WOYWW #453 Happy Mail from a Facebook Friend

The number of comments and visits I am likely to make this time around will be limited to whatever my eyes will tolerate.

I am looking forward to finding out what my fellow deskers have been doing recently! For those of you who are new to the wonders of this fun weekly blog hop, please visit the blog of the Queen of the Deskers, Ms Julia Dunnit. Her deskers like to meet up very Wednesday.

Eye health report: No cure yet, although I am now trying a nutritional option called Taurine.

I used to say that I would never try Facebook again. I had a dead account there for years that I never used to use. Recently, though, a number of really nice people kept urging me to try it again. So I did! I revived that dead account. Since that time, I keep meeting more and more fun and interesting people at the various Facebook groups I've joined. And I now even have a small, select group which I've given the same name as this blog, but that is in connection with my older, bigger blog, Plush Possum Studio. 

It's nice to not always need to type comments when a thumbs up, heart or emoji will often do. If the eye is having a decent day, I chat along and have a grand time at the various groups I've joined there. 

One of the people I've been getting to know at Facebook (this time via YouTube first) is one Lisa Conway. Follow the link HERE to her fun channel, where you'll find her arting using gelli printing, watercolors and many other fun, creative things.

Recently, Lisa and I began talking about one of the products she'd been using with her gel plate, a form of wrapper for sandwiches that she'd happened to run across via serendipity at a Thrift shop. I had never heard of those before, and I really enjoyed how she was using those pleated paper wrappers in the printing process.

The next thing I knew, she was offering to send some to me, free of charge, so that I might try using some myself. Of course, I was both grateful and excited at the prospect of trying the Pleatpak wrappers. But she didn't stop with the wrappers. Oh, no. Wait until you see what else she's given me!

Buttons (!), lace, colorful circles for collage or embellishments, decorated paperclips, paper flowers, and so on....

Pure treasure!

I must confess to having never used napkins in any of my work before. Perhaps it's time.

Below are the wrappers. Notice the neat pleating? Well that is the cool part of using them in the making of gel prints. I will leave it to you to imagine....

Lisa,

Thank You

for this wonderful and inspiring 

cache of pretty goodies!

I love all of it.

WOYWW #448 New Year's Day Fright

Please forgive me for not commenting this week or featuring any new projects here. 

Everything's up in the air right now since I experienced a new symptom on Monday. Today we are all just holding our collective breath and hoping for the better. The left eye area's been aching. But that's been a problem since September. The new problem is a different one.

For more info on this fun blog hop, please go where the WOYWW fun starts at Ms Julia Dunnit's most excellent blog HERE. (You may also click on the WOYWW badge in the right hand column if that link is not set up yet)

I will admit to having some fear to get over. This new development has knocked me into a bit of tailspin.  It's making me doubt any future plans. I'm afraid to start anything new right now. My creative corner is lacking one ingredient: me. 

Not that there's been any sign of a second gray veil developing to the right eye this time - at least, not as of Tuesday night. The sudden symptom was happening when I woke up Monday morning. It was different in detail to the very first symptom which heralded the grey veil to my left eye (now still visible to me). The very real similarities between both times truly have me feeling skittish about planning for anything new, at least for a while.

Anyway, if you don't see anything new or current of mine being posted here or elsewhere online at some point down the road, you needn't be surprised. Meanwhile, let's keep hoping for the better and maybe a second veil isn't about to happen after all.

A diagram of what seems to be going on. 

At least, according to 1 of my doctors there's a 
very real chance that it could be.
I refuse to mope, yet there it is.
(I am BORED with me, so 
let's for heaven's sake 
talk about something else for a change.)

Image Credit:

https://www.naturaleyecare.com/eye-conditions/optic-neuritis/

WOYWW #446: Happy Mail + a Mistake

Happy WOYWW to my fellow deskers! 

For my guests who've never played along, you can follow the link, HERE, to Julia Dunnit's wonderful blog to find out more about her fun weekly blog hop.

Note: Please forgive my lack of comments this week. The eye has not wanted to cooperate lately, and has even been somewhat painful at times. This calls for more rest than I'd care to have, but (thanks to Shaz and Shoshi for the new term) this is the "new norm," so I might as well get accustomed to it. 

I haven't been an active participant in weeks, but I really have been otherwise occupied. Mostly, there's been a fair amount of Mail Art to get together, along with some Happy Mail for others who were kind enough earlier in the season to have sent me some very lovely surprises.

