Redbird in the Morning 2004 Hand embroidery on twill, patchwork, machine quilted.
Birds are some of my favorite subjects. Here’s one I made inspired by the techniques in the book Painting with Stitches by Sue Dove. You can see more of my birds at my website.
Welcome to everyone clicking from The Brave Girls’ Club newsletter!
Lately I’ve been trying to shake up my art making habits. I’ve not been letting myself go to my default time-killers, like knitting or mindless beadwork (as opposed to beaded imagery). It’s been really difficult. Some days I don’t do anything at all because I’m “not allowed” to go to those default activities. I just feel that right now I really want to concentrate on one or two forms. And I really miss drawing. It’s my original voice, and it’s gotten buried underneath all the other layers of forms I’ve been visiting.
Last night I watched the Grammys, and as I watched, I decided to do something a little different. I allowed myself to draw with my non-dominant hand. In this case, my left hand. I had fun and wasn’t worried about the outcome or making it perfect. And as I drew I could feel the delight coming back.
This guy kind of reminds me of Max from Where the Wild Things Are.
I think this is my favorite. I had lots of fun drawing the suckers on the tentacles, and the little fish remind me of the submarines I drew for the Sketchbook Project two years ago. I think I will be revisiting this image again.
By the third drawing I was starting to think about subject matter. I thought this was going to be a bee, but she kind of morphed into someone sleeping in their cocoon. I’m not sure what the dream is about. I added the jar because it represents the container for her dreams.
This was drawn near the end of the show, when they were announcing the Song and Album of the Year. I didn’t want to fill the whole sky with flowers and that is why I drew the big marquee. It reminds me of the ending credits of the old Bullwinkle show. You can see how tired the little bird is by the circles under his eyes. It was a long night of fun.
Drawing this way really helped me loosen up and just enjoy the process. I highly recommend it!
I have been working on a few different things, mostly involving painted paper or paint on canvas or sometimes a little of both. Ironically some of these experiments were to get away from the fiddliness of working with patchwork. Gluing is still a lot faster than sewing. :)
Summer Carnival, painted paper on canvas. I use Golden gel medium to attach the paper cutouts to the canvas.
Detail. Here you can see the different mark making tools I use to make the painted paper. These include Print Gocco (the fish), linoleum prints (the red dots in the upper left area are a frog), and carved stamps (the white star-like forms and the white stars).
Autumn Lotus
This is one of those things where I got a crazy idea to cut a bunch of lotus stencils out of a sheet of painted paper. I am unsure whether this is in process or it is complete.
Koi Spring
This technique was so cool that I decided to try it on a larger scale. My fingers weren’t too happy with me, but it was worth the effort.
Detail, you can see the dots from the sequin waste I used as a stencil and the detail of the red koi shapes I painted onto the original paper. This piece is definitely still in process. Stay tuned for updates.
Into the Void Acrylic on canvas with graphite drawings added. I am unsure whether this is complete or whether I want to go back into it with some india ink or liquid acrylic to emphasize the lines.
A detail showing the graphite drawing in more detail. I like the way the paint washes blur the lines of the drawing.
The texture in this piece comes from some rice paper that I had initially adhered to the canvas, again using the Golden gel medium.
And today, after a several week hiatus due to mom duties (hockey and school), I was able to get back into the studio and begin a new painting.
In the Between, acrylic on canvas, and still very much in process, though it was nice to get back into the studio and just play with paint and color.
