Small Art, Short Poems

Alas, peace has come,
Savor the quiet hush, lush,
Damp as morning dew.

Lost, elusive dreams,
Lonely sparrow soars high, sigh,
Glides on wings of love.

N ©2013

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Untitled, 2.5×3.5 inches, Aquarelles/Polychromos

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Tell Me (art)

This art inspired the poem, but does not visually go with the poem. Or rather, the inspiration for the poem was the words on this art combined with last night’s dream…

If I were a person of unlimited means, I would be shopping for a shoemaker to recreate the oh so fabulous traveling boots worn in the dream as those boots were so fine, an unusual design, seemed to go on forever, made of the best and trimmed in an exotic fur above the knees, definately not cheap boots and like something I have never seen. And they were called “traveling boots” in the dream, the pair I put on to leave. My sister took my other boots, also an unusual pair of very nice tall boots, and put them next to the bed of a man I love and we had words about it as that was not fair to him. Leaving my boots by his bed was like staking a claim, kind of like a cat marking her territory to ward off other cats, and I could not do that to him. So I snuck into his room and silently retrieved the boots while he was making love to another woman, which was weird to dream about but oddly, I only felt saddened, not jealous.

I don’t know what happened to that other pair of boots as dreams tend to omit things, flips to new scene, and I’m still wearing the traveling boots and carrying just a leather handbag (no baggage) as I hop a train.

I really liked those traveling boots, and not only because they looked so grand on me. They made me feel so confident and I could move with ease, as if freed of all disability. Maybe they are magical?

As for the art, they are gouche paintings, each 2.5×3.5 inches cut from a painting done just puttering around while babysitting my infant grandson and his 8 year old uncle over the weekend. (Sounds complicated? Nah, it just make me a young step-great-grandmother by future marriage.) The 8 year old loves art, so we broke out the gouche. The words were later added with Polychromos.

Thanks for reading this blog and viewing my art!

If you are into dreams, do boots mean anything?

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Art Cards

I started two new drawings today, working the first layers with water color pencils. It is pretty much just ground prep, throwing color down into the textured watercolor paper to add depth to the final drawing.

If they turn out okay, then fine… if not, oh well. I can trim off edges, keep what interests me. That is what happened to the drawing inside the black mat. It started out as a larger drawing to end up in an 8×10 frame. You may recall seeing it larger unfinished in a previous photograph.

I have found a new use for art scraps, as one can only use so many bookmarkers cut from the trimmings. Why not cut them into Art Cards?

The idea came when I was cleaning out a drawer and came across two boxes of outdated business cards. I was debating about ordering new ones, but I really do not need 500. It is not like I’m running a business or anything. I just like having a card with my basic contact information on it for the rare occassions when someone asks, “hey, you got a card?”

Call it “cheap” or call it “green” for recycling art scraps, but I think it is a cool idea because it is a throw back to the art cards of old school artists who, hundreds of years ago, made their own art cards for various purposes. Essientially, their art card was a sample of their work, sometimes as a means to share their techniques with other artists. Some art cards were small works of art traded for food or lodging. In the Victorian Era, some artists made their own calling cards.

I am purposely cutting my Art Cards ye 2×3 inches to avoid any possible connection or confusion with ATC and ACEO movements.

“Artist Trading Cards” and “Art Cards, Editions and Originals” are the exact same thing – small 2.5×3.5 inch works of art – with one seriously major distinction causing controversy and snobbery between artists: who is allowed to have or collect art in that size. The ATC folks believe that art in this size is to be traded exclusively as in ONLY between artists and never, ever sold. Some artists rebelled, renamed art that size ACEO, and started selling their art cards on ebay, thus opening the door for common people lacking the space and resources to amass a huge art collection to be able to collect baseball card size works of art.

Okay, so perhaps making art cards undersize is bumping all the rules… even the biz card rules since business cards are 2×3.5 inches. But, they will serve the purpose: a free sample of my art style with my basic contact information on the back.

A friend suggested printing the info on the back. Since my scribble may be hard to read and the easiest way to quick print anything onto a small surface is with a rubber stamp, I ordered one custom made from thestampmaker.com late Wednesday night. It should be here by Monday since this woman-owned stamp making business is just up in Michigan. The email with shipping information arrived today.

Well, the furnace just kicked on so I better go shut my windows. It was 84 yesterday but cold winds came through, supposed to dip cold enough for snow flurries tonight. Thanks for reading!