Art Element’s October Theme Reveal-Petroglyphs

This month over at Art Elements Karen chose the theme. She decided on petroglyphs. And as usual I love the theme. This lends itself to so many art forms. I actually did a mixed media piece last year inspired by the cave paintings in Lascaux, France. You can check it out here.

This time around, I considered doing another mixed media piece similar to the Lascaux one but I was out of town the first 2 weeks of October and when I returned I suffered from jet lag and re-entry to the real world. And then we did a silly thing & got a new puppy---I know, we’re crazy!

My plans for this month’s theme got sidetracked. I knew I wanted to use rust dyed fabric regardless of what direction I went. The first thing I did was grab a Speedball Speedy Carve Block that I had laying around. I drew a design I had seen on Pinterest and started carving. Well....as you can see I never finished. Those darn circles got the best of me when I started carving around them. I have to say that the pink carve block is easier than the gray lino blocks for carving but small circles are ridiculously difficult when you have limited time. I intend to finish this one of these days. Then I will use it to stamp images on rust dyed fabric and either machine stitch or hand stitch around the images.

stamp carving in progress

On to the next idea-I grabbed a smaller piece of rust dyed fabric that I did back at our Art Elements Art Retreat back in August.  I love the colors and the patterns the rust created. It made it the perfect background for some petroglyphs. Again, I used some images I saw on Pinterest (mostly Native American symbols from Utah rock carvings). I used symbols for the sun, a heron, a rain dancer/rain maker shaman and the. Then some symbols for water or possibly lightening and a labyrinth. I did a quick sketch directly on the fabric with a white gel pen then started stitching. I didn’t like the solid ‘new’ look of the thread so I used some pan pastels in red oxide and burnt sienna to smudge it up in places to age my ‘cave drawings’.

close up of rain dancer shaman petroglyph

Raindancer, water/lightening and labyrinth symbols

Sun and heron symbols

Full view of rust dyed fabric with hadn stitched petroglyph symbols

I think I will still go back and do some random background stitches around the images. Mainly just stitching to highlight ‘cracks & crevices’ in the ‘rocky’ texture of the rust dyed fabric.
I am looking forward to checking out everyone’s creations. Sit back and take a a tour of all the participants.


Art Elements Team:
Lesley Watt: http://www.lesleywatt.com
Jenny Davies-Reazor: https://jdaviesreazor.com
Cathy Spivey Mendola: http://cmendola.blogspot.com You are here!
Sue Kennedy: http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com
Caroline Dewison: http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk
Laney Mead: https://laney-mead.blogspot.com/
Marsha Neal Minutella: http://blog.marshanealstudio.com
Claire Fabian: https://saraccino.blogspot.com

Our Guest Artists:
Jill Egan: https://kilnfiredart.wordpress.com
Tammy Adams: http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Alison Herrington: http://AlisonAdorns.blogspot.com
Alysen: chicchixnchampagne.blogspot.com
Sarajo Wentling: https://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
Jenny Kyrlach: http://anafiassa.blogspot.com
CraftyHope: http://CraftyHope.com
Kathy Lindemer: https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

Art Elements' September Reveal-Faeries

Caroline chose the Art Elements' theme for this month--Faeries!!  I was so excited until I realized that this was such an enormous category and I didn't know where to start. I mean, do you create a typical fairy, water sprite, wood nymph, dragon, druid, mermaid, troll, toadstools, etc.  Such a fascinating amount of creatures and objects that could fall into this theme. My head was spinning....

So I pulled out my wonderful book by Stephanie Law titled 'Dreamscapes-Myth & Magic'  I adore this book. I love to study how she draws and paints these mythical creatures. I still have not attempted to use this book for painting lessons because I am afraid I will fail miserably. But I did use it as inspiration for some very quick sketches to try and jumpstart some faerie magic!

Quick sketches of dryads and water sprite

As soon as I drew the water sprite I knew what I wanted to create. I found some beautiful mottled black/charcoal gray print fabric in my stash that looked a little like branches against a night sky. That was my inspiration for creating the moonlight over a lagoon surrounded by brambles and branches with the silhouette of the water sprite in front of the moon.

