Fabric Arch Pages

I created this series of pages for a swap for my local art group. The task was to create arch shaped pages using fabrics. Six other artists are particapating in this swap, so a book will be the end product, eventually......

The background is Fabric/Paper. This consists of a collage of old book pages, napkin tops and painted paper towel fused to muslin using PVA glue. The purple Fleur de Lis is embossed on felt and then the felt was melted and burned using a heat tool. The felt piece was attached to the background with gold seed beads. The bottom embellishments were created by layering a piece of old text with a fragment of old text, a piece of fabric/paper and a snippet of trim. held together with beads.

The backs are finished with some vintage gold trim attached with metallic beads.

The top embellisment was created from an original mold made from a vintage button. I used polymer clay, painted with acrylics and highlighted with Mica powders.

Bucram was inserted between the front and back layers of the page and the whole sandwich is held together with machine stitching.

I can't wait to see what the other group members have created for this swap!!

Future Art Quilts!!!

Our "Girls Only" road trip was wonderful for Becca and I in so many ways. We spent lots and lots of time together (especially in stop and go traffic on the Jersey Turnpike), we learned to love listening to books on tape- Harry Potter 2, we went to the beach every single day, we enjooyed visiting our family and friends and we collected lots of treasures for future art projects. We never left the house without a "collection bag" or my camera.

I have taken a bunch of pictures that I have put in a sub-category of Future Art Projects.

They may become art quilts or book pages or appear in assemblages or just be used as is as photos. No matter what, they serve as great memories.

This one would make a great art quilt.

Drip Castle Queen on Cape Cod BAy.
Evening critter hunt.
How many Hermit crabs can I find?

Hermit Crab release after sunset over Cape Cod Bay.
Drip castle creation at Nauset Beach ( Atlantic ocean side).

Catching a wave with drip castle ramparts in the fore ground.

SURFER CHICKS

I call this shot "Surfer Chicks". The surf was pretty good that day, good enough to get a bunch of surfers to gather beyond the sand bar. These little chicks were trying their best to catch a wave and join the fun! This picture just makes me laugh, especially when I look at the poses. They were just beyond the lick of the incoming waves- or so they thought!

Wipeout! Screams and Panic!! Thank goodness for boogie board tethers!!!!


Boogie Boards at the ready! I love the colors!!

The summer of the Blackberry at Mom's. The best and the biggest where at the top, center of the patch. I hope that the birds are enjoying them!! We picked everyday and covered our cereal bowls with berries. Even the family dog Sophie, would pick and eat whenever we were outside! I have never seen a dog pick berries from a serious bramble bush and eat the berries to her hearts content. Unfortunately, I missed getting a picture of that!!


Matisse in the window. Definately a future art piece!

Now all I have to do is focus, organize and produce all of these projects and art pieces that I have running around in my head and scribbled in my journals!!!

Back in the Groove!!

I have a deadline to meet, so I have had to jump right back into my art mess! My work space is not as neat as I wanted it to be, but then I think that neat is under rated. Seriously, I work best when I have 5-6 projects going at once so when the inspiration leaves ,or the paint needs to dry on one project, I can move on to the next project. I just push things aside, make space and keep going! I think that this is how I manage to crank things out so quickly. Friends have often asked how I do it all, and I think that I have just stumbled on the answer to that question!

There is a call for art from a nice gallery not far from my home. They are looking for "smallish" items for their Christmas sale. I have till Friday to submit pictures and discussion for any items that I would like to have considered.

Today, I completed some paper that I had begun last week. It was collaged and layered with old book pages and torn papers and then paint scrapped with acrylic paints. I will apply several layers of sealer , for durability , and use it for the signature covers for journals. I am planing on hand stitching the books and adding treasure pockets and a decorative element to the front. All of the items are to have a nature theme- not a problem for me!!

There is a bit of glare from the flash, as I used several metallic paints.

I have also decided that an old credit card is my favorite paint applicator!!!

These sheets will be cut up (sob) and used to make some journals. I will post pictures of the finished products!

On a diferent topic, I have set up a neat little display for some wonderful art Quilts that I have received from some recent art swaps. While on my trip to Cape Cod, my Mom gave me some old hangers that she had come across. I am thrilled with them and I would dearly love to find some more! I am looking for old ones with clips on the ends especially those used for children' s clothing. Using one hanger aI am able to display three Quilts and as I am running out of wall space, this works really well for me!!

