Summer’s Flight of Fantasy-Peek-a-Boo Project

Today would have been my sweet Momma's 94th Birthday. Hard to believe she's been gone 5 years now. I know I honor her in my art and hope she see herself reflected there.My Summer Vacation started on June 16, a day I feel I emerge from my cocoon of restricted constraint. One of the few books I have read in the past 10 years was, The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd. The Pre Civil war era novel opens from one of the main characters, Handful’s perspective, as she retells an African legend of people who could fly but lost their wings once they were taken to America. I feel like this school year has taken away my wings and broke my spirit. I know that “Summer Jon David” is going to soar in the summer sun, stay up past sunset, sleep in setting no nasty alarms and rediscover his majestic wings. It is my season of exploration and artistic creations.. One of my favorite podcasts is Atlas Obscura, celebrating the world’s strange and wondrous places. These are the inspirations for this artwork.

Supplies:  GSLC-ATC Folder Frame 2,  Marbleized Washi Tape, UHU GlueStick, Decorative Pictorial Papers, Sanding Block, TH Distress Stains Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone, Golden Jenkins Green, Green Gold and Deco Art Color Shift Green Flash Acrylic Paints, Metallique Flame Acrylic Paint, Deco Art Stencil Cream Gold, the Antiquarian Sticker Book: Imaginarium, Pencil, Scissors, Brown Marker,Rub On Transfers-Golden Ht Air Balloons, Matte Gel Medium, Paintbrush

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Add Marbleized Washi Tape to Spine of GSLC ATC Folder for Added Durability.
   
3. Cut Decorative Papers into 2.5 by 3.5 Piece to Attach to Inside and Outside Cover Potion of Folder.
   
4. Glue Papers Securing with a UHU GlueStick.
   
5. Use a Sanding Block to Tidy Up and Distress Dried Paper Covers.
   
6. Use TH Distress Stains of Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone to Fill in Scratches.
   
7. Add Another Length of Marbleized Washi Tape to Folder Spine.
   
8. Use Golden Jenkins Green, Green Gold and Deco Art Color Shift Green Flash Acrylic Paints and a Paintbrush to Paint Top Frame of ATC Folder 2.
   
9. Use Metallique Flame Acrylic Paint, Deco Art Stencil Cream Gold and a Paintbrush to Paint Bottom Portion Frame of ATC Folder 2.
   
10. Glue Frame Portions Together with UHU GlueStick. Press Flat Until Fully Dry.
    
11.  Use 2.5 by 3.5 Pieces of Decorative Papers to Build you Collages on.
    
12.  Use ATC frame to Find Best Portion of Images Chosen From the Antiquarian Sticker Book: Imaginarium.
    
13.  Cut Out Images and Secure to Paper Using a UHU GlueStick.
                    
14.  Edge Images with a Brown Marker.
15.  Glue Images to Prepared Layered Frames.
    
16.  Glue Frame to ATC Frame Folder 2 Using  UHU GlueStick.
    
17.  Press and Dry Completely.
18.  Add Rub On Transfers-Golden Hot Air Balloons to Front Cover of GSLC ATC Folder Frame 2.
    
19.  Seal All in with Art Deco Matte Gel Medium.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Final Thoughts:

Although “Invention of Wings “  was a pre-Civil War novel, Maryland was a Border State, during the Civil War-meaning it was a slave state that did not secede from the Union. It was deeply divided, Farmers on the marshy Easter Shores and the tidewater region of Southern Maryland, once dominated by the tobacco crop, largely favored maintaining their right to own slaves as their livelihood relied upon it. Baltimore, home to a large free black population and trade magnates who profited handsomely from business with the South, housed both strongly pro-Union and pro-Confederate residents. The hilly countryside west of Baltimore, dotted by small family farms with a heavy German influence, leaned more towards the Union. It’s easy to imagine that many Marylanders just wanted to be left alone, but because of their geographical location they were caught in the middle of the conflict.

Both the Union and the Confederacy used hot air balloons to help determine the location of troops and artillery. This innovation in aerial warfare was a trailblazer for its time, as it took place forty-two years before the invention of the airplane. 

Atlas Obscura has several episodes about the Civil War:Underground Railroad Experience Trail-The hike starts at the historic Woodlawn Manor, an old plantation whose owners were kicked out of the Quaker church for refusing to free their enslaved laborers. 

Fort Carroll-was built in the late 1840s to defend the city of Baltimore from naval attacks, although like so many forts of its time this potential would never be realized. Point Lookout State Park was a Union prisoner of war camp to hold captive soldiers from the Confederate Army.

