Fading

I made some plain fabric prayer flags and hung them across my yard a couple of years ago.  I thought I'd show you what has become of them.

 I used batik fabrics and hung them in the summer of 2012.  Interspersed between the flags were strips of sari silk.  They were lovely and colorful, blowing in the breeze.

Sun and rain seems to have done this to me, also.

 

 At least the flags aren't all wrinkled up.  The silk strips have mostly totally disintegrated and fallen off.  A few of the scraps got picked up and incorporated into dooleybobbers.

Life is fleeting.  Live it to the fullest.

Be well.

Progress

Progress is being made in a couple of areas.  Best of all, the progress between Charlie and Roscoe:

One might think such a large cat would have no fear in the first place of such a tiny dog but one would be wrong.  Charlie hid in the basement for more than two weeks after Roscoe arrived.  I finally began carrying Charlie into the house slowly when Roscoe was tired and calm.  The next thing I knew, Charlie followed me into the house on his own one evening and spent the night on the bed next to me and Roscoe and things have been just fine ever since.  Yay!!  It is so nice to have everyone getting along, no fears!

In the meantime, I have been stitching on my latest Ghost Dog series piece:

 This one represents the first dogs I had after moving out of my parents home.  Bilbo was part Collie, part German Shepherd and probably the smartest dog I have ever had.  Then I got Heidi and Gandalf, brother and sister, part Dachshund, part Beagle.  Oh I loved those dogs!  They were with me through many transitions in my life and all are buried here on this property.

I rummaged around in my "jewelry" box and found Bilbo's dog tag so I put that on there.  I also found some puppy teeth which you can see in the first photo, they are glued on the strip of red fabric.  I'm still putting some finishing touches on this, and when it is finished I'll hang it on the wall outside the studio.

Here is the studio wall so far.  I hung the small colorful quilt up there today.  I've had others up there before but only for a day or two at a time because I didn't want them to become weathered and faded.  This one I plan to leave in place.  Why not?  It has been aging in a box for years.  It is kind of a weird experiment that didn't really turn out that great, so now its colorfulness will slowly fade in the sun but I rather like it up there.  My other pieces of the Ghost Dog series are hanging to the far right of the door.

Just a quick post for today.  I wanted to share my excitement about Charlie and Roscoe.  Hope you all had a great Summer Solstice.  On that day I went to the wedding reception of my longest term friend, Larry.  We have been friends for 43 years!  Sheesh!  I really like his new wife and am glad I was able to attend this event.  Forgot my camera though dang it.  It was a grand way to celebrate the solstice.

Till next time, be well.

New news

Been busy with outdoor work and also finding time for some art.  One other thing has been grabbing my attention but I'll get to that later.  First, I'll show you my recently completed art work. 

 This is sort of a Dooleybobber.  Rather different from the others but then they are all different, aren't they.  I used some cut off pieces from another work and then needle felted, stitched and beaded it.  I had my embroidery stitch book open and was trying different stitches, it was fun. 

 Most of the threads I used were some that I got from Maggi.  The colors are gorgeous.

This is what it looked like in the beginning stages.  Sure looks a lot different after the stitching and working on it.

 I did a challenge/trade with my creative group after being inspired by an article in a recent Somerset Studio magazine article, the Jan/Feb 2014 issue.  These are ATC/Matchbox art.  Fun!

l

I used a paper napkin for the background of all mine.   I have a bazillion of them but did you know you can buy single napkins on ebay?   Who'd have guessed?  What a selection!  Now I have two bazillion.

 I decided to experiment with some non woven fabric stuff I had laying around after seeing something like it on a blog somewhere.  Sorry, I lost the link so can't share that.  I used different paints on pieces of this stuff, I don't know what it is but it starts out white.

 Then I rolled them up and hit them with the heat gun and they turned into these neat beads.

I found that if I painted different colors on either side, they looked cool on the edges with the reverse paint peeking through.  If anyone wants some of this stuff just ask and I'll mail you a piece.  I have a huge chunk of it.

Mike

I have begun a new series that relates to the dogs I've loved.   I started to say all the dogs but I can't quite say that, there are too many to make art about all of them.  Above you can see the first of the series, it shows a photo of my family and our first dog, Mike.  He was a German Shepherd mix.

 I love this photo.  It captures my love for dogs beautifully.  That is me, gazing into Mike's eyes with love.

Duke

 Our next dog was Duke, a German Shepherd.  Duke followed me everywhere through my growing up years, walking with me through the neighborhoods and to the store, waiting patiently outside, unleashed.  Can you imagine now, seeing a big German Shepherd dog sitting outside a big grocery store, not tied or muzzled or anything?  He used to get in ferocious fights with other neighborhood dogs.  I'm glad I know better not to allow anything like that to happen any more.

j

See the brown/orange plaid fabric at the back of the piece?  That was the scarf I wore when I was a teenager.  It is rather moth eaten now but I have held on to it and finally found a use for a piece of it.  I also still have Duke's collar, 40 some years later.  (No I'm not a hoarder!!) I am going to hang the collar from the wood hanging rod.  The plan is to display all these dog pieces outside and allow them to weather.  I might hang them out in the woods or maybe just on the wall outside the studio.  The coyotes (Trickster) tend to steal things I put out into the forest.

This is the next one of the series, I started stitching on it today.  It shows the first three dogs I got after I moved out of my parents home, Bilbo, Heidi and Gandalf.  Yes, combining my love of books and dogs with these names!  I'll show a better photo someday after it is finished.

Roscoe

Now, for my big news!  We got another dog!  Windy has been seeming lonely without a friend to play with so I got her a puppy;-)  Meet Roscoe, a 10 month old Chihuahua/Dachshund mix.  He is such a sweet boy and so playful and happy!  I call him Roscoe Bean, he has sure brightened up our lives around here.  He and Windy play and chase each other and the squirrels.  Charlie cat is not happy about it but he is beginning to venture out of the basement and testing the waters with a dog smaller than he is.  He'll come around, he always does.

Heidi from long ago

 Never before have I had such a little dog, I was wanting a bigger dog but this guy came along and I couldn't get him out of my mind.  Maybe because he reminds me so much of the first dogs I had on my own, Heidi and Gandalf were Dachshund/Beagle mix, brother and sister.  They were closer to Windy size though at around 30 pounds.  Roscoe is only maybe 10.  He is learning not to chase llamas or cows or horses or CATS!  Squirrels are okay, they never catch one.

 

 Here is Roscoe and Windy, snuggling in the bed together in the studio.  Oh, and Roscoe likes to sleep under the blankets with me at night!  I've never had a dog do that before.  Probably a good thing since most of my dogs have been rather large.  

Well, that is about it for now.  I'm sure I'll be sharing more about Roscoe in the future.  He is so stinkin' cute! He came with that name and I decided to keep it, it suits him.  Hope you all are well and enjoying your lives.  Till next time,

Be well.