paper on paper

works in progress

yesterday's needle and thread

needle and thread

hand stitching is a meditative practice

needle and thread move up and down

breath moves in and out

thoughts cease spinning

ideas begin to flow

one man's trash

is another man's (woman's) treasure

I found bottle caps on my vaca

it was sad to find as many as I did - and I stopped picking them up after a while

I soaked them all in bleach water too - I have my limits for grossness

but I keep them and use them in my art

like in this piece

a reminder that paradise is not perfect

(masonite board, calendar art, embossed aluminum, rusted bottle cap)

do you like my hat?

here is another piece I have been struggling with for a few days

(what is up with that anyway?)

 I have some old tintypes that were my great great aunt's

they're round and edged in brass

on the back it says pocket gems

I think they were pocket sized mementos of friendship

do you like my hat?

( go  dog  go )

I was struggling with what to do with the empty space in the bottom half of the thing

then I thought of hydrangeas

... it came to me in the middle of the night ...

yes, my best ideas come when I am sleeping

but how to add hydrangeas?

... beeswax (I dreamed) ...

bees have the answer to so many of life's perplexing questions

(listed on etsy here)

waterfalls

this is a piece I made a couple of weeks ago

but it was lacking something

today I fiddled with it some more

adding loose thread and some words

thread

and

words

(they are a recurring theme for me)

above
distant
waterfalls

beach glass and pottery collected this summer
stitched onto watercolor paper
painted with watercolor paint
laid atop antique lace

the last day of summer

summer is ending and the school break is over

I made this piece to tell a story of the joy of summer and time spent together

an interweaving of color, image and texture

expressing thankfulness for such a wonderful summer season

and a sorrow at turning the corner

and in spite of the sorrow,

an absolute happiness for having traveled that way

more beach glass

inspired by my beach glass and an old book cover

(devoid of it's pages)

for this piece, I used the entire book cover

I love the dimensionality the spine gives

plus, it can stand alone - or hang on the wall

the back is teabag paper and gesso .... I would love this on my walls

ingredients:

empty book cover

book text

thread

lavender

sea glass

copper wire

tea bag paper

gesso

watercolor paint

acrylic medium

*

and the sky the last couple of days ....

ingredients: 

thunder

lightning

rain

wall jewelry

so much of my work is on the small side

(this piece is only 5X8)

I have found that adding a chain at the top really sets it off

the knob at the top adds something special too

that's just a bauble glued to a nail head

easy peasy

completion

I made this paper bag collage in February and set it aside for completion later

you know how it is - it just wasn't speaking to me yet

it started as a humble trader joe's bag

- layers of collage -

- layers of paint -

- layers of texture -

a little watercolor sketch of the trees out my window

*

but it needed completion

I trimmed it down to fit this beautiful blue linen book cover

added more tea bag papers

a piece of nova scotia beach pottery

children's book text

assembled into a snatch of an idea

thread

(I love thread)

it feels completed now

I think it's breathing a sigh of relief too

beeswax collage

I just love working with beeswax

it gives an age and patina that is so natural and real

I made this collage using an old book cover and one of my own photographs

the book text is from an old french textbook

I used a bronze chain with jump rings as a hanger

*

and then for this one, which is quite a bit smaller

I made inchie collages and attached them to 2 inch portions of an old book cover

I used glue to adhere everything first

then I mod podged tea bag paper over it all

and then dipped them in beeswax

the beeswax was in pellet form

I simply put some pellets in a foil tray

and heated it in a 200 degree oven

(be careful to heat the wax JUST to melting - the burn point for beeswax is 181 degrees)

then immersed the pieces into the melted wax

you can rub the beeswax with a soft rag to get a bit of a polish

or leave it rough if you'd like

either way is beautiful in my opinion

*

I have many more posts about using beeswax

just click the "beeswax" and "beeswax how-to" labels below to get to them

grounded

I made this piece using a trader joe's brown paper bag ...

which I

collaged

inked

tore

and just thoroughly messed with

... then I applied a patch of Watercolor Ground right in the middle of it

I waited the 48 hours or so that is recommended

and then I took it with me for my daily watercolor sketch from the car today

a winter hayfield nestled up against a forested hillside

here's a close-up so you can see the amazing texture of it all:

f u n !

slingshot

this is a piece I made this week


it started as an homage to summertime


... but as I work, other thoughts mingle ...like daughter's reading assignment, "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury


and Steve Jobs reaching for the sky


and Amanda Knox wanting to lay down in a field of grass



ingredients:bottle labelmat boardshell buttonshand printed flour sack fabricdictionary pagecalico fabricreading primer textembroidery flossstraight pinswatercolor paperwatercolor paint

thanks for coming by, it means the world to me