I have also found several really neat old spice racks at our local Goodwill. This one has wonderful turned wood rails and I only paid three dollars for it!! I just love repurposing old stuff!!

The hanger is neat but the artwork taht I have been so lucky to recieve from my wonderful art friends really stals the show!! Now I can see it everytime that I waalk into my art space!!!

Back From the Beach!

We are back, safe and sound! Becca (my 10year old daughter ) and I had a wonderful trip together! On our journey north, we listened to the second Harry Potter book , as read by Jim Dale. what a treat- we thoroughly enjoyed it!! It was a long drive but it was worth it!

We arrived in Orleans Mass on Sunday the 12th, dropped our gear and took off for the beach! There was no stopping Becca, not even the 60 degree water temps or the seaweed in the water! She is definately the family Water Rat!!! Perhaps Cod Fish would be a more appropriate name, or mermaid.

The yard Sale Boogie Board that I managed to snag, back in April, was one of the best $2 investments that I have ever made!!

Pure Joy!! It seemed that the ride was not complete nor worthy of a thumbs up if not accompanied by a rousing WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!

A little bit of sand and seaweed makes the experience complete!!!

I got wet up to my waiste but when the feet are numb, walking becomes difficult!! I managed to collect 'Boxes Of Rocks", beautiful ttumbled pebbles of white quartz, agates and granite. I also found at least two pieces of real sea glass during each trip to the beach- we went daily!!!

I have more pictures to share in my next post. I will also be sharing some new artwork soon. I am off to run errands and take photos of some new creations to be posted on ElizaJean.Etsy!

Back soon!

New Projects

I have been quite busy lately and I have not been able to get to the computer with time to post ! I have been finishing up lots of projects and preparing for a trip to Cape Cod for a bit of a vacation. Becca and I will be road tripping together and we are very excited about our adventure. I will post again when we return!

For now, here are a few of the projects that I have finished up.

You have seen some of my Mothies before, I know. These were made for a Christams swap on one of my art groups. They are only about 6 inches tall. Their wings are made of painted Tyvek and their bodies are covered with old lace, cheesecloth, tinsel, beads and angora yarns. Here are two more.

It is hard to see the lace details in these pictures. They are beautiful little frothy confections of white. They are really adorable , if I do say so myself!!!

This next piece was created as a gift for a special person. She was so taken with my charm necklace that was created from charms from a swap ( see old post) that I created a special necklace jsut for her.

I hope that she enjoys her Birthday present!!

Got to run and finsih up a few more projects and start to pack for my trip!

Happy creating and Happy Trails to all! I'll post again at the end of August. TA for now!

New Projects-Dyed Fabric and Beaded Books!

After finding tons of inspiration and motivation at my Surfce Design group, I have begun to tiptoe into the realm of fabric dyeing. i have held myself back as i thought that there would be a huge amount of supplies and pots and buckets of dyes and mess and such, involved with the whole process. I have come to the realization that it is very possible to dye up small batches of fabric with very limited supplies, without a sea of buckets and pots, and very small quantities of dyes. Oh what fun!!!!

Below you will see my first experiments with sun dyeing using Setacolor Dyes made by Peboe. I used prewashed unbleached muslin and leaves and grasses from the yard to achieve, what I think are, wonderful results!!

This piece was done with yellow and blue dyes ,with rock salt thrown on top. After the piece was thoroughly dried in the sun, the salt was brushed off.

These two pieces were dyed and then laid out on a large piece of plastic covered cardboard. Then I arrainged the leaves and grasses on the wet fabric. I had to move the whole setup around the yard several times in order to follow the sun, at the same time finding spots where the doggies would not trample thru the whole project! Yes , it was a bit of a circus!!!!!

Buddy, the dog, wanted Y'all to know that I had a very able photographic assistant who I relied on heavily to get such excellent shots!! NOT!!!!!

Using these dyed fabrics, I created my Fall Journal page for the upcoming Swap on my Surface Design Group.

