When art goes bad

This little bit was coming along nicely, some wool fibers needle felted on scrim on a piece of velvet. I was trying out an article in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine by Beryl Taylor (issue 16). Her piece in the magazine looked pretty and I was curious about her use of painted wonder under. I rather liked this piece before I applied the painted wonder under. I should have stopped there and did my usual doodle stitching on it but no! I had to iron on the painted WU and the paper backing wouldn't come off. It wanted to pull all the fusible up along with most of the needle felted roving. I came very close to wadding this up and throwing it into the fire!!!! Ack! I hate it!  It looks like it has mange and then someone spilled yogurt on it.  But one never knows, does one. It might grow on me if I throw it in a corner for awhile. Like a few years! Maybe I can cut it up and make.....ick.....fire starter out of it?

Full moon tonight. Listening to Coldplay today.
Be well.

Neutral doodle

I decided to try for a more subtle color way on this one.  This scrim seems to be endlessly fascinating to me for stitching on.  I used an old piece of wool for the batting, the color of it barely shows through.

The dragonfly wings are Ash tree seeds.  I just glued them down under the blue bead.  Under the doughnut shape is some thread smush that I stitched down.  The dark piece under the light piece in the center of the doughnut is a piece of rust I broke off the old horse trailer, and the light piece is something I found on the beach.  I also stuck on a bit of hornet nest I found, and stitched the whole thing onto a little stick I picked up in the woods.  The threads are rayon embroidery floss I purchased at a garage sale.  They had a big bunch of them, I bought them all for $1.00.  They smelled of cigarettes but after I left them out in an open box for a couple months the smell disappeared.  I still don't like licking the ends to try and thread them into a needle.  but they are pretty and shiny.  This whole piece is from found materials.  The white beach bit looks almost like a figure.
Be well and stay tuned, I'm getting a giveaway ready.  I think it is my turn.   Listening to Bob Dylan today.

 

Critters

These little Douglas squirrels are terrors.  They chase the little chipmunks around.  I once watched one jump on my peacock when he got too close to the food.   I tried to slowly go up to one in the bird feeder below, with sunflower seeds in my hand.  He held his ground, watching me get closer and closer.  I thought "oh, he is so tame and cute, maybe he will eat right out of my hand!" When I finally got my hand right up there the little #@!!&*!! charged me!  He hit me with his little paws bam bam bam then went back to eating his seed.  Needless to say, I just watch from a distance now.  They are beautiful and I enjoy them, but I don't try to tame them any more. In the photo above is a California ground squirrel.  They are so big that I saw one saunter past Charlie cat (wish I'd had my camera in hand then!) and Charlie didn't twitch a whisker, just sat there and watched it.  They have big cheek pouches like the chipmunks do, and load up before heading off to stash it.  The Douglas squirrels just sit and eat their fill, they don't seem to carry food away for later.

Welcome to my new followers!  Wow, it is always exciting to see a new follower.  Thanks for joining.
Listening to Pandora radio today.  Hope you all are well.

Local birds

Red River close ups

Here are a couple more close up photos. Below is a close up of the red chenille river.

I don't usually like a lot of pink but I do like it here.

This turned out pretty much the way I had envisioned it and I'm happy.
Here is the link to the inspiration photo I based this on: http://laughingdogarts.blogspot.com/2010/01/inspiration-photo.html

Be sure and view today's earlier post.  It has the entire quilt pictured.

Finished Red River of Truth

Crossing the Red River of Truth
Finally finished it. I put a lot of hand work into this one, even couching all those fibers down by hand, all the bead and sequin work is by hand. The main background is machine stitched.

Angel leading the lost souls across the River.

Close up of a light area.

This whole quilt measures 46"x38".

Be well.

Alcohol ink play

First of all, HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX! I hope you all are having a wonderful first day of spring. It was a fairly benign winter here but from what I've read on other's blogs, it was rather harsh and cold.

