July Sketchbook Pages

                                                              A Seed Becomes a Flower

doodles collaged, gesso, paint, black marker

A tribute to my aunt in my Little Bird series

Inktense pencils, marker

Collograph printmaking samples

Made at Sandra's Open Studio

Cover of my mixed media book

Little Bird Speaks

More to come!



Fun at Open Studio

Front of my folder book made at Sandra's Open Studio.

First two pages with the the bottom pockets to hold papers.

The back of the folder in progress. The flower is a bit of ephemera I received from Suzanne's stash.

Another day we made faux encaustic art! My favourite piece!

Also another day we made decorated paper ATCs!

The vase below is my favourite, I am not giving this one away it will go in my visual art journal/sketchbook. I like to make small samples for my sketchbook as a record of what I've done. Now don't you agree that Sandra's Open Studio is very inspiring!

I am teaching a fibre class there this week! I am a lucky girl!

http://creatingartnow.blogspot.com

Teaching at Mixed Minded

Mixed MindedWorkshops

www.mixedminded.com 

This is Mary Jo from Simcoe, at my workshop on May 28th at the Mixed Minded Conference in Kitchener's Holiday Inn. It was sponsored by the The Art House Studio and Karen Ellis. It was a fabulous weekend! I met great new people and had a wonderful time.

Here is one of the finished projects.

Karen is thrilled with her efforts. She belongs to a fibre art group in Cambridge.

 

I heard Judy from Selkirk really enjoyed her weekend. She also took workshops with my friend Sandra, of Open Studio.

 I did a mini trunk show to start, to show the students my background in fibre art. Then we got down to work learning the quilter's knot and other stitches. Michelle was persistent and finally learned the french knot. She and her mother were taking my class. Later in the afternoon, I took Nancy Donaldson's encaustic 101. I had a fabulous time working in a brand new medium! I wish I could have taken her wire and bead pendant class too. If you live in the area please visit The Art House Studio, Karen has some fabulous products, some I only have seen on the internet. I am hoping next year I will be asked back to teach at the super Mixed Minded!

Ontario Network of Needlewworkers AGM

May 12th, 2011, I traveled to London, Ontario for the Ontario Network of Needleworkers Annual General meeting. Above is the Oakville Stitchery Guild's Display of needlework. My friend, Margaret is working at the booth. I had needle work at three displays! Yes I am an overachiever!

Here, Mavis from the Canadian Embroiderers' Guild Guelph is looking after our artwork! A lovely display of detailed needlework.

My Jeweled City piece is right next to work by Erin and Doeteke. Margaret's mask is just beautiful.

A close up of our fish display for the OSG. Tracey found the netting on the playground. Another Go Green initiative.

My third display is the fibre art Group of Eight. We all participated in the cigar box challenge, each art work is truly unique! It was a lovely display for a new group to the O.N.N.

This is the Group of Eight Display. My Funky Form Vase is next to Linda's exquisite fibre egg. The photo below shows Jan's awesome encaustic art, my watercolour box and Heather's beautiful mask.

We had a very exciting day going to the business meeting, listening to the guest speaker, admiring all the guild's displays and meeting a lot of new needle workers! We even toured the University of Western for Jayne to revisit her memories.

Little Gems at Open Studio

Inspiration often comes from the art of other artists. In an old Stitch Magazine from the Embroiderer's Guild (U.K.), I found a small project using aida cloth and the art of Paul Klee for inspiration. I was fascinated because I love small and portable projects. 'Jeweled City' above is my version of the project. I started while away on holiday and finished the embroidery when I arrived home. With encouragement from my friends, I decided to share what I did. Recently,my friend Sandra invited me to teach at her studio. Over three days I had 24 students start little gems.

This is my class sample, which is a smaller and simpler version of Jeweled City.

 At the studio, we painted small pieces of aida cloth and Venice lace with acrylic paint in jewel colours. Some paints were metallic as well. While the paint was drying, we planned a design on paper after drawing three columns on our paper. I had my students trace a 4"x6" rectangle on their background, also aida cloth. We included about 5 arched blocks in our design. Odd numbers always seem to look better.

This is my sample I started while in class. I decided to add a couple of triangles as well. I asked the ladies to fasten their cut pieces using  only a dot of glue. The shapes are secured with a running stitch or back stitch in a variety of colours of embroidery floss. Bits of painted lace are also attached as focal points. below is my second sample inspired by Persian turrets.

Here Erin and Norina are working away diligently. 

After the pieces are secured by stitch the fun part begins! I gave each participant a guide of a variety of stitches to use with ideas for combination designs. They included such stitches as french knot, detached chain, and fly stitch. I really like to use the straight stitch to make patterns such as the basket weave.

Here we are happily working in the studio. Sandra is on the right front trying her hand at stitch.

Doeteke has a lovely design. Michelle is using some Easter colours in her city.

Linda is also incorporating turrets from foil chocolate egg wrappers into her city. Her friend Karrie is working on her project.

Here Anne, Heather, and the two Lindas are concentrating on their projects.

I suggested to my students that their finished gem would be suitable to be framed with a mat or in a shadow box with the edges turned under. It will be exciting to see all of their projects finished. Each one was unique in colour and design.

I look forward to teaching another project at Sandra's Open Studio in June.

Fabulous Mixed Media Art at Sandra's Open Studio

A while back, I took this photo at my dear friend's studio. Here are a 'bunch' of the ladies listening to Sandra intently. This is not always the case, we seldom listen INTENTLY. We are so immersed in art it is actually our therapy in play. Today was Sandra's first Anniversary! We all came for cake and to make art! It was all yummy! I have been coming regularly once a week to Sandra's Studio for a whole year. It is something I am totally passionate about. I hate to miss a single lesson! I wish you all live close enough to come to Open Studio. I know three of my blog readers and dear friends, Michelle, Erin and Doeteke all come to Open Studio regularly. I met Michelle through my blog. Actually, I met Sandra through Cloth Paper Studios Magazine when I saw her name and work in one of the issues. I emailed her and the rest is history! I love her dearly and she has become like the daughter I wished I had, but I only had boys!

This fuzzy photo is a picture of a class with Sandra using paper and stitch! It was so much fun! Below is another lesson using magazine pieces in one colour to create a tree collage. This is my bird tree! If you would like to see more student work, check out Sandra's blog at http://creatingartnow.blogspot.com

Now for the exciting news, I am teaching at Sandra's studio all next week. ( Wed. Thurs. Sat. from 10:00 - 1:00 ) I will be teaching an embroidery piece called Jewel City. We will paint aida cloth and create a city inspired by the art of Paul Klee. It will be embellished with embroidery and beads and lace bits. I found this lesson in an old Stitch (UK)  magazine and I impoved upon it in my style. I hope if you are interested you will contact me and I will send you  an email address for Sandra.
My art ventures are all very exciting right now and I am contemplating what I can do next! Any suggestions? I'd love to hear from you!  More photos to follow!

A Sneak Preview from Fabric Collage TOM

Starting tomorrow, I will be the Guest Artist on 3 Creative Studios Website! This is a photo from my Technique of the month, Fabric Collage.

This what you start with, lots of scraps!

Below is what you may end up with! Please join me and try the TOM for some prizes!

www.3creativestudios.com