28 Days has February...

Yay, another day off of work – hopefully this will continue to be a weekly occurrence! I am so enjoying being able to do stuff apart from work and household chores!

Last Monday I bought some bits and pieces of patchwork fabric and also some op shop finds- vintage doileys and linen mostly! I started 2 new pieces over the weekend using some of my new treasures – another Tree of Life - similar to the one I completed during Jude Hill’s workshop and another featuring a Sacred Heart or Flaming Heart which is a symbol that I have had in my head for a few weeks now....

February Tree of Life

WIP

Hand Pieced background (commercial cotton and vintage linen)

and appliqued tree (hand dyed vintage cotton)

I'm just loving the red of my tacking stitches against these colours so once the tree is appliqued down I think I'll be adding red leaves or other detailing to this piece..........

Flaming Heart

WIP

Vintage Embroidery on Linen and Silk Heart Applique

Don't these embroidered tiger lillies (from a vintage doiley I’ve cut up) make the most perfect flames? I'll be adding a lot more embellishment yet (maybe even beads!); and will keep posting updates!

I'll be making 2 round trips into town tonight to drop and pick up kids for their high school 'disco'!! The theme is HORROR - so some fun face painting coming up!!!!!

....of Strawberries and Cream...and Amore!

Another wonderful weekend…. Except for the heat! We had a storm come through and some welcome drops of rain early this evening but it is still warm… sleeping will be a little easier tonight though.

My Hanging Hearts have been selling well at the gallery and I’m so pleased I made the time to make another this afternoon. I’m still really enjoying these!

Strawberries and Cream

Hanging Heart

This one is made from a beautiful vintage embroidered linen cloth. I think it is crewel embroidery and the strawberries are absolutely beautifully done. The cream lace was gifted to me from a new artist friend (Hi Lynda and Thank You!) I added a few vintage buttons; some hand dyed silk organza held down with Running Stitch and just a few French Knots and Cross Stitches.

Strawberries and Cream - Detail

I really enjoy upcycling these vintage finds!

I'll leave you tonight with a couple of images of corners of our house! These are from our bedroom. The top photo is a closer representation of the colour of the walls we painted a few months ago. It is such a fabulous colour! It glows golden in the morning sunlight and is deep in the corners and shadows. I love waking up in this room! It is blissful!

Peony Roses would have to be my favourite flower- although I think I love them all. I also love oriental ceramics and I collect Fu Dogs (Temple dogs) There's a couple hiding in the greenery on this little pine table.....

Goodnight all.... and wishing you all a happy and creative week!

What a weekend!

What a great weekend! I feel like I have achieved sooooo much. Don’t you love days like that? Firstly I didn’t have to work Saturday morning which was wonderful in itself! I got up early and cleaned toilets and the bathroom, did washing and ironing, covered the rest of Rose and Mack's school books (they are back to school this week and my baby Mack starts high school tomorrow!); normally these are all things which I detest! I don’t know what’s got into me but I actually really enjoyed myself!

Hand-Painted Sign

I finally painted one of the double signs (A-frame) that I was supposed to finish for a friend a little while ago and today I did the 80km round trip into town to buy groceries as there wasn’t much food left in the cupboard or fridge!

I made a baked berry cheesecake (YUUUUUMMMMMM!) and a roast leg of lamb for dinner tonight. Gee, I even washed some blankets which have been hanging around in the bottom of the clothes hamper…. and it was hot enough today that they were nearly dry as soon as I had hung them!

I also had a bit of a play around with this skirt which used to be a favourite until I was silly enough to wear it whilst cleaning the bottom of the shower one day. There was a horrid bleach mark on the bottom which meant I haven’t been able to wear it since; but I've had the inspiration to resurrect it!

Today I decided to try and embellish it a little by stamping household bleach on to the hem area with a cork- disguising the original bleach mark. I allowed it time to discharge and then washed it. Viola!

I think it would be wearable now but I am inspired by this piece of lace I picked up in Queensland late last year and want to somehow turn these dots into flowers.

Isn’t this lace just divine?

Off to watch some telly with the Hubble; I'm mending a favourite, favourite, favourite pair of khaki cargo pants using Jude Hill's invisible basting method. I think she refered to it as stitching that glues fabric layers together and that is exactly what it feels like. Jude's blog Spiritcloth is here for those of you who don't know her work yet. She holds online classes; 2 of which I've been privileged to have participated in. I learnt soooo much!

Finishing this post on a high! I feel great that I have done so much! Catch you soon..........

...........of Bush Dancers

Hello there and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my followers, readers, family and friends!

Wow, it's been a little while since I posted here...! I haven't dropped off the face of the earth; I've simply been busy working on and off through the holiday season; alas with not to much to show in the creative department! :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and an inspirational start to 2011! Ideas are still coming thick and fast over here, I'm just finding less time to persue them... I'm planning to get my act together though and eke out some studio time.!

Dear Linda at Edelweiss Gallery, Dungowan has updated my artist's page. It's lovely to have some more recent photos on there. She also kindly included a photo of my most recent addition to the gallery on the Edelweiss Gallery blog! It is a soft pastel painting titled 'Bush Dancers' and I completed it during 2010. (and blogged about it here.) It is now framed in a gorgeous wide but simple gold frame with a triple mat....

