Landscape Collage

It's a fairly mild day here in New England, with sunny skies and light breezes. I made this little landscape collage this morning for a card for someone special. It combines different papers, fabric, and hand painted cheesecloth and lace. 

I looked around my studio for the most textural bits I could find, and even tore the paper edges instead of cutting them.

It felt good to accomplish something so early in the day!

Hope your day is going well!!!

Saturday Sunshine

I have been meaning to share this wonderful paper pieced, fabric picture since Christmas time, when I received it as a gift from the talented Sharon at sallymomsprouts!! It makes me smile every time I look at this cheery cardinal, and I'm fascinated by the precision with which it is pieced!!

Isn't this the perfect thing to brighten up a dreary February day?

I love it!

Thank you so much, my friend!

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

From My Sketchbook

This is a small fabric "sketch" that I snipped and fused this week, inspired by the yellow print background fabric. The little black dots had me looking for bright colors and prints with "motion" in them.

I glued the finished piece into the sketchbook I recovered last week. There is room underneath the picture for notations and the date. Now this is my idea of a "sketch"! Feels good to be creating again!

Frustrated!!

Honestly, I have been working on some projects and organizing my "stuff" (sewing, art and craft related), but I cannot seem to complete anything! It doesn't help that I've had a cold, feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone during this snowless winter, and feel a bit weighted down by obligations at the moment! This too shall pass, but meanwhile I'm calling a halt to my self-imposed Art Every Day for February! What was I thinking?

That said, I really meant what I wrote in my last post about loving fabric art, but right now I seem to have brain freeze! Hope to have something new to share soon!

 Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week!

For Love of Fabric

I was going through some old journals today and came across something I wrote twelve years ago:

"Someone I work with told me recently that she was so bored on her day off - couldn't find anything interesting to do. I couldn't think of a reply to this statement. I looked at my dining room table, covered with unfinished projects, thought of my sewing room with selections of fabrics set aside for future picture designs, and imagined the time I would spend that evening working on a fabric portrait of a customer's home. I thought of my sewing machine, countless pairs of scissors in different sizes, storage boxes brimming with fabric, my notebooks crammed with picture ideas and magazine clippings, folders filled with drawings, and various containers spilling over with beads, lace, embroidery floss, buttons and ribbons.


Bored?


Suddenly I had a new appreciation for the richness of my creative life. I just can't picture myself  bored as long as I can draw a picture and sew."


I'm happy to say that I still feel the same way. Sometimes I hold back, not from boredom, but rather from fear of not being 'good enough' - whatever that means. But I still have the same love for what I do. Another thing I wrote in the same entry was:

"There's something so appealing about making art with fabric. The texture. The colors. The prints. The punctuation of stitches. The accents of netting and lace."


I must say, I'm inspired by my own enthusiastic words from twelve years ago. So glad I unearthed that journal!

Saturday Night

Tonight I was working on a sketch from a photo of my mom as a young woman. I want to use it in a collage, but, after scanning it, I can see that I have more work to do. I was using a stippling technique and doing it while watching TV. I think I'll add some solid lines when I go back to it.

I also wanted to share some photos of flowers my husband gave me for Valentine's Day. These lilies were combined with red roses and baby's breath, but sadly the roses are already wilting. I separated the lilies to celebrate their beautiful color and graceful shape. 

These flowers lift my heart as the gray winter becomes tiring and I feel myself craving color!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

Matisse inspired Sketchbook

My daughter Kate was home for the weekend, and what a lovely time we had together! Every time she visits, she pares down the belongings she has stashed in our attic a bit, and I seem to inherit a few things. Some are donated or recycled, but this time she found a few pads of art paper and a sketchbook which she didn't want, so I adopted them into my already overflowing stash!

Today I took the sketchbook and customized it a bit, making it a bit more appealing to pick up and use.

I covered the printing on the front with some green print paper.

And on the first page I put a print of a painting by my favorite artist, Henri Matisse, along with a copy of his signature from the internet. Now, just opening the sketchbook will be inspiring!

My creativity level has been a bit low for a month in which I planned to make Art Every Day, but I'm hoping to pick up speed in the second half!

Hope you are having a great week and finding creativity in your world!

Take care!