The Old Me Meets the Current Me

When I was 13, back in the far off land of 1976 – the Bicentennial year complete with the nightly “Bicentennial Moment” - I got a Holly Hobbie calendar. I loved it. Not only was it pretty, but it used my name and back then there were so few things that used my name. In fact, I could go years without meeting another Holly.

But, the calendar ran its course.  I was bored so I got my calendar out. I remember meticulously and patiently cutting my little Holly Hobbie figure out with scissors. I also remember gluing her to a piece of muslin, applying layer after layer of glue. I put so much glue on it, that it looked like varnish and Holly was "floating" in it.

Somehow, I managed to keep this little piece of material. I have lost my first drafts of a number of short stories, my signed letter from Jimmy Carter, and even a lot of childhood photos. But, this little piece of material with the decoupaged Holly Hobbie, has managed to survive moves and neglect.

A couple of years ago, I was cleaning out the basement and I opened a box and there was the original calendar and in the calendar, was my decoupaged Holly Hobby. It was like finding a bit of me again. At that point in my life, I just began to play around with mixed media so I decided to build a piece around it.

Now something you need to know about me - I hate to make mistakes. I mean I hate it, especially when there is no way to repair what I have done wrong. I don't think I am different from a lot of people. None of us want to do something and find out that we shouldn't have done it. It was frightening to take this almost sacred item from my childhood and put it onto a canvas, but I am glad I did.

It was magical for the 13 year old Holly to meet the 40 year old Holly.