Portrait of the Artist With A Head Cold

(I don't actually HAVE a head cold but there are certain phrases that make me laugh. You know, inexplicably. And for some reason, "head cold" is one of them, at least in this context.)

(I know: therapy.)

(So, alrighty then.)

I've, um, been getting in touch with the (really, incredibly, super) untrained artist within.

See, I've been wanting to make some art pieces for my house for a long time. But I got busy and then I got (shhh) depressed and then I started kind of fermenting ideas. (Which doesn't mean I drank a lot of wine.) (Well, it doesn't JUST mean that.)

One idea I had was to do something with my yarn bands, which are the pieces of paper that come around skeins of yarn. I've been saving them for a long time. First I started pasting one in a book with a little review of the yarn. But I think we should face it: I've pretty much never met a yarn I didn't like, except for some of that awful acrylic fun fur stuff. Still, I knew I wanted to do SOMETHING with the yarn bands because some of them are really beautiful--almost works of art in themselves.

Anyway, initially, I thought about wallpapering my office with them. But I didn't have enough (must knit faster) so I ended up adhering them to a canvas. (As always, you can click to enlarge the photos, just in case you want to have your own up close and personal art experience.)

I really like the way it turned out, although I'm going to add a glaze over the top. (Another word that makes me laugh: decoupage.) (I know, I know: therapy.)

So, THEN, I decided to try my hand at a painting for my foyer. I knew what I wanted but hadn't really seen a source for such a thing. So I waited for the perfect gloomy day when I felt both confident and all deep and artist-like (oh, just hush) and I, um, painted it myself.



I feel like an artist--I really do. I got paint on my pants and everything.

So, then I did some long-wished-for-by-my-husband paintings for above our bed. If you look closely, there is a subtle "X" and "O" for, well, love and kissing and stuff. (I'm in a red phase--especially now that tomato season is over.)

Is that just way too corny? Sydney says she's worried.

(I know, I know: therapy.)