Christmas News...a little late

Guess who I spent my Christmas with?

No Ideas?

How about Mary Stori,

Cate Coulacos Prato,

Rayna Gillman

and

Lynn Koolish?

Betcha' never guessed that?

My husband bought me three great books

"Mixed Media Self-Portraits" by Cate Prato

"Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth" by Rayna Gilllman

and "Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Dyeing" by Lynn Koolish.

And an awesome beading DVD from Mary Stori!

I had told him that I wanted Cate's book and Mary's DVD

and then good ole' Amazon told

him that I would probably like the other ones!

How cool is THAT!

At first I thought that he had seen my "wish list" on Amazon,

but then I remembered it is not in a public form.

Then I remembered that I had seen the "If you ordered this, you may like this" list

after ordering in the past.

I, for one, am very thankful for the

"let's prompt this man to spend more money "

list from Amazon.

And I am thankful for all the talented ladies

that put so much hard work

into writing and contributing to these wonderful books and the DVD!

And if you have not see these books or Mary's DVD,

then run over to your favorite book dealer (or Amazon!)

and

check them out!

Happy Holidays All!

Happy Birthday Will

Today is my son's 20th birthday!

All you mom's will understand the emotion that I am feeling at the thought of that wonderful day.

Having your own child is one of those things that

you just can't imagine

the overwhelming out pouring of love for another person.

I am so proud of him...

he is working and going to school...

soon to transfer to an art school a couple of hours from home.

He is such an awesome artist...

Happy Birthday son!

I'll be enjoying Christmas with my husbands family

in this awesome house in the mountains this weekend.

Hope everyone else has a wonderful time!

Dancing In The Moonlight

I have wanted to begin doing more hand work in my fiber art.

After seeing Susan Sorrell's detailed work,

I started this piece.

I don't know if you can see the beading very well

but I have added quite a few beads already.

I have been doing free form embroidery as well.

And lovin' it!

What a Creative Chick

Saturday I had the immense pleasure of meeting Susan Sorrell...

You know, The Creative Chick from Greenville SC.

She had an Open House

with along with Anne Taylor,

an awesome photographer who is also from Greenville.

They share studio space in Taylors, SC.

You should go and see them...

beautiful, filling, inspiring work." Self Portrait" Susan Sorrell
"Hard-Favored Face" Susan Sorrell

"My Aching Head" Susan Sorrell

"Singing In The Rain" Susan Sorrell

Blog Wins Award

Breaking News!

Piedmont, SC- Local blogger, Carol Sloan, has been awarded the "Kreativ Blogger Award" by Kathy Sands. Kathy, a blogger from southern Illinois, said that it was Carol's "dedication to living the creative life" that won her the award. Both women are part of a larger movement that involves several aspects of fiber art, painting and something they call "surface design". Perhaps later the newspaper will run a more in depth story on this phenomenon. But for right now, let's look at the responsibility that goes along with the Blog Award.

Kathy emailed Carol and let her know that she could go to her web site (Kathy's not Carol's) for the particulars involving the Award. Carol noted that receiving the Award was "awesome, so thankful that I was picked...so many people helped me get this far...it would take too long to list the names but I will say this 'thanks mom, thanks to The Good Lord, oh and my wonderful and supportive husband. Thanks to all of you.'

Now, back to the responsibility. Wow, how does that Carol keep getting me off the subject at hand...anyway, ok..

The Particulars of The Kreativ Blogger Award

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Carol said that she will be posting the logo on her blog, with pride, she added. She has also added not only a link to Kathy's blog site but her web site as well...Everyone needs to go there and look at the awesome work that Kathy does. Carol said that Kathy's work with surface design was beautiful.

Carol will need to nominate 5 others for their blogs as well. She stated that just as soon as we at the local paper leave her alone, she would decide on the winners. We reminded her that she needs to place links to their blogs and email them messages as well.

So, there you have it folks...another success story from a local gal that is "just Doing The Work" as she calls it. Let's all congratulate Mrs. Sloan on her well deserved award!

