The kindness keeps coming

A big Thank You goes out to my sister Chris who brought us new clothes. There was only one day in the last week where we didn't get things given to us so we're amazed at the recent turn of events. Just when we were discouraged and ready to give up, all of these things began to happen. I can't wait to see where life takes us next!

Flashback Floral

 Everyone that's seen pictures of this in progress hates it

 or makes faces when I talk about how excited I am about it.

It makes me laugh out loud, smile and sing. I have the feeling that I painted this on a bus once in the 60's. The music in my head amuses me, memories and the lack of them occupy my mind and the paint shoots out my fingers.

Design concept for a new painting

You just never know where the ideas are going to come from, that's the great surprise that keeps me excited and headed back to work everyday. Today's inspiration was the reactions from people as I pulled different sets of teacups out of various places during the course of the afternoon at yesterday's tea.

I used to do paintings based on different dishes in my collection but now that I've been designing products for Zazzle I've decided to do a painting full of cups and saucers where I really let my imagination go wild and come up with as many of my own designs as I can. Even if some of the individual designs aren't successful the painting itself will look great in the dining room and pictures of it will make cute tea invitations or "Thank You's". 

No matter how it goes there is no downside to this project.

Distracted again but enjoying the detour

 The place mats didn't get made but we managed for tea. It was fun to see everyone again and they spoiled me rotten with gifts and treats. Thanks so much! I couldn't do the things I do without the kindness and support of my friends.

 As I sorted through fabrics to make place mats with I came across these old arm chair covers and turned them into a tote bag. All my bags are reversible so it's got the wildlife design on one side and a regular tapestry pattern on the other. In this case since the chair covers had a bit of wear I turned them to the inside.

As you can see I'm still working on this but it's a great recycling project as the other fabric came from old decorators samples and the straps are made from belt webbing. Yes, as the old song says "everything old is new again"

Project Updates

We're back to work carving and sanding wooden horses to paint. A friend is looking for some information for me on more traditional ways to paint Dala horses. It will be interesting to see how that influences me when I get ready to paint them.

I painted the edges of that dot painting so that it could be hung in the living room and be up out of the way around here.

I'm continuing to design products with my drawings and paintings on them and yes, I've even gone back to cleaning and organizing the house.

I'm considering doing portraits in colored pencil to see how that goes for me. Perhaps changing media and techniques will help change my perspective on the whole process.

Having that page on my lace vest turn up after all these years has made me consider dusting off my sewing machine and starting a few fabric projects.

As always "my hobbies have hobbies"

Having fun with "junk" mail

Like a lot of people I still get a lot of catalogs this time of year and can't afford to buy anything so they're art supplies. A few of my friends get some of the same catalogs so we indulge ourselves in pretend shopping trips by cutting out various pictures and decorating our letters with them. It's fun to see when we agree on something and even funnier when we don't.
Taken with a leisurely cup of tea it's a great little vacation from a difficult day.

Better Weather

We had some rainy days so I reached in Carol's scrap bag and made a couple more tote bags. The denim one had been bits of a shirt that I put together in a way that saved most of the embroidery and bordered the bag nicely. There's not much to say about the small bag except that the lining had been part of another shirt at one time. I'm sure everyone will get a lot more use out of these.
After the sewing the sun came out again so of course I headed for the garden. Here are a few of the latest pictures:

I don't know quite what to say about the garden, it's always an untidy mess but I love it. You never quite know what will be blooming next and It's nice just to sit and listen to the birds while resting up from the latest bit of weeding and transplanting. I keep thinking I should work harder at it but it's more fun to draw, paint and photograph than it is to enjoy from the end of a shovel.

The Glass Garden

Over the last few years I've managed to collect a number of garden stakes made from stained glass and copper in the shapes of my favorite flowers,butterflies etc. and they've been scattered everywhere.
This week I brought them all together to brighten a shady and forgotten corner of my backyard and was pleased to see the way the sunlight filters through the trees and creates a lightshow of sorts as it dances through the various bits of colored glass.
To really enjoy the experience of it all I've added a nice , sturdy bench and a bright little end table so I can bring my coffee and a book along when I want to take a little break from working on the garden.
It's a special little place that's all my own with a great view of all the wildlife and the rest of the gardens here.
I'll be painting a few leaves & vines to brighten the bench and I've repurposed some bits of metal fencing that I'm painting in a riot of colors to place near one of the trees and mark the path to my latest happy place. Even when I can't get there I can see it from my window and sometimes even that is enough to make me smile. I hope something in your day makes you happy too.