Friday 31 August 2012

Sisters and daughters




 
A card for today. A crazy quilt snippet from before. A lady tin type photograph of yesteryear. And an old canvas board repainted over old collage for a new painting. Aimless wanderings with no direction but all with a similar theme.

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Sweet Spring Arrival




 
 

Spring is coming don't you think? Days are warming and there's all pretty flowers bursting out with colour ---it is a visual feast for the eyes and sweetness for the nose (If you are not an allergy sufferer).

As the days warm I find myself thinking about old art and a return to painting. Such a long time ago, since I painted with oil paints. This girl was my first proper painting learning how to paint she is from Renoir. She is the original size of the Renoir and is oil on canvas. Canvas then had to be brought from the art shop, then I had to stretch up on a frame and it cost a fortune for the roll of unprimed canvas, the stretcher frames, and not to mention good quality bristle brushes. I eventually switched to wooden panels and painted them up with gesso, they were heavy but so much cheaper. Now that canvas is so cheap there's no limit to the amount of painting that can be done.

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Old Friends



 

 
I have been away working on some old things to finish them. The mini album is 61/2 x 6/12 and uses up mostly kaiser craft Lush paper pad and a few other kaiser craft papers. The main aim of this mini was to use up odds and ends from other projects. The photo's are little wallet size ones I didn't want to throw away after I test printed them. For the binding I used the duct tape method found on a few yt channels just search for duct tape binding mini albums and something will pop up. Nothing was brought for this mini album, I used up from my stash and used up a lot of goodies recieved in a couple of swaps. Most of the items are just those brought from Waynes World and so on here in Aussieland, nothing overly exspensive. I also used my slice machine to cut out a lot of words and shapes - Salutations and Vintage Findings are the cartridges I used.
 
The crazy quilting is a cushion. I cut it down to more manageable size blocks to work on and am remembering how to do all the stitching. The spiral bound books are little note books I had drawn in working out Crazy Quilt stitches I saw around websites. I use the note books as a reference for ideas. If you can't draw like I can draw, just print out the image and stick it in your notebook. Soon enough you will have a good size reference book which is much cheaper than buying a book. If you are buying a book on Crazy Quilt stitching I recommend Judith Baker Montano. J. Marsha. Michler. And the new kid on the block - Brian Haggard.

Today is gorgeous warm weather with a bit of a breeze which is a change from dreary old winter. Have a lovely day whatever it is you are doing.


Sunday 12 August 2012

Sun charmed





Pale winter sun makes for longing of hot summer days. But not too hot. The lemon flowers are a different kind of marigold, they remind me of the pom pom flowers made from lace. Do you know the ones I mean?  Cold dreary winter days are being spent using up odds and ends from my stash. There's a mini album in progress and a handful of dangle charms already finished for other projects. Last but not least I'm still embroidering a summery crazy quilt cushion a large one to lounge out on the grass in when summer arrives.