Cicada Moon Workshop

Spring fills me to overflowing with gratitude & energy, and a creeping certainty that I must suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder!  Oh well, guess that means I need to retire to a sunny spot (with an ocean ~ even better).

An eventful week, Ella's culminating Spring Show with WMS Chorale.  Wow!  Those kids can sing AND dance.

Worked in the yard (and have the sunburn and sore muscles to prove it) putting in my apple tree guild.

Learned that a special person, who touched my life in a deep and kind way is passing away.  Many years ago, when I was living in Belton and Ella was a baby, a group of women came together to start a farmer's market.  Denise and I were among those founding members.

Denise ran an herb shop in the historic down town area, she always served warm herbal tea and had small treats to share.  Her shop was an oasis.  Her conversation was a quiet, lovely place.  Every where she went, every moment she shared with others, she shared her beauty.  And she was by far, one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever known.

It is a rare and singular joy to have known her.  Her humility, authenticity, kindness ~ unsurpassed.  Her imprint on those around her, profound.  It is rare to meet someone like her, and her legacy of kindness and gentleness ripples through all who met her.  There are those who posit themselves as teachers and healers.  But the true healers are those, who like Denise, love without judgement, and hold their power in graceful, quiet and humble ways.  She was a true healer.  She will reap everything she has sown, and she will rejoice in it.





Life is short, no matter how long we live.  With that knowledge in my heart, I create and make and dance and sing and love and eat and pray and grow green things; and encourage you, as you do the things that make your life worth living!




This week in the workshop for our "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge", I pulled out an old cabinet door Trey and I rescued from the curb.  Nothing like a little curb-side shopping to inspire the soul.

I have been wanting to incorporate a design using vintage European maps and an image I inherited of my Grandma Marylyn, atop a mountain range, looking as if she owns the world.  I think of her always, and when I am in the garden, planting and praying over my garden I feel she is there, beside me.  I wish I could have taken her to the Alps.  I wish I could have taken her to see the world.  This project is my homage to her, to her life, to her dreams.

In the end, our dreams live on, our essence lives on, because we inspire love in others.

Come with me, we will travel to Europe.  We will drink coffee in a small cafe in Paris, and chat about what things we will do as the day progresses:

1.  Starting with something old, something thrown away:




2.  Okay, getting to work with some paint.  I started with a light coating of robin's egg blue paint and was very careful to not paint into the very cool, hashed part of this cabinet door.  I then painted in some burnt umber splotches, in a haphazard, happy kind of way:



3.  I then went over the drying burnt umber, in a custom mix I did that was made of ivory and burnt umber paint (heavier on the ivory):




4.  I then went over the entire piece in ivory, loosely and using a modified sponging type of motion with a large brush:





5.  Then I painted over the entire surface (other than the naturally bashes upper portion) with glue (this will cause the over-coat I put on next to "crackle"):


6.  I let the glue get a bit tacky then went over the glue painted surfaces with my ivory paint:



(you can already see the crackles forming, just 5 or so minutes after putting on the top coat)



I am very happy with how the under-paint peeks through :)

7.  I wanted to age the entire piece, and used what we had on hand which was some dark walnut Restor-A-Finish.  I put a light coat over the entire piece, including the hashed part:




8.  Okay, now I am ready to break out the vintage maps.  Cut to fit and modge podge in to place:








9.  Now I antique the maps with some watered down burnt umber paint, I lightly apply it and it wipe it off with a clean cloth.  Then, I get my picture ready to transfer.  I scan this fantastic picture of my Grandma from 1957, then reverse the image.  I tape wax paper to a sheet of cardstock, then print my reversed image onto the wax paper:

wax paper tapped to piece

after the transfer is complete, remove wax paper and voila!!

11.  And now we are done:



And I am so thankful for beautiful people like Denise and my Grandma, who are islands of peace in the choppy ocean of my life.  I know that truly good people exist, because I have met them.

Peace be with you, and may you bring peace to others.

Make, create, bake, laugh, walk, jump, garden, be happy until we meet again here in the Cicada Moon Workshop!