surrounded by so much color

I finished this colorful abstract piece just in time for spring weather to tentatively arrive. I'm surrounded by so much color and sunshine I can barely remember those early February days that were so gloomy and cold.

This piece started out as a landscape and is still technically a landscape, but the colors I chose for it have nothing to do with the original plan I created. Sometimes I open up my paper tubs and my path completely changes. 

This collage is made with a combination of all kinds of recycled papers including mementos from our London/Paris trip, packaging from tea, food, and hair products, and a few fancy papers that were scraps given to me by a friend who makes cards. All pieces came from my "smaller than my palm" stash and are a good reminder to never throw any paper away, no matter how small.

Semicircle Zen

It is so cold here! To be fair, I think it's pretty cold everywhere. I am trying to remember the last day we had sunshine and I cannot remember. I am starting to feel the bummers a bit, but I have lots to be thankful for - warm house and socks, my goldens, and some embroidery to get lost in.

Here's my latest piece:

This is definitely a zen piece because I used good ol' trusty random.org to help decide thickness, size, and color for most of the process. Going into this piece I thought it would fill up after a couple rounds. It took about 15 rounds however, so that was a surprise! Once I thought I was finished I went through and "fussed" with it a bit to bring out the teal and slightly alter the movement of the colors. I also created one flaw inconsistent with the pattern. This is something I'm starting to play with, mostly for the surprise element, but also to see if it snags my attention. It's my rally against perfection. 

January Favorite Reads

We are only four days into February and it feels like at least half a month has gone by. I've been incredibly busy. So busy I almost forgot to post my favorite January books. But don't fear! I love reading and talking about books too much to forget my monthly favorites.

Birdology by Sy Montgomery (Adult Nonfiction)

What a way to start 2021! This is my second Sy Montgomery book and I'm torn - should I race through everything she's written or take my time? While I didn't love every essay, the essays I enjoyed I really really loved. The moment I read, "They (her chickens) are waiting for me to pick them up, stroke them, and kiss their warm, red, rubbery combs," I was completely smitten. I enjoyed reading all about her chickens and how the chickens loved her neighbors, Bobbie and Jarvis. Bobbie would have to sneak to her car "to avoid a protracted visit with [the] chickens." Anyone who is reading this and has friendly chickens, please let me know when the house next door to you becomes available. I would love to be your neighbor and become best friends with your chickens. 

In another section, Montgomery meets up with an acclaimed hummingbird rescuer and writes that "hummingbirds are less flesh than fairies. They are little more than bubbles fringed with iridescent feathers - air wrapped in light." Rescuing hummingbirds is as tedious and rewarding as it sounds. They have to be fed every 20 minutes for several weeks. Each time you feed them you blow on them first to simulate a mama hummingbird returning to the nest. This is how the babies know to open their mouths. And you can't feed them too much because they are easy to pop. "Miss a feeding by twenty minutes and they can expire. Feed them too much and they can explode." 

Oh and I can't forget the hip-hop parrots. Though I enjoyed reading about Snowball, the parakeet who knows just as much about dancing and rhythm as the late Michael Jackson, it was Snowball's neighbors, rescued African greys, that blew me away. Rescued from a home of an elderly couple who could no longer take care of them, the African greys repeated the same marital conversations and one-sided phone calls from their previous home, which both haunts and electrifies me. We leave so much behind when we die, but to leave behind our voice in a beloved pet is just so bizarre. 

I won't be taking falconry lessons or inviting any kind of bird to live with me (yet), but my love and respect for birds absolutely blossomed thanks to Montgomery's descriptive, inviting, and thrilling ode to birds in Birdology.

Novels in Verse for Teens (Adult Nonfiction)

This is a great resource for educators looking for prompts to go along with novels in verse. Some of the prompts are repetitive, but there are still a lot of great ideas to get tweens and teens engaged in verse novels and develop their poetry skills.

The Collage Ideas Book by Alannah Moorell (Adult Nonfiction)

This is one of those books that's great to flip through and get inspiration. I like the little blurbs about each artist and the techniques they use. Favorites are Anna Hymas and her layered painted paper approach, Debbie Lyddon's cloth and paper landscapes, and Shelley Rhodes' tiny pieces of art using pretty much any material she finds at local secondhand shops. A book of beauty and delight!

The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez and illustrated by Lauren Semmer (Picture Book)

There is much to love about this book. Most letters have multiple words that begin with that letter, the rhyming is musical, there is lots of history packed in here (some I didn't know!), and the illustrations are beautiful and simple. In addition to the musicality of the rhyming, the language also reads like a song in places: "P is for possible, so glow on, child, glow." and "L is for love. L is for love. L is always for love." This is a book that will take you down many paths and start lots of great conversations. You will want to read it aloud and tell everyone you know about how special it is.

Beaded Embroidery Stitching by Christen Brown (Adult Nonfiction)

Such a great source for inspiration. Probably the most exciting thing about this book is that Brown doesn't just offer seed bead ideas, she throws out ideas for all kinds of beads, sequins, and trinkets. I have a spiderweb I did a year or so ago that's the perfect place to add Brown's adorable bead spider