Hand Prints and Heart Prints

Baby Jayden’s hand print at two months old.

He is printed on my heart forever.

Grow well and strong, Dear Little One.

I miss you and love you so much !

 

(Jayden is living with his mom, our niece Amanda, back in NH. They are doing ok. He is a healthy, energetic and loving 9 month old now. We get regular news, photos and videos of the little guy which we love receiving. I will be forever grateful to have been part of his world every day for the first four months of his life. Love you, Little Buggy.)

 

Hosted by Susannah Conway.

Haiku My Heart–Light Work

Many hands make Light Work.

Mine do. Bring the Light on through.

Live open handed.

 

 

(art journal page in process, henna hand stencil from Traci Bunkers, pink Ganesh figurine a gift from e.b.,, flea market glass hands, small open hands candle holder a gift from Mommy, purchased at Ten Thousand Villages.)

Happy Friday, Beautiful Ones !

Keep up the good Light Work.

For more haiku goodness, visit rebecca and the gang at recuerda mi corazon

Share the Joy - Celebrate it while you can !

Why make a Joy List every week ?

Well, this is especially important to me when I am dealing with hibernation mode/seasonal depression symptoms and finding joy sinking far down on my list of emotions.

The search for joy and little happies is a definite remedy for the big bad blues, even if it is only momentary or short-lived. It definitely helps !

I may look for bits of beauty like these red berries on the bare branches, bring spots of brightness to the winter landscape…

Or glimpse over at a feline friend who has made sunbeam sleeping an art !

I may go out looking for little happies that make me smile,

like visiting to A Well Kept Secret Antiques with my honey last weekend and finding

three “new to me” glass hands ! They now form a bouquet with my original cobalt blue one found at a flea market a few years ago.

Looking at them all together, filtering the sunlight in the studio bay window,

always makes me sing the Paul McCartney & Wings song “Uncle Albert”, “Hands across the water, ( water), Hands across the s k y….”.

I will now be on the look out for one more hand, in a color I don’t have yet, to complete my bouquet with 5. Odd numbers in art, you know.

I also was excited to find these three gold ceramic letters that spelled out :

JOY!!!!

A little Christmas-y perhaps, but I could so see them hanging on top of the french doors in my studio where I could enjoy them every day !

This morning when I was hanging them so I could proudly take a picture of them for Share the Joy Thursday,

the O fell to the floor and smashes to pieces.

I actually started to cry.

I had broken my JOY !

But then, after commiserating on the phone with my sweet hubby

(who will be getting out the Crazy Glue when he gets home, if I know him !),

I realized that

joy,

like sadness, or anger, or most of the experiences we have in this bittersweet life,

is fleeting.

All the more reason to celebrate it when it comes to you !

 

So now I am off to find me a new letter O. A different font or roundish object to form the center letter, and I can have my JOY back.

That and a few preparations for the snow storm expected tomorrow, which the super-excited weather people are touting as “One of the Top Ten Biggest Storms to hit New England EVER!”, is sure to keep me busy for today.

I will be on the look out for more joys to share !

Happy Thursday, Beautiful Ones !

Share the Joy Thursday at Meri’s Musings

Haiku My Heart–Focus

What you focus on

Is what there will be more of.

Choose the good, Dear One.

 

************************

Quick !

Think of three things that are good

and celebrate them for a minute !

1. Having good friends over for fondue and games tonight ! Woo hoo !

2. It is sunny and warm in New Hampshire and it is January ! Yee haw !

3. I have a cozy home and a sweet hubby to share it with ! Yes ! Yes ! Yes !

I am going to keep focusing on the good today.

And be so grateful that I recognize I have the choice.

Happy Friday, Beautiful Ones !

For more haiku and lots of good, visit rebecca at recuerda mi corazon

Haiku My Heart–Tender Spirit

Our hearts in our hands

Ready to give or receive

The sweet gift of Love.

