Saturday, May 23, 2009

Photomania!

I wanted to share just a few of the wonderful gifts I received this past week.
This is a cute little purse from our cousin Heather. It is appliqued felt and I think quite adorable! Lots of food for thought in this!


A garden kneeler from my Swedish cousin Eva........and just in time, as my old one is totally worn out!

And a garden tool tote, also from Eva! In my opinion, this is too lovely for the down and dirty gardening I do, so I will use it as a knitting bag. It has lots of little cubbies for odd bits of things, which I seem to always be collecting!

I wanted to share this beautiful card from my friend Barbara. It reminds me of a piece that Gerrie made a while back. Below it you can see the little 'comfort' stone that Barbara gave me. I've been carrying it in my pocket for the past few days and whenever I get too jazzed up, I finger it and try to find my cool!

Our new family members:
Patrick and his boss Charles, aka the Painter Dudes! They practically moved in two weeks ago, and we now feel like they are part of the family. Barker will miss them when they finish....and so will we! Here are a few shots of the kitchen.....the paint is a deep dark chocolate (YUMMM!) and is called "Coconut Grove"! I love it!


my sewing room is to the right and the diningroom is to the left
I think this wall will make a great space to display art work that we've been collecting. My friend Robin has gifted us with several incredible collages, and we bought a beautiful angel photograph that Barbara had taken at the last Grace Art Show. And then there are all of the lovely fiber art and mixed media pieces I've been collecting. This is a great spot!

Barbara was asking me about the Pellikan opaque watercolors and why Melanie Testa recommends using them in her journal. I believe it's because the Moleskin journal pages are a creamy color and since the Pellikan's are opaque, they totally cover that base color. Correct me if I'm wrong here. Anyway, here's a bit of progress on one of the leaf prints:

I painted the Gecko on tracing paper (and yes, I did trace the gecko, but I hope to be drawing them soon!) using my Pellikans and then glued him onto the journal page (I had done a lot of writing around the printed leaf prior to the gluing). After the glue dried, I tore the excess tracing paper off of the page and then applied a light wash of some magenta Pellikan :
Sorry, you'll either have to turn your head or your monitor so see this guy right side up (I'll be darned if Blogger hasn't worked his magic again!).

So, I'm off to Kansas City! Have a great day!


PEACE!!!

5 comments:

Eva Hagbjärn said...

The paint looks very 'tasty'. Mums, as we say in Sweden, and means yum ;-).
Glad you liked your gifts, and of course you can use the garden bag for your knittings. Good thought =)
Kram Eva

Eva said...

Lovely things you got! And the gekko is phantastic. Such a great drawing! I think you should develop this talent more and more.

Eva said...

P.S. Tracing is not forbidden! You wouldn't believe how many artists do it. I don't do it, yet I'm not able to copy perfectly, and this is not my intention, because a drawing can say something special through the differences. On the other hand, trying to copy true to life can put a burden on you which disturbs the creativity and which is relieved by tracing. So it is entirely up to you if trace or not, it is just a matter of your targets as an artist.

Carol said...

Love your journal page and your description of the process. The colours are beautiful and I look forward to seeing your development of the gecko as you start drawing them. I'm swamped in unpacking boxes and trying to decide where everything will go - while at the same time I'm doing some very serious art with 3 year old S - we're into glitter in a big way. Boxes, paper, glitter - fun but exhausting. Still no blogging. XX

Mª Clara Lloveras said...

Hello,
I am Maria Clara from Spain.
Today I have discovered your blog, is precious!!!!!
I would like to do an swap of atcs, you want?
Regards.
Maria Clara.

My Blog is:
www.lacasademadera.over-blog.com