Collaged cat

 

This is not quite done.   Since collaging the gull shown in previous post, and with studio littered in bits of paper, I figured it would be a good time to do a cat mosaic.     

Kitty kitty. Or is it?

 I challenged my mixed media group to try the torn paper collage cat technique i showed a few posts back.  I wanted to make another one and did the background.  

Heres where serendipity stepped in and took over.  I had a scrap on my work table, an old photocopy of a photo I took of a sea gull years ago on the coast.  It had fallen out of something I was moving.   I had once played with it in photoshop and posterized it.  That converted it to planes of shades of grey.  

 I placed it on the background with the radiating rays behind it.  I decided instead of painting it I would collage it, cut it out and mount it over the background. 

I loved the gull, but it kind of got lost against such a bright busy background.  Adding a thin wash of transparent white helped.  But by now I had a creative rush of ideas, so this where it took me.  Lol.    

A rose by any other name

Roses have been patient long enough, but now bursting with blooms.    These are 8 inches across. I dont put them in vases because the blooms are so heavy.  Floating them in soup bowls lets me look at the face of the rose.  These were oast their prime when I cut them but now 4 days later they still look lovely.

Driving around the neighborhood I see so many beautiful roses, all varieties and colors. An awesome springtime display. 

 

Learning from You. Tube

I am not a techie, but at one time I was very much on the forefront of computer technology.  I had two forces that kept me there.  One was a job that required attendance at many workshops, and a couple coworkers that needed support .  My ace in the hole was a techie brother who shared information freely.  Since retirement my skills have lagged far behind new advances.  

When I started blogging I used the blog as a teaching tool, as well as a personal journal.   In those days there wasnt as much ready access to altered art and particularly altered book tutorials.  My goodness how You Tube has changed that.   It seems you can find tutorials on almost every aspect of life, from art, music, auto repair, cooking,   My youngest son does tricky car repairs and maintenance by learning from YT.   

I decided this week I would like to do a torn paper collage of a cat.  One evening I looked on You Tube for inspiration.  I found a tutorial for K thru 5 (kids) that looked so interesting I watched it through.  I decided it would make an interesting challenge for my mixed media group.   

This starts with tearing strips from magazines and adhering them in a radiating from center pattern.  I love torn paper and have never thought to do a pattern like this with magazine strips.  So far, so good.   

But now for the icing on the cake.   Drawing large cats eyes and a nose on black paper with oul pastels, cutting them out and placing them on the background.  All of a sudden its a cat.  Jolly fun.

Thank you You Tube and contributors who share your tips and techniques online. 

Working through sadness,

 

Yesterday drving home from the vets office, I turned and looked at the back seat of my car.  A happy memory of three dog beds side by side filling the space, each with a happy dog ready for a ride, eagerly and with some excitement.  Buddy, the elderly gentleman was happy to curl up and sleep,  paid no attention to anything outside,  Nikki in the center to help protect the old fella from Lulu who in her terrier excitement would occasionally need to have a better view of the outside world from another vantage point,  and might take it upon herself to  bully her way to sharing someone elses space unless restrained by anchored leash and harness.   Those were such happy times. Trips to the dog park. Trips to our mountain get away, or trips to La Selva Beach.  We were a very mobile group. 

After Buddy passed, we occasionally would fill that space with Rosemarys little fella, Tuff.  He kept to himself, as he was very self possessed and gentlemanly.  My girls liked him.  Rosemary and I would spell off driving on trips to the beach.   After Tuff joined Buddy in doggy heaven, I never had three beds in the back seat again. 

 With the pandemic year we have been home bound nearly 100 percent of the time, but a month or so ago, there was a beautiful sunny day following a dreary cold winter,  so I bundled up my little companions and they again took their positions in their back seat beds, with Nikki in the center and Lulu going back and forth  from one side to the other,  looking at everything as Nikki curled up and napped.  We got out in the country and walked along the roadside near on orchard where they sniffed and darted about on their leashes happy to be smelling unfamiliar scents and feeling  the soon to be coming spring in the air.  

Today I need to put away another dog bed, as Nikki is with Buddy and Tuff, and only Lulu is left to travel on with me.   Its a sad sad time, a time to shed tears and remember the good times. 

Nikki loved everyone.  If there was an empty lap in the room, she would find it.  She didnt lick anyone, just wanted to sit there quietly.  If you would pet her, she was in heaven. And if you stopped she'd  raise a little paw and tap you until you resumed.   She had favorite people, although in a pinch any lap would do.  My son Matt, granddaughter Candis who went with me to pick out Nikki at the shelter, grandsons, my best friends the Jacksons who would share their meals with her and always had welcoming laps, and Rosemary who brought doggie treats,  were among of her favorites.   

When we had visitors she would pick a new lap over mine.  My lap was her favorite place in the garden and in her favorite chair in the studio, by a south facing window drenched in sunlight. She couldnt get enough sun. She would lie down on the hot concrete on the patio. Normally she would not sit on anything cold. Only on carpets, furniture or benches or sunny spots.   

I will miss my treasured little lady.  The only time she would display silliness was at dinner time..    Is anyone hungry? I would ask, anyone want some dinner?   She would dash  off the other direction and grab  her tattered chewed up teddy bear and toss it around and bring it to me.  She did this from the day I got her, a silly and curious habit.  I had seen her do this at the shelter.   

 I will miss my dear sweet girl.   She loved riding in the golf cart and always had her bed on the seat next to me.  She never barked, but looked around eagerly at everything, cocking her head and sniffing the air. .  Quail, geese, an occasional cat, people walking, other elderly quiet dogs in golf carts  kept her interested.  She was also my companion/date at outdoor karioke at clubhouse lawn.  We stayed in golf cart due to social distancing.  She would sit, all alert and watch and listen.  

Lulu cannot take part in all activities as she is my wild child. Barks and lunges at everything that moves.  I have scars from restraining her.   And she nips.   Polar opposite personality from Nikki.   

 

Its a wrap.

Using leftover coils from a past project, I set a goal to use them up.  First I did a stitched bowl on newer sewing machine.  It did not feed through well and caused eye and neck strain.  So next I tried a different way.  Using a hot glue gun, I wound the coils over a protein powder  container.  It used 10 of the smaller dimension glue stick sticks and the some Aileens tacky glue on edge of lid.    Now I have a cannister.    That matches the bowl. 

A poem for March.

 

Never Mind, March

by Annette Wynne

Never mind, March, we know
When you blow
You're not really mad
Or angry or bad;
You're only blowing the winter away
To get the world ready for April and May.

This year I dont have my usual patch of poppies blooming under mailboxes.  They came up on schedule but then a state fire inspector came nosing around neighborhood and complained that view of the fire hydrant was obscured and it had to be cleared.  So, I complied.    

I have more poppies that dont get as much sun so they have not bloomed yet, but soon my front garden will be ablaze in bright orange poppies dancing in the wind.