 

****************

I am starting to feel it just a little.

That Christmas spirit.

It is very different this year.

It is a tender, soft, maybe even fragile thing.

At least until I choose to infuse it with the spirit of LOVE.

Working on that here as I put up a few simple but special decorations for David and I to enjoy,

and as I go out early in the day to purchase the few store-bought gifts that I am buying this year (mostly for the kiddos).

It is feeling good, like I am ready.

Keeping the LOVE in focus is making my spirit bright !

Sending out the gifts of love and light to you and yours, Beautiful Ones.

 

More love, light and haiku at recuerda mi corazon.

CSI New Hampshire - GPP Street Team Crusade #28

(This is an interactive post - please follow my little directions here to play along ! ;-) )

Step 1 : Okay - Play the Video - Cue Music



(Step 2 - Read this, imagining me trying to look cool in my shades and parka (hey it's NH not FLA!!!), talking in a sexy, husky cop voice...)

"Welcome to CSI New Hampshire where our crack team of investigators, (okay. just one investigator!) take on challenge of locating important evidence in the Case of "Portion Control".
(Inspired by GPP Street Team Crusade #28 - designed by Michelle Ward, yes, The Michelle Ward !)".


Never fear, the Creative Scene Investigation is on, Baby !

It is believed that the suspect we are after had been too heavy handed with her stamp and stencil technique in the past which made her easy to track down. The suspect has now learned portion control, where she leaves much more subtle traces of her weapons of choice in the act of creating !

Check out Exhibit A : Here, quite distinct hand prints made with a hand carved rubber stamp were found on the workspace blotter on the suspect's desk. Obviously this was an early attempt as the control was somewhat limited. The high degree of gold metallic paint was an interesting twist though.

Exhibit A - Blotter stamped with hand carved "Hand" stamps in Lumiere Gold paint

Then there was Exhibit B : Here, we can see that the suspect has already become quite masterful (or is that mistressful, nudge, nudge, wink, wink) in her use of portion control - see the subtlety of the yellow hands against the black jungle-like background. An air of mystery is definitely present here.

Exhibit B - Background - old dictionary pages collaged, washed with green and then randomly coated with Golden Black Gesso, Hands - stamps again with yellow paint

This brings us to the third piece of evidence, or Exhibit C as the suits will call it, where the suspect took a very different turn. Note the use of the vintage substrate here (substrate=any stratum lying underneath another, ie: the paper !!!!). It is believed to be a page from a 1927 LaRousse French Dictionary which features the word "la main" or the hand in French ! Man, this chick is good ! Also check out the use of both the positive and the negative hand stencils with the distress ink ... it gives the piece some really interesting movement.

Exhibit c - French Dictionary page, Hand Stencils - positive and negative, Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut applied with a sponge.

The Creative Scene Investigation finally brought us to our final piece of evidence in this case. It would seem from all of our careful research into the use of portion control by this suspect, that the Artist in question has learned that keeping her audience guessing, and leaving subtle traces of her tools behind can create very intriguing pieces. This is clearly shown in Exhibit Z, a piece the Artist herself likes to call "Trust the Angels" :

Exhibit Z - Trust the Angels*

*(They have been around the block a few times) - art journal page

- angel wings are hand stamps. Also subtle use pink and magenta ink on a bought foam stamp for the heart squares in the background. Image from an old anatomy book found in Flickr

CSI NH has done it again ! Our investigation has shown that practicing the act of portion control as an Artist can lead to a life of intriguing art. Okay, that's it for this episode. I need a donut and a hot coffee....Cripes it is colder than a witch's tit here in NH !!! (a little crude cop language there - guess I should have said this episode was rated PG !)

(Return to the top and play the video gain for closing music...same as opening music ! ;-))

I know, I know...

I need a life !!!!!!!!Let's just blame winter and cabin fever okay ? It's snowing again....

Onwards, Crusaders !