Happy spring to everyone. Happy April, the fourth month of this new year, brings us closer to warm weather, flowers, and hope. Like, I hope we will not need the snow shovel again. I hope the April showers are followed by lovely blue sky, white billowy clouds and warm sunshine. I really hope it doesn’t snow…
My first visit to Italy to meet my family,(my mother was born in Florence), was in the spring. Our son was going to have his 2nd birthday, it was the first time my mother had both pieces of her family(parts of it anyway)together. And that spring was different then any other.
My husband and I went to the Uffizi, and everything was so beautiful! Of course, Botticelli’s Primavera was spectacular. The quintessential representation of rebirth, spring, of becoming. The Allegory of Spring.
It is the month we get a glimpse of longer days, the sun is just that much warmer, and we are hopeful. So I hope you feel the same sense of expectation of better things to come, bluer skies, and happiness, and the warming rays of the spring sun.
I decided to create a lovely creature, who in this story is as beautiful as spring itself, as full of hope as the budding flowers, with a wish in her heart for the happiest of spring days while she dances in her garden under the April sky.
When Spring came, even False Spring,
there were no problems except
where to be happiest.
– Ernest Hemingway
Supplies:
Goodies from PaperWhimsy:
Curious Garden Santos
Face from Sheet 211
dress from Digi sheet 234
Base and wings and ruff Magic Garden 10PNG
Other bits:
InkaGold Old Gold paint, Distress Ink, 2 Purple stone brads, PanPastel in Burnt Sienna Tint, ModPodge Matt Glue, Super Glue, Faber-Castell Gelato sticks in:Red Cherry, Guava, Green; 5 inch piece of paper leaf garland; 4 small metal roses; 2 small pieces of rusted wire; 1 brass butterfly; 1 round metal charm; Quote from Ernest Hemingway.
My Method:
I started our dancing maiden by painting the back and edges of the Curious Garden Santos with InkaGold Old Gold paint. While that dried I started cutting out the components of the dress, and all the accouterments(wings, ruff, waistband and base)and her lovely, demure face. I used ModPodge glue to attach the images, and InkaGold to paint the lovely scrollwork at her hemline.
I ended up using Super Glue to put all of this piece together,save the papers. Maybe I wanted to see how many times I glued my fingers together…, actually it just seemed smarter with so many metal pieces to attach. And hello, instant gratification!
I used the PanPastel to paint her arms, and the small rusted wire to connect the arms. I used two purple stone brads to attach the arms to the bodice. I wanted her to look like at any moment, she might start dancing in her spring garden, so I had her arms reaching up to the sky, holding onto a leaf covered vine,intertwined with the multicolored thread . Her bodice is adorned by a brass butterfly, and her waist and lower skirt are sporting lovely metal roses. I used some of the paper leaves around the roses, and used the green Gelato to stain the leaves on the skirt.
I used a snip to cut the circle charm to make an adornment for the ruff of her dress, and used the Gelato sticks to add color before I glued it to the ruff.
The final touch was the lovely quote, and hoping that our biggest concern, is also about where we will be the happiest…