Trying to upload a video I made today but with no success. Instead I'll share these images of a portrait I'm working on. I've never really done a portrait like this but decided I wanted something of my own to use for transfers and such. The initial image was from a 60's magazine. The eyes need to be finished yet and I plan to use pencil crayons for that. The rest of the colour was achieved with watercolour crayons. I've decided I need a dark brown one yet as that was supposed to be the colour of her hair :)

Hopefully I can share the video tomorrow - I guess actually later today.
See you then.

Earth day Part 1:
Getting quite late so I won't take time to tell much today. I'll show you a couple of photos of some works in progress and some earth day projects. I'll tell you more about everything tomorrow or as soon as I can.



I should mention also that I saw the optometrist and she reiterated my thought that the changes in my eye are very normal. I have two areas of hypo-pigmentation in my right eye - all normal. She asked if she should send a letter to the diabetes specialist. I said not necessary as I wasn't planning to return to him anyway. Wonderful reassurance for a person with diabetes (of 47 years) to be told that the eye is fine, which the diabetes specialist (the idiot, I mean character) had thought was a concern.

Till tomorrow,
angels be with you,
Wendy

another busy day:







These are not new. I can't remember exactly when I did them. I just thought they were something different to show that I've worked on in the past couple of weeks. They are backgrounds for journal pages in case you didn't realize. The two with blue I actually used watered down ink. I had tried with undiluted blue and they got way too dark. I love playing. Unfortunately I often don't know how to repeat the steps to get EXACTLY same effect. LOL

I did some rearranging in my studio today again. I love to do still life photos. I'll share them in a couple of days. I've also done more experimenting with transfers. One of these years I might get lucky and actually get some kind of results. I was going to check at "The Good Neighbour Store" for a little crock pot for wax BUT the thrift type store wasn't open WAAAHHH :( tomorrow :D

Sometimes we stare so long at our balloon in the sky we forget that our ice cream is melting on our plate.
Author Unknown
But Greatly Appreciated!

From Inspiration Peak

Angels be with you.

canvases and plans:



Above is a photo of a canvas I started working on last Friday night. It measures 16 x 20 inches. I want to put some words on it and more texturing before I put a person on, blah, blah, blah.




Last Friday I purchased this book by Claudine Hellmuth. I got it at the arts and crafts store, you know the one I mean, in Saskatoon with my 40% off coupon.



I had borrowed Claudine's more recent book from the library. They actually brought it all the way from Nova Scotia to Humboldt, Saskatchewan for little old me. I was impressed. But I had to return it after only three weeks. :(
I would have liked to purchase that book, but of course they wouldn't have it at Michael's yet.

That's OK. I'm really impressed with the book I purchased. It has in one book lots of techniques which I've been trying to learn from Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines and online, from videos and tutorials. I've been really chomping at the bit to try some encaustic work - with melted wax that is. A time ago I was thinking I had a small crock pot for melting the wax. Uh whoops - it's a fondue maker - getting my utensils muddled. I asked Greg to look for one for me when he was taking stuff from the house in Regina and the farm to Value Village but he didn't see one in the quick glance he made. Patience, patience Wendy. I was thinking yesterday of trying to melt some tiny bit of wax in the microwave but no, no, no google search says DO NOT. I really must have melted wax on this canvas. Oh well. I don't have the mini iron yet either. Wednesday - back to that arts and crafts store for another week's 40% off coupon.

Here are a couple more of the canvases I started. They are a bit smaller - 8 x 10 inches and 5 x 7 inches, I think. I won't take time to run downstairs now to measure.

These are more textured but I'm not certain of the colours.

Other than gel medium I don't have a lot of Golden products and I know they are recommended. Some day after I've sold lots of my art I'll be able to afford more of those beloved Golden products. Wait a minute - I think I did buy one tube of Golden paint the last time I was at Art Placement. With all the moving and organizing and phewph - busyness - I totally forgot. Next time.
I love the creations of Misty Mawn whose original texturing I encountered in probably the very first Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine I purchased. Someday between Misty Mawn's teaching, suziblu"s most recent video and the techniques in the book I purchased, I might even learn how to do transfers.

ANGELS BE WITH YOU

Winnie and January: This is typically a very difficult time of year for me. I think I am doing quite well though in looking to "spring" within my heart. That will be the story for the blue flat canvas of which you can see the background. I've put the start of a sunshine as well. I'm not certain yet of the other one. The green was started probably in November. As usual the scan does not do the colours justice.

I've shown a couple of pictures of Winnie in the past week. I will tell you now that she was my auntie on my Dad's side. I never got to meet her as she died in 1933. Winnie had diabetes. She died when she was 13 years of age, of pneumonia, probably a complication of the diabetes. I have recently come to feel a connection to Winnie. I've done these couple of journal pages. The first one is "remembering the past whilst not even trying (consciously)".





The second is "growing in stature with each breath that I take". The parts below the vellum pictures of Winnie were drawn. They are representing myself. With the second it is quite amazing, I think how the eyes of Winnie correspond exactly with the picture I've drawn. They totally change Winnie's eyes. I feel so blessed to have found the picture of Winnie in a family history book and to have learned a tiny bit more about her in the past few weeks. I am feeling it is one of the gifts that has been given to me through the Advent and Christmas seasons. it brings renewed hope to my future, this new year.




My prayers would be that you may find blessings as well as you contemplate your life and your self.