Happy Mail is so delightful, isn't it? Sometimes, it is a good excuse for being creative. I sometimes need an excuse, so that's really been fun for me. Recently, I was the recipient of some very pretty and creative Happy Mail from Becky at Aunt Bec's Creations. I know her mostly from her YouTube channel (which you may find by following the link HERE). Her channel features loads of fun videos, including some live streams. She and her hubby, Scott, also keep a blog together HERE.

Now to show you her wonderful Happy Mail creations! I used Photoshop to hide the 2 addresses.

Inside that glistening and richly decorated envelope, I found an example of her pretty, handmade seasons greetings. Gotta love it!

But wait - there's more! 

An entire decoratively cinched bundle of her handmade Painty Papers! Sheer awesomeness!!!

Here's what they all looked like together on my desk.

Aren't they pretty?

And now, last and certainly least, my big Mistake.

I really blew it on this one, which made my afternoon yesterday just miserable. Yes, Tuesday was a dismal day at the workdesk, during which my poor eyesight and its accompanying bad aim (a.ka. clumsiness) caused the utter ruination of my saguaro cactus greeting card art, above. 

The idea seemed simple enough for me to complete. I had a watercolor block that I thought would be just right for the purpose of doing a color wash style of a desert sunset using glazes. To that, I would add a paper cutting like a silhouette of a cactus on a hillside which would be decorated with holiday lights. Such a decorating technique has been used for years by people in the desert southwest of the USA, btw. The family member I was intending to make this card for lives in the desert, so this seemed appropriate.

What had seemed simple enough turned out to have been much too challenging for me, as my eyes simply weren't cooperative enough. While you won't be able to see the big final Mistake which ruined all of my painstaking work, you must trust me when I say that it was a complete mess at the end that couldn't be repaired. A mess is not what I had been aiming to send to a family member, but that's what I got in the end, a mess. It was actually a strangely tough project all through.

If it had not been for Becky sending me such good cheer with her pretty Happy Mail, I doubt I'd be joining you this week. So a great big Thank You to Becky of Aunt Bec's Creations !!!!!!

For those interested in viewing more of her creative spirit at work, she can also be spotted on Facebook HERE.

Happy WOYWW and Happy Holidays to my fellow deskers!!!

:)

WOYWW #442: One Eyed Challenges (#PASC1117)

It's Wednesday, and time for another adventure with my fellow deskers.

For more WOYWW fun, you can head for the hub of the fun over at the blog of our fearless leader, Julia Dunnit HERE.

Some of my fellow deskers already have some idea as to the challenges I've continued to face since the optic nerve to my left eye malfunctioned at the end of summer of this year. Many of you have continued to boost my morale with kind comments. That's really been lovely, and I want to say a fond Thank You now for your recent kindness towards me. As I haven't been able to comment to your posts as much as I used to, such generosity has genuinely touched me.

One thing I keep discovering: my eyesight's strength has had either worse or better days. A better day was when I tried doing a man's face. That was 2 posts ago. I risked the strength of both my eyesight and my morale that time by trying something that I'd never done before: a full color painted sketch of an old portrait. 

Most days have not been as easy for my eyesight as that day was. All of it is tough to get used to in that I need to be constantly vigilant of how my eyes happen to be doing. I'm forgivably clumsy at times when there's delicacy required. Such challenges have often put a damper on my mood. I'm learning how not to lose patience with the whole situation as well as how to content myself with what CAN be done each time that I attempt something. 

Junk Journals offer unique challenges, too, especially in the area of materials used in the building of any junk journal. This one has a tendency to buckle at times, so I've had to use a curly paper clip whilst taking this week's photo. 

This time, I'm trying the November Pick a Stick Challenge, the prompts for which may be found by following the link HERE.  

The challenge calls for making a pocket. I've opted to make a folded paper bag pocket out of a sheet of deli paper to which I added one of the pretty embellished papers which Win Dinn sent me recently for our paper trade. The diagonal phrase I cut from a newspaper, while the other two collaged word bits are both from a magazine, as per the prompts. 

The words mean something on a very deep level to me today. I believe that art can help me keep adjusting even if it is my biggest challenge. As for the advice to not "stress about it," well, that would be another of life's challenges.

Mail Art + My First Paper Trade

My First Art Paper Trade!

