New Mix in my Media

As I'm planning another trip to New Mexico this fall, I thought about the fun places to shop and remembered the wonderful fabrics that I brought back last time.  How can I buy more this time if I haven't touched those??? (Well, I sure could, but I shouldn't!!)  Anyway, I decided it was time to haul out the sewing machine, which also hadn't been touched since I bought it a couple of years ago, and do a project.   I was shocked to find out that the machine worked perfectly, and I didn't struggle to get the tension right or have any of the frustrations I expected from my past experience with sewing machines.  Why did I put this off so long??

Here's what I made:  a slipcover for my Moleskine sketchbook.  I sewed down some pieces of fabric on a backing of plain cotton duck, using machine decorative stitching.  Some of the fabrics have printed on stitching, so it's hard to tell from the photo which stitches are which.

After putting in a lining and closing the ends, I sewed on a button and looped on a ribbon for the closure.










This is what the outside looks like, including the back.

And here's the inside lining and pockets that hold the book. 
Purrkins likes the ribbons.

Layers upon Layers

At the Toni Kelly workshop (see my last post) a couple weeks ago, I started a mixed media piece on an 8x10 wood panel. After layers upon layers upon layers, I am calling it finished.

The layers include:  background of fibrous Japanese paper, fluid acrylic paint, aluminum tape cut in shapes, stenciled paint, glazes of fluid acrylics and polymer medium (glossy), and a final topping of heavy gel.

The aluminum tape is something that Toni Kelly uses in her work.  It is found in hardware stores in the section that carries ductwork.  This is metal tape, not the common plastic duct tape.  I mixed Golden GAC 200 medium with the paint to help it adhere to the foil tape.

At the photography session to prepare the photo of my finished piece, I had a another layer -- Purrkins -- who thought I put the piece of mat board on the floor just for her to nap on.

And yes, I'm sure there are cat hairs in my many-layered piece.  No problem when I want lots of texture!

Catching up!

Life is never boring around here.  I'm sure you've heard about our big storm that knocked out power to almost everyone in West Virginia.  I was lucky - only losing power for one day, and I was able to share my air-conditioning for a few days with a less fortunate friend.  Many people were out for a week, and for some, it's been two weeks.  Those folks in rural areas don't even have water because they depend on electricity to pump well water.  How awful that must be!

Toni Kelly came to the Main Street Studio in Hurricane to offer a weekend workshop in June.  Toni is a mixed media artist who specializes in nature sketches.  Her workshop focused on techniques for incorporating images in art by using various transfer methods.  She also helped us with composition, color mixing and sketching techniques.  I finished one piece, an 8"x8" wood panel, on which I put down a background of handmade papers for texture.  The birdie is a sketch from my nature journal, which I printed on tissue paper and adhered with polymer medium.  I did the same with my favorite Emily Dickinson poem to complete the piece.

With all the extremely hot weather, it was best to stay indoors, and I have been trying to get my art supplies and collage materials reorganized.  Purrkins and Petey have been helping.  Petey thought I made this space in the bookcase just for her! Purrkins found a little space on my work table to squeeze into.











I'm still trying to get the collage materials sorted and stored in a way that I can find things. What I've learned from this process is that I should stop buying/collecting and just use what I've got, especially the art supplies. I found duplicates of paints and mediums that I didn't know I had!

Lovin' the Sunshine

"Ize had my dinner and took a bath in the sun.  Grooming is such hard work!  Now Ize ready for a nap." - Purrkins

Nap time

Don't you just love to curl up in your favorite chair on a cold,gray day? Purrkins and Petey do too.

Recycling Security Envelopes as Collage Materials

A couple of months ago, I read in another blog (forgive me for not linking if it's yours, because I don't remember whose it was) about using opened security envelopes as collage material.  I began looking at the business envelopes I receive almost daily in the mail and noticing the cool patterns inside.  Not only are they really cool, but there are lots of designs and colors.  In just a few weeks, I have collected 14 different ones.   Today, I laid them out on the floor to choose some for a project and my little helper, Purrkins, came to hold them down for me.

