finished

I am sure you are all kinda sick of seeing this piece- well, never fear; it is finished!

I just wanted to show the last bits of hand stitching I did

It now goes off to the States

oh; and to answer your questions, Susanna; the background is an old cotton sheet

that I have cut.....then a sheet of music that I put a bit of gesso over;

actually, too much gesso as you cannot really see the score

I only knew that it had to have a cardinal in it

so looked on the internet for a nice image -

and use that as a guide to free machine stitch the bird

everything else just sort of happens

I don’t really have a plan

yikes, it is almost 3.30pm.......and what have I done today?

paid bills, filled out a form to get extra pages added to my passport

(I know; weird - but have run out of space for stamps -

the passport control people are getting quite annoyed

every time I come back into the country)

things I haven’t done:

arranged my studio.......I have a new big table and wanted to see if I could rearrange

the furniture in here......haven’t done it so am sitting here with stuff and

boxes and storage containers and piles of paper and piles of magazines and

piles of books and piles of cloth all around me

oh, and a bike I brought back from France

in the middle of the room (long story)

I have two more bird commissions, but they don’t have a pressing deadline -

so before that, I would like to do a few Valentine’s like I did last year

and see if I can put them in the café next door again

I also have a huge pile of magazines I have been collecting but never take the time

to look through them - they all look really inspirational

maybe schedule in an afternoon where I just sit and look through things;

without feeling guilty for "not doing anything" (even tho I know it is actually doing something)

hm.......all jumbley, jumbley, jumbley

__a

friday

wow

first off, I would like to thank everyone for such nice comments on my “wishing wednesday” post

I have never done something like that before - so thank you for your messages!

now........I had planned on finishing this today - but somehow got sucked into

internet/bloggyland and........well; didn’t finish

needless to say - I also didn’t start the one I had planned on starting

when I finished this one......if you follow me

we have a printing job to do tomorrow, so maybe in between tasks, I can finish this

hope everyone has a nice weekend -

and again - thank you so much for coming by.......and especially for your nice comments

__a

new work

I have actually started doing something creative!! woo hoo

I realised I have at least 3 little commissions to work on.........duh, better get going

then I was about to submit my work for a local show when I realised

that I didn’t actually fulfill one of the requirements......oops

but there is another show I want to try to get into - so will set my sights on that one

anyhoo;

here is what I have been working on......

it of course will have more embellishments and stitches....just as soon as I figure out what that will be!

on another note: I was finally able to get some photos off an old camera.......

taken a few years ago - but lovely images! (well, I think so)

so. bear with me - you are going to have to go on another trip with me to the coast

Dungeness and Camper Sands to be exact

a beautiful, lonely, mystical area

Prospect Cottage - Derek Jarman’s house - now a rental property, I think

a beautiful, sparse seaside garden; full of all sorts of stones and bits he found on the beach -

making little sculptures

how beautiful is this?!

below are pictures I took at Camber Sands, which is not too far from Dungeness

thank you for stopping by!

__a

goldfinch reworked

I felt something was wrong with my goldfinch picture......like; it looked horrible!

so decided to rework it a bit

am much happier with the outcome

and I finally found a way to use my fancy feathers I bought ages ago.......these are pretty subdued -

they also come in purple, bright green, red and turquoise -

not sure when I will use the others as I usually don't use bright colours like that.....we'll see!

not sure you can tell, but there is also an amber "jewel" on top of the feathers, which I have been itching to use too

tomorrow will be taken up by trying to set up my open studios - which starts Saturday til 12th September

felted bags by Get Felt were delivered today - and they look fantastic! great colour combos - will be sure to take photos and get all the different items so you can see everything

rainy day today........rainy day tomorrow

hopefully it will clear up by the weekend - I have visions of hanging my aprons on the brick wall (somehow) outside my studio door- hoping the colours will draw people in

__a

I actually started

well, have finally started on something in real life, not just in my head!

red-winged blackbird

so......that’s at least started and while I am not sure how to go forward with it,

I can start on the goldfinch that I mentioned days and days ago!

and also finish up the 3 aprons I have made so far and start on a couple more.......

still need to show some photos of those but will wait until I put the pocket on them -

and am thinking a few old buttons too

am also getting several design jobs coming in, which on the one hand is great because then I can pay my studio rent.....but looks like they will all come at once and are very time-consuming so my days of procrastination and dawdling might have to come to an abrupt end in order to get everything done

on a sad note; while in the States, I took some amazing photos of all these exotic looking butterflies that would come and flutter around my parent's butterfly bush (buddleia)

and now I cannot find them on my camera or on my desktop!! ooohhhhh........

