I love to recycle old art pieces into something else. I wanted to do some Valentine's Day Pins for a couple local stores so I took some hand felted floral Pieces that I had embroidered and beaded 2 years ago and cut them up to embellish these hearts. I think it works, don't you?

New Danglies!

     I started these danglies at our Menucha weekend.  I actually did them in 3 sittings.  One to cover them with handmade decorative papers, one to bead the spool, and one to finish them off with a hanger and bottom embellishment.  I think I have somewhere in the low 20's finished.  I will be charging $6.00 for them. I spent way more time than I should have on them for $6.00 but that's not what it's all about.  It more about creating something unique and beautiful out of things I already had.  I must admit I did buy a few different things of colored and silver and gold wire.  I didn't have to but I wanted to have plenty of red and green  and I was out of gold and silver.


I made these last year and decided to do them again.  I think they make a nice hostess gift or small gift for a friend.  I also like how they look on Christmas trees but they look just as nice hanging anywhere.  I always pick out a few to keep for myself and they find themselves hanging wherever so I can enjoy them year round.

Weekend Stragglers...

I feel like I've been creating in a Vacuum--only the opposite!

I've been literally spewing out art lately!

I took Jesse Reno's class in Oct at Art & Soul.  He begins pieces very similarly to how I have been starting for about 4-6 years.  I sort of got a kick start back in this direction on that day.  I had fogotten how much fun it is to start from chaos and try to make heads or tails of it by drawing and coloring out the negative space.  My pieces are not like his, they are more like others I have done with a new twist.  I have been having so much fun with this technique.  I hope you like them too. If nothing else they are making great cards.

I just picked up 632 cards from my new printer, Paper Jam Press on Fremont and around 49th.  Up to now, I had been adding a few new cards a year.  This past week, I added 24 new images to my card line.  I reprinted a few of my best sellers also.  I also took 15 pieces into be framed. I am getting very excited about our Open Doors Show.  

What do you think?  If they are priced right will they sell?   

Professional Photography really makes a difference!

I firmly believe that having my art shot professionally makes a difference.  Ever since I started entering juried shows via .jpegs, I have had many of my better pieces shot by Dale Leix, owner of Today's Photo, in Lake Grove, OR  503-636-8967.  I have also had him set up these pieces for cards. 

When times get tough and money is tight many artists start shooting their own art and then are disappointed when they don't get into shows. On the other hand, many of my friends are excellent photographers and their shots are beautiful.  I have not gone this route because I don't want to spend my time doing it.  I'd rather create and leave it to a professional.  I have found I am entering less shows instead.

For quite sometime, I have been scanning smaller pieces intended for history, but I have also been using the scans on my blog and sometimes for cards.  I thought it might be interesting to you to see the difference a professional photographer makes on 4 of the pieces I did during October.  If you look back at my October photos you will see the earlier scans.  I do need to point out that the scans show less of the pieces as my scan bed is smaller than the original pieces. 

So what do you think?  Is there a big difference?


BTW, just as many artists share my opinion as those who don't.

More of the Same, BUT I'm liking it and having fun!

October: An Artful Month

The past couple years, October has become my most busy creative month.  I have just returned from a weekend with my art group, The Portland Art Collective.  We go to Menucha 2x a year for a weekend filled with Friends, Art and Food.  This weekend was no different from others in the past.  It was a lovely time!  As usual, I got a lot done and overpacked.  You never know what you'll need!  Considering that I left packing till Thursday night after 7:30, I didn't do too badly!  I left a whole project in my car and got to everything else I brought. I actually did two things I did not plan.  One was painting Citra Sol on National Geographic pages and then letting them sit closed for a half hour.  I actually did a few monoprints from these and then added a bit of paint.  The Heron and flower pieces below represent this process.  Then you pull the two sheets apart and come up with a very interesting blur of color.  Thank you for your generosity, Suzie!  I also learned about Cold Laminate Collage from Sue.  The other was using the colorful crepe paper scraps from a Mexican Flower project being done by Robin and making abstracts by wetting "found" pieces and letting them bleed onto paper as they start to dry.  Thanks Robin!  You can see what I mean below.  I also started 3 different danglie projects that I will be finishing in the next 2 weeks in front of the TV.  I just covered the wooden threadspools and corks using handmade papers and put 2 holes in little metal snowmen.

Below are some examples of what I worked on.  The First three are Jesse Reno inspired animals.  Saturday morning, a deer was sitting on the grass outside the huge picture windows.  We all thought it was a baby.  Later we decided that it must have been a young doe as a 2 point buck came out and started kissing her.  A while later they disappeared together into the bushes.  I drew a quick sketch of the doe as we were watching her.