La La La La Life Goes On

This first two weeks of January was spent finishing up cards for the Alternet project Marina and I have been working on. I finished my 300 on Thursday and Marina finished hers on Saturday. I scanned them on Sunday. I'm thankful for two things. First, I had already scanned about 100 of my cards, so that was 100 less I needed to scan on Sunday. Second, we bought a new scanner. Other than learning how to find and pick the right settings, scanning was a breeze. I didn't have to smack it once and scanning itself was faster than it ever was.

Even though it would have been better to scan as I finished, it was interesting to spend time with the entire collection, to see how our art progressed over the course of six months (me) to a year (Marina) that we worked on the project. I was amused by the recurring themes we picked. For example, my daughter had two cards devoted to wind, drawn in different months.

 

I had many drawings of people and animals sleeping. I can't imagine why.

   

I was also impressed by how our artwork changed over the months, how our moods affected what we decided to draw at a particular time, and how very similar we are, yet also so different. Our lives unfold from one card to the next. Each day there are new things to do, but sometimes we return to the comfort of the familiar. You can almost tell our ages from looking at the subjects we picked. While both of us illustrated story scenes and an abundance of magical creatures, she had many more detailed drawings, while I leaned toward simpler lines that I could quickly finish. She experimented more with different techniques and media, as I would expect from someone on the edge of independence. I had more tough women, fighting against villainous monsters or performing incredible feats, like rescuing a lost balloon while dangling from a ladder hanging below a dirigible. You know, things a mom does for her children.

It was an interesting experience to do these cards, but we were happy to pack them up and stick them in the mail on Monday. It's time to move on to other things. Marina starts her final semester at the community college today. I'm dealing with a couple of sick cats, homeschooling activities and our washing machine just decided to break down. Life goes on.