Jacket Art

Yesterday I finally undressed my manikin, well, took the jacket off her, then I dug out some embroidery floss, and I am going to attempt to give the natural drab jacket some color and interest.  I am not an embroiderer, but I can do a pretty good running stitch.  I started by going around the edge with a very dark brown.  The next line I used a burnt sienna color.  I think I will just keep going with each line getting lighter.  I read that orange was a hot color right now so I am staying with the orangy and yellowy colors, I think.  I am going to go with my intuition with this.

Mother Nature's Spring Art

I am so happy to be able to get out in the outdoors... at least once in a while between rain storms.  I love the rain and I know it makes everything that is growing around here very happy.  And today, since I haven't been doing much art, I thought I would show you some of the emerging flowers... soon all around my house the wild flowers will paint the views from my windows with yellows and oranges.  You have to get out and walk around to see the subtle little purple and white colored flowers.  I will be taking more pictures later on in June of Mother Nature's gifts.

The wild onions are happy..

And I thought the tulips were over with but the rain made these red ones very happy...

Very late blooming tulips

The lilacs are frost bitten but they still look pretty and smell wonderful...

A close up of a tulip...

The flax is just getting going good too...

YSM Shopping

I think my weekly jogs to villages for the YSM will now be steady for the summer.  I am always amazed at the delightful items one can find, even after being the self proclaimed "Queen of Yard Sale shopping" for these last 40+ years of doing this.  Yesterday... another treasure in a 1943 edition sewing book.  I love the articles,  many still timely, the illustrations and photos delightful since they show fashion designs that were popular just before I was born... makes me wonder, did my Mom wear this or that?  And what I mostly found interesting is there is not one, no not one reference on sewing, fitting, nor making pants for women.  OMG... I don't even own a dress!  Well, I do have one summer and one winter dress for emergencies but I haven't had an emergency for at least four or five years and that was the wedding of my oldest Granddaughter where I found I had to wear a dress.  Which I hated, lol.  But, after reading the book I remembered that my generation of girls were not allowed to wear pants to school except for the end of the year field day.  And then this morning I had a rememberance of helping my Dad press his Levis.  He put his fists together up into the pant legs then spread them as wide as he could and my job was to pull the pants off his fists, which stretched  the denim and removed all the wrinkles.
But, to move on, here is some photos of my treasure!

The cover has sissors, spools of thread and other sewing stuff embossed on it.

Articles on tips for dressing properly!

Tips for adding embellishments... (see the french knot illustration for those who had a conversation with me about french knots recently, lol).

Mom and Me dresses... Not sure that would go over real big now...

And mixed media people... this looks like drawing on the printed page... love the ribbon and sissor graphic!

I hope you find a treasure this summer!

Wild Heart Painting

I read about wild heart painting some time back... maybe a year or two ago.  I liked the idea of just playing for the sake of playing.
Right now I am stuck between two major projects. One is over (my workshop) the other is coming up in a few days so I really really did not want to get lost in a project and then have to leave it for a while... I like to dive in and stay with the flow to the end!  So, today, I set up a sheet of plywood and put a 40 in by six foot long piece of art paper on it.  Then I dug out my cheap craft paints, which I swear those things keep expanding and expanding as I think I am going to use them up and there they are, more than ever and fuller than ever!  (just kidding)  So, since I don't have much else going on, I thought I would show you pictures of my painting with no purpose other than just to get some paint on that paper!

I started with a green...

And discovered I had five different greens in my stash so I used all of them...

Then I decided to do yellow and found some gold so added that...

And finally some pink... 

I think tomorrow I will break out the blues...

So, this did do what I wanted it to do... I got to play in paint but did not have to think about the results at all!  It is a perfect spacer and breather  between two major projects.

To Do List

I am pretty focused once I get going on a project.  Like the workshop last Saturday (see previous post). Even so, I do work on other and sundry activities.  So, I thought I would show you my latest to do list through photos.  Maybe you would like to make your own photographic "to do " list too?

After having so much fun on Saturday teaching the mixed media workshop...

I have lots of stuff to put back in their places in the studios...

And I painted this in prepping for the workshop which made me want to do a couple days of wild heart painting so I will be setting up a big easel in a day or two...