Moon and night sky with hand embroidered water sprite

I painted the fabric with textile paint. The water sprite was scanned, enlarged and printed on cardstock to create a template. Once the paint on the fabric dried I used the template to trace the water sprite onto the fabric. Then I hand embroided the sprite-body was done in black and wings in charcoal gray.

Close up of machine stitching on the water

After hand stitching was done, I backed the fabric with quilt batting and used my sewing machine for some free motion stitching. I stitched a horizon line between sky and water with some stitching on the water. Then I added trees and marshy grasses to frame the lagoon.

Water Sprite in the Moonlight

Once all the stitching was done, I stretched the piece on a stretched canvas and stapled it on the backside. Voila, textile art-ready for hanging. Finished size-16"x20"  I am really happy with how this turned out.

While waiting for the paint to dry I decided to grab a stick and make a magic wand. Faerie wand, or witchy wand? Maybe it depends on how I use this wand. But I have been wanting to make one since we had the Dragon theme at AE a few years ago. I wanted to do one with a dragon claw on the end. I still may have to do one like that but this one has a huge optical calcite crystal with a labradorite stone on the end.

Optical Calcite with Labradorite stone

I used apoxie sculpt clay to create the bezel and hold the crystal on the end. I texturized the clay and created some sort of medallion beneath the labradorite. Once the apoxie sculpt cured I played with SO many different colors and paints, inks, etc. Trying to get the color and ageing just right. I tried alcohol inks, regular inks, Pinata paints and StazOn ink pads. In between all those applications I would sand it down with fine sandpaper and try a little more color using different products. Finally, I had to tell myself to just STOP. Leave it alone!! Then I used the Midnight Blue StazOn ink to dab on the stick. I also used Deco Arts Metallic luster in Rose Gold to rub over the painted areas and then buffed it.

You can see all the different colors that I used-midnight blue, lime green, denim blue, verdigris, dark brown and the metallic rose gold.

My magic wand

It's about 12" in length. That little nubby area I have my finger on above is where I broke off a stem. I used it as a design element (it's like a magic button;-)  I used extra Metallic Luster on that area.

The month slipped away as it always does and I didn't get to make anything else, but I am happy with the pieces I did create. The wand was super fun to make. I really want to make a whole bunch of them. And I always enjoy creating with fabrics and threads!

I can't wait to see what all the AE members and our guests have created for this month.

Here's the list of participants, so go take a look at everyone's creations.

Guest Artists

Vic

Divya

Alysen 

Kathy 

Tammy 

Kimberly 

Hope 

Alison 

Cat 

Sarah 

Art Elements Team

Jen 

Jenny  

Niky 

Laney 

Claire 

Cathy That's me!

Marsha

August Swirl Theme Reveal

Our AE team member Marsha chose swirls for this month's theme challenge. What a fantastic theme as it opens it up to so many ideas. Only problem as usual...not enough time to do it all.

My go to components for swirls/spirals are shells and ammonites. I have collected tons of moon snail shells from the shores of east coast beaches and I have bought quite a few ammonites over the last few years. They both look so lovely when you combine them with bead embroidery.

So naturally, I grabbed a snail shell and an ammonite to create pendants.

Here's my moon snail shell paired with a lovely flashy blue labradorite and seed beads. I didn't complete the necklace yet but will more than likely create a bail that will attach to a small deer antler and leather straps.

Moon Snail Shell with Labradorite

 Here is the second pendant-using an ammonite fossil paired with a chrysocolla cabochon that has some beautiful coppery accents in the stone that goes well with the ammonite.

Ammonite fossil paired with green copper Chrysocolla stone

In between beading these I took a break to draw and relax the brain! Here is my swirly zentangle
I created.

Swirling spiral zentangle

 I feel extremely slack for not finishing my pendants so I am sharing previously created pendants, wall art & a purse using moon snail shells, the swirly spiral tops of whelk shells and an ammonite with bead embroidery.

Ammonite with fossilized shark tooth

L-Moon snail shell with moss agate cabochon; R- Moon snail shell with coppyer in rhyolite cabochon

L-Moon snail shell with Sonoran dendritic rhyolite cabochon; R- Top of conch/whelk shell with fosillized coral.

