Kayak's on the Channel

My Father's Story

In honor of Father's Day I would like to share some of my father's story. Every person you meet or see has a story. If you really look and listen you will find each one in their own way fascinating.
Growing up my Dad was just my Dad. He taught me to ride my bike, carried me on his shoulder's and when I got out of line gave me "the look". All the things Dad's do with their kids. He was our hero.
In fact, he really is a hero. When you are young you hear the stories. They are stories, but they are true. As I grew and learned more of the world, the stories began to take on more meaning. The stories came from my Mom and other relatives. Dad would answer a question or when we were being silly he would show me the chunk he had bit off on the side of his tongue "when he jumped out of an airplane". He didn't always want to share some parts of his life. It was now that was important.
I grew up and began my own family. The boys were like stair steps. They became interested in army and playing war. This is when I began to learn my father's story. It was time to tell.

My Dad grew up in Florida. His early life was happy till all was lost in the depression.His family was split up and his mother died. Two children went to live with their grandmother. The others with their father. My Dad and his older brother went to live with their grandmother. They worked before school and after school activities. My Dad was able to get a scholarship and go to college. Then the war broke out.
Central Florida had two flight schools. Both of my uncles taught there. One of them joined the army and was a plane mechanic, the other taught the young pilots to fly. My Dad was one of those pilots. Before he shipped out he went home and married the beauty queen - my Mom. She was Miss Florida and was working hard raising money selling bonds for the war and promoting tourism in Florida. Dad shipped out and Mom went to college and waited for news of my father.
My Dad flew the p47 thunderbolt and the 51 Mustang. He flew 48 missions before he was shot down on D-Day over France. It is thought he might have been the last plane shot down that day. He parachuted out with a parachute doing screwy things, hence the bitten tongue and a broken sternum he did not find out about till his 80's. Having parachuted out he landed in a small village in France. He hid for two days in a garbage pit till a villager took him home. Shortly thereafter the German troops showed up and took him as a prisoner of war. He was taken to Stalag Luft III. You might remember that this is where the movie "The Great Escape" took place. It also was one of the many prison camps that suffered in "the March" to escape the invasion of Germany by the Russians. Miraculously my Dad made it through "the March" and was liberated by Patton some months later.
With the war over, my Dad returned home to his waiting wife and family. His grandmother had died while he was in prison camp. Dad went back to school and got his law degree. He had agreed to go to Washington if his friend Syd Herlong won the congressional seat. It was a heady time. My mother, Miss Florida, now modeling and my Dad working as a legislative aid which took him to the Pentagon then back to the Senate. Making friends and meeting Presidents and future presidents. Helping to write bills that introduced two new states and affected the poll tax. Helped to open trade to China. He has worked tirelessly for charities and the church. Accepting another job with a major US Corporation. It has been a good life. I could go on but the point is......

He came back from the war and set about to make a better life, a better world for this country and his family without asking for anything more than that. This generation of men helped change the world. They made better cars, faster airplanes, built roads, dams and bridges, changed our medical system. It was explosive growth.
I don't know about all of the men, but I do know my Dad did it with honesty and class. He is a true diplomat. I have never heard a mean word towards anyone come out of his mouth. I have watched him love and cherish my mom for almost sixty five years. He is the standard I use in my life when I think of a"good man". When I was young and starting to venture out into the world alone, my Dad said "Don't do anything you can't tell your Mom or I about and you will be all right." Guess what those words still ring in my head and I am trying to get them to ring in my own children's head.
So "thank you" Dad for being the best example a daughter could ever possibly have for a man. Happy Father's Day!

PaPa's Peach Bread

This is a delightful breakfast bread. Easy to make and will surely impress your family or guests. I am sharing this for Father's Day because my Dad loves peaches!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh peaches chopped/around 4 peaches
3 tablespoons peach juice or canned nectar
1/2 cup chopped pecans/optional

Beat the softened butter with the sugars on medium speed about three minutes till the granules dissolve. Add the eggs one at a time beating thoroughly. Whisk in vanilla.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Add to the creamed mixture, then mix in the peaches, nectar and pecans if desired.
Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9-5-inch loaf pan. Bake 55 to 65 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or tests done. Place on wire rack to cool for ten minutes. Then remove loaf from pan.
I serve warm with butter. Yum.

