Where'd the Year Go?

I've actually been busier than my blog suggests, but I'm better at "doing" than "documenting".

I still manage to find time for some art outside of the many hours of owning and running a coffee shop, but not as much as I'd like. I take my sketchbooks and work on things at the shop that I can do easily, such as pencil drawings, pastels or colored pencils. It's hard to cart all of the multitude of papers, fragments and doo dads (not to mention paints) that I use for my collage pieces.

This year, I have done a number of commissions in my whimsical folk art style. I take pictures of family, pets, etc., and create a layered mixed media collage with inclusions that pertain to their interests, hobbies, etc.





BUTTERFLY DRESS

My daughter saw this beautiful butterfly dress in an ad on Facebook and asked if I could make something similar for her for her Halloween Dance at school. I had seen the dress before as well and thought it beautiful.

Well, with no pattern and a limited budget, I bought inexpensive black muslin and got to work. I cut 2 pieces for each "wing", sewed them right sides together, then turned them so there would be smooth edges with no hem and the extra fabric would give it some body. Then I painted the sections white so the colors would be more bright and vibrant on the black.

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Colors were added and blended...(acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium)



I used a side zipper, made a skirt of tulle underneath and sewed a fuzzy trim around the top. It turned out cute and with her striped tights and ankle boots, it was so PEGGY!

2010 Art I've been working on...

I'm going to try to make 2010 a new year for blogging and be more consistent with it. It was always a pain to hook up laptop to scanner, scan, upload, re-size, upload to blogger, etc. However, now I have a Mac and can just take pics with the webcam and post them to blogger...so much easier. The quality isn't as good as a scan, but it's good enough to give an idea about what I'm working on.

Often, I will create a "character" on watercolor paper and paint it in, then cut it out and use it in a collage later on. This young lady is one that I'm planning to use down the road. The great thing is that I can do these while at the coffee shop during the slower periods


A not-quite-finished piece I'm doing for a collaged background I've already completed. Trying to decide whether I have the room and want to us all three or just 2 of the girls. On these types of pieces, I usually cut out the painted image and adhere to the collage, then when dry, I seal with a beeswax layer which softens the entire piece.


A watercolor piece I am currently working on. It's not yet the likeness I need it to be, but it's practice.