L-Brooch using polymer goddess with small moon snail shell; R-Pendant using polymer goddess with top of whelk on L and snail shell on R.

L-Wall art with polymer goddess with moon snail shell; R- polymer goddess with black moon snail shell on a leather purse.

All the lovely polymer goddesses above were created by AE team member Jenny.

I am looking forward to seeing all the swirly creations from the AE team as well as our guest participants.
Here's the list with links, so go check everyone's blog and see what lovely things they came up with this month.

Guest Artists:

Alison

Anita

Cat 

Caroline

Jill

Kathy

Karin

Kimberly 

Mischelle

Raven

Tammy 

Art Elements Team: 

Cathy- You're here!

Caroline

Claire

Jen

Jenny & Lesley 

Laney

Marsha

Susan

Seed Pod Theme Reveal

I think I say this every month but it's so true..."I can't believe time flies so quickly and we're already at the end of another month!" So here we go again with Art Elements' reveal of another fun month of creating-- Jen's theme for the month-seed pods.


I also always start with grandiose plans and life inevitably gets in the way.  The creative juices start churning and the biggest problem is that I have so many ideas brewing that I can't get to them all. I find myself starting numerous pieces and then realizing I can't finish them all, so I console myself with concentrating on one or two pieces.

First off, I ordered some natural silk cocoons. I have used some in the past for previous projects that were already dyed., but I wanted to dye my own and then use them in some way to depict seed pods.

Natural silk cocoons on left. Fiber reactive dyes & dyed cocoons top right, lower right cocoons still in dye bath.

Once they were dyed, I decided to create some seed pods with bits of a nuno felted scarf I made but never really liked.

First nuno felted scarf I made and didn't really know what I was doing. Perfect color for seed pods!

I wanted the pods to look a bit like lotus seed pods,  so I cut the scarf up and used it to gather around some silk cocoons. I stitched it all together, gathering fabric where needed and stitching through seed pods as well. Once I did that, I needed to figure out what the heck I was going to do with the pods.

Seed pods made from nuno felted fabric and silk cocoons.

Seed pods created with nuno felted fabric and silk cocoons.

Once the seed pods were stitched I used some 28g wire to wire them directly onto a twig. The thin gauge will easily thread directly through the felt to attach it firmly. Then I used some wooly wire to create some tendrils along the branch around the pods. It didn't turn out exactly like I envisioned but it's definitely something I would like to explore more in the future. I really like created in 3-d with felt and the silk cocoons really a fun element.

The beautiful red pods in the first photo actually dried to such a deep red that they almost look black. I left them in the dye bath a tad too long. I had intended to make a necklace with those red 'pods' and will probably get to it sometime later. But they got put on the back burner while I played with my lino and carving tools.

Lino carved poppy pods left upper, left lower-inked with brown fabric ink. Right side a mono print onto eco dyed fabric.

This was the first time I have made a lino print since high school. I realize my tools are not that great, I should invest in some higher quality but I was still pretty pleased with how it turned out. My initial plan was to print onto fabric and then do some stitching and possibly beading. Then I got the idea to use a piece of fabric that I had eco printed on last fall. It was the perfect background for the poppy pods.

Lino printing onto previously eco printed fabrics.

The top fabric above was my first 'test' print on muslin fabric with speckled leaf prints. The second printing onto heavy cotton that had very subtle ghost prints left by leaves was the one I chose to start stitching on. After the lino prints were done I also used a thermofax screen to print the Queen Anne's Lace seed heads on with Jacquard's Lumiere paint in bronze and silver. Then I used a carved wood block to add some more elements beneath the plants/pods along the 'ground' level.

Close-up of left side of printed fabric. This was the first poppy pod printing with ink.

Close-up of right side of fabric. These poppy pods were printed with the leftover ink from the first printing.

This is as far as I've gotten with stitching.

I initially planned to just cut the fabric beneath the ground level above but I really like the bottom half of the eco printed fabric so this is probably one of those pieces that will continue to 'grow'. I think I need to stitch some deep roots on the pods and a whole underground network. So stay tuned to see how this gets finished.

You can see the whole piece here with the shadows underneath the plants/pods just begging for lots more stitching!

