what a fun two weeks with watercolors and scribbles, sketching and drawing 

monochromatic, negative space and larger formats, all new experiments as i delve deeper into my self described mixed medianism.

i also love using walnut inks instead of watercolors since i love the brown vintage hues.

this large drawing is all colored pencils

i keep defining myself as a mixed media artist, mixed medianism being that i don't like to use the same mediums too long at a time, these paper mache dolls being an example of the detour i took this week.

and then exploring some more darker paintings as i play with brown paper and watercolors.

there is a mysteriousness to watercolors

cathy cullis is having a brown paper art challenge in september. as i was reading about it, i got the urge to paint a cathy cullis inspired three toned watercolor thus the result above. i love the simplicity of her work which is not as easy as it looks since watercolors can be tricky. they even say among artists that it is the most difficult of mediums.

but i just play with them not expertly but with a keen will at exploration. watercolors are magical....they start to reveal images hidden in the layers of water and paint. 

here is one of my darker ones. i have been subconsciously painting quite a few shielded women: armored, protected, vigilant.

followed by a lighter one

i explored a bit with using the watercors with other mediums attempting some depth and layering to the paintings. 

such as this mail art i painted for my friend Emi in Canada.

and this one for julie as i needed to mail her my hand embroidered feathers anyway. why not make it mail art?

for one of her dreamcatchers.

julie was who got me turned on to

painting on rocks.

i love this newfound medium.

lullaby cd cover commissioned piece is still in the works as are a few more of my painted oyster shells

hope your week has been as creative as mine.

of late, it has been all about finishing projects that have been set aside, many times with just a tiny corner to be stitched or painted.

and framing some of the work i want to display in our home.

and listing a few others in my much-neglected etsy shop.

you see i have so many varied artistic interests that i sometimes get sidetracked launching new projects.

so i have started a pad with a list of the things i REALLY want to make. ofcourse, i continue to stray once in a while, as when i stopped one night to sew this indigo beaded moth.

it ultimately went on to win an award on flickr's explore with over 12 thousand views worldwide.

or when i stopped to paint this sympathy note for the tragedy of MH 17 for my dutch friend Hans Peter.

i have also been putting together some packages to thank a number of friends who have sent me some wonderful handmade gifts, such as lynne hoppe who sent me a couple of originals

and rebecca brooks who sent me the most gorgeous saughtered double-sided shrine ro hang from my ceiling fan

in turn, her gifted prompted me to stitch these scapulars

but i've also been catching up with the garden

and walks on the beach

and still hanging up pictures in the house

and tidying up the studio

i need more time. lots more time because

just love love to create.

what do you think of this new technique i ventured into? my daughter and son are both modernists and i wanted to make tatiana something for her apartment. what a contrast to what i usually paint huh?

i leave you with this beautiful creation from my friend Julie Ippoliti

proof once again that we are all a gift to each other. 

as my friend hans peter so wisely write to me the other day

"This 'us & them' finds its roots, i believe, in the illusion that there is a separate 'me'. The older I get, the more i realuze: i am you, i am this bird, i am this tree, i am this stone."

 

after accomplishing "some" order, sorting through art supplies, paints, fabrics, laces, trims, buttons and embellishments, the creative itch kicked in stronger than ever.  

but the tidying continues.  as a matter of fact top dog has kicked into full gear putting order into closets (getting rid of lots), garage, filing cabinets, hard drives, photo albums, email messages and the piles and piles of paperwork that tends to accumulate on the dining room table. i am also trying to start lists again to make sense of where everything is going and sketching ideas rather than being all over the map creatively.

 so much seems to be going on of late.  invitations, travel plans, a soon to be move to a new home, the opportunity to garden again, an interview in the works and all the upcoming holiday preparations for which we finally bought and old time chu chu train.

mary stanley of art spirit had invited me to visit one of her shows up in santa barbara

which lead me to sign up for a weeklong workshop taking place in oaxaca come february.  10 women will travel to one of my favorite cities to share at casa colonial our idiosyncratic selves. i couldn't be more excited since i pick my workshops very carefully, having attended only three in my artistic life, one with susan tuttle , one with nina bagley and now one mary.  one remains....a lynne hoppe if and when she has one.  

these workshops are more about meeting kindred spirits, making new friends and creating human bonds as in the case of my deep deep regard for nina bagley whom i have come to love on so many levels.
above, is a portrait of her springer spaniel, the now famous walter that i recently painted as a christmas gift for her.

paint brushes used to paint walter

another recent friend encountered thanks to a common thread is 
lynn holland who has introduced me a whole new playfullness with fabrics and stitching

 as is the case with these long strips of mixed fabrics which roll up on a large wooden spool.

  or this bunny doll i made for a customer from australia living in saudi arabia.

my love of fabric is endless and i have recently delved into a little altered couture

over the top, i know, but so romantic yet boho, like me.

my latest sacred hearts, beaded and appliqued onto purple velvet

 i have also begun to play with beads and embellishments, especially in my religious fabric work which always seems to pick up at hslloween and for the day of the dead celebrations all through christmas.  the sacred heart, as you know, is one of my favorite subjects to work with.

 but my faces keep popping up and i scribble and doodle them and make them into brooches

i had intended this to be a longer post, with all the ins and outs of the goings on around here, but i am becoming more and more frustrated with the limitations of a new windows operating system, an ipad that is not good with blogger.  today, as i uploaded some photographs from my camera chip, a german photo program took it upon itself to do the job.just too weird.  i used to be able to blog in ten to fifteen minutes when i had a simple tower computer. 

one program i do love though on my ipad is snapseed.  for those of you who have one, i highly recommend it as a photo editing tool.  

as thursday approaches and the house prepares itself i leave you with a little clip from a great lettering book by jenny doh which sums it all up