Mixed Media Artist Book

I have been making plans for a while now for a mixed media artist book (or journal).
If I complete it like I have planed, or even close to it,
there should be a ton of techniques in it!
I made the first (of several) folders that will be inside of it.
This one is a manila folder that has been cut down to size,
painted, inked, sanded, stenciled, spritzed, grommet-ed, taped,
and waiting for a collage element on the front of it.
I'll use screen fabric, a copy of a bird painting that I did,
along with painted/sanded and torn tuna cardboard and maybe a few circular washers...
or a feather...
Either way -
It's going to be great!

Weekend Art

I've been painting in my studio - not the walls but on canvas and watercolor paper.
I wanted to watch TV with my husband and I had to have something to do -
since I can't seem to sit still and actually watch the television...
So, I pulled out my trusty sketchbook, drawing pencils and compact watercolors.

A funky little tree with odd "plants" underneath it.
Actually, if you look closely (and use your imagination) you can tell that the plants are actually my interpretation of images from a nature book that I was thumbing through.
A fern frond...
A carbohydrate molecule...
and a weed seed head...
It's all in how you look at things.

The Swimmin' Hole

The Santee State Park built a great swimming area for the campers. It had an activity building, a floating dock with a diving board and a wooden bridge for hikers and fishermen.
...that is until the gators moved in.
I would imagine that they tried relocating the gators since they had gone to so much work, effort and money to build the swimming area.
The gators liked their new digs so much that they refused to leave.
So the park had to close the area to swimmers and only allow fishermen, gawkers and hikers.
There is a Huge "No Swimming" sign right beside this sign...

Funny stuff, huh?
Here is the first of four alligators that we saw one afternoon while gawking...I mean hiking.
He was only about 8 foot long.

Here was another one that was about 10 foot long. You can see the foliage from the shore in this shot. My husband took this one while I was running with three other women...I mean hiking .

Here is the third one that we saw in that "swimming hole"...another 8 footer.

And here is the Big Daddy Gator. The folks at the rangers office refer to him as "the big one in the pond". He measures in at a whooping 10-12 foot long.

Can I say "holy moly" ?

Look at the beautiful, though kinda scary humps on his back and tail...

If you didn't read the first sign, here is the other one that they post warning you not to feed the gators, notice the (no)swimming dock in the background...

I hope that I haven't scared any of you from going to the state park in Santee SC. If you are a lover of nature and wildlife, this is a fantastic place to go!

Between Santee State Park, the lake itself, and the Santee National Wildlife Refuge, we saw two Bald Eagles, several Opsreys, Indigo Bunting, Goldfinch, more wading birds than you can shake a stick at, Double-crested Cormorant , Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Wood Duck, American Wigeon, Mallard, Wild Turkey (and friends!), Purple Gallinule, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Blue Jays, American Crows, Purple Martins, Tufted Titmouse, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Northern Cardinals, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird and a Partridge in a Pear tree...no, wait...no Partridge (but a whole lotta commas in that sentence).

If you love birding, this is a splendid place to take off to! The Visitor Center will even provide you with a small brochure that lists all the birds in the area so you can check off the ones that you see.

How convenient is that?

And unlike my daring husband and I, you can always watch the alligators through a pair of binoculars or not at all.

Well, it would appear that I forgot the cyrpess forest in this post...I'll try to show that tomorrow along with some painting that I've been doing.

Have a great weekend!

SC Gators

Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Santee SC has 15,095 acres of mixed hardwoods and pines, freshwater marsh, croplands, old fields and open water. It is also hailed as one of the best birding areas in SC.
The refuge is home to 296 birds as well as 45 mammals, 54 reptiles, 35 amphibians and more than 100 fish species.
It touts walking trails, biking trails, canoe/kayak trails and an interpretive wildlife drive.
We spoke with one of the rangers at the Visitors center
who helped us decide which trail to utilize that day, based on the weather and available time.
We decided to tackle the Cuddo East canoe/kayak trail.
This is a photo of the very beginning of the channel.
It's actually a channel from an old rice plantation.
just perfect for kayak travel and...
the American Alligator.
Look at how dark the water is.

The channel was fairly narrow for a few hundred feet and then opened up into a smallish pond area.
Full of water lilies, birds and
Alligators.
Here is one of them.
These pictures were taken from my vantage point in the kayak - no zoom lens here.

