[Fiona W]

I just made a very dark collage. I'm not sure how that happened, but it feels good to have expressed the feelings. Art is so important to me: I don't know how I'd make it if I didn't have my art.

[VermontMom]

Hey everyone

Fi, the 'shrooms postcard was kewl!! I am not an artist but I don't know how you could have been unhappy with it at any point, it is marvelous . Oh those morels!

Kathleen It is so great you were so happy with your meeting with the new doctor, and I hope so much that the change of meds will help you!!

amylynne HI and it is great you are so focused on your writing! way to go!!

We went to our future in laws for T-day yesterday, and it was a nice visit at the time, but now I am SO sad that our son is more their son now!! Well he and the fiance (we do like here very much) live in an apartment off her parent's house, and he goes to college nearby, but for every other minute he is there, with them, and involved with their family, and it's just that they never knew him as the sullen awful teenager we had :rotfl: and they have a nice house, and a well-off grandma that they have dinner with TWO times a week, and we see them only when I call and press them

I am so happy that he is now a responsible wonderful young man but its like he's their son now and WE are the outsiders You can say that material things are not what count and that he is a good enough person to know that but he sure doesn't show it, by not visitng us hardly ever. And they live less than an hour away. I am sad enough to bawl about this and I don't want to.

We got a foot of snow from Wed. night into yesterday , this is our picnic bench

[Terra1984]

I'm depressed due to my weight

[Fiona W]

Ooooo...I jazzed up my dark collage with a little bit of white here and there, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It's called "still seeking". (As usual, click on the image for a larger version.)

I love art. Not only is it a lot of fun, it's amazingly rewarding on an emotional level.

Thanks for what you said about my 'shrooms postcard, Holly!

[IBelieveInMe2]

Terra1984: to the group! If you are depressed due to your weight, you are definitely NOT alone here! We can all relate! Glad you posted. If you want to tell us more about your story, please post more and we will respond to you. Best of luck to you in your weight loss journey!

[IBelieveInMe2]

Holly: I am so very sorry about your sadness about your son's situation. I would feel the exact same in your place. I have to get moving, but wanted you to know that I feel for you about your son seeming to be more of your in-laws' kid than your own. But, he is your flesh and blood and I am sure that trumps all! Have you ever talked to him about how you are feeling, or did this just hit you at the Thanksgiving celebration? Regardless, hang in there and allow the feelings to flow. It's okay to have a good cry about it. Maybe it would help. ??? BIG HUGS to you, my friend!!!

[Fiona W]

I don't feel like writing about much except my wonderful Friday with my 14-yr-old great niece Grace. Because it wasn't a school day I picked her up at her house at 9:30 AM and we were busy bees until 5 in the afternoon. We started by spreading out some newspaper on the table in my collage studio and making some painted backgrounds on various papers we had mounted on 6" x 9" cardboard. Grace chose a paper with a lot of tendrily inclusions in it because she wanted to make a collage of a ballerina underwater.

On top of the paper she painted some gentle waves in blue and green, and added more wave shapes and bubbles with some stencils I had. We had used my printer to make the clipping she had of a leaping ballerina the perfect size for her postcard. While the paint was drying she very carefully cut out the dancer, which wasn't easy because the upstretched hands had some very tricky bits. Grace has a natural talent with using small sharp scissors: one lesson in snipping I gave her several weeks ago was all she needed, and she cut out her dancer perfectly.

Then she glued the dancer on her dried prepared background. She picked out one of my fish rubber stamps, stamped it in black on white paper, and carefully snipped out six fish to arrange around the ballerina. The final product was beautiful!

Grace also used the time to finish her own psychedelic mushroom collage, which she had started back when I started mine: she used my fine-point acrylic paint pens to add marvelous touches to it. She has a really good eye for just what will work when using paint to jazz up a collage.

She was so proud when I took her home to have two fabulous collage postcards all finished! She and I also have an email correspondence started, which was my idea of a fun way for me to help her improve her grammar, punctuation, and overall writing skills.

I feel so blessed to have such a bright and talented student in my life! And now that I have Grace to talk to about my collages—how I make them from the first vague conceptions in my mind all the way through the process to finished product—I feel like I have a companion to share my work with.

So while I'm feeling thankful this Thanksgiving Day weekend, I'm thankful for having Grace. And also my sweet & affectionate kittens, of course!

[IBelieveInMe2]

Fi: Great to hear that you had a wonderful Friday with your niece, Grace! It is so special that she shares your love of art with you and that you work together so well. Something to be very thankful for, indeed!

[IBelieveInMe2]

This is a reminder to join us at the new Ups & Downs Support Group: December 2014 thread.