I won, I won!!!

Carla Sonheim's, The Art of Silliness Class that I mentioned in the last post. Thanks, Jackie! I'm sure that we'll be sharing more than a few giggles in the coming weeks! Now where the heck did I put those drawing pencils??? Eeeek! I haven't done any real drawing in years......keep tuned!

the art of silliness

After hearing about it on several of my Yahoo Groups, I broke down and ordered Carla Sonheim's, "Drawing Lab For Mixed Media Artists" book. I just received notice that it may be delivered as early as tomorrow, so I thought that I would check out Carla's blog to see what she's all about. Her latest post made note of the fact that Jackie of http://medowntoafineart.blogspot.com/ signed up for "The Art Of Silliness" class and also purchased a second class for a giveaway on her blog. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel that everyone could use a good dose of this stuff. Most people take life far too seriously! Don't forget to hop on over to Jackie's blog to get in on the action. It's a very generous giveaway

images of nature

Peace and calm at Skookum Lake in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario - August, 2010. Cool and grey with a quiet type of beauty.

the rusty north

How I spent my summer vacation!! Rust dyeing at my sister's family cottage in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario (they actually call it a "camp"). It's tradition for me to come up with an arty activity for us to play with while we're at the lake. The air was crisp, the fish and sun were in hiding, but the wine, food and company were just fine!! This is the last piece we wrapped and by far my favourite. I used up the last of my recycled cotton sheet on 3/4's of a large saw blade (a last minute find by my brother-in-law).



Wrapped on a rusty minnow bucket.......



Wrapped diagonally on a long piece of rusty rebar.......



Wrapped on the rusty hood of an old Rolligon (the circle is a transfer from the radiator cap)......Perhaps the spirit of the Rolligon......What's a Rolligon you say?



An all terrain vehicle, originally used in a lumber mill in B.C. Works great for pulling downed trees and giving small children exciting rides!



A collection of bits and pieces, including rusty nails, chain, a drill bit and some type of large hook. The colour is a little off on this one and the Rolligon piece. The background is actually a very soft yellow. I have four or five more pieces that I thought showed promise, but were disappointing. I'll save them for another rusty day. Thanks Jim and Suzie, I had a great time!

dying for cloth

Basic black goes with everything!!




I see a forest and a moody night sky.....what do you see?


I'm thinking whole cloth for the turquoise one and I'm not sure what for the black/fushia. Lot's of potential though! Any suggestions?





I'm not showing you my yellow cloth, because it's just too pale. I was trying to mix yellow and black to make green, but all I got was a faint greenish yellow. The yellow MX was obviously not strong enough, so back into the dye pot it will go in a couple of weeks.

All three pieces were spaced dyed in jars and left on the balcony for a couple of days. Recycled cotton fabric was used, courtesy of an old sheet I found in the thrift store.

My friends are all playing with natural dying, but I think that I'll stick to the chemicals for now. How long do you suppose it will take for me to start pulling shirts out of the closet? I bet that some of the old cotton ones could use a little lift!

all smashed up

This is what happens when dyed cotton meets the embellisher. It blends nicely and has a lovely, drapey, felt like quality. A tactile delight!

The challenge didn't call for it, but I worked in some of my dyed cheesecloth to add movement to the piece. The saga will continue when the stitching is added..............

dyeing for a challenge

This, actually started out as this:





cheesecloth + white cotton + Procion MX dyes + spagetti sauce jars + crossed fingers + a little sunshine = glorious colour!

My first experiments with space dyeing! Something that I'm playing with over at Shelagh Folgate's Creative Challengers group. It's a closed group, but she opens it up from time to time for new challenges, so stay tuned. If you're interested in the challenge format, check out Shelagh's blog. She's offering a couple of her previous challenges as on-line classes. Why don't you sign up for one of them?

Off topic, but while we're still in the colour mood......have a look at this lovely hibiscus that I revived from the Home Depot sales bin. I had no idea what colour it would be, but admit that I'm pleased with the sunny yellow!