Second of all, Anne Lockard sent me this link:
http://thesumofallcrafts.blogspot.com/2010/03/drunken-scotch-technique.html
It showed a technique for using alcohol inks on card stock that has been covered with clear water based glue. You apply the ink before the glue is dry and then hit it with a heat gun. All kinds of neat stuff happens with the heat.

Of course I had to try it since I have everything I needed to do so. I am quite thrilled with the results. I used some Elmer's blue glue gel and some Aleene's Tachy glue. Not that much difference between them although the Aleene's produced more of a crackle effect. I made this on ATC size card stock and will do more to them to finish them as ATC's.

Yesterday I went to a quilt show with two of my friends from my Stitch 'n Bitch group. It was a small traditional style quilt show. Some lovely work by the Peninsula Quilt Guild of Washington. I had my camera and I had what I thought was an extra set of good batteries but unfortunately all the batteries in my possession were dead dead dead. So no photos. Traditional quilting is gorgeous and time consuming and an art unto itself but it is not particularly my favorite type of fabric art. I can appreciate all the thought and effort that goes into the making of traditional work without wanting to create that myself. There was one quilt that really caught my eye, it was a Hawaiian style quilt with only a light blue batik as the applique and a white background. Just lovely. I guess you will have to take my word for it;-)

I see I have two new followers and I am so excited to have passed the 30 mark! First I welcome Lynne Hoppe from http://lynnehoppe.blogspot.com/ I have noticed that some of my work has been influenced by looking at her work. She does a lot of rather mysterious faces. Also I welcome Nicole Campanella from http://beadwright.blogspot.com/ She has been a beader for a long time and it shows in the quality of her work. Thanks for joining me on this journey, I am so glad to have you.

Today I have no music on. The birds are singing and a breeze is blowing through the open door of my studio. I don't even need a fire. That is enough for today.

Be well.

Stitch doodle 2

This is what I messed with over the weekend. I started with some cotton batting with a piece of blue silk on top. Needle felted some scrim and colored roving on that.

Then I did some stitching. No beads on this one, just a couple of sequins. What a weird nose, not sure who I was channeling when I found that face in there. I didn't intend to make hearts but after I finished the needle felting I discovered two of them. I like to let things come out of their own intention.  I did help the one along after I noticed it, but the other was a surprise. 

The weather was fairly nice over the weekend. Not sunny but not rainy either. I spent some time with a Les Miserables DVD. That kind of singing can bring tears to my eyes. "Bring Him Home" certainly does. I let the show play 3 times, the third time with the lyrics displayed so I could catch the few words I hadn't already figured out.

Today I am listening to Radiohead. Does that give you a little idea of my eclectic musical taste?

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Where did Spring go?

I have been practically bragging about how spring like it has been here but look what I found on my poor lilac yesterday! Yes, that is some soggy wet snow! Poor little lilac buds. I think they will be okay though. Today it rained all the live long day. That's okay. That's normal for here.

I love standing in this bundle of maple trees and looking up through the trunks. Almost dizzying.

When Rocky and I went for a walk, the neighbor dog, Sudz, decided to come along. Isn't he handsome?

I love the way some trees grow straight up out of the earth. Like a hair out of my scalp. Look at this big ol' tree, just sticking up out of the ground so straight and tall. Sudz is impressed. He thinks there might be a squirrel up there.

I want to welcome a follower, a fellow Oregonian, Tam Hess at http://artinflight.blogspot.com/.  Thanks for coming by Tam, hope to get to know you better.  She is a mother of 3 and yet she finds time to make some very creative and whimsical art.  Check her out.

Today I have been listening to a new album by Anais Mitchell titled Hadestown, she calls it a folk opera. I am infatuated with it. She has a lot of guest singers helping her out such as Greg Brown (the reason I bought this album) Ani D'Franco, BonIver and others. I need to find out more about the basic story so I can understand this opera better. Greg Brown as Hades is magnificent, and Ani D'Franco is Persephone. Excellent music.

Be well.

Stitch doodle

Finished this piece last night. Finished? I suppose it is finished, at least for now. I used painted batting for the background, then needle felted some dyed scrim and roving and other little bits of stuff.

