Happy Halloween from Matilda

Friends, it's the night before Halloween and my friend Matilda is stopping in to wish you a Happy Halloween!

By this time tomorrow evening, she will be sitting at a large round table with a group of strangers, each one anxious to have 'Madame Matilda' summon their dead loved ones.

They will all gather in the 'Occult Room' of Matilda's large, dark, musty Victorian house. First, she will dim all the gas-lit lamps. Then she will instruct the group of strangers to close their eyes, and when they do, she will raise her arms and commence to move them in a counter clockwise direction. She will then call out to the unkindness of ravens she keeps as her assistants and they will gather on the rooftops. They will flap their wings and cackle loudly. The winds will blow and the gas-lit lamps will flicker, and Matilda, now in a trance, will beckon the dead as they float and rise above the table. And the strangers, terrified, will call out their grief loudly as they learn the secrets of their dead ancestors - secrets they were never meant to know... 

The strangers will beg Matilda to cease her summoning. Matilda, still in a trance, cannot hear their pleas. Suddenly the ravens have mysteriously gotten inside the house and are flying inside the room with the dead ancestors, croaking, cackling and hissing at the strangers! Matilda, laughs maniacally, picks up her wand and thrusts it into the air. A bolt of lightening crashes into the house and the light, now bright and blinding, flashes! Suddenly all the dead ancestors vaporize and the table is littered with shiny black rocks that look like ravens.

The next morning, Matilda is walking slowly through her garden, tending to her flowers, plants and trees. A stranger walks by and lets out a loud croaking, cackling noise. Matilda pretends not to notice and the stranger croaks and cackles even louder. Matilda raises her arm, then brings it down quickly, pointing to the ground. The stranger, animated and lively in their demand that Matilda look their way, suddenly becomes mute.

Matilda smiles, picks a bouquet of orange chrysanthemums, walks into her house, and shuts the door.

The Meeting Place

Hello again!

 

I'm so glad to be back sharing another collage with you. Since I never quite know which direction the creative part of my brain is going to pull me in, it always feels like a miracle that I managed to not only execute a project, but get it photographed and sit myself down to write about it.

 

In my post last week, I talked about the challenge of creating atmosphere. Since then, I've been thinking about visual story telling. As I survey the collage works that I've been making I see a common theme: character development. There is a lot of talk in the political world about finding common ground in our humanity. Of course right now, that idea is the furthest thing from our current situation, but I digress...

 

When choosing images to use in my pieces, it appears that I often start with the human figure. This might seem obvious but the truth is that I am not a 'people person' at all. Rather, I prefer solitude and need a lot of time and space for processing thoughts, actions and words. This reality came to me slowly over the last twenty years as I watched my son grow up. We are so much alike in this respect! It's like looking in the rear view mirror sometimes.

 

But again, while it feels ironic to me to start the creative process with the human form, I am beginning to understand the reason for it. Not only am I looking to create an atmosphere but I am trying to get to the heart of what it feels like to be human, which again, is how I am digging into how we relate (and react) to the world around us. I have to laugh at myself as I re-read what I am writing here. And then I want to cry because I should have been doing this kind of work in my twenties!

 

So what is it about the human dynamic that are we looking at in today's collage? The simple explanation is that I found a vintage book about the history of dance (which I also talked about last week) and the ballerina (above) is cut from that book.

 

And because in the book she was leaning in a doorway, I needed to capitalize on that posture. So after I cut the image out I went traveling through my bird books to find her a companion. Meet the Ascension Island frigatebird (Fregata aquila). Once I placed them together, it felt like their relationship to one another immediately took on a 'fairy-tale-like' quality.

 

Also, I realized right away that in order for both images to be better viewed, that the dancer needed to be standing on something, otherwise the pair would have to sit too far down on the bottom edge. So I found the dancer a plinth and suddenly, when placing the pair on my painted background in that way, the atmosphere began to come alive!

 

I like how it looks like a genuinely personal moment between the two 'characters' and decided to give the piece an aura of a taking place in a garden. I debated with myself about completely filling the space with flowers and maybe more birds. But, being the minimalist that I am, instead settled on just two other red elements, creating a visual triangle with the frigatebird's inflatable red pouch.

 

From this vantage point, the rest is left to the imagination: is the ballerina a statue, permanently affixed to the top of a column? Or is she a real human that must climb up the column to meet her friend? Lover? Or is the frigatebird enamored with either a statue or a human and perches on a nearby branch to rendezvous with her? More importantly, (in the traditional vein of the fairy-tale) what could be a lesson here?

 

You might think of a completely different take on the scene above. And that's okay, because we're all on the same journey and we need to explore, address and express how we see the world around us and communicate those thoughts and feelings in healthy ways that can advance a conversation or cause to find that common ground that the world desperately needs right now.

 

How do you make sense of the world these days?

Flattening the Curve, Day 64

She Took to the Wind, No Longer Tied Down by Him

Hello friends. Today is my sixty-fourth day of mandatory leave from my government job due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I have a question for you.

