Watercolour and pencil of Potatoes Chitting - sorry the photo is a little off centre but it was hard to avoid reflections - this is one of the few pictures of mine that's framed - probably dates from the 1980s.
What week is it?
On Wednesday I got that the word for the week was "Turbulance" but not to post it. When there is turbulance its hard to know exactly where one is going... though if you've got enough momentum up before you hit it there's a good chance you'll still be travelling in the right direction....
Then yesterday I got an update and that the word was now "Quest".
All my dreams recently have been about my cards. I wake up having been shuffling them and looking at them all night long.
I've got rather a lot now... 78 are backed on card and another 70 or so printed out and ready to be backed. I was in a frenzy of making them until yesterday when suddenly I felt the pressure had stopped. Now it is time to look at them. And this morning I figured out what the quest was for... its for what my own essence is... the essential me... if I had to make a single card that represented me what it would be. So I'm looking at what I've got and trying to see where this leads me.
A card that was crucial in getting here was one I started off calling "Can't see the wood for the trees". I started off with a dense evergreen forest. I then added leaf after leaf until I'd covered it up and there was no forest showing. So now this card is called "Can't see the wood for the leaves". And yes I know that the number of cards I've made is excessive... but a tree has many leaves.
See the words for it on my card blog.
I'm currently reading S Is for Silence
which is the last of the Kinsey Millhone books available - I've been really enjoying my re-read of the series and then the two that I'd not read before R and S. Maybe I'll need a bit of time off from fiction after this marathon!I've ordered the most recent Julia Cameron book Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance
and am planning on joining Leah et al in going through it starting in 2 weeks on Saturday February 17th.Are you planning on joining in too?
Update: The place to go to join in is Finding Water
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22 comments:
Really like the illustration of the potatoes, I went over to Leah's blog and read up on the Finding Water book, am I planning on joining ?, I like the idea but I don't know if I can commit, maybe I'll try and dip my toe in from time to time, see what happens! I know I havent done the Artist's Way yet, but this has sparked my interest, either that or I'm just a flitter sheep, just following the herd!
i am wondering how many more old beautiful pictures you still have to bring out. this is a beautiful watercolor photo!
Jo - its much easier to do these programmes the first time through with other people who are doing them too - it helps a lot.
Isay - thank you!
I wish when my potatoes sprouted they looked half as lovely as this watercolor of yours.
The Woods for the Leaves is a lovely card. Once again, this card and the metaphor - is a much lovelier depiction than what I find in my own life - I often have difficulty seeing the forest for the trees myself, and often it's a tangle of brambles and twigs that I'm trying to look through...
I'm so glad you're joining in the Finding Water group! My copy just arrived, and I'm really looking forward to it. It really does help me I think, doing these things in a group, both to keep me on track, and because of the insights gleaned from others in the group that I might never find on my own.
Just as I'm gleaning things from your and others' experiences with the SoulCollage (even though it's not an official 'group' - it's just helpful seeing how others are approaching the subject). Thank you! xo
Hi Caroline,
I loved this post. The watercolor inspires me to try my hand again. I find it frightening to work in a medium that has a mind of its own.
I have to read more of your blog to understand your cards. I think they are Soul Collage cards. Anyway, your leaf-wood-tree card is lovely. I liked your narration of it. Avanti!
Love the card and the watercolor Caroline. The painting is perfect for this week. The "Finding Water" book looks like somethig I could get into. Thanks for reccomending it!
Terri the tinker - thanks - of course mine never do either... but I remember at the time I was enjoying playing with a new watercolour technique.
Making the cards can help bring beauty to whatever you depict - I love my cards and some of them depict what I'd previously have considered really ugly aspects of me or life - they are all so beautiful!
And finding the words to go with the cards also helps bring out the plus sides as well as illuminate the shadows.
My copy has yet to arrive - lucky its got a couple of weeks yet!
When I did the AW originally 11 years ago I did it with an on-line news group and a friend at work - I really valued their wisdom and support - I've been happy to go through it again on my own since as that gave me the freedom to do it my own way. I too am looking forward to once more working at something at the same time as others - including you!!! - the energy of a group is very noticeable, even when on on-line.
Potato Print - watercolour has got a mind of its own - the technique I was experimenting with at the time I did this involved painting a shape first with plain water then dropping in dots of colours and watching what happened next - the most beautiful moments were in the transitions that happened.
Using plain water first meant that there was a chance to back off and not commit if I'd got the shape hopelessly wrong!
Yes they are Soul Collage cards - if you look on the card blog you'll see that - somehow I omitted to mention it this time, sorry.
Steve - thank you - I was pleased to spot that I had a sprout to contribute! - and oh it would be fun if you joined in too!
So glad to know that you'll be Finding Water, too, Caroline! :) I'm still waiting for my book, too, but am very much looking forward to seeing what happens...
Off to have a good look at your cards, now.. you have been busy! ;)
btw, I think it was 3 at the last count! lol! no wonder I'm so scatty, eh? ;)
Suzie Q - three blogs? And flickr? ???
I've only published the tree card recently... I'm still attempting to avoid treading on people's copyright toes which I think collage is all too likely to do...
Love the potato painting...but what does "chitting" mean?
I keep running into the latest Julia Cameron book thing on all these blogs and am starting to think just maybe I should join in, esp since I have an amazon coupon! at least to have the book and follow along if nothing else.
Tammy Vitale - chitting is when you leave the potatoes to sprout before planting them. Maybe its just a term used in the UK...
Sounds like a good use of a voucher to me!
Hi Caroline. I found my way here! I just didnt read all the way to the bottom of my email. Thanks again for the feed info. I note I am also not seeing all of your pics..some with just the box with a red x. I will get to the bottom of this. Nice work you do! Really nice!
Judie - thanks for preserving and finding me! Those red x's tend to mean that blogger hasn't got around to serving the picture yet - sometimes it helps to load a page and then come back to it later once its properly loaded - I've been seeing a lot of those red x's on people's pages recently but they do fill in later.
And thanks for the compliment too.
I hope blogger gets your feeds working - I'll try and remember to visit you anyway!
Was it Van Gogh who did an early painting called the Potato Pickers? I recall it as being a rather dark picture, nothing like this at all. I love the colours in it.
Incidentally, you get an honourable mention in my most recent post. :-)
Absolutely fabulous! Love the colors of the card!
RN - I don't know which painting you mean. Searching I found this which is not a Van Gogh though in his style:
http://www.thecityreview.com/fauv3.gif
Glad you like mine - thank you!
And thanks for the mention too!
Bluejude
Thank you - the card is a strong contrast to the potatoes isn't it.
How stupid of me, I meant the 'Potato Eaters'! Nothing like your potatoes but I was right about it being dark. :-)
RN - ah that one - yes that is a dark one and feels like a dark subject too - reminds me of the Irish potato famine.
Every time I come here, I get inspired, I think I've told you this before. I just stare. And stare. At your work.
The other day my mum and I were talking about perseverance, how it's the lack of it that's made many folks here fail.
GG - glad that you find inspiration here - that's a great compliment!
Perseverance is a strange quality - it can be called stubbornness by some :-)
Great work. I have never tried watercolor. I find works in watercolor quite fascinating.
P.S. - You have been tagged! See my blog to see how you were picked....
Larry Lee - thanks for the tag - you make me feel really special - tee hee (yes I have read your children's definition of special).
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