Then I set to work just doodle stitching on it. Didn't use any beads on this but the french knots look a lot like beads. It is only about seven inches square. I did sew on a few buttons that my friend Martha gave to me, thanks Martha.

I believe I like it. Yes, I do.

Before I forget, I want to welcome a couple new followers.  First there is Judi at http://approachable-art.blogspot.com/  She has been doing some beautiful fabric dyeing lately.  Also Robbie at http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/  Oh, her beadwork is so gorgeous!  Thanks for signing up to follow!  I'm edging up to 30!  Maybe I will jump on the bandwagon and have a giveaway after I hit 30.  Followers, that is.  I hit 30 years old a few years back.  Quite a few years back.

Be well.

Little Flame Guy

Here is another doodle that I finished the stitching and beading on. Now what to do with it? I drew and colored on fabric using a pen and caran d'ache watersoluble crayons.  I love those things!  They are so bright.  Also used some fabric paint for the gold areas.  I backed it with cotton batting and then stitched and beaded it.

I have this hand dyed old linen table cloth that is rather wild but the colors are similar. Maybe I will stitch this to a piece of that. I have several of these bits that for lack of a better name I call doodles. I put them up on my design wall when there is space so I can at least look at them. I have given a few away. What to do with them otherwise? What do you do with all of your art work, especially small practice pieces like this? I guess some people call these slow cloths. Is that right? Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth makes lots of bits and pieces. I wonder what she does with them all? Someone with her reputation probably sells them on etsy or some such place. Maybe I will have to have a giveaway on my blog!

Thanks to Marlene at http://marlenes-musings.blogspot.com/ for signing up as a follower. I see her smiling avatar everywhere, she is good at leaving comments which as everyone knows, everyone appreciates. I sure do!  Plus she does some lovely work, lots of originality from her.

I would especially like to hear what you others do with your finished work that you don't sell. There must be piles of it! I have donated pieces to worthy causes many times and will continue to do so but still, I have lots.

Now I need to make a little baby quilt, my niece is due next month.

Be well.

ATC trade

Inka Heaton of http://alteredartifacts.blogspot.com/ is trading ATC's with me. I received hers in the mail today. She titled it "Vision". Isn't it great? I love it, Inka, thanks so much. She also sent these extra goodies. See the black card letters? For my name, of course. cool. I'll add Vision to my ATC display.

I'm also excited about my new followers. Anna Rosa of http://annarosadesigns.blogspot.com/ and Mariann of http://mariann-johansen-ellis.blogspot.com/. Thanks for coming to my blog, I hope you will return often. I hope I can keep this interesting enough that you will want to.

I never would have guessed that blogging was so much fun and that it would open up such a new world for me. I live way out in the boonies and yet I feel a part of a world wide community. Anna Rosa is from Australia and Mariann seems to be from both Singapore and Spain. So many creative people from all corners of the world. Thanks for letting me be a part of it, making me feel welcome.

Be well.

New followers!

Welcome to two (count 'em, 2!!) new followers!  Thanks for coming over, you are so welcome here!

First is Bead Babe who lives down the coast from me.  She blogs at http://beadingatthebeach.blogspot.com/.  We've never met but I ♥ed her Etsy shop a long time ago.  She does some lovely bead work. Very inspiring.

Also Pam over at http://yoborobo.blogspot.com/ came by.  She makes the cutest creatures and has an all around entertaining blog.

I appreciate you both and hope you will check in frequently. I'll try to be interesting enough to make sure that happens.
Thanks, and welcome to my blog.

Be well.

Botanik

I found this old book in a thrift shop.  I can't read it but it had a lot of cool drawings in it.  So I bought it, thinking it would be inspiring in my artistic endeavors.  The photo below is the first drawing I chose from the book to develop.  The next, color photo is the drawing I made and next is the beading I am doing on top of my drawing.  I drew on a piece of muslin with pens.  I'm having trouble with this post because I can't figure out how to make my words show up where I want them.  Haven't been blogging for very long, I still have a lot to learn.  Thanks for bearing with me.