finally.
between three birthdays and work and school and and and...i wondered WHEN i would get here.
today i took the time to sit and make something. i forced myself not to do wash or clean or do any of the other myriad of domestic duties that await me. instead i fed my soul and blissfully sat on the porch in the warm january sun and carved linoleum into a block for a print. i made the prints into notecards and postcards and experimented with papers.
that is what i call a good day.
when we drove up to asheville for SAFF, we got there late in the day on the last day. this can be viewed a myriad of ways: if your glass is half empty then you have missed out on all the good stuff that others have already bought up. if your glass is half full, as mine always is, then you have the opportunity to get some great deals from tired vendors who don't want to schlepp as much merchandise home as they came with. our outing worked in my favor as the sweet woman at black sheep yarns gifted me with ten bags of "felting fiber" that she had just bagged up into miscellaneous sorted colors that to me were a delicious melting pot of hues that were destined to be wool paintings. just what i was looking for...curls and locks and all sorts of textures. colors that filled the spectrum. i was in heaven AND not only did i get 20% off the sale price- she gave me some for free.
little did i know that when i put this fiber through valentines' drum carder that a half a bag of fiber would make six lofty batts of wool. that's right. i am a wool baroness now. i can't believe how much wool roving i have just from two bags of fiber. and still eight to go.
yipppeeeeeeee. here is what it looked like. that is one handy dandy tool. i still think i am a ways away from sheep, but...maybe closer than i think. until then, i can just visit valentine's flock. for those of you who don't know what this machine does, it basically cleans and combs the wool into useable or spinnable roving. amazing. thank you mon ami!
here's all the raw fiber
then the before and into the drum carder
then breaking the fiber to pull it from the carder
pulling the batt off the drum carder
lofty lovely-ness
more pretty colors
now to get felting those paintings. first, a sketch is in order.
happy hanukkah!
shalom (dove moon ribbon star), 3 1/2" x 5", charcoal and gouache on paper
we got a hold of these really cool blocks from a foundation that is circa the civil war. we decided that we wanted to do a series of figurative sculptures atop of them to sell at this year's show.
so we went back to the ol' drawing board and created a couple of interested sketches: angelic, goddess like pieces with great fluidity and grace. now to bring them to life.
remember when you would jump off the high dive and dive way down deep? you would be in a state of silence where the world changed; and you would look to the light of the surface and swim, and swim, and swim until you came up for air. that is exactly how i feel. everything is wonderful and quiet and full of light. i am adjusting to our everyday reality and how it affects my abitlity to make beautiful things on a daily basis. I am making beautiful things; but now it is with hundreds of children, everyday. and that is as rewarding as completing a craft project that has enveloped and inspired my creative self.
if you are tired of checking daily, you may want to switch to weekly until i get a groove. if you are patient then keep on keepin' on and thanks for your support. look at my pretty room.
i had forgotten how good i am at this..
while the pie crust dough firms in the fridge (tutorial forthcoming later today), the children and i agreed that we should spend the morning trying to quickly capture these beauties with pastels. so we set up out on the porch and made a still life in the center of the table... each of us pulled up a chair and we worked, talking about form and light and shadow and color. the girls did wonderful oil pastel paintings, working through the challenges of the medium that was new to them. i worked in some creamy schminke chalk pastels and set them in a sea of blue. we agreed that after studying them that we all just wanted to take a big juicy bite but decided it was well worth the wait for pie a la mode.
just peachy.
today is the yummiest gray overcast cool breezy drizzly day ever. a welcome respite for the eyes from the squinting all the time is my face stuck like this shimmering brightness of the dog days of summer sun. my chores got the better of my time yesterday- once you start to clean out cupboards you are addicted to the cleanliness factor and have to keep going. spring cleaning, a little late.
a missed opportunity perhaps, because now today, i have to attempt to make a grant deadline and with any luck i will get to bake the peach pie that is destined for these fuzzy spheres bearing the warm firey palette of the sun... is it any wonder cezanne felt so compelled to paint them? inspiring - i may pick up some pastels myself- divinely ripe summer fruits, a worthy subject.
alas, despite my lack of crafting these last two days, i am happy just to look at them... soon we will rendezvous.
.
in addition to completing my set, i also began a larger series of prayer flags that were inspired by my recent reconnection with the fine art of mehndi. 
i like this line of flags a lot because of the consistency in the element of line within the drawings... being inspired by the traditional mehndi designs creates a continuity that unifies the flags in a visually pleasing way. see for yourself, they are looking really good and the large scale is yummy
...still to come is beauty (flower) for blue, and joy (sun) for yellow... looking forward to completing them.
sometimes i just get to drawing and can't stop...and lately it has been of flowers...
this week i am working on some mother's day pieces in the way of some cards. primarily to practice for a small painting for a pendant. ( i am not used to working so small, ie, 1/2" by 1"... the painting will then go into a metal frame which then is sealed with diamond glaze which makes a hard resin like coating. i am curious about the results and even more interested in working in such minute details. the cards are just a way to perfect the elements of the composition... they make for a lovely personal correspondence but more importantly, they make me happy.
creating=happiness
and, coming soon: a craft apron bonanza including pattern and how to tips
the last time i saw my uncle john i had the opportunity to tell him how he influenced my life. rarely does one have the insight or frankly, the brain cells to recall such moments...when you can consciously remember how something effected you....let alone the wherewithal to tell the person about it decades later. in fact, i doubt he has ever seen any of my work.
i can remember being a very young girl at my grandparents house in absecon, just outside of atlantic city, and, well, we were kids so everything was fair game. nothing sacred. sure enough i came across his sketchbook and it was filled with beautiful ink drawings. i couldn't have been more than 5. nothing about them startled me; i was completely awestruck. you mean someone actually drew these? i thought... i didn't say anything to anyone that i had seen the book- it was my secret, but i swear from that moment on i knew i would be an artist. don't you just love that story?
figures are still my favorite. capturing the gesture, the ever changing anatomy, the grace. this sketch is done with a sanguine watercolor pencil. and, naturally, when you have three kids and only one pencil like it, it is bound to go missing. thus my beautiful, rubenesque, faceless maiden awaits her expression until it resurfaces- undoubtedly at the perfect time.
