I have been a little quiet lately. I have been feverishly working on the Halloween costume for my son and it should all come together tomorrow-please, please, please. I finished all that I could but my husband is going to finish the assembly. It was ALOT of work and I don't feel like doing another costume for a long time. He seems to be excited about so it should be alot of fun. My daughter is going to be a clown. A costume we were gifted with. Easy. Will post a pic soon.

I am making some paper floral winter wreaths for my shop that I have with my mom. You can see wreaths I have made and sold here. The shop has been empty for awhile but I wanted to make some wreaths for the upcoming holiday season. They will mostly be white, some with silver, some with red. I am using assorted papers, some papers I paint and I am using felt accents. I really enjoy making the wreaths but they are labor intensive.

I am heading off to bed right now. We have been keeping the kids up later in preparation for the upcoming time change here and my little girl has been waking up still when the sky is black. This makes for a worn out mama. Tonight is the last night of the e-course but I will wait until tomorrow when my brain isn't so foggy to listen.

Be back soon. Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween everyone.

Color Story-Fall

Fall... I usually tend to be more of spring kind of girl but amidst all the beauty this season is bringing I may be becoming more partial to fall. The sky has been so clear and the leaves so vivid. I have been collecting and noticing so much. The steel blue is there for the beautiful hue the mountain takes sometimes out my window. I hope when these days pass I will look back at the story and remember.

This week flew by. I have been mostly using all of my creative energy to make a Thomas the Tank Engine Halloween costume for my son. I will post a pic when it is done. I have started an inspiration board with a Winter theme. The above pics are from the start of it. The paper cutting is fun. My lines aren't so smooth but it is ridiculously tiny. I have lost some of the pine needles in the process. I am getting very excited for the winter and the approaching holidays. My kids are getting a tiny bit older and we are looking forward to sleigh riding, ice skating, cookie baking and gift giving.

I had hoped to have a Fall color story to show but I just haven't done it. I do have to say that the fall weather has been so great here in NY. We have been going to the playground every day (except the past two days). The trees and mountains are just seeming to be so much more vibrant to me this year. Just beautiful. We have been raking up leaves and my kids have been jumping in big piles and having a blast. So I hope to have a beautiful color story to reflect all of the natural beauty I am surrounded with. So grateful for it all!!

I hope you are having a joyful and creative weekend wherever you are!

Stitching...

Today I took a walk with my kids. Sometimes this isn't an easy thing to do. The weather, someone is tired, hungry, cranky. But it felt good. I needed it. It made me think of my first class with Marisa. She emphasized taking care of yourself as you embark on this journey as an artist. It can be hard when you have two other precious lives to take care of. But I know this is important. Taking care. I read an article that was in Prevention magazine. They interviewed the First Lady. She takes very good care of herself and she said it has gotten easier as her kids have gotten older. Of course. But she said that she feels women need to put themselves higher on their priority list. She wants to be an example for her kids. She doesn't want to be self sacrificing. She knows that to feel her best and be there for her family like they need her to be she has to do the work to take care of herself as well. I believe this to be so true and something I aim for. Sometimes it is just something as simple as getting myself a glass of water when I get one for the kids. My mother can't mother me in that way anymore so I need to do it for myself. To be there for myself and my family. I do hope you are doing this as well. And I hope to get out for another walk this week.

The above photo is just some stitches I created. I like the one on the right. I started it on a piece of cloth. Don't know when I will get back to it but that is what is great about it. It is always there when I want it. I am going to be busy with finishing my son's train Halloween costume this week but I am still going to get to the color story. And I have an inspiration board I want to start with WINTER as the theme.

Stay well. I would love to hear what you are working on...

ARTIST: Sonia Delaunay

Have you ever just fallen head over heels with an artists work? Well, I fall in love with alot of artists work but Sonia Delaunay (1185-1979) was one of my first favorites. I was introduced to her work back in college. I remember designing machine knitted fabric inspired by her art. I still have the presentation board. She is a beautiful colorist. I love her bold shapes and color as well as her interesting compositions. Her work includes painting, textile design and stage set design. This is a great retrospective of her work. She was a wife and mother. She often took second place to her husband, artist Robert Delaunay. After his death in 1941 she really began to blossom.

ART BOOK- Page 3 Surfaces

I am feeling much better today... thankfully. I had the idea to try painting on different surfaces. I used primed canvas, unprimed canvas, kraft paper, notebook paper, cardboard, fabric, coffee filter, cross stitch fabric, handmade paper and a recycled envelope. I used my Pitt pens with the brush tip to draw shapes (above).
Added gouache.




This was really fun to work on. I liked seeing how the different surfaces took the paint. I liked how it layed out as well. Like a little collage itself.

I hope everyone had a great weekend full of lots of creating. I am right now listened the Amy Butler on CraftSanity. Love it!

