I like autumn

Autumn was my mom's favorite season, and as a kid, I thought she was nuts. Who doesn't love summer? No school, play all day, hot summer nights with the boys. Ah, those were the days. 

But as I got older I developed a real appreciation for fall. The cooler weather is nice, the trees are lovely (even here in N California), I like the flowers of autumn. Even the darker mornings and earlier evenings are ok, giving me the urge to bake and cook more since I can't be out in the garden.

This morning I decided to decorate a bit and dug the autumn boxes out of the attic. I gave up the decorating for seasons thing years ago. Just lost the oomph to get it out, put it away, etc. But I enjoyed looking at things I hadn't had out in a couple years, and did the mantle and fireplace area, which is sort of the only place I have to decorate. We pretty much live in the kitchen and family room, so the effort is wasted anywhere else.

The full view.

I made all the pumpkins years ago with my friend Moneka.
Those curly willow branches live in the huge Mason jar all year. 

Most of this stuff was on the mantle until I moved it down here just now.
I like the look so maybe it'll just stay there thru the holidays.

A small collage I made a couple years ago.
The lace on the bottom is from an ancient shawl I bought
30 years ago and have been hauling around ever since.

My husband made the clock and the wooden box is vintage.
Not sure what it was before I bought it but I love it.
The green 9 drawer chest behind it is another favorite piece.

MMSA mixed media ATCs

The ATCs mentioned in the previous post. These already had background on them, so I worked on adding at least two more techniques and creating some sort of interesting collage. I haven't made ATCs in a while and was struck again, as I always am, at what a perfect art form they are. Compact, doable in a short amount of time, just enough space to tell a little story.

MMSA paint chip postcards

Rhonda came down on Sunday and we worked on making stuff for two upcoming MMSA swaps - paint chip postcards and mixed media ATCs. She brought a pile of paint chips but I sat and looked at a blank postcard for 5 minutes with zero ideas. Finally got out some that already had a background on them and then it clicked. Two have stencil and spray ink backgrounds, one is a gelli print, and one is strips of gelli prints. I managed to find paint chips that were exact or close matches to the colors on the cards and did some doodling with gel pens. The chunks of solid color stand out amid all the colorful patterns.

OMG - where's my ark?

So this just happened over the last hour or so. There was only a 20% chance of rain today. It started raining, got harder, hailed, rained, rained, rained, and eventually flooded out the huge intersection in front of our store. Gorgeous double rainbow, the brightest main rainbow I've ever seen, all the way across the sky. Crazy, crazy hour of weather.

That little tree across the street? It's about 5 feet from the street curb.
The water has risen all the way past it.
Same on this side - water clear up to our parking lot.

About 12" of water in the middle of the street.

The curb and street is about 10 feet further out.
Under all the water is a sidewalk and 5 more feet of grass.

In my car about to turn left, away from the worst of the flooding.

This is a normal intersection most of the time.
Today it's a lake.

Super bright rainbow.

 

wild kingdom

The back lot at work has been busy lately. We've always had feral cats slinking around and I've fed the ones who are visible enough for me to get to know them a little. When I spotted a mama and her 3 kittens, I started putting crunchies and water out for her. This was in July - it was pretty hot and there isn't a ready source of fresh water around. She had been someone's pet at some point because it wasn't long before she let me scruff her cheek with my fingers. The kittens are a bit wilder but I managed to pick one up the other day. He looked dumbfounded for about 5 seconds, then struggled to get down but not frantically.

I trapped mama and got her fixed a couple weeks ago and will do the same with all the kittens soon. But meanwhile, 4 baby opossums showed up on Tuesday. Turns out their mom was dead in the street, but so far they're hanging around eating cat food, so maybe they'll make it.

Mama cat - check. Kittens - check. Opossum - WHAT?!
This shot is right after I walked back around the from side
and saw the opossum for the first time. My mouth fell open and my eyes got round,
just like in the cartoons. Look how little he is.

They have such funny little pink toes. I was squatting down about 4 feet away,
holding real still, and he finally got brave enough to come back out to the food.

This kitten is gorgeous. It's the one I picked up and if I was gonna snatch one
and bring it home, it would be this one. But I'm not. No, I'm not.
Don't need another cat and Mabel would just pack her bags
and move right on out if I brought a sassy little kitten home.

gelli from Julie in July

My San Diego pal Julie visits me every July and we always do some sort of artsy thing while she's here - make jewelry, bind books, etc. This year we did some gelli printing and I don't think I ever posted them, so here they are. Some odd color combos here, for me.

 

epic gelli print session

I was overdue for a gelli printing session, so this morning, I turned on football, got all my stuff out, lined the kitchen counters with newspaper and went to town. 3 hours later I had 12 deli papers (last 2 pics), 14 typing papers (second 2 pics), and 18 postcards (first 2 pics) gellied to a fare-thee-well and I was done. Too much fun. Some of each will be going to my gelli print swap group as each person's name comes up on the rotation. The rest I'll use myself. Or just look thru now and then, cause I love most of them. All that color. Yowza!