February's Postcard of the Month
Sumac.  Who knew??!  I came late to the Sumac fan club.  And now I can't seem to get enough of them.  

They've been grabbing my eyes all winter.  BUT!  My (almost-new!) camera LCD display went all weird a few weeks ago

so I’ve been just shooting blind ‘til the replacement comes (although I’m not at all sure that this is all that ails this once-nifty unit…).

Didn't seem to deter my shutter-clicking enthusiasm much though!   

But, of the HUNDREDS of sumac pix I took over the past month, not ONE is good AT ALL!  (Well, admittedly, shooting through the windshield also leaves something to be desired...)  

So...  This month's title should just have been LABOR INTENSIVE (of Love, of course)!  You'll see.* 

I had in mind that interweaving branch effect, So, I threw together this quick trunk and branch configuration:

And then I worked up my first draft:

and I thought maybe I might find some cool cut paper - Kirigami - templates online. 

This (the tree part) came closest:

and I thought it seemed appropriate that the tree happened to be part of a Valentine

since this was my February card.  

So, I blanked out the parts I didn't need: 

and then traced the tree, from which I tweaked my own template:  

and proceeded to trace and cut out a bunch (23) 'tree trunks':

 and then punched out a bunch (220) of 'branches':

 and then, after cutting out some more (21) 'trunk' elements:

 I started to tip everything with white paint:

and rigged up ways to hang things to dry!

Here are the 3 versions.  I left out some of the elements that were in #2 - the prototype with documented steps - and shifted the rubber-stamped 'grasses' to the left in #3 (which was the composition that all other 20 of the set followed):  

Not entirely sure that I should have done that last; maybe I like them in the middle after all...

Well, THEN...  Winter came on strong again - just as I was about to start production!  

Meaning: working at the studio (getting there/staying warm) was looking problematic for several days in a row.  Happily, at the studio, the day before I'd heard this forecast, I'd already gathered and organized all my fixin's:

So, I went down, carefully packed 'em all up, toted 'em home 

and set up shop cozily next to wood stove, looking out at cold, pretty winter.  

Afternoon light, the end of the first - of 3! - production days - about 20 steps in:

Before I start w/ the FIFTY steps, I wanted to say that a LOT of the time, I have a great inclination to stop very early in the production process, because I REALLY like the very minimalist effects of some of these 'underpinnings' of my intended final product.  And I often like them so much that I wonder why I even bother to go on with the rest of the steps!  But I also really DO like the more complicated compositions that I also know most people will probably enjoy more.  But!  Be forewarned:  This minimalist bent is strong, and will undoubtedly insist on surfacing eventually.  :) 

In the meantime, I took a photo of one of the set of 21 (not the prototype - which I did slightly differently than all the other 20) at a point I particularly liked:

The Steps

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7 - I just left out this sliver of dark purple in the final versions - 
it didn't show enough - if at all - to bother with!

Step 8 - I missed a shot of a step! The pink foil (setting sun?) - 
which I also eliminated in the rest of the cards.

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

Step 12

Step 13

Step 14 - I was a bit disappointed that the appearance of the pieces of sheet music wasn't more uniform in the rest of the cards. I'd tried to place each one so it would show up in one particular little gap between branches, but I'd customized my Kirigami tree branches so much (did I mention that this was LABOR INTENSIVE??!) that when I overlaid them over my precisely placed notes, only a couple of times did my notes actually show through the branches where I'd intended them to!! 

And - I'd calculated poorly with the note placement here on the prototype as it turned out!

Step 15

Step 16

Step 17

Step 18

Step 19

Step 20

Step 21

Step 22

Step 23

Step 24

Step 25 - The 'grasses' shifted to the left in the final versions.

Step 26

Step 27

Step 28 - I left out this silver heart in my final versions.

And!  Before the rest of the steps, here is my cache of SOME of the sumac blossoms - 

cut from some wonderful marbled paper:

Which were applied ONE AT A TIME - for each of the 21 cards.  :)  

(I also had cut about an equal amount from just plain red paper.)

Each card/sumac patch got between 19-24 blossoms.  *(See what I mean?)

Step 29

Step 30

Step 31

Step 32

Step 33

Step 34

Step 35

Step 36

Step 37

Step 38

Step 39

Step 40

Step 41

Step 42

Step 43

Step 44

Step 45

Step 46

Step 47

Step 48

Step 49 - This red foil heart/blossom shifted position in the final versions.

Step 50 - I rubber-stamped these grasses much earlier in the process with the rest of the cards.  
I think I wanted the tree limbs to lay over them instead of under.

Panel of 21

And, before I end these notes, I also want to say: As much as I do like February's postcard, it feels a bit overworked to me - almost uneven, stylistically.  Or maybe it's just the amount of precisely applied white paint that jars me a little.  I tend to like to use colored papers (or other materials) as paint wherever possible.  So... I'm hoping that March's postcard brings some freshness with it!  A lighter touch. Less labor, more effect.

 That's it!  Fin.

Well... fin for THAT part....  

>>> ADDENDA! <<< 

(4 of 'em)

There was also the celebration of my beloved pal Joanne's b-day - complete with readings by a 5th Generation Tea Leaf Reader!  Of which I took NO photos! But I did take some pix of this fan I made for Joanne - who collects fans, and, of whom I am a BIG fan.  :)

Front:

I used bamboo kebab skewers for the 'bones'!

 Back - So happy to have such a fitting use for a big piece of this bold paper!

Harmonious Coven:

I'd actually used this image - copied from an OLD book - for 2 other cards I've made for Joanne over the years!  But this year it seemed even more appropriate!  SIX of the 9 of us at Joanne's bash all sing - or have sung - in the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir together!  

 Make a Wish.  

And....

My 'Winter' panels - and other collages - came down after 2+ months at Toscano's (happily everyone was most fluid re: show down/next show up, so we didn't have to be doing any of this GLASS transportation during the brutally frigid spell(s)) and went right back up a couple of days later at the Richmond Family Medicine space!  It looks nice!  But I have to say that I hope you don't see it! 

Such nice light in these tall-ceilinged halls:

 This wall's art is (almost) all for sale!  (None of the 'Winter' panels are, and I'll probably dismantle them all when this display comes down - unless another great venue for next winter presents itself.)

I was particularly glad that 2 of the largest 'Winter' panels got to go up in this space!  

They are too heavy and precarious to risk hanging in a restaurant.   A medical facility however...  ;)

'Winter IX':

 

Show'll be up 'til May.

AND!  

Barb and Ava came up to the studio and made a BUNCH of Valentines 

 for the HeArts for Hunger fundraiser sponsored by On the Rise Bakery and Huntington Valley Arts 

(3rd year!) to benefit the Richmond Food Shelf!

I made a couple too.

All the Valentines are on display and FOR SALE! at On the Rise - 'til V-Day!  

All proceeds benefit the Richmond Food Shelf.  :)

AND!  OK, this is the last bit:

Paperwhites!!

Wonderful stinky PAPERWHITES, to thumb one's nose at winter woes!  Thanks to the very same RICHMOND FOOD SHELF (& Thrift Store - where I've worked many a Saturday in the past several years)!  Winter-blooming bulbs (I picked PAPERwhites - of course) were the lovely gifts that the Board gave to all the store volunteers this year!  So nice.  SO appreciated!!  :)  Take THAT, Winter!

Poor things did NOT like me just now moving them to take this 

(crappy - the camera's even worse than it was...) photo though...

You still here?!  Thank you.  :)

final FIN.