Saturday, April 10, 2010

A muse with multiple interests...

Does your muse ever wander? Does she (mine happens to be a she, her voice gets quite shrill at times), does she ever grab you by the sleeve and say, “Psst! Let’s go do something different for a bit. I’m bored with this writing gig.”

Today, I thought I’d share a few photos of the times when my muse and I wandered away from the world of words.

I guess you could say this first group of pictures is the biggest project my muse and I ever attempted. This room belonged to my youngest daughter and she begged me to turn it into a jungle paradise. This is the result. She’s now grown and has blessed me with a daughter of her own and the room has remained. The paint’s getting a little faded in spots but I’ve been threatened within an inch of my life if I redecorate the jungle of her childhood.
Here’s a wall sculpture I pieced together from tiles my mother scavenged from a church bizarre. I couldn’t find just the right color grout to match the barn wood frame until it snowed one night and they used cinders on our road to keep them from being so slick. The gray-black cinders rendered the perfect shade and my muse smiled.
Then I decided to redecorate our tiny bathroom. I didn’t have a lot of options and I really wanted something different. Here’s the result of the painted tiles.

The only place my muse and I no longer explore is the kitchen, not since the pecan pie incident. That place is wicked and treacherous ground. Who knew that keeping baking soda and baking powder straight could be so important?

Does your muse ever wander?

12 comments:

  1. Wow that's nice work. My muse also wanders into painting and music.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I'm afraid when it comes to music, I'm only an admirer. I've no talents in that area at all. I envy you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. My God you are a talent! I am so jealous!
    I can do a lot of things, but nothing really well.
    I so admire people who are so crafty!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My muse wanders into the world of quilt making. I love to use flannel to make baby quilts with bright solids and fun print fabrics. The best part is the smile when I give them away. I also put photos onto fabric and make some gorgeous memory quilts.

    I can see why your daughter doesn't want you to redecorate her room. It's awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Quilts make the most treasured gifts! That's something that can be loved and passed down for generations. You're a very thoughtful lady, Paisley. Thanks so much for your kind words. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Also a quilt maker, but the only thing in that respect that I have accomplished since I began writing full-time toward publiscation was enlarge a quilt. Hard to do! I designed a lap quilt for my husband, and 10 yrs. later complained it was too short. He is 6ft 4".I force my muse NOT to go quilt becasue I want to see my book published this June.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I admire you, Nancy, to be able to keep your muse on track! That can sometimes be quite the task. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Maeve you are so talented. I love the jungle room. I draw a bit, mostly for the grandkids but my son is the artist. He did a mural of Winnie the Pooh on my grandson's wall when he was an infant and the Polar Express on the wall in his new bedroom. I do needlepoint and I used to do ceramics but now I mostly read in my free time.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I tried needlepoint once. I just didn't have the gift. I bet the Polar Express and the Pooh mural are fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! That room is awesome! What a great room for your daughter. I would hate to paint over it after all of that work!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks, Victoria! The memory of my stiff neck while painting the ceiling helps to "stay" my hand. :)

    ReplyDelete