Thursday, March 8, 2018

Home on a Snow Day

Hi everyone.  It is snowing pretty good right now and looks like it might snow a good part of the day. We went from bare ground to white again- guessing it looks like we have about 10 inches (around 25 cm). Who knows when this snow stops how much we will have.
But to quote everyone around here, this is what we say about March snow. "At least it doesn't last long." Seeing the sun is higher and the days are longer. But of course long is rather a vague term and so as you can guess it could be here for a week or 2. Just not months. I hope. :)
I just went out and dumped a whole bunch of bird see on the top of the snow for the birds-poor things-I have a bunch of ground feeders out there looking sad and hungry, and 5 minutes later the husband comes along and snow blows all the seeds away. Guess I need to redo that all over again! (And I thought he was leaving for work.)
 Today I just have some random photos for you. With all this Gelli printing showing up online I spent a morning of my vacation last week making a stack of prints.
 I made marks and used stencils when I Gelli printed, as well as over printing a lot. I like to add several layers to may prints.
 I Gelli printed on deli wrap. I Gelli printed on the backs of old printed scrapbooking paper. I Gelli printed on the front of scrapbooking paper. I even Gelli printed on some sheets of watercolor paper.

You'll see some of these background soon I am sure.

And since I am sitting with no place I have to go, let me do a little book chatter too. I have been reading and listening up a storm as usual.
If you're not into books you might want to skip out here.
Here's a book that I picked up and read in short spurts. It's the stories of some of the colors we artsy folk are probably familiar with. It's more of reference style book, but the stories are interesting and fascinating to read, not completely technical. A little art, a little history, a little chemistry...

And I mentioned last book post that I was into mysteries and was reading book 1 of an Anasazi/archeology mystery, The Visitant. I enjoyed it so much I am onto book 2.
 I am really enjoying these authors and how they jump back and forth between the present and the past to connect the 2 stories of modern day archeologists and a past native American culture. I am learning a lot too because they have researched their topic (and even list sources in the back). 

 And I am listening to one of my favorite books ever, the Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver is  really magical with her prose in this story, set in the early 1960's with an American Family who move to the Congo. It's our book club book for March, and I have wanted to reread it for quite some time. The woman who narrates this book from Audible has the most mesmerizing quality to her voice, which is really sucking me in even more than when I read it from a book the first time. I can say it is still one of my favorite books.

And back in early February I read this travel book by a Canadian author. He was teaching English in Japan and decided to hitchhike the length of the nation. This book is a comical story of this trip.  I wanted some light reading to get a little  familiar with Japan for when I travel there. I enjoyed this book although in some ways I kept waiting for him to get to the most northern island.

 And back in January I spent an afternoon next to the woodstove reading this drawing/travel style book. Vivian Swift has written 2 other books I really loved, "When travellers Cease to Roam" and  '"Le Road Trip" and even though this book was on my shelf for awhile I finally got around to reading it. 
I should have read it sooner.
 Usually in the winter I get such a craving for green. This book took care of that for a bit. I keep waiting for her to publish another book.

And finally, back in January I got back to and finished this book.
I started it last year before the kidney transplant surgery, and I put it aside because it was too big to bring to the hospital with me. Then for some reason I never picked it back up. Anyhow, it was a really enjoyable read and a very clever story. If you haven't read it and want something to sink into, this might be a good choice.

OK, I have taken up enough your time, and mine too. I should move onto to something like going into the studio. :) That sounds like an excellent idea.
Hope your day is sunny and bright, and CJ, I hope you have less snow than wee do.

11 comments:

CJ Kennedy said...

I wish we had less snow. We were in the foot or more belt like you. Just came in from shoveling the walk. Measured 15 inches. On the plus side, my afternoon class at the museum was cancelled so Himself and I didn't have to rush to try to get cleared out. His college classes were cancelled, too. Hope your snow stops soon. We had some lingering light snow, but it seems to be finished.

Wow, you sure made a lot of prints with your Gelli plate. How fun! Scattered on the table looks like so many possibilities waiting to happen

Enjoy your snow day, too. Stay safe and warm

Valerie-Jael said...

Glad you are having fun with gelling prints, you have made a great selection of papers. No snow here, but rain. Have a great afternoon, hugs, Valerie

Meggymay said...

A great post, you are making the best you can of the snow storms. Reading sounds good to me as well, my reading time is the evenings and the hours just fly past. I enjoyed your reviews.
The gelli prints look fantastic, you will enjoy using them.
Stay safe and i hope the snow doesn't last for to long.
Yvonne xx

Divers and Sundry said...

