Saturday, April 30, 2016

IFJM - April 8, 2016






Flora,

10 great lessons you taught me in your (relatively) short life:

1.  It is o.k. to relax and enjoy the sunshine.
2. Wings are not always meant for flying -- sometimes they are meant to nurture and protect.
3.  The most wonderful things are often buried in the dirt.
4.  Only trust those who are good to you.
5.  You can't keep treasures all for yourself.
6.  Comfort is in the company.
7.  Surround yourself with those who share your best interest.
8.  Always forgive and forget.
9.  You still must forage, even when it rains.
10.  Even if you are unable to fly, you can still run very, very fast!

Thank you!
Lizzy

IFJM - April 7, 2016





Dear "Mr Atkins",

I looked for you beneath your bridge this morning on my way to work.  Both you and your bedroll were gone.  I don't know where you go during the day -- are you one of the many hungry faces I see standing on the corner, begging for food?  Once I saw you sitting in your tattered military coat, drinking coffee from a styrofoam cup -- it's steam rising  in the cold morning air.  I was so happy to see that you survived the frigid night (Your friend, Charlie, was not so lucky and his face still haunts my memory).  

How did you wind up on the street?  Did you wake up one day and find everything you had worked so hard for had just slipped away from you?  All of your dreams and plans for your life shattered in an instant?  

You were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country and in return you were abandoned and forgotten under a bridge.  I wish there was some way I could repay you, but what is the price for freedom?

Please know that I will continue to search for you,
Lizzie Smit

IFJM - April 6, 2016






My dearest Tom,

Tonight (so many years ago) you professed your great love for me while asking for my hand in marriage.  You promised to love and respect me forever, and I know you were sincere in that promise.

Some marriages seem to be an endless stream of better days, while others are never able to recover before the next destructive wave hits.  Instead of peacefully riding out the waves together, they struggle, fight and resist each other and the marriage often ends in ruins.

Life will always have its ups and downs -- its "for better" and "for  worse".  Good moments will fill us with such joy and we hope they will last a lifetime; but, when the dark times come, it will seem impossible to see the light that is hidden from us.

Please do not forget the way you love me tonight, and I beg of you to draw upon it in the future, when our world will be shattered and we will become strangers to one another.

With all the love in my heart,
Lizzy

IFJM - April 5, 2016






Dear Wyatt,

I was reading up on you today and, I must admit, you seem to walk the fine line between enforcer of the law and criminal. 

What I read made me wonder:  did your dubious past finally catch up to you?  Are you a product of your past transgressions?  Or were you just misunderstood in your attempts to build a butter life?

Why is it that no matter how much we try and detach ourselves from the past events, people closest to us can't seem to do likewise?  No matter how much we change, they assume we remain the same. Perhaps you and I are similar in this plight, being blamed for wrondoings that were out of our control...

But the question still remains, Mr. Earp: Are you the shepherd or are you the wolf?

Respectfully,
Lizzy Smit

IFJM - April 4, 2016



My Dearest Mother Mary,

Easter break is over and it's back to work as usual.  Watching a 2 yr old and how her mother struggled to keep her quiet reminded me of the boys when they were that age.  I miss their chubby dimpled hands, squeals of laughter, and their soft cheeks.  I was so busy trying to care for them, I didn't fully appreciate them as much as I should have.  Now, I am filled with so much regret and I feel the need to hold on to every precious moment while I still can.

When you knew you were going to be a mother, did you ever fear for the day you would have to say "good bye"?  That no matter how desperately you tried, you could never hold on to any specific point in time?  That one day your kisses would no longer stop your child's pain?

The past has been so difficult and I worry about what the future holds.  I know I should just focus on getting through the day -- but this seems impossible to me and I can't help but cry out to you in this Vale of Tears...

Lizzy

IFJM - April 3, 2016






John,

I can't believe it has only been a week since I last saw your blue eyes -- always sparkling with laughter and mischief.  The doctors say you didn't suffer ("he just quietly passed in his sleep") and I hope they are right.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't suffering due to the loss of you.

The funeral was lovely.  You would have laughed at how everyone has practically canonized you a saint!  Your grave overlooks a nice pond that was filled with geese while we were there.  I admit I had to stifle a few giggles because their honking noises were so loud we couldn't hear the priest.  (Did you put them up to that ?!?)

I will miss you sneaking off with our Wall Street Journal in the morning, and it just won't be the same around here without you shooting at the rabbits as they raid your vegetable garden.

I will try and visit you sometime next week (I'll bring the Wall St. Journal for you!)

Much love,
Lizzy

P.S. - I hope you don't mind that I took your orchids.  They were in full bloom today and I couldn't help it.  

IFJM - April 2, 2016






Dear "Katie",

I was sitting behind you at the game tonight and I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed watching you at the game tonight.  My daughter would have been about your age and I couldn't help but think about what she would have done, had she been there.

Would she have taken as much delight as you did with that cotton candy -- getting the sticky floss all over her face and long golden hair?  And when the team scored a goal, would she have danced around with you to try and catch the confetti as it fell from the top of the stadium...two giggling, pink-clad fairies amid a sea of blue?

I never got to hold my little girl in my arms as she drifted off to sleep, but will always hold her memory in my heart and hope one day we will meet in Heaven.

Take care. little "Katie".  May you always find joy in the little pleasures of life and may you never stop dancing.

Lizzy Smit

IFJM - April 1, 2016


The letter reads:
Happy Birthday!

I received your letter (12-24-92) and wanted to tell you that while things seem dark for you at the moment, I promise the sun will begin to shine more brightly in the near future.  Life will continue to have its ups and downs, but you must always remember there can be no spring without the harsh and bitter winter.

Wonderful things lie ahead for you (including a great husband and 2 wonderful sons); but, unfortunately, the road you must travel will be filled with many sorrows.  

Continue to study hard in school, always be kind to strangers, and know that dairy is not your friend.  

With all my love,
Lizzy

P.S. That boy you are sad about -- he will eventually beg you to take him back, but you will have moved on to bigger and better things! :-)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

IFJM -- 2016

My fake author (Lizzie) is an avid letter writer and a fan of mail art.  She likes to write a letter a day and decorate the envelop (complete with vintage postage stamps and postmarks).  The only problem is that Lizzie writes letters that cannot actually be sent to (or read by) the recipient because they are written to complete strangers, people from the past, animals, are deceased...

The paper for this "journal" is actually taken from a large journal that I was not using.  The pages are being cut out and used for making Lizzie's envelopes and stationery for her letters.  At the end of the month, they will be bound into a journal to keep the collection together -- or perhaps a box will be made?   I will just have to wait and see what appeals to "Lizzie"...



Internatiional Fake Journal Month 2010 Flipthrough

Here is a flip through video of the journal I did in 2010 for the IFJM:



Friday, April 22, 2016

"Life's so short, why live only one?" -- Roz

According to artist Roz Stendahl, April is  International Fake Journal Month.  

This is the second year I have participated in this project (the first back in 2010).  The theme for 2016 -- Shift In Place -- is meant for the participant to take a quick side-step into the fake character, create something on the page without much thought or planning put into it, and then step back into real life... until the following day. 

The point of this?  To kick-start a new habit of daily drawing/creating, to try different forms of art/media, to improve one's skills, to foil that "inner critic", and because it is just plain fun!