Books and other distractions

I keep repeating some bad behavior (okay I consider it bad mostly because I do this on a monthly basis, fix it then tell myself not to do it again. So naturally I do it again).

Over the course of a couple days, whatever I'm working on in the library draws my attention to a number of books. I check them out planning to read them and at the end of maybe three days, I have a stack of at least six books on my kitchen table waiting to be read.

And they sit there, sit there, sit there...still there about a month to six weeks later.

I've been trying break the cycle, so instead of creating little pieces of mediocre art to mail out, I've been reading....and reading and reading....

So, two cheers for me, I cleared my latest pile. (Of course some I simply returned, others I read the first paragraph and said no way....) but the important thing here is for once I made it throught the stack and half of it got read. (Instead of sitting around even longer and then getting returned without reading).

So here's a list of what was in the pile (I won't tell you what got read or re-read or returned without being opened or skipped due to disgust to the first paragraphs -- that might be helpful but why should I be helpful here?):

• The Whisperers, John Connolly
• Raziel (The Fallen), Kristina Douglas
• Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowels
• The Physic Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe
• The Darkest Secret, Gena Showalter
• Quicksilver, Amanda Quick
• Blood Oath, Christopher Farnsworth
• Predatory Game, Christine Feehan

Not included are the two books I checked out but never made it off my desk at work....
(St. Lucy's Home for Girls raised by Wolves or the Peanut Butter Murders)

Fin

So another piece has found its way to an owner. This was one of those times that I had a thought and started collecting different materials to be considered, then as I was trying to fit things together just to eliminate some of my selections it was suddenly an hour later and I had done the initial gluing. 

Normally I start with an image based idea (tigers and circles, oh my) then a person pops into my mind and it builds upon both the original idea and the individual. This time it started with a person followed by a piece of ribbon...

The rough-ish composite with ribbon (the black and white, pastoral scenes (which is awfully full of beggars and crosses)), random magazine clippings and marker was confined under a  heavy coating of gel medium. (The sealing coat felt so thick I glued two more index cards onto this baby to reinforce it --- hence, this is also the piece that caused the post office lady to raise an eyebrow.)

I think I went a little wild with the marker and I can't remember my reasoning. I remember picking out the section of green and purple based on the feathery appearance of the plants then I picked out the pseudo-sun images thinking of faces the person (yes yes, one sun is grumpily frowning --- so does she, upon occasion, when people (that general mass of public person-hood who you don't really know but are still annoying), irritate her.). I do know why I kept going with the markers: trying to fix it after the first messy marker marks I had added. 


(Say messy marker marks five times fast....now look at your self in a mirror and repeat after me: "I am normal." If you can succeed in doing this last thing, I probably don't know you.)

At the center of this creation was the ribbon. I want to say it's French Provinical-ist but I'm not sure that's the right term (sounds cool)  but it is an older design with a European feel to it. I began to pull from my random clipping file (a large manila envelope in which I have stuffed willy-nilly stuff I've clipped out) that would let me create a  modern countryside setting for the ribbon. 


My favorite touch to this is the fact that I didn't use a strip of ribbon but cut it up and dispersed its elements. I rarely stray too much from my comfort zone or routine and each time I've reached for ribbon in the past, (kind of the future for you, dear reader, as some pieces I am referring to have yet to be posted) I end up using a strip of the stuff. Now I just want to see what I can do if I cut the ribbons down to their smallest design.

Well, that's my Modern Pastoral (or as I sometimes think of it, Hill's Modern Pastoral). Anyways, I have repeatedly delayed posting this because I have nothing conclusive to say, nothing profound or meaningful, no moral to wrap up this tidbit. 

(I really wish I had Wakko, Yakko and Dot's Wheel of Morality in order to conclude this post. Something totally randoms that makes no sense whatsoever fits my mood.)