Blue Skies

First I want to say Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails and notes and thoughts and prayers about Scott’s dad.   Last week was hard.  But there was a silver lining.  There is always a silver lining.  Sometimes at first glance that little bit of silver just seems like another layer of gray.  But if you give it time and wait for just a little bit, the sun will come out and it will start to glitter, and it will reflect light and hope to parts of your life you never expected it to reach.  And with time, blue skies will start to creep back into view.

[ Photo by my friend Ivan Makarov.  You can check out his blog here, or see ALL his absolutely amazing images here .  And you should go look, he is an incredible photographer.  And when you find something you love (which I am sure you will) you can order prints here.]

I’ve been spending a lot of time this week at my desk with my paper and my scraps and my glue.  Making stuff helps me deal with stress and gives me a great outlet for all those emotions.  I am thankful that I have my art journal class right now.  I’ve been able to deal with a lot of emotions in a new way and it’s been really good for me.  I am not going to post everything I’ve been working on, some of it is just for me, but I do want to show you this page I made.

[ See it larger here ]

That faded and yellowed postcard was sent in 1909.  The other side has a great picture of a girl at the beach.  Awesome, no?   This page also has scraps of paper for the pear and the ice cream cone and the old map is from an atlas I got at the thrift store.  You probably can’t really tell, but that is a map of Western Russian and the Baltic States.  I have a crush on that part of the world too.  So that box is a two for one.  The more pages I make the more I realize just how much I love maps, and lined paper, and things in every color.  And pink typewriters.  Of course, who doesn’t love a pink typewriter?

I’ve spent a good chunk of time this week looking at pretty stuff trying to get my mind off of my mind.  (Does that make sense?)  I found some absolutely beautiful things, which I have saved up for Monday.  Happy Weekend!  I’m going to go see what I can find at the thrift store.  It’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning.