this is how santa's elves feel!

I've been busy preparing for my studio sale.  (which is this sunday 3-5 and monday 10-5)


why is it that we never feel we have enough?  well i've got glass tile necklaces, scrabble tile charms, prints of my work, originals of my work, fabric tote bags...and now 20 journals!
i've made 20 - 16 page pamphlet stitch journals filled with gorgeous paper that accepts both wet and dry media.  they all have handpainted covers, are handbound and they all have charm danglies hanging from the spine.  i just love danglies!

here are 8 of them

then i decided to go crazy!  I added fabric prints of my art and stitched all over the cover!  how fun!  this really is mixed media!!

i have 12 of these babies!!

it's funny, each one is different and i'm attached to them all.  

i can see different art in each one, or lists, or special writings or quotes that appeal to you!  my daughter just came home and spotted the 'peace heart' one and said, 'oh cool'. approval from a teen.   i guess i'm on the right track with these!

now i'm off to make some felt ornaments.....

STUDIO SALE!!!!

Ok,I bit the bullet and decided to have a studio sale. I have original mixed media paintings,  and all kinds of things featuring my work: notecards, necklaces, handpainted, handbound journals...I'm even taking orders for totebags that you must see to appreciate!  


so stop in, even if it's just to say hi before the holiday gatherings make it impossible!!!!


HERE'S ALL THE INFO (click on the picture):

p.s. email me if you need the addy....

Snow-creations at the Homestead

Today I had an art day.  The hubby is in Arizona on business, the girls were at a volleyball game and I decided I needed some creative time with my Art Is... pals.  Sue Pelletier was in town and teaching her wonderful vintage snowmen and I was lucky enough to get into this fabulous class.


We had a wonderful time catching up, having a spectacular lunch including some delicious pumpkin layered brownies made by Betti Zucker and just having creative fun.  It's always nice to bounce ideas of one another and get a little silly!  Using paper clay, beads, buttons, glitter and lots of vintage treasures we made snowmen/women/children!  Here are mine:

my snow creations

I just love the chess piece for the hat and the little jack  dangling from his scarf

this is Verla.  She is on her way to meet her friends Betti and Pearl at the opera.  As my niece would say, 'she's fancy'.
  

this one is my favorite.  I decided I like the monochromatic ones the best.

Art Is....2011

I'm part of a family, a big art family called ART IS...  It is headed up by Ellen Legare and Sallianne McClelland and I love them and all the attendees.  When you walk into an Art Is Retreat the first thing you think is, I'm with my people!   You can wear what you want, you can behave how you want, you can eat what you want.  no judgement!  In fact, more than likely someone next to you will even join you! It's a place to share ideas, get inspiration, be yourself and be supported.  It is the most wonderful weekend of my year and I look forward to it every year.

This was the 5th year of ART IS...  Loretta presented Sal and Ellen with mixed media canvases celebrating  the anniversary.  They were signed on the back by the attendees.

This year I taught there for the first time and had the BEST students ever!  I am looking forward to teaching again next year.  Thank you for your support, Dawn, Loretta, Linda, Angela and Pat.  You all did wonderfully and am so proud of your first attempts at woodburning!


here are some photos i took,( i usually forget to take pics as i get so involved in what i'm doing.)

I learned coptic stitch binding with Diana Trout.
and now i am hooked on making my own journals.  i use the kind of paper i want and the size paper i want!  thanks Diana for sharing the art of bookmaking with me!

My class space set up and ready to go.

I gave each student a goody bag filled with not only the supplies they needed for class, but also a hand painted, hand bound journal filled with drawing paper.

display of my work in the style of the class i was offering.  the class sample is in the center.  tall poppies.

look who i shared my class space with!  so excited...i love tracy!!

This is Dawn Gold.  She was the first student to sign up for my class and came all the way from England to attend ART IS...  I've known Dawn 'virtually' for years through an online trading site.  It was so wonderful to finally meet her in the flesh!

Linda Willis took my class!  She is a fabulous artist...particularly in fabrics and quilting!

Pat was one of the brave ladies learning a new technique!

and Angela concentrating to hard!  we call her angel hugs!!!

and my dear friend, Loretta.  She did a nice job too!

