Moss Whispers

I’m realizing so many things I want to learn. I want to learn how to make my characters look like they are talking, and be able to have them move more freely on the page to express themselves, not just their poses but also their mouths, fingers, and facial expressions! And I want the rhyme to let loose of me a little bit! We’ll see!

“I’m Slab, the potter of this Hillock Town.”

“I search for clay underneath the ground.”

“What brings you here to our mountain peak?”

“Have you lost your way? “What is it you seek?”

“I lost my shoe and stubbed my toe.”

“Surely I’ll find it before I go.

“For I am Martha Julia Agnes Adele.”

“Shoes and adventures I find quite well.”

I’ve been away for a few days on my OWN adventure! Left my hiking boots (which I don’t  always tie quite well!) at home. And stepped back in time to go to my 45th High School Reunion! Takes a lot for me to break away from projects and push through any leftover teenage issues to go, but it was so wonderful! And also spent time with my 93 year-wise mom and 96 year-wise dad. A precious weekend! I wish one of my high school friends, who’s an amazing artist, lived nearby and  could ‘coach me’ on getting my paintings to express what’s really in my head! I also may go back after I finish this and rewrite it also in prose….Books take years to grow, just like children! Though years go by in a blink of an eye these days!

She spies someone trudging up the road,

A funny old many with a heavy load.

“I’m Martha Julia Agnes Adele,

“Please sit a while and rest a spell.”

I’ve been so busy writing and painting that I haven’t taken much time to work on my studio, ACIU. I named it ACIU because that’s my favorite Lithuanian word.  Unfortunately, it’s been so full these last few years, that I haven’t had many times (or especially SPACE!) to create in it! So I’ve brought my $3.oo goodwill light table and paints and supplies into the house and set up ‘camp studio’ on the living room sofa and coffee table bench! Now it’s time to RECLAIM this Studio Space!  

ACIU: Aciu means “thank you”…and to me “it’s thank you every moment!”

It’s quite a menagerie! and I’ll let you in on a big secret, if it won’t scare anyone! It’s a lot like my mind! Actually, may even be better-sorted than my mind, but I’m sure my mind is a little more dynamic!

The drawers are the most organized in sorted. We’ll open them some time later!

There’s so much to write about and the day is already over! I want to share all I’m learning and yet first I want to integrate it into my writing/painting. Not quite enough hours in the days, but I guess that’s the best way to grow patience! I really want to break away from this rhyme a bit, but that will take time for me to retrain parts of my brain! So for now, I’m posting what’s been written, knowing that it all will be so ready for tweaks and rewrites, and changes in the paintings. So for now, even I will need to let the inaction be okay for now.

This is the PebbleStoneStreet close to where Martha Julia Agnes Adele loses her shoe and soon will meet up with Slab, the Potter. Been writing all day, but not ready to split it up into the next pages yet. It may take a couple pages worth before she actually meets up with him! Whew! A little more work on the drawing scale, as well, before I can paint them! Hope the leaves don’t fall before she gets going on her adventure and hopefully finds her shoe! “Sleep well, Everyone,” says Martha Julia Agnes Adele!

Who better to enter the story than Slab, the Potter, who knows every inch of the Hillock, above and below ground. A perfect catalyst for Martha Julia Agnes Adele’s upcoming adventure. And maybe he’ll have some clues to the whereabouts of her shoe! He may need to be toned down a bit to keep him ‘manageable’. He does need to keep rather big hands and feet for digging and tunneling on his hunts for the best clay. Interesting that he doesn’t even have shoestrings to tie on his shoes!

Lots of things about the story seem in that state of creative madness right now! So many characters are wanting to enter next! I don’t even think I can let that many of them come in, if I want to keep the simplicity of this story! So hard to say “no” to some of them! They’ll just need to wait their turn, and it might not be in this story. Some may have to wait longer than others. That’s SO hard! It’s as hard as having a classroom of children, each of whom wants to be first! Be heard! Get the attention. They all want to know they matter! Sigh…I didn’t realize such decisions would follow me everywhere!

Yes, she hadn’t tied her shoes quite right.

With strings so loose, one shoe took flight.

Yet for Martha Julia Agnes Adele,

An adventure was near… she could always tell!

Martha Julia Agnes Adele is realizing that she’s stumbled upon yet another adventure. After getting over stumble and loss of her shoe, she’s gotten up and is feeling quite independent and sassy! Ready to begin her next adventure, in spite of the fact that she can’t tie her shoes very well! Still changing the text, here it is as of now:

Yes, she hadn’t tied her shoes quite right.

With the strings so loose, one shoe took flight.

Yet for Martha Julia Agnes Adele,

An adventure was near! She could already tell!

This painting took a very long time and I’m afraid Martha Julia Agnes Adele’s face expresses how I’m feeling afterwards! It was easier to make this ‘pebblestone street’ than to paint it! I’m in for ‘trouble’  for she will be going on her adventure mostly on this little street! This will be good for me! As for her mother…she’s not supposed to be in the heavens! She’s supposed to be in Martha Julia Agnes Adele’s mind! hmmm.. Also, I need to decide exactly what kind and color of laced shoe she’s wearing and looking for on this adventure. Started out as a red Mary Ann shoe, they will need to have laces. Now it’s more like a tennis shoe, but what color? Red? hmm…

.
She scuffed to her knees, looking round for her shoe.

In her ears, her mother’s voice blew through.

“Martha Julia Agnes Adele,

You’ll lose your shoes if you don’t tie them well!”