odds & ends

It has a busy, productive week.  In an effort to locate my dining room table again, I decided to finish up a few projects and make some progress on a few others.  The felted cover to the art journal I was making has been sitting on the table since finals week, so that was my first task.  With old sheet music gesso'd and some other recycled newsprint torn and ready, I finally put the thing together

 

I liked the end result so much that I think I am going to keep this one. I rarely create for myself, but this piece just really resonates with me. I needed something to take with me to the woods to keep my sketches and my thoughts sorted,  and I think I have found it!

I found a camel colored wool scarf with little flecks of cranberry and wedgewood blue speckled through it at the thrift shop last week.  In the spirit of slow clothing and giving new life to things set aside, I started working with the wool roving I had, needle felting multi-colored leaves along one edge. Where it will go from here, I am not quite certain, but this is where I am at so far.

There might be some embroidered stems added soon, or maybe some woolen threads woven in.

Yesterday I made a trip to Lakeville for a Watch Me Draw meeting.  Traffic cooperated, and there wasn't the road construction I anticipated so I arrived pretty early.  I found a coffee shop, and decided to get warm (the wind was a butt chiller yesterday!) and maybe do some sketching. Well, I got my coffee, sat down, and reached into my purse that  I always have a sketchbook tucked within. Hmm. No sketchbook. Next best thing?

Napkins!

I got to thinking about my previous blog entry. About metal and circles and translating all of that to cloth. Now to raid my stash and see if I have anything  to get started or if I have to (insert feigned sigh of disappointment here) go out and look through all the old clothing and fabrics, textiles and linens at our thrift shops!

circles

I spent a rainy afternoon sorting my image "library".  I have an extensive collection of images that I have collected over the years, some that provide inspiration, others that are stock photos that I snatched up, sure that I would use them in something one day. Most of what I have collected appealed to me because I could see the images translated to another medium. 

As I went through some of my images of metal, I came across a lot of circles and hoops, manhole covers and ship porthole windows.  As I cataloged them, I studied them a little closer and picked out a few that I am going to work with over the weekend. 

I have always been fascinated by the circular form.  These particular images felt very organic to me, which left me wondering if I could capture that element with fiber and cloth. 

Time to sketch out some of my thoughts!

popsicles and ...some new little snowflakes. (that are still nameless)

I found myself awake a couple of hours before I had to go to work at the group home this morning, and so rather than lay in bed thinking to myself .."you still have two hours before you have to go to work" and thus wasting said two hours, I got out of bed and sketched. 

A half of a pot of coffee into it, I had a half dozen pages of sketches, and the ideas kept coming. It was refreshing to finally feel that spirit again, and to see some designs developing that were fresh and different, and as I kept going, I remembered buttons and ribbons and other embellishments that would work perfectly with these. They are small, like the Lil Flakes and Snowbugz.

In my head I see them with brightly colored scarves and hats, and I intend to get back to including embellishments (different for each chartpack) to give them a unique feel. Can't wait to get started on them!

I am also looking forward to speaking with Karen Combs in regard to the fabric collection I have been working on.  It should tie in nicely with my Snowmen if all goes as planned with it.

All in all, a good solid creative weekend!