Catching Up & Cabagge Art

The past prior 2 weeks were a sickly cough-filled nervous blur due to my raging sinus infection. It was one thing on top of another. Wrong dr's appointments for Daddy that luckily I called about beforehand. My car broke down one day. The serpentine chain broke, but thankfully because Don works for our church friend so he could borrow his car trailer to take it home to fix it. Thankfully I was able to drive Daddy's car. Dealing with the insurance on Daddy's car has been a royal pain in the patooty. No matter how hard we try, it is like damned if you, damned if you don't. Then one of Rhett's fish died. The 4th newest fish; the black Molle named Blackie by Rhett & Molly by me. It had fin rot. I was talking to Genie the night my car broke down, I saw the dead fish and just couldn't deal with it. It wasn't like it was the last straw and I broke down. I told Rhett & Genie it died. Genie is going "Oh, No!" while I scooped it up with the net & told Rhett I was fixin' to flush it down the toilet. If he wanted to say a prayer over it before I flushed it, he could. He did. I went on talking as if this was an every day event.

The day we took Daddy's car back, Don got to see how hard it was for me to pull out of our driveway. He said he'd put transmission fluid in it & he'd meet us there at their house. He knocked the wire that made the cool air come out of the top vents. So I had to changed cars with Daddy yet again the next day until he fixed that! I HAVE to have air! I get ill if I get too hot. You don't want me ill!

I know I did way too much while sick . I know I needed to rest more & take bettter care of myself as all my friends have adviced me, but I probably didn't. I stayed after church last Wed nite to help draw stuff for VBS when I should have went home. One person got on my last already nervous nerve & I had to leave.

It seems when I get sick now, I just don't feel like doing much of anything... email or art. This time I had one new art friend ask if I was ok which was nice. It is nice to be missed. But it wasn't all bad. We had good things happen to us as well. I had a windfall. I got better and I am thankful.

I shot myself in the foot for that 1st day of Market Days by not sending in my info early so I could get the same spot I had last year. It went to some husband & wife artists I know. I didn't have my usual beginner's luck. I got sunburned on my chest. Don was at a funeral for our son-n-law's sweet grandmother who died. Elisa said Mamaw is now singing and dancing at Jesus' feet. We had to wait until he got through to come get us. I hated I misse the funeral but felt I needed to make money. After that it is pretty much a blur.

Rhett had a jazz thing downtown to attend this past Sat morning so I took him to that instead of doing market days. The workshop was too advanced for him. It was something different to do. We left during the break. We went to Market Days, chatted with everyone. I recruited new folks for the PC arts too. I should have been a PR person! LOL

The abstract group was meeting at 12:30 so we got Church's chicken to take as seems to be our thing. I didn't have a lot of new stuff to bring. I did bring my ink pads as we were supposed to be making stamps out of stuff. I didn't advertise this. Sorry. Just didn't feel up to it. Really I did good to be there. It takes forever for us to get started. Not when I am the teacher. I was supposed to meet my friend Nancy at church later for more VBS artwork, but they went to Newnan for a chicken show & she was too tired to go, but it all worked out. She called sometime after 2 & couldn't believe we had not gotten started yet! Me either. I am surprised at my patience.

We had different things we could use as stamps. I tried a few things, but only got a couple of patterns. Nothing specatulor. Then the instructor cut the head off purple cabbage. I tried that with black ink before anyone else did. I LOVED IT! It made the neatest patterns! I just went with it. I didn't want to do anything else. They were pulling fishing wire thru paint as well as yarn. The colors used were not my colors. I may have ruined my stamp pad, but that is ok. I'll get another one. Others tried the cabbage, but didn't get the same thing I did. Cindy even tried it with paint. It was just meant for me. LOL As with all my stuff, I saw things in it & started coloring them with a black marker. I was in hog heaven. Quite content that I only made one piece of art while others made more than one. This is me. This my style. This is my thing. This is my niche. And I love it. It makes me happy. And I am ever thankful for the pleasure my art brings me.

Th other older lady artist taught me something... she showed me how to take a small white mat & find what I like best on my art. This worked as the left side of my piece was not that interesting. The right side had eyes. And of course I found hearts everywhere. If I don't call it Cabbage Art, I may call it "Eye Hearts". LOL

I made extra copies of my cabbage art. One to hang in the gallery and others to play with more later & I did. I think everyone can tell which one is mine from the distance. It has lots of movement. But it is a piece you need to see upclose. I am as excited about it as I was "It is what it is".