And after hitting the YSM last Friday I have an art doll on the burner...

And I had to download a manuel and I am reading it for this little acquisition from the YSM-yep is is a hobby lock and I got it for a steal!

And since my sewing studio needed a new clock, the YSM produced an old wooden clock which is now getting a face lift, no pun intended... lol...

And I am making lists of things I need to get ready to put into the RV...

And making padded covers for my camera and phone accessories so they won't scratch each other in the camera bag...

And I am gathering stuff to get a travel kit ready for the rv...

And had to dig out the summer clothes to see what I will have available for the summer (if summer ever gets here!)...

And as I go about all these activities I have to stop and research the new birds in the neighborhood...

And I spent one morning stirring up chex mix trail mix packages which I threw in the freezer for a quick grab and go travel accessory...

And once in a while I have been able to get out to the deck and smell the lilacs and the Canadian Choke cherries, both of which smell so wonderful...

 I got to watch HRH plant the tomatoes and actually helped re-make the wind covers...

And I have to finish this quiltie since I sold it to a very nice lady as I was hanging it for the workshop last week...

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Workshop Pictures

I am so in love with doing workshops after teaching today.  The students were fun and made some awesome pages.  We were so busy creating and seeing each others work the time just flew!  I am so going to do this again... soon.

Rosalina and Jen in the paint..

Helen scanning table for certain art supplies...

Marilyn and Vanessa agreeing on their beautiful pages...

Rosalina's book has some fabulous pages...

Vanessa made some awesome textures...

Marilyn liked these pages best...

Helen has a sailor sun so she incorporated something to honor that... 

All the students worked hard but described as "play" and "fun."

Crae will use his book for a sketchbook and gave the whole class a peek at his portfolio...

Crae and Roselina working hard too...

Everyone loved the workshop and they all want to do another one soon!  I am thinking September would be about right for another one.

Back to The Book

I scanned some of not all of the pages of the book I am giving away at the workshop I will be teaching on Saturday.  Woo hoo, I think this is going to be fun!
Here are the pages:

This has a fabric background with interesting texture.

Played with some cardboard... love the texture!

Different washes and a stencil.

Handmade and commercial stamping.

Background textures

And my techie limitness showing... how do you delete a photo?

Linen Face

Back in July of 2009, i played with painting on old linens.  http://swallowcliffs.blogspot.com/2009/07/old-linens.html

I was doing faces.  One of the faces became a cover for my current sketchbook which has been badly neglected this last few months, and the others were just flat ignored and forgotten.  But, the other day I found the four faces still in one piece and decided to play with one.  I cut it off from the others, and made a sandwich by adding some padding under it.  I then dug into my "aged" by time or aged by purpose (tea works well, lol) fabric bin and pulled out three pieces.  I put the face with padding on a plain piece, then that on top of a patterned piece and finally, all of that on top of a pattererned piece that had chrochet around it's edge. I had to cut two pieces of this in order to get the edging all around the edge.  I free motion sewed the face to the first piece, then free motioned to each of the under layers.  I really quite like her.  I might add some beads and other embellishments, although I don't usually spend much time with things that have to be hand sewn, like beads.  But, she looks okay to me now.

I am glad I had time to play with her.

Cinco de Mayo

Today!
 I really did not make art for this day, but this shrine seems to fit so bwa la, here it is.

It started as a end of a shipping box reinforcement piece of card board.  The cardboard was made with three sides to fit over a box end.  The cardboard is about 1/2 inch thick and is filled with squiggly looking cardboard filler... very sturdy and stands by itself.  So I cut a piece off the long strip, rounded the top edges and began.  On the back I covered it with bathtub caulking, very thick and put a stamp in the caulk for decoration, then after it was dry, gesso and some gold over wash.
The front I gessoed, then gave it the lace look with an old plastic tablecloth stencil, black paint.  Over washed that with a pearlizing glaze.  I painted the lady on a piece of parchment paper, I put the gold halo on using a piece of gold leafing left over from some project in the past.  Collaged the flowers and added other embellishments.  This was a very fun and relaxing project and super inexpensive.  I like her.  Sometimes when you use found objects, the end results surprise you!

And, I guess all that practice I did a while back with trying to make "cute pretty faces" worked a bit.  I think she is rather cute, lol.