dem bones, art & journaling, the moon.

a leaf suspended from a spider web fragment

Nature gets into our souls and opens doors to hidden parts of ourselves.  

~Pamela Heyda 

~oOo~

before you say "what the heck is that"...here's a hint:
this Barred Owl made it!

it's a cough pellet.

whatever the owl can't digest...gets coughed up as this mass.
yeah, i know...ugh...delightful.
fur & tiny bones of lizards, moles, snakes...whatever the owl has been dining on.

~oOo~

speaking of bones...
we discovered a little pile of bones - jaws & skull pieces
on the side of the road.

we go by there all the time. these bones were not there last weekend.
they look weathered...and clean.  clean, except for the dirt. there's no meat on these bones.
they're a mix of Raccoon & Opossum bones.
but why only the skull parts?  and how did they all of a sudden appear here...
like someone dumped them?!
it couldn't be from a scavenger...they'd be scattered all over the place.
of course, i gathered them up, took them home and rinsed 'em.

the skull in the upper right & the assorted bottom jaws are raccoon
the smaller skull pieces are Opossum.

~oOo~

while we're on the subject of dead things...
guess how i got THIS close to this Gulf Fritillary?

it's dead.
i spotted it on the Lantana. took a couple of pictures from afar...
moved in closer...it didn't move...moved in even closer...it still didn't move.
after i took this picture, i plucked her off and took her inside.
at some point she will be memorialized on a piece of  'art'.

~oOo~

since we're talking about art...
i started to work on a few 'tea-light champagne glass candle holders'.

 

2nd hand/thrift store bought champagne glasses,

decorated with pressed flowers and wings!

before they're finished, i'll spray coat the outside 

and wrap wire with beads to the stems.

~oOo~

...speaking of art...

(inspired by Kel at the X facta ...i've started an 'Art Journal'.

kind of...like a 'picture diary'...whatever i feel like doing on whatever day i feel like doing it..

collage. paint. marker. pencil. pastels.

stuff of my life. my mood. maybe a quote.

i shopped for a journal. yikes, they're pricey!

so i went to the art store
and picked up a sketchbook for a third of the price of a journal with a fancy cover!
 i decided to make my own cover.

i'm not much of a painter. i wish i was though...

kind of like singing...sounds great in my head, 'til i open my mouth!

i can picture what i want my painting to look like, i just can't get it to come out like that!

i love watercolors. the way they blend and bleed.

 so i dug them out...cut a piece of heavy watercolor paper to fit the sketchbook...

started by drawing a BIG 'me'...and then began to paint.
no plans. just wing it. 

hmmm...feel a little sparkly...

and something vine-like...

finished. let it dry. laminated. mounted on the sketchbook's cover.

the moon. spiraling. light into dark. dark into light. healing. glittering. me. the intricacies of me.

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - 
things I had no words for.  
~Georgia O'Keeffe 

now, if i could just decide where to start.
i know, i know...start with the first page.
but what to do ??   i'll keep you posted.

(check out Kel's  Art Journals here! amazing work!!)  

Happy Friday!  (or Happy Day!)

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride!
laura

last night's moon...

november 3. 2011.  8:27pm.

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; 

there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.

~ Matsuo Basho