Notice the trail of bubbles behind this 12-14 foot gator...that is one way to track them.

Here's a different one - another 12-14 footer. I guess we actually saw about 10 different gators.
We saw many more bubble trails than that though.

After the pond area, the channel narrows back down to the previous width.

This shows the trail of two different gators that were hanging out under osprey nests.

Think they were waiting for mom to drop a fish

or a baby to drop out?

Everybody has to eat...

We had a fantastically scary kayaking trip that day.

I used to think of myself as a real scaredy cat...

guess I'll lose that title for a while, huh?

All is well that ends well.

This is what we saw as we drove out of the wildlife refuge that day.

A beautiful rainbow.

Tomorrow I'll try to post photos of the cypress forest that sits out in Lake Marion.

Hope that you all are flexing your creative muscles...

as well as your"I'm a Brave Girl now" muscles.

Santee State Park or Gator Hunting

Well, warmer weather is here and you know
what that means for my husband and I...
Nature Trips and Kayaking.
If that bores you or just doesn't interest you - stop reading here.
But if you enjoy living vicariously through someone else's adventures
or you love nature
or you love kayaking
or you love alligators -
Read On!

Here is one photo for you stitchers out there that always looking for patterns on things.
This is a photo of the under side of the roof on an activity building
at Santee State Park in Santee SC.
It has several nests (Martin's) in the corners of the timbers.
The birds were sitting on side timbers
watching us as we snapped pictures and watched them.

We saw so much wildlife at the park, it was unbelievable!
A lot of deers...
Big deers, tiny deers
deers with big racks (antler, that is...)
Here's a night shot where a "family" was going back to their tent...
mom, dad and three kids.
Look at them...going in through the "Do Not Enter" road!
Some animals just don't follow rules well.

Even the sky was beautiful! This was shot on the way out of the Santee Wildlife Refuge.

What an Awesome place to visit if you love observing wildlife and nature!

We were in the "Cuddo Unit".

They have a "Wildlife Drive" that has an accompanying Interpretive Guide with it.

As you drive along (it is a 7.5 mile road), you will pass numbered signs that you reference in the guide. It gives great information about the area that you're in or about the animals that you will likely see.

The guide did mention we might see Wild Turkeys.

It didn't say that they would jump out on the road in front of us, running 20 miles per hour as we lagged behind.

Nor did it mention that the original three turkeys would be joined by three more of their friends.

And run for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile before jumping off the side of the road.

We didn't follow them the entire time. We stopped and just watched them continue to run.

It must have been a neighborhood jog night.

The first day that we were there we went for a short kayak trip in Lake Marion.

We wanted to take a peek at the cypress forest that stands in the middle of the lake.

According to the park brochure "Lake Marion is a 110,00 acre lake that is more shallow, full of stumps and trees (including a deciduous cypress forest gracing the middle of the lake across from the park) and is adjacent to thousands of acres of pristine, secluded wetlands and forest."

I'll post photos of that, along with the up close interaction with several alligators we met...

How close? you ask.

Very close...

Sketching on the Road

When my husband and I go places, he usually drives.
I usually draw.
The South Carolina roads can be very bumpy
which is aggravating while driving
but can provide some pretty cool lines while drawing.
I suppose this could be another example of making lemonade from your lemons, huh?
Anyway, here is a two page Moleskine spread that I started when we backed out of the driveway
headed to Charleston.
I drew some of it while watching a Citadel baseball game
and completed it on the drive home.
This one was done completely on the drive home - notice the jiggly (meaning jumpy) lines.

There is a detour on 385 North going towards Greenville right now due to construction.

You have to go through a little town called Laurens and some really bumpy back roads.

They provided the opportunity for the nifty jiggly lines on the drawing that I could not have obtained any other way.

My friend Liz Kettle (over at Textile Evolution) was in Charleston this weekend as well.

So we all (her family and my husband) got together

and went kayaking in the Charleston Harbor on Saturday.

We had a blast!

If you're ever in Charleston and want to kayak (with or without a guide)

go here - Coastal Expeditions.

These folks are great! And reasonably priced also.

Art Revisited

Here is a drawing/painting that I did last year.
Even though she is a product of my imagination,
she really looks like a friend of my son's.
Isn't that funny?
Maybe I had her on my mind when I painted this lovely girl...
So maybe I should call this one

"Kaitlyn"

Natures Timeline

No matter how important we think our lives are, nature moves in her own time.
I took these photos of some of the flowers in our yard a couple of weeks ago but haven't been able to post them until today.
Busy, busy, busy.
This is our "side hill" flower bed. It's a mix of this and that.
A true flower lovers garden, always in progress.
Moving this, adding that, throwing this away, sharing this...