This week I am going to do a color story inspired by fall of course and do an artist profile.
I also need to add some great new blogs to my side bar. In finding my blogging voice I have been of course reading lots of blogs and I have realized the ones that I really love not only show beautiful photos but also share alot of their story. So I hope to be able to do that more myself. It can be a bit scary I admit. I do want to say that I talked to my husband about me having an afternoon alone 1-2 times a month. I don't know why I felt hesitant to ask for this. Maybe the mom/wife expectations in my head. Anyway I am excited about having this time set aside just for me!

I wish...

I had something exciting to share photo wise. But I don't. My whole family has been sick this week so things have been a bit slow. I have been going to bed early and trying to rest as much as I can. I did receive my new issue of Somerset Studio magazine in the mail today. I haven't read much but the Artist Portfolio is with Rebecca Sower who I mentioned in my last post. It was very inspiring article about how she has found her way as an artist and is still finding her way. Check it out if you can.

Also, I found this blog , via Swirly Girl blog, she is having a giveaway over on Wishstudio. And this great post by Christina Sbarro about balance as a mom. She hit the nail right on the head.

So I am hoping to have something to show soon.
Be well.

ART BOOK- Page 2 LAYERS

This is the second page in my ART BOOK. I wanted to play with layering. I used watercolors, india ink, puffy paint, white pen and black pen, some paper and vintage lace. This was done super quick without alot of thought. I did while listening to this podcast. Have you ever listened to the wonderful podcasts by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity? She has done so many great ones with so many inspiring artists and designers. I have to go back to listen to so many more. Please go check them out if you haven't already. Back to the book. Not loving it. I think it is washed out. I know it is just an experiment so I am not getting too hung up on it. It was fun to play. I may explore this again in a different way.

I hope everyone is having a great week. Oh and go check out this blog post by Rebecca Sower. It is about stiching and it looks like so much fun!

ART BOOK- Page 1 STITCHING

ART BOOK. This is what I am calling my little book of art experiments that I talked about here.
This is the first page where I just played around with stitching on various papers and fabrics. I used embroidery floss and yarn. I incorporated paint. I have to say I REALLY enjoyed working on this. I really loved playing. Not thinking too much about it just going with the flow. I think sometimes I get in my own way by thinking too much about something and I just need to stay in the flow. On the last pic I used a coffee filter on top of Aida cloth and embroidered it. I glued it on but it was a bit hard to pierce since it was glued. There was a spot you can see in the second photo that wasn't glued and that was easy to pierce. I like the look of the paper and fabric. I think it could be interesting in a collage.

I hope your weekend was wonderful and creative!

Fall Photos

Some more nature photos. Gatherings from our yard while playing with the kids. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Who Does She Think She Is?

I cried while watching this trailer.

The Experiment

I took my kids for a walk...

and this is what we found. Happy FALL!

Please bear with me while I try things out. I am playing. Playing with fabrics, paint, paper, stitching. I have playing with the blog. Trying to learn. I haven't had much time devoted to this playing. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like I want/need more time and I don't have it. Sometimes I feel lonely. Not lonely for other people. I am surrounded by someone all the time. What I am missing some days is me. So I won't dwell on it. I will take it day by day. I stopped by my local library yesterday, they have a gallery space. I picked up an application. Am I ready for an exhibit? Not even close. But I will be someday.
I made the above box frame per instructions on Maya's blog. Here is the post. Mine isn't as large. I only had a cereal box to use. I want to try and make more out of larger boxes. The art from school has been piling up. I love the way the pumpkin looks with the brown of the box. Thanks Maya for this great project.

I hope this week has been a great one for you.

My art

This is a page from my sketch book session last night.

Ever since I have started swimming in the fish bowl I haven't been making any work to completion. It has been just a week I know. I think just being on this current journey of discovery has led me to just trying things out. Playing with different subjects, colors, textures. To tell you the truth I wasn't heading on any particuarly clear path before the e-course but right now I am o.k. with not being on one. I don't feel I am going to completely stray and try pottery ( although I have always been interested in it). I do feel I am going give myself permission to discover just who I really am as an artist. Develop my style, what do I want to say to the world with my art, who do I want to reach with it. These questions have been lingering for awhile but I feel they are coming to the forefront even more so since the e-course. I DO know I want to paint, I want to try mixing media and I do want to develop a clear path. So maybe right now I am in the discovery phase a bit and right now I am o.k. with it.

Thursdays class was about your prescence on the web (this class was so great, will listen again) and so I will be trying different things out on the blog to. I am learning alot about blogs now. Today I tried Windows Live Writer with no success. It kept giving me an error about uploading pics. It seems great though so hopefully I can figure that one out. So this is all a huge learning phase for me and I couldn't be happier!

P.S. And to all you fishies who are reading... I couldn't be happier to meet you and swim along with you.

Inspiration Board

I started this board awhile ago. It isn't intended for a specific something just things I like. Colors, patterns, textures. Seeds of ideas for future projects. I feel as if I want to make more. With a more definite theme perhaps.

I just finished listening to my 2nd class in the fishbowl. It was great and had a big emphasis on blogs and online presence. Very informative and gave me alot to think about again.