coconutannies

I didn't know

Over at One Single Impression the prompt is: Doorway

I immediately thought of my Dad and this piece I created some time after he died

Sometimes we walk through a doorway without realizing it - only once inside an unfamiliar space do we appreciate what we have left and what opportunies may have passed us by. . .

On one side of the door

I had the knowledge that he was there

I knew that he loved me though it was rarely said

Times together were sometimes hard, sometimes strained

I felt that I had been a disappointment

Yet there seemed time for healing between us, reconnection

On that side of the door

"STRANGE...we never prize the music...Til the sweet-voiced bird has flown"

To read more poetry about doorways click here

Exposed

Self-Portrait Challenge: Nude

See how others interpreted this month's challenge here

Love is in the air. . .

Everything is tingly and exciting around here. My sweet Lolly-girl has a little Lolly-boy that she's been talking to and seeing (as a friend) lately. It's amazing the feelings that are stirred in me by my daughter's romantic adventures! It has caused me to think about when Joe and I first started seeing each other.

My sister Lois created this artwork for us - it includes oodles of meaningful words and phrases that we used with each other.

Road Trip

Joe and I just returned from a 4 day motorcycle trip up the coast to St. Augustine. The weather was gorgeous and we fell in love with the little historic city with it's brick-paved streets and multitude of garden eateries. Our favorite spot was A1A Ale Works where we enjoyed their delicious hand-crafted Red Brick Ale - YUM!

Coming up for air

Hi ALL and Thank You for all your caring comments and emails! It has been 4 long months since my last post! I've had my nose to the grindstone after returning to work Jan. 1st - my job requires very long hours (12-18 hr. days) for short periods of the year. The "season" is just ending here in Florida so I am finally able to catch my breath. Now I have sooo many projects around my house that I need to do! I hope to soon take some creative time for myself and listen to hear my artful voice. Every once in awhile, over the past few months, I've heard a thin little squeak of a voice but I haven't had the time or desire to listen much less follow it! The Art Chicks had their Gallery Opening and Reception for their latest collaboration : "Foot Fetish". I was in on the planning stages last fall for this fun project, in which, each artist alters a shoe or pair of shoes into a work of art, but sadly I couldn't participate in the project this time.

Making my way back . . .

I've been away from my creative self and I want to come back. I've been off worrying about things like responsibilities and earning money. I haven't been letting myself think about making Art for the sake of Art (that's not practical - "you can't make a living that way" - I've been telling myself!) But now I feel empty and hollow - I feel dryed up and very brittle - like the slightest brush with anything might cause me to snap rather than bend and go with the flow. I need to ease back into my creative self once again and find enjoyment in the process and not the "product".

I will try.

Emotions

Studio Friday : Creating Emotions

For me, whenever I create a collage piece I first tap into some very emotional memory. I almost always use an image or picture of a person or place that is important to me. As  I layer on paint and paper I am traveling back and remembering a special time. Without the emotional thrill this brings I get easily bored putting elements together.

The 2 pages below are part of my childhood memories altered book. It incorporates a page from a cookbook I had when I was little, pictures of me and my cousins and memories of warming up inside after playing out in the cold. It gives me a good feeling to remember those cozy times!

 

 

Turnip finds a home!

One of the first items I listed on Etsy has finally found a home! I am so excited since this is only my 2nd sale through this venue!

Her name is Turnip and she has a cold. I've loved her ever since she came to life in my hands - but I was beginning to think that maybe she had a face only a mother could love!

I hoped one day a special person would see her and adopt her and that day has arrived! I shipped Turnip out yesterday to Tracey in Tennesee who says it's as if one of her very own drawings has come to life. I'm so pleased that Turnip has found such a good home!

Popping in

Hi all! I'm just popping in to tell you what I've been up to.

I'm starting to clean my studio. I have a large stash of vintage fabrics that I've pulled out and I'm giving them a good cleaning. I'm running them through the washer so that they are nice and fresh  - I'm going to try and make a bunch of softies to sell on Ebay or Etsy!

