Wish Me Luck!

Thanks to Shannon at Musings on Realities whose post reminded me to submit photos for Lark publications' 500 Handmade Books.  I can get mighty lazy about taking photos and completing applications, because I'd much rather be making the art.


So the one book I've made is an accordian book, called "Peace Train".  I love this piece and was totally thrilled at the way that it turned out.

This piece combined a lot of techniques that I love---mixing and layering paint, stamping on metal, wire and beads...

The front and back of each panel has a peace quote stamped into the metal.

It would be fabulous to be accepted into the Lark publication...so wish me luck, please!


With fingers crossed,


Deborah

And a Good Time Was Had By All

Yes, a good time was definitely had by all!  Fourteen lovely women joined me for an evening of play and frivolity at the Sedro-Woolley Library to make the infamous picture frames decorated with paper napkins.  It was inspiring to watch everyone work and to listen to happy chatter and laughter...

It's always fascinating to me to see how people's projects turn out in the classes I teach.  Each person starts out with the same set of materials and puts their own unique fingerprint on their creation--alchemy at its best!  As you can see in the finished frames, the napkins with the red poppies and the napkins with the tulips and lilacs were very popular...notice the subtle differences in each person's creations.

It's such a joy to watch people create and to surprise even themselves!  I left class feeling so grateful to have shared the evening with this wonderful group--the class recharged my batteries.

Until next time,

Deborah

Hydrangea Heaven

When I moved into my house 7 years ago, the bushes and flowers had been woefully neglected.  Buried between 2 huge evergreens was a spindly hydrangea, hanging on for dear life.  I always feel bad pruning bushes and can hear them screaming as I approach with the clippers.  So I put earplugs in and mercilessly pruned this poor hydrangea each year.  It's taken ages for it to gain strength enough to be showy, but this year it's a beauty.

I caught these pictures right after a summer shower, and all the blooms looked washed and so fresh.  The bush is surrounded by a beautiful lacy collar of blooming sedum.  The amazing thing about this bush is the variety of shapes, colors and textures in the blossoms, from big, round balls of blossoms, to delicate, flatter blooms.  

And then there was this oddball bloom, standing tall and proud, up against the house...

I think this bush has finally claimed its rightful place, adorning the front of my house!


Happy Summer,


Deborah

It's Finally Finished!

Another gray, drizzly Sunday...yet another reprieve from doing yardwork and a great excuse to immerse myself in my artwork.  I finished up the collage I posted last week that had the papers hanging over the edge.  I'm pleased to say that all the frayed edges are glued, and the piece is complete!  I'm pleased with the result and have titled it, "Kaleidoscope". See what you think...

Kaleidoscope

I had great fun playing with texture and color in this piece, as you can probably tell.  I'm enjoying working with metal accents, being a bit of a metal worker, in the realm of jewelry.  Here's a closeup of the extreme texture...can you tell how I created the ridges??

I'm really liking this piece and haven't decided yet if it's for sale or not...guess I'll gaze at it for a while before deciding! These small wooden canvasses are just way too much fun!  But this isn't the only thing I've been working on--stay tuned for more new work.

Ciao for now,

Deborah

I CAN do Orange!

OK, granted that orange is not really my color, although I certainly appreciate it in a spectacular sunrise.  I'm definitely a purple and teal kind of person, but the blog was looking just a bit too monochromatic.  So...I decided to break out of the mold and go orange...what do you think??

Whole Lotta Orange!

Yes, it's the ubiquitous wooden picture frame-they're just SO much fun to work with.  And yes, I can create artwork with other colors in the spectrum without breaking into hives.  For this piece, I hand dyed tissue paper and layered it onto the frame.  I then used Micron pens in varying sizes (.005-.08) to create  Zentangle-inspired designs that you see here.  If you haven't discovered Zentangle, you're in for a treat when you visit their website.  These designs are meditative to draw, since they're repetitive "doodles".  I created an entire line of my gourd art using these types of designs...I'll be posting pictures of these in the near future.  


So stay tuned, for artwork from this world and beyond!


Deborah

Tiny Treasure

Sunday was another grey day with a storm looming here in the Pacific Northwest, so I didn't feel any guilt about claiming some time to make art instead of working in the yard!  I've had another 6" x 6" wooden frame gessoed and ready to work, so I pulled it out this afternoon.  As I listened to excellent music on my favorite community radio station KSER, I let myself be carried away as I pawed through my stash of dyed tissues and paper towels.


Here's the work in progress....

You can see that I haven't finished gluing down the papers, as they're still hanging over the edges of the frame.  That comes later.  I had fun playing with different textures...

Don't know where I'm going from here, but I've sure had fun so far.  Can you tell which colors are my favorites???  I think my blog is pretty much the same color palette so far.  Hmm....might have to really get out of my comfort zone and maybe give orange a try.  What do you think??


Wishing you all a fabulous and creative week!


