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Sunday, June 9, 2013

Only one more Sunday night in the school year.

Life with a 12 year old who doesn't like school means a whole lot of Sunday night drama and angst.
I have a choice:  get completely sucked into the vortex of tears, or throw myself into art making while saying "I'll be right here if you need me."

Tonight I chose the latter.
(remind me next Sunday to do the same)
I mean, if I'm going to be up way too late and be totally bleary eyed and crabby at work tomorrow, at least I'll have something to show for it.

Here are four index card collages from the past few hours:


I really really really want a "withdrawn" stamp of my own.  It's such a relevant word for me.  This one was cut from a discarded library book. 
The arrows are the plastic safety seal from the neck of a new bottle of mouthwash.  It's all fair game!
 


The theme of this week seems to be recycling.
I have a friend who works at Smith College and she started saving the glossy little posters advertising campus events - giving them to me instead of tossing them in the recycling bin.
Each of the above collages feature bits of those flyers.
It's wonderful to have friends who look at trash and say "I bet Karen would like this."

I also visited my favorite local recycling center this week - Extras For Creative Reuse in Lynn, MA.
I was primarily there to get things for the kids to use in my summer camp program this year, but naturally I found all kinds of interesting tidbits for myself, including a big bag of vintage dress patterns, some scrapbooky type papers (that silver lattice stuff in the red and black card above) and other delightful bits of crap rescued from the landfill.  

This one features a phone book snagged from the lobby of an office building, some sticker waste snagged from the recycle bin at work, a girl from the newly acquired dress patterns, and text from an ad jammed under my windshield wiper while I was grocery shopping.

The green paper is part of an envelope I got from Ria.  More of the cool lattice stuff from "extras", text from that same windshield flyer.

the orange bits are from a flyer Gina sent me.  The security envelope with the holes in it is the scrap leftover from the air bubbles I made in the card above.  The background is a napkin that someone sent me a hundred years ago.

Fun with big chunks of text cut from one of the Smith College flyers.
It's nearly midnight.  The boy is finally asleep.  I am almost hallucinating with exhaustion, but I haven't missed a day of ICAD yet, and I'm closing the gap on the 365 collages challenge.  (Only 29 days behind!)

One more Sunday night, and then a two month reprieve.
Here's hoping we all survive the 6th grade.

16 comments:

  1. I'm amazed with your ability to see craft supplies in your everyday trash. I have a hard time seeing the possibilities in the packages and stuff that I encounter every day. I try to reuse and recycle, but I always end up throwing most of it! Plus it drives me crazy to save a piece of paper for a long time, if I don't use it immediately I have to throw it away or send it to someone else! But this post really encourages me to be more patient and dig deeper for treasures!

    I also have a lot of friends who save things for me! My brother in particular likes to tease me and says "do you want this for your scrapbook?"(he calls everything I do scrapbook) while holding an old stinky t-shirt or an empty yogurt bottle LOL

    Love the collages!

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  2. Creativity has its many purposes - you channeled it Very Well!! ~ Gina

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  3. Nothing says "suck it up" like art making, lol
    You got a lot of great stuff to show for it that is for sure. School is already out for summer around here and thankfully (??) my son is 17 and those days of morning drama are long past.
    Here's to a great week!!
    ~Dawn

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  4. Ugh, that sounds hard, Karen. We avoided those struggles this year by homeschooling that kid, which has its own set of challenges (especially when I'm still abiding by the school schedule--the oldest isn't done until June 25!!). But at least you're making use of your late nights. Lemonade!

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  5. Awesome collages!
    (& I went to Smith College! & and I grew up being teased about Lynn, MA!--Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin, you never go out the way you went in.) --but that recycling place looks awesome!

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  6. Ah....the school drama....I remember it all too well. You are wise to go create....have a relaxing summer. And you know how much I love to re-purpose stuff for art so of course I loved all of what you showed. I'd like to go to that center in Lynn with you....

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  7. What a great variety of collages! Your signature whimsy (silliness) in a few but strong graphic elements in others. I love how collage can go SO many directions, each satisfying in its own way. An inspiration, as always~!

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  8. I am going to make a trip there just to go to your Recycling Center! My "recycling" happens on my daily runs:) I run by a highway and I get all kinds of awesome stuff! Bottle Caps, metal pieces...scraps! I could Never tell anyone else this-they'd think I was crazy!! Thanks for sharing the insanity and being so real in your posts! Oh- I love your collages. You have an inherent sense of Composition!

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  9. They're all terrific collages. I love all the recycled bits. Next year I might like to do that 365 challenge, too. Is it your own thing? or is somebody "running" it? Or, perhaps I'll do a 182-1/2 challenge beginning in July!

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  10. Loved that zen themed first one, were you channeling inner peace. Actually they are all wonderful....one more Sunday night over? Yay! xox

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  11. so happy to here I am not the only with a trash pile in their studio! we into our first week of summer vacation, rain...Eva is glued to her iPad. more rain today, maybe a movie! I had hoped to do the index card a day, but so far...zip. there is still time!

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  12. Love seeing what you are up to with ICAD:)) Great stuff!!

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  13. The pace at which you work and achieve so much always leaves me lost in wonder. And all so beautiful. The black and red is my 'pick of the crop', my favourite colour combination, with the blu one following closely. You are an artistic marvel.
    Here in Uk it is strictly forbidden to take anything from the council re-cycling, at least in our area. What a waste.

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  14. Love your collages. I also really enjoy hearing about the materials you use and the processes. Getting sucked into the vortex of tears...so much easier to avoid when we are not tired and remember to take time out for ourselves.

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  15. I love them all Karen. I really have nothing more brilliant than that to add... xx

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