Moving From Reality to Whimsy

If you've followed my blog, you know that I love to create faces.

I start with an oval or squarish shape and draw, erase, draw, erase, etc,

until I'm satisfied with the outcome. I let the personality and details emerge as they will

and look at the drawing upside down or in a mirror to see if anything is grossly uneven.

And usually I'll let a day or two go by before looking at it again, at which time I can see

more clearly what I want to add, subtract or correct. It's a process!

I apologize for such murky photos, which I edited as best I could, but it is a cloudy day!

I made this sketch recently and finished it today. No one in particular, just an earnest looking girl...

Then I decided to get whimsical and went for a more illustrative look. I like 

this look because it's less serious and I can see her surrounded by flowers and butterflies.

Next I went on to a look I've been playing with lately - this lady has a longer face and

 eyes that reming me of those in paintings by the artist Modigliani. I can see her and her

children in a storybook! 

Here are some of their neighbors - they look like gentle people, don't they?

And all of these remind me of this lady, whom I created a while ago, as well as of my daughter Kate's face, as she is always in the back of my mind!

I think I'm on to something I like! What do you think?

Meanwhile I've been working on a few pictures for our Arts Collaborative's 

Fall show this Thursday night. I'll share them with you soon!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Fabric Applique - Mother Love

Here is a fabric picture I did a few years ago. It is fabric applique edged in machine satin stitch. During that time period, I would never let a raw edge of fabric show in my work! Now many fabric artists work entirely in raw edge applique, and I often do, too.

For those who saw or commented on my last post, I reshot the photo and I think it looks a lot better now!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Paper Cutting - Sunday Best

I've decided to work with "themes" for a while on my blog. Just another way to motivate myself!! For the rest of September, my theme will be "Faces" - something I love to do, and I have many ideas floating around in my head on this subject!!

This little girl is dressed in her Sunday best. She is just a little ATC and she is made with fabric, paper, and marker.

The fabric part is her hair, some random bit of shiny fabric I had, and it was tough to photograph!! Although not that shiny, it produced a terrific glare with the flash! I'm hoping to scan things like this in the near future when I get my scanner working properly. The rest is paper, including the lacy collar and cuffs.