Cocoon

DC: 189
THE CATECHISM

I've felt the pull to do a collage and so for this drawing challenge, that is what I've done. All I had was a black and white photocopy of a whole group of cocoons from a white butterfly [common cabbage type] that were attached to a tree. Not much to go on, and pretty boring really. But the muse piped in and suddenly an old drawing study plan of 'lines' for an image of a single female sitting in a boat came into play, quickly followed by some lines from an old Reader's Digest condensed book so old the yellowed pages are practically falling out of the spine. They struck me, these lines. The word 'squaw' jarred my mind. It's an awful word. But I think used often in past times. And the idea that the teaching of the catechism to 'squaws' was of import really strikes me, almost a physical sensation, as I've recently been thinking of residential schools and about the idea of taking the 'indian' out of indian kids in their charge. The schools I know of were run by priests and nuns.

Bits and pieces fell into my hands as the collage completed itself on the page. After it was done these questions came to mind as I viewed what I'd just made:
1. Did Mrs. Feake have a knowledge of good and evil? Is the snake symbol her friend or foe?
2. As the snake with the forked tongue is facing the catechism sentence, what does that say?
3. As the snake with the smile on its' face is facing the lone woman is snake her friend?
4. Is the lone woman sitting in quiet repose reciting the catechism to herself in serenity?
5. Is the lone woman making plans to leave her situation and fly like a butterfly once her cocoon phase is over?

The poem is by Ellie Daphne van Stralen. The lines are from 'The Winthrop Woman' by Anya Seton, c. 1958.

Patrice is our host this week for the drawing challenge and her blog will direct you to the other players participating in this challenge. Have a look at what they have done. There is always such a variety of interesting, inspiring, fabulous creative offerings here. Thank you for dropping in today, and I hope to see you again soon, Cheers, Norma, x

Make new contributions...

A new little book in the accordion style with 2 folds. This is called 'Make new contributions.'


The book features hummingbirds experiencing the joy of wisteria. Above is shown the front cover of the book [closed] and here is the back side of the book [closed]:


Here the book is opened so you can see the front cover side. This is a scene of wisteria and birds enjoying them:


The other side of the opened book shows rice plants, and the view of the back cover:


You can see the stamp [chop] image in the red cinnabar paste ink that is used for the chop seals. The scale of this chop is large compared to the little book and I am searching for the small seal I have that would be more suitable. This may take forever, so I've started searching on ebay to bid or purchase a seal that is more suitable for these little books I am making.  Meanwhile, I will have to use the large one. The meaning of the picture idea is 'eagle' and it is carved on a chunk of stone that has a cat carved at the top of it. Here's a picture of the stamps I do have:


I've had these for more than 20 years and they cannot be obtained any more. There was an older fella that carved the seals in his shop in Chinatown in Vancouver and once his shop closed the wonderful chops were no longer available. I only discovered this yesterday when I went racing down there to purchase a chop from somewhere. Noone does it any more. So I went to ebay and successfully bid on one from China. I'll receive it in a month. I can hardly wait. It's an old 'tiger' chop, which is my Chinese Astrology symbol.
This book that I've shown you today, is just the planning stage for a wisteria/hummingbird/rice  accordion style 2-fold little book with saying that I plan to sell on etsy. Thus you can see that the folds are not perfect in this rendition. I need to hunt down the proper size of envelope for it. Perhaps of a see-through material that I can't think of the name of right now. Thanks for dropping in today, and I hope to see you again soon, *smiles* Norma, x

Fairy Postcard from Belgium

Belgian chocolate! Samuel couldn't have imagined anything so delicious in all of her days living in the Fairy Hedgepig Kingdom! She and fairyyellowbug spent many hours making home made chocolates of all kinds and descriptions in the cookbooks that they used to find out by the dump. True, some of these books were moldy beyond use, but some were salvageable and they'd dry them out in the yard by the sunflower patch. They made some pretty good chocolates in their trials but believe me, nothing even close to the real Belgian chocolate that Samuel has discovered on this leg of the journey.


