A little afternoon delight - sunshine that is!

I took these photos on Saturday about 5pm - the sun is low in the sky but shines so brilliantly in our front door (wood door was open but screen was closed). The temperature was in the high 70s, very enjoyable. I loved how the sun and shadow played off against each other and how in the top photo, you can see the colored reflection of the bookcase on the tile. In real life, it was actually even more colorful.

Hope you are staying warm,
Chris

some peeks at a Classic and some random thoughts about art and craft

I have been working on a canvas to submit to Somerset Studio for their "Classics" challenge - lots of paint(acrylic and watercolor), paper, fabric, laces, vintage items, and adhesive - the real definition of mixed-media!

I got some fantastic books at the library this week (along with the dvd Inception) - I had asked the library to see if they could get 2 books via interlibrary loan - Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style, both by Natalie Chanin - well, the library ended up purchasing them and I am the first person to check them out - so love the patterns and recipes. Chanin's way of deconstructing teeshirts is explained very well and her projects are so intriguing, stylish, and useful.  I have gotten interested in bookbinding (due to Marit's wonderful blog) and got Book+Art and Cover to Cover - I loved Marit's stitching over the tape - and the 2nd book has instructions on how to do that. I am creating a book project to submit to Somerset Studio and am trying out different book art techniques. I also got a wonderful drawing and painting book - Natural History Painting with the Eden Project - the cover has a watercolor feather on it that I so want to learn to paint. The book also has techniques for painting shells and goodness knows, I have a lot of them from when we cruised on our sailboat.

I will be starting a new knitting project - the Shalom cardigan designed by Meghan McFarlane (free pattern on http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shalom-cardigan . Amanda Soule on http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/ has knitted 2 of these sweaters, and I love the look of them. This cardigan project is very different from the Jane Thornley free-range style of knitting that I have been doing the past year - the pieces that I have knitted are very artsy but I rarely wear them. I have been thinking about why I create - why I craft - and what types of projects give me the greatest pleasure. Sometimes I look at what I have created and say why - what was the point?   I remember this quote from William Morris: "Never have anything in your house that is not useful or beautiful."  The Shalom cardigan is useful and beautiful.

Do you ever think about your art - your craft, and why you do it - what is its purpose? I read Amy Barickman's Vintage Notions (mentioned in an earlier post) and both she and Natalie Chanin (see above) talk about the art and craft that women created in earlier and poorer times. They couldn't afford to go off to a craft store (of course, they didn't exist) and purchase the newest papers, embellishments, fabrics, and yarns - they had to make do with what they had - and they made beautiful quilts and other domestic use items, useful and stylish clothing, and arts and crafts that brightened their homes and lives. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to inherit such treasures are forever reminded of the resourcefulness and artistic urges of our foremothers (our grandfathers were also creative but mostly their efforts took other formats).

And then too, I have been reading several books about sustainability (and some novels about Tibet) and wonder about the sustainability of the craft of scrapbooking - all that paper!

Anyway, just some things to think about - what do you think?

Have a super weekend - I have to work this morning but plan to paint this afternoon. Tomorrow I am going out to the beach for our annual Gardenfest - hopefully to get some herb plants. Then cast on my new sweater (with yarn from my stash). And finally watch the Superbowl - I bought avocados for guacamole and shrimp to boil, French bread, and a big salad - YUM!
ttfn
Chris

An appetizer

Just a quickie post -

Yesterday at my painting group, a friend suggested that we paint artichokes - she had brought the illustration from the front of a package of artichoke dip for us to use as inspiration - you would be amazed at how many different interpretations we painted - next week will be tomatoes.

I was thrilled to win the Scrap The Poetry challenge  with this layout and will be GD for the Feb 15 poem - gotta get busy on that!

Hope you are staying warm and dry - Florida seems to be the only continental state that is warm right now - seeing all those frigid temps and photos of snow on the web reminds me of living in Colorado and Missouri - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

ttfn
Chris

Gecko Galz Deadwood papers

this is my February project for Gecko Galz using the fun Deadwood papers - Belle Starr and Cowboy Days - the Wild West Women ephemera, and some of their yarn and ribbon fripperies. I added a few touches of my own - a red plastic spoon, a crocheted flower from a hot pad, a Maya road felt flower, a Making Memories clip, some old feather charm earrings that I had made, feathers, a hand made flower, buttons, and some tiny old metal picture frames. Do you not love the little "Sheriff" pin? I got it at Tuesday Morning in a little Generation T kit for altering teeshirts - you will be seeing more of the pieces of that funky kit on future projects. I originally had thought to make a recipe mini book as Leanne had sent us some chipboard pieces - but as you know, projects sometimes have a way of making themselves into something else, and the whole thing transformed itself into a wall hanging - of course, I had to use the classic Carabba's license plate - Ciao Y'all!  The recipes are ones that I actually use - the Red Chili recipe came from a hippie bar in Telluride, Co, the brownie recipe from a bar of cooking chocolate, and the black bean quesadilla recipe from an old newspaper.

Happy February!
Chris