It's a Bird!

The story is that I whined, gnashed my teeth, cried, pleaded, and threw a tantrum in order to get my watercolor teacher Adam to let me take a break from my landscape. I don't really remember it that way. But, it is the way the story is being told.

At any rate, I got my way and got to lay the landscape aside for a moment. He had us make background pages using watercolor and inks. We splashed, doodled, smeared, slung. Anyway you can think of getting the color on paper, we tried it.

What we ended up with was colorful chaos.

Then, Adam challenged us to cut up the paper and make shapes with it. I was left to my own to decide what shapes that would be. Although, the word "flowers" echoed in my ear as I left class.

I pulled out my cheat sheet book 1000 Creative Greeting Cards that I have been leaning heavily on for the last few days for some inspiration.

I focused on a paper pieced bird and did my own interpretation using my self-designed background papers, interspersed with sheet music.

I put my bird and flowers on a piece of vellum. The vellum I put over some scrapbook paper with the word "love" repeated over and over as the background. I came across the saying "Friendship is love with wings." I thought it was an appropriate addition with the love background and the winged bird.

I mounted it on a canvas board and trimmed it with lace and some embroidered bits. It was lots of fun to do. It was just the creative break I needed from my landscape.

Thanks to my collage mini-vacation, this week, I came to class with a new attitude toward my landscape. I was positive and determined. Just before the end of class, Adam said the magic words: "It's finished."

Class next week is all new possibilities!

Stay tuned.