Sundrip Journals
The third cup was delightful!
Anxiety has been rather high as neighbors try me…. My paint brushes fly in an embarrassing flurry. My heart is troubled. I remember I have coping skills. I have friends and I have anger enough to propel me forward one more step, one more day.
Faith Magdalene
Joe is a guardian cat. A watching feline. A gentle whiskered friend whom I adore. It’s just that sometimes the psychosis pushes me away from him a little, away from people a little. I want to isolate.
I have to force myself to accept this new mental weirdness and fear. I wear paranoia. I’m dripping in it. I only know to fill my cup and clean my paint brushes. Art it out!
Covid-19 handed me a fever high enough to leave permanent hallucinations and damage, for which I feel shame. But my cat Joe still finds me palatable to love and be seen cuddling, openly. His love gives me a little more strength to keep going.
What goes in your cup of trials and stress to dilute it so you can do one more day ? 🙂
Tea cup art by Faith Magdalene Austin
Summer will bring kids and their parents to my home which means tea and more tea with painting and more painting plus some history tossed in.
Depending on the country, the ceremony or party, the kids use traditional cups dated as late as the 1940’s. My number of countries represented in tea is down to 38 countries because my Kenyan Ceylon container is empty. It’s on my list of must have. We’ve got so many good stores around here but I can’t seem to find one that will order this tea for me. I want the loose leaf by Safari.
I let the kids use vintage and antique cups without worrying too much about them breaking but I went ahead and retired my English rose tea pot. I’m a bit more protective of that one. No one uses my daily tea pot either. I’m even more protective of it. I don’t fret a lot about the cups being broken but I do expect all to use them respectfully. If one should break then it’ll do well as a planter and I can go to Goodwill and search for a replacement. Goodwill is where many online shops get their tea cups for which they charge exorbitant prices.
Here’s a little article on West African tea ‘ceremonies’. I’ve also started a collection of African recipes on my Pinterest page.
Ever have one of those days when you were okay for five minutes but torn up the next? I’ve had several of those recently. I can’t put my finger on one thing, not sure I need to. I just know my head doesn’t feel right. I’m trying to help myself, pick myself up a little bit.
I had my nightly cry, sketched a little on the painting called Twelve and then decided to brave the stairs and take out the trash. Really, I just needed to be out of here and breathe.
I know I just said this on a blog I first read today. I said we see people walking down the street and they seem more grounded than we are. Well, as I walked around the courtyard I couldn’t help but feel grounded. What grounded me? Choice. Having choices, not feeling backed into a wall, not feeling as if I’m at the mercy of life itself. Being outside with no nurse, no friend standing guard, just me, I felt free. The feeling of being stuck, of being in prison washed away quickly….because I let it. Continue reading “Walking With Roses”
After lightly spraying the surface of the paper, I laid on top two bags of Sweet and Spicy Tea. I then added blackberries and blueberries so that they could leave their mark on the surface. I allowed it to dry then added white watercolor paint to the surface. Small details were added such as the single bloom yellow flower and the small metallic dots below the fringe of her white, sketched shawl.
Art Title: Strawberry Kisses
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Watercolor, Tea, Blackberries, Blueberries,
Size: 6.5 x 4.5
Style: Modern, Whimsical
This sweet girl is currently available.
Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life
Faith
I was on a kick with trees. This is the 3rd of 4 trees first created with tea stains then colored in.
What I like about this tree is the way the bare white stands off the blue back drop. I also like the gradient of red, yellow and orange which is divided rather abruptly by the white bark.  Tiny details can be seen here and there. There are small white flowers, tiny blades of grass, shadows, textures and depth. Continue reading “White Tree Blue Sky”
Well, well, well. This is easier than I thought it would be and a lot more fun now that I’m really into it. At first I really struggled and stressed over the idea of pure abstract work. One has to let go, be free to do abstract. They have to let go of everything being in line and perfectly crafted with a big meaning behind it. I do that. I fill pages from edge to edge with details upon details. For me these paintings are ones where I’m holding on to control very tightly. It looks like organized chaos or as I like to say, chaos in color. The truth is, these works of art are so filled with images that I am bound to the painting, even obsessed at times. I love it, don’t get me wrong but there is a lot of holding on to control. With the abstracts I’m learning to let go a little. That’s the whole point of the 10 piece challenge, let go, don’t try to stay in control all of the time. It’ll kill ya, I swear it will. Continue reading “Wish Falls Abstract Painting #7”
Sometimes I don’t know what I want to put on paper so I just spray it with water, put a reusable tea cloth on it and leave it alone. I may even remove the tea leaves and spread them over the paper. Later I’ll come back and add color then put the paper away expecting nothing to come of it right then.
Nights like last night make pieces of paper like described above worth making. It was a long night and I needed to sketch but I needed to sketch just one thing, trees. I sketched three in all. The first is on the tea and ink stained paper seen in the accompanying photos.
Although I have used rainbow colors this has more of an earthy feel to it. It appears to be watercolor stains but the medium is acrylic paint and tea leaves accompanied by scribbles and scratches for branches.
I’m pleased with the painting.
Title: Tea Tree
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic paint and tea on paper, 8.5 x 7.5