Play Date

Today had to be a play day for me; I couldn't take any more of that blatherskite Picasso-Esque cat, I just couldn't! Whenever I'm stymied by something, tied up in emotional knots, highly pissed off, or otherwise 'in a mood', there are two things I need. The first is Stevie Ray Vaughn. Ok, he played the blues, but he is MY HAPPY MUSIC. His stuff is vitamins for me, my musical drug of choice, it gives me my everything back, in full color. His death is the only time I've ever cried over a 'celebrity' passing. I never got to see him in concert. The second is Led Zeppelin, The Mighty Zep. I can't go 2 days without listening to Zeppelin. I think I'd be a raving lunatic if I had to go 3 days; I'd seriously deteriorate that fast. They touch every note to be found within me, somehow. They summon ten million myriad memories, places, faces, experiences, ideas, dreams, for me. If they are serious about a reunion tour, I'm traveling, I'm in, I'M GOING. My parents wouldn't allow me to attend their concerts in the 70s, telling me I was too young and impressionable. I have regretted that to this day. I'm still in therapy about it, too. Long ago and far away, I purchased this tiny light table, knowing that at some point I'd be wanting to try cutting some stencils of my own. Today I dragged it out (after I searched about 20 minutes to find it! Eesh, Girl!!!) and started drawing some birds and kids and other stuff, experimenting. These are three stencils I cut this morning and tried out. I love them! I'm hooked! I'm signing up for the stencil club! I did all this morning's stencils with vellum, but now that I realize how much I like the result, I'll be getting out my stencil cutter and the sheets of stencil plastic I've been hording and considering. Oooh, I really REALLY like these! Two postcards, done. I poured some blue house paint onto wax paper in the middle of a plate and let it dry. This was -- wow -- a LOOOOONNNNG time ago. Today I took it down, stamped an image in the middle, cut out the circle, and painted the image. Then I added the bird cutout and some painting on the background paper. It will be a postcard to a friend of mine in Italy. This started life as a sponge in an Avon box holding a set of jewelry Mom bought me. Now it's the insert for a card I'm making my beloved Aunt Judy. I made a shrink plastic attachment out of a rubber stamped image I love. On the sponge itself is Lumiere paint [from 'the Exciter pack'] and a stamp of a woman playing the piano. I was thinking of the character 'Rose', from the movie Titanic -- when she was the old Rose, she said, "A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets." That's what the shrink plastic attachment means to me. A card I've almost finished for my beloved Aunt Judy. Oh! You ought to hear Aunt Judy play the piano, the organ. You ought to have just one taste of her homemade noodles before you die. You ought to have an afternoon in her yard with the beautiful flowers she plants and tends, the fountain and statue vignettes Aunt Judy has created. You ought to wear something sewn by Aunt Judy's hands. You ought to be allowed the vision, even just once, of Aunt Judy herself - a woman of such grace, with an elegant but shy bearing, always stylishly attired, with probably a scarf, a pin, and a pair of stunning earrings. 1. My Uncle Ray (the 'real' family artist) sent me a set of drawing pencils because I wasn't sure what kind to buy. 2. The background paper (the whitish/grey swirly paper) is by the brand called Basic Grey, which is my favorite of any of the manufacturers out there. 3. I loved this background paper and wanted to attempt something that felt like Venice to me, with lovely women drawn and painted by me. 4. So I did it! Oh. My. God. I did this? I would pay money for this if I saw it somewhere else.

Between Stevie Ray, The Mighty Zep, and that Venice-mood card actually made by my own hands and mind, I feel my confidence surging back to me. Maybe I CAN pull that blatherskite Piccaso-Esque Cat out of my creative hat!