Thursday, August 16, 2012

Journal Musings…

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One of the things I love best about art journaling, I think, is that there are no rules--the sky’s the limit.  Whatever you imagine, whatever you dream & think, whatever you doodle or paint or glue or sketch…it’s your art.

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In this case, a beautiful graphic found on Pinterest led to a bit of childhood musing for me…remembering the joy of make believe in my everyday life…I really haven’t grown up too much in that way, actually…

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I made this page, focusing on this beautiful, old photograph, long before I decided what to write on it…

I never use the originals of my own old family photos in my work, only copies…which made using this original photo a real treat. Given to me by a lovely blogger & expert art journaler, I loved the thickness and texture it added to my page…

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…and the photo made me think that this quote from Mr. Emerson was quite perfect for her…I wonder what this young girl grew up to contribute to the lives of those around her?

I sincerely hope she was happy with the life she led………I hope I’ll be happy with mine, too, at the end of it…..

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Two more pages in my art journal journey…can’t tell you how wonderfully liberating it all is…..

Julie

Monday, August 13, 2012

The Hands of Time

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I wish I’d been a smarter girl.  I wish, when I was younger, that I’d had the foresight to see what would be so very important to me when I was a much older girl. 

But, that’s often the case with all of us, isn’t it?

I wish, when I was a young teenager, that I’d taken my little pocket Kodak camera with cube flash…and captured the beautiful, wizened hands of my great-grandmother, Estella. 

Estella Stapley portrait

I have beautiful pictures of her face—of all of her—but not her hands.  Hands that cared for many babies.  Elegant, manicured hands.  I can still see those hands in my mind…

Hands that had spots on them, like mine do now.

I wish, just 11 years ago, that I’d had the vision to capture my grandmother Velda’s hands—just her hands.  I see them so very clearly in my mind.  Those hands left me just after 9/11…

Hands that raised three children.  Hands that cared for her youngest daughter through cancer and blindness.  Hands that buried that daughter at the tender age of 7.  Hands that traveled the world.  Hands that taught me how to crochet and to do many of the homecaring arts…

Velda & Julie--my wedding day

…hands that loved me.

Hands that had spots on them, like mine do now.

I finally got smart.  I captured my mother’s hands just a few weeks ago…

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The first hands {besides the doctor!} that ever touched me.  The hands that so lovingly cared for me {and still do!} The hands that taught me everything I know.

Mom in doll shop 2010_edited-1 {Mom in a doll shop that was featuring a few of her beautiful, hand-made dolls}

An artist’s hands.  The hands of a skilled dollmaker.  Not just any dollmaker, but a sought-after dollmaker by those who know the art…and she’s my mother.

I remember those sweet young mother hands—smooth and lovely.  Are any hands as beautiful in your mind as those of your mother? 

Hands that have spots on them, like mine do now…

I had my middle daughter capture our hands together…

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Two pairs of hands eternally bound together…neither pair that young anymore…one pair 72, the other 50…

And then my oldest daughter added her hands to the group. 

A young teacher’s hands.  Loving hands that have always done good…and I suspect they always will.  Hands that have yet to be a mother’s hands, but they will…

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Hands that do not yet have spots on them, like mine do now…

Three generations of first-born girls…How would it have been to capture all five?  I wish……………………

But those earlier hands—and the beautiful lives they led—live on to me.  When I look at my hands, I see them all…spots and everything…

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And I love them.

Capture yours…

Julie

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