Deborah

An Old Friend Returns

This past Saturday I hit the freeway to Seattle to attend a memorial celebration for a long-time friend, Mary Irvine, who passed some months ago.  She was an artist friend, and through her I met a number of wonderful women from her circle of friends in Portland, OR.  Mary and I had a number of happy trips to Portland to either attend fabulous bead shows (because of course we needed more beads!) or to sell the jewelry that we'd each made.


About 75 people attended Mary's memorial yesterday, and it was healing and wonderful to renew ties with old friends.  Our mutual friend, Geri, who is a professional pianist made a grand piano sing with her music in Mary's honor.  In addition to spending time with the lovely Geri, she had a necklace with her that I'd made in 2006.  It was nice to see the "old friends".

Rainbow Resin

Seeing this rainbow necklace reminded me how much fun I've had making jewelry.  Time to get out the pliers and silver and reacquaint myself with my bead collection.  What fun!


I'll keep you posted on my new bling creations!  Ciao for now,


Deborah

Napkin Fever!

Greetings, dear friends!


Well, I'm truly addicted to making art with napkins.  I went shopping to get the supplies for my upcoming napkin-decorated picture frame and found some truly beautiful napkins.  Of course I thought it would be good to have a few more samples of finished frames for the class.  So here's the latest frame, still in progress...

You can probably see that this frame is still a little rough around the edges, so I'll finish it up and add a quote to the center.  I just couldn't resist showing you the gorgeous napkin I found.


I also found napkins with vibrant poppies on them and just had to play with them.   Here's the result...

I love how the texture of the wood grain on the frame comes through the thin layer of the napkin...

So how about joining me in the class at the Sedro-Woolley Library?  I guarantee you that we'll have great fun!


Wishing you sunny days,


Deborah

A Fabulous Birthday Present!

I got the most beautiful, unexpected birthday present from my dear friend, Shannon.  She presented me with quilted wall hanging that she made me, complete with hand-stitched waves and hung on a piece of driftwood from a beach near her home in British Columbia, CA.  Shannon's a woman of many talents...

Check out the way-cool flower buttons and the wave stitching...

Am I lucky or what?

Wishing you all a happy summer day,

Deborah

And now...a word from Peanut, the ZenCat...

Yes, my lovely cat-friend, Peanut, is a Zen master and has taught me a lot.  He surely reminds me how important it is to play every day and gets rather cranky with me if I don't honor that.  He also lets me know how important it is to be intellectually stimulated--he's easily bored.  Of course, being a cat, he lets me know that getting enough relaxation and beauty sleep is of the utmost importance...something I most definitely can use reminding about!

Unfortunately, since we have "domesticated" our animal companions to such a degree, Peanut truly is only human.  Like us humans (the lesser species), he has a penchant for fighting and is quite the little bully.  Saving face is SO important to him, that he just can't back down--even when it's for the greater good (in this case, our home and our neighborhood).  And like many humans, he often cuts his nose to spite his face.  I'm the one who gets to pick up the pieces and do damage control.

I wonder what this world would be like if cats had "domesticated" us instead??  Might we be in a better state?  Something to ponder, isn't it? 


Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!


Deborah

Come Play With Me!

As a preview of coming attractions…one of the fun things I’ve been working on is using beautiful, artsy paper napkins to make art.  I’ve particularly had fun decorating small, wooden picture frames to show off quotes that catch my attention.  Here’s a sample of a frame that I made…

Can you believe this is a paper napkin??

For those of you nearby...my local library (that’s the Sedro-Woolley Library), invited me to teach a couple of evening art classes for adults.  I’ll be teaching this picture frame in a class called “Paper Napkin Magic”.  The class is from 6:00-8:00 PM on Thursday, July 26.  Best of all, the class is FREE, so call the library at 360.855.1166 if you’re interested in joining the fun!

Bye for now...stay tuned!

Deborah

My Blog is Born!

Greetings, dear friends and fellow artists!  I have finally decided to dip a cautious toe into the world of blogging, at least to share pictures of the art I’m making, if I don’t have any words of wisdom.

Thanks for my dear friend, Shannon Ganshorn, who is the Internet Diva, who has agreed to mentor me into coming out of the closet and into the light of the Internet!  She’s patiently willing to tutor my Luddite skills so that I don’t have to spend hours posting to my blog or updating my Facebook page.  Check out Shannon’s blog---her work is truly inspirational!

Thanks to Shannon, I discovered some wonderful wooden canvases--6” x 6” x 1.5” deep.  They were on sale at Opus Art Supplies in Canada, so I ordered a bunch!  They’re great for making small treasures.  I just finished my first collage on one of these canvases.  

Color My World

Here's a close-up of the metalwork.

I had great fun playing with tissues and paper towels that I had dyed.  Added some oil pastels and paints to blend the elements and then finished off with some metal that I embossed and painted.  What fun!

What do you think??

See you next time,

Deborah