Contemplating the Stars

Sarah Contemplates The Stars

I love starry skies. I love those rare times when we're in so dark a landscape, the milky way appears arching across a sky scattered with more stars than we can count. It's one of those things we tend to miss as modern humans. We talk about the stars "appearing" at night as if they were absent during the day, but they're always with us; it's just that the daylight draws a veil over them. I love that.

I think that's why I put stars in so many of my collages, that and nature is the best artist, which is why I borrow from her so often. Sarah Contemplates The Stars involved Hubble photography (altered quite a bit), multiple hand-painted grunge layers, a vintage photo of the great Sarah Bernhardt, flower photography, and one of my own landscape photographs.

When we gaze into the night sky or across a landscape in quiet contemplation, I think we become more a part of them and they become a part of us. That's what I wanted to convey in this piece.

When We First Think Of Spring

When We First Think Of Spring

January flew by. Seriously, I have no idea where the month went. Probably to bike rides and cups of tea; to knitting and cuddles with the kitties, to walks to the coffee shop with my Bear. A good way to pass a cold, dark month.

When I created this collage, I was thinking about the first signs of spring that we find in the depths of winter. I pictured a woman standing in the snow with the coming season growing from her footsteps. I wanted to include a sheep because very often the first indicator that spring is on the way are the baby lambs. It's still winter –and we have a ways to go still– but the light and warmth are coming back.

And now this is when we start thinking of spring. The first snowdrops and crocuses (croci?) are bursting out of the ground, the days are definitely longer, the birds are busy with the seeds we've put out for them. The cats are busy staring through the glass at the birds (and one very fat and sassy squirrel who apparently likes to taunt them), with murder in their little furry hearts.