work in progress

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Working on another piece in my Nostalgia Series.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ~ Art Retreat in April

 
These photos, of Casa Luna will be the location for our Tesoro del Corazon ~ days of art, night of the altars ~ mixed media art retreat coming up in April. It's the B&B we'll stay in and where we'll hold our workshops.
There's a really interesting article about San Miguel de Allende in Smithsonian magazine, and here's the link.

Palm Springs Art Adventure!

Three of my artist friends and I went on our second annual Palm Springs weekend. And we really packed in the fun! Above is our hike (700 fee practically straight up!), l to r: Helen Shafer Garcia, Jeannie Palmer Moore, me, and Susan Avery Clark.

 Here's the view of Palm Springs from that hike.

Jeannie was our gracious host, in her beautiful home. (above Helen, Jeannie & Me). Over the 4  days, we took turns teaching the others an art project. Above are Notans, led by Susie.


Jeannie taught us how to create a 6x6" encaustic. (mine is the upper right hand corner.)


Helen taught a 'tree of life' collage/painting project. (Mine is on the upper right)


Then it was my turn! I used Carla Sondheim's book "Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists." Page 36.The above masterpieces were drawn with our non-dominant hand. We took turns modeling and drawing eachother. You can only imagine how hard we laughed when we saw the results! and to think, we are professionals! ha!


Another very cool lesson from Carla's book (page 58) using Picasso as our influence. (mine is on the upper right)

And the page from Carla's book that provided the most laughs and entertainment was this--paper dolls (page 82.) I decided we should do self portrait dolls and I guess I didn't stipulate the era of the 'self.'  LtoR: Jeannie, Susie, Carlos (don't ask, Susie created him), Helen and me. If you care to see the adventures of the Dizzy Desert Dolls, go to my Facebook profile...Susie was our director/camera person/writer and voice for some hilarious 'films' starring the dolls. Oh how we giggled!!!


Since it was Elvis' birthday, we were able to tour his honeymoon house (on the left), and get our photo take on his actual bed.
We also went biking around the neighborhood, I could barely ride the bike, let alone take photos!
 I did manage to draw one journal page over the weekend. Clearly we had a simply wonderful time, and we're planning our retreat for next year.

Fabric Vase Tutorial

Hey, I made another functional thing! I was inspired when Pokey Bolton posted this little tutorial based on Wen Redmond's idea.


Start by layering fabric bits (and paper) on a fusible. I fused to Peltex
Stamp, add foil, add paint.


Free motion stitch
 

I cut in these shapes to create the sides of a vase. (I didn't leave any for the bottom of the vase. Oh well, no one will look at the bottom!)

Arrange for sides of vase

I zig-zagged all the sides, then zig-zagged the sides together.
 
Here's how it looks as I assembled. See the bottom I added, in just plan peltex.
 
I stitched along the top of the vase again, then zig-zagged the final two sides together. (probably should have hand-stitched those final sides, but oh well.)

I hand-stitched the bottom on. ( Take a look at my studio box tutorial too, if you haven't seen it.)

it holds yarn.


makes a fancy trash basket





and lovely flower vase (yes, the flowers are in a glass jar inside the vase.)

journal pages

A couple of pages from a recent coffee shop visit.

And, the Many Moods of Bebop! (You can see a quilt I created, on the wall behind him, of his predessor, my beloved JazzCat. And he's on the pillow with the black and white kitty that looked like our late CoolBaby.)


My girlfriends and I are off to Palm Springs for an artful weekend. I'll facebook while I'm gone and return with photos of the cool art projects we've created.

welcome to 2011!

Thank you dear readers for sharing your words for 2011! I had 51 comments ( a record) and just reached 400 followers. This makes me very happy. Thank YOU!

I have 3 words, so far, for 2011. LIGHT (light of heart, sharing the light) and GRATITUDE (for you readers, students, friends) and COFFEE. (Coffee?? here's the story, my beloved husb loves to go out for coffee. I want to join him more often, spend time with him--as a full time artist, I'm always working on something! but my quality time with my husband is what's really important. Of course, I've started a coffee shop journal, for just those times. Can't take the artist out of the coffee drinker!)

another journal page

As I have proclaimed, to all who will listen, 2011 seems to be the year of the sketchbook! I'm also taking the Strathmore Visual Journal online workshop series (it's FREE) and this is the first lesson. Create a page with copies of your older journal pages. And then I added color. Wild huh? Maybe I'm channeling my friend Kelli Nina Perkins in this particular journal.

here's the page before color. Recognize the skates and house from here?

An interview and the sketchbook challenge begins

Tania Marien has interviewed me on her resource-packed blog, Art Plantae Today. The blog tagline is 'connecting artists, naturalists, and educations' so I feel quite proud to be included. And there's an 'ask the artist' section for questions, so now is your chance to ask me stuff. :-)
++++++++++++
The Sketchbook Challenge has begun!
 


"Highly Prized" is this month's theme. A good theme, but difficult. I know what I prize, what I cherish, but I'm not a 'people drawer' and it seems unfair to my beloved husband to try and depict him...though I may find the courage as the month progresses...
As you can see from the photo below, I drew from these art show ribbons (ironically, my husb's ribbons! I've only ever won 2 ribbons, and it was years ago). I listed, in the background, a stream-of-consciousness listing of what I 'highly prized.' 

Another in my nostalgia series

Completed "Nostalgia: Zinnia." I showed you how I started this quilt here. 

This is another bit of letter from Ralph's Letters. I love using bits of his letters in my work. A reminder of such a crazy, happy, youthful time.



Backstory: I transfered the flower from my sketchbook, which was quite pink, but I didn't have pink thread, so I used a rosey brick color thread. It wasn't working. So I painted the flower a rosey brick color. Still wasn't working, so I covered the rosey brick stitching with tulle!


And the Sketchbook Challenge starts today! Jill Berry has chosen an awesome theme and I for one am thinking on it......
and Happy New Year!! One of my words for this year is "light." Leave a comment and tell me one of your words for 2011, and I will chose a random winner (on Jan 4th) and send you something. something cool.