Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy Birthday JJ!

Today is a very special day for all critter lovers. It's John James Audubon's birthday.

When I was little, my parents had all sorts of wondrous books, like those Time-Life series about nature, with beautiful pictures and all sorts of trivia that fills my head to this day. And while I loved the photos, I loved the illustrations, like Audubon's, even more. I loved the combo of nature and art. And I love birds.

My apologies to anyone with bird phobias (David, cover your eyes). But I love their coloredy, feathery goodness. I liked how he made them just a teeny bit more dramatic than they were in real life. He wasn't fooling me. He added some bird bling to some of those birds. And it rocked.

I bought a little book of birds with his illustrations in it for a dollar at Half Price books and have had a lot of fun making cards with it. 

The CAS challenge this week was for the Artist's Rule of Three. I didn't even have to do anything, because Audubon took care of it for me - the two birds and those berries are the perfect balance for this rule. Perhaps because he actually WAS an artist!

Stamps: Artistic Etchings, You're a Gem Ink: Basic Black 
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, First Edition DSP Accessories: Curly Label Punch, Black Jewels, Audubon book

I, on the other hand... I need to confess that the card is entirely backwards. It opens on the left, so for those of you who inhabit a strange mirror world - this would make a great gift. I did not discover this until I was TOTALLY finished with the card!! This is how things end up in the trash. And perhaps also why you should not craft at 5 AM. :)

Anyway, maybe JJ would understand. After all, nature isn't perfect either.

9 comments:

  1. His painting is a beautiful addition to your card....and opening on thwother side will be a pleasant surprise for the recipient!
    *smile*

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  2. Beautiful. A good card for a lefty. heehee.

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  3. LOL, I've had a couple of mirror cards too. And I love Audubon's drawings, I have a whole set of bookmarks. When we were little we had a similar style natural history book. Mysteriously it disappeared around when we had a book valuer out, but we used to love looking at it - same period, same style of drawings, and the authentic old book and leather binding smell :D.

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  4. Love it! Oh, and I cannot even count the number of times I've made backwards-opening or upside-down cards. I generally hack off the card front (which bears the sweat from my brow - ew, sorry) then trim it, layer it on another piece of c/s and put it on a new base.

    WV:chpast
    I just drove chpast Chipotle.

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  5. I did not realize that it was (I guess yesterday was) JJAudubon's birthday. What a lovely card to celebrate. I too, have a friend who has a bird phobia, big time. You have an opportunity now to make that card bigger and better by adding it to another backing. Did I say I love your card! I do!

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  6. The bird card is delightful. You might have said your card is in the "Asian style" . Their books all open from the back and left LOL
    TFS

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  7. Your bird card is delightful and a great way to use images from a book. You might have just said your card was made in the "Asian Style" All of their books open from the back and left side LOL

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  8. As a lefty, I'll tell ya - give it to a left-handed friend!!! We appreciate things like this :)

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  9. You craft anytime you like, Lydia, because you're AWESOME!

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