art and soul

DOREEN KASSEL

almost a year ago, i posted a business goal list on this blog. the top item on my list was "go to an art retreat". well... i am so excited for next october when i will be attending the art and soul retreat in portland, oregon. yes, i know that it is months away, but i am sooooo excited. first i get to take amazing art classes, second i get some much needed mommy time, third, i get to go to portland for the first time. i have had a love affair with this city for a long time, which has been made stronger with the fact that over half of my etsy sales are from this city alone. that must mean i belong there, right???

the class i am most excited about is one i am taking with doreen kassel. she is the artist behind the whimsical tile above. i just love her tiles, their joyful quality is simply contagious. i can totally see this technique meshing with my florals. really, my hands and fingers are dying to build and paint a flower garden.

JENNI HORNE

to add to the excitement, i will be bunking with my artist friend jenni horne, who is going to be an instructor this year. for one of her classes, she is going to be making this adorable bird mobile and for the other, she will be showing the class some of her tried and true painting techniques.

if you live in the area, i would love tips on where to go - i like quirky, eclectic neighborhoods. and who knows, maybe i will see you there!

an assistant and model

say hello to my new assistant that started working with me last thursday. she is very helpful with photo shoots, has excellent posture and doesn't talk back. however, i do think she lied about her weight. she seems to be a size 0-2 adult, rather that a 4-6 adult, but i can't hold that against her - that's what you get when you interview someone over the internet. however, i wouldn't fire her for it, she is with me for the long haul - it was love at first sight :)

now if only i could come up with a name for her. i'm thinking "bitsy", or maybe "dotty". what name would you all give her?

sleeping and dreaming

i haven't been sleeping very well lately. i try to go to bed early, but then before i know it, 2 hours have passed and i am still awake. thinking is my problem, i can't seem to tell my brain to be quiet!

for a while now, i have felt like i am on the right path in my life, but that maybe, maybe i haven't found that one bitty step that is missing. like i am almost to a place where my art can be recognizably mine. where someone can see something on a blog or at a show and know that it is something that i have created. but what is that one little step? what have i been missing? these are the questions i ponder.

during one 2 hour stretch of sleeplessness, i listed in my head all the things i am drawn to. at the top of this list was...

1. flowers
2. colored pencils
3. fabric
4. buttons
5. embroidery
6. graphic design
7. bright vibrant colors
8. ribbon
9. milk glass (of which i have a huge collection)
10. black ink drawing pens

that's it, this is what i think about at night when i can't sleep. i ran through many different creative ideas and think i have finally settled on something which has me so excited. it is something that incorporates all of my loves above which means i won't get as bored with a technique as i usually do. you see, i don't want to create one product and mass produce only that one product. i never want to take the creating part out of the equation.

i feel like my studio has been a little testing space all week. i cannot wait to get started in the morning and hate to stop in the afternoon. i am even pulling out paints, which if you know me, you know that is a rare thing. i am working on finishing my first idea and then i will put it out in the world and cross my fingers that you all will love it as much as i do. because i really do, and i can see it taking me far, far down my path :)

embroidery and a threesome

my embroidery cravings have gone into overdrive here on linwood avenue. this is currently the view behind my computer and i love it! as i said in a previous post, i had a few vintage embroidery hoops lying around from a yard sale which i thought would be a great way to showcase some embroidered artwork.

this piece centers around a photo i took of a tulip magnolia tree last spring. these trees are beautiful and will always remind me of the south! i printed the photo onto transfer paper, ironed it onto canvas and went to work. i really didn't have a plan for the embroidery - just wanted to highlight the flower bits. this might be my favorite one, mainly because the composition of the flower/background turned out so right.

this daffodil is 8" circular and is created from a photo i took of a daffodil garden. this one took a bit of experimenting. i first tried to do the transfer onto some yellow and white polka dot fabric, but it didn't take the transfer too well. next, i tried transferring the photo to some oatmeal colored muslin. this just turned out too dark. in the end, i used the muslin piece for the background and cut the daffodil head out of the polka dot fabric and stitched it on top. the top flower is left loose at the end of the petals which turned out to be a great affect. in the end, i really love how it turned out - even if it is a bit too dark. just goes to show me that yet again, accidents can be a good thing.

the last hoop to round out the trio began as a lovely embroidered tea towel. i really had no business buying another tea towel, but i couldn't resist the cute ducks! to this fabric, i embroidered the word "Spring" and added little freehand flowers in hot pink and tangerine.

with spring just around the corner, i am dying to get some great floral photos so i can make more of these. they are the perfect project, because they don't take too much time, but make such a big impact.

spring and wreaths

who says wreaths are just for christmas??? lately, we have had a few 70 degree days here in atlanta and it has made me wishing for spring. just because the weather is getting warmer doesn't mean that i don't want to make a yarn wreath though. i loved all the wreaths i saw on blogs over the holidays, so i decided to make one for easter. this wreath is wrapped with a creme yarn, then embellished with my stash of miniature yo-yo's. the flower petals are created out of the same circular fabric i made the yo-yos from. i was inspired to make fabric flowers from this tutorial, they looked so cool on her site, but mine didn't hold the shape i wanted them to. my stiffen spray was not the same brand she used, so maybe that was my problem. i still like how the petals turned out, just think they could have been a bit more 3-D.