Mikells' Blog - Mikell's Hidden Treasures

Mikell's Hidden Treasures

Returning to Whimsy!

8/25/2018

Rocky, my Maine Coon cat, used to love to snuggle into the basket with my collage papers.

So much has happened since my Mac met its final days, but I have finally replaced it. I'm moving in a different direction, embracing whimsy, color and the energy of vibrant collage!

Mycala's Occupational Therapy Department at Towson University moved into a new facility and apparently it is dark and dank, so she took in some of the collages I made a few years ago to brighten the space. There is a lot of enthusiasm and it has inspired me to return to collage. Thank you Mycala!

If you've been following my blog, you know I created over 200 watercolors of herbs for my Enhancing Your Life with Herbs course. They were to help people identify specific herbs - not for art for arts sake. I love herbs and they were fun to create, but I miss the whimsy and color of collage.

So these are some of the collages from my Reptiles and Amphibian series in Mycala's office, and they have inspired me move on to two news series. One will be jazz and the other an under water series.

Note: I average about 3,000 - 4,000 hits a day but when I wasn't posting at all, I got 18,000 hits. I think I've learned the secret of increasing my followers - don't post anything for weeks! Ha!

Labels

7/2/2018

When I find myself becoming defensive about a 'weed', and if you've followed my blog, you know I do from time to time, it occurs to me that it's probably time to seek help! Hahahaha! This time the plant I'm defending is poke. My friend Carrie has no empathy for the stand I'm taking because it's taking over her garden and yard, but as always, she's patient with my idiosyncrasies.

My expectation certainly isn't that people nurture and cultivate it. Actually, the plant has done well on its own for centuries without any coddling from gardeners. It's just that anytime the wrath directed at a plant eliminates the appreciation for its benefits - and it does have benefits - my first instinct is to guide them to look from another perspective.

If we look beyond the label 'weed', we'll find a plant rich with history, health benefits and more.

Poke has been used in Chinese medicine, Appalachian folk medicine, attributed to healing cancer, arthritis, and Lyme disease. A folk cure for arthritis is to swallow one berry a day, fresh or dried, I am NOT recommending this, but have a friend who swears by it. The poison is said to be contained in the seeds so if you don't chew them and release the poison, they pass right through.

Corrina Wood, founder and director of Southeast Wise Women, gives a wealth of additional information on using poke for medicinal purposes for any who are interested.

The berries were used to make ink for the draft of the Declaration of Independence, I've made the ink to use for journaling as well as painting, (recipe below) and the color is exquisite! It has also been used as a dye. Few colors rival the beauty of poke.

In my all of my courses, whether Enhancing Your Life with Herbs, Illustrated Journaling, Mosaics and Kaleidoscopes, A More Creative You and others, I encourage people to consider a creative approach. An interesting challenge for poke is to write a poem or a song about it. You can write your own, or if you prefer, you can listen to Tony Joe White's version!

Tony wrote Polk Salad Annie, and Elvis made it famous. Ok, not as famous as Love Me Tender or Jailhouse Rock, but there are some who know and love it. I'm one of them. It's on this site - see Mabon, Poke and Elvis, or just do a google search. I have no idea why it isn't one of his best known. Actually, Elvis doesn't even know it very well - he had to use a cheat sheet when he sang it. Who but the King could get away with that?

In the song, polk (poke) salad is gathered - oh, here. I'll include the lyrics below.

Poke
Phytolacca family
Folk names - Polk, Poke Root, Polk Root, Coakum, Cocan, Crowberry, Pigeon Berry, Virginia Poke, Inkberry, Garget. I have never heard it called "Poke Weed"

Polk Salad Annie
Tony Joe White
If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this
So that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad
Used to know a girl lived down there
And she'd go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it
Carry it home and cook it for supper
'Cause thats about all they had to eat, but they did all right
Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl, that I swear to the world
Made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie, polk salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her momma was a workin' on the chain gang
(A mean vicious woman)
Everyday ?for supper time, she'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess of polk salad, and carry it home in a tow sack
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody says it was a shame
Cause her momma was a workin' on the chain gang
(A wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman
Lord have Mercy, pick a mess of it)

Illustrated Journal Page - Poke

The berries above are colored with poke ink - beautiful variations from pinks to purples.

Color and Kitsch

5/10/2018

The last few weeks have been overflowing with color and kitsch, both here in Baltimore and on recent travels. Seeing so many vibrant creations - kinetic and still sculptures, statues. screens, jewelry and even menus was a whimsical delight. From now on, in addition to museums, natural and historic sites, and more typical tourist attractions, I plan to seek out whimsy when I'm touring! I returned with my sketch book over flowing and numerous ideas for gifts, home and garden!

Baltimore, MD
Kinetic Sculpture Race

On Saturday, May 5, we headed to the harbor early to see the start of the kinetic sculpture race, followed by lunch at Marie Louise Bistro and a stroll through historic Mt. Vernon for their annual Flower Mart.
Baltimore's Visionary Art Museum's annual kinetic sculpture race - "a race through Baltimore of wacky, imaginative, TOTALLY HUMAN-POWERED WORKS OF ART, DESIGNED TO TRAVEL ON LAND, THROUGH MUD, AND OVER DEEP BALTIMORE INNER HARBOR WATERS, constructed out of used bicycles, gears, and parts, created by a lunatic genius who tinkers around in the garage or backyard.

Carlisle, PA

Jim Thorpe, PA
This is just a small sampling of the delights in Jim Thorpe. I've narrowed the number of photos down by focusing on all things Alice in Wonderful!

And back to Baltimore, MD
The Paper Moon Diner

Even the menus were fun!

Some of the interior decorations were a little bizarre, but it's all in fun!

