Seamless Skin

I need to go see a man about a horse...

My mother says this when she is asked about her destination when she heads out and it is her way of kindly saying "none of your business".  Carter has picked this up from her and says it sometimes when he is getting his coat on to go out.  Carter is 2; my mother is 83.  

I'm a babysitting Nana...yes I am.  Its me and Carter these days.  Mo is looking for another child care center and in between time I'm filling in.  He is spending the night with us and Mo is here after classes each evening.  He has tons of toys here and I'm once again evaluating children's programming.  I find myself singing without reason "there is an animal in trouble..." and I think the Backyardigans Rock!

In the photo you can see one of my  "highly prized" cups that I showed as a sketch in the post below.  The set up above is my sequestered winter art spot on the kitchen table.  When I need to clear the table, I turn around in my chair and pile it in the corner behind me...

The winter has warmed up in the last few days but I think ice and snow are being predicted again this weekend.  I'm sketching and collaging away here.  Strathmore selected the collage, Finding Peace, (post below) to feature in their eNewsletter, blog, and FB page.  Only 4 were selected so I'm pretty happy about that.  Here is the one I started this morning...

It is keeping me half way sane to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge and the Visual Journal Workshop.  I find the collaging much more intuitive and didactic in process than sketching.  I mentioned this on Liz Plummer's blog and she shared that her reaction was opposite.  Anyone else care to weigh in on this?  I'm curious to know.   I'm also going to participate in this year's One World One Heart Event for Bloggers.  I've never participated before but have always enjoyed the blog h0pping in previous years...if you're curious, click on the logo in my sidebar under "Dig This".

Collage Preoccupation

I dunno, but maybe its all this time inside that is making me preoccupied with collaging.  I'm back to working on the kitchen table with the family having to eat around me and me being territorial about them needing to make room for my supplies.   I love when Carter goes to get his crayons and his Handy Mandy colouring book and sits with me for all of 5 minutes (age multiplied by attention span equals 5 minutes, but he is great at putting up his supplies before moving on, and he actually gets quite a bit done in those 5 minutes all the while talking talking talking.  I wish I could do that).

The Strathmore workshop is only a month long and the journal is 44 pages, I'm trying to pace myself over time.  I don't want 44 pages reflecting the first week in January...I'm trying to think in terms of story and narrative.  Here are the beginnings of 3 more pages:

The last one is a picture of me and my hand as they appeared 20+ years ago.  I was in a poetic performance with Voices in the Wind, a local group of women poets that I belonged to when this photo was taken by Keith Williams, a now retired photo-journalist who has helped Ade, my youngest, hone his picture-taking skills.  But have you noticed that 4 out of 5 images display disembodied body parts?  Okay, okay, I will not go all psycho-analytical about it...I'm just noticing, thats all. 

Peace,