gifting at its finest

My family knows me so well! They are completely supportive of my creative side and never question the things that I find exciting.

My boys are athletes, one coaches football and wrestling, the other is president of his college powerlifting club. Their interests outside of school have very little to do with the world of mixed media assemblage and collage. And yet, it is just as natural for them to pick up odd pieces of metal, rusty tools, and bits of interesting ephemera that they come across in their daily lives. They don't look for these things for themselves, but rather because they know that their mom will do something interesting with them.

My husband, a film maker and photographer, is equally supportive of my endeavors. He also looks for interesting items that I might incorporate into my pieces and goes out of his way to promote my work.

Christmas provided even greater evidence of how well my guys understand my "artful yearnings". My oldest son combed antique stores to find things that he knew I would want to use in my assemblages. He came home with cabinet cards, old watches, antique keys, old tools, very old copies of Post magazine, a fabulous old tool chest, and an amazing old trunk that was used for ocean traveling long ago (complete with original tags and labels!). All of it was wrapped and placed under the tree with the same respect that would have been shown for the classic jewelry, perfume, or clothing that might be given to moms with more acceptable tastes!

My younger son gave me a fabulous book called Collage Journeys by Jane Davies and a calendar published by **Amber Lotus called Collage: Artplay for Your Creative Spirit. He also bought me a nice big jar of gel medium matte! (elixir of the Gods in my playbook!)

My husband added a king sized jar of gesso, a gift certificate to *Hollanders of Ann Arbor (where I take art classes), a myriad of supplies from Archivers for book binding, an antique metal (!) cigar box, and old dolls for me to disassemble!

Are they great or what??!! My boys really know me...gifting at its finest :)

*the store mentioned above, Hollanders is a wonderful paper store in Ann Arbor. They offer a wide variety of paper and book binding supplies as well as classes by experts in the field of paper arts. Look for them at www.hollanders.com.

**AmberLotus Publishing is a member of Green Press Initiative. They are committed to enironmental stewardship and publish their calendars on 100% recycled paper. Look for more information at www.amberlotus.com