I'm on a roll

Oh my, another mandala completed. Since I'm fighting a rash caused by a run in with poison ivy, I have to remain quiet and cool. Oh darn, an excuse to sit and draw. :)

Done with Micron pens, a Sharpie and Inkstense pencils.

Cover Page

This is the first page of my new 9x12 sketchbook. Yes, it wasn't a quick sketch, but I certainly enjoyed the process. Finished it as I was watching the women win the World Cup. Congrats to them!!

 

Micron and intense pencils were the tools of choice.

Hand dyed silk pieces

Lately I've been lucky enough to go to a friends house and play with fabric dyeing. The first piece is all cotton with various techniques for dyeing plus a couple of pieces done using a Gelli Plate. This wall hanging is about 20 by 25". To me it called for hand quilting.

The next piece is hand dyed silk. The mandala was a watercolor that I transferred to fabric via my printer. Yes, each bead is sewn on and there is a bit of hand quilting. A few lines were emphasized with fabric markers. Size is 9x12. A friend made the frame for me.

Here is a somewhat fuzzy closeup.

Light and Dark Study

For years I have walked around the book, Drawing the Light from Within by Judith Cornell, Ph.D. The art center had a book sale and this time I did not let it get away. There are two sections. The first part deals with paints and color and the second part is more on drawing. After a few simple marks with a 4B pencil that produce light to dark shading we were given this exercise to be done on a 18 x 24 inch piece of paper. We were advised to do random shapes and not try to convey a teacup or tree.

There was so much growth on my part from this exercise. I started on the left with rather small shapes. There was a great confidence surge after I realized that I could do larger shapes that were connected. Yes, it took over 12 hours, but well worth the time. Yes, I plan to do the next piece, but need to juggle all my different interests.

Butterflies and flowers

This butterfly is my attempt to warm all of you who are suffering in the cold. I dyed both the yellow silk and the cotton background. The black is commercial fabric. Dyeing fabric is my latest addition to the art projects that interest me.

Here is a close-up which shows that I added a few beads in the background. Yes, I machine quilted each section of the butterfly. Don't you love the color variations between the pictures (ugh!). Anyway, I hope that you get the idea. The piece is 24" x 18".

A friend gave me some daffodils as she thought that I would like to draw them. That seemed like a good suggestion! This drawing was done with Micron pen and Inktense pencils.

Really, I've done lots of different pieces and practice motivated by Danny Gregory's Bootkamp. Just haven't gotten around to posting items.

Greeting cards

Our printer went kapoot! To any foreigner, that means that it was no longer working. So, after several bloopers we got a very nice Canon printer, copier, scanner. Dumb me, I thought all machines did all three. No, some are just printers. I wanted to test the detail and color. So, I decided to make some greeting cards.

The images were from my collection of mandalas that I have drawn over the years. The background paste paper was a gift from my dear friend, Barbara Parke Wolff. I am so lucky to receive these treasures. The card stock is Strathmore.

Yes, I think that I'm going to be happy with this new toy!

New Year Mandala

After the activity of the Christmas season, I felt that I needed to center myself and chose to do a mandala. This time, I wanted to learn more about colored pencils. Thus, I spent a fair amount of time creating this piece. I only work in segments no longer than 45 minutes as I've learned that physically and mentally this keeps me in balance. Somehow this has become my "garden" piece.

May we each find happiness in the coming year.