The Further Adventures of the Red-haired Girl

If you want to see the next installment of the red-haired girl you can go here: Vhttp://daydreambeliever-gina.blogspot.com/2011/12/story-of-girl-in-blue-scarf-continues.html#comment-form. It’a great addition to the story.

Adventures of the Red Haired Girl

Amy McDonald at http://butterscape.blogspot.com/ has started a story that is being told in installments.  You can sign up at her site to write and she will assign you a week.  It was my turn this week to continue the story of the red-haired girl and her horse Peg.  To see the full story click here: http://butterscape.blogspot.com/p/onceuponatime.html.  Illustrations are optional and I took my best shot at creating some to go along with my story line.  They are done in Caran D’Ache pencils.

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and then…

 Suddenly the girl with the red hair saw a bus coming towards her through the swirling maelstrom.  This seemed incredibly odd but it was the diversion that she needed.  Though the wind and debris kept trying to carry her away from the bus it loomed closer and closer and she fought to reach it.  Finally it swerved up beside her and the door wrenched open.

 She was shocked when she set eyes on the driver.  She appeared to be staring at herself, which she knew had to be completely impossible.  And yet, in a voice she recognized as her very own the driver said, “There is powerful magic afoot, come inside quickly and I will give you aid.”  Dazed and confused by the ever-changing circumstances in which she found herself, the red-haired girl boarded the bus.  She hoped that trusting herself was the right choice, but she had few options!

 The driver explained that she was a physical manifestation of the strong heroine within the red-haired girl.  She explained that she would drive the bus towards the mirror shards while the red-haired girl took time to gather her thoughts and determine what must be done.

The red-haired girl pondered the fact that Mr. Panda had not become a demon and had appeared to be trying to give her advice that would help them all.  She began to wonder if he had also been under the enchantment from which she had helped set them all free.  But he had warned her of sea turtles and cups of tea and she couldn’t determine how that fit into the puzzle in which she was enmeshed.  She had to reach the mirror and put the pieces back.  Her best guess was that was how to stop the demon woman.

 As she reached this conclusion the bus lurched to a stop and the red-haired girl locked eyes with herself.  The driver said, “The mirror shards are right outside but Peg and the demon, Mrs. Goldwater, are approaching quickly. You’ll have to work fast to put the mirror back together!”  The red-haired girl leapt from the bus and began to gather the shards glimpsing Peg looming ever closer.

 She knelt with the mirror and the shards and fit them back into place as best she could.  While it was not perfect, she could see her own crooked reflection and had to hope it would be good enough.  She was startled by a whinny from Peg, who was clearly right behind her.  She whirled, mirror turned outward to face Mrs. Goldwater, or the demon that she had become.  Mrs. Goldwater looked furious as she moved toward the red-haired girl not immediately noticing the mirror.  When she saw the mirror it was too late, and she looked into her own twisted reflection.  Instantly she turned from flesh and bone to a dark shadow and began to drift back to the sky.  At the same time the wonderful, red bus, with her other self, and the maelstrom evaporated to expose a beautiful countryside.  Peg, intensely weary, came to her side and nuzzled her neck.  Mr. Panda was nowhere to be seen.

When the red-haired girl held the mirror towards Mrs. Goldwater she made a wondrous discovery.  There was a map drawn on the back of the mirror.  It showed rolling hills edged by a sharp string of mountains.  Past the mountains was a lovely blue sea.  She believed that was where the two of them were meant to go.  Their fate seemed tied to the sea and the sea turtles and mermaids of which she had dreamed.  Always frightened that the man in black might close behind, she mounted the tired Peg and set off towards the mountains that she could just make out in the distance.  Though flying might be faster, Peg was not strong enough for that after what they had been through.  They merely plodded off in the direction of the mountains, sorely tired but happy to be together once again.

to be continued…

Rainbow

Well, there was no post for Build A Rainbow yesterday.  I am sick, having picked up some bug or another, and didn’t feel up to anything.  Today is not much better but I created a couple of simple pieces to offer to my rainbow compatriots.  I have a brown offering for yesterday as well as a collage of previous miniatures that are rather grey.  I have finished with today’s color – A Rainbow!  Simple, graphic and bright.  Perhaps it’s the pick-me-up I need!

