Mini Vacation

Got away for a whole day last weekend up to the sand dunes at Silver Lake. First we took a leisurely dune buggy ride through a protected area on Lake Michigan, then we climbed the dunes in the state park and watched the crazy drivers with their souped up buggy machines come flying over the hill. I found this rusty thing by the lighthouse and hubby disillusioned me of my romantic notions of shipwrecks and fair maidens by telling me it was a recent car part. Bummer. Then I saw this beautiful tree shadowed in the sand. Right after I took the photo, a water bottle came tumbling to the base of the tree. A couple of tourists followed, but kept on going, leaving the bottle there.

Chunky Recipe Swap

Is this the chunkiest book you've ever seen?! I went with my friend Katie to a chunky recipe book swap and we put these babies together last weekend. 36 participants, 36 crazy chunky pages and lots of delish recipes.

More Every Day Art

These are a few of my favorites from the Every Day Art makapalooza.

Everyday ART!

What's it like to make art every single day? I found out for a month when I participated in the Every Day Art Project on Raw Art. For 31 days I created a new piece of art. I pushed myself to areas of discomfort and worked through them. Not everything created is great and my usual course is abandonment of the defective. But in everyday art I had to keep on working on a piece until I was satisfied--which often meant changing my expectations or being satisfied with less. This caused a clash with my perfectionistic personality but that is very very likely a GOOD thing! Each 6"x6" square of watercolor paper was created by drawing an image with pen. Most were based on photos. Then they were painted with watercolors, collaged with text and then stitched with black thread on the sewing machine. Every day art looks a lot like this!

WIP Skinny Bird Book

I'm working on a collaborative skinny book with Amy on the subject of BIRDS. Yum! The backgrounds are watercolor paper topped with book text from a poetry book. I sprayed it with Ranger Color Wash (my favorite art supply) then stamped with white acrylic. The small pieces will go on top. They are hand dyed fabric and little cut outs of eggs. At this point I've made a lot more progress with some hand stitching, but this is all I'm showing right now!

WIP Paperwork Book

And now for something completely different! I wanted a new challenge and an opportunity to work with some of my favorite hoarded hand-decorated papers. Most of them are from swaps with Melissa at Raw Art. They are mini artworks in themselves and I am very stingy with them. But I wanted to make a tribute to them, so I cut 45 pages approx. 5" x 6" and spiral bound them together. The next step was to create small collages on each page, using complementary handmade and hand-decorated papers. Once I was happy with the basic composition I moved on to embellishment with oil pastels, india ink, watercolors and hand-carved stamps. I have been inspired by the Raw Art group to use only my own hand decoration and it's been both liberating and terrifying. The final phase of this project will be stitching. I picked up the book Stitch Magic by Jan Beaney and it's so interesting to see the ways she uses stitch as a textural element. Since I am not a traditional embroiderer, I love to see alternative ways to use fibers and mixed media. I've just started these pages and have lots to go, but thought I'd share this work in progress.

WIP Paperwork Book More

Here are some more collages which I have not started stitching yet. They've passed the collage, stamp, pen and paintstick phase though. These handmade and hand decorated papers rock!

Mini Quilt Fabric Book

Because I am fascinated with board books and what you can do with them, here's my latest attempt at altering one. I had a number of mini art quilts leftover, so I put one on the cover and on the right side of each page. The left side is painted, sanded and painted again then softened with Shiva paintsticks and oil pastels. I used a sharpie marker for the text, which is sort of an amalgamation of the inspirational dialogue I get in my email every day from The Universe (look for a link in my "7 things" post). Here's a tip--marker does not write well over oil pastels. Duh. Of course the rest of you know what you plan to do next and keep a few steps ahead so you avoid these mistakes. I'm sort of a "flow with it" person.

Fabric Painting Class

Yes! I have been working on stuff--get ready for some whirlwind posting. Here is a sampling of the fabrics I made in a class at the International Quilt Show. It was a free-form class and I came in late. The teacher pretty much let us loose with some paints, stamps, brushes (toothbrushes too), combs and gesso. We brought muslin from home. At first I was disappointed because I wanted some instruction, but after awhile I began to realize the benefit of someone forcing me to abandon structure and just TRY STUFF. It was great! I had no idea what I was doing but I found out that sometimes that's good for me. These are lots of fun and I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I have a whole new respect for the lowly muslin.

7 Things About Me

I am so honored to be tagged for "7 Things" by spectacular diva Deb Silva! Especially since I'm such a poor blogger. I really do read all the lovely posts and emails from old and new friends, but it is so hard to find time to do the blog justice. Now, if you'll just stop over to my house I'll chat your ear off. But when it comes to choosing between typing about art and actually doing it...I head for the studio.

1. I got remarried in a haunted house on Halloween a couple of years ago. Everyone was dressed in costumes. It was a blast! My dearest had a flowing black velvet cape and I was ravishing in my emerald gothic-inspired corseted gown. Our cake was topped with a wonderful array of sugar skulls in Dia de los Muertos theme. What wedding would be complete without some dry ice flowing out of a cauldron and his and hers tombstones?

2. My (currently) purple hair was inspired by my daughter's awesome atomic pink hair!

3. I get notes from the Universe each day and they do a tremendous amount for my spirit, plus they crack me up because the Universe, as it turns out, is a stitch! I got the idea from the lovely artist Violette (a hero of mine).

4. I want to be a gypsy in my next life. What? No next life?

5. My favorite quote is: "I'd gone through life believing in the strength and competence of others; never in my own. Now, dazzled, I discovered that my capacities were real. It was like finding a fortune in the lining of an old coat." ~(Joan Mills) I'm still finding that fortune on a daily basis and it never ceases to amaze me! Never throw away that old coat.

6. I'm a librarian, yet I cut up books in my free time (for altering). It's a good thing I'm not a heart surgeon.

7. I've made tens of thousands of bars of handmade soap and people are still mad at me for giving it up for art. But one can only have a single mistress, right? At least in Michigan. Maybe in Utah you can make soap and make art, but I can't chance it here.

Now I get to tag some victims....I pick Amy, Jean, Nicci, Judi, Jamie, Ang and Cheryl!