Moss Whispers

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….

Tonight I had to MAKE  myself just POST even when I knew I wasn’t finished! So hard for me to keep that discipline, when I know there’s so much more to do to the painting. Good for me to learn to ‘let it be’…for awhile, and myself, too! Watercolors seem to need to have some ‘flow time’ and ‘air time’ too! And I’m ready for a good night’s sleep! So I’m declaring: “enough” 🙂

There’s a ball of string to tie things tight,
a button I lost from my coat last night,
there’s a key for my treasure,
A safety pin,
A tiny box to put things in…

More things to look at, more and more details! These pictures are very small…about 3″x5″…need to exaggerate the items or they won’t be seen at all! Or do a close up of just the things!…well, for now, we’re working on the setting: right outside his bedroom, in his tree!

What ELSE do I have here?
What’s making this noise?
There’s…
Chalk from my hopscotch,
An acorn’s cap,
A pebble as quiet as my pillow’s nap…

Little Guy and colors look sort of tired tonight.  Used a different kind of watercolor paper.  At least he’s gotten ONE thing out of his pocket! 

I pinch it tight.
I p-u-l-l straight out.
My lucky penny
Just rolls about.

Little Guy knows how to climb this tree very well! I just can’t quite draw all his twists and turns so that they represent his agility. For now, he’s going to have to accept my inadequacies and be happy that we all made it to his ‘bedroom branch’! I know I’M ready for a nap even if he isn’t! Now the magic comes in ‘the details’. Better get a good night’s sleep!

As I reach my branch
By my bedroom door…
This jingling sound,
I can’t ignore!

My fingers feel something
Curved and flat.
No jingle could come
From one thing like that!

Today this little guy and I had a long ‘sit down’ talk. (NOT in a tree!) I needed some hint from him of where he was headed on his adventure so that I wouldn’t paint myself out on a limb trying to keep up with him! We came to some understanding, and I began to sketch ahead since there were some architectural feats to overcome. I also needed to rework the text to stay true to his story. Hopefully, in the long run, this will help, but for today, it took a huge amount of time and watercolors just had to stop their flow and wait til tomorrow to fall into the mix. 

When I reach the branch

At my bedroom door

My pocket starts jingling

More and more!

I’m posting this painting until I come up with a better rendition of this little guy’s upside-down position!  He doesn’t seem to want to wait until I learn to draw, and is already moving on! Finding that jingling sound seems to be what is calling him. Also, at some point, the bird that has been following him will find his place on this page as well. Meanwhile, I’m starting to address what’s ahead for this guy as he keeps climbing.

I reach to the bottom.
Wiggle my fingers around.
I hear it again!…
That jingling sound!

Today has been a day of climbing and not getting very far! Seems I’ve been stuck swinging’ on a branch with this little guy! The higher he climbs in this tree, the more complicated are the poses and positions he takes.  I spent virtually all day trying to draw this little guy in this awkward position where he’s almost ‘skinning the cat’ hanging over a branch trying to see what’s in his back pocket without falling out of the tree. After searching for toddler climbing images, sketching up reams of poses, almost hitting my head on our brick floor trying to strike the pose myself in a chair upside down, making a paper doll and bending it over a pencil posing as ‘the branch’, and then losing the last 3 years of photos on my computer, I finally got a peek at him, lying limp over the branch, trying to look into his back pocket, without falling out of the tree!                                                                                                                                                                                       ..aghh! and now after first part of my watercoloring, he looks sort of ‘dead’ hanging on the tree upside down! This little child is “leading me” where?!!!! Breathe, Ann!