Her postcard from Belgium reads:

"Dearest Fairy! Expect under separate cover 2 perfect gold leafed special ordered Belgian chocolates from me and Pierre, my new love. We are in Belgium sight-see-ing. Pardon typos. Love Samuel,xx"

Thanks for dropping in. To see more wonderful fun postcards pop by here.

Watercolor Sky

Here's the new cover for the wee bird book I am working on. It began as an idea for a fall themed pumpkin image but turned into a blustery sky scene. All of the pages are now complete so it's just a matter of finishing touches and it's ready to be put together! This has taken a bit of time as I've come up with 'page' designs so it will be easier to make more of these (with different covers of course!).
Have a look at more projects with many different artists. This is a fun weekly event.

Thanks for dropping by! *smiles* Norma

Week Eight: Summer of Color (Orange)

Here is a close up of this weeks' color offering of orange. Really, the only three things that are actually orange are the eye, beak and legs (oh yes, the toes too!) ~ but there is a reflection of golden pale orange from the hot hot sun that the crane is flying in view of, on the body and upper wing. This guy was painted onto used tea bag paper with sumi-e ink, india ink, acrylic paint and watercolor paint.


Here you can see the grouping of eight tea bag paper sketches which will compose the greater part of a little journal.

Pop over to the Summer of Color event hosted by Kristin, and see what other artists are up to! This has been a very fun event for all. I want to thank Kristin from the bottom of my heart. Due to having to come up with something every week for eight weeks running now, I for the first time really have some sort of grasp on using paint brushes and india ink and acrylic and just generally more able to let go of the fear of failure in an attempt to make art. If I fail the sky does not fall in. I just throw the paper out and start again. Every attempt teaches me something. Every attempt is a building block to where I want to go.

Thanks for dropping in! *smiles* Norma

Flying Pink Horse

Week three of the Summer of Color gave us the color pink! My story unfolds as we see a flying pink horse with gold hoofs passing by a group of houses. One of the houses, the bright yellow one, has a golden door. I wonder who lives there?

Blue Bird

The first week of The Summer of Color event hosted by Kristen has begun with the first color assigned being BLUE. I am working on used tea bag paper and have left some wiggle room for additions to my drawing in the event a story unfolds (of course it will!!!) and I might want to add an element or two later.


She sits on a branch looking out...dreaming...


There will be ten drawings in all to fill a skirt hanger. The next color is GREEN! So let's see where that takes this bird.

Thanks for dropping by! *smiles* Norma

On my art table...

Sometimes you just have to go for it. I am no artist. No training. No anything...except a box of watercolors, a stash of pencil crayons which I love, some pencils, a needed eraser, and a whole lot of hoping. I copy from books. You know how that goes~it is impossible to get what someone else got in the first place. But you know what? I love my work. I hate it too but try to turn the hate into something positive...rename the feeling...like 'dislike' it. I am working on a watercolor (pencil crayon) face for a paper artdoll that I am doing. Here is my art table set up on my bathroom vanity (I live in a small studio apartment), and here is the beginning of a face. The eyes go one way, the nose one way, the lips the other; but so do faces, really.
Well, just wanted to pop in to show you what I am doing these days. *smiles* Norma

Cherry Blossom Lady paperdoll

This gal is a lover of cherry blossoms so this is her special time of year. They are in full bloom. She is painted on watercolor paper with layers of used tea bag paper collaged with music sheet paper. A line drawing of a cherry blossom is outlined by machine stitching, and a poem by e.e.cummings is stamped overtop of everything. Celery seeds are scattered about in between the layers of tea bag paper while she is edged with sepia colored lace. Her painted face is not my best, but I think she has a look about her.
Now she can be sent by mail to go live with her new friend, Elaine. Hope you like her!
So now I am about to plan a doll that has a body of a human with the head of a bird. Maybe I'll be able to use the idea I've had for awhile of a window with a bird peeking out and a tree and house in view in the background, all placed where a heart would be. Fun, fun, fun.
AND I will also plan an a.t.c. artdoll that features sewing of some sort. I am thinking hand-sewn sequins and seedbeads. We'll see where the muse leads this time...it's as surprising to me as to anyone. *smiles* Norma

