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Or, Why Armadillos, part 3?
After I made The Truth About Armadillos and entered it in the Tompkins County Quilters Guild show, I apparently had a reputation in the community as an armadillo lover.
I came home from work one day to find a brass armadillo sitting on my door step. He was about eight inches long and five inches high and had a nice brassy weight to him. There was no note, no indication of where he had come from. I took him in, figuring he needed a good home, and set him high on a window sill on the front side of the house so that whoever had left him there could see he had been taken in out of the cold. I mentioned him casually to my friends, but no one admitted to knowing anything about him.
A few days later I came home and had a shock. The brass armadillo was outside, pausing during a climb up a pile of gravel that was waiting to be spread over my driveway. Not believing that he would leave the house on his own, I was certain someone had broken in and brought him outside. Then I looked up and saw the first brass armadillo sitting where I had left him on the window sill.
The mountain climbing armadillo was the first orphan’s twin. Now I had two brass armadillos and still no idea where they had come from. As time went on, I wracked my brain, trying to guess who had left me armadillos anonymously. I confronted everyone I could think of, but no one ever confessed. To this day, I do not know who the culprit was. I only know the armadillos found their way to my house, and they live with me still. Fortunately, I like a little mystery in my life.
I’ve been interested in mixed-media art for the last few years but only a handful of pieces turn out the way I hoped they would. I keep thinking that there are secrets to learn to get the results I want, but I know in my heart it’s just a question of practice and experimentation. All I need is the willingness to make a bunch of ugly stuff in the process.
However, this past Monday night at my To The Bones art workshop (we’re working our way through Women Who Run With The Wolves), Robin Muse told me a Secret about working with metal tins that I hadn’t discovered yet – you can glue paper right onto them! I painted a tin with acrylics and the paint flaked off after it dried. I assumed glue wouldn’t stick either, but the box in the photo is an Altoid tin covered with brown paper. I used Modge-Podge to attach it, but gel medium also works. To give it a more interesting look, I painted it. I love the texture and depth I achieved. The only question is, do I love it too much? I was going to make a little shrine, but I am now afraid to mess up my super cool tin.
Technicalities for those who care: I coated the paper with a layer of Modge-Podge to seal it and let it dry. Paint layer 1 contained partially mixed ochre, burnt sienna, and gold acrylic paints applied unevenly with a brush. When it was dry, I brushed on paint layer 2 (a black I mixed myself), then took most of the paint back off with a paper towel.
Yesterday, we finally made the trip south to a home near Evergreen, CO to buy a used canoe that is in beautiful condition. It was a solid hour and a half drive down, but it was another gorgeous day in Colorado, so we decided to take even longer on the return home. We took the scenic route (i.e., back roads through the mountains) and it lived up to its name. Around every corner was another stunning view of mountains or meadows or canyons.
The Big Event: we were treated to the sight of three bighorn sheep grazing on a hillside right by the road. It was hard to miss them – there were people standing by the road and staring at them through binoculars and cameras. It was the first time I had ever seen bighorn sheep in the wild. They were a lot bigger than I expected.
The other fun thing about yesterday was seeing the canoe strapped to my car. It’s longer than my Honda by over two feet, but we figured out a secure way to tie it down and it turns out it’s not that hard to drive the car with the canoe in place. We took Cora along for the drive, and here’s a picture of the complete package: car, canoe, and Cora (she’s looking out the hatch window).
