ATCs From a Friend

I want to share some wonderful ATCs made by my dear friend, Elaine.

I was so thrilled when they arrived in my mailbox!

I love the way Elaine combines silhouettes with color,

and creates such natural scenes.

Having two cats, I can identify with their antics

in the first three images! And I imagine the lady in the fourth one asking,

"what do you think of this combination?" 

Elaine is the mother of my friend Karen, another talented artist,

who shows more of Elaine's ATCs on her blog, Sew and Sow Life.

Thank you, Elaine, for the small treasures!

Meanwhile, I've been busy making art this month and I'll 

post some of my projects soon.

Hope you're having a terrific weekend!!

Carolyn

A new character in my series -

this time taken from real life!

Carolyn is my neighbor.

She loves her family and her dog Pedro,

and gardening in her back yard.

She calls the home she shares with her husband

"The Nest",

and their Mini Lite camper, with a newly

added screen porch,

situated in a wooded camp ground,

 is a happy escape for the members of her family.

She is a nature lover,

and enjoys her flowers

and home grown vegetables.

Her laughter rings out like

the soft wind chimes that hang from her house,

and she is a comfort

to all who know her.

Cast of Characters - Gina

GINA

Gina is a single mom who lives on 

one side of a two family home with her 

little girls, Carly and Angie.

On the other side live her mother and dad.

She works two jobs to keep her girls

happy with the toys and clothes they love,  

and while she works, her mom babysits.

Gina knows that she is lucky, despite the 

disappointment of a loser husband who 

walked out on her and his beautiful girls.

Every Sunday, she looks forward to dinner 

 at her mom's lace-covered dining room table,

with her girls, her brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews.

She loves the nearly ceremonial meal of pasta and gravy,

and the laughter, warmth and security 

of family.

Gina dances and plays with her girls.
They love having their nails painted and 
trying on mom's jewelry. 
One day she will find a new love,
but for now her life is full
and she feels blessed.

Elizabeth

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth is the favorite nurse 

of the residents of Shady Elms Nursing Home.

When they see her, they think of 

springtime and daisies 

and Doris Day.

Her voice has a lilt

and her sense of humor brightens the

dull routine of the residents' lives. 

She is their advocate and treats them all 

with humor, care and respect,

 and because of these things

  she is greatly loved.

Sad to say, Elizabeth

does not love herself.

She hates what she considers her full cheeks
 and her plump figure,

and the freckles that sprinkle over her nose.

She compares herself to models and movie stars

and wishes that she could be someone else.

She has no idea how she lights up a room,

and how beauty shines out through

her wholesome face.

And so she dreams of a diet or face cream
or some other miracle

that will make her as beautiful

as, everyone knows,
 she already,

truly,

is.

Felting, Continued...

On Friday I did some wet felting and came up with this colorful piece!

I thought the felt was very thin, so I decided to build it up a bit today.

I had this skein of felting wool in my stash, so I pulled it out and cut

a few sections of color off. 

 I teased the strands apart and arranged them on top of the original piece.

This was my result after wet felting - soaping, agitating and rinsing. 

When it fully dries, I look forward to cutting it up 

and adding beads and other elements.

This is a very loose process with no rights or wrongs -

a very freeing exercise for me. Love it!!!

Hope you've had a terrific weekend!!

A Completed Project

I'm finally able to post a photo of this appliquéd picture

which I finished recently for someone who is very dear to me.

It is a project I have worked on for many years, due both to its complexity

and to my own procrastination. I'm so happy to have completed it and sent it to its owner.

I do very few house/building portraits these days, but this one has

a special meaning for its owner, and I was happy be able to do it.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

A Bit of Wet Felting

Today was an extremely wet and gloomy day, but I had a project in mind

to lift the gloom! My friend Andrea has been working on some beautiful

wet felting experiments and has inspired me to do the same.

I have a large stash of wool roving in many colors, but have so far

used it only for needle felting. Today I wanted to try wet felting.

I decided to do a small piece, and I started with a shallow tray, lined 

with bubble wrap. I pulled out strands of the roving and arranged and

layered them on the bubble wrap. It felt like I was making lasagna!

I kept my design simple and used only three colors, 

criss-crossing some colors over the others.

I then covered the roving with some lightweight screening material.

Next time I do this I'll use tulle or nylon curtain fabric.

I sprinkled a little soapy water over the screening.

I used a couple of DIY tools to bond the layers. One was a wood 

foot massager I had on hand, the other a disc of wood from the craft

store, with flat-backed glass marbles hot-glued on.

The second tool worked best, and I rubbed it over the surface for about 

ten minutes, checking once in a while to see whether the wool was felting.

Finally, I removed the screening and the bubble wrap, 

rinsed it and laid it out on a towel.

I then made a second, smaller landscape background in the same way

My next felted pieces will probably be thicker, but for now I'm happy.

I'd like to add beading and embroidery to these. We'll see what develops!!

I'll end by saying, to my American friends, 

Happy Independence Day!!

And to all readers who have stopped by today,

Thank You for Visiting!!

A New Character

HELEN

Everyone knows that Helen is the cornerstone of her

neighborhood. She will pick up your children from 

school, feed your pets when you are away, console

you when you are overwhelmed, and bring you a

casserole when you are in need.

She loves vintage clothes and often refashions them

into rather odd outfits, but nobody cares. They seem

to suit her perfectly. She hums when she works, and

and sings slightly off-key. 

Her cheerfulness is contagious.

In spite of her kind heart, everybody knows

not to bother Helen on Wednesday nights.

For that is when she meets with Zeke, Ted,

Sal, Hank and Louie

in the back of Zeke's Auto Body Shop.

There they play a few hands of poker.

And she usually wins.

An Artful Month

I'm half jokingly calling this month my Summer Art Retreat. I think summer is beautiful, but heat and humidity drain my energy in a big way. Since my home is air conditioned and I have a light filled porch to work in, I've decided to stay indoors as much as possible and do what I love to do - make art!

Today I spread out my papers, scissors, paints, markers, etc. and began working on my much neglected "fictional characters" which I'm now dubbing my "Cast of Characters". If you're not familiar with them, you can find some here. I'm trying to find a way of depicting them that is both whimsical and not too difficult to execute. I love making up little stories about them and I've always loved drawing faces, so they are a good fit for me.

I love doing cut paper, but today taught me that cutting out this many leaves is way too time consuming! The floating heads are some ladies I'm working on - there are many heads floating around my house!

When I went out to get the mail, I saw that my hydrangeas are starting to bloom and I cut just one.

It looks so pretty beside my Dedham Pottery cat!

I've had a wonderful day and hope you have, too!

Thanks for visiting!!