Relatively speaking
Nana and Peepaw came up to see The Boy during Memorial Day weekend -- and so did Auntie Stacie, virtually speaking. The Husband arranged for a Skype video call to Dublin, so we could all talk over one another in the comfort of our respective homes. 
Look closely -- my kitchen will never be that clean again, at least until we have visitors.
Later that day, we headed out to the historic portion of Snohomish, a town north of Seattle.
The weather was supposed to falter by then, but we had a lovely stroll under sunny skies (!)...
... wandered by antique stores and late 19th-century architecture...
I'll definitely have to go back on my own when I have time to get lost in the stores.
Nana and Peepaw were also kind enough to babysit The Boy while we Went Out To A Movie [cue excited fanfare]. It was a toss-up between Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We went with Caspian. For those of you who've read the original series, it was pretty good... mostly stuck to the original storyline as well, although some parts are obvious add-ons.
I'm glad they chose Peter Dinklage to play Trumpkin -- he does a great job of conveying the idea that all these humans around him are bizarrely tall and cheerful. The producers decided to make Caspian's people, the Telmarines, into Inquisition-era Spaniards, basically, in contrast with the bright and innocent, very English, World War II-era Pevensie children.
I tried to explain some of that to Nana and Peepaw, but The Husband deterred me from that. We have an understanding: The Husband and I are their favorite Incomprehensible but Friendly Geeks, and they're the Designated Normal People. And no, reading our respective blogs would probably not clear things up at all for Nana or Peepaw. So we smile and wave and send them home with pictures of The Boy.
Look closely -- my kitchen will never be that clean again, at least until we have visitors.Later that day, we headed out to the historic portion of Snohomish, a town north of Seattle.
The weather was supposed to falter by then, but we had a lovely stroll under sunny skies (!)...
... wandered by antique stores and late 19th-century architecture...
I'll definitely have to go back on my own when I have time to get lost in the stores.Nana and Peepaw were also kind enough to babysit The Boy while we Went Out To A Movie [cue excited fanfare]. It was a toss-up between Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We went with Caspian. For those of you who've read the original series, it was pretty good... mostly stuck to the original storyline as well, although some parts are obvious add-ons.
I'm glad they chose Peter Dinklage to play Trumpkin -- he does a great job of conveying the idea that all these humans around him are bizarrely tall and cheerful. The producers decided to make Caspian's people, the Telmarines, into Inquisition-era Spaniards, basically, in contrast with the bright and innocent, very English, World War II-era Pevensie children.
I tried to explain some of that to Nana and Peepaw, but The Husband deterred me from that. We have an understanding: The Husband and I are their favorite Incomprehensible but Friendly Geeks, and they're the Designated Normal People. And no, reading our respective blogs would probably not clear things up at all for Nana or Peepaw. So we smile and wave and send them home with pictures of The Boy.
Postcard on its way!
Arrrgh -- I should've checked the picture of the postcard more closely before I sealed it up in the envelope. Made the mistake of using the old camera, which I haven't used in months. But I did sharpen it a bit in Photoshop. I'll have to ask Tally to take a better picture once she receives it.
Hey, say it with me: "Tally, can you take a better picture of the front, so we can see what it really looks like? Lisa's picture looks like crap."
The other side is covered with a crinkly dark green paper and pieces of sheet music-patterned paper. I then sealed the paper with slightly thinned matte medium and dried it with the heat tool. Next, the Golden Acrylics colors... I toned down some Cobalt Teal (a freebie I'd usually consider too garish) with Paynes Gray and a little bit of Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) to get a seawater color; dried that too. The last color was a wash of Iridescent Pearl (Fine). I used a Sharpie for the text.
I knew the back would be impossible to shoot properly, what with the final wash. I was going for the same iridescence you see on a water bubble just before it pops. (Love that word, "iridescence." So much more evocative than "shimmer.") The text reads:
At night we swam together, him tossing me up with the waves and down into the current. I had not tamed him, he insisted. But he found my human oddities intriguing enough that the merman would not let me drown.
But one night, I chose to swim back to shore on my own. Let the waves overwhelm me, or let me drown, or maybe carry me home.
He was astonished, though he tried to hide it. The merman accused me of abandoning him like the sea spray flees the waves.
I reminded the merman that he was not tamed, and then swam the last few feet to the shore.
And now the postcard is off to the wilds of the Valley. You'd think it would take a day or two to travel a thousand miles, but I predict it'll reach Tally on Friday.
Hey, say it with me: "Tally, can you take a better picture of the front, so we can see what it really looks like? Lisa's picture looks like crap."The other side is covered with a crinkly dark green paper and pieces of sheet music-patterned paper. I then sealed the paper with slightly thinned matte medium and dried it with the heat tool. Next, the Golden Acrylics colors... I toned down some Cobalt Teal (a freebie I'd usually consider too garish) with Paynes Gray and a little bit of Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) to get a seawater color; dried that too. The last color was a wash of Iridescent Pearl (Fine). I used a Sharpie for the text.
I knew the back would be impossible to shoot properly, what with the final wash. I was going for the same iridescence you see on a water bubble just before it pops. (Love that word, "iridescence." So much more evocative than "shimmer.") The text reads:At night we swam together, him tossing me up with the waves and down into the current. I had not tamed him, he insisted. But he found my human oddities intriguing enough that the merman would not let me drown.
But one night, I chose to swim back to shore on my own. Let the waves overwhelm me, or let me drown, or maybe carry me home.
He was astonished, though he tried to hide it. The merman accused me of abandoning him like the sea spray flees the waves.
I reminded the merman that he was not tamed, and then swam the last few feet to the shore.
And now the postcard is off to the wilds of the Valley. You'd think it would take a day or two to travel a thousand miles, but I predict it'll reach Tally on Friday.
Somewhere, beyond the sea...
Here are a couple of elements I'm thinking of using on the postcard I'm going to alter.
Ooh, I love this paper. Enough to marry it and not have our relationship recognized in most of the 50 states. It's even better than the navy blue and white version I found previously. Expensive as all get out, but delicious.About a week ago, something about a merman floated into my head just before I fell asleep. I was thinking about events that happened years ago (it's fun to rewrite history!) and the storytelling started to flow. I don't know if I'll use everything, but you know how I like the lace paper...
... and the colored lights in that snippet look like the aurora borealis to me. Then yesterday, I went over to my pal Stacie's house and studio, and hung out with her and Amy Lee. I didn't have time to stay long and I was still sort of in art-freeze, but I could scribble down some ideas and pick out some elements in like-minded company. Which got my brain telling me, last night:
Get up and gesso the postcard. Nothing else. Just gesso the slick side of the postcard and let it dry.
Yes, I know they have medications for this kind of thing now.
But for once, the brain delivered its message without comment or judgment. So I did it without fussing about cleaning up my workspace first. Ugh. That task, on the other hand, will require me going to the room in my head that's stark white, with no furniture -- you know, like those "nowhere" spaces you see in movies like Heaven Can Wait or 2001: A Space Odyssey, where people always ask, "am I dead?" -- until the rest of me finishes cleaning up.