Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Elmer's Glue and a Silk Scarf


I finally got around to trying the mock batik technique that I learned in a class at the Textile Center of Minnesota. This time I used a 36" x 36" silk scarf. I found that the Elmer's Blue Gel Glue spread a bit more on the silk than it did on cotton so the white spaces are a little larger than I anticipated. Overall, I am pleased with it though.

This is a gift for a friend (my husband's ex-wife actually) who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her hair is pretty much gone, so I thought she might like a little something to wear out in the sun or to the benefit they are throwing for her at the VFW that she has been working at. If she doesn't want to wear it, I figured I could put it in the silent auction at the benefit. 

Next project is to make a set of a dozen greeting cards for the same silent auction. And somewhere in there, I am also trying to gather all the supplies for the classes I am teaching at Lakamaga Conference - a Girl Scout leader enrichment weekend. I'm teaching simple, no stitch bookmaking and Simple Crafts for Daisies and Brownies. I think I have everything.... it's just all in piles in my living room.

Once again, not enough hours in the day.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Everyday Matters - My Favorite Drink

As I've said before, my intention with this blog was to continue on with Thing-a-Day, but switch to a thing-a-week. It's kind of been a thing-every-other-week or thing-a-month instead. So I finally bit the bullet and joined an online drawing Yahoo group called Everyday Matters. Some of you already know about it, but for those of you who don't.... they post an idea each week for people to draw and then you can post your drawing or link to the drawing... along with links to your other artwork or blog. 

So now I will be trying to do a sketch a week... amongst all of the other art I am trying to create. This is my first drawing.... my favorite drink. The proportions are not quite on, but for a first attempt at drawing in quite a while, I'm not too unhappy...

Right now, that other art would include another attempt at the mock-batik I did during Thing-a-Day. This time I am doing a silk scarf for a friend who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She shaved her head last weekend and I want to give her something fun to wear if she doesn't want to get sunburned. I also have a couple more pieces in process for the show in May. I got some inspiration from an art fair I volunteered at yesterday. 

Now if I could only find more than 24 hours in a day.



 


Saturday, July 11, 2009

Not exactly how I was going to spend the weekend....

Weekends, or at least part of them, are supposed to be spent working on pieces for my May showing..... 

I spent most of today helping my daughter clean up stuff she and her husband left behind when they moved out in May. Between finishing her masters degree and taking her youth group on a mission trip, she hadn't gotten around to consolidating stuff that was still here. They live in a very small apartment so Mom and Dad have saved some space for them to store stuff... just not in every room in the basement. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Our basement kind of looks like the TV show Clean Sweep. 

Somehow during the day, Mom has been commissioned to work on a piece of art for their bedroom. No charge, of course. Maybe I can borrow it to use in my showing in May. Hm-mmmm....

Last night, and again over the last couple of hours, I did play with a little bit of illustrating on my computer. I help out at three different encampments for Girl Scouts.... Prairie Flower in May each year, Western Skies and Piper Valley in September. This is a new silk screen design for Piper Valley, the only encampment I haven't done one for this year. It's now in for approval by the women who run the encampment.
The screen may not be able to go into the show in May, but at least I accomplished some art in amongst all of the disarray.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

May 2010


It's not a gallery, but my local public library does month long displays of local artist's works. Newspaper interview and all. I can put price tags on them too! They have agreed to show some of my work in May 2010. Depending on the size of the pieces, I could display 25-30 pieces. I have about half that many. So... now I have an excuse to bury myself in my studio (aka the storeroom in the basement).

This is one of a couple things I have in the works. It's tissue paper, used tea bags and image transfer using matte medium. Each piece is 4" x 6". I have another tin can garden in the works too.