Another Suzi Blu Workshop

Last year I did the SuziBlu 'Les Petits Dolls' workshop and loved it.....so when I saw she was going to run another portrait class, but this time with more realistic-looking faces, I thought I'd join in the fun again. Above is my second attempt at a face (first attempt is at the bottom of this post). The workshop is called The Goddess and the Poet; the idea being that we shall use the images in a journal and write poetry as well. This should be hilarious - I'm rubbish at poetry!!
Below is our first piece of homework - cross-hatching with a pencil with the intention of creating shadows and spheres.

Second assignment.......drawing eyes, noses and mouths. I'm getting there! (Slowly)

Then the final instruction was to put it all together and create a face, just using a pencil. This is my first attempt and the face is too long and out of proportion. For my second attempt (at the top) I printed out the grid that Suzi gave us and measured out the proportions properly. Can't wait for the next set of instructions.....

Catching Up.....

A few months ago I subscribed to Quilting Arts magazine digitally; it saves a lot of bother and is cheaper that way! The June/July edition is full of gorgeous things including an article from the very talented Jackie whose blog I love to visit plus a very inspiring little 'workshop' from Jill A. Kennedy (whose glorious work you can see here).
I tried out some of her techniques involving using wax crayons and inks on thickish hand-made paper which you then screw up and iron until it becomes almost like fabric. I then played around with it......cutting it up, piecing bits back together, machining over, adding fibres, cutting out flower shapes etc.

Its quite small ......4" x 5". I was going to neaten up all the ends but I rather like them tatty.

Another of my favourite blogs is Michelle Ward's and last week she gave a link to a wonderful website called Villainess. They sell gorgeous products like perfumed oils, scrubs, soaps and body creams....which are just that bit different. The way the products are described is brilliant; I recommend you go and have a read. I even like the names.......Decadence, Byzantium, Silk and Cyanide, Scintillating, Paradise Misplaced. I treated myself to a few items (well, it is my birthday soon!) The black envelopes contain small soap samples which you can buy for $1 (you also get two free) - the labels are rather lovely and may be seen on future ATCs etc! (Pictures shown with permission from Brooke, who runs the company)

This week I have been making things for Liz with her 'Marie Antoinette' photos on.

A 5" x 5" chunky canvas .......... (I printed her photo onto tissue paper so the text underneath shows through)

an ATC.....

and a mixed media collage....

I hope she likes them........ (haven't seen much of her for the past few days as she's been with the new boyfriend)

Tea on Tuesday ..... and a friendly moth!!

I'm actually posting my 'Tea on Tuesday' on the correct day for once! I've been sitting in the garden reading my Victoria Hislop novel with a cup of Redbush (or Rooibos) tea...... gorgeous with or without milk. (Can you see my blue pebble fountain in the background?)
Cheers Kimmie! I shall be over soon to see what you're up to.

Victoria Hislop wrote 'The Island'; one of my all time favourite books which I read by a pool in Crete with Spinalonga Island in my view. I wish I was reading this one in Grenada!
I hope its going to be as good as The Island- I'll let you know.
Yesterday evening we were sitting outside and spotted this moth on the wall....I looked it up on Google and apparently its a Poplar Hawk Moth. Its body was so chubby and furry..... it looked almost cuddly!

It sat very nicely for a photo on my hand......

......and on a leaf. What a cute face!!!!!

(Click for a close-up)

I altered an ATC woodblock today - just because I felt like it. The photo is from our family archives...the gel transfer didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped but I think its ok. All the usual layering took place; torn text, paper napkins, gesso, stencils etc.......

Here's the photo - please feel free to use if you want to.
Hope you're having a lovely day, wherever you are........

The Wanderer Returns

I can't believe its over 3 weeks since I last posted......so much has happened in that time; we've had some difficult and upsetting things to deal with in the family and I haven't felt like making anything. But hopefully after this week we can start and get back to normal.

The 6" x 6"fabric collage is my piece for our dragonfly challenge at http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com/ . The background is purple silk and on top I used organza, stamped and printed fabric, rusty leaves from Retro Cafe (which I coloured with Lumiere paint), torn text, gems and Angelina for the dragonfly. The stamp is from Crafty Originals.

I stretched the whole thing around piece of wood with wadding between as you can see here.....

I discovered a new material last week which I'm quite excited about! Its called Mistyfuse - I'm sure many of you have heard of it before, but it's new to me. I dyed some pieces of silk then put threads, sequins, gilding flakes etc on top...... placed the Mistyfuse over and ironed with baking parchment between to protect the iron. All the bits and pieces then become attached to the background. Here are my practice pieces. Next I will hand and machine stitch over the top to make absolutely sure everything is attached.

You'll find a much better explanation of this technique here: http://twocreativestudios.com/free.htm under 'Fabric Charms'.

This is where I've been spending the recent glorious sunny days! We have a small walled garden with lots of little sitting areas. We've just added a metal arch and have planted a clematis one side and a pink rose the other - the race is on to see which can reach the top first.

I painted the shed and deck blue......I love the colour but some of our friends think I've gone a bit mad!

This one makes me laugh...a headless DH in the shed!!!

I hope you like my 'new-look' blog. I challenged myself a few days ago to change the html and create 3 columns. It wasn't easy but after a few goes I managed it. You can find instructions on Itkupilli. Next job is a new banner.

Finally I want to thank 2 lovely ladies for recently awarding me these..........

Michelle at http://myjourneytohope.blogspot.com/

and Barbara at http://barbs-spiritsong.blogspot.com/

......so kind.

Fabric Picture

I spent yesterday evening making a fabric picture of Sirena; its 8" tall. Yep...still using those little shells!!!

I got a delivery of merino wool top from Wingham Wool a few days ago (you'll never guess what colours - yes, blues, greens and purples!) Time to go and do some felting I think......

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Wherever you are in the world......have a wonderful weekend!

Sirena

For the first time in ages I had a whole day to myself today so I decided to think about 2 themes.......shells (again for the ABAA challenge) and painted fabric (something I've been playing around with for weeks). And so I created Sirena (Italian for mermaid). She's 12" tall.

(Click on the pictures)

I painted the fabric for her body with acrylics, then added torn tissue text and flowers (with gel medium), handwriting and stamps. I then machine-stitched flowers, Angelina and strips of fabric onto the front.

I painted the face and dirtied her up a bit with a green chalk stamp, then added those gorgeous fibres from Stef Francis for the hair. Finally I glued shells into her hair and round her neck using Trim-It glue.

She's only roughly made!

Here's the painted and collaged piece of cream calico which I used for her body.

I think this is the first thing I've ever made that I actually feel really happy with.

This is a theme I will develop........

Peppermint Tea With Kimmie!

Better late than never.......here's my 'Tea on Tuesday' with Kimmie.
I was inspired by Patty to have some peppermint tea so I picked some leaves from the garden and poured boiling water over.
Such a pretty colour!

My two varieties of mint are thriving this year...along with the parsley, coriander, thyme and chives.Someone else was interested in the mint today ........

The three 'sticks' you can see behind the herb pots are these.

I've forgotten what they're called.........

As for my news.......well, we had a lovely long weekend at my sisters house in Buckinghamshire. Both she and her husband are 50, so we celebrated with a big party on Saturday night. The weather couldn't have been better so we spent most of the time in their lovely garden. Lesley is a great hostess; I hope she likes the surprise present I've sent to thank her.

Well here I am next to my slim and gorgeous baby sister! Doesn't she look good for 50?!!! (She's the one with the necklace...just in case you hadn't worked it out from the other 3 clues!)
Its actually her birthday today so I hope she sees this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LESLEY!