I received a lovely follow-up email from Donna Butcher in California today! She was one of the participants in our Alice in Wonderland ATC swap. Donna wrote, and I quote with her permission . . ."I so appreciate your sharing all your artwork and all the time you have given to swaps! I am working on some UFO's and the one that is finished and I finally took some photos of to share is the collage I did from the Alice ATC Swap. I don't think the photo does it justice. I did it on a stretched canvas (16x20). I first used crackle paste on it and then painted and inked it to get the color and shadows I wanted. The big tree is paper with ribbon leaves. Then I added the ATC's and some other Alice images on transparencies. The little areas are filled in with various little gems like, a watch with workings, crowns, keys, a door knocker (which works), butterflies (that are shrink plastic), bugs, there are mushrooms (polymer clay) at the bottom edge among the dirt (distress Stickles and spheres) and leaves (cut paper). The outer edge is dark brown with checked ribbon around it. I cannot seem to get a picture that really does it justice. I love looking at it on the wall near my upstairs art desk. Just wanted to share with you a piece of art inspired by a swap of yours - thank you!"
Wow! Thank you, Donna! So great to hear from you and see this marvelous finished piece from one of our swaps. So creative! I love the tree that you've made and how you placed the Cheshire Cat ATC up on the limbs of the tree. Below are a couple of close-ups so you can see Donna's collage better -click on them for more detail. Does anyone recognize their own ATC in Donna's collage? What do you think?This swap wrapped up in February, 2009. I love seeing what Donna did with her returns!
On a personal note, since I have not been in touch for a while -- things are fine here with Steven & I in Connecticut. Our home has been on the market for just about 5 weeks now and we are getting a lot of interest, we've had a couple of Open Houses with good attendance and quite a number of showings. We are just waiting for an offer : ) and we simply need the right person to come along, so I am trying my best to be patient!! My dad has finished his radiation treatment on both lobes of his liver and he is still in remission. He has a gal bladder procedure to go through and is going through stress tests now to see if the time is right. I am looking at a few possibilities as far as homes near my parents, but we are not falling in love with anything until our home here in CT sells! Things are definitely quieter with no swaps to run or classes to teach, but I am keeping busy with moving preparations (mostly boring cleaning out!) and I have been creating a bit of art lately, which has been fun & kept my spirits up. I cannot promise anything as far as creative swaps is concerned because everything is up in the air too much, but know without a doubt that I miss you all!
