This little girl went for a walk on a winter's eve. She's dressed for it, too, with her fur hat, muff and fur-trimmed coat. Could be she's Russian.
I have a few pieces of Tascha Parkinson's and they were the inspiration for this and some others I'm working on. :)
You know those things that you put off that are important but not urgent? I've had pictures sitting around my studio for months now patiently waiting to be hung. I didn't feel particularly creative last night but wanted to be in there so I started hanging them at last.
This is the breast cancer piece (above) that I did that has names of survivors and those who didn't all along the ribbon. It is probably the thing with the most meaning that I've ever done. The colors make me feel good when I look at them so this hangs directly across from my worktable.
It's funny how something like that can make you feel good. It makes me want to be in there now. I put the pieces in places where the colors would make me feel good and want to work on art...happy colors.
Some of my Mary Haldeman pieces below:
This grouping is on top of a supply cabinet. The block angel is a Stephanie Rubiano piece, the "Fly" angel is by Kathy McElroy and the block with the pinks all over it is my birthday artist trading block that I did with a group last year. We worked on them round-robin style and each player added something to it.
Below is a painting by Suzan Buckner:
I am crazy about those Scotch Command adhesive hanging items. I used them a lot for these. The one on the door uses velcro so I can pull it off to dust or wipe down the door.
Here's my worktables. *Sigh* It needs work now but it's better than it was. The fun never ends!
I changed the grouping over the mantle to pieces that felt more like Valentine's Day. Lots of hearts, red, pink.
Thanks for visiting!
My nephew and his wife gave me a gift card for Amazon at Christmas. So, I bought Pam Carriker's Art at the Speed of Life. I started looking through it about a week after Christmas. There's a project in there called the 10-minute journal so I made one. Mine took 2-3 hours! Only because I played with the backgrounds and cover, etc.
I didn't have waxed linen thread so I took baker's twine, waxed that and used it instead. The image on the front was from a tag on a piece from DJ Pettit. I'd held onto it for a long time now and finally found spot for it.
Here's the first spread in there. LOTS of layers of glaze, paper and the stars and word are light molding paste. Reading the book has made me drag out some art supplies that I have but don't automatically reach for. Not that I don't like them, I just forget about them!
Then there's a project in there by Brandie Butcher-Isley and I followed her steps and made a piece on illustartion board. The image is of my mother at about 18 years old when she was in the Victory Corps during World War II. The piece is only about 4 x 5 but I love it. It means a lot to me. The colors are not ones I usually use and the challenge of using them and then doing the layering made it enjoyable.
I sort of combined a few things from the book in this one as I used light molding paste with stencils on the background before I started painting. After I finished it, I topped it with self-leveling gel medium. I showed it to my mother and she really liked it.
Anyway, this book has inspired me with it's great photos of projects and examples, short to-the-point instructions and projects that are usually laid out in 1-2 pages. It's enough but not overwhelming. Hope you enjoyed your visit here. :)
If you're like me, there's such a change in the level of activity and things to do after Christmas that sometimes I feel listless. It's hard to get going again without that drive of an impending holiday to push you!
Here's a craft idea to give you something to get you going again and it can be used from fall to spring if you want. I followed a link from Pinterest to a blog and found further down the page, some information on bleaching pine cones. Who knew?! I sure didn't. So I had to give it a try.
You need:
That's pretty much it. DO THIS PART OUTSIDE. Make the bleach solution 50/50 bleach to water. (Add bleach to the water so it doesn't splash on you and it be straight bleach - don't ask me how I found out). They will float so it helps to put something on top of them to weight them down or have a lid or just stir them occasionally. The instructions on the site said to leave them in there 8-9 hours. I think you could leave them overnight. In fact, in cooler weather, it may help to leave it longer.
Don't be surprised if the pine cones close back up when they get saturated. They will open as they dry out again. Empty the bleach water and rinse and rinse the pine cones. Spread them out to dry. It could take several days depending on your weather. I got impatient and dried them out in the oven with them spread out on a cookie sheet baked at 200 degrees in 30 minute batches, checking and turning them. That doesn't smell the best so if you can let the dry naturally, you'd probably be better off.
