ArtiphyTheHeart

Mug Shots

One of the art groups I belong to (An Affair With Art) has asked us if we're tea drinkers, and if so, what we prefer to drink from.  Easy questions for me.  I drink tea all day long!  Twinings English Breakfast keeps me going, and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Swedish Berries makes me calm and sleepy.  Here's my cup of choice:

Last mother's day, my daughter Amy took me to Anthropologie and told me to pick out a tea cup.  So many beauties to choose from, but the minute I set my eyes on this pretty orange mug, embossed, scalloped, and paint spattered, I knew it was the one for me.  Orange is the color of creativity, and paint spatters, well, every artist needs a paint-spattered mug!

Here's an inside view.  Pre-tea, of course.  I love this!  Usually when I spatter paint in my tea, I have to throw it out.  I love that I can drink out of this!

Mug Shots:

In the meantime, why not join me and have a cup of tea or coffee, too?  And while you're at it, why not share a pic of your favorite cup or mug?  Just leave a comment in this post with a link to a pic of your favorite cup, and we'll all stop by and take a look!  If you post about your favorite tea cup/coffee mug/ or other drinking recepticle of choice, please link back to this post so others will know where to share their links if they want to play along, too! 

Right now I'm busy-busy-busy.  Trying to finish hold-overs from 2011, and beginning some new projects in 2012.  There's a lot on my plate, but at least I love everything I have to do!

My Current List Of Stuff and Stuff To Do:

Here's a partial list:

• Three books ready to bind and stitch -- I thought there were five, but I can't find the other two... Oh well.  If they're around, they'll show up eventually!
• Take a Stitch Tuesday.  LOVE this.  If you want to know all about it, click the TAST badge on my sidebar.
• Setting up ArtiPhybers.  You can go there now, but I haven't yet made a first post, and I'm slow at getting links and photo albums uploaded.  Eventually -- sooner, rather than later, I hope -- it will be home for all my fiber art (including TAST), and I'll add to it regularly.  You can get there from the link in my side bar.
• Journaling, of course.  Three collage journals and a sketchbook/notes journal are active at the moment.  There are others too, but right now I'm concentrating on these.
• Kelly Kilmer's Revel In the Moment workshop.  I'm working without stopping in this one.  Can't get enough of it!  My friend and art partner Rita and I spent hours with this last Thursday, and will have a repeat performance next week.  In the meantime, we're both collaging our little hearts out every chance we get (which is one of the reasons I'm behind on everything else...)
• An Artsits Of The Round Table workshop.  Beginning tomorrow, we'll be binding 100 books in 2012.
• A printing project, which I'm defining and refining as I go.  More about that as things progress...
• A crocheted throw-WISP
• Three quilt tops-WISPS
• A really gorgeous (if I may say so myself) mixed fiber illustration--more on that later...
• Painting!  Lots of painting!  A semi-new direction in paint and collage for me, and I'm loving every minute!  It takes me back to my childhood art loves.  More to come on that, also.
• Oh, and reading.  LOTS!  But that's not unusual.  Right now the books on my nightstand are: Strange Wine by Harlan Ellison, and Nuns and Soldiers (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Iris Murdoch.  Neither of them new; both are favorites of mine.  And this is the book I'll be working my way through as my 100 bindings in 2012 progress: Alisa Golden's Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms  

But now I have to get busy on these things so I'll have something to photograph, and you'll have something more to see!

Some Things Are Worth Repeating

A couple of days ago, I showed you a page I colored from Tammy Vitale's Wylde Women Coloring Book.  You can click HERE to see the original post, but here's a thumbnail to refresh your memory. 

If you want to see it bigger you can click on it.  But I'm keeping it small because there's another version of this that you just have to see, and see it big!  

Carol, whose blog  Swallowcliff's Art  is full of beautiful and wonderful things, chose to color this page with fabric!  You can click HERE to see her original post, and you really should click to see her pic, and to read about her process, which she so generously shares with her blog readers.  