I'll be back soon...! Promise!

Her Heart - and another!

I made a couple more heart hangers over the weekend! I'm definitely addicted -for the moment anyway!

'' Hers'

This one is made of a rusted piece of embroidered linen. I added a little more embroidery, a chiffon rose and some beads I found in my stash that look a little like seed pods or shells of some sort.

Jacobean Heart

The Jacobean Heart is made from an old printed serviette that my SIL gifted me earlier in the year (they had been left in a cupboard in a house she bought!) I added running stitch embroidery, a piece of whitework with some french knots, a Tim Holtz bird stamp and some lovely mother of pearl buttons. The back is plain white; cut from the same serviette.

If I get time today, I hope to add them to my etsy store which has been sitting unused for a while!

...a pair of hearts

I finished the last of the heart hangers in time to drop them off at the gallery on my way to work yesterday. Phew! It's been great to work to a deadline - makes me a little more focused!

Hope and Faith Heart Hangers

These were also made from fabric I painted and then stamped for Alisa Burke's Whimsical Women workshop. I stamped the gothic window stamp I recently carved onto rusted paper and machine stitched them onto the front of the hearts before joining. I love Alisa's 'Grafitti Style' and the black stitching really emphasises it! I added a chiffon rose, text and lazy daisy flowers. The copper stamped flowers are glaring a little in this early morning sunshine lit photo...

Off to do some more gardening! - weeding.... they are out of control after all the rain we've had!

Joy, Love and Bliss............

A really quick post before I leave for work............

The next batch of hearts are finished!

Bliss, Love and Joy

I have 2 more to do to get to the gallery on Friday... These have been such fun to make.

a Haggle of Hearts

I’ve made some sweet little heart hangers (maybe Christmas tree hangers) for the local gallery (Edelweiss Gallery). I had a mini production line going...

These three are finished and are made from the same base fabric

...a haggle of hearts.

3 finished; 2 needing hangers and further embellishment

Left: this one incoroporates some rust dyed paper

and the stamp I made last week

Right: I added further stamping to this fabric and incorporated

a piece of torn vintage doily

I used a mix of the hand painted/printed fabric I made for the online whimsical women workshop I did with Alisa Burke (to which I added more stamping!); vintage doily, commercial and hand dyed fabric and even a small piece of rusted paper!

I loved Alisa's grafitti style so much that I construced these hearts the same way as the art doll I learnt to make, with the seams on the outside!

I’ve embellished the finished ones with a some embroidery; a little chiffon rose; and a vintage button then added a wire hanger. I have 3 more cut out.... I'm on a roll.... (back to work tomorrow!)

Sold!

I sold another of my paintings at work today! Yay! That will help pay for some of the framing I've recently had done!

This one is acrylic on stretched canvas and was painted a couple of years ago.

' Tree of Life - Fragment'

Sorry about the poor resolution photo. I lost the better ones when the computer had a glitch a year or so ago. Note to self - take some more photos of older works!

Hope you all have a fabulous and creative weekend.....

Carving and Dyeing....

Results of today’s dye pot:

A small batch of Brown Onion Skin and Dark Red Rose Petals with iron added after taking out the silk. These will blend nicely with some others I have dyed......... The small square cloth at bottom left is a hand stitched serviette. I love recycling old household textiles!

I carved a couple of stamps- a wee bird and a goldfish that has been drawn for some time! Oh, and a little gothic window…….

I also printed the gothic window onto fabric but forgot to take a photo...

I've had a fun studio day and managed to have an enjoyable lunch and chat at friend's.

Back to work tomorrow......

Hope to be back soon....

of Holidays and Progress..........

Just a quick post....

Hopefully I'll get back and add some more bits and pieces tonight; but for now just some progress on Teapot and Pears..... I've been adding some glazes. I've still got a way to go.

A little something I did one night when Hubble and I were staying at Sanctuary Cove a few weeks ago. I packed a few art materials and thankfully had my watercolour pencils and a brush! This is on postcard size watercolour paper.

Abstract Landscape- postcard size

Pen and Wash on watercolour paper

Not so sure about this one! A little fertility figure...

Later.....

Fun in the Studio....!

At last! Here I am with some studio time... I've done dishes and washing and housework-YUK (the rest can wait now!)

Still Life SetUp in Studio

I’m going to paint 2 still life’s in a similar style to “Succulent in Terracotta”- (See pic in the bar at right.) Linda at Edelweiss Gallery has asked me to do a couple and given me some rough guidelines as to what her customer wants. I found a couple of old paintings which I've gessoed over. Some of the textural paint of the original paintings showed through so I used modelling compound to add an even more textured base. It dries a milky white colour so I overpainted that layer with a mix of 2 reds which I'm keen to try out as underpainting!

I’ve been inspired by the work of Katie Trinkle Legge who’s work I saw recently in the Monmo Gallery just north of Auckland NZ. Hers are oils and I noticed taht she used red underpainting. Her sense of colour and light is just fantastic. I would happily hang these in my home!! Wish I could paint like that!

Here are some shots of the progress of the first one!

Textured Red UnderPainting. Basic shapes marked out with pastel pencil and initial blocking out of areas.

Adding a bit of shading.

Adding some base colour

I'm going to use mostly glazes to change colours/shading and then add some finer detail last. Fingers crossed this works out!