Here's the front of the same bed. Lovely thrift and phlox blooming like crazy for two or three weeks.

This is a bed in our front yard - I love the way that the flowers are hanging over the side of the old bricks that we edged the bed with. Later we will have purple and white coneflowers (to feed the goldfinches with), Stellas blooming all summer, volunteer vincas and yellow marigolds. Maybe two or three other flowers thrown in the mix...it's always such a surprise as to what pops up here in the front bed.

I have a topiary that I made from an ivy vine on my side porch. I usually keep it trimmed quite tight but here lately I haven't wanted to disturb the family living inside of it...

A precious little mama bird picked our topiary for a secluded little bungalow for her new babies!

Can you see their shiny eyes inside?
It took mama bird a while to get used to us coming and going - as the topiary is right beside the side door.
She will sit tight now as we brush past - running in and out of the house as we try to make sense of our hectic life.

Remember to flex your creative muscles!

I'm getting ready for the "Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts" class on May 4 in Seneca.

The Lake and Mountain Quilt Guild is hosting this class. I'm really looking forward to helping a room full of quilters pull their scraps, fragments and artifacts together to make an awesome piece of artwork!

Bodacious Backgrounds

Today was the Artist Paper class at Random Arts Studio.
We were busy having So much fun with painting, stamping, scraping,
spritzing, dabbing, stenciling, masking, mono printing,
writing in paint, collaging, and just plain
Having Fun that no one took photos!
Can you believe that?! I'll email everyone and see if they will send pictures of their papers.
It was really a fun, fun class!
Thanks to all of you ladies that traveled to Jane's studio for the class.
I'm going to get to work on a book making class for all of those yummy papers that you've painted!

How Time Flies

I haven't posted since last Tuesday or Wednesday.
I have mostly been at the hospital with a beloved family member. She getting better but could you send up a prayer or two for her? I sure do appreciate it.
Yesterday I did take a break and headed up the "Big Hill" to Weaverville NC.
I know that you have read about the fiber group I am a member of...I love this group!
They continue to impress me with their skills and their willingness to share them.
I didn't take any pictures but I'll refer you to Judy's and Mary's blog. They have lots of photos.
We went to Patsy Thompson's house (yep, That Patsy!) for a day of learning, laughing and food. Maybe a little Pumpkin beer thrown in the mix too...
gotta love those Renegade Fiber Freaks! (I really think we should change our name ladies...)
I'll try my best to do a "real" post soon. In the mean time I sure do hope that all of you are continuing to flex your creative muscles!

Painted Art Papers

Here's a couple of art papers that I painted, stamped, masked, added to, took away from and just generally enjoyed adding color and texture to.
I'm going to be teaching a class at Random Arts Studio on April 23.
It's going to be a lot of fun! We'll be learning about different types of paper and how the weight of the paper effects what you can do to it and on it.
We will learn about what types of paint work best on painting art papers.
We'll use stencils and masks.
Baby wipes, alcohol (maybe drink some wine too!) and all sorts of different "found items"
to add texture, shape and movement to our papers.
Run on over to Jane's web site and sign up or call this number (828/699-2210) to reserve your spot.
There's only room for about 12 bodies and all our stuff so sign up before it fills!
I'd like to teach a class later this year to make a journal with the papers that we paint.
Wouldn't that be fun?
Maybe we can invite Betsy to give us a journaling prompt at the class.
hint...hint...

Sketch Book

I was away from home this weekend...
following my husband around in the mountains.
I did do some sketching,
some embroidery and some book making.
I completed the sewing of the signatures in a book that I am making.
I used 300 pound watercolor paper for my pages.
Instead of sewing on linen tape, I used leather tapes instead.
I really love book making.

Really.

I have a couple of finishing touches and then I'll post pictures of the finished book.
This isn't the book that I was talking about, the "DJ Book"
but another one that I am making.
I posted photos of the painted pages a while back.
This one has blank pages that I have painted and no other inserts (at this point...).

Here's a scan of the sketching that I was doing.
My inspiration was a journal page that I did. It all began with a simple poppy seed head sketch...
you can see that it certainly didn't stop there,
now did it?

