the doldrums

Maybe its the summer heat, but I'm passing through a dry spell lately. Can't seem to get my creative juices flowing. I guess I'll just ride it out and wait for the winds to fill my sails again. When I was younger I called these times "le grand ennui". :-)
Some things I've done while riding it out:

• organized my ephemora into baggies with labels
• cleaned my brushes
• filled some hostess bags for ACT swaps
• played with rubber stamps
• made lists of what I should be doing
  

Max's Photos

My son the rock star ....photographer. :-)
These are photos that my son Max took of some friends playing music. Max is also a musician and has some interesting friends. He's living in Eugene Oregon, going to school and pursuing graphic art and photography.
Click here to see the photos.

The Gypsy Solution 1938

The first ATC cards that I made were for a themed swap about gypsies. I wanted colorful, lively images of gypsies dancing with swirling skirts... romantic and beautiful. But then I came across this poem called Letter from Auschwitz. And from there I did more research about "the Gypsy Solution" in 1938. In a lesser known chapter of the Holocaust up to a million gypsies were rounded up and died across Europe.

I couldn't shake the pain I felt for a people who loved freedom being caged like birds and rotting in camps. I took this photo of a gypsy couple and tore it in two and made a series of cards with the two figures torn apart. The art was mostly digital, but I used wire to lash butterflies and other images to the cards.

In Auschwitz there is a great house
And there my husband is imprisoned
He sits and sits and laments
And thinks about me

Oh, you black bird!
Carry my letter!
Carry it to my wife
For I am jailed
in Auschwitz

In Auschwitz there is great hunger
And we have nothing to eat
Not even a piece of bread
And the block guard is bad

by Ruzena Danielova

Here's the set of six:

Faery Crossing Series #4

Fairy Song

All my life is joy and pleasure,
Sportive as my tuneful measure;
In the rose's cup I dwell,
Balmy sweets perfume my cell;
My food the crimson luscious cherry,
And the vine's luxurious berry;
The nectar of the dew is mine;
Nectar from the flowers divine.

And when I join the fairy band,
Lightly tripping hand in hand,
By the moonlight's quivering beam,
In concert with the dashing stream;
Then my music leads the dance,
When the gentle fays advance;
And oft my numbers on the green,
Lull to rest the fairy queen.

Written By
Felicia Dorothea Browne-Hemans