two collage art bottles

Sometimes, Jeff will finish taping a bottle and show it to me, and I will claim it all to myself---

meaning that from there on out, I will be the only one working on it, till it’s finished.

Usually, we both apply all the necessary layers of glue, paint, finishes, sometimes paper, over the course of a week or more.

Over lapping each other’s work…

 (several layers of watered down wood glue are applied before any more work is done)

even changing each other’s work,

(after painting the bottles white, I added a bit of strong black tea to the last layer of finish)

we don’t seem to mind…usually.

(photos were printed and cut to fit into the bare spaces on the bottle)

But these bottles were different to me, I’m not sure why, when he showed them to me I immediately blurted out, “these are mine; I want to finish these!”

(the crackling happens on its own from applying acrylic paint over layers of wood glue)

Jeff laughed and said, “ok.”

They remained untouched, in our workroom, well…forever. (just about)

Jeff never said a word.

I had no ideas, really.

While they sat, I did my usual: I took a lot of photos of everything---

like the royal poinciana blossoms I shot while visiting mama one day,…and blogged a bit, put up new items in our etsy shop, shipped out some vintage sheet music, old ads, one of our smallest bottles…. read, read, and read. I learned how to make my blog template wider over at the very helpful CoffeeShop blog.

I spilt coffee on a white, ruffled, long, cotton skirt, which my daughter had left behind and had become a favorite of mine. I had been wearing it almost everyday. No bleach in the house, so I decided to tea stain it---why not?

 
I blogged a personally favorite post about the air traffic of passing butterflies, and find myself returning to these photos often…I can recall everything about that day.

captured flight art bottle  and  flamboyant flowers art bottle

And, before I realized, the two bottles were finished.

Sometimes, we are asked, “where do your ideas come from?”
And sometimes I have to answer, “inspiration happens.”

My wish is that it happens to you everyday.
~dale