February's Postcard of the Month

Overflowing heart.

As our father has been having some alarming, possibly heart-related difficulties these past weeks, my sister and I have been processing the breaking of our own hearts. 

What I noticed was that breaking and overflowing can feel like the same thing. 

I like the graceful heart-shaped pods of the dying milkweed,

breaking open, spilling their ethereal seeds:

I got out the reds:

but pretty much ended up only using a few - mostly the papers on the right.

So, this first prototype:

I didn't bother to add the little hearts next - 

I just wanted to see how it looked with white sheet music instead,

and centered higher on the page:

 I liked the brown music better.

More visceral.

The Fixin's

The hearts are edged with strips of Wasps' nest 'paper':* 

Production Steps - The Movie:

The Steps

40 steps this month

I don't know why I felt so compelled to include this strip of grey dots

maybe it'll reveal some apt relevance in the future, or to another viewer...

I ink 'stamped' these 'ventricles' with my own 'stamp'**

silver strips cut from salvaged cigarette pack liners***

Here come the Wasps' nest strips:

And now all the little heart seeds:

Panel of 21 of February's postcards:

Fin.

*My friend, Barb, found this Wasps' nest and brought it to me years ago.  I have enough scraps of 'paper' from other, not-intact nests that Mule and my friend Andy have salvaged for me over the years that I don't ever peel any off this beauty!

**Made from a piece of some plastic greenery that I glued onto some matte board and then inked:

***My friend, Joy, sent me these silver papers:

Addendum

(Warning!!  Might be disturbing viewing.)

So sadly, a(nother) deer was hit up on the road across from the house, while I was working on these cards.

They travel their long-established corridor, right across our property. 

The game warden came and swiftly dispatched the poor girl, 

(she was otherwise nice and big - @140 lbs. - and healthy)

and left it with Mule to butcher and put in the freezer.

I don't think I've ever seen such RED meat!

Mule's considering doing another venison chili for the upcoming Nectar's Chili contest.