After a late blizzard on Wednesday, the sun is shining, the snow is melted and the tulips, grape hyacinths, primrose and daffodils appear to be recovering and reaching their heads to the sun. On days like today, I like to hang sheets and towels on the clothesline to dry. I open windows, and as the air current moves across the room, the dust bunnies skitter across the bare wood floors like tumbleweeds, which I go after with the dust buster.
Every spring, I vow to paint each of the flowers in my cottage garden as they bloom. My intentions are good, but by June, there are so many I can't keep up. I recently made a little 5x7 handbound book with exposed stitching that I am going to record my flowers in. I used canvas boards for the covers and collaged a color copy of a hollyhock painting on the front. I also made a larger version of the book, and used 300# watercolor paper for the covers. It is 7.5X11 - I am thinking of using it for mixed media portraits, which I don't often do, but have been inspired by some of the artists I've met at Squam Art Workshops, notably Gail Stoughton, Misty Mawn and Judy Wise (who I'm signed up with for a journal workshop in September). If I fill it with faces, I'll call it my Face Book (get it?).
Tomorrow, I will draw three names from the 15 who visited my blog, and announce the winners of three of my little collages!