I have these 2 running on Ebay now -

One is a soft sweater bunny named Ernest and the other is a polymer clay birdie named Jack! Click HERE to see these auctions (they end on Friday).

I have recently joined a wonderful ebay group of artists known as Primitive Folk Art Tea and Talk or PFATT - if you search using this "term" you pull up a whole bunch of really nice quality crafts and artwork!

 

On a lighter note . . .

I got very heavy in my last post . . . I don't know what happened . . . it was a perfectly good haiku prompt . . . most of the other participants wrote about beach stones or majestic mountains or some other beauty found in nature . . . somehow I went ugly . . .

I'm writing today about something much lighter . . . with the colder water temps the Manatees are coming into the smaller - warmer waterways here in FL. My 2 sisters live on a small finger off the Indian River. When I was there last week about 15 of these gentle giants were floating just off their dock - soaking up the afternoon sun!

Beth turned on a hose and a few of them made their way over to drink the fresh water - even rolling over and wanting their bellies rubbed!

  Aren't they cute?! It's amazing to see animals in the wild so open to interaction with humans. But this actually is their undoing . . . their friendly nature together with the fact that they move very slowly has caused them to be injured and killed by boats . . .

I really enjoyed my little visit with them.

To the parents of young children . . .

This week's prompt from Haiku : one deep breath - "Boulders, Rocks, Stones and Pebbles" caused a gush of emotions to come spilling out of me!         

It may be because I live in Florida where we have few rocks (only shells, shell pieces and coral) and I grew up in NY (where I spent many days as a child collecting, climbing over and hiding in rocks) but I speak from a deep underground spring created long ago . . .

An Untrue Haiku About Sticks and Stones

told to a small child:

although words can never harm you,

stones can break your bones

????????????????????????????????                  

I'm sorry, but the little rhyme, told to children to help them "toughen  up" against bullies and other thoughtless peers, is alot of poopoo!

Words, especially ones spoken over and over, can stab like a knife and leave deep emotional scars that  last a lifetime!

It would be better to be pelted with stones (and sticks, for that matter!) than suffer a constant lobbing of insults from other kids.

When we are young and have not yet decided who we are, we are easily influenced by others. Even if we are able to remain joyous on the outside - inside our ever vigilant and critical inner voice is keeping careful record of many of those cruel words to use later in life!

I suffer from depression and a deep feeling of self-hate that I can repress much of the time but that is always ready to bubble up to the surface and wash over me.

I no longer hear the voices of other kids or even my parents in my head, instead the voice is my own - clear, insistent and unchangable in it's opinion.

My point in all of this? Besides the obvious pity party?

Parents of young children - listen to them, tell them good things about themselves, convince them of their worth, help them to balance what they hear from their peers with words of love and encouragement, if kids are making "fun"of them in school, on a regular basis,  please remove them from that situation - switch schools, homeschool, do whatever it takes to turn things around! Give them the skills to socialize with others - seek professional help - but PLEASE don't tell a beat down child :

"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never harm you"

Bunches are better!

This week's prompt over at Studio Friday is "Multiples"

I love to collect things so I'm all about multiples! - If one is good . . . then BUNCHES ARE BETTER! The first thing (or should I say things) I thought of was my duckie heads - I found these for 10 cents ea. at my favorite thrift store -don't ask me what I'll do with them but they were too fun to pass up (now you know why my studio looks like it does!)

I also like to keep multiples of the same thing in jars - they remind me of the penny candy I loved to pick out when I was a kid - YUM!

The Thursday before last

The Art Chix met on the 3rd Thursday of this month.

This time we traveled out to green pastures - orange groves and horse country - and met at Sherry's house.

Sherry, an equestrian and former organic orange grove owner, is a landscape/garden artist whose talents have been honed first by turning her farm into a beautiful oasis of green.

Walking around her lush, tropical surroundings I snapped dozens of pictures which demonstrate the artful way in which she lives.

  These wonderful images will no doubt keep popping up on this blog as there are too many for this one post.

Sherry's home gave me such a feeling of peace and contentment - and being with her, for even a little while, you know that this is just a reflection of how she lives and views life.

