Ice Storm Dec 6th 2013

neighbor's tree from front of my house

 

This was our neighborhood on sat (7th)  it was like an ice rink.  Not an everyday or even yearly thing here in N Texas-it was pretty while it lasted.  I believe tomorrow it is supposed to be around 72...typical Texas winter :)

Happy Thanksgiving! and WIP

Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family!
  Inspired by the current Cloth Paper Scissors mag I decided to try my hand at some wire art.
I decided to try this dress using rebar wire and not what the article suggested.   Let's just say I would
suggest you use same gauge wire she used.  Less cussing. 
Here is where I am at now~

dress shape is one I "winged" as I went (fabric already pinned so no before photo)

 

dress with fabric skirt attached

soda bottle for size reference

side view of the "sleeves"

 

  My plan is to add a layer of something to the front of the skirt-hanging off the wire "waist" and I will
add something to the bodice area too, but haven't decided what that will be-More pictures when I finish it.  I may even start another one w/20 gauge wire this time. 

Quick Post

I'm feeling the need to re-do my blog. Again.  Maybe it's the right-brainer in me that I can't find one design that i can stick with.  I feel the need to change it up around halloween (for the month) or after that for "now."  So for now, i leave you with this:
http://en.sommer-sommer.com/braintest/?data=NTMsNDc%3D
and you can see if you are left brained or right brained.  me-right. 62%  38% left

20 Year Celebration

a sea of covers that i painted black then stenciled on

My art group celebrated it's 20th anniversary this month.  We celebrated our 10th with various members making items for us all to keep.  I wanted to do something like that too-but something that would stay together and not be "misplaced."  So I proposed a collaborative book and hunted down every person i could that was ever in our group.  Not all participated but those who did will have a book to treasure for the next 20 years.

 I can still remember the first meeting I went to.
Sitting in Maggie's living room with other like minded women I had never met.  A fledgling group.  No one really knew what to expect as "stamp groups" were a thing you only read about in RubberStampMadness back then.   None of us charter members had any idea that this would become such an integral part of our lives.
 20 years later we've been through birth, divorce, death, marriage, graduations-everything life could
throw at us and here we still are.  In twenty years of meeting once a month we have missed ONE month. That is 239 meetings.  That doesn't count the 'art days' or retreats or other get-together's we have had.  Who can forget "after the meeting's?"
Oprah had nothing on us!
We have laughed, we've cried, we've laughed until we cried, we've cheered for each other and said "what the hell were you thinking?"    My life would not be the same with out all of my art friends.     So here's to the next 20!

books with covers before the "20th" added

Patti contributed a few pages of photo memories for the book

a day that will live forever. GYUTAKU  only a few, myself included braved the awful smelling fish to do these paintings

The members who were able to attend our lunch~

Book Page Progress

 The first three photos show the parent sheets (22X30) that I started with for my book pages.
For my art group's 20th anniversary I proposed a book project so we would all have a keepsake of the occasion.  These pictures show paint, stencils, ink, "scribbles" and whatever.  Once I decided each parent sheet was finished i did a wash of colors on the back-don't like to leave white :)  then cut them into the size needed for my pages.  I then added a picture and words-to be shown later. 

M I A...again

Let's see, since i last posted i took a "day" trip to Houston. mini anniversary celebration.  Had lunch at Auntie Changs then went to Texas Art and Jerry's Artarama.  Yes, i picked up a few supplies.  Dinner at Pappadeaux then decided to head on home- crazy yes, but that's how we roll.

 new open acrylics to play with, canvases, pens, ink, and stencil

I worked on  a wedding gift for my cousin and her new hubby.
After seeing items on their registry i painted carpet tack strips in these colors to go with their decor.  I cut the metal pieces from rusted  "stuff"    each heart representing the two of them.  Cut out words from vintage books "two hearts one home"    I think i'll make an additional one (heart) when baby makes three.









  The art group i belong to will celebrate our 20th year as a group in Oct!  Since i am the current "queen" i proposed an anniversary book project.  Each person participating would create a page for the book-in duplicate depending on how many participated.  Of course since it was my idea and i gave plenty of notice i figured my pages would have been done months ago- before the sept deadline.  Not.  So I worked on my pages on parent sheets of watercolor paper, then cut them to size then added the focal points.  Each page is different somewhat.    I then had to come up with the front and back covers-again I had plenty of time, but waited until the last minute to work on those.  Everything is done, the pages all collated and ready to be bound next wk-with the help of several friends.   They will be presented in Oct at our anniversary get-together-lunch.   Everyone who participated will have a fun book to remember this occasion by.    I am planning to photograph each page and put them on  flickr so that those that didn't participate can see (what they missed out on) :)
I will post pictures of the process in another post.

Where Does the Time Go?

Well, i stopped playing with my paper for a bit.  Had some belated gifts to finish-or start :) 
Also had to celebrate my mother in law's birthday (and we forgot to take our yearly photo) and my son's birthday (28)  Hard to believe since i'm only 40.  
 I did get this guy finished this week.  The image is one of my favorite ones-love the little boy in
his homemade airplane.  I wanted to focus mostly on the image so it's a very basic piece with only some shading and bit of blue.  He will be heading to his new home this week.

before color

Here he is with subtle blue edges

added "custom" paper to the edges

I am ADDICTED

I'm currently taking the SEWN class with Mary Ann Moss online.  While I have enjoyed painting patterend paper, my new obsession, compliments of MAM is paper fabric.
I sat this weekend making paper fabric like crazy.  I got into the "zone" and just kept going-made myself stop to fix our dinner then back to the machine.

here is machine w/piles of paper scraps for my "fabric"

   Some years ago i set my sewing machine on the floor-on top of an artist's box on top of a wooden crate.  I would occasionally sew something quick, but not sit for hours.  I sit on the floor kind of indian style, then use my knee to press the pedal~hence the sore knee on sunday.  That didn't stop me from starting up again on sun and again last night.  I really need to move my machine to the table though~  It's very relaxing to me-I have 5 sheets done and another started...yes, i'm addicted!

close up of a page

   

This is actually 4 sheets of paper fabric-probably about 1 sq yard total 

h~

Estate Sale Finds

It has been a long time since I have been to an estate sale-When i started the job I had in 2007 I pretty much stopped hitting the estate sales.  I only had saturdays and by then the good stuff is usually gone. I have stopped at a few the past several years, but just ones I saw while driving.  They were pretty much duds. I used to be on a mailing list for one or two and I always knew I would find something if I went to those.
I'm on an email list now-you can sign up here for your area and receive a wkly email alerting you to sales in your area.  Anyway, I happened to notice that there was one this friday over near my mom's house.  I checked out the pictures and saw some cool things-so my husband and I headed over there friday morning.  (a little later than I prefer but that probably saved me a few dollars)  I did manage to find some things that made the time worth it.   We made a second trip back today around noon-found a few more things for 1/2 price.  All in all i spent about $21.  the bulk being an old photo/scrap album for 7.50   This sale made up for all the crummy ones I have been to in the past few years. :)   The little ledger book was just $1-i've never seen one this size so I really couldn't pass it up-

My goodies-old ledgers, rulers, attachment boxes, books, pulley, laundry pins and transparency paper

 

two rulers and two extention rulers for a total of $3

love the compass on the back of this one

2 sewing attachment boxes and two laundry pins for $2. total

 

detail on old book-will use these covers for an art piece

an old pulley of some sort-nice and rusty

detail of the old red ledger book.  It is very heavy metal

here you see it open and the mechanism-haven't seen one like this before and couldn't pass it up for $2

page in the old album