Addled by this relentless winter. But the geese helped.
It all started as I pondered April showers - How to do?
And I came across this image* of rain that was very appealing.
And I do love my geese stamp:
And for the past few Springs,
I've gotten a kick out of visiting my friend Linda and her feathered flocks:
So... when I came across these geese (in a little, 30 year old children's book - "On the Farm"):
After I copied and tweaked 'em a bit, I went for it:
Then, just as I was getting ready to start production,
I came across the wonderful postcard artwork of this turn-of-the-20th century artist,
Rachael Robinson Elmer**
which didn't change my production plans, but made me really happy, and also rather supported re: my soft, pastel-y color choices and the more graphic aspects of the circle shapes.
The Fixin's
I forgot to include a key element in the first photo,
and then I changed my mind about a couple of other elements,
So...
I decided to make a party game out of these two photos. :)
HOW MANY DIFFERENCES??!
(not including the relative neatness/messiness of each individual pile)
can you spot between Fixin's #1
And, Fixin's #2???
Have fun!!
Game answers:
1. Geese stamp goes from upside down to right side up; 2. Matchbox (containing green dots, unbeknownst to you) removed, uncovering the shiny green paper; 3.Green dots (which I never ended up using...) where green threads were; 4. Green threads where blue foil strips were; 5. Geese where white tissue rectangles were; 6. White tissue rectangles where green foil strips were; 7. Box of tiny dots goes from upside down to right side up.
Steps
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
Step 11
Step 12
Step 13
Step 14 - I was tempted to just stop here. The geese brought me to my senses. :)
Step 15 - See? It gets kind of ugly for a while...
Step 16
Step 17
Step 18
Step 19 - interesting new (to me), sort of waxy paper.
I'd thought it might be unfriendly with my glue, but it wasn't. :)
Step 20
Step 21 - Not sure why I felt the need to include this patch of gold flake
(it's in the green paper), but later I thought: Aha! Geese with golden eggs!
Step 22
Step 23 - I just replenished my supply of this wonderful, mottled, dusty blue-ish grey paper,
that I couldn't resist using, even though it mostly end up buried!
Step 24
Step 25
Step 26
Step 27
Step 28
Step 29
Step 30
Step 31
Step 32 - GEESE! Looks much better now. :)
Step 33 - In my prototype, I'd found these printed geese a little jarring.
Step 34 - So I decided to mute their effect a bit by breaking them up with a little "grass".
Step 35
Step 36 - Here comes the rain (drops)!
Step 37 - Or are they eggs??
Step 38 - Or stray notes??
Step 39
Step 40
Step 41
Step 42
Step 43
In hindsight, it would have made a better progression had I started the little dots at the top!
Panel of 21
Fin.
Addendum
I found the emergence of these cheery geese rather unlikely, though the fact that they did emerge, made me feel very good, of course! I'd spent much of the month in fond, bittersweet remembrance of a few recently departed old friends. In particular, my dear dear old friend, fellow baker/caterer, and the best of correspondents, who had life throw her such a cruel curve -
my beloved friend, Caroline Garside
Photo cropped from a lovely luncheon gathering of bakers, 15 or so years ago,
out at the Manghi's beautiful, bucolic muse of a spread.
**hhttp://lockkeeper.com/features/rachael/volland.htm - And: the Robinson family home is now the Rokeby Museum, if I'm remembering correctly. :)