This piece began with a personal photograph of some fall leaves. (on the right hand side). I digitally altered the photograph on the computer to give it a watercolour look. Then I printed the image on fabric and added the blue/yellow/ salt fabric to the left. I hand quilted the leaves with metallic and rayon threads, added the beads and was done. I extended the leaves from the photograph onto the blue green side- it is hard to see this in the photograph but it gives a very nice effect when one sees the piece in person. The three leaves at the bottom are glass beads with a frosted finish.

For the back, I used the orange piece of dyed fabric. I decribed my process and added three small brass leaf shaped beads as a finishing touch. This is now ready to be mailed to my swap partner.

The next project is a Journal, Doodle , Treasure keeping Book. It is filled with pages of all sizes and colors and patterns. It is meant to be used for whatever the owner wants. The printed pages can be enhanced by doodles, have a photo glued to them or any little bit or snippet clipped to them. THere are pockets for treasures and blank white pages for old fashioned, serious writing. This is meant to be a fun and crazy, imagination stimulating piece of functioanl art. This whole idea has been totaly explored and advanced by the well known artist Traci Bautista. She has a wonderful book titled, Collage Unleashed, that I refer to over and over again! The binding technique that I used in this piece is also described in her book.

Front cover- paint scrapped over watercolour paper- protective finish added.

An example of some of the inside pages. The book contains three sections (signatures) of about 15 pages each.

More inside pages. The pages wiht diagonal folds in them create pockets for hiding treasures or notes or whatever.

Outside front and back covers with beaded binding and dangles visible. This was such a fun project and it went together very quickly. I love projects that have beading and other "hand work" involved, I find it very restful and calming, never mind portable!!!

Tomatoes, Lillies, African Glass and some art.

I have been very busy lately, doing things other than art! We had a wonderful visit from my brother Peter, his wife Elise, and my nieces, 15 year old Mali and almost eleven Kate. They live in Tanzania and it is a very rare thing to get them all in the same place at the same time, never mind in the States!!! They have a wonderful and exciting life there but it sure is nice to have them at our house on visits! I wish that we could see them more often!!

My brother always brings us wonderful treasures form his travels. This time he graced me with some wonderful hand made glass beads. These beads are extra special as they are made at a Women's cooperative art group from recycled glass bottles. Women are finding themselves as the sole caretakers of multiple families due to the crisis brought on by AIDS. Many women are getting involved in creating wonderful art and thru Fair Trade practices, they are able to support themselves. Peter has promised to send me more of these wonderful beads.

I just love these beads because they are so hand hewn looking! Some of them even look like hearts. The colors are just wonderful as well and will fit beautifully into my favorite color pallette!

I am starting to harvest my tomato crop. We lost a huge Bradford Pear tree on our front lawn last fall, in a big wind storm. the space left behind is in full sun. So i plopped down some pots and planted some MATERS!!! This fall we are going to construct a raised bed on the site so we can have a real veggie garden . Right now Iam fighting with the squirrels for the tomatoes!! I covered the entire site with bird netting and hopefully I will be able to get to at least half of the crop before the darned squirrels!! There are few things that taste as good as a fresh warm tomato just picked from the garden!

I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my lilies. They just keep coming and the color combos don't get much better than this!!

Now for a little bit of art! I have really been struggling with this technique- in fact the whole thing almost ended up thrown in the back of my closet in the "I Give Up PILE!!" One thing that I have re-learned is that I do not like working with fusible web products.

The swap was for 4 post cards for my Surface Design Group and the Title was Perfect Petals. Supposedly I was supposed to be able to iron fresh petals and blossoms between two sheets of fusible web and generate a beautiful arraingment!! yikes- not QUITE!!! I eneded up using already dried hydrangeas from last years garden and I managed to get 4 cards done that i felt were good enought to send out. I probably generated 10-15 cards worth of trash. One can't expect everything to work as advertized nor to love every technique that one tries!!

After doing some bead work and stamping with a hydrangea stamp before adding the flowers things started to come together. When I tried it with the fresh flowers. the heat from the iron changed the colors- to be expected. WHat I did not expect was that the smell would be sooo nasty. It also didn't help that I was having a hot flash at the time-Ya THINK??????

Anyway here they are and I hope that the gals who I am swapping with are happy with them

I am working on more projecta to post on my Etsy store site so I will be posting more art here soon! thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave me a note to tell me you were here!