Sunltcloud wrote:When I joined the Gardening book club I thought I would just peek in every now and then, see what's new, learn a few names (I love flowers, but have limited knowledge of their names) and contribute a post once in a while; mainly I would save money on books, because....well, because I have plenty of gardening books, because I'm not supposed to spend money frivolously, because any books arriving in my house from now on would have to hang from the ceiling; there is simply no room left on my book shelves. But I read the post about June books, jotted down the names before I took off for my Sunday afternoon coffee and cinnamon scone visit at Barnes $ Noble. And there I bought "In This Garden: Exploration in Mixed-Media Visual Narrative."
Oh Dear, I flunked my frugality test. Spent money. Bought a book. Had a wonderful time. Lovely book. Thank you Becke.
becke_davis wrote:Where did May go? It hardly seems possible, but June is just around the corner. Here's a sneak preview of our June features - I'll post more about them when I'm back home.
The Gardening book club takes a look at Rhapsody in Green by Beverley Nichols and In This Garden by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn
That's funny.....I ordered Rhapsody in Green! Then I looked at the Angela Cartwright book, and wow! But I stopped myself, because I had on my wish list a book I wanted to order Lost Crafts: Rediscovering Traditional Skills.
Even though I wanted both of these books, I'm giving them away.
My brother and his wife are coming this week, and his birthday was yesterday. I know he'll love this book, and my sister-in-law will love the other one. They'll probably love both of them....because I want them!
Your mind never ceases to amaze me! I'd love to see some of this on your facebook, if you'd let us view it here?
I don't get prompted too much, these days, into making these kinds of projects. Flat Emma is about as close as it gets! (she gets mailed tomorrow)
I know you're passion is into your journal writing, among your other ongoing creative projects. I like to hear about all you do.
This project you're doing sounds somewhat like my final project in my college design class..three parts of a self portrait. Lots of thinking....cutting and drawing and painting...loved doing it, but a ton of work. I was happy with the end result, (got an A
) but I don't think I'd do something like that again.
All of my ideas usually go into my ceramic pieces, or it ends up in something I write about. I used to work in metals, I love copper...and my goal is still to finish my fountain. It's only half finished right now...the ceramic part..I want to incorporate stain glass, and copper leaves and vines around it...and wind chimes will ring when the water strikes a leaf - I call it WaterSong.
Illustrating a book sounds facinating to me, though. I'd love to do book cover art, too, but I think it's a little late in my life to be thinking about that!
Sunltcloud wrote:
This book prompted me, early this morning, to go through some of my thousands of photographs and cut holes in a bunch of them. I had finished my last journal and am embarking on a new one, and this one will be entitled "There is a hole in my reality." It will be a combination of all my projects, in a way garden-related in that everything I make grows from a seed in my mind into a finished piece of some sort. Using photos as backgrounds I will use chalk, watercolor, ink, charcoal, whatever it takes to combine photography with words and art. I am so glad my family did all the Memorial Day visiting on Saturday and I am just running back and forth between kitchen and living room/computer to cut, glue, write, chalk and spray my first pages.
I'm sure flat Emma got lots of attention while she was at your house and has learned quite a bit about ceramics. I wish I could just stay with one thing and become efficient. Since I have no formal art background everything I do comes from books I read and since there are so many books I try many things. Not enough time to stay with any of them if I want to keep on finding more to experiment with.
But yes, journaling is one of my priorities, except that it has taken on an almost cryptic quality, less writing, more guessing, more doodling. Since I feel that I won't be able to push one medium to the forefront, I play with a multitude. Take yesterday for instance: I had the "Hole in my Reality" idea early in the morning, then thought about it (about holes and what part holes play, how the hole might be the ultimate reality, how to fill the hole, why I'm feeling the need to fill the hole, childhood and its BIG holes, etc) and when I began to cut up photographs I knew that I wanted the first page to say "Tend Your Garden" meaning the garden of creativity. The idea has to do with the last page in Voltaire's "Candide" in which everybody contributes something to their little society. When Pangloss lists all the things Candide has overcome to get here, Candide answers: "Excellenty observed, but let us cultivate our garden."
From that first step I began to think of ideas that have formed me. Words to live by. Cliches I've heard all my life. Things my mother said. Ah, things my mother said,for instance: "It all comes out in the wash."