I am thinking that doing some butterfly pictures would be nice and was going to use my photos for inspiration; not to mention putting them on here for you all to see!...oh well

I was wandering around various blogs this morning (see procrastination comment above) and came across this lovely video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&feature=player_embedded

thanks to Abigail Mooney of percy and bloom for sharing this on her blog, which is where I found it

I think it is a really beautiful piece - love the animation and the poem

I spend a lot of my time by myself........sometimes on purpose, sometimes not

well.........thanks for stopping by - I know it has been awhile since I have been blogging - but will keep it going while I get ready for Artwave, the local art trail/open studios festival

and also; thank you so much for your comments, I really, really appreciate them!

__a

ta-da!

well, I think it is finished.......

and thanks to L for giving me stacks of old musical scores......will start using them in my work - I did use a small fragment in this one

I am now going on a little trip to the Isle of Wight this weekend, courtesy of lovely husband - what a surprise!

we both need some time alone (together alone, I mean)

so am hoping for long walks on the beach and a bit of reading and LOTS of seafood!!

must remember to pack my rain things as it is supposed to drizzle the whole time, making it even more adventurous and atmospheric

now I just need for the hotel to have a roaring fire! (pleeez!)

back to the birds

back to the birds!

I am still having a bit of trouble getting into my writing for this blog.....so please bear with me -

am not sure how personal I want to get.....but would like to have somewhere to mull things over -

other blogs I enjoy seem to have a mixture of art and life - so you can get a full picture of the person writing-

so, will just keep on going and see what happens - I think a little more silence in my head would help......I have got into the habit of always having either the radio or music on constantly

I have also been tagged by my new friend, L to write 7 things about myself - will take a while to muster up that one! but will add that probably tomorrow - take a look at her blog....she wrote so beautifully her 7 things.

and now to the bird - a black-capped chickadee, to be precise. I had to start over from the original one I showed the other day - I just felt the text in the background wasn't showing up enough.....so here is where I am at:

I thought I'd finish this today - but think tomorrow it is more likely to be done......(I hope!)

oh! and for the past two days, we have had sun!! I even was able to sip my coffee in the courtyard - altho now it is looking mighty chilly out there

last night a big blanket of fog rolled down from the hills and into the town.......should have gone out with my camera; maybe next time

and as always - thank you - thank you for all your comments and for coming by and looking

XX

and now.......

and now.......on to the next birdie - which will hopefully be winging its way to the US to be shown......but will tell you more about this collaboration later

I have another collaboration I have been working on with a friend in the US, but am missing the photos that show the beginning, so once I get those - I will show you what we have been sending back and forth........

finished blue bird

well, I finished my little blue bird - adding more red hand stitching, tacking down a couched bit of yarn that I had and adding a bit of scrim and a button. I am sending him off to a special place and if he is approved - I will certainly let you know where to find him! all for a good cause

and now..........

I have started a new bird picture today and am hoping to show some of the steps in my process. of course, I only thought about the pictures after I had been working a bit on it already.

the background is actually a paper copy of an old deed I have that is written in the most amazing script onto some sort of parchment from the 1800’s

I think it is a land deed

I machine stitched that onto an old piece of white cotton (an old sheet, actually)

I am taking the easy way out and using a copy of a photo of a bird - normally, I draw just the outline.....but am cheating a little bit by using the whole picture - altho I will be stitching over it and tearing off the outer bits so you won’t actually see the photocopy

anyway......here is me using a plain embroidery stitch to outline the bird before I start filling it in with free-machine stitching, which I will be doing tomorrow -

not exactly sure what will be happening next......so tune in to find out!

and here is the back of this piece, which I actually like as well! ok, my knots are quite untidy.......but he still is cute

hm.......maybe I should look into this a bit more......

I made this a while ago for my mother in law, but thought I would share it with you as I think I might have caught a glimpse of Spring today!

Hope everyone is having a sunny, productive week. (well, ok, sunny might be asking too much)

Thank you for dropping by - and I also want to thank everyone for their comments