My Partner-in-Trade is Win Dinn, who (much to my delight) has, at the same time she has been trading with me, also been in the midst of a studio purge. I am the grateful recipient of her generosity with that purge! It really made my day!
:)

The photo above has been altered by me for privacy's sake.

The fun stripey arrow is Win's.

What a clever way to upcylce that pattern's pouch!

I spent my younger years learning how to sew.

I actually like the red version of the outfit on the pattern's package photo, above.

Wow!!!

Look at that way cool tag!

Is the fuchsia bit paste paper? 

Pretty textures!

The choices seem endless!

A Smörgåsbord for the eyes!

(or, as is currently the case for me, one eye)

Very pretty papers!

So stinkin' cute!

Thanks, Paper Trade Partner Win!

Hope my mail art envelope of stuff 

arrives safely at your door very soon!

:)

P.S. Thank you again for the lovely postage 

on your cool envelope!

WOYWW #439~ One Eyed Art: Learning

Ever since my left eye began to malfunction 2 months ago, I've been too scared to try anything too challenging. That would include learning how to improve my work on faces.

I was afraid of failure. I tend to be, anyway. It can really reduce morale to have something not work out when life's a bit rougher than normal for a while, can't it?  Why try anything difficult that I know I don't have the proper skills to handle during such a difficult time?

For more WOYWW fun, please follow this link HERE to today's blogpost at host Julia Dunnit's blog.

Well, Meri made me do it! I mean, of course, Meri of The Meri Atelier. She didn't know that's what she was doing at the time, though. She has a real talent for doing both people and landscapes as well as mixed media, collage, journaling - you name it! I find it very inspiring to watch her make her art. I always learn when I watch her videos.

But where she really got to me was with her Inktober 2017 Art Journal. I'll include her video at the bottom of this post. In that lovely journal are hand drawn and inked/painted portraits of unknown children from vintage photos. Simply stunning work! I was hooked on portraits again.

I chose something almost at random. It was in a book on my windowsill. The original painting that I attempted to copy is by Dutch artist, van Dyck. The man's name was Cornelis van der Geest.

Despite the many wrinkles, I found that untreated plain brown paper can take gouache paint fairly well as long as it's layered on slowly and without too damp a brush. I began first by using white gouache in the 2 bottom layers, then  tinted more white gouache using watercolors for more layers to keep the paint opaque over the brown paper. I needed to smear and smoosh the gouache so that it would thin in places and not be too heavy at first. I wanted the brown of the wrinkly page to peep through, a bit like underpainting. (I have never tried to do underpainting) The page's wrinkles drove me a bit batty, but really, it's the current problems with my eyesight that challenged me more, especially as to perspective. For the background, I used a wash of Inktense Indian Ink.

Critiquing the Results

I'm not pleased with the skin tones. I'm too inexperienced to get those right yet. I left my comfort zone on this project. I did not get my copy real enough to suit me, even when I do kinda like parts of how the man's ruff turned out. Fabric's one thing, but faces are much more difficult for me to attempt. All the same, I've decided to try a new face every once in a while, just as a way to keep my hand in. 

My technique needs lots of help along with lots of practice if 

I'm to improve at all. Too late to improve the set of the eyes on this attempt!

Next up? Maybe somebody famous such as Shakespeare. No guts, no glory new messes! 

Please forgive me for not responding to you promptly. This post took a lot longer for me to type than is normal for me. It takes days for me to prepare ahead for each WOYWW these days. I am still too slow to keep up or to have enough time to leave comments at every desker's blog. The eye problem hasn't made things any easier. I do hope to be allowed to at least peep at people's pictures so that I might get an idea as to what they've been up to lately.

Happy WOYWW to all my fellow deskers!

As promised, here is Meri's lovely Inktober 2017 video. 

WOYWW #437: Leaf Prints + Happy Mail !

This week, I am still having trouble keeping up with everything, so I won't be able to comment very much. Thanks for your patience.
I'm leaving the Happy Mail for  visual "dessert," in the 2nd half of this post. There's no relevant news today about my optic nerve problem. That's just as well - let's stick with ART and friends for now.

For more WOYWW fun, please visit our Queen of the Wednesday Deskers, Ms Julia Dunnit, located HERE.

For health reasons, I will leave the pictures + their captions to tell most of the story. 
Happy WOYWW and thanks for stopping by today!

And now for the HAPPY MAIL!!!

:)

:)