Stay tuned! I'll be posting more in-progress photos, later today! I just need to do a little work first..........

May 2010 BJP AMD

Welcome to my May exploration of colour, boundaries and emotions. Why did I pull out the red, black and white acrylic paint? What made me use those colours? How can I change the mood? What about adding lime green? A theme is born!

The paper bead has no real meaning except in a recycling sense. It was torn out of a damaged work of fiction, called "Everyman's Library", originally published in 1906. The author's name shows as Adam Bede by George Eliot. Curious! I think it cost me a buck at a church garage sale. It reeks of wood smoke, but the cover is a lovely red leather with gold stamped flowers. It's falling apart, but I love it and will recycle the components in future art pieces. The red disks and tarnished end cap (flower like, to the right of the paper bead) have also been repurposed.




Old buttons from the button jar and a single strawberry earring that mysteriously appeared in my jewelry box. If someone gave it to me, I'm sorry because I really don't remember where the heck it came from. But where is it's match? Another curious thing......



A small white stone that I was gifted at an artist lecture a couple of years ago (drilled so that it could be used as a bead). More paper beads (sliced and standing on end) and a never worn, right angle weave bracelet. I learned how to make the bracelet, made twenty or so and then decided to make a black one for myself. I got carried away and made it way too long. I wouldn't rip it out and couldn't throw it away! It sat in the jewelry box, mocking me! A reminder of techniques past.



Do you remember hooks and eyes on the back of your dresses? People must still use them, but this is an old one from the bottom of the sewing drawer.




More buttons, recycled necklace components and a vintage pair of embroidery scissors. Tarnished and dull, but still very beautiful. BTW, I couldn't bear to glue them down, so they're stitched on with embroidery thread.



A challenging task! The landscape was a stretch and I was a little uncomfortable with the colour pallette! I stared and puzzled and then let it sit until it started to talk! Eureka! The colours and lines reminded me of strong emotions and the Canadian prairies. Imagine a harsh landscape after the rain! It softens, just a little and if you pay attention, you will be able to see the echos of time, imprinted on the well ploughed fields. Memories, but not always pretty....

sweat
toil
birth
death
till
fallow
rebirth
sadness
loss
lush
fertile
rich
poor
fresh
life


The focal started out as a house shape, but I decided it was too boxy. A little pencil play and the shape was reborn. I don't know what to call it! I think that it looks faintly oriental, but Kaite insists that it's a "pixie house". What do YOU think?

Acrylic paint monoprint, free motion machine embroidery, hand embroidery and heat distressed plastic wrap. Bead stitches - peyote, stacked stitch, back stitch, boucle/bocce stitch and couching. New and recycled beads and found objects. Shapes and sizes vary.

a bjp collage and how to work intuitively

annie_anne52 left this comment on my April Bead Journal photo (the blue one - see post below) in the Cloth Paper Studio Yahoo group, so I thought I would give my response on the blog, just in case others are interested:

"This is absolutely beautiful!!!! Just a couple of questions? What is the finished size? How do you get started on a piece like this? I LOVE IT!!!!

Thanks, Annie!

The finished size is 6" X 6" and it's constructed on peltex. Peltex is a heavyweight interfacing, originally used for the brims of hats. It can be purchased as fusible one side, two sides or not fusible at all.

This series of pieces (the blue one for April is my latest) starts with the serendipity landscape or seascape. It's an acrylic paint monoprint. Very simple to do and just involves tube acrylic paint, an old credit card, freezer paper (or a sheet of glass) and some recycled fabric.

-When the print is dry, I baste or fuse the monoprint onto peltex (or fast-2-fuse which is lighter) choose an area that looks roughly like a landscape and enhance it with free motion machine stitching. I basically torture the thread to get it to do what I want (tighten the top tension, loosen the bottom - or pull sideways to distort the stitch). I also add hand stitch and may even go back into the piece and machine stitch over the hand stitch. If the work is going well, I enter a "flow" state where time is lost and all that's important is the work. Warning! Sandwich the print between two sheets of parchment paper before you use the iron AND work in a well ventilated area. I'm not sure how toxic heated acrylic paint is, but it does give off a distinctive order, so please be careful! You do this at your own risk!