Dec. 5, 2008

Piedmont, SC

Live Intentionally

Today I went to one of my favorite places on the earth...

Random Arts in Saluda NC.

Jane Powell, the beautiful lady that is The Shop Owner,

is one Talented Gal...

One Smart Lady.

She sat me down in the shop

and brought a book to me...

told me to look through it.

Really look through it...

I made it to the middle of the prologue before my eyes began to burn...

the moisture started building

behind my eyelids...

threathening to spill over.

The book is

"Life Is A Verb" by Patti Digh.

Go here and read her story, where this awesome book really began...

where It came from.

And then

go Live Intentionally.

My Neighborhood...

My Christmas Placemat Neighborhood, that is...

Let Me Entertain You

It's amazing how liberating it is to post your most personal art work.

I have posted paintings that I have done...

ones that I felt were FAR below The Mark.

Way below The Mark...

but you know what?

These paintings show that I am trying...

I am Doing The Work.

I am Practicing...

I am working towards My Goal.

Sooo...in that same vein, I thought

I'd really step out there

and share some more...

My sketch book.

Anyone who knows me (loves me...).

knows that there are a couple of things that I hardly ever travel without -

my sketch book and a small bag of knitting.

My theory is that

1. You never know when The Muse or Inspiration will hit - You HAVE to have your sketch book or some paper to catch a few frantic marks to decipher later.

2. You never know when you're going to get stuck in traffic(or the doctor office).

I HAVE to have Something to keep me busy.

(I often carry a couple of my fav magazines - Quilting Arts or Cloth, Paper, and Scissors.

You don't subscribe to them?! No WAY!

You HAVE to!

If you're reading my blog,

and you like the kinds of things that I do then

you MUST SUBSCRIBE

to both of these magazines!

GO NOW, SUBSCRIBE.

Back to The Post.

So, I decided that if I felt so much better after posting these paintings,

imagine how awesome I would feel

after posting a few pages from my beloved Sketch Book.

So I decided to give it a try.

Here are a few random pages...different subjects...

they range from bunnies to tassels to rubber stamp houses to faces...

and a little in between.

This tree was copied from "The Decorated Page" by Gwen Diehn.

This book is wonderful!

I have checked it out from the local library

at least 5 times...

I need to buy it actually...

perhaps I'll tell Santa about it.

I was practicing my name

after looking in "Modern Mark Making" by Lisa Engelbrecht.

Another Must Have book.

And I do Have that one!

This is a design for a purse tassel that I sketched up.

I have a similar one on my Origami Purse.

I am teaching that class at My Quilt Shoppe

in Hendersonville NC on Dec. 13 of this year.

Click on the above link for info about it.

It's a great class that is from 10:00 am -3:00pm. Based on your sewing skills, you could leave with a purse on your arm!

I'll be sharing quick and easy quilting tips and I promise we will be having FUN!

This is a great gift idea for Christmas too!

Or a quick, really nice gift for your self!

Call the shop at 828/692-8870 to register and

get your supply list.

Do it TODAY!

This is Bunny...a tale for another day.


I saw a rubber stamp with a house similar to this...can't remember the designer though. If you know, let me know and I'll post the name.

A quick sketch of a face.

Practice, practice, practice!

Hey, it's those Bunnies again...same Bunny, same story...
Another day, another tale.

This is a double spread from sketches I made...

either from memory or some book on cartooning from the Local Library.

I really have to jot down book titles and authors.

I try to give credit at every chance I can

but this is once that I failed to write down all the pertinant info.

Sorry!

Another double page spread.

Same story, some I made up, some I copied from books.

I tend to do much better when I have something to look at.

My son (who is an awesome cartoon artist) does better drawing from his imagination.

We envy each other...

but respect the others talent more than envy.

This last page is from a book that was about character development in animation.

I'll try to get names and titles..

I REALLY am sorry not to have them.

Ok...that's enough "sharing" for me for one night.

Hope that you enjoy my humble offerings as much as I enjoyed sketching them.

Now,

Go

and

Draw.

