Sunday, June 28, 2009

Flying Girl and the Break of Dawn, or I Hold The Night Within (and wreckage)

Flying Girl and the Break of Dawn, or I Hold The Night Within
25/100 in 100 creative project, 6/26/09
Golden Fluid Acrylic, white ink pen on paper, 5x8"

This is what the dawn looked like from my window as I lay in my bed with a child who had been woken by lightning in the middle of the night and refused to go back to sleep. More or less, my eyes were bleary.

But also, here is the internal landscape. In the dawn, we carry the night inside of us.... and in the night, we carry the dawn. The bird? Well... I guess there's something inside of her that keeps her flying, no matter the night, no matter the dawn.

For this week's book club entry, I took my Wreck This Journal for a walk with the family. We fixed the double stroller, now they only want to ride.

But the journal went on it's own two feet... er... multiple pages. The edges wore off a bit and the cover got smudged, but I was not as wreckeriffic as some of the hikers WTJ hikers I've seen. I'm okay with that. The leash is a nifty woven leather belt I found at a thrift store for a buck.
This is actually the second time I decorated my cover. The first time, which looked much like this but with a purple milk pen, got completely smudged and wiped out when I took the book for a walk. So I redid it in white. I like white on black. It probably reminds me of chalk boards, and all those years of being either a teacher or a student. Sometimes both at the same time.
Here is some more purple milk pen... covered by blue milk pen when the purple alone wasn't opaque enough to cover the letters. I like the way this looks. It took forever and my hand cramped up, but I still like it. This might be my favorite page. It makes me smile. Why? I don't know. I'm weird. I also like that I didn't follow the directions to the letter. Notice there is not one jot in the margins. I like the written page too much. Perhaps this is an ode to books. You can't read it anymore, although it didn't matter to begin with, but it still looks like language. It's still familiar and comforting. And the only word left un covered is "yes."
Here's my ugly page. It started when I realized how much I was yelling at the poor kids. Yes, they were ignoring me and making messes and fighting and all that, but still. Ugly mommy. G said it didn't look like me, but oh well. There's also scared/overwhelmed me... which is perhaps where the yelling me came from. On the same page is G's prompt of ugly things having a hundred legs. Then he said it looked like a centipede. And then there are the cockroaches... palmetto bugs, that are huge and fly... both dead and alive. The dead ones don't fly, but they lay on their back and occasionally kick their legs and grab onto the broom when you try to sweep them out the door. *shudder* Also the little poop in the potty. Yuck. The ripped screen window, which lets in evil mosquitos. The dirty foot prints from walking around barefoot on top of scattered cheerios and bananas and whatever else my children shed every minute of their beings. The cheerios and dust underneath the sofa. Oh yes, and little kids waking in the dark of night and not going back to sleep. Ugh. This is all in shades of black, dark gray, dark brown, with a smidgeon of stale pee yellow and oh yeah... a touch of red for the burn of a mosquito bite that has been scratched too much.

16 comments:

ina said...

I love the ugly drawing! I have been the ugly mommy these past few days.

In happier news, I was posting my latest 100 in 100 drawing when the 8yo came in and asked if we could look to see if you'd posted a new Flying Girl. There were a couple she hadn't seen, so we looked at those, then clicked to another blog. She said she had seen my picture on your blog, so I clicked back to show her your participants' sidebar, and much to our delight, it was the very moment that you posted this new Flying Girl! The magic of the internet :-)

Peace.

Rose said...

I think this is one of my favourite flying girls! Loving the wrecking too and would love to have a play with milk pens...

WrightStuff said...

poo in a potty? Yep, definitely ugly!! Doodle page is very cool

Heather Plett said...

oh my, oh my! i LOVE your ugly page! that looks just like me yelling at MY kids!

Lisa said...

Gee, your "ugly" page should be included in the manual they give you after delivering the baby! As in "don't be alarmed when this happens, it's a normal part of the process..."

Annette Q said...

I agree with the others...your ugly page is fabulous and so funny!!

Beverley Baird said...

Absolutely love your ugly page!
Keep on wrecking!

Kim said...

What painstakingly detailed work you did on the cover and with the blue milk pen! Your doodle page is hilarious and Kavindra's comment is absolutley right - I laughed outloud and at your -"Cheerios and bananas and whatever else my children shed every minute of their beings."

Genie Sea said...

The ugly page is a veritable scream of emotions. Glad they are on the page now... :)

I love this FG! The stars in her dress and her bird heart. Lovely! :)

Rose said...

Hope you don't mind but I have tagged you for an award. Please don't feel obliged to take part, it is a token of my appreciation for the Flying Girl!

mel said...

I followed Rose over...I do that a lot...

Am diggin' the walk-wreckage and let me just say - the ugly page? So, so, SO *getting* that...;)

Also loving Flying Girl....

:)

Kristin - The Goat said...

I don't have children but I have a husband that sheds every moment as well. He seems to shed things like bags, boxes, paper, empty stuff, dishes, etc. Gee, I think I may have just discovered what's going on my ugly page - Thank You!!!!

Your flying girl is lovely. From the comments I gather there are more, I'll have to find them :)

judipatootie said...

now I haave to see about milk pens!!Your flying girl is so lovely

Bravo,, great wrecking

Barbara Martin (@Reptitude) said...

What a lovely image of the flying girl -- the stars within and the dove, so luminously sweet and sparkly and magical.

It's odd, thinking back, people always said children grow up as if that made the current day's issues easier and it never did but yet it is true, in a way. Maybe as time goes by we are programmed to forget how hard it is to be a parent with small kids -- or teenager ones for that matter. LOL

KEEP ON WRECKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps I guess milk ink isn't really milk with blue Easter egg food coloring added? better get googling.

Leah said...

o my goodness, your hand must have been so tired after writing over the letters! but yes, i think it looks very cool too. and i love the "yes" that stands out.

i'm very drawn to all the little white marks on the cover too. Not sure why, but something about them is very appealing to me!

Anonymous said...

I almost bought the Wreck THis Journal the other day. Seeing your work makes me both glad and sad i didn't.

I admire your imagination.

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