Blue Ribbon Bragging Rights

The pergola is lovely, but mosquitoes are driving me out at night. I must be overly sensitive to them. Michael doesn’t seem nearly as uncomfortable as I do. I need suggestions for inexpensive mosquito deterrents. A friend swears by dryer sheets tucked in your clothes and around the patio. Seems strange, but I am going to try that one. If it works, I’ll report back.

I brought the blog up-to-date on our remodeling projects. Let me comment on artistic events in my life.

In April, the Houston Photographic Society’s special category for competition was “edibles.” This led me to a great idea for a photograph. I mentioned it to Michael, who said, sagely, “That’s a good idea. I have my own ideas. Why don’t you take the picture yourself?” So I did.
The photograph is a super close-up of a slice of lime and slice of lemon suspended in club soda in a goblet in front of a royal blue backdrop. The result knocked my socks off. And it also won me a first place ribbon at the HPS competition! My first blue ribbon I ever earned.

In June, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts had its annual print show and I decided to enter. The show’s theme was “Altered States.” I decided to use my award-winning photograph and have some fun altering it. I ordered a jigsaw puzzle made from my image, then used the pieces to “pour” the lemon-lime into a black and white photograph of the same image. It took some doing.

Jigsaw Puzzle Aside: When the jigsaw puzzle arrived from the Far East (for the low, low price of $15.95 or thereabouts, I had to laugh. I couldn’t put it together!! I am usually good at jigsaws, so it is quite ironic that my own image stymied me. I blame it partly on the image, with its solid center of green lime flesh and transparent bubbles, and partly on the simplicity of the puzzle, which did not have much variety to the pieces. For example, there were no pieces without nubs, nor were there any of the cock-eyed pieces typically in a jigsaw puzzle. I got down to 17 pieces that defied arrangement. Fortunately, Victoria came along and finished it for me.

I scoured the internet for images of pouring liquids so I could see what the splash pattern should be. When I had that in my mind, I sketched it and transferred the outline (lightly) to my black and white image. I took apart the jigsaw puzzle to conform to the sketch and superimposed it on the photograph. With the left over pieces, I made a soda bottle with a flow of liquid pouring from it into the photo below. Above all of this, I have the original picture. It is titled “Lemon Lime Too.”

The exhibit opened at the Museum of Printing History last Thursday night. I had a great time at the opening and I received many compliments on my artwork. That always makes an opening more fun.

I received a fair bit of good-humored teasing about “cross-fertilization” and abandoning my writing for art, but that isn’t really a serious threat. I am considering adding an artist section to my professional resume, though. After all, I have bragging rights to a blue ribbon!!