Goodbye Summer 2020

 Goodbye Summer. I missed you... I think.

Friday in the Garden

12 x 12 Mixed Media

I was determined not to waste a single summer day, but it happened. Maybe it was the weather that caused me to waste time. Certainly it was current events, what with a worldwide pandemic and my husband and me right smack in the middle of the range of senior citizens who needed to be extra cautious in public. So we were. We stayed home, and while I intended to spend the summer painting in my lovely studio I didn't get around to doing much painting. I gardened. I puttered around the house. I fiddled with my collage papers. I wrote copious plans in my journals, plans for someday, just not right now, thank you very much. I'm hibernating.

Bless her heart, Crystal Neubauer recorded some encouraging collage related demonstrations on Facebook and directed viewers to join her in making 5-minute collages as a way to begin the day. If you've been around this blog from its beginning 10 years ago you'll remember that daily collages prompted this blog, One-A-Day, in the first place. I was making 5x7" collages, one every day and writing about what I learned in the doing... and here I am, doing it again. 

Upon being prompted by Crystal I gathered scraps of watercolor paper and cut dozens of 4" squares, gathered a box of collage compost, and my YES! Paste mixture and began. I'm just 4 short of 100.  One Hundred small collages finished. I call them Lagniappe. That's pronounced LAN-yap, and it means a little something extra, a gift, like a baker's dozen or 13 donuts.  I heard it in New Orleans years ago and always liked the idea. 

The painting at the top of this post is one of a small series that I call In The Garden. The collaged bits are from a vintage fabric sample book, just perfect for the painting and reminiscent of my past work in textiles. I wish I had lots more of these fabrics or similar vintage wallpaper.

I'm back to sewing, making masks again. In the spring I used my very last tiny bits and pieces to make masks for a local medical clinic but had to quit when I ran out of fabric. Recently a couple of friends gave me their scraps so I'm at it again. I set up my sewing machine on the dining room table and am doing an assembly line routine of cutting, pinning, and sewing, an hour one morning, 15 minutes while the kettle boils. It all adds up and no matter how long it takes I'm sure I'll have dozens of masks ready long before we can safely bare our faces.

I live in the Portland OR suburbs and if you've been following the news you know that our normally clean pure air is the worst in the world this week due to all the wildfires devouring our forests and farms. I'm thankful for tightly fitting windows and doors and a good air filter on the furnace as I join thousands of others praying for rain. 

That's all. I'm just checking in with all ya'll. (giggle if you must; I'm Arkansas born and that's how I learned to talk way back when). I hope you're well, exercising your creative muscles, reading some good books, and have found better movies than we have on Netflix. 

Yes, okay. I'll take some pictures of my little collages to show you, maybe next week if you ask nicely.

Anything else you want to know about? 

Jo