More Signature Wrap Art

Well, I finished the main signature wrap for my mixed media book.
The photos are out of order
but I think that you can figure out by the background fabric
what is the outside and what's the inside.
You won't be able to see the front of the back until the end of the book...
that sounded funny, didn't it?

Anyway, this is the front of the signature wrap. It will be one of the first things
that you will see when you open the book.
I added some beading to the edge, right next to the lace trim.
I love the deep dark red on the fabric I used.
The fabric on the very back is coffee stained light weight muslin.
I found it among my grandmother's doll making bags.
It smelled like my mom's house when I opened the bag.
A wave of memories hit me along with the scent of my mom's house.
The next two scans are of the inside of the wrap. I used post cards from my friend DJ Pettitt to make fiber/paper collages.
I love to repurpose vintage fabrics, linens and clothes for collage work.
Nothing is safe in my studio...
Nothing.


Here is the back of the outside of the wrap. I embroidered the stem and leaves and then added a little crocheted flower that I made. Oh and some beads for a bit of bling.

Working on a Signature Wrap

This is a new signature wrap I'm working on today.
I took a class last year in Alabama from DJ Pettitt...
book making and painting the front of the book was part of the class.
I never finished the book because the image on the front wasn't my drawing.
It was my painting of DJ's drawing.
I wanted it to be MY image...
But it hit me a few days ago that I could use the book here at home -
and as a sample of MY book making skills.
There are a ton of things that I have done to the book
here at home that are MY skills at work!
So I decided to complete it - with a lot of signatures so I can use it here (at home)
where I tend to jot down a plethora of ideas.
I'm going to put it to good use...
and when I take it with me away from home,
I'll be sure to tell everyone that the image belongs to DJ
but the inside of the book is All Mine.
Here's a peek at the signature wrap I started today.
The little card inside the piece of vintage quilt
is a small card that I received from someone last year.
It once contained a small piece of handmade paper shaped like a small flower pot with wild flower seeds embedded in it.
You're supposed to plant them (which we did) and then throw away the card (yikes!).
Who could throw away such a great little card? Not me!
I replaced the pink pot (with the seeds in it) with a red one.
Then I embroidered a red outline around the piece of vintage quilt.
I had to add a sprouting twig of red blossoms beside it...
Which called for a piece of fabric with bold geraniums on it.
And that is just how it happens...one thing leads to another...

Texture

A friend of mine (Hey Patsy!) loaned me her (poor lonely) Embellisher machine to try out.
Can you say "Hooked"?
Some of you that read my blog may not know exactly what an embellisher machine is.
I'll give you a quick run down.
It's set up almost exactly like a sewing machine except there is no thread and no bobbin.
What ?! you say.
The needles (this one has 5 needles where a regular sewing machine only has one - ok, they can have a double needle but..jeez..just stay with me here).
The needles have little bards on the ends of them that, when you run two (or more) pieces of fiber under the machine, pull at the fibers of fiber (especially wool) and mesh them together.
It felts the fibers together.
One thing that you will see a lot in fiber art (or any art FTM) is to work with a photograph of an object.
I love working with a photo of something that has a lot of texture.
Like this rusted plate.
Or the weathered door it's attached to. Or the highly textured surfaces of this topiary that I am working on.
Wow. Look at the texture on this bark.
When I printed the photo out, I could really see all the shades of blue on this tree.
Can you see that when you enlarge the photo?
Nice green color also.

Yesterday I started working in my sketchbook, drawing out the bark.

Today I'll make a study of the colors and begin to add them to my drawing.

I am planning on making a study of bark texture on the embellisher.

In fiber- with a little of this

and a little of that.

Gotta love The Mad Scientist form of creating mixed media fiber art.

More Cotton Love

When I was pregnant with my son, I taught myself to crochet doilies.
I always loved the feel of the cotton thread sliding through my fingers.
I could crochet most things without even looking at my work.
Every time I sat at a doctors appointment, I would carry my crochet bag.
It never failed that someone would say
"My grandma/aunt used to do that."
Like some hand quilters, I fear that crocheting doilies is fast becoming a lost art.
Here's a short preview of some of the doilies that I made years ago.
My eyesight isn't as good as it used to be so I can't manage the teeny tiny thread that I used to use.
But I still love looking at the crocheted lace.

An Old Song

Aw, you know...
"I don't like spiders or SNAKES..."

