Saturday, July 13, 2013

Play-Along Update

This doesn't begin to describe it!
Remember my recent post regarding the PAL (aka 'Play Along') challenge?

Well, holy cow! -- I shared a link to it on the Once Upon page on Facebook before retiring for the night, completely unaware that as I slept all sorts of sparkly magick was about to take place.

BOOM went my 'likes' count, thanks to Janet Kisch and the very kind Once Upon Community! And by the time I logged in again in the morning my Mayfaire page had increased its audience by nearly a hundred new members.

It's been over a week and my astonishment levels are still in the red zone!

When I wrote that post I was in the middle of my PAL creation -- sketching, inking, and coloring tiny squares of Bristol, one for each day of the 12-day challenge. Each square featured an illustration and one-word description of the particular day on which it was drawn, and because 'The Day of All the New Likes' was so extraordinary -- and because it was all Once Upon's 'fault' (haha!) -- I created a square with a very happy owl on it, because Janet and a lot of what I like to think of as the 'Once Upons' are fond of owls.

Much of the remainder of my PAL challenge was spent up north at my parents' house in the country, enjoying long happy moments fishing, eating, visiting, relaxing, and (of course) drawing. And I finished it on my final morning there. Before I left for home I laid all the little squares out on my mom's oak dining room table, took a picture of the collection with my smartphone, emailed the pic to my home computer, and -- voila!

I promised to share it with you and so here it is. A bit blurry (sorry....) but I think you can make it all out. And if you're at all interested in a brief explanation of each square, a little write-up follows the photo.


Squares are ordered 1 through 12, beginning in the upper lefthand corner and ending in the lower right:
#1 -- Nostalgic. On this day I was looking at old photographs and enjoying the memories.
#2 -- Away. All my neighbors were home, doing noisy yardwork. I longed to move out to the Very Quiet Sticks....
#3 -- Playful. Time spent being entertained by my Grandbugs.
#4 -- Exhausted. Time spent recovering from being entertained by my Grandbugs.
#5 -- Cocooned. Windows are closed, A/C's on, my house is dark and silent and WONDERFUL.
#6 -- Patriotic. Drawn for the 4th of July. While fireworks go off outside, I write my blog post and link it to Once Upon.
#7 -- Astonished. I wake to a crazy amount of new 'likes'.
#8 -- Picnic-y. The Grandbugs and their parents visit for a barbecue and kiddie-pool party. (And yes, in the delayne dictionary 'picnic-y' is a word.)
#9 -- Hurt. I hate Facebook. 'Nuff sed.
#10 -- Withdrawn. More time spent in off-line rehab. Still hatin' Facebook.
#11 -- I visit my parents for an extended sleepover.
#12 -- My dad and nephew take me fishing. Best day EVER.
...

2 comments:

  1. Wow. Fabulous! I think this would look great on my wall as a poster. Everyone has a multitude of moods, sometimes in the same morning. What a great reminder that each feeling is a necessary part of the "quilt of life." Or a smaller 8x10 or 5x7, framed for the wall. So pretty! I just want to jump into it (especially the cottage on the bottom). Thanks for sharing something so personal and yet universal! —Chris

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  2. Hey, Chris!

    First of all, THANK YOU for your comment, and I'm intrigued by your print idea. I might just have to follow through and give it a bit of display to see what happens. I never think in terms of 'this is a fun creation; how can I turn it into a product?' so I appreciate the suggestion. :)

    And secondly, how absolutely magickal is your comment? I thought I'd disabled the blog comments a while back, so seeing one from you today is like a great big GIFT. I'm guessing something changed when I was experiencing posting troubles recently and had to revert to an earlier form of my site. And if that was the case, the Universe must be telling me something....

    Seeing you pop up here has just dipped my day in gold. Always love to hear from you, my friend! (((hug)))

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