THE WOMEN I CAME FROM

 

Sadie, Virginia & Ann

Altered Book - Women

 

I received a really nice email yesterday, from an artist friend that I met 3 years ago, who lives on the other side of the planet.  She got me to thinking about the women I know and so I decided to journal about the women that I came from... on my mother's side...my great grandmother, Sadie (Sarah) and her daughter, my grandmother, Virginia...who died before my mother, Ann, was married.  My mother told me a few stories about them as I was growing up, but it's not the same as knowing them...and yet...they are where I came from.  I wish I knew more about them...what exactly did we have in common besides our DNA?  Well, one thing I know...I got the "not so great" math gene from my mother judging from her 4th grade report card.   But I also know that I got her creative gene...which I am very thankful for.

The Year of the Dragon

First altered book class

 

of the new year...we did the....

 "Year of the Dragon" 

The little "purse" on the right page involved some origami techniques.  The purse opens out and there is a card with Chinese letters that spell out Happy New Year inside.  I love the cool things you can do with origami....I just need patience and practice to master...not even master...to achieve the techniques...perhaps a new year's resolution I could keep....learn origami!  The little red envelope on the left holds a piece of  fake Chinese money.  The dragon is embossed on the red disk as are the Chinese letters in gold on the bottom right page.  The Dragon is a symbol of good fortune and power that commands respect.  Do you know what Chinese year you were born in?

Home & Garden Altered Book

I wanted to try cutting  a niche in this book...something I haven't experimented with before and it turned out great.  I didn't make it overly deep, just deep enough to hold the brass dragonfly.   And I had a nice piece of scrap paper to put behind it that has a touch of metallic to it.  These pages are about some of the smaller "critters" in nature....those that fly.  Sometimes, in our childhood days...we could be frightened by these critters....they are kind of weird looking...but for some reason I was thinking about the many dragonflies that may have landed on my arm at one time or another and I wasn't bothered by them at all...they are rather fascinating.  They move quietly about.  If they could talk...what would they have to say about life....what would their observations be?