-I cut out the shape and baste it to the 6" X 6" square of peltex.

-Then I bead, bead, bead.......

I gather up my beads and then peyote stitch the bezel around the focal shape. After that, everything else is intuitive! It's an explorer/gatherer type of thing. You bead for a while.....get an idea for something odd to attach and then bead around the shape......jump to another area.........search for something interesting........bead some more........run to the bead store &/or thrift store.......repeat until you're finished.........

The most important part of the process is to have fun!

April 2010 BJP AMD

April is all about blue. I love everything about it! The sky, the sea, eyes, jeans, indigo fabric, jazz and flowers. It was the colour that I was most often dressed in as a child (blue eyes, donchaknow?)and that I pulled out of the crayon box first. It still remains my favourite! Despite all of this, would you believe that I had a hard time working on this piece? Is it because I'm tiring of the series, or do I simply have the blues?

Like my earlier pieces, this one is based on an acrylic paint monoprint that I turned into a serendipity land & seascape. It was then hand and free motion machine embroidered. I peyote stitched the bezel and filled in the rest of my 6" square with a large variety of of beads, found objects and stitches. It was painful at times, but I'm more than satisfied with the results.

I particularly like the leaves and the beaded waves in the section shown below. The flat blue discs have been recycled from a thrift store necklace.



I was lucky enough to find a mismatched pair of dice in the infamous family button jar?



Wasn't it fortunate that I was able to find this rusty/squished beer bottle cap in just the right colour? Honest, I didn't rust it myself! The glass marble is also from the button jar, as are all of the BUTTONS! Imagine that!



My friend Deborah, kindly sacrificed forever polishing her silver spoon for this piece. I chose this one over Charles & Di. I wonder why? (BTW the thistle has absolutely no significance, it was just the right colour.) I also added my very first Russian Leaf (taught to me by Marilyn Parker at the Toronto Bead Society technique night). Perhaps that's why I've been blue. I've been wanting to make these for years but just couldn't get it! I tried and tried and tried again until I finally figured it out. Now, of course, I've forgotten how to do it, so the next one will be difficult as well. I found that I couldn't bead the leaf in front of the TV, because I kept forgetting which step I was on. I blame American Idol and Dancing With The Stars......Okay, so I'm a reality show junkie.....I admit it, but I am selective and I do have standards. LOL!




I rusted this brand new washer all by myself by soaking it in balsamic vinegar for a day and then exposing it to the elements for a couple of weeks. When I was happy with the colour, I coated it with a couple of coats of Krylon spray fixative in a matt finish. I don't know if the vinegar actually did anything, but I do like the results.



The reveal!!

be.....weave it or not......4

Detail of what happens when you use a heat gun on your polyester organza.....MAGIC! I always liked the piece, but it was still too neat and tidy. I love the distressed effect, so had this in mind from the beginning. What do you think?





Warning!!!!! Remember to take the proper precautions when using a heat gun to melt organza. Good ventilation and the proper ventilator (NOT a dust mask) should protect you from the evil chemicals. Mine was purchased from a safety company called Ackland-Granger. Call up a similar company in your area and ask them what they suggest.

The final piece!



Well, it's not actually the final step, but it needs to rest for a while. I haven't found the right focal element yet, so it can just sit and wait until I do.

be......weave it or not.......OUT!

be.....weave it or not......3

Here you go.......a series of whipped straight stitches along the length and then a very loooong straight stitch woven across each row. Now on to the fun part..........

be....weave it or not......2

Which way did it go? Which way did it go??? Another layer of sheers, woven right on top of the other piece (but not woven within it). Now I need to anchor the strips. By hand or machine, that is the question.....woe is me, so many decisions. Of course, many of you will be able to figure the step right after that......right??? Just you wait and see.......ahhh the trials of an intuitive artist.....welcome to my world!!

Be....weave it or not!

