Mixed Media

Thanks to Sublunary Review for publishing my poem, Mixed Media.  It's no secret this is my favorite poem.  I'm so glad it found a home with Sublunary Review.

I have a lot of dreams that take place in thrift stores, garage sales, and junkyards.  My childhood was a patchwork of these places, so it makes perfect sense I spend a lot of my sleep time wandering aisles and rows of bizarre, sometimes familiar treasures, the lullaby of mildew, rust, and damp creating an ache of longing.  My family was always happiest when we were searching for treasure.  Some times that is still the case.  

Often, when I'm dreaming I browse the thrift stores and garage sales alone, but I know my family is close by thanks to the abundance of childhood memories, knick-knacks, sounds, smells, and feelings that fill the dream.  These dreams always bring me so much comfort, even when they are only there as messengers.

a helping of comfort and magic

Beautiful moments at the library this week:

A young patron approached the desk one afternoon and requested books on ASL because her classmate was deaf, and the patron wanted to communicate with her.  We only had a couple ASL books at my location, so I turned the computer screen toward the patron and asked her which books she might like to have brought over from other branches.  She pointed at a book about emotions and said, “in case she wants to talk about how she’s doing.”  She pointed at another about families so she could “learn more about what her life is like at home.”  

After we picked out a few books, the patron looked at me and said, “a lot of kids think I’m in the sixth grade.”  I asked her what grade she was in, and she said, “fourth, but I’m tall and mature and know how to talk to adults.”  Before walking her over to the adult side to grab an ASL book, I paused and looked for her mom.  Depending on the age of the kid, I usually let caregivers know if we leave the youth side.  Before I could spot her mom, the kid looked at me and said, “my mom won’t mind if I go to the adult side.”  I told her I would let her mom know where she was if asked.  As we left the youth area I spotted her mom, who gave me such a proud smile, it was easy to guess she had been listening to our conversation and knew her daughter had shared some more of her magic with the world.  

On another day I was covering the adult desk and an older patron in her nineties approached the desk with her daughter.  The older patron asked for some help finding a list of authors she had written out.  They were all popular authors, so I knew we would have them on the shelf.  While her daughter disappeared to browse on her own, the older patron and I looked for the books on her list.  I kept my eye on the desk thankful there was a lull, so I was able to take my time with her.  We only talked about the books we found, just pleasant chitchat that didn’t get too deep.  When we reached the last two authors on her list, which were alphabetically close to each other, I showed her the books, handed back her note, and excused myself.  She reached out, grasped my wrist, and said, “please stay.”

There have been a few times I’m in a utterly sour mood about my lack of worth to the world, and I remember something Robert said to me once.  One time, I cannot remember the situation, Robert looked at me and told me what a comfort it was to have me nearby.  I think it’s easy to forget how much comfort we bring just by being fully present with each other. 

A few of my favorite books right now

Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park and illustrated by Ho Baek Lee (Picture Book)

This is an older gem I stumbled upon recently. The illustrations are beautiful! I enjoyed being a part of the family's ritual of preparing bee-bim bop and sitting down with their multi-generational family for prayer and dinner together. Included in this book are lots of sounds that are so much fun to say out loud. The girl who is telling the story is beyond excited about bee-bim bop, and her excitement is evident in both her rhyming words and her dancing movements on every page.

Wings, Waves, & Webs: Patterns in Nature by Robin Mitchell Cranfield (Nonfiction Picture Book)

Both the illustrations and words do a marvelous job describing multiple complex patterns with simplicity and wonder. After reading this, the world will be revealed in a whole new way. You will find patterns everywhere, and your fingers will itch to draw those patterns. It's a book that makes you want to learn more!

My First Learn-to-Talk Book: Things That Go by Stephanie Cohen and illustrated by Lindsay Dale-Scott (Board Book)

It doesn't get much better than this book. The language is clear, easy to read, and fun to say aloud. The illustrations are of real, adorable toddlers. And, included in the back are two pages about how this book works.

How Birds Sleep by David Obuchowski and illustrated by Sarah Pedry (Nonfiction Picture Book)

The illustrations are cozy, comforting, soft, and though illustrated at night, illuminated by the moon and stars, which are sometimes only visible in the light emanating from the pages. The content is also interesting too! My favorite nest was the common tailorbird's nest, which uses leaves sewn together with "threads of plant fibers, caterpillar cocoons, or spider silk."

Invisible Things by Andy J. Pizza and illustrated by Sophie Miller (Nonfiction Picture Book)

A wildly imaginative and exuberant exploration of invisible things. The illustrations simply blast themselves off the page. They are SO bright and crazy. The illustration for melancholy feels so right. The lists for things like echoes and feelings are so SPOT on. The more I hold this book and reread its pages, the harder it is to set it down. This book feels like my soul turned inside out. And I think other readers are going to love putting on "their invisible 'invisible thing'-spotting glasses" and watching the beauty inside them materialize right before their eyes.

late summer flowers

I just finished an embroidery piece, and it captures all the peace I enjoyed while making it and the lovely late summer light.  It's available on my Etsy.