Not true, I thought, not everything comes out in the wash. From this I went to cutting out a bunch of little garments from old photos, drew a clothesline on the journal page, hung the garments on a chalked background (lightly chalked in pale blue, like a sky) and punched out a row of flowers with a punch for the bottom. The clothes are in shades and patterns of green and purple/lilac. So are the flowers. And for some reason I put a big purple circle where the sun is supposed to be. Now I am waiting for the next step.
And as I am waiting I am thinking of Rilke who said that we must love the questions like locked rooms or books written in a foreign language. We must live the questions. Well, I am living them right now, occasionally passing by the little pants and t-shirts on the clothesline, then returning to the computer empty-minded. Is the purple circle the hole in my reality? Or is the purple circle reality and the pale blue sky is the hole? Where do I write down my thoughts? If it doesn't all come out in the wash, why do we try so hard? Why stain sticks and spot removers? Why don't we just toss our old lives and try on brand new ones?
That's how my mind works.....no wonder I don't get anything done......pardon me while I check my uptight sunflower (I fed it some chopped banana peel this morning) and water the tomato plants.
KathyS wrote:
Your mind never ceases to amaze me! I'd love to see some of this on your facebook, if you'd let us view it here?
I don't get prompted too much, these days, into making these kinds of projects. Flat Emma is about as close as it gets! (she gets mailed tomorrow)
I know you're passion is into your journal writing, among your other ongoing creative projects. I like to hear about all you do.
This project you're doing sounds somewhat like my final project in my college design class..three parts of a self portrait. Lots of thinking....cutting and drawing and painting...loved doing it, but a ton of work. I was happy with the end result, (got an A
All of my ideas usually go into my ceramic pieces, or it ends up in something I write about. I used to work in metals, I love copper...and my goal is still to finish my fountain. It's only half finished right now...the ceramic part..I want to incorporate stain glass, and copper leaves and vines around it...and wind chimes will ring when the water strikes a leaf - I call it WaterSong.
Illustrating a book sounds facinating to me, though. I'd love to do book cover art, too, but I think it's a little late in my life to be thinking about that!
Sunltcloud wrote:
This book prompted me, early this morning, to go through some of my thousands of photographs and cut holes in a bunch of them. I had finished my last journal and am embarking on a new one, and this one will be entitled "There is a hole in my reality." It will be a combination of all my projects, in a way garden-related in that everything I make grows from a seed in my mind into a finished piece of some sort. Using photos as backgrounds I will use chalk, watercolor, ink, charcoal, whatever it takes to combine photography with words and art. I am so glad my family did all the Memorial Day visiting on Saturday and I am just running back and forth between kitchen and living room/computer to cut, glue, write, chalk and spray my first pages.
G -
Because we can both expound on all of these topics, I moved your post (actually, I just copied and pasted it) into the thread that Becke had created called, Gardening In Your Own Words) It's the only thread that actually relates to people who's minds wander as much as ours do on this garden board. I hope you don't mind if we take this discussion into that thread. You've said a lot in your post, it's rich, and I really would like to read it, and take it all in. The philosophical views of everyone fascinates me, especially you, when it's art related. My brain works in that direction. I would like to respond in that thread, if that is okay with you? I'm sure Becke won't mind....LOL, I think she had her number one brainstormer in mind when she created it!
If you have any poems you've written about gardens, flowers, nature, anything along those garden related thoughts.... she also created a special thread for those. Join in, if you feel the urge to wax poetic!
K -
K -
I don't mind at all. It always takes a while for a new contributor to find the spot they are meant to contribute to. You just shortened my learning curve. Thank you.
KathyS wrote:
G -
Because we can both expound on all of these topics, I moved your post (actually, I just copied and pasted it) into the thread that Becke had created called, Gardening In Your Own Words) It's the only thread that actually relates to people who's minds wander as much as ours do on this garden board. I hope you don't mind if we take this discussion into that thread. You've said a lot in your post, it's rich, and I really would like to read it, and take it all in. The philosophical views of everyone fascinates me, especially you, when it's art related. My brain works in that direction. I would like to respond in that thread, if that is okay with you? I'm sure Becke won't mind....LOL, I think she had her number one brainstormer in mind when she created it!
If you have any poems you've written about gardens, flowers, nature, anything along those garden related thoughts.... she also created a special thread for those. Join in, if you feel the urge to wax poetic!
K -