 

The Art Chix gathered for a Collage materials swap and project, some of the girls worked on journal covers, some on cigar boxes - I played with a few papers and made a little mess, but my heart was not in it. I had too much fun wandering around, soaking up the beautiful day -

 

  Sherry's gardens beckoned . . .

as did her horse barn . . . 

. . . cool breezes, crystal clear skies and very pleasant company made the day just sublime.

Adventure

**************************   

She is leaving soon

I'm sad . . . but happy for her too

a new adventure

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More adventurous haiku - One Deep Breath

Before . . .

Studio Friday's prompt is the "Color Wheel "-

I attempted to find something in my studio to suitably interpret this theme. What I found  when I opened the door was a dizzying array of colors in a tangled mess of projects and supplies.

You see, my "studio" is a 1972 Airstream parked outside my kitchen door. A few years ago, when I lost my original studio to my daughter who wanted her own room, it seemed like the perfect space - so I painted the inside, put up curtains and outfitted it with all my supplies. What I did not plan on though, was the summertime temps super-heating my studio and making it all but impossible to work in! Over the years I've settled for using it as storage space in the summer months and work space in the winter. By the end of the hot months though, it looks like a jungle of unfinished projects and thrift store finds waiting to be used! The weather is just getting cool enough here for me to get out there and give it a good clean-out. I've decided to post my "before" photos as a late entry in this week's SF : the Color Wheel. I hope to post "after" photos soon!

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Mt. Dora

This past weekend was just wonderful!

I went to the Antique Extravaganza in Mt. Dora, FL with Loey, Beth and Chloe' - we stayed over 2 nights and shopped and laughed and shopped some more!

As usual, the Extravaganza (don't you love that word?!) did not disappoint!

Antiques as far as the eye can see - all spread over the hills and under huge Oak trees draped with Spanish moss.

The weather was dazzling - clear blue skies, crisp, cool mornings followed by sun-warmed afternoons.

The 4 of us were there mostly to look and have fun but we all came back with a few trinkets in our bags!

We had fun at the Fisher Price Little People tables - lots of good memories there!

 

Each year we seem to be drawn to Vintage Toys - especially the ones we remember from growing up!

Here's some of the goodies I came home with :

a little white drawer,  a handmade rag doll (circa 1940s),  black leather cowboy boots, 3 Hagen-Renaker figurines - white seal, fawn and Chihuahua (+ a Mama cat and her 4 kittens we all chipped in for and brought back for our Mama), a telescoping mechanical pencil tie clip (too cool for journaling!), a phone book key-ring, a 1959 Golden book with great graphics for Collage, a pink Mohair bear and a really well-made white Barbie jacket (with tiny snaps and buttons)

Here's what I brought back for Camille (who spent the weekend with a friend back home) :

a bag o' babies and furniture, a neat 70s Owl necklace and shiny metal letters that spell out her name (we'll put those on her bedroom door!)

The Extravaganzas are held 3x each year - the 3rd weekend in Nov., Jan. and Feb. !

Mt. Dora is a sweet little antique town to visit anytime but on these special weekends it's pure vintage heaven!

Out the door . . .

I'm off to Mt. Dora for the Antique Extravaganza!

I'll be back on Sunday - hopefully I'll have a few goodies to share!

Have a great weekend!

 

5 Really Good Things . . .

1st off . . . Thanx Geekgirl for keeping us going on this one!

5 Really Good Things on a Wednesday -

1. My 2 homeschooled girls, ages 15 &11, were tested today and they scored at College level! (except in Math where they were at about grade level)

2. I spent the morning with my Mom

3. I listened to an old Livingston Taylor album on Rhapsody and it brought back memories from when Joe & I were first married (my sister bought us tickets to see him next mo. so I thought I'd brush up!)

4. It's almost cool enough here to have Hot Cocoa

and #5 -

Camille has a friend over and I can hear them making voices for their Barbies through the bedroom door!