Clematis- Original and Digitally enhanced

Took this picture today in the garden. The garden was so fragrant with gardenia's. The perfume of the south. I caught this clematis peeking out in the heat and just had to snap it. Once I downloaded it I knew it was going into photoshop to play with.

Men Images #2

Men. Don't you just love them. Strutting, showing off, acting foolish, then oh so tender. Here are some photograph's that are a little more contemporary. Some of these could be your grandfather or your father. My favorite is the first one. The man on the tractor with his son. Still in his suit, yet so proud of his new tractor. I imagine him working a nine to five job he hates to save the farm. The land is the one place he wants - needs to be. Something real to give his little boy.

Once Upon A "Time"........Remember

This is a six by eight altered child's board book. I found that a lot of the images I use are small children or women. With this book I wanted to focus on the "guys." I am the mother of five boys. This should be easy. Not so. Sorting and hunting for the right image that had a timeless appeal was a lot harder than I thought. I wanted to try and capture the spirit that boys and young men have when around each other. That playfulness that any moment can erupt into a competition. Those moments of innocence and devilment. I am not sure I accomplished that, but I do know this was a really fun book to work on.

In Honor of Father's Day - Men Freebies

Any one who is around me for long has the realization that I am crazy about my Dad. He is one of finest men I have ever known. The love my parents show each other is rarely seen. I have been blessed having these two people as my role models. So in honor of my Dad and to get everyone thinking about Father's Day here are some freebies.

Large Fabric Board Book

This is a large, thirteen by nine, children's board book. I have worked on this over a period of time. I have used scrap fabric from other projects, left over images printed on fabric, found objects, etc. The outside cover and back are a yummy aqua velvet, found at a yard sale for a dollar. For the inside I stuck with cottons, drapery samples, etc. It is put together but not finished. The bones are there.
Do you ever have projects like that? They look okay but there is just something you need to do to make it really outstanding. I think it needs some acrylic paint and maybe some fabric dye. or maybe it is one of those situations that Robert Browning spoke of. "Less is more". So now I am putting it out there - see what you think. When I finish I will post some of the pages. So here is the rough draft.

Garage Sale Finds

Today was hot and muggy. I got a late start so I was only able to hit three or four sales. The first two were picked over and I am not a big clothes person. The third was great. The bottles were for sale there. The gentleman had several tables and boxes full of bottles. He worked for a demolition firm and had been hired to clear an old dump site downtown on the Cape Fear River for the new convention center. His crew had found all these bottles. Some were hand blown with bubbles, medicine bottles, two part mold bottles, clear bottles, brown bottles, these gorgeous aqua bottles. I missed the cobalt bottles. I didn't feel too bad cause I have a lot of those. I ended up with thirty bottles. I pretty much stuck with the smaller bottles. I like them for window sills. I put my sand collection in the clear bottles. The aqua bottles are my favorite. The small bottles can be used in altered books or assemblage pieces. All for 25cents each. What a deal.

The last yard sale was interesting. A mother - daughter decorating team. I bought a box of ten dress patterns for 5 cents each. The patterns looked like they had dressed the crew from Dallas. Look out Joan Collins. I love the pattern pieces as backgrounds on canvas. They also had these interesting ornaments. The stars and Fleur de leis. They are all hand sewn with metallic threads. Just beautiful. The whole bag was 10 cents. The woman actually apologized to me that they were "sort of old". Old is good. I also picked up four yards of this damask. I loved the dragonflies holding up the pearl like swag. Pillows maybe? The Russian spoon is for my mom. She has a very interesting collection of hand painted Russian boxes, containers, trays, and spoons.

Truck Grilles

Believe it or not these are Toyota truck and one car grilles. I took these pictures yesterday at the car dealership while waiting to have my car serviced. They were all sitting so pretty and in these neat little rows. Just screaming for me to do something with them. So five minutes in the parking lot and about twenty pictures later - these are some of the results. I am going to give them to my service guy - he always helps me because I am clueless when it comes to cars.

Bandanna Technique

We spend a lot of our time waiting. Waiting for the doctor, dentist, our car to be repaired, the carpool line, etc. This technique is the perfect make a few samples ahead of time and doodle away while you wait. The above is my hour and a half wait at the car service place this morning.

