Seasons: Summer

First of all...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

All of your comments, emails, prayers and thoughts have meant so much to me... thank you from the bottom of my heart! I have started regaining strength and, most days, feel like my old self again. Also, some good news, the Doc says I can put the surgery off until after Silver Bella! (That gives me "happy feet"!)

Now, let me show you a bit of "Summer". I got together with the ladies I'm doing the Seasons altered books with, and we swapped. We each did the first season, Summer, in our own books. Here's mine...

(sorry for the not so great photo)
When I think of Summer colors, two very different color combos come to mind. Turquoise and red with a bit of crisp white... makes me think of boardwalks and saltwater taffy and old striped beach cabanas. The other, and the one that always plucks my heart strings the loudest, are the colors of the Caribbean. This is the direction I went, softly.

I took the last quatrain, of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, out of context to use on the page...
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives and this gives life to thee."

Here are some close ups.

The image is from AlphaStamps.

Layers of papers, gesso, paint and watercolor. Waves of sand and fine silver glass glitter.

I wrote the quote out with my dip pen. I've been doing a lot playing with this. Initially we did not see eye to eye and did a lot of fighting. I really wanted it to produce gorgeous mid 1800s penmanship. It refused. And that's okay, now. It showed me that I can be happy with my own handwriting.

The morning of the swapping, I decided I needed something to transport and keep my journal in, so I took a retired pillowcase and turned it into an envelope and closed it up with a pin and some millinery.

Next up, for this swap, will be Autumn in Nina's book.

If you are here in the US, enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!