Carol used reverse applique and some of the yummiest fabrics on the planet to make this piece, which measures about the size of a sheet of paper.   She's given me permission to post about it and to show it to you here, so feast your eyes on this!

Fabulous, isn't it?   Anything this amazing needs to be seen, and commented on.  So get yourself over to Swallowcliff's Art and leave Carol a comment to tell her how wonderful this is!  And while you're there, take a look at her adorable Dotees!  

Also, don't forget to stop by Tammy Vitale's website to get your own pages to color, which she so generously offers as a free download.

Enjoy yourself!

Sweet Simplicity

I rediscovered some linen-cotton blends while rifling through my fabric stash, so I cut them into squares.

Like life, mixed-media can be complicated, and my journal pages so often reflect this.  It's nice to take time for what I refer to as "cleansing work".  Simple, but not simplistic.  

White and beige 5" squares, solids only.  Two patterns cut into 2" squares, centered by eye, and hand appliquéd on top.  Enough to make a good-size coverlet.  Calming and therapeutic.  

Speaking of things therapeutic, Kelly Kilmer is the host at Creative Therapy this week.  If you haven't been there, or even if you have, this is the time to check it out and play along.  I wouldn't miss it for the world.

"Computers" or. . .

. . ."How I Spent My Summer Vacation"...

The Introduction

...What do you do when you're a frustrated artist, at least half of your work is digital (someday I'll have to blog those pics), and you've had on-going computer issues since April?  Well, if you're me, you put everything else aside and quilt a cover for your Macbook!  I'll tell you all about this, but first I must do some gratuitous venting.  Sorry.  Bear with me, please, it's therapeutic...I think...at least for me....and there are some great pics at the end of this post......

Part One--The Plague

First, the PC that runs Photoshop fell victim to an ugly piece of malware which tanked everything but my files, and would have also stolen my identity if I hadn't outsmarted it and disabled the laptop's wifi. The virus (which actually is a package of multiple viruses that rename themselves constantly) didn't like that I did this, so it crashed necessary things like my printer, Wacom tablet and mouse, and then corrupted the device that installs the drivers.  

To shorten a long story, I kissed my Macbook, who (yes, it's a who, not a what), being loyal and virus-free, would lead me back to the promised land of artwork.  But first, I would have to call Adobe for a X-platform Photoshop upgrade, or buy new software for the Mac.  Upgrade, here I come...

Part Two--The Software

Adobe said, "Sure, but first you must remove all components from your PC, destroy the software you have now, and sign our legal document attesting to the destruction of the software--in blood--yada, yada yada.., and fax it to us."  So I did.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my fax had "gone missing". They need a new blood-soaked document.  So, as suggested, I emailed it as an attachment to the address they gave me.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my email had "gone missing, would I send another blood-soaked document, please, this time, through the support portal."  OK, I can do that, and I did.  Hooray!  They got it.  But now, I have to wait--maybe 4-6 weeks--for the department that reviews and authenticates such documents to--you guessed it--review and authenticate it.  I'm waiting...........and waiting...........still waiting........

Part Three--The Mac

There is a reason that Macs are silver and/or white.  It's because they are heavenly bodies.  My Macbook has sat beside me, even without Photoshop, and consoled me through all the on-going issues with PC hell and hackers.  So I thought, "You protect and enshrine heavenly things, don't you?"   Well, there are some awsome-er than life cases and covers for Macbooks, many very artistic, and all quite expensive.  I figured that while I waited for my software, I could easily design something stunning and functional for my little white apple, and whip it up in a heart-beat.

Part Four--The Cover

This is what it looks like when it's open.  Detail pics of the front closure and sides are below.

When I'm stressed, crocheting unwinds me.  I quilted the top-bottom-flap portions of my cover and crocheted the sides.  Partly for therapy, partly for function.  The sides act as vents if the book is still warm when it's put away. 