Then the other PC abstract artist had an old piece of a painting on loose canvas paper that had some raised areas from excess paint. I told her she needed to go over them with a colored marker. Well, I couldn't stand it. Before we left, I asked her if she was going to try it. I guess she read my mind or I sounded like a little kid because she told me I could take it & play with it. Ms. June said we should use an ink pad instead. The smallest one I had was a tiny red one that would work as it is not enclosed in the pad which my friend sweet Anne sent me. Now the background was lavenderish so this red really worked. Thank you Anne for that stamp pad! It turned out really cool.

Cindy, June & I work really well together. We don't have a problem collaborating at all. We talked about how some artists refuse to share their techniques. Thank goodness we are not like that. So we are trying to think of a name for ourselves which is hard as we all are very different. Rhett said "3 of a Kind", but we really are not.

I kept Ms June's idea about the ink pad in mind. I got some mats at the $ store. The pack had four 4x6 oval shapes in one packet so that was like a quarter a piece! Love it! I used the red stamp pad on it. It didn't work as well as it did on Cindy's art, but it made a neat red mat. It will go with several of my photos of my art. It is something different. You know I like different.

I took pics of all of this plus some more, but didn't feel like uploading last Sunday nite as my weekly ritual. We stayed after church & worked some more on VBS. That is a challenge when you have too many people and not enough work for them to do. Then they paint donkeys as Palomino horses while Nancy & I just shake our heads. LOL We do our own artwork for our room. We have found we work well with certain people whereas others get on our last nerve. Last nite when we got home I worked more on the cabbage art til bedtime instead of uploading.

I didn't get the other job at work. 80 others applied for it. Will tell more about that later.... My job duties changed again, but they are a bit easier & less stressful. So I guess it all worked out for the best. Just thankful to be over this sinus infection. I hope I can get my old spot back at Market Days next week.

Wed nite I was around bottle of acrylic paint. I had no paint brush. I had no good quality art paper. I only had notebook paper. I used a small glue stick as my brush! I was using ivy green and brunt red color, blending them in some areas. I added bright yellow dots from the end of the glue stick. These are not my normal colors. I really liked the yellow with it. But it wasn't until the next morning I added more yellows with a Crayola paint marker and liked it even better. Later I used a yellow paint marker and got some shiney areas. I realized my yellow highlighter was the same exact color so I used it to finish coloring the background yellow. I love the way some of the colors bled through giving it more texture. I printed this at Walmart yesterday. Last night I saw a Michael Jackson like face with sunglasses in a long dress! LOL This piece is so unlike me. I guess I went outside my box.

Rhett turned 13 on Thursday. Hard to believe I have a teenager now. We got him the cutest hat on sale at JCPenney's yesterday. We spent mother son quality time together. We ate at Applebee's. I got fajitas. but they were way too spicy for me. Never again!. I will make my own than you very much. We were able to watch and read the captions for "The Mentalist" and got home in time to see the ending. I am still rather upset about "Castle". LOL

I have some really good news... We are having a small intimate family birthday party for Rhett at our church tomorrow. My Daddy is going! He says he hasn't missed one of Rhett's birthdays yet. He is not going to miss this one. I as so excited; so happy. He will be in a wheel chair but that is okay. He will be there. And I am thankful.

Today is a good day because I received the glass infused pendent and key chain I made at employee appreciation week a few weeks ago. My pendant is just ok. I really like my key chain which is really long. It is reversible so I actually got three things. I will get a thick, sturdy cord so I can wear it as a necklace. You know me... I have to be different.

I printed my Cabbage art and have it framed in a very inexpensive but nice frame for Market Days. I brought it to work and I keep glancing over at it. Hope it sells well.

I have a lot of friends on my prayer list this week. My sweet friend Pat begins her chemo for breast cancer this week. Our friend Robbie fell. Our old neighbor, Terri has liver problems and will require surgery. She is younger than me.

I got to see my sweet friend Patti and I am thankful. What are you thankful for this week? Care to share. Then join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

Then there is always one to rain on my parade of near perfect day to point out something that wasn't an oversight nor a mistake. I stood my ground and defended myself, but it will proabably be told that I have an attitude. Sigh. Oh, well...