Southern Snow and a new project

Well, here in upstate South Carolina it doesn't snow very much.
We get so excited when it does snow - like right now!
It's been snowing for a couple of hours and beginning to accumulate on things.
The weathermen are suggesting 2-4 inches but I guess we'll see, huh?


While I was watching for the snow to begin - I mean while I was going about my duties at home- I started a new journal project.
I just love making books, especially journals!
I used an old plastic file folder as the base of this new shabby rust journal.



I had signed up for Mary Ann Moss's class "Remains of the Day" a while back
and just never had (or took) the chance to make my journal cover.
I decided to avoid all the other things I need to be doing and make it now.
I pulled out all of my yummy rusty bits and started cutting into them.
I used a wide piece of crocheted trim that I made several years ago
(and rusted last year) as the trim for the front of my cover.
I love the colors of the rust.
So natural looking.




I will begin sewing in my signatures tonight or tomorrow.
I might add a few more bits and pieces of "stuff" on the pages before I sew them in.
I'll try to remember to take pictures of the pages.
I hope that you all have a creative weekend.
Remember to Feed Your Muse.

Oh...

Here is the painting that I was working on when I stopped to paint the Thank You card.
Hope you enjoy it! My dear mother in law saved an old calendar for me from last year.
Without me even asking!
How sweet is that?!
She knew I would love the 12 photos of beautiful birds it held inside.
I'm trying to paint each and every one of them
and then use the paintings in collage work or some kind of fiber work...
I should be ready to teach a "Bird Paintin' Class" after that many birds!

Keep your eyes open as I've got some really exciting news on my teaching plans for the fall!
I hope when you see where I'm teaching you'll want to join me!
Info coming soon...

Goldfinch Painting

Actually, it is a hand painted note card that I am sending to a family member.
I had been painting this morning and my husband suggested that a hand painted
Thank You card would be nice...
so, here there it is.
A hand painted Thank You card for a nice couple that had us over for dinner this weekend!

Fiber Freaks

ummm...I mean Fiber Junkies.
I've talked about my fiber buddies before.
We got together this past Monday at Mary Stori's
beautiful mountain top home near Waynesville NC.
What an awesome view from almost every single window!
We had our First Annual Planning Meeting...sounds all formal and important, doesn't it?
Well, it IS important to us...
but believe you me, it was no where near "formal"!
We did have our regular "show and tell" - which is always so fun and inspiring.
Fellow Fiber Junkie (they will always be Fiber Freaks in my mind - my husband calls them that...) Patsy Thompson was showing us a small quilt that she was working with feathers on.
I would have never imagined this color combination but it looked really good!
I don't know if you can see how perfect her stitches are but they look great...no stitch regulator for this girl!


My favorite part was the corner motif...looks like one of my crazy flower sketches.

Patsy made us all these really cool pin cushions for Christmas gifts. I love how she is breaking out with using her heat gun to burn through layers.
You go girl!

And, as usual, Mary Stori has wowed us all with her beading.

One word here - Perfect.

Just Perfect. And Val McGaughey blew us out of the water with this piece of art work.

It has layers and layers of screen printing, resists and applications of paint.

I can't wait to learn how to do this!

My friend Judy Simmons is making her daughter's wedding gown

and pulled out the beads that she is trying to pick from.

I love the way that the light hits on the side of the beads. Just beautiful.

And the lace. That lace is about 18 inches wide (I think).

One yard costs about 200.00. Woo Wee...No mistakes, huh?

I meant No Pressure!

Judy will do fine...

as long as we keep the gold and purple fabric away from her.

Perhaps you can read that story on her blog.

Lipstick Ranch

I hear a lot of fellow artists mention that they would like to sell their art...
sell more art...
or market themselves as artists
but just aren't sure what to do
or how to go about doing that.
Enter KC Willis.
Artist extraordinaire, wild west woman artist
that is here to take your hand and lead you through
each and every little step that you need to take.
She has several classes over at her site
but the one that I am pointing to right now is the
"Marketing Mindset" one.
She has been there, done that and is continuing to
Do That as we speak (or write and read) (...).
Since times, they are so difficult right now -
she is running a special price - but you gotta hurry!
That price will go up soon...
Run on over to Miss KC's and get your Marketing Mindset on.