I'm playing around with yet another weaving thanks to my decidedly competitive nature (thanks K!!) and an excess amount of fabric. This time I used a square of upholstry fabric and some of my acrylic painted cotton. The commercial fabric was shredding like crazy, so I tacked it down (embellished would be a kinder term) with a mix of hand and free motion machine stitching. Of course, the piece is a little too matchy, matchy and blendy for my taste, so another layer of mystery fibre will be attached this weekend. Guess what I'll do to it after that? Keep tuned!

To weave, or not to weave.....

My friend Kaite from Yarngarden is taking an on-line workshop from the extremely gifted Jude Hill. Kaite is already quite knowledgeable about weaving, basketmaking and all things fibre, but she thought that she might enjoy the additional exposure and the social aspect of this class. I was intrigued by the simple process, so decided to attempt it, with a few tips from Kaite. The following is my humble attempt at the raw edge weaving of some gifted decorator fabrics (two patterns & a sheer). Let me tell you, it didn't even put a small dent in the stash!!!! I rotary cut (roughly) and then wove the strips, stitched them by machine (apparently a no, no), then cut them in half and rewove them into a much smaller piece. After I finished, I threaded in some recycled sari yarn and added a few hand stitches for effect. I like it.....don't know what the heck I'll do with it....but it's actually quite addicting once you get going. I call the piece "Damn You Kaite", because it's not the project I was supposed to be working on last weekend. That one is still not finished!

Have you ever.........

.....seen anything as magnificent as this yellow tree peony? I visited Marilyn & Rain's garden on the weekend, but naturally, forgot my camera. However, I did come away with a couple of cut peony's to grace the table. I wish that I had been able to take a picture of the tree, as it was absolutely loaded with sunny fleurs. More than I've ever seen on this plant before (probably because of our unusually mild winter). I'm having serious garden envy right now!!!!!

Little Leo returns

Little Leo is a wonderful little plant that I was gifted with years ago, by my sister, Suzie's sister-in-law, Diane (from Sault Ste Marie, ON). I turned around and re-gifted him to Marilyn and so he still grows!! Every year, Little Leo is one of the first hot colours to bloom in the garden.....and every year he struts his stuff proudly. This is a very tidy plant and oh so true to it's name. It flowers for a long time, yet stays small and compact in a nice neat clump. When the flowers are finished, he disappears back into the soil. After basking in the son, Leo rests to wait for yet another spring!

Goodbye spring!

Every year I eagerly anticipate cherry blossom time. See what happens when the rain falls? LOL! These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago in Marilyn & Rain's garden. Do you think it's all Rain's fault? The rest of the flowering trees were still blooming and the lilac was particularly delightful! I wonder who's showing off this weekend? Perhaps I should check them out!

Tada! My first Russian Leaf

Boy am I ever proud of myself!!!!!! This is something that I've been wanting to do for a while. I actually learned it from the ever generous, Marilyn Parker at the Toronto Bead Society techniques night last month. Thank goodness for her written instructions, because I just didn't get it that evening. With a little perserverence and a lot of ripping out and swearing, I finally figured it out. Yeah! Funny, it seems that you need to follow the instructions.....what a novel idea for a totally undisciplined artist like myself! Okay, I admit that it's not perfect. I'm not all that happy about the veins, but it's a start. I'll need to make several more before I'll be comfortable saying that I know the technique. The leaf is constructed in a diagonal peyote stitch, using Miyuki delicas and size 15 seeds beads. I had to use the GOOD light for this one!

BTW, do you like my display rock/crystal? Someone gave it to me and I have absolutely no idea what it is. Any tips would be appreciated. Any geologists or rock hounds out there reading my blog? Like, say Kristi??

March 2010 BJP AMD - Part 1

Are you ever tempted to work outside your personal comfort zone? A couple of years ago I spotted a series of ochre & grape paintings by a local Ontario artist. Entranced by the mood of these pieces,I attempted to recreate that feeling in cloth. Needless to say,the experiment failed miserably. Well, guess what? I took the crayons back out of the box and applied them to my March BJP.