Art in the Garden

The garden, historically is the place where 

all the senses are exported.  Not just the

 eye, but the ear - with water, with birds.  

And there is texture, too, in plants you

 long to touch

William Howard Adams

Several years back I painted this canvas to put in the Garden.  I sprayed it with a UV resistant spray to protect it from the elements and I must say it has done very well. It has endured buckets of rain, sunny hot days.   It adds color to the garden on dark days or in between flowering plants.  This year I added the piece of metal the my son was practicing on welding. It is a pretty cool looking piece of Art I think.

 

Art & Fiber Part 2

In progress

Book I am currently reading snatches of and really enjoying it.

art by K York

Art by K York

By friend Vicki - the machine quilting is amazing as are the small-feather points in teh very center

Trout Lily - everywhere on a sunny spring day

Appetizers for dinner night. 

Everyone was doing a mixture of sewing, quilting, drawing, painting.  We are all doing a online course- Lifebook 2015 with Tam La Porte.  That is where my feather is from.  I have not yet tackled faces - well I tackled one - here at Watson and it was Zombie meets Michael Jackson - suffice to say i went back to sewing. :)   I do however enjoy the lessons and concepts of the online class. I am not able to keep up- just not enough hours in the day or week.  Off to mop the floor!

Spring Art & Fiber At Watson

A little Field Sketching - on a warm spring afternoon

Leftover 3.5 inch squares become a new quilt

Glorious Color!

Machine Quilting this

Quilt top from leftover squares - dark in center, medium in corners, lights in middles. 

yum

the sun was just hitting the hillsides just right - a pleasant early evening stroll by the creek

Overall a little bit of this and a little bit of that makes for a fun creative and relaxing weekend.

International Postcard Swap Part 2

somewhere USA

" Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted" John Lennon Silver Gelatin test print with black and White India Inks the artist used.

Kincardine, Ontario Canada

Aloha From Hawaii

So these are the remaining 4 that arrived to make 10 from the swap, so much fun mail in the mailbox!!
Now I need to get 10 fabric postcards ready by April 1st for my quilt Guild Challenge. Theme for that is 1975 the year the Guild was founded. 

Seeds of Love . . . .

First Collage layer and light color

Cover with Gesso - next layer

Add Stamps and light color again

Sketch out design in pencil then go over it with black marker

Add colors and thin out with water /gesso to get color value, then add details with black  marker or white paint pen

This was a fun one to do.  I grew up with a mom who used seed pods, weeds and pine-cones in her creations so I was really used to the asymmetry of seedpods that was requested in creating this.  Trying to get the colors to go from dark to light value was a good challenge, mine in the end are mostly medium value.  I have Jacaranda pods, Milkweed, sweet-gum ball, teasel, Eucalyptus, Chinese lanterns depicted here.   I could not seem to post the black and white photo of it but that was part of the process to check and see how your balance of light/dark was going.   Good Process.  Collaged in the centers of the pods were people or places that you love or are meaningful to you!

      Well back to the work of snow removal driveway , roof and any where else. Cold here again- that is the February Mantra - deep freeze and subzero!!!  Stay warm and hoping there is sun shine wherever you are.

International Postcard Exchange the Recieved Part 1

South Carolina

Washington State

Canada

California

USA

Melbourne, Australia

These are part of the postcards that I have received. They are all different and beautiful  The postcards are mixed Media which means that more then 1-2 art supplies or techniques are used to create them. Collage, watercolor, stamping all composed together in to a miniature work of art. This si great fun to create and to send out as well as receive.

The Feather . . .

I am taking an online class with friends- called Lifebook 2015.  This is week 5 project- the only one I have been able to complete unlike my friends. I did really enjoy it and am looking forward to starting week 6- even if this is now week 7.  I do not know if I will get back to week 1-4 or not.  It is unrealistic to think that I will get them all done- my life is way to crazy busy for that.
 This was fun to do, I would have liked to have done it more all in one setting but it was piece by piece.

International Post Card Swap Jan. 2015 - the sent cards

So every year for a while I have participated in 2 different International  Mixed Media Post Card Swaps.  This one  right now is through Shannon Ganshorn from Musings on Reality    from Canada
These are the postcards that I made to send out.   I send out 10 and in return I receive 10.  I will show what I have received  so far over  the weekend.

                 It always seems that what I envision making and what I actually make are 2 very different things.  In the end what I make is similar to what I make other years-  First I start with a Masterboard, that I add base layers of paint to, maybe collage some papers onto it, add some stamps, at some point I cut it up into  4x6 size cards and then add more to them individually.   I started with acrylic paints light teal, dark teal and a salmon color.  Then later I used Pan Pastel in a mustard yellow that really brought warmth and tied it all together.  I also used some Liquid Pearls by Ranger that make a few things pop and some glitter Modge Podge which was because I could not find the plain Modge Podge.   I added a quote that spoke to me at that moment.  Then address them, write a note and stamps and out to the mailbox on the Tundra - that is what it looks like right now.   The last 2 have magazine cuttings from Swansons Broth ad/   " Why do I cook?"   So maybe you will want to try this some day, lots of fun and lots of good mail days!

Mandalas

So first I was visiting Daisy Yellow down in Texas . . . . and I watched her Mandala Madness video
found here  .  Her videos are always inspiring, creative and have great music.  You will not be disappointed. Then I ventured out on my own and created these.  It always feels great to have completed something artistic. My days are filled with helping people and documenting on a computer so it is a great escape to do something like this.   Give it a try.

Watercolor Play . . .

A few weeks back,after watching a wonderful little video at Daisy Yellow . . . I decided to take a break from chores and play . . . this is hard for me to do as there  are so many things that pull my attention and time.  . . .  I had lots of fun and love the bright colored papers I now have to use in other creative projects.   I right away made some postcards to send out to a few friends.  Maybe you will want to see Tammy's video and get out your paints!!! You won't be disappointed.

Working on it Wednesday . . .

So here we are working on 2 things . . . . the half square triangles are for a dresser top small quilt to keep the dust off.  Then I am also making a twin bed quilt-for my youngest son.   We recently redid an upstairs room, this was a major undertaking. we painted a few walls in the colors of Syracuse University.  Roasted Squash and midnight blue were the Valspar colors. It is a small room  that was made out of crawl space in this old farmhouse.  ( c.1822)  The family that lived here in the 60/ 70's had 5 boys and at one point they were all in one room but then 2 wanting room alone started to clean out this area to make it into living space.  The next family put dry wall up etc.. and made an upper bunk in this room and lower bunk in the room next to it.  It is hard to explain. Right now both my boys are back there.  They share a toilet between the rooms and each have their own sink. Generally works out good.  

For the dresser top I have not quite decided what arrangement the half-square triangles will take on.  The twin bed quilt will be a mix of 4-patch squares and large blocks.  IT goes together fast and is easy to quilt.  Right now Syracuse Basket Ball is 20-0 so they are having a good year.  Tonight is is SU vs Wakeforest.  Go Cuse!!! 

We'll share progress on this project as it starts to pull together.

Post Card Swap Fall 2013

Post Cards on the right

From Israel

From Scotland

From England

From Austrailia

Daisy Yellow from Texas USA

From Florida USA

FromFlorida USA

From New York State USA

From Texas USA

This International Post Card swap was coordinated by iHanna From Sweden.  I have participated in it for many years now.  IT is a fun way to create fun art and receive some fun art.  each  one is so very different.  The artist from Israel sent me a video clip to see what Israel was like- it was very cool.