Sunny Side Sarah

My girls and I painted this afternoon. A nice diversion from the evil glowing box (television for all of you who are not sure what this is). I painted a portrait of Sarah who wakes up every morning with smiles and sunshine. She's pure joy.

A huge thanks to the very talented Mary Martin Akers. I spent a month of Mondays in her studio this fall and learned so much.

Collage-O-Graphs with Heidi Miracle McMahill

Fiber Art Fusion hosted member Heidi Miracle McMahill this month. She shared her technique for Collage-o-graphs which were featured in Quilting Arts Magazine.

We cut sticky foam into shapes and adhered it to another piece of foam. Then painted with fabric paints. Then we pressed our fabric onto the whole thing, pressing in between the foam shapes to make sure we picked up the background. I see alot of possibilities with this.

This is the master -- foam pieces cut into shapes and adhered to the base.

First Printing.

Second Printing.

Winter Cleaning

UGH, the messiest space ever!

Ahhhhh, relief. Shelves mounted and everything in it's place.

Some people Spring Clean. I Winter Clean.

After the holiday mess has been put away I look around the house at the piles of unattended-to junk. Kids toys, clothes that have been cleaned out of closets, correspondence, old magazines, unfinished projects, etc. With the promise of a new year and the zest and committment to cleaning it all up, I find it theraputic to go through these piles.

This weekend I focused on my studio. When my mom came to live with us last year, we converted my studio into her bedroom suite. My studio now encompasses an upstairs bedroom, but for the better part of 6 months, it's been a place I've made piles.

One day to clean, one day to organize and put away. Now the project is done and I have the year to mess it up again with creative projects!

A few years ago I started keeping "like things"
together in bins. I put a little sign in the front inside
of the bin so I know what's inside.
Now they are all neatly stored on these shelves.

Fabric is kept in these Closet Maid closet organizers.

I love that I can sort by color and see my stash.
I know, I know, the light will make them fade.
Well what do you think is going to happen when a piece
is hanging on the wall? Duh, it will fade. Fabric fades.

A Variety of Projects

I didn't post much in 2009. My mom came to live with us in April and things have been pretty hectic around here since. The blog just fell to the end of the list of To Do's.

But art was still at least higher on the list and, while I wasn't particularly prolific in 2009, I was pleased with the work I did.

I spent more time in my sketchbook, honing my drawing skills, and journaling ideas for fabric projects. I painted a bit and sewed a bit more. While there was lots of discussion on the QuiltArt list about art vs. craft, I have decided to not consider this issue, but to make things that I feel like making. Things don't need to be defined. They just are.

So here are a few projects from November and December, with more to follow in the next few days as I find the pictures on my computer.

Fabric Paint on Black Sweatshirt. Happy Birthday Joel!
Do you know who this is?

Wild Girl Pin.
I made a series of these to use for Teacher Gifts.
This one is holding the cash gift we gave to Sophia's gymnastics coach.

Machine Embroidered Tennis Shoes.
These came from my sketchbook from earlier in the year.
I don't know if I should call this Machine Embroidery or Thread Painting or what.
Whatever it's called, it took me days to finish.
I turned this into a 5 x 7 piece which became
a part of the Fiber Art Fusion holiday gift exchange.

What's in My Journal

by William Stafford

Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean
Thing, fishhooks, barbs in your hand.
But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable.
Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous
discards. Space for knickknacks, and for
Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify.
Clues that lead nowhere, that never connected
anyway. Deliberate obfuscation, the kind
that takes genius. Chasms in character.
Loud omissions. Mornings that yawn above
a new grave. Pages you know exist
but you can't find them. Someone's terribly
inevitable life story, maybe mine.