Altered Art Divas

I belong to an online group of Fantastic Artists who call themselves The Altered Art Divas.
They host a lot of different swaps as someone is always up for swapping a little art...
right?
I signed up for a couple of banner swaps this year.
The first one is "Shades of White".
A Winter Wonderland Swap.
We were to use a white background with a touch of blue.
I played around with a couple of ideas and finally settled on one.
I drew one of my journal page images (the tree) onto a canvas background.
I used Derwent watercolor pencils to add just a touch of color. In order to keep the Winter Wonderland look, I added a lot of water to wash most of the color out.
Except the touch of blue.
My touch of blue is two little blue birds perched in the tree.
They are funky little birds with wonky beaks.
I used my trusty Bernina to thread sketch all the images. Like I said earlier, I drew the picture on the fabric first. I used a regular HB sketch pencil.
And tried to stay on the lines...but I do tend to not only color outside the lines but sew outside the lines too...
Diva's - don't look too closely!
I had used canvas as my background and it was kinds flimsy.
So I added a layer of some old Heat & Bond (I usually use Mistyfuse for all my fusible but I have several packages of Heat & Bond around...trying to use what I have here at home) and then placed a light colored fabric as the backing.
I used a zig zag stitch around the edges.
And man, did my production sewing skills come in handy at this part! I zipped those babies up in
No Time!

I used lace as ties for some of the banners and ribbon on the rest of them.

I also added a few silver snowflakes with some of the shiny thread that my son gave me for Christmas.

It IS a Winter Wonderland Art Banner you know...

I can't wait to get my package of 20 banners (How awesome is that!?)!

I'm sending mine out tomorrow. They are due to Debi's house on February 1 so I am actually EARLY...

can you believe that!?

Now I can start on the "Bird Banners" - which are the next swap I am signed up for.

All 14 of them are due by April 1.

So that means I have been ahead of schedule all year long.

Hope your year is going well.

I forgot to adopt A Word (you know, The defining Word of the Year) this year.

Maybe I'll think about that today...

Remember to flex your creative muscles today.

Cotton love

OK - I beg forgiveness for not posting more.
Between the holidays, wheezing, doctor appointments, running to the drug store, close family birthdays and (of course) art projects - I've been pretty darn busy.
Just like everyone else...
I have posted before about a little book love that I have...
did you know that she is coming out with a totally NEW BOOK!?
(check it out)
(pre-order it)
(I did)
I have made a sketchbook cover and an awesome skirt
from the book patterns.
Being the independent type artist that I am,
I had to branch out and begin to make my own stencils
and patterns.
The above photo is a scan of a hand drawn stencil that I made.
I am making another sketchbook cover for me - the orange one that I made just isn't my favorite color.
But blue IS! I'll add some beads so my buddy Mary Stori will still love me (waving - Hey Mary!).
I am also working on a fingerless glove pattern too.
Won't that be So cool?!

I've been a bit under the weather here lately but hope that
a visit to the specialist next month will prove fruitful.
This weekend my husband had a conference in Atlanta (Georgia) for college umpires.
Being a good wife, I went with him - and met a friend from NC there (waving -Hey Crystal!)
and her daughter (waving - Hey Brittany!) for a few hours of fun, laughing and shopping in Atlanta and Marietta. We had a blast!
So - isn't this odd - I am from SC.
Crystal is from NC.
We met in GA to visit...
Odd but fun. And convenient.
So - I'm home now. Glad to be here.
And almost finished with 20 Art Banners for a winter themed swap
that I signed up for a while back.
I'll try to remember to post some photo's tomorrow...
I hope that you all are enjoying your New Year.

Art Classes

Last week I had the most fun!
I helped Susan Sorrell teach art classes for Charter High School students.
They do not have a regular art program at the school,
so once a year local artists teach them a variety of really cool classes.

They really had a lot of choices in what class to take -

including belly dancing, wire work, stained glass and rock carving to name a few.

Susan and I taught them about hand embroidery, painting fabric, beading and doodle drawing.

They were all great kids -very polite and well mannered, as well as entertaining and funny.
I think I will teach a couple of classes next year.
That's one thing that we, as artists, as adults, need to do.
To share our knowledge with the next generation.
We have to keep our craft, our art alive by sharing it.