Have you ever had to leave an unhealthy relationship? If you've seen any of my recent Collage Journal posts, you'll know that I have been thinking a lot about the decade in which I came of age and am working on documenting some of those memories in my journal using images cut from a stack of 1970s National Geographic magazines. The 70s were my coming of age decade.

As I was searching through the magazines and choosing what to use for the Collage Journal, I saw the image above of the woman sitting on the hood of the Buick LaSabre and I immediately remembered my own experience of owning just such a car.

And ironically that Buick turned out to be my escape car. It was a harmful relationship. There was no physical abuse, but there was plenty of emotional abuse and a pernicious control of my behavior. I knew I needed to escape or I would never become my own person.

That was a long time ago - and what helped me get away from that unhealthy relationship was a 1975 Buick LaSabre. So I took to the wind.

Flattening the Curve, Day 63

Hello friends. Today is my sixty-third day of quarantine due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I'm back with another page spread from the vintage Boorum & Pease Miniature Account Book that I have been repurposing into a personal collage journal.

My plan for this layout is to write about what it felt like growing up in the 1970s with the societal expectation of being the pretty, dutiful girl. Something I always felt like I was failing at. But also rebelled against. Maybe you felt those things too when you were growing up?

Again, in sticking with my plan of just using three elements, I cut the images of the girls from various 1970s National Geographic magazines, added washi tape to the top and bottom borders and ink stamped a few butterflies. It's ready for the journaling which I plan to do with a calligraphy pen just as soon as I get my confidence up! Hopefully, by the next round of photographing more pages, I will have some examples of my writing...

If you would like to see more of the collage journal pages, just scroll down to 'Topics' in the right side bar and look for 'Collage Journal'.

Thank you for looking and see you again soon.

Flattening the Curve, Day 61

Hello friends. Today is the sixty-first day that I have been quarantined at home due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. I'm spending my time on creative projects that I enjoy while I wait to return to my government job.

Welcome back to my Collage Journal series where I am sharing how I am repurposing a vintage Boorum & Pease Miniature Account Book into a personal collage journal. I have several pages prepped and ready for the journaling. I plan to write with an old fashioned calligraphy pen.

This page spread will be about my love of photography. I have been interested in taking pictures since the mid-1970s which were my early teenage years and the time frame that I am documenting in this journal. The images (the cameras, the flowers and the flamingo head) are all from a 70s era National Geographic magazine.

Following the rule I set for myself in using only three basic elements for each page spread, I finished the layout by adding washi tape and ink stamping to the images I cut from the magazine.

If you would like to see the other pages in this series, just scroll down to 'Topics' and click on the 'Collage Journal' link in the sidebar to the right.

Thank you for looking and see you again soon.

Flattening the Curve, Day 60

Hello friends. Today is the sixtieth day that I have been quarantined at home and away from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The town that I live in is slowly reopening but I won't know when I'm to return to work until about June 1st. So, until then I am continuing to work on creative projects while I stay home.

This is the fifth blog post where I'm sharing how I've repurposed a vintage Boorum & Pease Miniature Account Book into a personal collage project. If you would like to see the other posts, they are Day 2, Day 56, Day 57 and Day 59.

I'm following the same pattern in my choice of materials throughout the journal. For the page spread above the two images of young women are from old National Geographic magazines. The sparkly butterfly and the folk art flowers and heart are from a sewing and craft magazine. All the images are from the 1970s. I used washi tape and ink stamping to give it a modern feel. The journaling will be done with an old fashioned calligraphy pen.

For this page I intend to write about becoming a teenager in the 1970s. There was a lot of turmoil in my country during the time that I was coming of age - the war in Vietnam, civil rights, and women's rights to name just a few. It was a very confusing time for a young girl trying to make sense of the world.

I can't say it was an especially happy decade as far as the current events of the day, but because of my young age I was more focused on the things that kids should be paying attention to. In the early 1970s it was school, friends, games and play time, drawing, pop music and television shows. Then in the mid to late seventies it was boys. That, of course, was a big shift and I remember how it felt like the world was very good at shining a light on all my doubts and fears.

Maybe you can relate.

That's all for today and I hope you are having a peaceful Sunday.

Flattening the Curve, Day 59

Hello friends. Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, I've been quarantined at home for fifty-nine days now and away from my job for the same number of days. Today I'd like to show you another page in the vintage Boorum & Pease Miniature Account Book that I am repurposing into a collage journal.

In the early 1970s the Polaroid SX-70 instant film camera was a big sensation. I still have quite a few photographs of myself that were taken in the mid-1970s with an SX-70, so the images I used in my collage journal, above, had meaning for me. If you aren't familiar with the SX-70, it folded flat and that is what the image of the girl in the photograph on the right hand page is sitting on top of.

I added a few pieces of washi tape and some ink stamping and the page is ready for the journaling. This spread will be the introduction. The who, what, where, why and when to give the journal context. I plan to use an old fashioned calligraphy pen and have been practicing how to write with it.

