Friday, January 28, 2011

Snow Days

The kids had a snow day from school yesterday; today was my day off and it snowed all day.  I decided some little winter birds would be the perfect way to celebrate.  I LOVE snow and wish our winters had a lot more of the white stuff.  I had planned to stay in all day and make art, but the beautiful falling snow got me outside so that I could enjoy it. 

Last night I got organized (well, one aspect of my life anyway). I made a list of the projects I want to make as soon as possible, and gathered all the tools and supplies I need.  So now that it is getting dark, I have to stop gazing at the snow, and get started on that list, and turn my thoughts to spring.  But guess what?  Its suppose to snow tomorrow too! :)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New Sketchbook Page!


Here is my first sketchbook page for January.  I haven't been able to paint for quite some time so I just couldn't wait to get it posted.  The snowflakes were fun to do, I used a teeny tiny brush and white acrylic paint.  The rest is all watercolor.

Monday, January 17, 2011

WIP...from hell

Don't get me wrong, I love this sweater, but this has been a work in progress for FIFTEEN years.  It is a simple crewneck sweater that I started back in 1995 when I was learning how to knit (self taught).  The first version was dark blue and I quit when the pattern told me to decrease, I figured it was too hard.  Once I learned that decreasing was easy, I picked it up again but then couldn't find the rest of the yarn (several house moves later).  I found a lovely sage green and started again.  I was nearing completion of the back of the sweater (the first piece), when I had to face the cold hard facts, and believe me I TRIED to ignore them.  My size is muy largo, but this sweater was looking like it could fit an elephant. "Gosh, were they really serious about all those admonitions to check the gauge?"  So I finally checked the gauge and yeah, it was a little off.  Started all over again and THEN noticed I didn't have all the same dye lot and the color change was very evident.  Enter cute cherry color that you see now, and I am almost done with the back piece.  This sweater, my first sweater, is on my bucket list.  I will complete this sweater, even if it takes me another 15 years!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Winter Ptarmigans


I have finished my first painting of the new year; it has been too long since I have been able to post a painting. It was an interesting experiment, I had no idea how to pull off painting white birds and white snowflakes on top of white snow in watercolor. Not entirely successful but it has some whimsical charm I guess.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Welcome Winter 2011!

Now that Christmas is over I can show some of the gifts I made. This is a mixed media work for my mother. I painted the cardinal on muslin with acrylics and cut it out to attach to the snowflake fabric background. I attached a smidge of lace to embellish birdy's chest and over stamped with white acrylic. I also sewed on a few snowflake buttons. The sheer fabric overlay on the left has silver metallic snowflakes. My mom supports quite a population of birds through the long Minnesota winter, so I thought I would give her one bird she doesn't have to feed.