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone is having a great New Year (so far)!
I am! This year is going to be AWESOME!
I can just feel it in my bones...
I sense the excitement - the sheer magnitude of what will happen this year could be overwhelming
but I'm not letting it.
I am greeting it with open arms...
Open.
Arms.
Today I handed over the samples for a workshop that I am teaching locally.
I'll post more on that later but for now, let's talk about UFOs.
Huh?!
Aliens?
No, silly!
UnFinished Objects...
I have posted before about the book "Alabama Stitch Book".
Love. It.
Totally.
When I first checked out the book from the library, I started a sample piece, just to see if I could do it...if I wanted to commit to a larger project.
I was going to make a book cover.
Small, quick and easy.
Not.
I mean it was (small, quick and easy) but I wanted to Get On With It (the Skirt, that is).
I got right to The End of it and sat it aside in my excitement to make a skirt.
And forgot about it.
Fast forward to last week. I was working on putting things away in my studio and came across it again.
Bingo...
Had to finish it.
Had to.
So, I pulled out all the necessary items and got to work.
I had already done most of the work.
Even did the beading.
All I had to do was sew the flaps together, fashion a tie and put my sketchbook in it.
Viola! Can you see that cool button? It's so Cool!
It has a face painted on it.

Look at the beading...how cool is that?
I used two tee shirts to make it.

This is Green Sewing at its finest.

I even used the arm seams for the wrap!

My Moleskien loves its new home.
Everyone that sees it loves it.
I'm making another one - this one will be my own stencil design.
And I'm going to use blue and white tee shirts.
And khaki colored thread.
Maybe.
But definitely my own drawing for the stencil.
And I'll find another really cool button for the next one too!

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We all did - my husband and I spent some time with our kids (all together - in the same room!). We have 3 kids between the two of us - Emily turned 16 today. Trey is 19 and going to Clemson University. Will just turned 21 and is home from Winthrop University. You can imagine how difficult it is to get them together at the same time...we managed to do this not once, but twice during the holiday season.
I hope that everyone has a great New year! I've got a big year planned - lots of new things are going to be happening this year. I hope that you are planning to take your dreams, your hopes and your goals to the next level -
It's time to Take Action.

Mary Did You Know

Holiday Wishes

I hope that each and every one of you have a very

merry and safe Holiday!

I know that we all have different beliefs,

celebrate in a lot different ways

but my wish is the same for everyone...

Peace on Earth and

Goodwill to all.

What light through yonder window breaks...

What an odd light coming through my studio window today...

Sketching, stitching and painting the afternoon away.
Celebrating a Big Birthday this evening - my son is 21 today!
Wow - I can't believe how quickly the time passed...
I won't write a bunch of mushy mommy stuff in case he reads this...
but can't all you moms out there just imagine what I am thinking of today?

I'm trying out a new service that my buddy Susan Sorrell told me about- www.ping.fm -to link all my "social networks" together.
Not that I have that many - I just would like to make one blog post and have it go to every site that I interact with.
Let's see how it does...

Thread Sketching

I've spent a few days working on the new class I mentioned
(which I'm lovin' by the way)
and right in the middle of that,
I was hit with another blast of
"Hey - what if I...?".
So, I finished the New Class project yesterday
(did I mention how totally cool this class is going to be?!)
and rushed to begin the new
"Hey - What if I...?" project.
Here's the beginning of that...
I took one of the tree images from my sketched journal pages and drew it on a piece of canvas.
You could trace, free hand draw, transfer (etc) to get the image on the fabric.
Then I outlined it with free motion embroidery work on my trusty sewing machine.
I love the look !
Today I'm going to play with coloring the image - inks, paints, water soluble pastels...
I'll use whatever is handy and within the reach of my impatient little hand.

Holiday Coffee3s

This is where I went yesterday.


I spent several hours in the company of two wonderful, funny and artsy ladies -
Anne Taylor and Susan Sorrell.
I met some really cool folks too (waving to Bonnie) ("Hi Bonnie!").
I didn't get to go to any of the Coffee3s this year and
was determined to go to this one...
I love going into the Little House Art Studio. The walls
are all such bright colors and Susan has her art work displayed all over the house.
If you've ever seen her work, it's quite bright and colorful as well.


Annie has her own studio room where her gorgeous art photography is out.
She had some of the coolest tiles with not only photos transferred on them
but some of her own watercolors paintings as well.
What a very artistic use of the two mediums.
I loved them!
Susan is going to be offering a new class next year called
"Get Your Sh*t" Together" (GYST) .
Which I definitely need to do...
and I've heard a lot of other artists say the same thing.
Follow the link on the class name to see the info.
I think there are five sessions and each session is two classes -
All Day Classes!
Great price too!
I've signed up-
and I am just putting this out there right now.
I expect a lot of great things to be happening to me this coming year.
Not just personally, but related to my desire to teach, to sell my work,
to write -
to share my creativity with others...
I want to help other people find their own creative voice - it's there people...
You just gotta give it a little encouragement .
So.
There.
Universe - I'm ready.
I'm stepping up to that proverbial line -
and walking right past it...

