Springtime Gothic Arch in Fabric

Near the top of the list of reasons why I love being a member of the Paper Whimsey Artists Group is their unusually creative swap/mingle challenges. These prompt me to work in forms and with materials which I might not otherwise explore. That was cetainly true with the Fairy Slippers Project, which I recently featured here on the blog and which got me to use fabric and beads. I carried that a step further by completing another fabric challenge this week: a Springtime Gothic Arch and Charm. Guidelines were to use fabric as the background for a springtime theme and hand make a charm to attach to the arch. The fabric jumped right off the store shelf and into my arms because I loved the vivid, vivid colors and images on black. While I know that black is not a color usually associated with spring, it works for me because it represents the departure of the darkness of winter and the arrival of the vivid light of spring. My charm is a minature version of the clay love buds with which I've been having so much fun of late.

The Fairy Slippers Project

The Paper Whimsy Group hosts so many fantastic projects, all of which challenge me to try new techniques and continue to grow as an artist. That has certainly been the case with their Fairy Slippers Project hosted by Carol Stocker. Because I'm not as comfortable working with fabric as I am with paper, sewing the tiny 3 inch long slippers pushed me a bit, but after a few bungled tries I managed to stitch my black velvet slippers successfully. I then added shiny red and gold beads, so close together that little of the velvet is left exposed. To say I was crosseyed for days from all that intricate beading is absolutely accurate.
The next stage of the project was to create a display box, etc. to house the little wonders. I worked with a wooden frame which I painted black and to which I attached a minature treasure chest I had created. I stamped and embossed in gold a ship's wheel and anchor, and hidden in my supply stash I found an old cabinet card of a young boy to which I added wings and a pirate's hat.
My slippers are for Moni the Pirate Fairy, a mischevious little guy who lives in the billowing sails of a pirate ship and has become fabulously wealthy from his share of the pirates' treasures.

Six Word Memoir

Can you tell your life story in 6 words? That is the challenge posed to me by the fabulous Carol Stocker, and quite a challenge it turned out to be. Carol had been challenged by the equally fabulous Theresa Martin, and this thought provoking little exercise is appearing on a number of the blogs which I visit frequently, so many in fact that I'm not able to pass the challenge on, as suggested, because all my blog buddies have already been challenged and have posted their six word life stories. After MUCH thought, here's mine.

EVERY DAY I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW.

Those words encapsulate "why" I think we're all here on planet earth and "what" we are supposed to be doing throughout our lives. The words also reflect my greatest joy.

I chose the spiral as my visual representation of the words as that ancient form symbolizes to me the unending cycle of learning and self growth.

Love Pods

One of my favorite things as a child was playing with clay. If no clay was available, mud worked pretty well. Evidently whatever hooked me on that creative medium years ago is still alive and well because I've had great fun working with Sculpty recently. I'm creating Love Pods, minature faces enfolded in the petals of a flower pod. I love the feel of the Sculpty in my hands, being able to shape and fashion it, applying pearly powders, popping it in the toaster oven and, viola, a cute little pod is born.

White Quilties and White Bradford Pear Trees

Joy! Joy! Springtime has FINALLY returned to the Bluegrass State. Outside my art room window the row of Bradford Pear tress which line the road up the hill to my home are in full and glorious bloom. Oh my goodness! A beautiful sight for tired by winter eyes.

The trees remind me of the fabric art pieces I created for Lenna Andrews' White Quilties Swap. If you're interested you can check out all the entries at www.creativeswaps.blogspot.com. Fabric in not a medium in which I frequently work, but these quilties were great fun to create, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Alteredartswap Tip In Journal

High on my list of favorite art activities in 2008 is the Tip In Journal Project in one of my very favorite goups, alteredartswap.

In February I created a spread for Judy Evitt's "White Rabbit," Jefferson Airplane's version of Alice in Wonderland. GREAT fun!! For the background I chose alcohol inks on glossy photo paper to achieve a "psychedelic" look. I added to that the funkiest, wildest images I could find. The results, as we said in the 60's, are "cool, man," in my opinion. These pages definitely allowed me to stretch my creativity and achieve a look quite different from my usual. That's one of the greatest values to me of swaps and mingles; they spur us to try new ideas and gain varied perspectives

My March pages are for Tamara Comerford and took me in a completely different direction than Judy's. Tamara and her husband have recently purchased their first home, and her chosen theme is "Home Sweet Home" in shades of red. I experimented with and discarded half a dozen ideas before my muse finally whispered "Quilts." Being a born and raised Kentuckian and having spent many years in the Appalachian Mountain region of the state, I have long had great appreciation and affection for the works of art created by the women of the region through their quiltmaking. I chose the Log Cabin pattern for Tamara's spread and pieced together a minature fabric square to center one page. For the other page I found a poem which compares the warmth and comfort of a quilt with those qualities in families.

Don't send that Ransom!!!

I've been away from this blog for a full month. Shame on me! No, I wasn't kidnapped, just inordinately busy and to tell you the truth, pretty much forgot about my blog. I'm back and it's catch up time.

February was full of interesting projects that kept me hopping. Pictured above are the cards I made for a Vintage Card/Postcard Swap being hosted by Lenna Andrews. Lenna's swaps are always cream of the crop experiences, so I put tons of time into the creation of my vintage pop up cards. Lots of cutting, trimming, positioning. I'm hoping the swap participants who receive these will be pleased.