Newly Published!!

I am madly racing about trying to meet several surprise dealines so this will be a very quick post. I just wanted to stop by and share that I have had a bit of artwork published in the latest edition of Cloth Paper Scissors!! HTis is the first time that my art work has been accepted by CPS so I am quite excited. I must also say that I think that Jenn Mason is doing a fabulous job as the new Editor in Chief and is working hard to bring in lots of new artists and their work to share with CPS readers. Way to go Jenn!! Also I must commend Barb Delaney of CPS for the wonderful job that she does in contacting we contributors and making sure that our art pieces are lovingly taken care of and safely ferried between home and the art studio. Bravo Barb!!!

I submitted my Denim Journal to the All Buttoned UP Challenge as I had used buttons as embellishments as well as functional tools throughout my book!!

In my efforts to meet my looming deadlines I did my First Solo Low Immersion dye batch. I would have prefered to wait till the weather got warmer as the Procion MX dyes are supposedly much more intense when the weather is warm and humid, but the time was NOW! I used the Quart Jar Parfait method and got results that I am absolutely thrilled with. You will have to wait a bit to see what will be created from all of these bits of linens that I have been rescuing from Thrift Shops and Antique Malls.

Here are some of the laces and trims that emerged from the dye baths. (I did batch them overnight to get the most intense color possible.)

Some of these pieces were real ugly ducklings with stains and some were stitched with several lots of cotton threads that had aged to different colors of biege and brown. The dye bath fixed all of those problems!!

On A trip tot he mailbox last week I did spot the first crocus of spring so if all of my dear friends in the midwest and northeast can hang on, know that spring actually is going to be here soon!! It seems that this year the groundhog may ahve been correct!!!

I promise that I will be back soon with news regarding these deadlines and all the activity that is turning my home into a full blown stitching studio complete with files of fabric and dyed bits, felted animals and spools of thread and yarns. A very colorful jumble to say the least!!!!

Happy Weekend All!!!

New Art

It has been brought to my attention that I have not posted in a bit! All of three days I think!! I ahve a piece to share that has been finished for quite awhile. I could not post it before as I had created it for apublication that had asked for submissions. The theme was Life Is A Beach. Apparently they got pictures of pieces form over 220 artists and they chose 12 pieces for publication. So I am not alone in being passed over! I can't get things chosen if I don't submit pieces and I will not get chosen every time- that is for sure.

So here is my piece, titled "Her Bliss". This is a mixed media collage that tells the story of my daughter's love of the beach. She is quite happy near any running water, even if it is only the hose, but she LOVES the ocean. I based this piece on three photographs that I took during one of our annual Cape Cod road trips. Blogger has insited three times on publishing this picture on it's side (so I said Uncle) sorry that you have to trun your head!! I wanted to share how I had used the photograph of the beach umbrellas to launch the work.
This is all done on an 11x17 canvas.


I took that Rt 6A image from another photograph, printed it out on regular paper and slapped it down.


I also added bits of newspaper articles and parts of images from local Cape Cod newspapers and a piece of a topographicval map of the Orleans Eastham area. If you click on the photos to enlarge you can pick out some of these details.


The two images of Becca were printed out on silk after a bit of editing and enhancing with various filters on Photoshop.

Here are some closeup details:


All of the holes in the shells are found holes- I found the shells that way- work created by various sea critters. I added bits of needlework and stitched the silk images to felt backing to give some depth to the machine stitichings. I wanted to frame the pictures just a bit and used the stitching to do that.


I am really quite happy with the results and I am thrilled to have created this piece even though it was not selected for publication. Now we have some more art for our own collection!






And now for something completely different!

I am continuing to take watercolor painting classes with my good friend Ariel Freeman. She shared a newly finished piece with us during our last class. She had recieved a commission to draw a Buffalo, in pastel, for a woman who had grown up in the midwest with Buffalo on her farm. I asked if I could take a picture of the piece and she allowed me to. Now I will share with you! Ariel is really getting lots of good recognition lately and she sold the piece that she had submitted to the Feast For the Eyes Show, on opening night!!



I just love this piece!! Isn't he just wonderful??? We got to see many buffalo up close and personal, when we lived in Oklahoma. The kids and I were even lucky enought to bottle feed a rejected calf!! I am very lucky to be able to take classes with such a talented and supportive artist!!!

I still have much to do along the organization of studio lines!! No I am not yet ready to show pictures of a stream lined and deduced stash art space- it has gone on far too long. I plan on diving in yet again this weekend. SIGH!!!