Day 2

Anyone who has been to my blog before knows I primarily work with fiber art, but I do creative things in many different mediums- it's too hard to stick with just one :)

For today's art, I decided to try and design something to go on our holiday cards this year. I always make our greeting cards because I enjoy it and it's a little bit of a personal touch that I think our recipients also enjoy.

I'm not sure if I will use this little guy or not, but he was a lot of fun to do anyway.

This is in a Strathmore 3"x 5" watercolor book. I just love this book because it's so small and light, but it will easily take anything I can throw at it. 

I did the sketch with a 2H pencil, outlined it with a Pigma Micron 05 pen in black, then added color with my very favorite Derwent Inktense pencils. I take these pencils with me often when I travel because they are so versatile and I just love what I can do with them.

So far, so good!

Art Every Day for a Month- Day 1

In the interest of kick-starting my creative juices, and getting back to where I feel I really need to be, I jumped in to the Art Every Day for a Month Challenge :)

It's not too late for you to join in if you are interested. It's a very relaxed challenge, check it out here and see what you think:  http://creativeeveryday.com/art-every-day-month

I am a very creative person overall, and I don't expect my endeavors to be of one kind only this month. I will be happy with myself if I get photos of my stuff posted every day! I look forward to the extra push this challenge will give me to be accountable to my time and my commitment.

For today, I started with a sketch. I love to draw, and this is a great time to practice. I need it too. lol

Now that I am looking at the photo, I can see where I need to make some adjustments in the fairy's body. I also need to flesh this out with shading and some color, but hey, at least I sat down and did sketched. That's a big deal for me- I'm not great at making time for myself during the day to do things that I love.

Also, I think I need to clean my camera lens. lol

Working but not posting...

I don't know where this summer has gone... my son got married to a lovely young woman- so there was a whirlwind trip to Nova Scotia for a beautiful wedding... my eldest daughter decided she wanted to make some life changes and is now happily living here with us, going to school... we adopted a sweet girl to be Riley's BFF (another lab)... and somehow with all that and work and the other stuff that pops in and out of our lives... well, it's November tomorrow.

But I have been keeping very busy. I gardened all summer. Other than copious amounts of herbs, I didn't get much to SHOW for it all- but it was just great to be out there working with the plants all summer.

I made pickles and canned tomatoes and have put lots of veggies in the freezer. I have been cooking delicious dinners all summer, and enjoying myself immensely while doing it.

I have also been wading through fabric.

I made a stack of place mats for our table. I have been finishing up old projects- and- GASP- throwing out ones that I hate, are ugly, or aren't worth my time anymore. I am taking Heather's advice- if I have already learned what it has had to teach me and I don't want it- out it went. Boy, did that feel good.

And I have continued on my Elements series. The first was Water, my mermaid girl. She's done up to the point where I showed you. I won't finish any of them past that until I decide how to mount them- finish them- because I want them to have some unity as a group. I want them to be able to hang as a series, even though I expect to give one to each of my three daughters and they likely won't.

Anyway, the next one I have almost finished is Fire, my phoenix girl. I actually intended for her to be a dragon, but she came out a phoenix. Funny how that happens, isn't it???

Here she is, with all of the fibers and everything laid under the water soluble plastic. This plastic is top and bottom, and helps the sewing machine glide over the fibers- otherwise it would be a mess for sure!

Here is a closer look at her face, again done on Lutradur (photocopied on there from a sketch of mine) and then colored in with Prismacolors. I have used a variety of fibers throughout. For her hair: wool and silk rovings, Angelina, and ribbon. For her wings: dyed cheesecloth. For her body: various ribbons, crinkly cardboard, silk carrier rods, and thread.

Most of her hair is quilted in the photo below and one wing is done. Once the other wing is done, the body fibers are tacked down, and her face is outlined enough to hold it down, I can gently rinse off the plastic and let her dry.

I will show you what she looks like when I get to that stage. Which should be tomorrow, because I am determined to get started on the next one ASAP. I have all of the supplies I need and am itching to get her going. She's been in my head for a few days now and needs to come out!