I love hearing about your weather since it's so different from ours. We're in the upper 40s and sunny right now.

I'm going to have to remember to check out that Anasazi mystery series. I remember reading Poisonwood Bible, but that's been a long time ago. It was a book club selection for me, too. I haven't heard of the others. Books are such a joy :)

pearshapedcrafting said...

I'm finding that with the gelli print challenge one thing leads to another and I go totally off track and spend far too long doing nothing but make gelli prints! I think I need to do some collages! Nothing like a few cold days to allow you to catch up with some reading - some of these books look fascinating! Wishing you a quick thaw! Hugs,Chrisx

Dortesjs said...

Snowing in denmark to..great post this..love allllllll you have been busy ;O)

Astrid Maclean said...

I always enjoy your book posts and this time "The Gentleman in Moscow" fell into my Kidle basket. I am always amazed at the difference in reviews, so fingers crossed.

Great geli prints and a super way to spent time in the studio. I look forward to seeing what you will make with them!

Hope your snow won't last too long, - here it's cold but sunny.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Sounds like your snow day was productive. I should get my gelli out, but I have no surface to set it up right now. It takes so much room when I set things up and takes half a day to set up and another to tear down. I am sure you could give me lots of tips on how to shorten that setup time because your prints were wonderful.

Enjoyed seeing what you are reading. I bet that book on the guy who hitchhiked in Japan was interesting.

Although I don't want all that snow you got, here is an interesting fact: Wichita has had LESS THAN 1/2 inch of moisture since October 1, 2017 until March 8, 2018 (yesterday). Saw it on the news last night.

Jeanie said...

You DID get a snow day -- and a good one. Haven't gellied in more than a year. Space, mostly, and I've been so focusing on the watercolor. But seeing your prints reminds me of how much I loved doing that. Maybe this summer at the lake. I want to read the one on Moscow! I might have to get the Hitchhiking with Buddha book for Rick's birthday -- that would be right up his alley. I'll have to look through my Japan reading. There is a series called Travelers Tales and they have a book on Japan which is a collection of essays so you can pick and choose. Bruce Feiler's "Learning to Bow" is good too -- about his living there, teaching English. He's a good writer.

And, you will be pleased to know that Vivian has a new book coming out (as soon as she finishes it -- she's been "painting" the last bits of it on her blog for a bit) on Monet's garden. She says it is a smaller book than the others but it will be beautiful! Her blogs are my "painting teacher!"

Lisca said...

Now that was a good long blog post to get my teeth into. Where to start?
Great that you had a day off to 'play', not so nice that it is because of the snow. As the work will have to somehow be caught up with at some stage. (that was a bit of a weird sentence but you probably know what I mean)
You got well and truly messy by the looks of it and the results are amazing. I can see lots of journal pages in the making.
I really enjoyed your book reviews. (I must do one soon as I have read so many books since the last one)
I can see that the Secret Lives of Color can be interesting and something to dip into. The Anasazi mystery sounds great. I read an archeaology thriller by Kevin Tinto called Ice. Where archeologists find an untouched 800 yr old native American grave site. They find a particular type of precious stone that is only found in Antarctica. What were they doing there? and why?...Mystery!
The Poisenwood Bible I have started several times as Barbara Kingsolver is my fav author. But I get very stuck with the attitude of the missionaries and I get so annoyed with their stupidity and bad attitude that I can't read any further. I know it was of that time, and people did think like that, but it put me off reading the book. I did love 'Laguna' which in a roundabout way is about Frida (Kahlo) and Diego and it taught me things about the history of the US that I did not know. I also enjoyed (can't remember what it was called) the book where Barbara writes about her experience of one year living off the land. Her personal experience.
A gentleman in Moscow has been put on my 'to read' list. That sounds like the sort of book I'd like. Thanks for the reccommendation.
Finally, to answer your question at the end... my day is very sunny and bright. It is a cloudless warm day. Hurray! The sun on the windows is warming the room, no heating necessary. Brilliant!
Have a fab weekend,
Lisca

froebelsternchen said...

Great to spend the snowy time in the studio and your papers turned out fantastic for sure! I am looking forward to seeing what you will make with them! I am sure they will come handy for collages and Mixed Media painting pages! Your book reviews are always super - thank you!
Today I found some very interesting books at the Charity shop again, but it take me longer to finish a book as I often just read some pages in the evening and fall asleep immediately. Good for my physical health at least -lol!
oxo Susi
Happy weekend and I send you some warm spring weather! Hope it will arrive next week - I will send it priority!