Frog Hunting and #13

Today went frog hunting -- rip it, rip it, rip it! After looking at the tulle on the yoke, I decided it was too sparkley, so I ripped out the stitching on the back, stitched around the edge of the flowers and trimmed back the tulle. Then more ripping as I removed the pockets and finally I stamped the letters and am waiting for the ink to dry.




#13

#12 and more work on Frida Kahlo project

Here is #12 in the 5 x 7 project challenge. I cut out the center and floated bits of fabric between two sheets of tulle.






And more work on my Frida Kahlo project. Today I finished edge stitching and quilted big leaves around Frida.


Three silk flowers are trapped beneath a layer of tulle, then threadpainted.

On Making Art

Now comes the time that I have to decide what counts as a 5 x 7? Does work in progress count? I love making the daily 5 x 7's, but when I am in the middle of a creative burst, I don't want to pause and make a 5 x 7.

Yesterday I spent the entire day with a sick 4 year old who needed mommy to be at full attention, so nothing was done in the studio. Today was my birthday and Joel came home early so I could work in the studio. (Did I mention how incredibly lucky I am to have such a supportive spouse?) And that work was done on a piece for a jacket I'm working on.

Now you can either stop reading here and go on to random select and read another blog, or you can hang in there and read to the end. . .

See how funny the face looks without the details? She looks like an alien.


Now with hair.


And now with facial details stitched in.


Anyway, this is much bigger than 5 x 7, so I'll post it, but won't count it as part of my daily 5 x 7 challenge.

The thoughts that come to mind today are related to what I have accomplished so far in my life and what it all means. What am I? What do I want to be? In the end, the push to make art daily makes me an artist and not a wanna be. It doesn't matter if the world does not acknowledge my art, or buy it, or publish it, or even think it is "good." What matters is that I make the art. Good art, BAD art. We all make bad art. How many are brave enough to show it?

So, I started over and redrew the face. Now she looks more like her self-portraits, which is how people think she looks anyway. And who is she? Frieda Kahlo.


One last paragraph: Yesterday is snowed in Atlanta. The last measurable snow I can remember was three years ago. The flakes came down big and fluffy. It was glorious. My oldest daughter went out to play in the snow until it was way past dark. The younger (and sick) daughter went out for five minutes and came back in, exhausted, but glad she didn't miss it.
The snow is gone now, except for the large snowball which we have in the freezer.

#11 Leaf Collage

#11 - Leaf Collage
Since starting this daily 5 x 7 project my sketches in my sketchbook have radically changed. I usually go for new imagery every time. But now, I've sketched this leaf design in about 50 different ways. I don't think I'll execute all fifty, lest I bore viewers to death, but I'll do a few more in exploring the possibilities with one image. I'm having fun -- and executing art daily is making me FEEL more like an artist. But looking at my posts, I'm not feeling like much of a photographer, I've got to do something about that.

This piece is made with fabric and scrim that I dyed while at the Focus on Fiber retreat at the Atlantic Center for the Arts last Spring. I was under the influence of Sharon Serrano Ahmed and Rosemary Claus-Gray when I thought I'd actually use scrim and dyed it. Now after hanging on to it for 10 months, I see it has possibilities for me.

Tree Jacket Completed

There is no 5 x 7 submission for yesterday, but I might get to two this evening. I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday working on this jacket, Trees. You can see the before here.

Here is the front. And boy, Weight Watchers might have to be in my future. The jacket looks huge. It doesn't help that it's hanging on a small scale french door between my two studios. Anyway. . .


In this picture the color is more true. I put covered buttons on and hand stitched brown swirls over the entire jacket.


Here is the back. Each leaf has a stanza from Joyce Kilmer's poem Trees. And the hand stitched brown swirls which helps it tie together with the collar, which I did not want to replace.

And one leaf features a robin, well looks more like a blue bird, but in my imagination it is the bird in this stanza.

Thanks to Joyce Kilmer for the lovely words of inspiration.

New Altered Jacket Project and #10

I'm teaching a class in altered clothing in February at Fiber on a Whim. For that class I'm making a few more samples. I found some great jackets at Goodwill this week. I love working with denim, probably because I wear so much of it!

Here's the original jacket. Notice the adorable kitty cats on the pockets? Those kitties are also on the back yoke of the jacket.
I removed the pockets, cut out the kitties and inserted little quilt sandwiches with -- guess what -- leaves. I did the same on the back yoke. More leaves, some stamping and hand stitching and off it will go to Fiber on a Whim.


Today's 5 x 7 takes a look at negative space.

#10

Art with Children and #9

Here are pictures of the girls' aprons. I started by having them draw their pictures onto freezer paper, giving them some guidelines about size and not to worry about the small details. I then cut out their designs and ironed onto aprons I made another day. Using stencil brushes and fabric paints (they love Lumiere), they applied paint over the stencils. Once the paint is dry, we removed the freezer paper.

