A Real Treasure

My inspiring friend Dick Hill, whom I wrote about here (please read it if you haven't before) and a little bit here, offered some of his paintings for "Art for Charity." If he posted an available painting. you would make a gift to the charity of your choice, tell him what that charity is, and the painting is yours. Today, more than ever, I am grateful this one came to me, for reasons hard to speak of.

A Loving Tradition

It started sixteen or seventeen years ago. Christmas was coming. Rick and I had now been together long enough to know that this was no short-term romance and I wanted to give him something totally unique, something totally from the heart. So, I made the first of what would become many poetry collections.That first book remains his favorite. It may be the least polished of all of them -- a pre-made journal of natural papers, hand written, very simple drawings. And yet, some of the poetry remains in the all-time favorite category.



In the years since, I have made tiny books, accordion books, flip books, pop-up books, you name it. Many are in pre-made journals, some in scrap books, some stitched together by this woman with a stitch-aversion. They've reflected moments good, bad, frustrating, joyful, fun and not-so-fun. The 2001 book was 9/11 and probably one of the most depressing.



After the first year or two I realized that with the Christmas holidays, I simply couldn't do a good job with it. Too many stresses, too much else on the plate. So I moved the schedule to Valentine's Day, where it remains today.

Fresh from my Jacqueline Sullivan workshops, I decided to use some of the techniques I'd picked up over the two days -- and one that I picked up on my own.

For the cover, I used a 140 pound 11x15 cold-pressed watercolor sheet, folded in half. The techniques on the cover included modeling paste used with (and without) stencils, painted in an earth-sky palette. The star, button and beads were affixed after the book was completed.

Inside, I used a parchment cardstock (8 1/2 x 11), folded and distressed with Tim Holtz inks. The poems were printed on a cream stock and glued in place. Each page was embellished with washi tape, lace paper, tea bag papers or photo transfers.

 

Now and then a button would be used -- like these vintage French buttons that reminded me of bicycle wheels! Perfect for the poem about Rick's bike hikes.

The "key to my heart" was one that blogger Linda sent when she was going through her mother's old crafting supplies. She knew it would find a good home -- and it did.

All in all, I felt it was probably one of the books that best exemplified the art part of me (and better technique than a lot of them).

The poetry? Well, no one is going to make me America's next Poet Laureate. Despite years of listening to Stephen Sondheim's clever lyrics, the rhyming is routine at best (though Rick liked "aisle" and "smile" in the poem about Kevin's wedding!).

And damn. A typo. I thought I got all of those.

But he was happy. And I was happy. And another year of joyful moments burst onto the page -- bringing smiles.

(Some of you have asked about the photo transfer paper. Watch this space -- I'm working on a post on that!)

Getting Creative: A Valentine for Rick

Note: My computer has crashed. I'm periodically on loaners but if you don't hear from me or if I don't visit, there's a reason! I'll try to post and reply to comments and visit as soon as I can!
 
Making valentines hasn't been my only jaunt into creativity lately. About a month ago, I took a workshop with Jacqueline Sullivan and we made journals out of large sheets of water color paper, using gesso, acrylics and other media to create the base.

Each year I write a poetry "yearbook" for Rick and generally make it into an art book. I've done pop-up, envelope books, tag books and more. This year I decided to make the journal.

It's called "Two" because last winter I was too sick to make a poetry book for him. I'll never call the poetry good -- but it's personal! This one includes poems reflecting 2012, like "Lizzie" and "Gypsy."

It also covers our trip to Europe.

This page opened out into a wide spread.

There are poems for each of the kids and the family reunion, along with my retirement.

And guess what -- a few poems you can't see!

So, I will leave you with a song. (And this post is also in reply to a number of you -- including Rick -- who said "But what are you going to DO with them?" Fill them with pretty!)

In My Fridge

An Ode to My Fridge

 

My fridge. It holds much more than food.

The memories are bad and good.

There's last week's salad, chicken, too.

Jam and jelly, something blue.

Condiments all need a toss.

Five mustards, catsup, A-1 sauce.

Champagne awaits the festive toast.

Beside it, Sunday's pork loin roast.

My meds are there -- two kinds to grip

And put into my IV drip.

Cold gel packs stored for aches and pains.

For when you fall or when it rains.

Science seems a passion, yes.

But hidden in a deep recess.

What evils lurk in pasta lost?

We will not know until it's tossed.

Dig a little deeper, find

Some old ice cream, a nice white wine.

Some shrimp, some peas, some pesto, too.

Something green that looks like glue.

An apple, soft. A lime so hard.

Liquid celery, old swiss chard.

A case of Tab, club soda, Sprite.

Really, it is quite a sight.

Weight Watchers pizza, Lean Cuisine,

All are stored in this machine.

Baking soda, flour too.

Gorgonzola, Parm and Blue.

I'd like to think should power fail

I'd clean it out. I'd have a sale.

The tupperware would have to go.

The rest to trash or compost sow.

But for now, I must suppose

When food is found, the door I'll close.

And maybe eating it down will

Reduce in part my grocery bill.

Hello, Bloggers -- I'll be by to visit as soon as I can. I've been knocked flat out by a pseudomonas bug that, combined with my chronic bronchiectasis, has moved into bronchial pneumonia. IV drugs and my breathing vest treatments take up to five hours a day and just getting going for anything more than a few hours is a challenge. And work doesn't stop, and by the end of the day I feel worse than I've ever felt. I am just so discouraged and depressed. But I'll get my Happy Girl Face back soon, I  hope. At which point I will clean my fridge and visit my blog friends. For those of you who have been emailing me, thank you. You know who you are.