Illustration Friday Perspective

In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.

Well, maybe ignoring would be better than this...

I do love my cat!

Fabric as Stained Glass

I took a portion of a previous post picture (of the quilt) and played with it on the computer. I pieced together a portion to make a larger picture and then had some fun in Photo Draw. I really liked the way it looked like a piece of stained glass.

This is the original photo. I cringe everytime I type in the subject PhotoDraw. My oldest son, who is graduating this year with a BFA and a degree in Graphic Arts, rolls his eyes and tells me I am using a dinosaur of a program. That I should have Photo Shop.... His voice is in my head...oh well.

Under a blanket of heavy snow...

Despite all the snow that fell on my poor little gardens yesterday (6-9"), I am still dreaming of spring and gardening. I would love to have a fenced in front yard, with a garden and chickens roaming around... I know those aren't chickens in my drawing...but...that's the gist of my dream.

Spring Painting and a Snowstorm

I started wishing for spring.
The weather has been unseasonably warm. Yesterday it was almost 40.
So I started on a drawing of a young girl, in a spring dress, dancing around a tree in blossom.
There's a bird flying high and a nest of eggs...

This morning, the schools were canceled because snow is falling in huge, heavy, clumping, globs!

But I love it! I got outside this morning, in my slippers and a house coat, and took photos of the bending trees

and found some silly sights.

Cathedral Window Quilt

I played around with some gorgeous children's fabrics and made a tiny cathedral window quilt a while back. It's just been hanging around. I love how the colors shine through the white fabric.

I was way too impatient to do a full sized version of this quilt. I wanted to put it all together quickly so I could wash it and get that beautiful puckered look. You cannot believe how easy this project is!

It is mostly hand sewn. Mostly!

Luucy...I'm home!!

This is Lucy my 8 year old cat. I didn't make the bed right away this morning and came home to find her burying her toys amidst the covers and blankets... yes, this is why mom tells us to make our beds right away.... She looked so cute that I took a chance to photograph her. Usually she resists this. The photos came out nice. So I put two, the original and one...you guessed it, enhanced.

illustration Friday...Propagate

Propagation....ah, now that is a theme ripe with ideas!!!

My 40th Birthday Crown

I turned 40 in October, 2005. I had undergone some major...things in the years previous to this event. Needless to say, as with all major life things I had come out forever changed.

I am the sister to two brothers, and the mother of four sons...so I decided to celebrate my girly-ness with my own crown.

All of the decorations came from a favorite childhood book that was old when I was born.

That's me, the little blockhead, to the right.

I added letters from my two grandfathers written to me shortly before they passes away. My Vavo' lived in Portugal, my Poppy, in RI. Grandfathers mean a lot to little girls!

I stumbled upon it yesterday, gathering dust on top of a tall book shelf. I had forgotten all about it...like we sometimes forget old memories.. I looked all over it, re-reading bits of old letters, pretty nursery rhymes and beautiful pictures from that old book... I thought I'd share it with you. Have you ever made yourself anything like this as a memorial to better times or old sweet memories?

Inspirational Fabrics Around the House

I have to confess, going into a fabric store gets my blood flowing! Where else can you be inundated with gorgeous patterns, colors and works of art that you can put your hands all over?

I just love to wander around this huge fabric warehouse we have close to my home, and ogle at graphic patterns, floral beauties and discover little birds hidden away here and there!

Susan Sargent is one of my favorite designers. She is not shy of bold patterns or vivid color combinations. Just makes my creative juices flow!

I put her sunflower pattern in my kitchen and it always brings raves!

Do you get inspired by fabric to either paint your own patterned picture or maybe to sew? If you use a Photo Shop program, have you ever scanned in a fabric and played around with it?

Illustration Friday Adrift

Little seedling adrift....

Butterfly for my friend

Yesterday was my friend Becky's birthday. I painted her a watercolor of a butterfly escaping into the moonlit night from it's cocoon. She has recently escaped herself from a terrible situation and I thought it was appropriate. I had put a different verse on her picture, and liked this one for my post today!

I (of course) scanned it into the computer and played around with it, adding the verse.

Hope you have a wonderful day, and that the beauty of the world shines into your soul and inspires you to create some beautiful art of your own!

Birds and hearts watercolor original.

This is a small part of the original watercolor. I love birds! Do you?

Hearts and Birds and Watercolors

I love to make a little watercolor and then scan it into the computer and play around with the image. I multiplied the original bird and flowers, and then just added things, erased others, and manipulated the colors! Love love love to do this. What about you? Do you like to change your original pieces of art on the computer? The original is in white.

Sping on my mind bird collage

Here's a little wishful thinking...longing for spring and clothes drying out on a line that aren't hauled in stiff as cardboard. Birds singing and warm breezes, leaves on trees and all the wonderful smells of the warm earth....

Bird watercolored and manipulated with Photo Draw...

I painted up this bird a while ago. I was just playing with that whole Fraktur style...I scanned it into my Photo Draw program...I know, I know that program is old! But I swear I LOVE it. I am too busy to learn Photo shop. Anyway, I loved how this turned out. Do you like to take simple art projects of your own and play with them like this? I'd love to hear about them, and see what you're up to. If not, why not try it?

Carl Larsson prints.

Beautiful sunny day here up North. Went for a long drive into the country with my friend, Susan. We stumbled upon some wonderful prints by Carl Larsson. One is of a barnyard, it is called "The Gate" and another is of a studio. I fell in love and bought them. Each one cost me $1. Yippie! I wanted to share them with you. I am going to go fish around on line and find out more about this artist. My friend knew exactly who it was before I even read the description! Maybe you all know who he is? I thought these watercolor illustrations were so beautiful, soft and detailed. There is even a station of the cross on the top of the studio wall print! My camera didn't take a very clear picture of these. Rats!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Small piece of a large painting

This bird is just resting after a long cold, day.... This picture is a piece of a large painting that I have ...completed? Is anything I do ever done to completion? Probably not. What about you? Do you ever feel like any thing you paint is done, finished, perfect? I'd love to hear about what you do to finish something...and how you know it is...done!!!

February's first blog Let There Be Joy!!!

This past year, I have just been so busy with painful things...troubled friends, grievous business, looming job loss, you know, things that press anxiety down on a heart. Life's yucky business! But , even though the yuck keeps me pretty worn out and uninspired to create, all around me lately, I see the beauty of nature. And it fills me with a greater joy than I get when i am inspired and paint up a little something that I actually like. I went skiing recently and it was a glorious day... the clear bright sky at the top of the local mountain here was one in a million. The trees, misshapen birches and pines, were covered with millions of diamonds glittering in the sun, and there was a vista miles and miles across the lakes and mountains of Vermont... The sky was this unspeakably gorgeous blue without a cloud and you could sense it's vast reaches...which made you breathless. The snow was white and blue and sparkling.

Life is good and difficult times can breed compassion and joy, instead of bitterness and depression. Here is a piece of a poem attached to a little watercolor I did, and then Photo shopped for fun ( i can never leave well enough alone!). It's written by Maltbie D. Babcock. In it's entirety:

The dark brown mould's upturned

By the sharp-pointed plow;

And I've a lesson learned.

My life is but a field,

Stretched out beneath God's sky,

some harvest rich to yield.

Where grows the golden grain?

Where faith? Where sympathy?

In a furrow cut by pain.