December is here - The Sky is Falling!

"Mommy, come and look:  the Sky is falling!  We've never seen anything like this before."
- Purrkins and Petey, age 6 months.

The winter birds have come back to the feeders:  red house finches, tufted titmouse, wren, chickadees, cardinals.

Last week, I was at the beach and returned home to this. In a day and a half, the temperature went from 62 to 32 degrees, and winter has arrived. Ugh!

Kittens Mystery Story

It was a dark and rainy night.  I was in the living room watching some dumb show on t.v. when I heard a loud thump in the entry hall and a streak of dark orange passed through the hall to beneath my chair.  Aroused from a near slumber, I trudged to the hall to see what was going on.  There, above the stairwell, Petey, the alpha kitten, peered down through the railings of the upper hallway. 

Always the clever detective, I deduced that it must have been Purrkins that made the noise as a result of a fall from the second floor.  Yikes! I said.  Maybe she is hurt.  That is a big fall!  Where is she? 

Looking under all the furniture, I didn't spot her, so I went on around through the living room to the passage to the kitchen.  There she sat, looking somewhat dazed.  I went to her and picked her up for inspection.  Yikes!  She was bleeding from the nose!  Now I'm really scared (and half sick).  Maybe she fell on her head and has a concussion?  Hmmmm.  So I did what they do on NFL games:  I held up two fingers and asked her how many she could see.  ..  .. No Answer.  I tried to keep calm as I called the emergency number for my vet and got instructions to go to the emergency veterinary hospital.  Never mind that I had just finished a glass of wine.  I got the kitten in the carrier and got my car out of the garage, reaching for the peppermint gum.  Two hours later.... the bleeding has stopped before we got in to see the vet, Purrkins is able to walk a straight line on the floor for the vet, and she is pronounced fine except for a swollen nose, and we get to pull out the charge card to pay the $100 fee and go home.  Today, everything is normal, but the question still remains:  did she fall or was she pushed??

Watercolor kittens

Here is another August journal page with the "nature" item that has been my most constant inspiration this month.  In keeping with my goal for this year to learn to draw, I've been trying to sketch the kittens.  The hardest part is the eyes.  In my unschooled opinion, if you don't get the eyes right, you don't have a chance of capturing the real image.  I have to say I haven't yet gotten the eyes right, but I'm still working on it. 

Sleepy kittens

The great thing about getting two kittens is that they play together and then sleep together.  I love to watch them in either state.  Even in sleep, they are adorable and fun to watch.  Yes, I'm a doting mother :) and I love to show off my pictures. 

After a morning's romp, Purrkins is so sleepy she can hardly hold her eyes open.  Do you think there's hope for her?  (I swear this picture was not posed.)

And Petey is so soft and cuddley that I just want to take a nap right with her.

You've heard of Ernest Hemingway's cats with extra toes?  Here's one with extra feet!!





Oh, I guess I was mistaken...

Petey was sleeping on Purrkins' little brown feet.

Pitter patter of Little Feet!!

I've neglected my blog and my friends and just about everything else for the past 10 days because my house has two new inhabitants, and I can't get anything done for watching them play.  Of course I've been taking pictures!  And my little Canon digital camera also makes decent videos, so I've been trying my luck at capturing some of the comical antics these two babies are up to. 

Oh, did I forget to say these babies are kittens?  I'm sure you guessed.  I've adopted two adorable little girls from the vet's place where their pregnant mother was rescued and gave birth.  So here they are:  Purrkins and Petey! 

 Purrkins got her name from an orange, bobtailed tomcat that lived in my neighborhood when I was a kid. I don't know what his real name was, we just called him "Perkins" after the family he belonged to.  At first, we thought this kitten was a male, and Perkins seemed to fit.  When she turned out to be a girl, I thought "Purrkins" was a more appropriate spelling.  And besides, she really purrs.

This is Petey.  She was the only kitten in the litter of four that did have a tail.  Don't let her sweet face deceive you -- she's the feisty one, the first to try things and instigate mischief.