Angels be with you,
Wendy

Angels of kindness:
A number of weeks ago some dear friends named me as one of the recipients of this "nice matters" award. I felt so honoured. Now finally I am returning the favour by naming some of my other friends with the same award. I would like to name Elena, Karen, Debra, Darcy, Helene and Fran to receive the award.

I also received recently the Rockin' girl blogger award from Darcy and so I will name Suze, Nance, Jude, Mary Ann, and Janet to receive this award. I know many of you have already received this award but I would like to present it to you also. You are all so great.



Angel images have arrived together with all the other angels. Helenina and Karen have both sent beautiful images on Flickr. Enigmaticdec, a friend from close by, and maybe moving closer, sent me a wonderful image and purposely had allowed room for me to add words. Thanks so much to each of you.



For anyone following the bits and pieces of what's been happening in my life the past ten days or so, I'll say that we had a fine visit at the farm this past weekend. I had a long visit with Jeanne and I am confident that she is ready to face whatever the future brings. She appeared so much like her bouncy, cheerful self even though she'd just had a major surgery a few days previous.

I've been fitting in dibbles and dots of art too. Many of the projects are not quite finished but here's some of what I've been doing.


I'll give you details once I've gotten pieces closer to completion.












Angels be with you.

My sewing machine: Only a few days ago I realized I haven't been at my sewing machine since early June. Even though I have some pants hemming to do for Cat, I'm really looking forward to getting back to it, getting back to working with fibres, fabrics, buttons. Journal quilts have been on hold. Today I chose to work on one for June. This is what I have planned so far, oh, and the binding and the other fibres. You'll have to wait until it's done. I forgot to mention that the orange button will be for the August quilt. YES! orange is the colour for August.

On the red fabric I used some dishwasher soap with a bit of bleach in it. I needed to experiment with the stamps. Initially I had far too much soap. Later I didn't get so much of the whitening effect, but it got darker instead. Not certain what happened. I then used black dye based ink to do some stamping. I just have to determine now if there are any possibilities for setting the ink? Hmmm, any ideas? I'm wondering if I can press it. The fabric is for Christmas projects so I've some time to sort it out. I also need to determine some time soon if I can use spray varnish on rice paper. I love to use rice paper and I've got quite a lot of it.
Angels be with you.

Life as a windyangel: Phew - some days it feels like my head is absolutely spinning. I know. I know. We've all been there. That's part of the reason I was so pleased when I had gone to visit Janet at jkbees and discovered this gem. Note that I've put it quite high on my links. Thanks Janet. This is so right on.

I've got lots of works in progress to share. I've been trying to rearrange or maybe I should say arrange things in the craft room I established just before Easter. My living room was refound. I still tend to use the living room lots for the actual doing but I can quite easily take things back downstairs. I've a couple of storage cupboards I'm using. One has just recently been labeled, almost. I forgot the photo of that. The other one is downstairs.
I decided I needed some way to display ALL of the wonderful presents I've received through swaps and such. I've been working on a bulletin board.









Then I remembered the church window at the cottage at Manitou. I got it at an auction or something over 15 years ago. Greg has been working on it a couple of times to get the glass out and smooth it a bit. It will be wonderful for displaying fabulous creations.












The dirty old medicine cabinet came from the farm. It's been sitting in an old garage for quite some time and I just got it yesterday. It will need quite a lot of work but I think it will make a beautiful display case.










The other thing I am working on slowly is my May journal quilt. The process is slowed for a couple of reasons - the main one being I want to do a tutorial with it. I want to make it good so will take some time. Keep checking back. Maybe I can do it this week yet or maybe not till next. One never knows where the spirit may lead.
Angels be with you.

Altering books - a few of my favourite things: books and glue, paints and brushes, brads and fibres, pictures and words, patterns and textures, past and present - these are a few of my favourite things.

Angels be with you.

Mini Quilts - This one HAS to be enlarged. Now comes the fun part - embellishing. Yummy - add buttons and french twists and Xs, maybe some beads, maybe some surprises. Later.

Life is good: It feels like often I don't have the inclination to say that. Today was different. There was a tiny glitch but I'm working towards not focusing on the glitches but instead that "life is good." I'd seen words to this effect in someone's profile and I thought "WOW! I wish I could say that." Then I thought, "why don't I try to say it?" Today was the day. Hopefully there will be more.

I have so much I want to say. However part of the idea that "Life is good" may mean trying to get more sleep. So I will just say for now that these are three of the thirteen postcards I am working on for valentine's day. Exploration of the topics of love, the number thirteen, miracles, french knots, hand dying fabric, printing on fabric, "talk" and self-esteem will all have to wait.

Stay tuned.

A huge leap - kind of like a swap:

I got brave. As I said on Diane's blog I am scared. I am so much not able to complete projects. AND, I'm uncomfortable about whether people might like what I make. Sigh. Self - confidence - where are you?

This is how it works -"The first five people to respond to this post (via the comments section) will get some form of art made by me. The only catch, of course: as with most memes, if you sign up, you have to put this in your own blog as well."

Above is just one example of an unfinished project. This is a postcard I have yet to compete. Now that I've tried a couple of things with my first journal quilt page I think I'll be able to finish this postcard and do some more in a breeze. HUH! I call it "big talk". We'll see.

I guess I'll need your snail mail address if you decide to participate.

HUGS! I need them. LOL

Wendy

Please also see post below. I CAN finish some projects sometimes.