The Etsy app

My sister has informed me that she now knows how often I add anything new in my shops... yes she's checking up on me to make sure I do as much work as I say I do.... she's got an app for her phone...

If you want an app to keep an eye on your favourite etsy shops all you have to do to get one is go here

You can read about it here.
I'm still in the dark ages.
I just have a phone to make calls.

Ocean Loving Bookworm...

Did you know that "bookworm" in Finnish is "kirjatoukka"? or that in French it is "rat de biblioteque" ie library rat? Well now you do... It's written here on an old dictionary page that includes the  french/english translation

And did you know "merisielu" in Finnish translates as "ocean soul"... someone who has a deep affinity for the sea & is at home there. The french/english translation for 'ocean' is on this page. I like the idea of there being a word on the printed page that relates to what I may write.

I get led on some fascinating journeys of discovery as I follow clues in the requests I get. As I double checked the definitions I'd been given I found these lyrics... 

Merisielu

Yksi yö lisää

Sietää tämä painajainen

Mitä muuta minun täytyy sanoa

Itku vuokseni ei koskaan ollu kyyneleen arvoinen

Yksinäinen sieluni on ainoastaa pelolla täytetty

Pitkät tunnit yksinäisyyden

Välissä minun ja meren

Tunteen kadotus

Antaumuksen löytäminen

Tulisiko minun puketua valkoiseen ja etsiä merta

Kuten olen aina toivonut - Yhtä aaltojen kanssa

Merisielu

Kulkien vuorovesilinjaa

Kuulen nimesi

Enkelitkö kuiskailevat

Jotain niin kaunista joka satuttaa

Toivoin ainoastaan tulevani joksikin kauniiksi

Lävitse musiikkini, lävitse hiljaisen antaumukseni.

Ocean Soul

One more night

To bear this nightmare

What more do I have to say

Crying for me was never worth a tear

My lonely soul is only filled with fear

Long hours of loneliness

Between me and the sea

Losing emotion

Finding devotion

Should I dress in white and search the sea

As I always wished to be - one with the waves

Ocean Soul

Walking the tideline

I hear your name

Is angels wispering

Something so beautiful it hurts

I only wished to become something beautiful

Through my music, through my silent devotion

One day I will just have to do a full piece with these.... especially after reading more about Tuomas Holopainen who wrote them...

~ tuomas holopainen ~ 

sorry for that little distraction *sigh*

back to book pages...

The first drafts were with watercolour: I like the muted tones with my photograph of old book spines... I think it conjures up the image of an old library or study, walls lined with bookshelves...& the unique scent as you turn ancient pages...

I was just looking back at the title & thought..

 Ocean loving bookworm, gsoh, wltm... 

there's my lonely hearts ad started if I ever need one!

How would your ad go?

What's The Life Of A Man?

What sort of gift do you give to someone recently bereaved? Well, it does depend how well you know them, but after hugs, poetry & songs are high on the list. It takes some thought to know or to find those words that are meaningful to a particular person and I think that it is that thought rather than the means of presentation that can be so much appreciated. Obviously presentation is a part of it, and I can help with that bit, but the sentiment... the feeling... the love, that is behind a gift such as this that really makes it special.

R chose words from a version of a traditional folk song that was both meaningful & a favourite. She had an idea of greens, some leaves and a bit of copper & was happy for me to decide what would look best. 

What's the Life of a Man?

As I was a walking one morning at ease

A viewing the leaves as they fell from the trees

All in slow motion appearing to be

And those that had withered, they fell from the trees

What's the life of a man anymore than the leaves

A man has his season, so why should we grieve

Though all thru this life, we appear fine and gay

Like the leaves we will wither and soon fade away

If you'd seen the leaves just a few days ago

So beautiful and bright they all seemed to grow

A frost came upon them and withered them all

A storm came upon them and down they did fall

If you look in the churchyard, there you will see

Those that have passed like the leaves from the trees

When age and affliction upon us do fall

Like the leaves we must wither and down we must fall

After a few false starts, I eventually decided on muted shades of green watercolour for the calligraphy... various tones reflecting the changing hues we see in nature... with embossed leaves falling down one side & settling across the bottom. One sycamore leaf was covered with copper... almost like a full stop, marking the end of one man's life here on earth.

this piece is available here

I tried another layout too... this time with leaves mainly across the bottom & a few at either side... in this version, 2 of the leaves are enhanced with copper. To me this represents two people... it could be two people who have passed on, or the link between two people, one living, one gone...

The technique I used for the leaves is called 'dry embossing'. Outlines of several different leaf types were drawn on card & cut out with a scalpel... I then used an embossing tool, pressing the paper through from the back of the calligraphy into the cut out shapes. When the paper is turned back over, the leaves are raised, forming a lovely subtle pattern. I love the textures that arose on both pieces...

Embossing is so subtle... minimal... white leaves embossed into white paper.... that seem to shift slightly throughout the day as light plays across the surface.... like i said, subtle.... the translucent tones of the watercolour change almost imperceptibly throughout the lettering.... and the copper leaves catch the light differently as well, so this becomes a living, subtly changing piece of work....