"If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." --Vincent van Gogh

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Two Down

I finally managed to complete two pieces today. The first one is a hand-dyed cotton background with hand painted dryer sheets and thread painting. I had the basic design down last week but got stuck on the embellishing. I think the black and silver seed beads, and the thread painted words in the border add enough interest without overpowering the piece. Have I mentioned how much I love my new machine?????

"Live For Today"
The second piece is a style that I've done before, with dryer sheets underneath painted tyvek. For this one, I grabbed my blue and green dryer sheet scraps and went with that color scheme. The artwork is 8x10, which is the largest that I've done in this manner, but I like how it turned out. After stitching the layers and melting back the tyvek to expose the dryer sheets, I hand stitched a variety of beads to the piece.

"Adrift"

As always, I welcome your feedback!

Recently I learned that two people who are very dear to me have started blogs. I invite you to take a look, if you'd like. Neither of these are "art" blogs.

First off, my Aunt has a blog! She has been writing her thoughts on the weekly gospel reading in her church bulletin for a while now, and with the help of my cousin, her writings are now available on her blog. If you are interested in her wisdom, please visit From Dee's Desk.

Secondly, my very dear friend, whom I met on the first day of 6th grade and with whom I have shared many adventures, has started a blog. She is an avid outdoors person and cyclist. She's also a great person. Check out her adventures at Dance the Tide.

7 comments:

TracyB said...

LOVE it!! Have tons of tyvek painted but not sure what to do with it................you've inspired me :)

Joanna said...

Love these Michelle! How's your new machine? Making a big difference I bet!! The flower is great.

morningDove said...

Michelle I love the name of both of your pieces. The "Live For Today" has so much going on in technique. Very beautiful. Wish I could see a closeup of "Adrift". Fascinating piece. They will probably be sold as soon as they hit the store. Largest pieces every done, congratulations.

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

Both very lovely!

Anonymous said...

Lovely pieces Michelle, so glad the new machine is working out for you.

Sue said...

I tried to leave a comment earlier, but I think I lost it somehow. My apologies if this comes through twice! Both pieces are fantastic, though I especially love "Live For Today".

Nikki said...

Thank you for sharing the links. I can't tell you how encouraging they have been to this weary soul.

I love "Live For Today."