Seems like Spring has sprung
and so have all God's children...

My husband was (again) working outside
and I heard him exclaim an expletive (wasn't that a nice way to word that?!)
I ran out to see what was the matter
and this little thing had jumped out at him.

It might be small but it definitely had an attitude!
Look at the photos, you can see that it pulled back and mustered up all the strength
that it could to attempt a strike.
Now, I knew it wasn't poisonous but I am just terrified of snakes.

Ask my son.
Every time he brought one home, all I wanted to do was get someone to kill it...
Silly, I know.
And he would not stand for that anyway.

Will - lover of all animals.
He even sat bugs outside when we found them inside.



My guess is this is a baby King Snake...
or a Zebra Snake.
Commonly found in upstate SC.

(EDIT- Just kiddin' about the zebra snake...)

New Class Schedule

I have finally scheduled more classes.
Talk about being Slack...well, we weren't but if we were,
I'd be the topic of that particular conversation.
My (awesome) friend Jane (Powell as in Random Arts Jane) has got her new studio space up and running!
I am SO excited about this!
I went to visit her last week and let me tell you...
what an awesome space it is! She has huge work tables
and even bigger sinks.
Really, really nice space.
I've scheduled two classes there.
One is a class that I had been asked to teach last year and just never got around to it.
It's a class on painted backgrounds. I'll do another blog post with some links to photos of backgrounds that I've posted before...I'll try to get them all in one place!
Join me at Random Arts Studio for the new "Bodacious Backgrounds" class.

The other class is another "class by request".
"Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts".
Follow the link and you'll be able to read a little about that class as well.
It is really about a journey, someones story...
It's about keepsakes and artifacts.
Heartstrings.
It's all about your heartstrings.

Other Spring Peeps

Well, it's time for Spring Cleaning - at least here in The South (southeast for me).
My husband was working around the yard this week, getting things ready to plant lettuce, cutting the grass, weeding flower beds (I did help a little with that!)...
Spring Cleaning outside.
He called me to the door and had to show me what all he was finding!
If you listen (or read) Judy Simmons, you'll find I do like bugs.
Not spiders though.
Not even dead spiders.
Yuck.
That bears repeating.
YUCK!
My husband found about 7 of these beauties...Very much alive.

Yep.
Black Widows.
If you look closely, you can see the small speck of red right at her bottom.
This particular one has a body the size of a dime.
That's just her body! If you include her legs, she was about the size of a freaking quarter!
And he said that wasn't even the biggest one!

So, while you're doing all your Spring Cleaning,

do remember that all the other creatures are coming out too...

Early Spring Peeps

This week was one of my regular "Peep Meets"...
meaning that I had the Immense Pleasure of spending some time with my Fiber Junkie Friends (you know, my Peeps!).
These ladies never cease to amaze me!
Nancy has been absent from the last two or three meetings but returned in full force that day.
She brought several pieces of her felted work.

My photos DO NOT do her work justice but I'll show you anyway.
The vessels and 3D work are amazing! The sides are so thick and solid.
Love these tassels.

This cuff is heavily beaded. I'd love to have a blue one (like indigo blue).
If you're reading this Nancy - just saying...

Look at this awesome mask! Again, you would not believe how thick this piece of work is.

This mask is one of my favorite pieces. I adore the colors and the combination of the felting and the hand stitching.
See the small dimensional flower to the left side of the vessel? Nancy is going to teach us how to make one of those. If you look closely, there is a small crocheted flower in the center of the flower.

I'm going to crochet one of these for everyone to use on their flower.

Our newest member, Val, is an awesome screen printer.

I can't wait until warmer weather as we're going to learn that too! I am totally excited about this. Since I draw a lot, I'll be able to use my own prints in my art fabric.

And Val hand dyed her fabric also. I love the organic look of it.

I think I'll put that technique on my "Wish List" too.

This is the beginning of a piece of art cloth. She will add more images and colors to this piece as time goes on.

Love, love, love this.
This little birdie got out of order in the grand scheme of things...

I think I'll leave him here so you can enlarge the photo and see the beading work.

What an awesome way to keep track of your scissors!

I'll just bet if you go to Judy Simmons and Mary Stori's blog, you'll find more photo's.

I did the demo for the meeting.

This month we covered Stamp Carving.

I didn't get any photos of this but everyone did a great job.

It was a ton of fun!