I'm Becoming Princess Christmas Joy! Oh Noooooooo! (There's Always Something)

  Okay, what's wrong with this picture? What could possibly be wrong with a photograph of a fully decorated Solstice/Christmas tree? There's nothing inherently wrong about having poinsettias and sunflowers on a holiday tree, especially one that celebrates the return of the sun. Some of the ornaments are slightly unorthodox, but they all have meaning, evoking memories and sometimes outright laughter, like my niece's handmade Christmas Bats. It's a fun and lovely tree. What's so totally wrong is that this picture was taken today. In my living room. May 24th, almost Memorial Day. It's been standing there since Thanksgiving of 2009; nearly six months. Aaaugh! That's just WRONG! I'm turning into my sister!!! Nooooo...(The story of Princess Christmas Joy and her tree can be read here)

  It's been up for so long that a ritual has evolved around it. "So, you wanna take the tree down this weekend?" Kris asks on Thursday evening. "Yes," says I. "It's been up so long we'll have to hose it off and let it dry in the sun before putting it away. Let's plan on it."

  So we set out off toward the weekend with the best of intentions, two women with a plan; but there's always something. It's become inevitable; we've come to expect it. Yesterday brought high winds gusting to 55 mph; a perfect scenario for chasing the dismembered limbs of an artificial tree, helter-skelter, through the neighborhood. And ain't THAT an ugly image?! Then just to make sure we got the message, it snowed. The weekend before, same thing, but with winds gusting to 65 mph. Other weekends have been occupied with classes, rain, snow, community events, yadda-yadda... It's a two-person job; otherwise, I'd pack it up solo on a calm, sunny weekday. 

  We had planned to take it down Saturday morning, but got word that GiGiMota (my 76 year old mother) had been taken to the hospital with stroke symptoms. She's okay. According to her CT scan, it wasn't a stroke, but they don't really know what's going on. So they medicated her symptoms and are doing more tests today. Based on her symptoms, though, including the fact that she hasn't had a period for quite some time, my sisters and I in our cronely-old-wives-womanly-wisdom have decided she's pregnant. We will be contacting both the National Enquirer and Weekly Star to determine who will pay more for an exclusive. "76 year old woman expecting sextuplets! Claims immaculate conception!" A bit of gallows humor. We are a twisted lot. Well, it got GiGi to laugh, which was a good thing.

  Maybe next weekend our tree packing karma will shift, meanwhile, the Solstice tree will continue to grace our living room, gathering cobwebs...a holy day relic of tinsel and dust.

  Sooo...Here's what we did yesterday in lieu of dismantling the tree.

   In a frenzy of acrylic paint and gel medium, we transformed a pile of "ho-hum" scrapbook papers into a whole slew of fun and funky art papers a la Kelly Kilmer. Wouldn't they make awesome envelopes for mail art? Hmmm, the yummy possibilities...

  Earlier, I made this mail art piece, using a Fred Mullett stamp and Ranger Distress ink.

Titled "The One that Got Away," it calls to mind the opening lyrics of an Indigo Girls song, Poseidon. "A fisherman comes, and sticks his two poles in the sand. He stares out at the sea, just exactly like me; but I've got a book in my hand. We will have caught on to something by the end of the day, but mostly we think of the one that got away..."

  Early in the day I designed a personal faux postage stamp titled "Femail Art," featuring a photo of me done in the style of an Obama campaign poster. Fun! I love playing with digital art!

   There were several other mail art pieces, too. I've decided to keep a bunch on hand, to avoid being overwhelmed by the need to send something out...

   And inspired by the candy bar somebody mailed to Kris last week, I decided to get wild and send Mom a box of candy: Boston Baked Beans. Yum! Hope she likes them...

   I managed to cut and fold most of the papers for the art book in last week's post, and will be sewing it together this week. I can't wait to see it finished, with all the beads along the spine...

  And finally... there's this seasonal goddess series I've had in mind for some time. Collage, paint, pen and ink and stabilo, finished with a layer of encaustic. Here's the first, titled, "The Summer Queen." It shows Her against the sky, with Altair, Deneb and Vega: the Summer Triangle, a trio of navigational stars - a timeless boon to travelers and shamans and sailors, used nowadays by orbiting satellites. 

  I think the Snow Queen is next. The substrate is wood, and Kris, who's much better with power tools than I, has recently cut the 8x10 pieces I need to get started. They need sanding and wood filler and gel medium, and then everything will need a few days to dry. Methinks the prep may be finished in time to start work this weekend.

  Instead of taking down the tree...

  Thanks for visiting; come again soon.

Comments

[Barbara Hagerty]

*LOVE* your funky art pages, Sharon! And I'm so glad to hear that your mom is OK! And WOW to your vibrantly colored pic for mail art! That is awesome!
We are living parallel lives here, and I've got to thank you for this blog post because now I feel vindicated. We have an atrium, and the only thing that seems to look really good in it is the Christmas tree. So a couple of years ago, we stopped taking it down and replacing it with mediocre potted plants, and just left it there. We only light it at Christmas time. I really prefer the real thing, but I'm allergic to molding, dead fir trees, so this one is fake. But it really looks good...and pluging it in is almost as much of a celebration as decorating it....LOL!

[sharon]

get out! no way! we are rolling on the floor, hugging our aching sides, barbara! howling with laughter. kris is gonna start blowing snot-bubbles any moment, i know it, and i have tears streaming down my face, doing the chicken shriek! maybe its a sign we stopped trying to take it down. too much!

i'm allergic to molding fir and spruce trees too. that's why we have a fake one. i'm also allergic to dust tho, so if we're going to keep it up, it still needs a good washing...

thanks for kudos on the artwork.

there is so much about this evening that is screeching of the cosmic interface...BAM!

[Jennifer]

I say leave it up! just add in a few red, white, and blue decorations for the summertime-- that will last you thru Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day!!

[sharon]

i'm with you, jennifer, and have lobbied heavily for red, white and blue decorations. however, the vet is coming this afternoon to give one of the dogs acupuncture, and we need the space. besides, kris says it's driving her nuts. looks like today's the day. maybe next year...maybe not!