Peace Activist

Well the submarine image made its' way into this piece. It's a paper artdoll made for my swap partner. The theme was BY THE SEA and my muse came up with a mermaid holding a small submarine. I couldn't figure out what to do with this so put off working on it but finally when I steered myself to work on it, the meaning discovered itself. This is what usually happens. I fight things and then just do it. The submarine is a toy nuclear powered atomic ship that was lodged firmly in a coral reef. The mermaid came across it and noticed that someone had placed the words "peace out" and some flowers on the side of it so she thinks it might be from the 60's. In any event, she decided to become a peace activist as a result of this find.
Now I am ready to tackle other things on the list. A fairy paper doll, paper birds (inspirational) for my giveaway, a collage transfer technique I am dreaming about, an illustration of a bird with a window where the heart would be, a small stuffed doll/bird or elephant, and the list goes on...and on...and on! Talk to you soon I hope, Norma xo

Dawn arrives with Changeling friend

Well here's "Dawn" who arrived during an early morning snow storm with her changeling friend. She took a long time to arrive but at long last she did, and so she will now go to live with my swap partner.
A few posts back I talked about problems in art. 'Dawn' gave me a huge seemingly insurmountable problem but I found a way to solve it. In the end the doll is one of my favorites and certainly one of my strongest visuals.
The problem was with her skirt and especially at the bottom. I'd wanted to introduce the idea that dawn was coming in the early morning sky of her skirt so I decided to dip my brush into a strong pinky color and even though it was quite diluted the color grabbed and I mean grabbed and wouldn't let go. No amount of washing and scrubbing (literally) would release the tint of the darkish really, hue. I wanted pale pale. Then I decided to cover it by introducing a dark blue so as to maybe suggest a storm. It became a muddy mess. Ruined. Drat!!
But then I reminded myself that art is problem solving. How to solve this mess? Cover it yet again by a darker color. Black!!! So I dreamed up a black bird and started painting and let me tell you...putting the first tiny brush stroke of black was an act of faith. It was scary. I painted the pupil of the eye and then painted in pure undiluted gold from my favorite sparkling H2O watercolor pan, the iris. I knew I was off and running. The bird eye was ferocious. So I made the whole bird a bit wild and the result is that not only did it cover the muddy mess but it tells a much more interesting story than just plain sky. So I enjoyed the pleasant surprise.
This is an a.t.c. doll and so folds down into itself to fit the standard 3.5 X 2.5 inch dimensions. I am glad to let go of this doll because holy cow there are a lot more ideas I have brewing inside this brain of mine. Next I am thinking about doing a tutorial that Monica presented on her blog. I am getting my head around it as we speak. So have a great day everyone.

Watching Winter

Watching Winter

My computer and myself are barely on speaking terms and my camera is having a fit so I've been out of the loop so to speak. But I wanted to show you my latest atc artdoll. I am very proud of this one because I've been working for a long time on developing an artdoll with an atc component that are all traced from my master template. This is my first success.

The atc artdoll is called 'Watching Winter' as the child steps out into the snow and watches something about it; and the woman watches the child; and the bird watches everything! The child's name could be "Winter" as well. I will leave that to the viewer.

The bottom part of her skirt is the atc itself and the whole rest of the doll folds down into the card. Made for my swap partner Roslind. Watercolor and sparkling H2O paint on heavy watercolor paper. Nice to visit with you all today and I hope to be visiting and sharing much sooner than last time! Creative hugs from Norma

Flower Power

This gal was painted on heavy watercolor paper using watercolor, color pencil, india ink, and rubber stamp pad ink.

She is a mechanical paper doll as her foot is on a rolling disc shape applied with a brad. Made for my swap partner for my paper doll yahoo group.

Water Sign

A friend of Marylouise, 'Water Sign' will be swimming her way to go live with Wanda. Her friend gave her a silver bra as a friendship and going-away gift.

Painted on heavy watercolor paper with watercolor paint and pencils, colored pencils, and india ink. Embellished with sparkle. She was made for my swap partner at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fantasticflat_paperdolls/