I received a gift from a dear friend for my birthday, a lovely blank book with thick homemade paper, a book that says “Enter in and create!”
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
Note the fingerprint stain toward the bottom, my first act of creation being to get chocolate on it.
The very wordy book title – you’d expect no less from me if you’ve read my blog at all. “The Book of Small Musings, Random Ideas, Poetic Thoughts, Ink Drawings, and Humble Paintings.” A mouthful for sure. I should be careful about overpromising and underdelivering (probably too late for that).
I also got a new palette of paints for my birthday, Complexions. I tried them out on the first page of this book.
BEHOLD! A new palette of paints, hues of complexions, Skin tones of black, brown, red, pink, peach and yellow. We look like a bouquet of earth colors When we’re all together.
That’s all folks!
I’ll probably get a random idea or poetic thought about deleting this in the morning.
I’ve now entered the puffin phase of my artistic endeavors. Or rather, I’ve re-entered, having dabbled in some puffinry back in 2020 (Puffin Post). And then there was a poem I wrote in which a puffin played a significant part (See: The P Birds).
When I see photos of puffins, I think the Lord must have been in a whimsical mood when He created them.
Plus, and hold onto your hat for this one: their babies are called “pufflings.” I did NOT make that up, but almost wish I had. In my fertile imagination, these would be so fun to have around, adorable little pets waddling to you with their adorable orange feet, making their adorable puffin noises with their adorable orange beaks. Sadly, puffins do not inhabit my part of the world, and I’m sure not going to go to theirs, so we shall have to remain strangers. It’s better that way. It’s very unlikely that they would live up to what I’ve imagined them to be like.
Is that a memoir that you’d read? If so, I’ll hunt down Mr. Polite Puffin (who could, I admit, be Mrs. Polite Puffin. It’s hard to tell) and do an interview.
More puffins will be coming. A page of pufflings might be on the way.
I’ll have to huffin and puffin and blow this one down in the morning.
I’ve taken a short break from Tiny Art, working on a few other things. Sometimes it’s fun to do a pencil sketch, so here’s one of my latest:
If you think I came up with that in my head, you haven’t been reading my blog very long. The rest of you can quote me by heart, so let’s hear it: “I copied it from something I saw on Pinterest.”
However, I did pen a little poem to go with it and that’s all mine.
Little Mousie Do not fear ‘Twas the LORD God Put you here.
All this world Be bereft If every Mousie Up and left.
Fur and whiskers, Small and gray, Little Mousie, Don’t go ‘way
But hear me well Mousie, dear Stay out of my Housie, dear.
Little postie, You should fear. You’ll be gone In the morning, dear.
It may surprise you to learn that though we were out and about the last two weeks, tiny art happened. Oh, you’re not surprised? Well I sure was. I often bring artsy supplies with me on our trips, packed in the Bag of Good Intentions. They usually come back home again in the Satchel of Shame.
But I have learned a few things. With the exception of the peacock feather, which I painted before we left, the rest of these were drawn on watercolor washes that I made so I wouldn’t have to bring paints, brushes and guilt.
My own tiny art peacock feather book finally made its maiden voyage! And what better subject that a peacock feather?
A feathery eye Set in iridescent gold, the Jewel of God.
And two more in the Peacock Feather Book:
Copied this from something on Pinterest – loved the stylized look of the feathers. Trying to do this in a moving car turned out to be a mistake.
If you don’t know this reference, how are we friends? Ha ha – just kidding! We listened to this audiobook on the road, one of the Magnificent Seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
And now, back to the OG tiny art book:
The underwater singing of a fish.
God’s creatures all know how to sing His praise. We just don’t always know how to hear it.
This post will be dropped into the sea in the morning where it will forever hear the underwater singing of fish.
That title is too long, but I wanted each word to be there. Some people spare words, others multiply them. You know which one I am by now.
Another week of Tiny Art! My goal is to do four of these per week. It’s good practice for me and gives me a reason to leave my craft table all full of open paint sets and other vaguely artsy misc. The usual disclaimer applies: I copied things I found on Pinterest and added my own words.
