I'm always amazed that chain stores don't have the same things in different cities.  I like the fact that my Hancock Fabric store takes their leftover scraps of fabric, bundles them up, and throws them in a pile on a table, or sometimes in wire baskets (they keep moving them, so "the hunt" never gets old).  Sometimes they have nothing to interest me.  Whatever I get, it's usually half a yard or less, and it's usually a dollar or less. 

I almost always grab the muslins, kona cottons, and canvas.  The whites and off-whites appeal to me for possible lettering projects.  Most of the time, the bundles aren't marked, so I don't really know what I'm getting.  But the smoothness of a particular bundle intrigued me, so I brought it home this week.

When I unrolled the bundle, there was faint printing on the edge that leads me to believe it is drapery lining.  I did play around with some lettering on it with acrylic inks.



I also played around in my stencil journal some more.  Not totally happy with the stitching on the fabric, but it's a no-pressure journal, after all.  So I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Chair Art

My local paper had an article in the home section that mentioned "typographic decor" is the big thing all of a sudden, with letters and numbers, old typography, etc., showing up everywhere.  Hmmm... haven't we all been using those things ForEver already??  Nevertheless, they showed as an example a chair like this one.

It was made by Palette Industries.  Check them out here.

Thanks to everyone who confirmed that I have persimmons in my yard.  At least now I know.  And Jan knows how to dig into my brain and make me curious. (FYI, that is not my brain.)

She left a comment about cutting open the persimmons and predicting the kind of winter we will have, depending on the pattern inside.  So of course I had to go out and gather some.  Just to get a good sampling, I got some ripe ones off the ground as well as some unripe ones off the branches.

Ready to proceed with the cutting...

The first thing I noticed was that a couple of them had ants on them.  eeeek.  Got rid of the ants and proceeded.  They were really squishy to cut into.  And I didn't see a pattern either, because there was a hard seed in the center.  I looked at Jan's comment again and saw where I went wrong.  She said to cut the SEED to see the pattern, not the persimmon.  Ooooh, that's different. 

By then, I realized these suckers were slimy and sticky.  I did try to cut into a couple of seeds, but they kept getting away from me.  Since I type all day for a living, I decided that welding a sharp knife and some slippery seeds were probably not the best thing for me to be doing.  Slicing off a finger is not an option!  So I will just assume the winter will be cold, with snow and some unpredictable weather (with lots of slipping and sliding!)  I also learned I don't have the patience to gather enough pulp for persimmon pudding.