Published Art

Over the holidays, I discovered my art was published in Somerset Studio Gallery.  I was thrilled to find not one, but two pieces.  The artist Colette Copeland is on the cover :D
Congrats Colette @>--------------

I love birds and the thoughts of nesting.  I have moved a lot.  Every home,  I have lived in has had something,  I loved.  I always dreamed of a home, by the sea with a white picket fence, like my childhood home.   I remember the day the fence was made and it was time to paint it white.  In Tom Sawyer fashion, my Dad convinced me to help.  I did...lol.




  I  have memories of our neighbors blurring the property lines. You have to put a fence on so much of your own land, so you can tend n' paint the other side.  Raspberries grew on the other side and our neighbors argued they were theirs.  The land, the home had not been tended to, for years.  Sweet fruit became a prickly subject.  I do remember we had bushes at the very end of our property.  My Dad dug up some of the bushes and planted them sidewards on our property.  We had been  picking the sweet fruit and sharing the berries with neighbors, the ones on the other side of the fence.  We had to prove that we owned the property, on both sides of the fence.   It reminded me, we can't pick our neighbors, or family, but we can pick our friends.  This inspired my Fenced in Ladies, named Gate Guardians.   I am privileged, to share the page with artist, Becky Shander.

I love birds-as a child, we often took stale crackers to the town wharf.  We fed the birds. Yes, primarily seagulls. When my son was little, it was ducks in Alaska, small birds in Florida.  No, we didn't feed the birds in Hawaii, but they woke me every day. I had a Mango tree in my yard and another tree in the front, with these odd berries.   Every morning by 6 am, you would wake.  The  birds were jumping up and down on the roof trying to get the fruit.  They were loudly squawking over berries...sounds familiar.  My Mom had a cockatiel.  She named him Aussie.  I taught him to wolf whistle,  knock and say "Come in", he said pretty bird and he actually barked like a dog.  I can't take credit for the barking.  My mother's dog taught him that, lol.  I tried to teach him to say "here Kitty, kitty"...no we didn't have a cat.  I just thought it would be funny.  He use to perch on my finger and I would give him a special tiny cup to drink out of. He would sit with me and tilt on the edge and give himself a bird bath. 


I dyed two dryer sheets in tea and then printed out an image of a bird. I stitched light blue felt behind them, so you could see the image.  I glued on vintage Forget-me-not flowers and blue feathers.  I made it to put in my closet. A place for dried lavender, to keep the moths away.   You could also use it to gather thoughts n' quotes. 

I was also in Somerset Life's winter issue.  My cards were enclosed in wax paper and I was selected for a Creative Living Idea.  It was fun to be featured! :D  I can't find the issue, at the moment.   I am cleaning now and I bet I tucked it in a special spot.  Why when we tuck things away that are special-we lose them?!

 My idea was the wax paper sleeve, for the card. How many times have you lost the envelope or penned a mistake?  I know, I have!!!   I stitched a sleeve out of wax paper adding a bit of torn paper, some lace and a definition, from an old dictionary.  You can't see the card, so I thought I would show it here. 

 

Thank you Stampington, for selecting me!    Special thanks, to Jennifer Jackson Taylor and Christen Olivarez, for all they do!!  :D