friday and....

What's next? Worked in the studio yesterday ona simple collage project,

covering some composition books that I bought on sale. It was good. I was ferocious. Also cut up

2 felt pieces and framed them.

oops! & yahoo!

worked on finishing 2 wreaths yesterday. attached one upside down to base and cracked a piece of the other one while gluing on spanish moss! (both similar circular red/green) i made about 8 marbled clay ornaments, which looked so beautiful. upon seeing them again, they are so plain, no depth. so today, i will attempt to attach gold foil, emboss, and stamp these to add some more dimension.

i created some Xmas ornaments when staffing the community art center on tuesday. i am so

pleased with these felted santas! i needle felted them using Wendsleydale curly wool. beautiful stuff!!! it's hard to see: they are embellished - eyes and mouth- with beads. not sure whether to use these as ornaments or pins...

In the groove

so good to be home and working in the studio. most of my masks are faces only, no hair, etc. so i have been re-examining them to see which ones need tweaking. the garden goddess has received green wool felted hair. i am happy with the result (i think). she needed some softening. i have a tendency to keep on embellishing, overworking- not knowing when to stop. it is a difficult balance to achieve: just enough, but not too much.

“There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves”

Frank Herbert

(American science fiction Author and Writer 1920-1986)

i believe this is week 7

my trip to chicago interrupted week 6. my intention was to zentangle myself silly. however, not much time was devoted to drawing. i have posted my meager efforts. it is different working out of one's home environment. disciplin becomes much more important: setting up a time and a place to work.

this week i will be finishing up masks, labels, etc for my solo mask show october 2-31 at Hutchins Street Square in Lodi, California. The reception is on October 2 from 5:30 -8:30pm- with wine, music, and friends.

my theme for this week will be felting- i will work on creating a few atcs, and finishing up some hair clips, brooches, and perhaps fashion a felt mask of mira's lovely face!

i am flexible with my themes. what i work on is affected by what is going on in my life, not just a projected creative work flow. hence, since i need to work on felting projects, that is what i shall work on! i am happy as long as i am creating, experimenting, and learning.

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
- Ursula Le Guin

week #4 already?

week number 4 and i am thinking about is my solo mask show the first friday of october, the art center studio tour that i am participating in mid-october, leaving for chicago in 1-1/2 weeks and going to bend, oregon at the end of september. lots to do to get ready and lots of time spent going other places!

i am excited about my travels- to chicago and bend for weddings. i finished 2 felted pieces for wedding gifts. (see august 14) i have framed the one for my cousin Rachel. it looks wonderful! i need to figure out how to wrap it so i can bring it with me on the plane. the piece for my sister-in-law isn't yet framed but will be going to a wonderful local framer before i leave for chicago. i am recycling an old frame that i can use with a double matte.

i have a sewn mask made of paper from an asian poetry book, an old textbook, old sheet music, and my 1800s 2-volume dictionary. i used gold metallic thread, which doesn't show up well on the white paper. i am thinking of using my shimmery watercolors to show off the stitching. although i do love just the effect of the white and black of the text. i was so tempted to just glue the collage mask with matte medium, but i decided to adhere to my method for the week and sew the mask in sections which i then glued down onto the papier mache mask. i will be taking this week to finish this mask, and the other sewn mask, which needs something....

the 3rd papier mache mask which i started is being covered with sycamore bark. the bark was waiting for me at the park and it just called to be made into a mask! it is leading me away from my paper sewing, but also leading into this week's new material, BARK!!! i have already made several of my sewn atcs with river birch bark which is very layered and papery. it works wonderfully well with the paper. the sycamore bark is too thick to be sewn through, though i may be able to wrap it and stitch on the paper base, in addition to using heavy gel medium.

i am going where the materials and projects are taking me, in an unexpected direction, which i love! this is what 52 weeks is about! so, finish up all three masks: painting, embellishing, and glueing and sewing bark.

felting on the side

i have been felting the last month and cannot seem to stop. i ordered some wonderful felt from sara's texture crafts on etsy. the colors are amazing! i have become enamored of felt squares and circles. http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com

i am attending 2 weddings in september and decided to make the gifts - felted wall hangings. i have made them both. i haven't decided how to frame them; but will take them in to be framed next week. perhaps in a double matted glassed frame. i am hesitant about leaving the felt open to the elements (dirt/dust in particular).

the felting itself is very calming. i love forming it with my hands. fiber sculpture, sort of...
and of course, i am continuing to make brooches and hair clips from felt. i am documenting all this here so i don't forget that i was busy with other projects beside the main 52 week projects. a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

i have a very clever friend, mira, who has reminded me that if i look back on what i have done, i will be able to see the common threads which run through my work and define me as an artist. one revelation i had this morning while driving in the car, is this: i work in bold strokes and am less interested in the details, than the whole. i have been looking at some beautifully detailed and crafted needle felting with embroidery. i love the hand sewing detail, but it is just not my thing! i become too impatient! i am more of an expressionist in my work. the process is my focus and what excites me most, especially when it expresses my vision.