Building Landscapes

Fall shows are coming up and I'm working away at getting some new work done before deadlines loom too ominously! Right now I'm working on stitched landscapes, including this one with a lacy tree.

I took a few types of lace and painted them with acrylic paint, then cut out motifs and pinned them in place - a long process. I'll run over all of the lace pieces with a loose machine stitch in a color which I hope will more or less disappear. You can see a bit of the trunk in the next photo and the fact that it is made from many strips of different colored fabrics. All in all, this is a very labor intensive piece and, so far, I'm not in love with it. Hopefully, adding more contrasting colors will make it come alive.

I usually set up my landscapes by pinning fabrics to a piece of foam core. The fabrics are culled from the numerous disorganized boxes of fabric which are piled in my studio, which is right now more of a storage room.  My dream is an organized, peaceful studio - will it ever happen? Not at the moment, that's for sure, as I have too much on my plate to attack it. Maybe I'll give myself a Christmas gift of hiring a helper/organizer to do it with me in the winter months. Anyone interested?

The above piece is shaping up. I'm picturing some strong tree shapes in silhouette. I'll cut some out and see how they look. Hanging below the landscape is some great wool embroidery thread I'll probably incorporate also.

And, of course, as I work on the porch, Rosie is curled up near my feet. When we had our porch rebuilt years ago, we actually chose extra windows near the floor for our cats' viewing pleasure.  The things we do for our furry friends!

And, if you should remember the new blog header I was so excited about making awhile ago - it's still in process. I'm just a little bit scattered lately but it will get done eventually.

I hope that everyone who reads this is having a fabulous week. 

Enjoy these last days of August!

Scenes from Monday...

It is a beautiful, breezy late summer Monday afternoon and I am sitting on my porch, drawing pictures of my new blog header which I will post soon. Life is good.

Wishing you a happy week to come!

A Letter to My Blog...

I'm working on a new blog design. 

Please come back and visit me next week.

Have a great weekend!

Summer Stitching

Hello Friends,

I want to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post, as well as those who emailed me. I asked for support and really appreciate the caring messages you sent me. The situation with my sister is still difficult, but I'm learning to deal with it more calmly.

It's hard to believe that we've passed the halfway point in the year. Summer is in full bloom here and today is our hottest day yet. Our day lilies are providing quite a show, but our hydrangea bushes have no buds at all. Sometimes they take a summer off and we get no blossoms. I miss that beautiful blue, but remain hopeful that they'll bloom later in the summer.

So here is a bit of what I've been up to creatively. I found this embroidery pattern on Pinterest and love the birds and flowers. This picture was taken when I began embroidering, but it is more than half finished now. I'm loving the meditativeness of hand stitching on my porch, and it's also fun when done in a group, accompanied by good conversation and laughter!

I began this owl in a class called "Stitch Yourself Happy", using a pattern provided by Amy, our instructor and also a good friend. I started out with a scallop design in the wings, then changed my mind, ripped out the stitches, and began randomly filling in with long stitches of different shades of brown and tan. I'm planning to square this off and put a plaid border on it. I'll share it when I do.

Here's the finished embroidery. 

A friend in the class chose the same pattern and we enjoyed comparing our different approaches!

And I've begun a new picture, which I'm working out in my head. It will involve flowers, beads and embroidery, and I hope to share it soon. Here's a little preview!

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful month, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. I'm looking forward to catching up on blogs to see what you've been up to!! I'd love you to leave a comment here, if just to say hello.

                           

Here's wishing you a very good week.

Judy xo

Spring Art Show

I'm just back from a getaway vacation with my husband. It was a lovely, relaxing time, and came right on the heels of the art show I was part of. The show was a great event - here are a few photos.

Above is a picture of my table and below are photos of some work by other artists in our Collaborative.

Pam Perras

Joy Schilling

Ellie Freedman

Doug Henning

And, finally, this is a landscape I completed for the show, which I haven't  yet shared on my blog.

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring, wherever you are!

I'll be back soon to share a new project…

Thanks for visiting!

Getting Ready

As I sit here in my home just north of Boston, snow is falling steadily and it is extremely cold. Luckily, I have plenty to do inside, getting ready for a collaborative art exhibit later this week. I just wanted to share a couple of the pieces I've been working on.

This piece is made with fabric, both hand painted and commercial. The banks of flowers are painted pieces of Warm and Natural batting and I've added some fiber embellishments as well as hand embroidery. Lots of hours invested in this and it's satisfying to finally mat and possibly frame it!

Another landscape in process, now completed. Again, lots of embellishments - laces, netting, yarn, hand embroidery. Already matted and ready to be shrink wrapped.

I have a couple more to be finished - ready a few days ahead of time!! A good feeling!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Smiles,

Judy

In Creative Mode

I feel like I've been an absentee blogger lately. My head is full of concerns for a family member and preparations for a trip which is coming up soon. On top of that, our arts collaborative is having a show next week, so I am in full creative mode!
This is how I get ready for something like this - I have a large trifold piece of foam board that I tape to the front of our dining room hutch, out of the way of nosy cats. I then lay out possible landscapes, using all of the hand painted and dyed, as well as commercial fabrics that I have in my stash. I had actually spent some time last week painting fabrics with acrylic paint thinned with fabric medium, as well as painting lace with this mixture.

 On the piece below, I used acrylic paint on Warm and Natural batting for the textured pink and purple flower fields - just trying out all sorts of things.

The piece below has a beautiful sky, fabric I purchased somewhere along the line. I think I overpainted the purple on a piece of green commercial fabric for the mid ground and the foreground is felted wool. I'm auditioning some gauze which I may use for flowers in the front.

Today I'm cutting out some little houses to plant in these landscapes to, hopefully, make them more interesting. Then stitching and matting and I'm done! I'll share the final results.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I know it's hard to follow a blog with big gaps between the posts, and I appreciate your  visit! I hope to blog more frequently in the future.

Hope everyone had a great Easter holiday!!

Smiles, 

Judy