Lino prints on paper.

I also had to try my lino cut with some paper and my gelli plate. Above photos are: top left black ink directly on lino and printed on paper. Above right I put way too much blue ink on my gelli plate then re-inked my lino with black ink and stamped it onto the gelli plate over the blue ink, then pressed my paper over the gelli plate. Lower left, is the second pull off the gelli plate which I really like! Then the bottom right is the third print I pulled from the gelli plate. It may be my favorite!

Now I understand why everyone is so gaga over monoprinting and gelli plate printing!!! Who knew it was so much fun? 

I was determined to keep playing with this little lino cut, soooo I found an old paper that I had printed using transfer paints to transfer to fabric. I had painted this in a workshop using stamps (leaf & spiral)I made years ago with plumber's rubber sheeting and mounted on wood.

Poppypods printed onto previously painted surface

And last but not least, I had some lovely little pod like ceramic pieces from foxpaw beads.

I have been wanting to use them somehow/someway, so this was the perfect time to play with making a necklace using one of the pods.

Lovely textured pod hanging from a hand knotted necklace.

I used some thin nylon cord to string on some seed beads to hang from inside the pod. The mala type necklace was created using a combination of matte African turquoise beads and black lava beads strung onto the same nylon cord, then hand knotting between the beads.

I still have lots of seed pod ideas swirling in my head. Maybe I will get to them one day along with all the other stuff I want to create.

I can't wait to see the seed pod creations from the AE members and all our guests that are playing along this month.

Grab a cuppa and settle in for some inspiring artwork.

Here's the list:

Guest Artists:

Tammy 

Raven 

Alysen

Anita

Cat 

Kimberly 

Rozantia 

Sarajo 

Divya

Caroline

Catherine

Kathy

Jill

Art Elements Team: 

Claire

Caroline

Lesley

Niky

Laney

Susan

Marsha

Jenny

Cathy  You're here!

Jen

June Sunflower Theme Reveal

Over at Art Elements Sue had the pleasure of choosing June's theme. She chose sunflowers. How could anyone not want to participate, right? Sunflowers are so cheerful and downright sunny;-)
They have been depicted in paintings and other art forms for eons. I have some growing in my garden right now but they haven't bloomed yet.

I am currently doing the #100dayproject and I actually painted sunflowers back in May before Sue chose this theme. My goal when I started playing with watercolors while doing this project was to try and loosen up my painting style. I tend to get really picky and want to color 'inside the lines'. I try too hard to be realistic when all I want to do is paint loosely. I must be a control freak.

Anyway- here is the first sunflower, Day 42 back in May. Sketched with General's Sketch & Wash pencil then using Daler Rowney watercolors. I was actually looking at real live sunflowers when I did this. So I was definitely striving for realism but trying to keep it loose. Didn't work too well.

So I decided since the theme is sunflowers that I needed to re-visit painting sunflowers again. Here's the second attempt. I studied paintings with a loose style that I tried SO hard to emulate. Well, once again I ended up trying to tidy things up and made it more rigid than I wanted. I even did some washes around the flower and splatters of paint. I did use a better quality of watercolor paints-Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors.

What I am finally realizing is...I need to develop my own style when I paint. I like the look of loose watery colors but I seem to like having some definitive lines. So here's my third attempt below. Again, I used the Winsor & Newton brand watercolors for the flower but used Daniel Smith's watercolor paint for the muted purple background.  I will keep trying to develop my own style when it comes to painting.

Okay, enough with the experimental painting and on to my comfort zone---stitching. I study and actually drool over some of the fabulous embroiderers on Instagram. I just love the landscape scenes I see. So I decided I needed to try a landscape with mountains in the background and sunflowers in the foreground.

This turned out so much better than I thought it would. I am now planning to do a full series of landscapes using some of my photos & my daughter's photos as reference. She lives in Colorado and has some phenomenal pictures of the mountains. She loves the mountains & sunflowers so this piece is being sent to Colorado once I sew a backing to it.
This final piece below is actually the first thing I started right after Sue announced the theme.
It is a needle case. I am forever losing needles, either down between the sofa cushions, on the floor, in my basket or container where I have various projects. I also have a huge variety of needles and wanted a nice tidy little place to keep them rather than a pin cushion.