More on Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts

You know, when you try to think about
What You Like...
What You Do Well...
And How You Do it
you must consider all these things separately.
And then together.
I've been trying to narrow down my focus a little.
I like to do SO many things,
I'm always trying new things..
I am constantly changing what I do...
I decided it was time to really give this a careful consideration.
And add all those things that I love to a new class.

The last year of my life has been a very difficult time.
My mother passed away in February and a lot of "situations" came to light after that traumatic event.
Most of the things that you have to do when a family members dies fell to me.
A house full of mementos, keepsakes and little snippets that my mom loved to keep and look at.
I found things from her mother that she had lovingly wrapped in soft fabrics...

I could just see my mom - stroking her worn hands across the soft fabric of my grandmothers quilt...
I could see my grandmothers hands as she lovingly pulled the thread through that same quilt- making her stitch in time...

Scraps of fabric, of stories
Fragments of a memory, of another time
And Artifacts - from your family, your loved ones...
All woven together to tell a story of where you came from or of another that inspires you.
Join me as we gather all our random mementos and weave them into a mixed media fiber piece.

It's going to be a place that you can finally showcase your little treasures instead of hiding them away in a drawer or box somewhere.

Here's a little peek at mine in progress...

The center of the piece is the one thing that I think of when my grandmother and mom cross my mind (no pun intended).
Their belief in The Living God. In the power of the cross and those three nails.
Their lives were not easy. They lived in difficult times, were raised poor.
I've backed this section with bird's nest paper. It's full of odd materials that have been meshed together - like a bird finding this and that to make her home.
This signifies how "rough" their lives were.
I added a little piece of a soft and worn towel from my mom's house. A simple kitchen towel that she had taken care of so it would last and last.
I connected three rusty nails and a quartz cross and laid it on top of the previous pieces.
The center of their world - that cross and nails.
Cushioned on their well worn belief in times of turmoil.

I found a pack of labels from my grandmother - some of those

"Handmade and Designed by" labels...I used one to back another section.

If you look closely, you can see a tiny bit of her name -

printed in red.

A bit of a screen from my mom's house...it all has meaning to me.

Just like yours will.

I'll help you look for the story - put the words to it.

We'll also learn a lot of different mixed media techniques like joining non-traditional pieces to fiber work,

sewing on (and with) paper, making paper fabric.

Some fabric painting, a little dyeing...

You know - a little of this and a little of that.

Details on the class will be on the blog site in the coming days.

I hope to teach it locally but am sure to be teaching it in a place a little farther away this fall.

Won't you join me?

Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts

Inspiration has hit...

Fabric is flying.
Threads are humming.
Beads are rolling.
Mistyfuse is fusing.

My studio is, once again, a very happy place to be.

I've got a new class in the works!
You ladies are going to love this one...

Be gathering all your bits and pieces, your favorite little scraps of fabric, all those little things that you just couldn't stand to part with -
you know what I mean, don't cha?
While you're looking - pull together some of your favorite keepsakes from a loved one.
Those artifacts you hide away - maybe pulling them out once or twice a year to look at.
This project is all about making a memory...
saving some space...
and having an heirloom when you're finished.

Holiday Get Togethers

Last Friday, I ventured to Fletcher, NC to a fellow Fiber Junkies house for a holiday get together.
Several ladies gathered to share some food, some finished work
and some holiday food and spirits.
I took a bunch of (not too good) photos but like any proud mama - I mean friend - I'm going to make you suffer through them anyway.
Kinda like summer vacation photos, ya know?

First things first -
Martine House.
Have you ever seen any of Martine's fiber work?
Not photos of it - but in person?
There are times in your life that you walk up on a person's art work -
you are just in awe. No words to describe it.
You can hardly ask sensible questions about it because it it so enthralling and captivating.
Martine House makes fiber art with her hands - no machine work here.
Old fashioned hand work. Her felting is indescribable...
Her latest piece in the "Offerings" series is called "Iceless?".
The outside is hand felted - it looks like the sides have grown up and over the structure...
like it has been growing there a very long time - little crooks with rocks peeking from them - twists and turns with hand stitching.
Just.
Magical.
As I said, my photos are NOT good ones (sorry Martine!)
but even professional ones can't catch the enthralling beauty of her work.