Point Lookout earned a reputation as one of the worst prison camps operated by the Union. The prison at Point Lookout held more than 50,000 Confederate soldiers over the course of the war, often under inhumane conditions.

National Museum of Civil War Medicine is set up as an immersive experience, with exhibits that recreate various aspects of Civil War life: day-to-day operations in an army camp, dressing wounds in the field, evacuation of the wounded soldiers, a field hospital, and a military hospital ward.

Fort Foote Rodman Guns-the twin Rodman Guns date to the Civil War and recall the defensive blitz that briefly transformed the city into the most heavily armed camp on in North America.

Dr. Samuel Mudd House Museum-on the night of April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater, jumped off a balcony and broke his leg. As Booth galloped through Maryland in escape, his first stop was at the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd.

Guess the Greyhound has been guarding the porch of the house at 108 West Church Street for over 150 years. But according to local history, it was almost turned into ammo during the Civil War.

Father’s Day From the Faded Past-A Peek-a-Boo Project

                              

                                       

Recently I was going through some items I had been given from my family’s homestead which was sold in July of 2020, and discovered a treasure trough of some of my father’s items. I have some of the many letter my father wrote to my momma when he was in WWII stationed in Germany. I mentioned them. I wrote about them in a  blog titled "My Dad Was a Romantic" in June of 2021.

To my amazement,  I had been given one of dad’s high school report cards, he excelled at Physical Education, Bookkeeping and US History. There were Honor Roll Acknowledgments. There was an invitation to my parents wedding. Postcards from Germany, an Army Patch, a photograph of his sweetheart,  registration cards to the army, some German money or Deutsche Mark-1922, Netherlands Guilder-1943, and even one of his metal dog tags. As many of us know memories fade and so do homesteads and lands of our youth.  These are the inspirations for this artwork.

Supplies: (3) GSLC Reliquary Arch Top, Printed Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters,Pencil, Thin Scrap Cardboard, Scissors, Rust Paste, Acrylic Paints in Brown and Yellow Tones, PaintBrush, Embossing Dabber, Allure Ammo Camo Embossing Powder, Heating Tool, Metallique Flame and Golden Iridescent Copper Paint, UHU GlueStick, Clear Flower Film, Matte Gel Medium, Fiskars Fern Punch, Liquid Pearl Drops, Chrome Marker 

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Print Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters.
   
3. Use a Pencil to Trace Pattern onto Thin Cardboard of Top Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch Top.
   
4. Cut Out Patterns with Scissors.
   
5. Paint Top Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch Top with Rust Paste and Acrylic Paints in Brown and Yellow Tones.
   
6. Add Depth and Interest Using Embossing Dabber Randomly an Sprinkle With Allure Ammo Camo Embossing Powders.
   
7. Cure With a Heating Tool.
8. Paint Bottom Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch with Metallique Flame and Golden Iridescent Copper Paint. Also Edges of Cut-Out Pattern.
   
9. Cut Print Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters and Glue to Bottom Portion.
   

   
10. Use Matter Gel Medium to Attach Clear Flower Bits.
    

    
11. I Was Dissatisfied With how the Images of Men had Faded so I Wanted to Rescue Project so Added Additional Images, Covered with Clear Packing Tape. 
    
12. I Made Fern Fronds Using Fishers Paper Punch and Printed Images and Scraps of Pictorial Papers.
    
13. Glued these Additions on Using UHU GlueStick.
14. Glue Frames Together using UHU GlueStick and Hold Securely With Metal Clamps.
    
15. To Add a Bit More Depth I added Red Liquid Pearl Dots and Chrome Marker Dots.
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts:

This project much like the relationship I had with my da went down some expected pathways. In the end it is one I am content with but not one of my favorites. Such is the art process and human interactions. 

The men featured in these three pieces are my da-Brady Harold Lowe, and my momma’s dad-Ralph Foust. Photos featured in the layout are my dad’s father Zaney Lowe, my da, and my aunt Irene. There are also glimpses of the treasure trough of items I mentioned earlier.

The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 originally in Washington State and not until 1972 was it officially declared a holiday by President Woodrow Wilson. Sonora Smart Dodd is usually credited for originating Father’s Day in 1909, in a widely publicized  even held in Spokane, Washington. But there was another woman, Grace Golden Clayton, that was instrumental in the cause also. She proposed a service to be held in July of 1908, to remember the hundreds of men who had perished in the worst mining accident in the U.S. history. This observance was not promoted and did not become an annually held event.