Light and Ideas Festival

4/15/2018

Light City is the nation's only large scale light and ideas festival and it's right here in Baltimore. Don't miss it! Color, lights, community, music, bands, floats! Experience Baltimore's Brilliance!

Perceptions

4/4/2018

It's unsettling that there are such contrasting perceptions about Baltimore, a city I've grown to love. Yesterday I read a disturbing article detailing the police corruption through the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). The article ended by saying "Baltimore can't run a school, a police department or even a zoo".

Admittedly, there is truth in that statement, and yet it disturbs me to see only one side of multifaceted city, so rich with warm and wonderful people, history, inventions, gardens and parks music and the arts . . . . It reminds me of a fable I read years ago.

The Blind Men and the Elephant
~ John G. Sake

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all six of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
God bless me, but the Elephant
Is very like a wall.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! What have we here?

Wondering . . . ?

3/28/2018

I'll ask the participants in the exploring rainbows course!

Green

3/17/2018

In celebration of my workshop on rainbows and St. Patrick's Day, I'm listing a few things I love that are green. Why don't you create your own before looking at mine so I won't influence your unique style! You can listen to Kermit while you write down your favorite greens and i'll see you at the end of the song! You may need to play it a few times so you'll have time to list them all!

A Few of My Favorite (Green) Things

So, my list.
Well, Kermit! and
Oscar the Grouch!
Labradorite.
Moldavite
Emeralds
The field at Camden Yards
The Green Doors at Monet's Giverny
Vineyards, fabrics, insects, herbs and gardens . . .
I've pictured a few of my favorites below . . .

The Power of Youth

3/8/2018

At first glance, you'll probably think this post is about fashion. it is. It is also about the power our young people have to make change.

from the

INSIDE OUT
building the silhouette

This post is a continuation of blog posts from March 2, 2018 and the original post from February 10, 2018, highlighting the exhibit "from the Inside Out building the silhouette".

My earlier posts featured garments created for women who wanted to look older and more mature. Fashion reflected a full figured woman with wasp-like waists, cinched with corsets and contrasted with bulging bustles made of wire and muslin. This later softened somewhat to a more relaxed hour glass silhouette. Necklines were still high, sleeves and skirts were long, and layers and layers of fabric continued to restrict movement and encourage modesty.

ABCs of Color

3/4/2018

. Roger von Oech, author of A Kick in the Seat of the Pants and A Whack on the Side of the Head, shared this perspective from an advertisement for a library.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

“At your local library they have these arranged in ways that can make you cry, giggle, love, hate, wonder, ponder, and understand.

It’s astonishing to see what these twenty-six little marks can do.
In Shakespeare’s hands they became Hamlet. Mark Twain wound them into Huckleberry Finn. James Joyce twisted them into Ulysses. Gibbonpounded them into The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
John Milton shaped them into Paradise Lost.”

~ Quote taken from an advertisement to promote local libraries.

One of my favorite approaches to creating trainings is to use the alphabet to shift from a predictable list to concepts I might not consider. For example, simply listing the colors I plan to cover in my Exploring Rainbows course (Red, Yellow, Orange, etc.) tends to limit my thinking.

I used the alphabet to capture memories from trips, ideas for articles, brainstorming gift list, planning my garden, visits to museums, my annual gratitude lists, and in this case, workshop concepts.

So for each color of the rainbow, I'm planning to use examples of

Advertising- how colors are used to impact how we make purchases
Businesses and Brands
Chakras
Dining - orange to stimulate the appetite and prompt us to eat quickly and move on (fast foods), red to encourage us to slow down and enjoy (fine dining), and blue to decrease the appetite. Great for dieting.

Then there are Fairy tales and Folk lore, Gemstones, Global interpretations, Quotes, Songs, Symbolism . . . right now I have 3 or 4 topics for each letter. Six weeks will barely be enough time to cover everything!

The next time you're brainstorming ideas, write down each letter of the alphabet and see what kind of associations occur to you that might not have otherswise! And if you're really feeling industrious, see if you can arrange those 26 little marks to make another book to add to the Library of Congress!

Manifesting and Creativity

3/2/2018

Years ago I wrote and piloted a curriculum for middle school students in the Harrisburg School District. It began in 5 schools and I worked with 180 students for two years. It was later funded in all schools through out the district.

When Christmas arrived, I wanted gifts for all of my students and hoped to find something useful and meaningful. My budget was already strained and even at $1 a present, the cost would have been almost two hundred dollars. I had no idea how I'd ever afford anything worthy of such wonderful kids.

Then one December weekend I traveled to Upper Dauphin for a sale on fabric at an arctic wear store that was going out of business. They had a sign for free scarves! Lots of free scarves! Enough for me to gather 180! II wish I had a photo of my car - there was barely room to sit! It is surprising the amount of space that many scarves will take up!

This photo inspires me to remember that thoughts become things. We can manifest from nothing if we have faith. At the time I didn't really understand manifesting, but wishing with all my heart for something special for these young people, and having it materialize, was a first step in understanding. And as I've learned over the years, the universe always gives me much more than I could ever imagine for myself.

The scarves represented warm hugs! This photo also represents why I love working with kids! Each young person had a different creative interpretation for their scarves! Adults would have probably draped them predictable around their necks, but not these kids! Every day - every moment - we have opportunities to interpret things creatively and express our own unique point of view. Striving for new ways to use the things in our lives can create dramatic results. (Remember my story about the young person who changed the economy of an entire town in W.V. when he realized the temperature in a coal mine was the same as the temperature to raise fish?) We should never underestimate the power of creative thinking.

Oh, and years later, I occasionally get a call from a friend mentioning they have spotted one of the scarves on someone walking by!