 

Bangles

SPC : what I wear (week 2)

I wear bangles! I rarely take off my collection of bracelets - given to me by either my sweet hubs or one of my two darling sisters! Sometimes I switch off because I have quite a few still in the drawer - if I wear them all at the same time they are very noisy! Even the ones I wear allow my daughters to find me in a store if they happen to misplace me!

I did however, add one that I made the other day - you may have read my post from last Wednesday - 5 really good things! To remember what I hope will be a turning point in my life I made a macrame bracelet using a piece of "road glass" I found and a few words from the day's text, "From this day . . ."

Come see what others are wearing HERE!

Tiny Treasures

I love miniatures - I really admire handcrafted pieces filled with detail. I've tried my hand at making a few tiny treasures over the years. I want to show you one I made for my sister Beth - she has recently lent it back to me so that I could take a few pics.

  I gave her a necklace consisting of a chinese lantern and a few glass beads on a leather cord. Tucked inside the lantern are the  details of a wonderful story I found in the magazine Awake! It's a story of a girl, raised in China, who was given away at 3 yrs. of age because her family was too poor to feed her. The family who took her in put her to work in their rice paddies and she never went to school. When she was of age she was given, in an arranged marriage, to a man who owned a Chinese Restaurant   in the U.S. where she was expected to be a "charming and gracious" hostess. She bore 7 children in a little over 9 years and soon after, suffering from exhaustion and seeing no way out, she had a "breakdown" and tryed to take her life. She was rushed to the hospital though and recovered. From here the story takes an amazing upward turn as a kind, white-haired lady comes into her restaurant, The Red Dragon . . .

     Inside this nutshell version I included a book containing her life story (complete with pockets containing pictures and letters from her life), a menu from The Red Dragon (as I imagine it to have been), a small folded paper fan, 2 tiny Fortune Cookies (with "fortunes" giving clues to the outcome of the story) and a little doll I made from wood beads. 

Belonging

I tend to be a bit of a loner. Although I am rarely alone, I long to live way off somewhere in a tiny little house with only a few art supplies and a great quantity of books (think Pablo Neruda's house in Il Postino!). I'd love to take solitary walks and hear only the sound of birds singing and the rush of the breeze through the trees. As pleasant as this scenario seems, I know that in reality, I would miss my sweet ones - I belong with them!

This week's Haiku prompt is : Belonging (the perfect follow-up to last week's "loneliness")

Belonging

All alone, just me

I dream of . . .

living on a hill

my girls bring me back

         **********

This is a quick shot taken, on the subway, on our way to see The Beauty and the Beast on Broadway 2 yrs. ago! (from the left, Beth, Loey, Camille and Chloe)

A house without books . . .

My baby sis Beth brought this little pewter house back from her last trip to NYC - Isn't it sweet nestled beneath a tree in among the heart-shaped leaves?!

Along the bottom of the house is an inscription that reads "A house without books is like a room without windows".

Beth knows how much I love books!

I have a huge bookcase in my livingroom and several others in other rooms, still, there are always piles everywhere! I have a good size stack on my bedside table -

The top book on the pile is one I purchased recently from Corey Moortgat - If you haven't seen this beauty - look for it! I have alot of books on altered art but this is the first one that made me want to put it down and start creating! Her images are luscious, sweet and full of meaning. The instructions she gives for her techniques are easy enough for someone just starting out, yet new and fresh so that even those with experience can learn a trick or two!

 

            

I love the images of her little guy Riley and  the flood of feelings on becoming a mother that she captures in many of her layouts. The book makes me want to chronicle all the sweet baby memories I have of my 2 girls while I can still remember the details! Corey has really put a great deal of herself into this wonderful book and knowing that she has another little one (Noah) to inspire her art . . . I can only hope for . . . a follow-up book!!

five really good things

Liz over at bepresentbehere wrote about 5 really good things on a wednesday.

I would like to recall my happiest moments from yesterday:

1. Waking up to a bright sunny day

2. Reading my daily bible text and feeling it was written just for me - "From this day I shall bestow a blessing" ~ Hag. 2:19

3. Getting out in service and enjoying a cool, breezy day

4. Hearing encouraging words from my friend Michele

5. In the evening, bundling up and spending time around a fire at Phil & Angie's house

My Wednesday was good . . . very good!

