Late Bloomers

We're nearing the end of garden season here in New England, but I picked some more metaphorical late-blooming flowers today and plopped them in a vase! 

I still have much to learn from Amanda Evanston about the art of floral arranging, late bloomer that I am myself.

Heading Off Into a Day Packed With Appointments
5 x 7"; acrylic, ink, fabric ink, oil pastel, and collage
on paper
abstract floral
2022

Scrappy

The word scrappy floated up in a hypnagogic moment of partial wakefulness during the night. It popped into my field of attention a second time in the light of day. 

scrappy • made of scraps; consisting of odds and ends; composed of disorganized, untidy, or incomplete parts; disconnected, disjointed

scrappy • having a determined spirit; feisty; exhibiting firmness of purpose and energetic pursuit of results; manifesting moxie or demonstrating grit; stepping into the arena

YES!

Look Around at the Terrain of Possibility
3.75 x 5.5" postcard, acrylic, collage, and oil pastel
on card stock
abstract
2022

Heart and Art, Unlimited

Live on FaceBook on New Year's Eve, Amanda Evanston offered an end-of-2020 activity which I watched even though I was away from home and not able to participate.

But this week I cut a heart shape from cardboard, painted it, tore some strips of colored paper, wrote words of gratitude, folded the strips, wrapped the heart with string and ribbon, tucked in my gratitude and more, and now I have a little magpie nest of love and gratitude, so much gratitude that it cannot be contained! It is popping out in all directions, boundless!

painted cardboard heart

strips of colored paper
inscribed with words of gratitude

folded strips 

Tying My Laces and Walking Out of Myself
Into This Sunny Winter Day
7 x 7"; acrylic, paper, ribbon, cord, and cardboard
in shadow box
mixed media Valentine
2021

detail

detail: side view of gratitude
popping out in all directions

Streetable #8

It used to comfort me, 
as a little girl, 
to look at my mother’s jewelry. 
I used to try on 
the heavy gold bracelets, 
the pearl necklaces, 
the rings, 
all at once. 
I liked pinning the brooches 
in a line down my chest, 
the fabric of my shirt 
sagging from the weight.

Elizabeth Berg, Open House

"All You Need Now, Edith, is Lipstick," Little Bear Said
4 x 6" postcard; acrylic, ink, fabric paint, and collage
abstract
2020

before Edith and Little Bear discovered
the beautiful dressing room with the big mirror

Streetable #7

Every single damn thing 
that we are 
or ever will be 
is dependent on six inches of topsoil 
and the fact that the rain comes 
when it’s needed 
and does not come 
when it is not needed, 
everything, 
every … 
single … 
thing 
comes with that luck.

Gary Paulsen, Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass

The Comfort of a Tree's Spiny Bark
4 x 6" postcard; acrylic, pencil, and collage
abstract
2020

neither wearing makeup nor wishing to appear to be