last place

When we first moved to La Crosse, we grabbed whatever brochures, newspapers, pamphlets sitting around at bars and coffee shops that could tell us anything about our new home. In the midst of this, I picked up ad for an art contest sponsored by the La Crosse River Marsh Coalition.

I ran across this ad again two weeks ago and decided that since I have not much better to do, I'd draw a picture for the theme "Living with Nature" and submit it. What the heck, right? So I drew a small ink painting of some birds on the neighbor's roof (inspired by this picture I took).

Then I wanted to mount it on a piece of cardstock or something, because the paper I use for ink painting is very, very thin. So I went to a nearby art store, explained my desire, and the woman suggested this fancy stuff that is like a plastic sheet, but melts when you iron it. It is supposed to be very good for delicate things.

Well, it wasn't delicate enough. While my cute, little painting is now secured to its backing, it has also taken on the color of its backing, which is black. My pristine, white background now looks like it's a copy of a copy of a copy from a printer low on toner.

It wasn't like my art work was great, but I had been proud of it. Now I am just sad.