If you are interested in the story of how I am putting together this collage journal, the other blog posts were published on Day 2, Day 56, and Day 57.

Thank you for looking and see you again soon.

Flattening the Curve, Day 57

Hello friends. Today is 'Day 57' of my mandatory leave from my work site due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and I'm back to show you another page spread I created in my vintage Boorum & Pease accounting book which I am repurposing into a collage journal.

This spread (above) will be the preface. Depicted is Ariel from Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. The story of The Little Mermaid has an interesting Jungian psychological theory which involves an unconsciousness vs. consciousness analogy that intrigues me.

As I've explained in my first post on this subject, my intention with this journal is to capture some of the memories I have of my growing up years by utilizing images cut from old National Geographic magazines from the 1970s. By referencing The Little Mermaid in this preface, my intention is to emphasize my own struggles with a lack of awareness which kept me from developing a sense of self and an inability to think independently.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I admire Helen Colebrook's approach to creative journal pages and that prompted me to choose a simple combination of the cut images (mentioned above), washi tape and ink stamping for the decorative elements. This made the process of getting the page done quick and easy. It is now ready for the journal writing, which I will do (at least in part) with a calligraphy pen.

Thank you for looking and I hope you are well. I will be back in a couple of days and share another page spread from this journal with you.

Flattening the Curve, Day 56

Hello friends. Today is my fifty-sixth day of mandatory leave from my government job due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and soon I may have some idea about when I might be going back to work. Each county in Oregon must petition to reopen but certain health and safety standards must be met in order for that to happen. So, we'll see.

I started repurposing the Boorum & Pease Miniature Account Book (above) several months ago as a fun project to capture some memories of my growing up years. (I wrote about this in Day 2.) The idea came to me as I was paging through several National Geographic magazines from the 1970s and realizing that I could relate to the images of many of the girls and women depicted. I began cutting those images out from the magazines and accumulated a good amount of them to start assembling the collage journal.

As so many of us do, I turned to the internet to look for inspiration for how to approach my journal. That is how I found Helen Colebrook's YouTube channel. Helen uses a standard travelers notebook, which is a very hot item in the memory keeping and journaling camps right now, to create her pages. I like how Helen uses the same basic tools and techniques on each page, yet every page looks different. I also became enamored of her use of an old fashioned calligraphy pen.

Because I also like to scrapbook, I have quite a lot of supplies, so all I did was 'shop' my own stash, buy a calligraphy set and get to work. I have several pages made and ready for the journaling. The photo you see above is me practicing with the calligraphy pen.

So my plan is to show you one page from my collage journal each day or every few days as I will continue posting my other collage work as well and any other stories that may come up.

With that, have a good night and see you tomorrow.

Flattening the Curve, Day 2

Good morining friends - how are you? No, seriously - has your normal life and your usual routine been disrupted due to COVID-19, or corona virus? Mine also! Through this blog I am sharing what I know, think and feel as well as how I am coping, and the activities I'm doing to keep myself busy and sane in what seems, right now, like a crazy world.

Today I got word that my credit union is closing all lobbies and that the art gallery where I currently have one of my collages on view is also closing. Our public library has been closed since March 13th and yesterday when Jim and I went out to the Kiva Grocery Store we saw several hand washing stations on the sidewalks surrounding the library. How long this will go on is unknown, right?

The atmosphere in the Kiva was calm and the shelves were well stocked. They even had toilet paper!

Today I'd like to share with you this canvas-covered journal that I had picked up at an estate sale back in 2017 when I was seaching for tea ware for my Etsy shop Vintage Tea Treasures. Of course I had been wanting to create something using the journal since that time. My immediate inspiration was to faff around with it for my Instagram feed.

I had a seed of an idea back then that I would make a collage journal by utilizing a stack of National Geographic magazines from the 1970s. The idea came together while flipping through the magazines and noticing the many photographs of girls and women living ordinary lives. The 1970s were my formative growing up years and I found that I can identify with many of the girls and women portrayed.

At the time I did manage to cut out a few images from the magazines and get a start on the project.

After a very long time, I don't remember how long, I cut out all the images shown in the photo at the top of this post. That felt like an accomplishment! I took that photo last fall when I was going full force ahead with some other collage work I was doing. Then in January I was listening to the Spark Joy podcast episode Someday: Aspirational Items and Unfinished Business and wow, I could see myself there!

Since listening to the episode I have been making an effort to sort through and organize my unfinished business and have forced myself to work on the creative projects I have piled up. The collage journal is one I knew I wanted to keep going with. And I have finished a few scrapbook pages and some journaling on scrapbook pages that was left undone. And then I dived into this journal and have about 10 pages prepped and ready for the journaling. I don't have any of the newly created pages photographed yet, but I hope to do so soon.

So while I am doing my part to help flatten the curve in this unprecedented time in the history of our world, and as long as I am healthy and well, I'll do my best to continue to share stories here with you - every day if I can.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones and be safe!