End of April Notes

Today I am posting on April 29...the end of a month long riot of weather in Wisconsin that made spring very difficult to find! But the daffodils and bluebells did arrive briefly in Julie's garden and she brought us beautiful gift bouquet.  And out in the lovely woods at Oakwood here in Madison...the bluebells, spring beauties and crocus come just before the trillium.  Bird song is loud and joyful.  

I close the month of April, though, with generally happy thoughts about art and family.  Around here lot of joyful things are on the calendar...a new great daughter due on the 7th, a grandson graduating from high school and some spring birthdays...Maddy and Patrick in April and Ben in May.  I got a new computer and Julie and Mark made is safely back from their winter trip west.  

  

    The new Oakwood art library is beginning to fill in with furniture, paintings, and other joyful accommodations.  Hoping for an open house in June.  

Julie and I are teaching a Zentangle® class at a new venue in Madison at the Monroe Street Art Center this Friday.  I plan to theme it around this book: We entitled the class "Dingbatz, Frames and Cartouches."

Here's how one of sample frames might look (Maddy's Birthday Card).

 

You'll notice that the frame I tangled is around Layla (Maddy's dog) and then the Dingbatz is in the corner of the envelope.  Which, if look closely, can be cut off and used as a bookmark!  Dingbatz are actually sort of "placeholders" usually in text or poetry to divide spaces, announce new chapters or sections, or otherwise enhance a lot of text.  Or tucked in the corner of an envelope!  

 I'll post more images after the class so you can see more examples.

We had a fun little art exercise here at Oakwood Art groups thinking about the characters from Beatrix Potter.  I picked Mrs. Tiggywinkle who is a hedgehog.  Sketched her into my sketchbook and then sent a copy to 5 year Violet (my great granddaughter.) The hedgehog is holding an iron in her hand (she does the laundry for the forest animals).  I told Violet to ask her grandmother what an iron is.  Would children even know?  

This was just a short blog...to let you know Greg and I are still around and learning new things. Tomorrow night my chorus has a performance and I have two more Sundays in May at church with choir to the end of the season.  I'll miss the music.  

Hoping you are all well and you have a good May.