A Couple of Things...

Hello friends.

I hope you're doing well during this busy season!

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I just wanted to share a couple of things I've completed recently.

I made this flag for a local business. It took 12 hours to cut, fuse and sew it, 

(It is two sided) and the experience taught me that, although I've done flags in the past,

 I no longer want to do this kind of work. A lot of concentrated work!

 But I was glad that it came out well.

I also finished this little embroidery.

My friend Barbara had given me some pieces of her beautiful Liberty 

of London fabrics, so I made this little girl (with a L of L jumper) for her.

I used colored pencils in addition to hand embroidery. A little cutie!

And last weekend my husband and I went to an open studio event where

we purchased this beautiful stained glass art from an artist friend, Joanne Jolly-Kay. 

We hung it in our front window as soon as we got home and it's such a pleasure to

see it every morning when we get up. Love it!

Finally, I got a kick out of our cat Rosie tonight. I was watching the movie 

"Winged Migration" when Rosie suddenly plopped herself down in front of

the TV and watched with great attention for twenty minutes! I think the sounds

of the birds caught her attention, then the motion of their flight pulled her in.

I hope that everyone who reads this is having a lovely

holiday season, not too stressful and including some time spent with friends.

I'm looking forward to a Christmas party tomorrow night with my 

Arts Collaborative friends and colleagues!!

See you soon!!!

An Exhibit and A Reception

Since my last blog post, I've been working constantly on fabric pictures for an exhibit at the wonderful Create Artisan Studio, where I frequently take classes. I knew that I wanted to concentrate on faces, which I love to draw, and that evolved into the idea of adding little stories to them and calling the exhibit "Narrative Portraits". I then decided to focus on women, and they became "Empowered Women" - a lot to live up to!

Here are my ladies:

 

…and, finally, this is my depiction of my wonderful daughter:

The reception for the show was so heartwarming - a lovely turnout of old and new friends - more than I ever expected. Here are some photos:

And, finally, me with my supportive husband, Bill! Couldn't have done it without him!

It was so good to work so hard toward a goal and have such a satisfying result. I'm very grateful to have had this terrific opportunity!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Smiles...

   Judy

An Upcoming Show

I've been working on some fiber artwork for an event, which is coming all too soon!

I finished up these two pieces, which were also in a recent show for our Arts Collaborative...

"Anne"  machine stitching, applique, colored pencil

"Meditation"  fiber, painted fabric, needle felting, hand embroidery, natural fibers

and I even had them professionally framed for the upcoming show!

I have several more pieces in progress and will share them soon,

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Looking Out for Spring

Everyone is talking about Spring, but so far we have just a few shoots coming up and tree branches are still bare. Happily, we had a warmish, sunny day today and another is predicted for tomorrow. Can't wait for the trees to sprout some of those first spring green leaves, like the ones depicted in this fabric picture!

I did the picture in two layers, drawing the outlines in the top piece with heavier thread, then appliqueing a bit of lace and using colored pencils for the cats and the lower wall. For the bottom layer, I used normal weight thread to draw the tree and hand embroidered the leaves. The bird was so tiny I just fused it on!

This was an interesting technique, which I'm planning to use again, but next time I want to try coloring with smudgy pastel chalks. I think that would be a rich contrast with the crisp thread outlines.

Hope everyone who reads this is enjoying a great weekend!

Holiday Greetings

I wish every person who reads this post, old friend or new, a very happy holiday season!

"Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men."

Enjoy!

Work in Progress

I've been working on this new piece, a combination of applique and machine embroidery. The violets are cut from handpainted fabric, as well as some of the leaves. The underlying leaves are outlined with stitches and 'painted' with watercolor colored pencils.

I have more details to add. Hope to have it finished by Friday!

Very wet and soggy here!!

Looking forward to seeing sun again before the end of June!!

Have a great week!

Judy

Abstract Applique

Just finished up this abstract applique. I've been playing around with shapes and textures, stitching and beading, and it's fun to experiment!

I have another abstract in the works, but after that I'll be moving on to some work with wool and then, more faces in paper and fabric. This is a lark to see my efforts on the internet, receive comments from other artists and to keep the whole artistic process going. 

I feel blessed.

Finished!

I just finished and shipped out this folk art style fabric applique picture of a school in New York. It took nearly 15 hours to complete, between cutting out all the pieces, assembling them and sewing everything down. Believe it or not, I had created this very same picture four times already, probably about ten years ago when I lived in New York! The pictures were commissioned by teachers in the school to give to retiring co-workers.

I was bored to tears to think of exactly duplicating this picture yet another time, so I changed some of the fabrics and the color of the border. Still, it was tedious and I kept telling myself, "Never Again!!"

Now to move on to some of my own designs. It feels good to have this piece finished!!!

(By the way, the border on the picture was straight - it's my photo that's crooked!!)