Opening the first layer of the Offering.
Note the trees, the limbs inside.
These are all hand embroidered by her - with one strand of DMC floss...
ONE strand.
Her embroidery is Meticulous.
Perfect.

The center of the box is opened to reveal a silk pouch with the Offering inside.

Look at the beading on the strands holding the inside section together.

I think that some of the same beads were used on the Offerings inside the pouch.

This photo shows the first section opened with the second one still having its closure on.

Hand molded copper with patina applied.

This is a close up of the closures that she fashioned.

The Offering has been removed from it's resting place.

See how the different levels speak to each other - different yet the same.

This is the beautiful, enchanting necklace that she made.

Martine has more photos on her blog - go have a peek.

She also talks about the process of making the Offering.

Such a fascinating artist.

Rattle Them Bones

A few years ago, my husband and I took our kids to Washington, DC.
We went to all the tourists haunts, pulling the kids behind us.
But there was one place that everyone loved.
The Museum of Natural History.
The kids ran from top to bottom, pulling us along
talking excitedly about this exhibit or that one...
I loved it all - the beauty of the hauntingly sorrowful changes that our world had suffered through...
The recreations of all the magnificent animals that roamed before man ever began leaving his footprints...
But my favorite place was the rooms that housed hundreds of skeletons.
I was just fascinated with all of those animal skeletons.
I honestly never realized that until I walked into that room...
It was breath taking.
How could the natural color of the bones
be so alive in a creature that had drawn its last breath?
It was facinating that they could make these skeletons seem so alive- so real- when they were strung together by a man's hand.
I was eventually pulled from the rooms because I kept going back and forth,
looking - reading...
making up stories about them...
some kind of odd attachment began brewing in that room all those years ago.

Since then, I've been known to collect bones...
wherever I happen upon them...
and whatever kind I find.
I have began adding them to my mixed media work in the last year or so.

A few months ago, while reading my friend Judy Perez's blog,
I saw mention of where she had gone to a SOFA expo.
She had a couple of photos of work done by Geoffrey Gorman.



He picks up found objects, screws, bolts, weathered wood...bits of this and that
and fashions them into the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen.
He assembles some into animals, some into men...
allowing Mother Nature to have her input on them as well.
If you get a chance, look at his work.
You might be as taken with it as I am.
Be sure to visit his blog too.
He offers some insight into the process-
you know -
The why of The what.

Sneak Peeks and a Beast

There you have it...

Two Sneak Peeks

and here's The Beast.

Growl...

Bead Work

Why is it that you always find 872 other things to do when you have a deadline?
I do it - all the time.
I was (really , I was) working on the Deadline Project when I got side tracked
by The Camera.
Here's what I wound up doing with the beads instead of actually sewing them on the Deadline Project...

Hey! There's Jane's Wholey Paper in the above photo!
I love that stuff.

I was auditioning the colored glass beads to see which one looked the best...

the gold won out over the blue ones.

And the green ones.

It's a snow man stack of beads!

Hope that you all have a great day.

Remember to do something creative today- allow your creative spirit to play.

Footprints

Many years ago, I worked an a RN in the
Greenville Hospital System Neonatal ICU (preemies, sick newborns).
I went there straight out of nursing school and really loved my job.
I was looking through some papers today, looking for my son's birth certificate (he got a job at the Winthrop University Art Gallery!) and happened upon this...

This is the actual set of footprints from one of the babies
that I cared for back in 1987. He was 24 days old
and weighed a whopping 1 pound and 2 ounces!
I placed the penny above the footprints so you could see how tiny they really are.
His little feet were not quite 1 1/2" long.
We had patients that were smaller than that actually...
and now days, they are even smaller than when I worked there.
Technology is a wonderful (and scary) thing, isn't it?
It made me miss those tiny little babies...

Point & Shoot

I've been involved in a couple of online classes here lately.
One of them is over at LK Ludwig's blog site.
It's called "Point & Shoot Journaling" workshop.
I have a ton of digital photos just sitting in my computer.
Collecting virtual dust.
I betcha that you do too.
LK has this awesome monthly workshop that involves using those photos and journaling with them.
And it's VERY reasonably priced.
Maybe Santa Baby could bring you one of the classes (she has three so far). While you're over at LK's blog, take a peek at her books.
You might add those to your Christmas list as well.

I hope that you're all having a peaceful and creative day.
I'm at home, watching the rain out of my window.
Tonight we start moving the furniture back in to my studio!
I can't wait to have my space back again.
And to be able to find things - without looking for two hours...
All freshly painted. A soot free space...