The last few days I worked on this piece i found myself eating, living, and wearing the colors.  I took this picture on my lunch break the day I realized it.  

A little bit of everything

I have been very busy with SO many things - preparing for fall programming at the library, starting my third semester of my MLS degree, a couple of all-consuming art projects, soaking up all the hot, evil weather I can before it turns, and working on compiling a chapbook.  

Here are a few special moments I don't want to let slip through the cracks.

First, I am behind on my thank-yous!  Thank you to Loch Raven Review for publishing Just as I Begin, Willows Wept Review for publishing Panorama, and The Phoenix for publishing Grandma's Kitchen and My Apology.  I have mentioned two of these journals prior to this post, but since then I have received physical copies, which is always so exciting.  This issue of Loch Raven Review will take a year for me to read it, but I am excited to dive in.  You can find it here.  You can find the issue of Willows Wept Review I am in here.

One last thing about this picture.  I look so much like my brother, Scott in this picture!  How cool is that?  Does anyone else get super excited when you see people you love the most in pictures of yourself?  It never gets old.

I told Robert I wanted to make a caterpillar that helped guide kids and their caregivers through storytime.  The face segment is the hello song and the last blue segment is the goodbye song (I've been calling it the bye-bye butt, but not in front of kids!).  In-between the hello and goodbye segments are three options and multiple copies of each - song, activity or book.  Not shown in this picture is the arrow, which will show patrons where we are at during storytimes.   Because storytimes are a little different each time, I'll be able to change up my caterpillar for each storytime.  Originally, my plan was to make laminated segments.  

Robert and our friend, Josh took it to a whole new level and made the segments on a 3D printer!

Tomorrow I give my first ever outreach storytime at a nearby day school.  I am both excited and terrified.  I have no idea what the space looks like and only a vague idea of how many sessions and the different age groups.  It will be a lesson in going with the flow for me!  I packed my traveling storytime bag (and my caterpillar just in case there's a whiteboard big enough).  It will be the first storytime of the season.  My library starts storytimes back up again next week, so I've been thinking about this outreach storytime like a really crazy practice run.

I have been meeting with the same poetry friends for almost ten years now!  I just realized this the last time we met, which is now virtually, so I captured a picture of us.  Four out of the seven of us who meet have been meeting for almost ten years, and one of our original four is in her nineties and writes exceptional poetry.  We transitioned to meeting virtually during the pandemic and have stayed virtual because three people in our group do not live in Kansas City!  Though my life can be crazy busy sometimes, I always look forward to sitting down and talking poetry with this special group of friends.

Margo has been sleeping with her tongue out recently.  It is the cutest thing.

Robert and I recently tried out Swimply and rented someone's pool who allowed dogs.  Margo and Josie mostly enjoyed Robert carrying them around on the raft.

A few more pictures of the girls in all their cuteness.

Margo doesn't even need to sleep in our bed to steal all the covers.  

I love coming up the stairs and seeing this.  It never gets old.  Her lovely face hanging over the steps.

bird coming to life

I just finished a collage, and I am elated about how he turned out.  He is for sale and listed on my Etsy.

This was a painted paper collage, which is one of my favorite things to do right now.  I had no idea I was going to make a collage of a bird.  Once I started tearing up the papers and laying them out, the bird magically appeared.  I've been trying to walk into some artistic endeavors with a blank slate, and it's been tough but also so much fun too.

For each painted paper project I used the same colors in several different combinations and paint about 8-12 pieces of paper.  I love the process of painting paper for a collage and find it really relaxing.  Once I've painted the papers and let them dry, I pick out my favorite color combination, and that part becomes what I call the "focus" of the collage.  I had no idea this collage was going to be a bird.  My favorite papers were the pink and brown papers, which I started with.   

As I make the collage, I'll spend a couple hours and then walk away.  Until I'm working on the collage again, I'm staring intently at the progress picture looking for the next steps.  Sometimes they are obvious.  Feet!  Sometimes they are subtle - smooth or recreate a line.  

I make marks in my phone of my next steps.  The papers I know I'll be fiddling with are only slightly glued down.  This way I can still move them as I'm going.  

This is how I was able to gently lift and play with the wings, which I was constantly doing until the very end.

I have been starting to let everything but necessities come to a complete stop once I get involved in a project.  School, family, work, and sleep just barely win.  I've been giving every other moment to a project once I can no longer resist its call.  This has been tough for me, as I like to go through lists I create every day.  There have been days I've taken three or four showers because I'll walk away from a project, exercise or walk the dogs and then about 10 or 15 minutes in, need to race back to the project.  I'm proud of myself for ignoring the lists and making my art projects a top priority.

Here is my happy mess.  By the end of a collage project I am usually wading around in paper scraps.  The table I primarily work on holds four projects - three collages and an embroidery project.  I've got another collage in process, but it is very fiddly at the moment.  It has not been calling to me, but the background isn't even done.

Progress pics!

I will leave you with a few pictures of the edges.