Moss Whispers

This was a fun one to paint except for the fact that I couldn’t finish it earlier in the night! At least this little guy is getting somewhere! These birds are waiting for their turn to be added to the previous pictures. They want to be on every page. That will be on the next phase. Also, I need to note for myself that this painting needs to be ‘punched’ with color and background …later.

Okay, now this painting has been ‘enlightened’ with a little more color! And so has the little guy! This the beginning of his ‘aha experience’!

I see what I didn’t see,
I hear it all clear!
It takes a whole pocketful
to make jingles appear!!

(It’s ALL those things!)
It’s the chalk, the acorn,
the pebble AND penny!
All things together…
as one big ‘many’…

I haven’t found a brush or a color or even a stroke to express this page yet, and I’ve been thinking on this one for days! Finally, I’m just ‘letting my brush connect with ‘something’ and trusting that an authentic representation of the text will come through! AND it seems to be the kind of painting that I need to ‘express backwards’! And for a novice with watercolor, painting ‘backwards’ isn’t even ‘up my sleeve’ yet! So…here goes!

#&&*!%#!

I hear it!

It rings!…

#&&*!%#!

Need to tweak this painting a lot more! But this little guy and I are REALLY tired! And I have about 4 versions of the text, so for now, I’m just posting two…Finally, he’s letting go of his persistent search! Now maybe we’ll get somewhere!

My pillow’s napping.
I need my rest!
No more searching
For this jingling pest!

Every one of these things,
I’ll toss in this dish!
I’ll drop them ALL in,
I’ll demand my wish!

(or)
Each of these things,
I’ll toss in this bowl!
No mystery jingler
Gets ME out of control!

Okay, so this little guy is way tired, cross, and disgruntled. And for some reason painting and posting this picture also felt that way! Whew! We’re now down to the home stretch if  little guy would PLEASE just give up on his search! I’m getting tired of it! Aren’t you?

No jingle, no jangle,
Not a single ring!
I’m tired of hunting
For this jingling thing!

I’m frenzied, I’m frazzled!
So close to disaster!
No such mystery
Will be MY master!

Lots of emotions coming from this little guy as he gets more and more frustrated in trying to solve this problem! Some of my own drawing frustrations came out in this painting! I decided to crop the really wild part and just focus on his feelings. Gotta love the journey! He’s getting so close to solving his problem but still has one more burst before he can let go enough to find what he’s looking for! And for this writer and painter, she has one more day of this part of the story and many many more revisionings! to climb through to reach ‘letgo’ville! Then we’ll finally settle down for our naps! 

If I can’t solve this problem,
I’ll just sit here and pout!

I’m running into sequence problems here. Lots of images, and expressions, hard to get the text and pics in sequence. Maybe I have one two many pages…This is one image for this text. I’ll post the other half to the text and the image later. Now I see why people have editors! 

I check my pockets
From the inside out.

Clearly, this little guy is frustrated that he can’t find this jingling thing! As he gets more frustrated, so does the text get more frustrating! I’ve rewritten this page and the next 3 or 4 many many ways, and still don’t feel settled yet. For now, we’ll see how the next few pages go! His frustration doesn’t seem to follow any logical sequence. But what’s logical about sleeping in a tree anyway! We’ll just see what happens! ( the text as it is now, is below the picture.)

It’s none of THESE treasures!
Oh, chagrin! chagrin!
My head’s shaking “no”
Propped up on my chin…

What makes this jingle
Ring so clear?
There must be something!
It must be here!

Today I got up early to start a procedure that may help relieve some of the numbness/tingly sensations in my hands that may be coming from heavy metal reactions in my body in addition to chronic lyme.  It’s so odd to me that NOW with all this going on with my hands, that I would concentrate more on fine motor activities like writing and watercolor! Logic has never been my forte.                                                                                                          I was eager to start on today’s work, and had already sketched my images last night.  And then, out of the blue! I decided to try a different technique with my painting. Up til now, I’ve just been pencil sketching and then doing all the fine work with the smallest brush I had. Today I decided to do pen and watercolor combined. Pen is not nearly as ‘forgiving’ as pencil/ eraser and brushes and paint, yet I thought it might help me get the fine points better since it’s so hard for me to get my fingers to be as steady as I want….well…here it it…watercolor and ink! I’m not sure I like it as much. I made a huge ‘mistake’ (I always told kids when I taught…”when you think you’ve made a ‘mistake’, just turn it into something beautiful!)…so I let out an ‘agghh’ when black paint smeared from my brush all over little guy’s arms, head and binoculars, and then tried a lot of things I vaguely remembered that might help remove the black blob. Took a little more patience, but was able to shove all the extra black…’under his bed’! My plan had been to also do another using my old techniques and ask any readers that come by to ‘pick the one that seemed the best’. We’ll see if my hands are up for trying it again later today. For now, here’s page 13.

Maybe I dropped it
As I pulled things out.
I’ll look all around.
“No jingle!” I shout.

Amazing how each illustration takes longer and longer! I worked on this one ALL day! And I must have done something to the settings to make it come out ‘quite purple’! Maybe it’s getting later in the day and the sun is setting? Hope this little guy find ‘the jingle’ soon!

I drop the pebble…
Down with a thud.
It makes no jingle…
Only flakes off mud.

The ball of string is quiet and soft
The button was silent when it fell off.
My treasure key only opens my trunk
The pin and the box just go ker-plunk.

Today I had a chance to work on my drawings earlier, give them time to gel, and then finished painting earlier! This was a fun one to do! Hopefully I’ll learn how to do the smaller objects more like I want them. At least he finally made it to his bedroom in the tree! and that means I’ll make it to mine a lot earlier tonight! Whoopee! Wish, as does my cousin, Dillard, that we also had ‘tree beds’ for sleeping’ and dreaming’…well actually, while we’re sleeping, we really can!

I’ll test them ALL
til I find the thing…
that’s making that jingly jingling ring!

I shake the chalk…
There’s not a sound.
I twirl the penny…
twist the acorn around….