I stitched the sunflowers with commercially dyed silk ribbon using felt as the base. I will have more process photos and a mini tutorial later in the month over at Art Elements. I will also share the various types of needles I use as well as my favorites. So watch for my next post over at AE.

Now, it's time to go visit all the guests and AE team members to see what they have created this month.
By the looks of all the sneak peeks on IG, there should be some fabulous sunflowers.
Thanks Sue!

Guests:

Alysen
Anita
Cat
Divya
Jill
Kathy
Linda L.
Linda N.
Mischelle
Norma
Raven
Sarajo
Tammy


Art Elements Team Members:

Caroline

Cathy you're here

Claire

Jenny

Laney 

Lesley

Sue

Art Element's May Theme Reveal

This month for the Art Element theme challenge Lesley chose 'tide pools'. SO esciting!! But of course I was excited about last month's also. I am definitely a 'water' person-I love the beach and have collected sea shells my entire life, so this was right up my alley.

The problem...what medium, what design, where to start? The pictures I perused on Pinterest were a great source of inspiration. I have been fortunate to have been to many beaches along the east coast, the caribbean and Hawaii but I have never seen the tide pools of the northwest.  It seems they have a bounty of anemones that are brilliant along with gorgeous bright orange starfish. Those tide pools were my first choice of inspiration. Alas, I abandoned that one for now and went in a different direction.

Tide Pool Inspiration

My original plan for tide pool theme. Layers of fabrics, cheesecloth, sheers, tulle. Eventually I will do some machine & hand stitching, add some brilliant little anemones and fuse down that starfish.

 I went back to photos I have taken of beaches and tide pools and remembered the amazing coral beaches on Grand Cayman Island. There are vast areas along the beach on the northern side of the island where it's just huge chunks of fossilized coral with nooks and crannies everywhere with snails living all among the coral. I thought about doing that but instead chose these photos below for my inspiration.

Photos on the beaches of Grand Cayman. Pieces of coral and shells caught in the sandy tide pools along the coast. Bottom right photo is just a huge chunk of fossilized coral instead of a sandy beach.

After studying the above photos I decided to try wet felting a background that I could attach coral & shells to, then embellish further with hand stitching and beads.

'Cayman Tide Pool' -Felted background with coral, shells, hand stitching & beads

 I have written a blog post for the Art Elements site that will go live tomorrow explaining the process for creating the richly textured felt background.

Close-up of sections of the Cayman Tide Pool piece

I had so much fun with this one. My biggest issue was deciding when to stop adding coral and shells and stitching and beads! It just kept growing.
Please check out tomorrow's AE website to see more.

After I was almost finished with the Cayman Tide Pool piece I found myself still wanting to do another tide pool with COLOR. Yes, I will go back to my first piece eventually but I also started pulling elements and playing around with some tyvek to stitch down on fabric and embellish.

Another tide pool project in the works. Inked, distressed tyvek on batik fabric. The green buttons will serve as anemones. Hand stitching and beads will be added. I tucked in a green ceramic turtle bead (top R) and a brass starfish charm near the bottom.

I was also working on a bracelet that wasn't really intended to be a 'tide pool' piece but it does mimic the rocks and swirling water so I am adding this to my tide pool theme challenge.

Tide Pool cuff bracelet

I LOVE freshwater pearls and these are some of my favorite colors of pearls. I simply tacked some pearls down on ultrasuede and used seed beads to encircle the pearls then created some trailing tendrils with seed beads and glass pearls.

Beaded ultrasuede before gluing onto a brass cuff and edging. (sorry for the poor quality photo)

I cannot wait to see all the lovely tide pool projects created by our AE team and guests!
So come along and take a look at what was created this month.

Guests

Raven

Kelly 

Cat

Kathy 

Tammy 

Alyson

Elaine 
Melissa

Mischelle 

Deborah  

Anita 

Jill

Shirlee

Sarajo

AE Team Members:

Caroline

Cathy you're here

Claire
Jen

Jenny

Laney 

Lesley 

Marsha 

Niky

Sue
Lindsay