Memorial Day - Midwest Memories

Memorial Day has always been a very special day for me.  It's the day to remember all the men and women who have served in our military, those who have given their lives to protect our freedoms.  It's also a day to bless those who continue to serve and their families who wait for them at home.

I grew up in Iowa, in the heart of the Midwest where Memorial Day was also known as Decoration Day. It was a day to decorate the graves of our family and friends in addition to honoring Memorial Day and we spent the entire day decorating graves with fresh flowers.  By the end of May in Iowa, we had fragrant lilacs, beautiful peonies and wild flowers to pick, and we used three pound coffee cans for vases.  My mother and I would put all the fresh flowers in buckets of water, and load them and the empty coffee cans in our car for the trip to Colfax.

On the way, Mom would share stories of growing up in Colfax, of how her Daddy worked in the coal mines and where they lived.  Another favorite story was when her mother sent her to town to buy bread, and let her ride one of the farm horses.  She wasn't supposed to gallop the horse, but she did and lost the quarter for the bread.  By the time these stories were told, we were at the Colfax cemetery where we put out coffee cans of water and arranged the flowers on the graves of our family.  She would show me her parents' graves, tell me about each gravestone and explain who they were.  Some of our family had served in the military and the veterans would have already placed flags at their graves.

In later years, after my Mom's sister died, we added a trip to the Mitchellville cemetery to our Memorial Day plans; there we decorated the graves of Aunt Opal and Uncle Virgil.  When my son was old enough to go with us, he too learned the stories Mom would share and where all the cemeteries were located.  

By the time I moved away from Iowa in 1984, my parents and paternal grandparents had passed.  They are buried in Newton Union Cemetery in Newton, Iowa where they create an avenue of flags for Memorial Day, with huge American flags on flag poles lining the main drive.  I continued the tradition of putting fresh flowers on all the family graves until I moved.

Here in Florida I honor Memorial Day and Decoration Day both.  I hang my American flag - this is a photo of my flag today.  And I always plant colorful annuals in a huge flower pot to enjoy all summer.  These flowers remind me of Decoration Day and all the traditions I learned many years ago.

Linda Harbin

MidwestieLady on ArtFire
ISeeAnimals on ArtFire

Stampington & Co.

Three years ago, I didn't know about Stampington & Co.  Then browsing through a Barnes and Noble bookstore, I found a wonderful magazine with mixed media art and I fell in love with "Somerset Studio."  Over the next three years, I purchased and collected many of the Stampington & Co. magazines and experimented with the art techniques I discovered in them.  I opened three shops on the internet to share my mixed media art and other creations, and began to submit my art to the calls and challenges from Stampington & Co.  I began to dream too.

Earlier this month, on May 16, my dream came true.  My art, a mixed media canvas with dark rocky hills and pretty red poppies, was published in "Somerset Studio Gallery, Summer 2011."

Thank you, Stampington & Co.!  Thank you for your many beautiful magazines and the opportunities you offer for all artists to share their art with your readers and the world.

Thank you for publishing my poppy art and giving wings to my dream!

Linda Harbin

MidwestieLady on Etsy
MidwestieLady on ArtFire
ISeeAnimals on ArtFire

I've been PUBLISHED by Stampington ... on page 60!

I've had a very exciting week!  Last Friday I received an email from GreenCraft, one of Stampington's magazines, that they were going to feature two of my art projects from a recent challenge in the fall issue of GreenCraft and they asked me to write the article.  I had created a set of seven containers for my art brushes using tin cans covered with images of birds, bird nests and eggs from two of Stampington's calendars.  I also created a banner using dresses cut from their calendars, adding sets of legs to some of the dresses and hanging them from a twine clothesline with little wood clothespins.  I spent several hours this weekend writing and editing this article, list of materials and tips, and will be sending it to them today.

Yesterday I headed out to run errands and drove up to my mailbox.  Inside was a thick magazine wrapped in clear wrap.  I thought it was a catalog and turned it over.  There on a yellow page was a letter from Stampington saying "Congratulations! You've been published in...Somerset Studio Gallery.  We would like to congratulate you on being published and hope you enjoy this complimentay copy that you can share with family and friends before it hits the newsstands!"  It went on to wish me luck in my artistic endeavors and hope that I would continue to share my creations with them.

I was puzzled and decided that they had sent me a copy of Somerset Studio Gallery by mistake.  I thought that because I was working with GreenCraft magazine that there was a mix-up.  Then in a few minutes, I began to wonder if my art really was in this issue of Somerset Studio Gallery.  I decided to look through the magazine..and on page 60, I found my art!

They published my poppy art that I submitted months ago.  This canvas was a combination of my original drawing and painting of poppies mixed with textured rocks made from house paint, scraps of paper and a quote from John Keats.  This is one of the few pieces I've done where I drew something and painted it; I usually use vintage photos.   (Check back here next week for the tutorial on using house paint for texture.)

I was so surprised - I almost couldn't believe it!  The first time you see your art published, you see your name and city, and you want to tell everyone!  I closed the magazine, drove towards Crystal River, then reached for my cell phone to call my family in Orlando and my friends with this good news.  I've been published!!!  But I had left my cell phone at home.  I made those calls last night and am sharing the news today with my Melange Team on Etsy, on Facebook and with this blog article.  I've been submitting art to Stampington for over two years and dreaming of being published some day.

So within five days, I've received news that my art will be published by Stampington two times.  The Summer 2011 issue of Somerset Studio Gallery where my poppy art is on page 60 will be in bookstores soon. The   GreenCraft fall issue with my article will be out August 1.  This feature will include links to my shops, my blog and my email too.

Thanks for sharing my celebration over my good news and joining in my happy dance!

Linda Harbin

MidwestieLady on Etsy
MidwestieLady on ArtFire
ISeeAnimals shop on ArtFire