Crocs

Self Portrait Challenge : What I wear

I love my Crocs!

I love to wear them with striped socks!

I would wear them with a fox

I would wear them in a box

I would wear them here or there

I would wear them anywhere!

See more things people wear Here!

Loneliness

This morning my toast smiled at me!

It just helps to illustrate how I never

feel lonely when I'm alone.

However, sometimes when I venture

out into the world . . .

######################

In a crowded room

I feel awkward and so lonely

I want to go home

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  - my little haiku for One Deep Breath

Hats

This week's prompt at Illustration Friday is HATS -

We finally got our first days of cooler weather down here in Florida so right away I think . . .  snow . . . TEE HEE

It's fun to challenge myself to illustrate whatever they ask for each week! I just did a quickie but check out this site for some VERY talented artists!

Materials

Tine over at Studio Friday was good enough to choose my suggestion for this week's prompt - Materials : Show us what you use

Here's a few of mine!

Here you can see the birdies are getting a little anxious to see what brothers or sisters they may have coming! Notice their little skinny bodies before feathers or clothing - I'd be too embarassed to walk around making a fuss looking like that - but not them - they jumped right out of their can - no shame I guess!

Thank You

I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to those who left a comment on my last post! It is so comforting to know that others have felt the same way - I really am grateful for all your words of encouragement! It meant alot to me to hear from you!

Hugs, Laura

Change

Haiku : One Deep Breath

This week the subject is "Change"

++++++++++++++++++++

I so want to change

I need to change . . . oh . . . forget it . . .

I changed my mind

+++++++++++++++++++++

You can have the above image on a t-shirt here

I really do want to change -

Sometimes I'm so disappointed that I'm not the person I always thought I would be!

I've had a really rough week (alot of emotional lows) and yesterday I was a real monster to my girls - blowing things out of proportion and yelling alot. After one especially bad blowout I broke down - so bitterly disappointed with myself. Camille saw that I was crying and gave me a big hug - I told her how sorry I was for the way that I was acting and we hugged for some time. A little later on she gave me this -

A very sweet card with an invitation to a tea party inside!

"Dear Mommy,

you are invited to a tea party!

time: 1:00

when: tomorrow

what: bring a fancy dress-up dress

where: kitchen

xoxo Meally"

Here's how the tea party went -

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was a very nice affair - I managed to bite my lip about most every nit-picky thing I wanted to say - that seems to be a big problem with me lately - stupid little things bother me and I can't seem to control the urge to correct them - even if I hurt others in the process! This I would like to change!

Success

The creative prompt for this week over at Studio Friday is "Success"

This is a hard one for me!

Success is so elusive.

It's not like you can land yourself in success and stay there. It's not like you can pitch your tent in the success campground and hang out without constantly refining and repitching your tent! It takes vigilance to reposition and even redesign your tent in order to stay there.

And then who even decides what success means?

For me it's one thing - for you, another.

I think maybe that success is not a destination but rather one of many tools we can use to arrive at our ultimate goal - Happiness.

To pursue success in and of itself is alot like striving to catch the wind - who can possess it for more than just the briefest of moments?!

I can only take success in small doses!

All this thinking is making my head hurt . . . I shall go lay down now . . .

Closeness

Haiku : One Deep Breath

The subject for this week is "Closeness"

My younger daughter Camille and her Dad have this.

Loving and being loved comes as easy as breathing for this remarkable girl - no shyness, no awkwardness - only pure, fearless, fearsome affection.

