Kits, kits, kits....

I keep thinking that I am almost ready for International Quilt Festival in Houston, when I realize there is so much more to do. It would be nice to have some time for art making, but right now it is all about putting kits together, and getting organized for Open Studios.

I am doing something new this year in Houston, I am participating in the Mixed Media Miscellany on Thursday, Nov. 4 from 2-4 pm. I will be demonstrating several of the techniques I used working with tea bags as a medium for collage, like I used in this piece.

There will evidently be 240 people going about the room to watch the demos during this event. I know many people have become interested in this process, so I decided to put some kits together that people can buy, since I know not everyone is as fool hardy as me and willing to stick strange stuff in their printers, lol. The kits have 2 tea bags printed with imagery, various (6) light weight decorative papers, a piece of printed dress pattern tissue, a page from an old book, a reproduction from an 1800's Montgomery Ward catalog,

4 tea stained empty tea bags, 2 pages of copyright free imagery that can be traced onto teabags and a postcard with an image of my quilt for inspiration.

This week, I also put together kits for my Make It University workshop on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 2:45 making the Origami Pop Up Book.

I brought the book sample home with me from the Long Beach show and of course, lost it and had to make another one yesterday.  Luckily, they are pretty quick to make, especially if all the pieces are cut to size and ready to go.

I hope to see you in Houston.

On the easel....

5" x 7" oil on panel

Just have to put on the legs.....

Great New Mixed Media Tutorial by Jane LaFazio

Jane is a master at the artst sketchbook journal, she has a wonderful new tutorial showing how she creates her lovely drawn and painted layered images using Golden absorbent ground. See Jane's tutorial.

On the easel...and it's October!!

Fall being my favorite time of year, I am soaking in the wonder that is October at the moment.
Most of the time, no matter what is going on in my life, if I can get to the easel, all is right. It is doubly right when the temp outside is only 65 degrees....

On the easel and moving right along....




"Purple Finch"

Coming Soon!

Really, I always feel a little shy when it comes to promoting stuff like this, it's so hard to toot your own horn, but I taped a new DVD with Interweave when I was in Cleveland last month. It is due to hit the store shelves in a couple weeks. Below is the outside cover of the dvd, if you click on the photo you should be able to see all the details.

This DVD is filled with as much information and demonstrations as I could squeeze into an hour. I cover a lot of the tips, tricks and products that I have found work best for me when I make art quilts. Later in the month I will do a few blog posts to supplement some of the info on the DVD. You can pre-order Design, Paint & Stitch here.

Good Friends + Good Food = Good Times

With busy summer schedules a potluck feast with friends was long overdue. It started with lots of appetizers; kalmatas and green olives, hummus, lovely spicy sweet tangy peppadews, brie wrapped with puff pastry and chutney and another appetizer I threw together at the last minute from epicurious using the rest of the puff pastry filled with feta cheese and sundried tomatoes (I'll make those again!), italian proscuitto, guacamole, salsa and chips and a good french red wine.

We started to get too full from appetizers, but we managed to have a bowl of our next course, a lovely soup made with chick peas, potato and red peppers (sorry forgot to get a picture, too much wine, lol) then we were definitely too full for our main course of chili! Lucky for us it's one of those things that tastes even better the next day! yum, perfect for this chilly fall weather.

 

Our dessert was moist and yummy pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, I need this recipe Megan!

On the easel...

Hopefully, with two physical therapy sessions weekly, I can make some serious tracks on this neck and shoulder dilemma. I have been able to paint longer, yet not long enough to really "click in."
Working on paintings for the FCCA solo in July and also this one which I am really excited about....I am using cradled hardboard as opposed to my usual canvas and I may be sold.