Lavender Blooms

Today’s Build A Rainbow color is lavender or periwinkle.  Those aren’t colors that I would normally use, so I went on a scavenger hunt for some markers that would qualify.  As you can see – I tried a number of different ones.  Though I would say that the caps ALL looked lavender to me, the colors were all very different.  I added some yellowy gold to spice things up a bit and put a very light coating of Crayola crayon in periwinkle blue for the background.  This piece feels very joyous to me and why not – it’s Saturday!

Lemon Yellow Day

Today was a busy day.  Hence, this post is later than usual.  The color for the day in Build A Rainbow was Lemon Yellow.  I had a scan of a  yellow, foreign costume from an old book.  It wasn’t lemon yellow but I used it as the base for today’s contribution.  Over that I layered yellow tissue paper.  That was more lemony but the color underneath shaded it a bit.  I added a few yellow dots along the edges for good measure and finished with the diagonal number.  I had cut that number of out Parade magazine.  I can’t tell you what I liked about it but it resonated with me.  The yellow and black looked good so I glued it down and decided it was done.  I can’t wait to go explore the other color contributions for today!

Build a Rainbow – Part Deux

I am back to building rainbows with my friends from Daisy Yellow.  The color for today was Pale pink or salmon.  I chose pink – even though I’m not much of a pink person.  I mixed some pink paint and I loved that it looked and had the texture of frosting.  I decided to go bigger than my tags this week and move up to a postcard size piece of work.  I upcycle old unused exhibit cards into miniature pieces of art.  So I grabbed one and spread the paint/frosting on with a palette knife, icing my postcard.  My first swipe left some of the art from the postcard showing through and I liked that effect.  Once it had dried I was wondering what to do next.  I considered leaving it as is, but then decided to add some words.  Sort of an amateur Haiga.  Writing on the paint with my sharpie was not as easy as I had hoped so my execution wasn’t so great.  Oh well, what are you going to do?!  I also posted some pale pink 5’x5″ valentines I made last year.

Check out other rainbow participants at: http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/building-a-rainbow-5-days-of-color-pale-pink-or-salmon.html#comments

Altered Book Transitions

I took some pictures of one of the altered books that I am slowly transforming.  I created a “movie” out of them using Picasa but I couldn’t figure out how to make it “play” once I uploaded it.  So, I return to pictures and have included a few that involve playing with tape.  I LOVE tape.  I apply it to sections of text of pictures, pull it up and make collages from the small segments.  I used black ink over and under the tape in a couple of them.  I really like the effect in the “relationship” page where the ink is the base.

Emerging Collage

This is a new piece that I have been slowly working on.  It is on an 18″x24″ piece of canvas-textured paper.  My technique is to find interesting patterns on magazine pages.  I tear a piece out and using matte medium I adhere it to the surface.  Then before it becomes permanent I pull it back off.  This leaves a shadow of the design and more or less traces of the color.  Sometimes I am successful and sometimes not.  It is not an exact science.  However, being collage I can always adjust for any areas that aren’t cooperating!  I’m not sure what the final outcome will be, for this piece, but I am enjoying the journey.  The muse, I’m sure, will guide me to the right place.  For now I like the soft feel of it and the pockets of interesting shapes and colors.

The Rainbow

I participated in Build A Rainbow during the past week.  I thought I would post the full set of my miniature contributions.  I hope we build another one!

http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/building-a-rainbow-5-days-of-color-blue-or-purple.html

Black and White

Ah, the last day of Build A Rainbow.  The color for today is black and white.  I happen to love graphic black and white designs.  The center of this is a checkerboard where the “checkers” have varied shapes which is also something I like a great deal.  I can’t wait to see everyone else’s black and white designs.  Happy Monday!