My entry for this week attempts to convey a very special relationship between Father and Daughter.

~~~~~~~~~

she slips beside him

easily, relaxed, content

they lean in and sigh

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Grow

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Illustration Friday

Hats

This weeks creative prompt over at Inspire Me Thursday is "HATS". I couldn't help myself from including this altered page I did of Joe wearing one of his Dad's hunting caps!  This page was included in Kathy Macht's October book - a Round Robin project that I participated in with the Art Chix a few years back.

Deena's Compound

Thursday was our monthly Art Chix meeting - this month we met at Deena's! First a bit of playing with sticks and stuff ( I say this because I was in a disruptive rather than an inspired state of mind), then a lovely lunch at Deena's "compound". Her beautiful homey homey is nestled in a lush green jungle overlooking the St. Lucie River. With separate elevated, wooden buildings for eating and working and sleeping and a series of boardwalks and pathways connecting it all, it could easily remind one of Swiss Family Robinson - especially the feeling of calm and simplicity it all evokes, however once you step inside the main living area your eyes are treated to a colorful, modern mix of art and furnishings - butter soft leather sofas in beautiful root-vegetable hues, expansive wood floors and cathedral high ceilings. A black, shiny grand piano in one far corner and a breathtaking floor-to-ceiling glass/lucite mixed media assemblage' in the other! Sprinkled between are eye-catching art pieces collected or created by Deena and her husband Joel. No pictures yet - I brought my camera but left the memory stick in my printer at home! OOPSIE!! Lee let me snap a few shots with hers so maybe I'll post  some of those when she sends them.

Deena's artful hand is seen throughout her home. Her artwork is filled with meaning. Often mechanically contructed, a common image in her work is the human body - her message of life and vitality is clear. Deena herself is a lithe woman whose healthful practices and athletic lifestyle have served her well. She is always upbeat and generous with praise and encouragement for fellow artists! It was a treat to peek into her creative home and share a yummy lunch with her and the rest of the Chix!

Sisters and sock dolls

My 2 sisters, Loey and Beth, came over on Friday - our guys went on a motorcycle trip together up to the Carolina Mts. so we thought we'd spend some time making dolls. Loey got a new Japanese craft book with instructions for making glove and sock dolls. Here's what we made . . .

Twirl

For most little girls an invitation to twirl means putting on your prettiest tutu and clickiest tap shoes and dancing around in circles til you're dizzy . . .

but for this good little Italian girl it means . . .

my entry for SPC : Food and Me (week 2)

May all your meatballs be garlicky and all your spaghetti al dente! Ciao baby!

Below we're learning to twirl at Grandma Zito's   

Paradise

Photo Friday's creative prompt for this week is "The Real Life"

Deadline

Tine at Studio Friday asks :

What would you regret not

having created before you die?

"Deadline"

I am so very grateful for each  piece that I am able to complete.

Sometimes it seems as if they tumble out easily - other times they must be coaxed or even dragged out.

I don't know that I have any special talent but I have been given the gift of time by my kind, hard-working husband Joe - time to practice and play and hone skills.

Really my artwork is just the frosting on my cupcake of life!

If I have any regrets I know that they would have to center around my two lovelies - Chloe and Camille.

Sometimes I think that I don't take enough time with them. It's such a balancing act - I know I need time for me but I must take time with them - to teach and play and make happy memories before they grow up. My time with them, as little girls, is QUICKLY flying by - already they are 15 and 11! No project that I create in my studio could ever come close (in importance) to the art of being a good MOM. I hope and pray that I am able to complete these most precious pieces of all!

Hope & Love Birds

I've finished 3 Birdies that I will be listing on Ebay in the next day or two.

I thought that I was making 3 little bird sisters but they decided to be one little girl bird named "hope" and a bride and a groom! Any of you who make dolls know that they have a way of telling you what they want to be! I think that it's important to stay flexible and listen!

Anyway, here's a peek -

Ginger Ale

Haiku : One Deep Breath  - "Simple Pleasures"

When I was a kid we weren't allowed to drink alot of soda. But once a week, on Sundays, we would come home from the meeting, make cold cut sandwiches on hard rolls from the corner deli, read comic books and drink Canada Dry Ginger Ale over ice. To this day when I sip this fizzy treat with it's jumping bubbles I think of those sweet and simple days . . .

              ~

my nose is tickled

ginger ale bubbles

fizz and fly

sweet Sunday treat

             ~