collage mosaics

I finally got the 3D items glued to my pages for the "Around the World Chunky Swap" on Flickr. This was a really fun project but I got stuck at the end. It was as if I didn't want the fun to end. I put the pages aside, and before I knew it two weeks had gone by and I'd lost my previous enthusiasm. I'm hoping that finishing the project and getting these in the mail will set me back on the road to creativity.

chunky page

It's good to have visitors but it's also good to get back to your regular schedule. I'm not good about keeping up a journal when my schedule's all screwy. I've managed to do it a few times while vacationing, but when I read it later it seems to be a pretty sparse piece of writing.

Anyway I'm back to my somewhat-normal schedule and I have time to work on some art. I'm working on five 4x4 pages for an 'Around the World' Chunky Page Swap. This month's theme is monocolor mosaics. This is my "blue page", which turned out pretty well.
I think I need to add some "grout" between the "tiles", as I had a lot of trouble getting the pieces to line up just right. I think I'm square-impaired, as this is the same thing that happened with my tiling efforts in my bath's tub surround (which is still awaiting grout).



Here's another mosaic of sorts: four lovely cherry tomatoes from our garden. Yumm! My mom has been going outside every day to cover the plants with an old sheet to prevent sunburn. Yep, the blast furnace weather is here to stay, I think. One brief thunderstorm yesterday morning and now the forecast is for hot and humid from now on. That's ninety-plus degrees during the day and we'll be lucky if the temps fall below 75 at night. The waterlogged earth here is already beginning to crack; such is the temperament of clay soil.

chunky book - travel

"Lulu was always ready at a moment's notice to take off anywhere!"

I got this beautiful little collage in the mail yesterday from Tyn at pookieville. It's part of another chunky book swap I'm doing at Flickr. The theme is "travel" and I love the way Tyn interpreted it. She is much more generous with her stamps than I am!

It was the kick in the pants I needed to finish the five pages I started on Saturday. They are drying as I type this. I'm still trying to get the hang of this chunky book thing, but I learn a lot from the pages I get from other artists, just as I did when I was trading ATCs.

Here are my pages recalling a trip to Vermont several years ago.