The Graduate

It's graduation time, and our family is no different. Rosi graduated from Puppy Obedience Class today. Doesn't she look proud in her fancy cap?

She did super learning all her commands. We still need to fine tune a few ... but we'll get there. We'll start intermediate training in July.

Paper Towel Jewelry, May's Read & Tagged Again

I can't believe it's the last day of May. Where is this year going? It certainly seems to be in a hurry! I made some jewelry for a swap I was asked to lead, using my Paper Towel technique that was published in December. I especially like the bracelet and plan to make one for myself (I need to get more eyelets).



May's Read was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. It was recommended to me by my Mother-In-Law when I told her how much I enjoyed The Kite Runner (also her recommendation). I have to admit that I do enjoy historical fiction and learning about other cultures. I am always surprised at how completely off most of my assumptions are. Anyway, I did, in fact, really enjoy this book. It is a fascinated glimpse into Japanese culture (albeit mostly pre-WWII). I will say there was one key plot point that I recognized/predicted when it happened, and it did make the ending less of a suprise than I suppose it could have been. Still, a good book, which flowed very nicely and was easy to enjoy.

Tracy tagged me and I am supposed to share 6 unimportant things about myself, so let's see...

1) I am a brunette, by birth and by bottle

2) I am very good at organizing things, but don't tend to be very organized

3) I really enjoy photography

4) I love roller coasters

5) I love milk chocolate, but really don't like dark chocolate at all

6) I would love to live by the ocean

I am supposed to tag 6 people, but I'm no good at choosing - so if you are reading this and you'd like to play along, consider yourself tagged!

More Thread Painting

I learned something. I'm really not one to pay much attention to details. I was preparing to load a photo when I saw the little words add more photos. Hmmm... so I clicked it - and found out I could upload all my photos at once, rather than once at a time. Nice.

So - these are the thread painting pieces I have received so far (I'm still waiting for one) in trade for my "Live your Art" pieces. They are each so unique and wonderful. Take a look ~

"Through the Trees" by Tracy

"Galmour Girl" by Joanna

"Venus" by Fannie

Postcard by Carol

Pretty awesome, huh?

Thread Painting

This is a postcard I made for a trade. It was a great opportunity to play around with my new machine. The fabric is hand-dyed, and then hand painted. The words, brush, and orange spots are thread painted. I'm happy to say that I made an extra to keep! I'll post the ones I received as soon as I can get them photographed and uploaded.

Up to Something

Sometimes, something's got to give, and lately it's been my blog ... I just haven't had the time to post, and on the few occassions when I've made the attempt, my computer has hung up on me and I ended up just wasting time. I have a lot to share - hopefully I'll get some posts on here in the next few days.

One of the projects I've been working on has been a bit of a secreat. It is called an "Exquisite Corpse Round Robin" (ECRR). There are 6 people in each group, and each of us creates a background piece comprising of 6 - 6" squares. We chose a theme and colors, and complete one square. Before sending the piece on to the next person, we cover our work - all except 1/2" that adjoins an unworked square. The next person has to take clues from that little 1/2" of work and continue the piece, then they cover their square and it goes to the next person.

My theme was the word "CREATE", which I stipulated one letter per square in a distressed/grunge style. Otherwise, I was open to interpretation. I did the first "e" and sent it on it's way. I recently received my completed piece back and here it is! I'll have some finishing to do, but I hope to hang it in my studio. Another day I will attempt to load a photo of each square individually so you can see. In the meantime, you should be able to click on the photo to get a closer look.

In our group of 6, there are 2 pieces that are finished, mine being one of them. Here is the square I did for the other one - I'll show my squares for each after the owner receives it back. This one was a theme of grief/loss in the colors rust/blue. When the piece arrived, there was a photo of a dog that had just succumbed to bone cancer at only 6 years old. I worked on this piece about 2 weeks after Rosi arrived, so it was an emotional piece to work on. I ended up copying a photo of the dog (Bear) onto fabric, and fading him away behind some sheers. Then I made a dog collar from ribbon and a bottlecap, as if he has left it behind. The tear drops on the left were to tie into the edge of the original square that I could see.

To those that are here and haven't given up on me completely - thanks!!! I appreciate you.

It's time for COLLAGE MANIA!!!!

It's May and that means time for Collage Mania and time to acquire some great original art with full benefit going to the American Cancer Society.

The collages are available for preview on Virginia Spiegel's Website:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania081.html

There are 21 pages of gorgeous artwork. Something is sure to speak to you! The collages (all of which fit into an 8x10 frame) will be available for $80 on May 5th and $40 on May 6th. These are minimum donations - of course you can always give more!

My collage "Hope", which I featured on my blog back in January, is on the first page (the one that the link takes you to directly) - third one down. It is in my art studio, ready and waiting to go to its new home after the auction.

Please take a look at the collages, find one that you love, and support a great cause!

In the meantime, I'll continue to try to get this computer working at a point where I can share photos with you again soon.