It Has Been A Busy Week !

I have managed to get several obligations cleared off of my list! I need to getting ready for two art shows and a possible gallery slot , so I am quite happy to get these things done. I am also very relieved that they "evolved" the way that they did!!

The first "Must Do" was a Journal Page for my friend Patsy from my Surface Design art group. This page was a part of a Seasons swap and the theme was "winter". I had been putting this one off as I wasn't sure what direction to take. I only knew that I did not want it to have any sort of religious overtones . I get stressed aout about other's liking my work as it is without adding religious preferences into the mix. i love all shades of White and I have been so inspired by my friend Ruth's work that I attacked my stash of old linens and lace and started layering!!

Here is the result.

The base of the piece is part of a Damask napkin. I did lots ot beading after using some machine stitching to hold the pieces together. All of the small pieces have bben collected over the years and most were cut from larger pieces that I had gotten very reasonably because they were damaged in some way.

The finished size is 6 x 6 inches. I stiffened the page with a piece of Timtex interfacing and did all of the beadwork before putting on the back. The final step was the pearl edging, which is simply a modified blanket stitch.

This closeup shows the vintage dictionary definition that I added using machine stitching. Obviously, this piece is not to be washed!!

Here is the back. Someone had sent me some handmade beads wrapped in some really dense wool felt which I added to the top left corner of the written piece for even more texture. I have a very large stash of Mother of Pearl buttons that I rummaged thru to find the perfect embellishments.

I wrote a note to Patsy on the muslin using a Sepia Micron pen (permanent) and covered it with very fine teulle. I left an opening and added loose beads and fresh water pearls. In this picture you can also get an idea of the beaded edging that surrounds the piece and holds the front to the back.

I showed this piece to several local friends before I put it in the mail and I had a hard time getting it back from them. Karen demanded one for her birthday and I told her that she must behave if she extpects such a gift!!!

The next project was also for a Surface Design Swap. Groups of 5 artists signed up to swap Beaded Prayer Pillows for each other. Here is the link that wil tell you about the entire world wide project. http://www.beadedprayersproject.com/.

This paragraph is from the description that you will find should you follow the above link. I highly reccomend that you do. It is a wonderful project and you will learn so much more than my telling can convey. " Why is it called the Beaded Prayers Project?The word prayer is used because the project comes from the Old English word for "bead", biddan, which means "to ask or to pray". Sonya Clark combined the history of the words "bead" and "prayer" with her research into the healing and protective amulet traditions of the African Diaspora to create the Beaded Prayers Project."

Here are my pillows for the swap.

Each pillow must contain at least one bead. Apparently the Old English Word for prayer is bead. Each pillow has an affirmation or prayer stitched inside. These range in size from 1.5x1.5 to 2x3 inches. The green pillows are made from scraps of my own hand dyed fabrics. little bits that culd not possibly have beeen thrown away!! i had such fun working on these, I really had to force myself to stop embellishing them with beads!! i will be making more and I plan to include them with christmas gifts.

Calendar Page.

My last"must get done NOW " project was 16 copies of a Calendar page for the month of December. Again I did not want to usereligious icons or symbols, so I had been putting this off as well. I had signed up for this after another person had dropped out and at times, I was regretting that I had offered!

I took all kinds of text pages from old books and gave each a wash with gesso. Then I took paper toweling and painted it randomly with a mixture of gesso and very fine glitter. Then I retrieved the ruffled paper edges, from a book of Tom's, from the trash. I painted these with a wash of gesso and then tipped the edges with Pearl Lumiere paint. Some of the gesso I tinted with blue and some I tinted with lavendar. I glued down varios strips onto watercolored watercolor paper . I believe taht I have 6 differnet languages represented .

To create the snow person, I stamped on acetate using Sepia Staz-On ink. I stitched the stamped inmage to the textured white paper with my sewing machine and left an opening to insert various sparling white beads. It is pretty hard to see these details in the pctures, I do apologize!!

These pages will be sent off tomorrow along with a blue watercolored page of the same size. The hostess of this swap will take everyones different months and place acetate month sheets over the plain pages and bind each calendar. Then each of us will recieve a beautiful art calendar to enjoy for all of 2008 and beyond!

Now I must dash off and pick up my daughter from a friends house, get dinner going and bake Oatmeal Raisin cookies for everyones lunch box.!!