Behind Door #1:
Who remembers the song “Daisy, Daisy?” It might actually have been called “Bicycle Built for Two.” My mom’s PCA was named Daisy and I could not (COULD NOT) resist singing this part of the song to her whenever I saw her. (At least I spared her the next line: “I’m half crazy all for the love of you.”) It was either charming or obnoxious – let’s hope it was the former.
The Little House on a Little Hill. If you think that house looks wonky, you’re not alone. But while I was working on it, a phrase kept running through my head from Psalm 15: LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? It’s funny what words trigger things to run through your mind.
Behind Door #2:
Poof! No other commentary is necessary.
Lime slice, Fresh and nice. My advice: No matter the price, Let it suffice, Limes are nice!
Sometimes poems slip in when I’m not looking.
I’ve also made a couple Tiny Art books by myself, having found the one I bought to be a little TOO tiny. The seller ought to have marketed them as “Teeny Tiny Art Books.”
Lastly, my dear and patient readers, I am working on the third crib mobile of this year. The first two went to granddaughters that were born earlier in the year. This one is for the granddaughter who may actually be born today! Which means I better get hopping on finishing the mobile.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. AMEN!
Blog post, More words than most, With morning’s roast It will be toast.
I feel an odd determination to continue finding fun little rhymes for “art,” but am aware of the fact that this train of destiny is coming to a halt when it comes down to using the letter “f.” Sorry – not going to do it. But you can think about it and laugh if you’d like.
So, the latest in my tiny art world:
By October 1, pumpkins begin to push and bully their way onto the paper. Who can help it? But make sure you understand that a loose watercolor pumpkin is still a morally upright plant.
Blueberries are falling into a container. By the looks of it, there will be some falling onto the floor as well. And, if the truth be known, onto the back of the next painting.
If you were offered a cup of hot something on a cold day, what would your preference be? Tea for me, please! Or if I’m feeling luxurious and extravagant, some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.
Look! It’s a curious bluebird! Something has caught his eye – wish I knew what it was.
This cup of hot blog post will be too cold to drink in the morning.
I did some cruising around on Pinterest for ideas and discovered that there are a lot of tiny art aficionados out there. I copied from them freely. As always, the words are mine. Well, not literally mine. You know what I mean.
I felt strongly that I needed to move past the fruit fly era of my artistic life.
I’ll probably – it’s very likely in fact – there’s a strong possibility – you know what I mean (in the morning)
I bought a book for making tiny art in recently. Some people gravitate toward large canvasses and big pieces of paper. These huge gaping vacuums of space are intimidating to me, so I tend to work small. When I saw the teeny tiny book with its teeny tiny pages, my imagination was captured. Think of what fun I could have, I mused to myself as I forked over the $15 plus tax. I also immediately decided I could make my own teeny tiny books in the future if this trend catches on with me.
I hesitate to show you what I came up with for the first page, but honesty is the best policy.
Yes, a hastily sketched, poorly colored “Fruit Fly of Doom!”
The good news is that the next one can’t help but be better.
This hastily written teeny tiny blog post will meet its Doom in the morning.
Oh, the joys of summer days! And yes, I still say that after we had two days of extreme heat and humidity.
Our Hallelujah Garden is full of gladsome color – photos and p’raps poems to come in future posts.
Last week with two friends I visited an old forgotten cemetery that has been uncovered and restored. Blog post to come. It’s been a long time since I posted in my Grave Musings series and I am looking forward to it.
After some feedback from faithful blog readers, I’ve gotten some items to dress up our dinner table when we have guests. Thank you! Photos and musings to come.
But at least today I can share with you some water coloring I’ve been doing lately.
No, that’s not for somebody named “Art,” although my father-in-law would qualify. I thought I might string those together and hang them somewhere in the craft room.
A butterfly and many dragonflies. I feel unsettled about the butterfly. It looks somewhat poorly proportioned. If you got that on a card in the mail, would you wonder why the butterfly is sagging a bit or would the gold paint distract you from all of its flaws?
The dragonflies were my attempt to follow a tutorial I found in which you put four dots of paint in a small square and make the dragonfly wings from those. The artist made it look so easy! You can infer from that statement anything you want.
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11
Many words were deleted in the production of this post and perhaps more will be in the morning.
Lynniebeemuseoday 