shiny suitcase

happy halloween

Yesterday I went for a walk along the bike path near our house. The leaves are past their peak but there were still so many beautiful reds in the oaks and sumacs and oranges in the last of the maples and the foliage of the wild roses. On the way I found this ghostly white leaf (it's really the underside of a silver maple) and these dark buckthorn berries. I thought they'd make a superbly spooky boutonniere. I got out some woodsy ribbon and made the perfect accessory for any happy haunted soul.

Happy Halloween to all!

friday finds - Fall Is Here

I'm starting a new column today! On Fridays I'll be sharing fun, interesting items I've come across in my wanderings, some bits and pieces of my collections or even ask another blogger to show some of their finds.

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I've been gathering vintage children's readers for many years. These are books used in elementary school and teach children to read, write, or explain scientific, social or health concepts. I love these books for their illustrations and for their simplicity as well as for their ability to capture and idealize a time period, especially the 1940's through the 1960's.

Today I've captured some pages from Fall Is Here by Bertha Morris Parker from 1948. It is from The Basic Science Education Series. The cover illustration above is by Florence McAnelly and the page illustrations are by Frederick E Seyfarth. This reader is clearly meant for very young students, probably kindergarten or first grade.

I absolutely adore the palette in these illustrations. The themometer page on the left in this spread shares a lot of color in common with my blog mood board.

I imagine this is an Indian Summer kind of fall day, a cool breeze with the warmth of the sun and the electric blue sky.

Some of the spot illustrations like these flowers are lovely just in themselves.

This spread is my favorite in the whole book. The energy and excitement in the left page is so familiar, the colors are well balanced with the cool blues, grays and greens against the warm reds, yellow and oranges. I think the right page is unique because so many depictions of Halloween are shown after the pumpkin is carved. You can see the science, social and health lessons here. "What's inside a pumpkin?" " What are the seeds for?"  "Have a grown-up use a knife." "Father's wearing an apron so he keeps his clothes neat and clean." Besides all of that heady stuff, I just 100% love both of these pages.

The book ends with the onset of Thanksgiving which, as I've grown older, has become quite a favorite holiday of mine. Although there are plenty of wild turkeys around, we've never wrecked havoc on a poor bird like these kids.

I hope you enjoyed this Friday Find!

 

 

 

project: easy halloween garland

I wanted something super easy but festive to hang up for Halloween decor. It also needed to be something that wouldn't take me very long to make. I decided to use colorful washi tape (available here), white string, and black sparly mini-poms (which I picked up at a craft supply store.) I threaded the string onto a thick sturdy needle. This part was a little tricky. Then I threaded on all my poms for the length of string that I had cut (about 6 feet.) Once the poms were strung, I could slide them on the string any distance apart from one another. When I was satisfied with the number of poms and their placement, I cut short lengths of the washi tape and taped it around the string and back onto itself wherever I thought I neeeded a flag. I varied the color and pattern of the tape I was using so each part had visual interest. Lastly, using a scissors, I trimmed the tape flags to a pretty point.

So friendly and Halloweenie!

 

color me happy

These examples of Wycinanki are so brilliant and cheerful! Poppy radiant patterns make me happy. The tone on tone colors are perfect and the clean white spaces in the surround are such a perfect combination. It manages to mix both detail and graphic in a beautiful partnership. It's delicate and bold at once.

These would be so charming in a child's room, or on home goods kind of items - pretty pillow or plates with pops of color. They feel vaguely holiday/christmas and at the same time are seasonless and inspiring. I'd love to find one for my own home.

sources: here, here, here, and here

folksy finds

While doing some research on my Finnish area of  ancestry (Finnish folk art),  I stumbled across Wycinanki, a Polish paper cutting technique/style. All of the work I’ve come across is delicate and beautiful, some with intensely bright colored paper bloom, birds and trees and some with spare, stark black and white, like intricate paper snowflakes.

I think these would be beautiful framed for the fall and winter season.

image sources: (here), (here), (here) and (here).

mood board v. one

For the Blogging Your Way class that I'm taking, I built a blog style mood board.  It was easy to bring together the colors and texture that I like in a palette that I naturally gravitate towards. There are plenty of vintage items included, in fact most of the bits and pieces are from someone's past.

A beautiful bright mum.

In the background, an old travel label from a hotel in Roznava, Slovakia. Here's a closeup.

Ribbon curls and turquoise washi tape behind mustard yellow poms.

A worn metal mailbox label, vintage stamp and playing card.

A gold foil florist's leaf and red thread.

 

 

 

 

 

past present

Since I'm ushering out the old, I thought I'd post these here before posting some newer work. I took a visual journaling class and it was very helpful for me to re-start my creative engine and get into a mode where I was actively working on collages and projects.

Many of my collages were personal in nature but I strived to make them vague enough and universally emotional so that it wasn't an exercise in something all-about-me but that it was something others could relate to.

 

I like playing with transparent vellum overlays (which is why this last one has a washed out look) and adding content to both the top of the overlay and to the paper underneath, so that when it is lifted up, the story might change ever so slightly or a new meaning is revealed.

 

out with the old

I've been creating in the same space, my studio room, in our house for 5 years now. Above a flat file with a work surface I have a large inspiration board that's been the same for at least the past 3 years. It was the same because I loved it so but I feel that it's time to move along. So before I took everything down and stored it in carefully labeled envelope I took some shots, for prosperity and just for memory sake. It is so big I needed to piece together a few shots.

And some close ups

My heart still tears at that quote. It's just so perfect.

 

 

Inspiration in the Aftermath

I've been slowly collecting children's paint boxes after finding a old orange Playtime Water Colors tin at a yard sale. I'm drawn to the texture, color and the story of use. I like that they are unintentional artworks in and of themselves, I like the predetermined ordering of the colors clashing with the overflow and spattering of in-the-moment excitement.

 

top to bottom: Playtime Water Colors Tin - Binney & Smith, Peacock Water Colors & Brush Plastic Tray - Binney & Smith, Prang Water Colors Tin - The American Crayon Company.