My cones varied in how light they got from a cream color to barely being lighter. I guess it depends on how old the cones are and the type of tree they are from. After looking at them like that for a while, I began wondering if I sprayed them with my Color Mists from Outside The Margins online shop and I like the results especially when they are put in a basket together.
These (below) were sprayed with white, copper, turquoise, magenta and it was surprising how well the color showed up.
I hope you'll give it a try sometime. I can picture a wreath full of these. Remember if you put them outside you'll need to spray with an outdoor sealer.
Just playing.
The day after Christmas, I had my journal and wanted to get back in the habit of working in it daily. My eyes fell on the tree, all dressed and lit and serene. So, I did a quick sketch and like the results.
The inchies above were for the words "Amusement", "Yellow", "Red", "Blue" and "Green."
I got a couple of mats years back that were in a clearance bin. Never did anything with them because the colors never hit on anything to do with it. So today I decided to start layering old text on it. Not sure I'm done but here it is so far. I may add some drawing, a stamp or an image or even paint. Who knows.
And lastly, here is a picture that was given to me last Sunday. I'd never seen it before. The scan isn't very good but that's me with the dark hair and wearing red. I would have been ten years old at that point. My cousin Carol is to my right and my cousin Diane is on my left. It was a Girls-in-Action Christmas party I think. Memories.....
My sister-in-law Lucie gave me a little Christmas tree charm last year that she made. I've worn it every day for at least two weeks. This year at a beading session at her house, I started making my own version of them.
Then, that was fun and I had some other beads sitting around so I made a bracelet to match...
Then just some random Christmas pictures.
That's Joseph with his cousins Olivia and Jessica.
My cow from Cheri that moos "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".
That's the pink version of the tree charms... my Lulu Tree.
The crystal goblet above is one to my parents' crystal. It has a chip on the rim and one on the base. My mother told me to take it out the house as she didn't want my dad to see it as he'd get upset. This was YEARS ago and everytime I look at this glass I giggle.
Last week's inchie was "Daring." I found that a bit tricky then started looking through some of my images. I found one of a vintage aviators. Who could be more daring than these guys? Flying in some of those early planes? wow.
Then for 'pretend' I got to thinking about how so many adults feel funny pretending even with their own kids. That's a shame because it's like a mini-vacation for your mind. It keeps you seeing possibilities and for a moment try out being "someone" or "something" else. Some make a living doing it...look at actors.
I would say that maybe she is having a bit of trouble pretending in this picture. Perhaps a clown isn't her thing, but a clown isn't the only thing to try, now is it? Go outside and look at the clouds today and see if you spot a horse or a truck or who knows?
The theme for this week is "Life." How do you illustrate that in a one-inch square? There's so many ways you could go with that but I chose "Life is a journey." It is. Sometimes the journey is to a great place, sometimes not. You have to keep going and never totally arrive at least it doesn't seem that way to me. Never 100% mature in all areas, something could be improved personally, bumps in the form of serious illness, death, job loss, empty nest but usually there are good times following sooner or later. You have to stay strong, take care of yourself along the way or you'll be no good for anyone else and find ways to make yourself "useful" as Thomas the Tank Engine would say.
Being from the East Coast, you don't hear a lot about Dia de los Muertos here. It took my California friends to educate me on that one. I'll admit at first, all the skulls and talk of dead sounded pretty odd and creepy, but I've come to appreciate the remembrance of loved ones who have moved on to a better life.
The sugar skulls are interesting with their colors and patterns. My friend, Aileen, always has a project going each year for Day of the Dead and I thought this year I'd try drawing one of the skulls. It came out pretty good for a first try, I think. It's in my journal:
I don't know whether this guy looks happy, surprised or angry. Anyway, I realized after finishing it, the nose is upside-down from the traditional heart turned 180. Oh well. Rookie mistake. Guess I'll have to do another.
Thanks for visiting and stay creative!
