More Uses for Scraps

I can’t throw anything away. After our recent construction projects, I had boxes of oddly shaped wood scraps taking up space and getting in the way. Inspired by the little wood figures of Joaquín Torres-García, Lisa had suggested that I could make little people sculptures from the scraps. With our 29th anniversary coming up, I decided that now was the time.

I started with a figure in a suit, hat and tie – sort of a 1950’s company man. I then made a gardener, in tribute to Lisa. At the last minute, I added a cat.

In the first paint phase, the figures are black & white, with just a few touches of color. After looking at them a while, we decided to add some color, using some of the left-over paint from our garage door murals. Since Lisa is a Certified Master Gardener, the colorful gardener has MG on its sleeve. She is holding a plant, which some people insist looks more like a margarita.

I like them both ways, plain and colored. Which do you prefer?

I also made an anniversary card. I was trying to capture the feeling of those small moments when we say big things.

But wait, that’s not all! We got some terra cotta clay for our arts & crafts activity on the 4th of July – and made pots and cat faces. Lisa planted them up beautifully, as always.