Epilogue

I've been spending more time lately with obligatory artwork than with the things I'm inspired to do.  At some point, I'm going to have to draw the line, especially since I'm not a weekend crafter who does this for a hobby.  With that said, soul-searching is in the works to get me back to my chosen work, which is mixed-media, journal pages, hand-bound books, digital artwork, assemblages, and daily blogging!  In the meantime, I've been off-and-on without internet service, as have 10% of the subscribers in the valley, due to a screw-up by !@# cable compay.  So please bear with me.  I promise to return.......

Right now I am:

Out the door to the library

Reading back issues of "Wired" magazine

Watching nightly marathons of NCIS

Setting up my Facebook (connect to me as a friend!)

Glad my kids get a summer break so we can enjoy more time together!

Have a great day, everyone!  I've missed you all!

Broken/Cracked Glass

Sending Good Luck and Happiness

 

Nearly a year ago, I participated in a challenge to use broken or cracked glass in a piece of artwork.  When I asked, "Why cracked/broken glass?", I found out that it supposedly brings good luck!  Break a glass after a toast, crack a bottle of champagne to Christen a ship--traditions like these have been around for ages.  If you break a mirror there's seven years of bad luck attached, but if you crack a glass while washing dishes, then pleasant surprises are on their way. 

I used German glass glitter in my first "cracked glass" piece, but another artist in the challenge used mica, and ever since, I've wanted to use cracked sheets of mica in a piece of artwork.  This little hanging quilt was made for an art group swap.  The piece was required to be 6" X 6", and it was suggested that we mix other media with fabric. 

I use a lot of Tsukineko fabric inks, and there is always just a bit left over when I'm finished.  Instead of throwing away the surplus ink, I find a piece of un-dyed silk or muslin and put it in a bath of the left over ink.  I retrieved one of these pieces of hand-dyed muslin from my stash for this piece, then stamped it with the faces.  Two are stamped on the main piece, and a third was cut and placed.  The wings are pieces of black German scrap which I lightly gessoed to remove the shine.  I rummaged through my stash for the other pieces I would use, and when I came up with the basics, I pieced it together, hand-stitched it, and added the French Laundry hanger.  I hope it brings good luck and bright fortune to the recipient!

Here's a map of the rest of my day:

A class with Kelly Kilmer

A ballet with both of my kids performing

And hopefully, a nap!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Art For The Home...Something Different For A Little Change Of Pace....

 

So that everyone can take it a little easier over the holidays and enjoy family, friends, and festivities, the Arty Girlz theme, "Home Art" is extended through next Tuesday, the 6th of January.  But since my piece for this theme will be added to over a period of time, I decided to post the first two squares of what will become a quilted heart throw, as they appear right now, in progress.  By the time this is finished, the squares will be further embellished with who knows what all, and will be hand quilted and assembled.  I'll keep you posted as these "bare bones" squares take shape into a larger piece of art.

Everyone who knows me, knows my love of hand stitches!  I'll surely break out the sewing machine for seaming, but whatever quilting and embellishing will take place, it will be done by hand, simply because, among other things, that's what my hands are for!  And I love a rough-sewn look, especially in contrast with contemporary and hand-dyed fabrics.  I can't get enough of the look of naive little stitches made by hand, and it's a challenge and pleasure to create them.  With so many other pieces of art in the works right now, putting this piece together one square at a time, and letting each one dictate its own rules for what will be added and in what order it will be placed, works perfectly for me!  And my deadline is simply, "when I'm finished!"

But for now, these two starter squares are made from three pieces of hand-dyed cotton.  The red heart on the left is reverse appliqued, and the square on the right utilizes the cut-out-heart from the square on the left, which is appliqued to another piece of cotton.  They are four inches square, and I envision them with lots of embellishment....think art-journal style, with words, quotes, over-dyes, transferred images and more!

I'm on holiday, but couldn't resist this post!  I'll be back next week.....if not before!

Have a great rest of 2008, and a Very Happy New Year, Everyone!