Dose of Delivered Inspiration

Look at what my UPS man brought today...

A Martha Lever Excettera Journal.

She uses her own calligraphy and hand drawn/painted images

to form a beautiful collage that graces the front of this lined notebook.

You have to go to her Etsy shop and

look at all the yummy things that she has there.

I LOVE this journal!

I had seen them in her shop

but failed to order one

before she sold out...

So, I emailed her and ask if she was going to do more.

I'm so glad that I ask

instead of just wishing I had of bought it when I first saw it.

Within a day or two, there they were...

The most difficult thing was

deciding which one that I wanted.

I'm excited too

cause she is developing one with

Poppies

on it.

I love Poppies and Martha's are

Awesome!

And look at the note card she sent with it!

Beautiful enough to frame.

And the sweetest note

on the back of it...

I can just feel her beautiful spirit in all of her work.

Follow her blog here

and get your daily dose of Martha (Lever not Stewart)!

I've Been Painting

Camping at Lake Jocasse

Imagine being surrounded by a beautiful view like this...

every side, every direction that you look you see these beautiful rolling mountains...

sparkling clear water...

leaves bursting with color...

loons diving for fish...

otters rolling around the water...

sea gulls,

scuba divers...

wait...scuba divers...?

Yep, another favorite spot for the local scuba divers is Lake Jocasse...

did I mention how deep this lake is? How great the under water visibility is?

We did see all of the above items...

the otters were definitely the cutest...

they were just as interested in us as we were in them!

Anyway, here are a couple or three pictures.

We were so busy enjoying the scenery that we didn't take many pictures...

Another excuse to go back now...

My husband had the camera all day...

his view of things...

Can you see the loons in this picture?

(ha ha-not the one above this comment...it's the next one silly!)

We couldn't get too close to them without scaring them away.

The next pictures were taken at the camp site.

I noticed this wonderful fungal growth (or mushrooms?) on the side of a tree and had to take a picture of it.

Then I noticed the hole in the tree under it...

it had an acorn tucked inside of it!

Isn't that cool?!

This friendly fellow was creeping around the camp site...

trying to camouflage himself on the neighboring leaf...

I looked in Wikipedia but couldn't find an exact entry of this bug. If you know the name of it, please feel free to add a comment with it.

Oh, and sorry for the blurred picture...

We were camped beside a cute couple from Lexington SC, Johnathan and Shelise.

He is in the military and she is a dental hygienist.

They sat by the fire with us Saturday night into the wee hours of the morning, laughing and talking.

And graciously accepted our invitation to breakfast the next morning.

Isn't it great to meet and make friends every where you go?

Felting Leaves

The leaf that I am felting began life

as a flat piece of beautiful variegated felt from Nancy Bruce.

Here it is after I had cut the

pattern from a tracing of a cookie cutter.
I say why use the cookie cutter to cut cookies

when you can just eat the dough

and use the cutter for much more interesting things...?!

After cutting this, I began adding layers

of boldly colored roving (hand dyed by Nancy), felting them after each layer.

I found this to be such a soothing, rhythmic activity...

a mindless type of thing...

great for people like me

that can't seem to even sit in front of the TV without

DOING SOMETHING...

anyone out there like that?

I like to have something in my hands, like knitting, crochet, drawing...

just SOMETHING to DO.

Here is a scan of the type of roving and fiber

that I used on top of my felt leaf.

After some nice soothing felting activity,

I decided to add a yarn outline and some veins to the leaf.

I liked this better, the way that it defined the edges...

while adding more Autumn colors to the mix.

I'll add some beads and baubles...

what is a felted leaf

without a few beads and baubles anyway?

I'll try to see if Nancy has a blog or a website

(you should Nancy!)

(You need an Etsy site or something...

your work is much too beautiful to keep hidden at your home!)

Does everyone that has seen her work agree with me?

Right, Patsy?

Well, I think that this new art form that I have learned will really add a lot to upcoming fiber pieces...

So thanks Nancy for giving me a good foundation to start on!

I'm looking forward to adding to my felting skills.