After woodburning my students blocked in color and added other  mediums.  (you'll have to take a class with me to find out how we do this!)

my students with their finished/semi finished projects!  i'm so proud of them!  you did fabulous ladies!!!!

After I taught my class, I took a class with Tracy Stilwell.  I admire her work so much and love to spend time with her.  so inspirational!  I glammed up my old pair of jeans.  i wear these in my studio a lot and wanted to spruce them up a bit. 

I opened up the leg seam and created this little garden out of fabrics and embroidery stitching.  this was SO much fun to do and reminded me of my high school days!  These were also a big hit with the children at the nursery school I teach in!!!

My friend Dawn and I saying our goodbyes...
until next year...maybe ART IS will go to LONDON!!!

a special week with a special friend

This is my student and friend, Alexandra

She makes 'clucks' which you can find out about here.

This week she joined me in my studio to make a tote bag out of her own art and out of fabric scraps.  We had so much fun playing with gelatin prints on fabric and on paper

printing our own original art on fabric for use later in our projects

and sorting through mounds of fabric!

Next we had to piece it together

and sew

and play with a dog

 or two

and sew

and sew some more!

until it was all finished!

a view of the inside

great job alexandra! and the puppies were sad to see her go!

taking time to try new things

As a member of the New Rochelle Art Association, I feel as if I should participate in as many shows as held.  The last show was the Jules Bauer Award Show and featured a prize for watercolor.  I didn't win the Jules Bauer award, but I did win Best of Show for this watercolor, titled Waiting for Racetime.  It is a painting of my daughter, Nicki waiting for her turn at a big invitational meet.  I was trying to convey the pre-race jitters she goes through.  The body language portrays that.

 And I also won 3rd prize in the mixed media category for this painting, Nature of Gemini.  

It was a good show, and a good month.

Now I've signed up for Traci Bunkers 30 day Art Challenge (see badge at right).  You make the rules, you just need to create for 30 days consistently, no excuses!  I'm up for that challenge.  I think a better challenge for me would be to see if I could update my blog for 30 days straight!

The Nature of Gemini

My latest work - 24"x24" on birch plywood

WhenI designed this piece I had difficulty choosing which swan should be the white (good) swan and which should be the black (evil) swan.  I couldn't decide if I was creating this with evil conquering good in mind, or that evil was the protector of all things good. 

Seeing that there is enough evil conquering good in the world, I decided to go with the latter thought; my black swan would be a guardian, and my little white swan was submitting to being protected and allowing for someone else to take care of her.  This is something I struggle with personally, letting someone else care for me, letting go of control, relinquising the reigns if you will. 

From this the title "Nature of Gemini" was born.  Gemini is a dual-natured sign, a mix of ying and yang and represented by twins.  Gemini's easily see both sides of an issue and can be restless, much like my swans and me.

i'm uber relaxed!

yeah, right!  well, i'm part of a group called "the uber relaxed page traders".  we're a bunch of artists who have traded japanese moleskines in the past, who have decided we can't deal with strick deadlines, so we are trading pages at our leisure.  each artist has a theme, a page size and some media guidelines (which it seems everyone is uber relaxed about this too!).  this is my kind of group.  we are encouraging, grateful and inspired by each other's work.
so, i've completed my first page.  the theme: crows   the size:5"x7"  the media:anything.

for my media i chose watercolor and ink pen. I recently discovered the work or Roz Stendahl.  I think I must have been living under a rock!  I can't believe I never found roz's work before.  it is just stunning!  her blog is a wealth of information for anyone interested in keeping and/or making sketchbooks, using gouache or watercolor or dip pens.  anyhow, I tried to do a page using some of her techniques.  it's hard for me.  first, i really like saturated color and secondly, i tend to be very stiff! But, I did draw this by looking at negative space! :)

I know I need to still work on 'loosening up', but some habits are just hard to break! this is a little crow squawking about this or that for my uber relaxed art friend helene...i hope she likes it!
and the finished page:

so hard to get into a flow

here in NY we've been hit hard with storm after storm.  we've had 7 storms in as many weeks. the kids have been home, the dogs come in and out of the house and since my studio is in my home, it's been hard to get a flow of work going. 
i did manage to get a submission ready.  the theme is shakespeare's women and i've had so much fun getting these pieces ready.  keep your fingers crossed at least one will get in the show.

viola

queen elizabeth i

cleopatra