I first read about this on several of my yahoo group message boards. You do your backgrounds with ranger inks, then stamp and doodle away with a black and white pen. The effect is like the bandanna we have all on occasion worn.

I could explain it in great detail. However, I think the source is always the place to go. So with that I hope I have perked your interest and I will turn you over to Robin Beam from Ranger Industries. Her blog site with directions is http://pearlesq.blogspot.com/
I will have the site on a favorites list on my sidebar also.

Using Scraps for Art

My work table becomes full of scraps after several projects. I try as I go along to sort by paper, text, image, material, etc. I throw everything into a small gift box size box till it is about half full. Then I take my scrap paper I have inked or painted on and start to glue down the scraps. Some are half images, or images that didn't print or transfer the way I wanted. There is no rhyme or reason to the gluing, just get rid of the scrap. It is very therapeutic and often before I start a larger project it gets me in the mood. After I have glued onto the paper I get out my inks, some neutral acrylics and some transparent acrylics and just swipe color combo's over the paper.
I keep baby wipes close by to wipe out areas that don't agree with me or I have put on with a heavy hand.

Now the fun begins. I usually scan the finished sheet so I can use it or parts of as background for another piece. Then, I like to cut the original up and make ATC's or skinnies out of it. The top picture is a finished sheet. The middle picture is a skinny I mades from the original adding a piece of fabric and words. Last is an ATC I added some words to and did a little pen detail work. I was able to make several more skinnies and a ATC out of the rest. These sheets are also fun to use as journal covers for small journals. Or background pieces for cards.

This is a good way to play with color combinations. Also different mediums... ink on top of acrylic, oil pastels, etc. You can even sew on it before you cut it up, just be sure to let your adhesive dry before you sew. There is no right or wrong, just energy. Plus, all those little pieces you just can't bear to toss out get turned into something fun!

Bead Weekend

It was wild with beads at my house this weekend. I had Art girlfriends joining the family chaos for the weekend. They brought beads and jewelry making supplies. My kitchen table became bead central. These are just some of the ten pairs of sterling and crystal earrings and one cute baby bracelet Denita made. The bling was flying. I love the aqua beads. The long earrings make you feel like putting on a swirly skirt and dance.

I worked on some 4 by 4's, 2by 2's, and some ATC's. They are all for swaps and a few for trades. I will post them when I am finished and they are sent out. I hate to spoil the surprise.
It was hard getting anything but food and fun this past weekend. I felt very renourished from being with my family and friends. Even though I did not get a lot of art done this weekend It was really fun watching every one else work on things. That alone was inspiring.

Laurel made the butterfly. She stamped The image with Fabrico ink on to a heavy piece of pellon. The face is polymer clay that she will tint an anchor onto the piece with beads. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a few tubes of seed beads and a needle and thread. I believe this will be a beautiful brooch when she is finished.

Art in a Carton

This is a round robin of sorts. maybe a trade thing. or maybe a RAK. I am not sure what to call it but it is the brain child of Susan Letham. She is from England but lives in Germany. She decided to send out 52 carton's to artsy folks asking them to do three in return. Each carton is filled with original art work and arty supplies. She has several examples on her blog. The first art carton you receive you send one back to that person. The next two are to go to the participants that have their address in the next two you receive. Very clever idea. Read more on her blog at art in a carton. The link to her blog is on my sidebar.

Freebies #5

I thought this week I would share a few bird images. Several people have emailed or posted how much they like some of the bird images in my artwork. Several have mentioned round robins or exchanges with bird themes. So with these people in mind I am posting these. Check in again and I am sure there will be lots more.
So, for starters I saw my first hummer this weekend. I am fascinated by them. So fast yet so social. It just seemed right that we start with them. The owls are for a dear friend who collects owls. She is very wise. Enjoy!

A Swim at Lizzie's House

This is how I spent a good part of the weekend....when I wasn't cooking, doing laundry and generally enjoying the moment. Lot's of family and friends. Everyone pitched in and a good time was had by all. I was the official photographer. I just had to share these two very special little people in my life. Mr. Gage and doll face - Avery.