Always remember when doing art with children to give them some guidelines, but let them experience the process. It's not about the end product "looking good," but about the opportunity to make art with grownup supplies and learn what works and what doesn't.


Sarah (age 7) chose a fabric marker to write her name. She learned that next time she'd like to use paint with more contrast for the details on her gingerbread man.


Sophie (age 4) would have no part of the fabric markers. She wanted paint and a brush to write her name on the apron. She did change her mind when adding hair to her angel. She learned she has more control with a fabric marker.


And with leaves still on my brain, here is #9 of my daily 5x7 challenge:

#8 Black and White

The past three days have been quite hectic. On Tuesday night Fiber Art Fusion had our monthly meeting. Sharon and I gave part one of a two part presentation called "The Fiber Artist's Pantry." We cover all the great things every fiber artist should have in the pantry. I spent Tuesday getting my samples ready.



Wednesday my hubbie and I took our daughters to see Annie at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Sophie fell asleep after the intermission. Sarah was wide eyed in wonder and amazement for the entire musical. She floated home. I think musical theater is in her future!

Today's submission is a continuation of the leaf study -- in black and white.

Leaf Study #7 and Painting with the Girls

#7 - Leaf Study


Today was the last day of Winter Break. The girls and I hung around the house this morning enjoying our time together. Then we decided to paint some aprons. I gave each of the girls a piece of freezer paper and had them draw designs for their aprons. I cut them out, then we ironed them on, and went to town with the Lumiere. It was great fun. I don't have finished aprons to show today -- they still have the freezer paper on them. It's too much fun to peel off that freezer paper to reveal your design below, so I'll save that joy for the girls tomorrow.


Here's Sophie carefully dipping her stencil brush into the purple -- she was painting her lamb.


Sarah loves lumiere and really goes for the gold halo colors. It's sad that she has already gotten hung up on things looking "right." She had me draw her a gingerbread man and a few hearts. She just couldn't see that her hearts and angel were much better than mine. Quick, before the girls are totally hung up on realism, I need to get them to draw me a million things.

Leaf Study

#6 - Leaf study

Gone to the Moo-vies

Last cow. Promise. I thought a change in fabric might make a bigger difference. . . part of this commitment to make a 5x7 and post it is there is going to be some junk. Disappointing it's happening so early in the game!

Anyway, from my 4 year old:
Where do cows go when they want a night out?
To the Moo-vies.

#5

I've Got Moo-sic

#4


Aside from the picture being crooked, this is a lesson in picking the right fabric. I love this print, but not on my flying cow, it makes him look more like a zebra.

Rooster on the brain

This weekend we spent the day at an amazing place called The Art Barn. The owner is a former graphic artist who exchanged her successful career for a few acres in rural Atlanta and a whole lot of barn animals. It is a wonderful place to have a birthday party. You learn about the animals, brush and pet the animals, hold a chicken, a bunny, paint a picture in the art barn and go for a hay ride. The birthday boy or girl gets to steer the tractor. There were three roosters who crowed all day.

And the recently-watched Annie (as in Little Orphan Annie) features Tim Curry as Rooster, Miss Hannigan's wicked brother. Carol Burnett plays Miss Hannigan and boy can she crow.

#3




And another little birdie who will fly off to a very special someone for her birthday.

#2 Baby Jesus in Green

And here is #2 -- Baby Jesus in Green --representing the color of new life that Jesus offers through baptism.

Healthy, Productive and Patient

I happened across this blog post by Christine Kane suggesting a better way to reach your goals than making New Year's resolutions. This post is definitely worth the few minutes it takes to read.

Instead of making resolutions this year, I have selected three words to BE: Healthy, Productive and Patient. It was hard to select only three and I hope I have not set the bar too high.

And in the arena of Productive, I am embarking on a year-long project of daily 5 x 7's. I hope to make a finished piece at least 5-7 days a week, in fiber. This is a relatively small format for me, but I wanted a size small enough so I could reasonably accomplish my goal.

And here is the first one:

Young Artists At Work

What a whirlwind month. Recitals, school performances, holiday parties and gift preparations. Not to mention a deep cleaning for the house and holiday decorating. The month flew by. Yesterday morning I woke up and looked at the clock. 6:00 am. We told the girls they had to wait until 7:30 to wake us up. Darn. An hour and a half. I was eagerly awaiting their wake up squeals. At 6:45 I wondered why my girls were not up yet! Then at 7:00, only a half hour early, they came into our room and exclaimed: "It's time It's time! Let's see if Santa came."

