Take Joy!

Art Quilts

Not mine . . . these are made by Jane Burch Cochran, and they're some of the most gorgeous things I've seen in a long time. Go and look, and see if they aren't.

Anna's Collage

This is a collage I made for my mother to give my niece Anna—she used to take ballet when she was younger. She's 21 now, and has other priorities, but she really enjoyed dancing, and Mom gave me a handful of photographs she'd saved and asked me to make a collage for her Christmas gift. This is it—it's not a great picture, because I took this one after I'd put several coats of gel medium but before I added a coat of Dorland's wax to tone down the shine. (The reason for that being I couldn't find the Dorland's wax and thought I'd finished . . . )

The background is acrylic paint in various shades of red and pink sponged on, then overlaid with Lumiere Halo Pink Gold (painted on, then wiped off, then sponged on some more). The rest is oddments of German scrap, some goldtone ballerina charms, a few odd flower beads . . .

I'm taking it over this weekend sometime. I hope Mom likes what I've done. (This is why I hate doing commission work; I never know whether what I see will suffice or not.)

At least that's one thing finished. I'm working on flannel pajamas and nightgowns this evening, trying to finish them up so I can spend next week making doll clothes. And Madalyn's overalls and jacket. And finishing up her afghan, which I have successfully put off sewing together since, oh, July, I think. And possibly a pink and blue plaid pig for Riley.

Not to mention the 25 little loaves of fruit bread that must be delivered on Monday, and for which I have already been paid . . . and the fruit tray and cookies for John's family's Christmas party on Saturday . . .

No, I'm not planning to sleep between now and Christmas—whyever do you ask?

Infusion of Color Swap

Teresa's page—her chosen colors were tangerine and raspberry.

The magazine clippings (well, most of them) are from a 1940 Ladies' Home Journal Sunkist ad. I added a couple of touches . . .

Gwynn's page—her colors are cream to sepia.

The trim on the left side is vintage lace and buttons and a bit of silk ribbon.

(And they are really nice even 8-1/2 x 11 rectangles. My scanner is buried under a pile of stuff while John's cleaning his corner, so I just photographed them. Badly.)

Ten more pages to go . . .

Nesting

My page for the Nesting fatbook.

Something Finished, At Last . . .

This is my piece for the May Mingle at An Affair With Art. The theme was polka dots . . . and I had these bits and pieces lying around, and a 4x4 gallery wrapped canvas, and some paint samples and a paper punch . . .

Heavy Metal

My page for Kim Nugent's Heavy Metal fatbook. The lock and key came from Artchix; the background is metallic Brilliance inks, and the little piece of metallic stuff in the corner is Etal from Joggles.

Journal Pages

These are my pages in Antje's Goddess journal, over at 1001 Journals. These aren't terribly good, for my scanner is being cranky so I was forced to photograph them instead. But you can get the general idea, I hope.

Beneath the Veneer

An ATC I made for the April Mingle at An Affair With Art, an online art group I'm a member of. Scan of an old painting, roses from an heirloom roses catalog, vintage sequins, and the background is just sponged on orange and brown inks, edged with a krylon pen.

Some Art, Finally . . .

I've been way too busy to create anything much this week . . . I couldn't tell you what I've been doing, for I see no evidence of anything out of the ordinary (well, the floors are clean, and that's not usual, and I did clean the kitchen ceiling fan, but I don't notice anything that would have taken up several days), but I have apparently been doing something besides making things.

These are ATCs for a Dreaming Tree ATC Book over at Fatbooks.  I did the backgrounds on 120-pound cardstock, because I had lots of it. (Now that I consider, watercolor paper would have been really good, too; the stamped tree would have had a nice aged look. Next time, perhaps.) They're Nick Bantock inks—damson plum and vermillion lacquer—sponged on with a pottery sponge; then I added chrome yellow sponged through a piece of sequin waste.

After that, I stamped the tree (stamp is from All Night Media, I think; it's one I've had for a couple of years, and it's very handy for one thing and another) with coffee bean Brilliance ink. I thought about embossing it, but I was doing multiples, and I'm lazy . . . (again, next time)

After everything was dry, I sprayed them with gold webbing spray, edged them with a Krylon gold leafing pen, and added the heart brads from Artchix.

And, since I am apparently unable to count, I have extras . . . so if anyone would like to trade, just let me know.

Boreas, the North Wind

This is a small hanging (7 1/2" tall, plus the dangling fibers) made for the March Any-Media Challenge at LikeMinded Threads. The challenge was to represent one of the elements; this is Boreas, the North Wind. The face is unglazed clay; I acquired it somewhere a few years ago, began this piece and got stuck, so there it sat until last week. There are assorted beads, some little metal stars, a piece of trim with rhinestones on it, odds and ends of metal findings, and fibers . . . and a stick from the yard.