Baby steps

I said earlier this week I was making changes because life felt shitty. I’m now coming home from work, closing up the house and putting the heater on in my office, getting changed, leaving a light on – then going to see Tony. That way I don’t come home to a totally cold, dark house.

Today I used some FlyBuys points to get a small slow cooker. I can prep containers of meat, veg and sauce at the weekend. On a weekday morning throw one in the slow cooker as I leave for work and when I get home from visiting Tony there’ll be hot food ready for me. It’ll still make two or three night’s food, but that suits me fine.

Tonight I took some photos up to put on Tony’s wall, at his request. They made him tearful, but that’s ok. Marlow, the home’s cat, came in through his ranch slider and let Tony pick her up. She’s a Ragdoll but not very cuddly!

Alison’s photos

Tonight I’m back into my fav Dina Wakley art journal, playing with Alison’s old photos. The words I’ve used, “my someone”, relate to her memory loss and the fact she feels no connection to her photos. I suspect dementia is harder on those watching than those fading.

A bit of art and some news

First of all, the bit of art. I’ve done this week’s CMP2018 and another page in my favourite Dina Wakley journal using Tony’s cousin Alison’s photos. She has no memories attached to them any more and we don’t know their history either, but at least this way they have some ongoing meaning (if only to Tony and I). 

The other news is that a local artist and I are going to have a joint exhibition during ArtsFest in November, hopefully in Eltham. The other artist is @_dimmie_ on Twitter – you can see some of her work here. I’m very excited and have started planning a new body of work.

 

 

cjs18 day 31 Finnabair

I love Finnabair‘s work but it’s not my style, so I took some of her recipe and made it my own, which is a good way to work anyway. I’m still using old photos belonging to Tony’s cousin Alison – she has dementia and no longer remembers the people and places, so using them in my art gives them some new meaning. This is the last day of cjs18; I’ll do a wrap-up post shortly.

CJS18 day 3 – Carolyn Dube

Today’s cjs18 page was inspired by Caroyln Dube; I follow her on YouTube but tend not play long – I’m glad to say joining in fun. One of the recipes today was to use ‘trash’. I made these diecut pieces for on cards but wasn’t happy with them, so was pleased to repurpose them. Carolyn suggested using a medium you can’t totally control, so I got the inks out too. As you can see, my fascination with old photos, family and memory continues.

cjs day 2 – Tina Walker

Day 2, inspired by Tina Walker. The prompts I used were crayons, sprays, drawing, stencils and splattering. The photo is an old family one that wasn’t needed so I figured repurposing it was better than throwing it out! The page references our journey with Tony’s cousin Alison who has dementia. Some days she’s fairly coherent but other days her long-term memory is poor and her short-term memory almost non-existent.

Scrapbooking soothes

Yesterday morning I was a bit miserable so spent the day scrapbooking and felt better in no time at all. I’m determined to use up all my older supplies this year, including cardstock I no longer love the colour of. I have been using paint and gesso to do cover ups, and stenciling to create new surfaces, which is all good fun. Here’s some of yesterday’s layouts. A few of these are my entries in the Creative Jumpstart 14 give-aways over at Natalie’s Studio.

New Legato work finished

This commemorates my Mother’s birth father, Fred McKenna. Sadly, Mum never knew him, but in later life got to know her half-sisters. One of them, Margaret, provided some photos and information so I could make this piece of work, which is going to Italy later this year for the 2014 Legato exhibition in Cassino. Fred served in WWI and this year’s Legato is the ideal place to honour the grandfather I never knew.

I have been working on this piece for days; it’s 18×24″ on stretched canvas. I haven’t varnished it yet, just in case; there’s one small spot that might get adjusted yet. I have photographed the entire piece, and then there’s some close-up shots to show the details and layers. 

Working on the details

This morning I am adding spots of colour, layers of gesso over the photos, and obscuring some of the writing. I’m also transcribing a letter I have from his daughter so I can write all the info onto the canvas. It is *not* as bright as this looks, but my camera’s being unhelpful!

Combining the elements

I’ve been piling up the gelli prints, writing and drawing in my journals, and playing with photos. So the next step was to combine some of it in Photoshop. This is fairly small, and has about 7 layers. I’m slowly learning to do more in Photoshop but it’s still feels a bit foreign to me. I need to head over the Michelle Ward’s blog and reread her information about making digital brushes masks – she’s an awesome teacher and incredibly generous with  her knowledge.