Of course, Santa had come and left a passel of presents by the fireplace. Each girl went through their stocking and opened their Santa gifts. Then came the family gifts. I gave each girl a Hello Kitty sewing machine made by Janome. These are not the toy machines you see at major retailers. These are actual sewing machines, which make nice stitches and are easy to operate. The larger machine uses the feet and accessories from my Janome 6500. I was not expecting much from the girls. Perhaps a quick playing around with them, and then on to the toys they got for Christmas.

Well I was wrong. The girls sewed for hours. This morning, they woke up and near first thing wanted to sew again. Sarah is well on her way to finishing her first wall hanging. A scrappy strip pieced block with quilting lines throughout.

One of the greatest gifts of my lifetime is the time, instruction, and encouragement given to me by my mom and my aunt. I hope to pass those gifts on to my children.

New Studio Space

I am married to a musician. His day gig is working as a creative director for a creative marketing agency which does a lot of work on the internet. He writes music all day long. Then he comes home, greets our girls and sits down at the piano and plays more music.

It's great to be married to a creative guy. He gets it. He understands when I am fixated on something and cannot get it out of my head. He understands my need to stay up all night and finish. He understands the need to have the right tools for the job. He understands my need for the right space to work in.

He understands enough to give up the 15 x 15 foot room off my old studio. This room held the baby grand piano he plays every night when he comes home. A few weeks ago we began the process of finding a new space for the piano. No small task. It's huge. And heavy. Moving it means you have to know exactly where you want it to go. It's not like shoving a couch around a room until you've found just the right spot. So off I went with my graph paper and a tape measure and figured out where the piano could go.

This was not an easy decision. You have to take all kinds of things into consideration. Like where the floor joists are, where doors to the outside are, how close to a fire place and how many important football games are on television (which will prevent any friends and/or neighbors form helping you). After considering the possibilities, we settled on the family room. Joel and I hauled the piano across the house to its new home. It's the perfect place for it. You can sit and play the piano and look out the window. I think it is very happy there.

Here's Joel trying to move the piano by himself.

And moving that piano left a big hole in the corner of that 15 x 15 foot room which I think the builder considered the formal living room. Our house was built in the mid 80's and is a formal layout with the formal dining and living areas separate from the family room. I previously had my studio in the formal dining room space.

So now I've branched out and am in the formal living room as well. I have two big rooms. One for storage and "messy" work. And the new larger room for my sewing machines, drawing table and computer space.

New studio space.

Old studio space.

While cleaning and sorting through piles I found all kinds of drawings and notes on projects I'd like to do. I had to stop working on the studio space last night to flush out one of those ideas. I would show it, but you know Christmas is right around the corner and the recipient is a reader of this blog and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!

It is amazing how much stuff I have. I did sort through and get rid of a tremendous amount of junk, but so much of the things I hang on to are relevant to what I do and want to do.

Tonight is Saturday night so my hubby will be playing some rock and roll on his weekend gig. It inspires him throughout the week when he's working his corporate gig.

Me? I'm back to the studio to sort through more stuff and work on that Christmas project.

Journal Quilt

This is my 2007 Journal Quilt for IQF at Houston.

Thanks to Kristin of Fiber on a Whim for taking the picture for me!

Costumes

We made it through some pretty scary yards. One of our neighbors had a grave yard and a car accident. Our neighbor was sprawled out on the ground next to a car accident scene. He waited until the children walked by and began to moan. S-C-A-R-Y.

But not quite a terrifying as the teenage boys in vampire costumes perched in the trees. They waited until the kids walked by and jumped out of the trees.

Yet Sophie (age 4) braved it all quite well. Until we got home. Joel and I have a Happy Halloween house with pumpkins and happy skeletons. The only scary thing we have is a horror sounds CD, which we put on the stereo and blasted with windows opened. When we arrived home from trick or treating Sophie heard the scary sounds coming from our house and broke out in hysterics. Poor baby.

Thankfully Mummy Sarah was there to give the little ghost a big hug.

Boo!

Halloween cupcakes for Sarah's class.

I love Halloween. I like that you can decorate your house, dress up in a costume, hand out candy and enjoy things that are scary. No presents, no stress, just fun. As a child my mother would make us fabulous costumes. My dad would hand out candy and wear a scary glove on the hand that reached out the door.

I used to make fabulous costumes -- until my eldest child kept changing her mind. Now I make ONE costume per child and wait until close to Halloween. Tonight I'll take pictures of the girls in their costumes.

This year the girls were old enough to significantly help with carving their pumpkins. First you have to scoop out all that goop.

They were totally grossed out -- but I give them credit for sticking with it!

Sophie's preschool had a pumpkin carving party for children and their dads. She had a great time. Both girls designed their faces and drew them on the pumpkins. Sarah carved the mouth on hers.

Sophie put three faces on hers. I love the crazy eyes Sarah drew.

And the latest Altered Couture is now on the newsstand. Here is Sophie in the dress featured on page 105!


Happy Halloween!