Back in Time

Like it was yesterday:

Sitting on the 'pizza' carpet at our family home way back in 1990, I had my boyfriend over and we were using my new Prismacolor markers in a Mead Academie sketch pad. I got the art materials for Christmas that year and we were giving the markers a run for their color. The paper soaked up so much that the markers died soon after. Or, maybe a sibling used them without asking...who knows.

Why do I remember so much about that day? I still have the sketch pad with all of the doodles. It has survived more than three inter-state moves and the color remains unchanged. The paper has yellowed a bit, since the pad was made in the pre-acid-free days.

But the color! Wow! I had no idea what to draw with them, so my boyfriend and I doodled page after page of colorful goofiness. There are some caricatures, scribbles, and big sculpted words. We had fun, and that's all that matters.

Today, I tore out a page of those scribbles and made new art with them. I used three different paper punches and strategically removed color by cutting circles and flowers.

Next, I arranged the shapes to be like flowers and then the piece took a life of its own. I glued and arranged the shapes until I thought it was done.

Something was missing. I liked the vibrant color of the scribbles showing on the shapes, but the flowers I'd intended to create didn't show up like I thought they would. So, I picked up the waterbrush, and voila!

I'm posting a before and after picture to help visualize the project. If the pictures post out of order, which they often do, the final is the one that looks like a vibrant watercolor painting.

I'm just amazed because the ink and paper are more than twenty years old!
The age is hard enough to believe as it is...but I'm only twenty-six, so go figure!

Have a great week!