I've been feeling a bit cheesie...

...but not the eating kind.  I mentioned last week that I hoped to get some more cheesecloth thingies made, and while not completely finished I did have some fun.  The warm side of the spectrum produced this cloth,

and then I did it with blues and yellows for a cooler look.

I always enjoy the textural aspect left on the butcher paper when things are dried,

so I poured some Clear Tar Gel on top of that and waited for it to dry.  I lifted the circle of plasticy goodness, and added it to a tag to finish later.

I started another vase, and while it's looking a gloppy mess right now, I think it's going to be rather pretty when dried.

I've got some lovely blue/green textural play coming up with the leftovers on that butcher paper too,

and have already started another blob with the Clear Tar Gel.  

Of course, I'm not 'supposed' to be doing this at all - I've several projects on the go, and some of them have deadlines to be managed.  Please send all Anti-Procrastination Energy my way, so I get back on track with things that really need doing.  In the meantime, I'll be over here drooling over cheesecloth texture and the infinite possibilities it contains!  Happy creative week to you all.  

Go big...

 ...or go home.  Or perhaps both.  In any case, I've bitten the bullet and started to add colour to the 3' x 4' panel.

As it's been a very long time since I've worked this large, it's been a challenge to wrap my head around it.  Every technique needs to be sized XXL so I'm not working a gazillion details.

 

When normally I'd be working a six inch-ish square in this technique, it was sized up closer to a foot and a half.

And while this red spiral looks monstrous to me, by the time it  has a few more layers, one would hope that it will be well integrated.

And I love it that I have some multi-coloured cheesecloth to add to my journals...doesn't this look almost edible?

Over on another table is a work in progress for granddaughter Chloe's birthday.  After mucking around for three weeks on another concept, I scrapped it and started over.  This one is going much better, thank goodness!

I'm working on a journal spread as well; I found this quote by Arundhati Roy and it smacked me like a thrown brick through a plate glass window. 

 'Another world is not only possible,

She is on her way.

On a quiet day,

I can hear her breathing.'

Isn't that the most hopeful thing imaginable?  Here's to it becoming truth, and in our time.  💗💖💓

That was a brief hiatus...

...from fabric, and suddenly I'm back at it again.  This time, I've gel-printed a lace doily onto a canvas.

I've brayered the living daylights out of a spread in my journal in the process of painting some
cheesecloth, dryer sheets and baby wipes in the same colours.  As I've chopped, slashed and cut, there are a few odds and ends that will get added to the journal pages.  Nothing goes to waste here.

I've created some rosettes out of the various fabrics, and shredded some of the green dryer sheets to act as part of the foliage.

The Nosegay for Alice is already starting to look presentable, even without the addition of embroidery to be added.  I'm loving the organic look of the cheesecloth overlaying that gel print.

Here's a closeup of the stitched leaves (dryer sheets overlaying baby wipes) and rosettes of all sorts.

This project is going to be part of a memorial piece created by Alice Saltiel's artist friends.  She was an amazing mentor to so many of us, and it will be a wonderful group memorial to be seen at her Celebration of Life next month.  I've chosen colours that were an essential part of her palette and the nosegay is a nod to the hundreds of floral paintings she created throughout her life (over 900 in one series alone!). 

Will I ever get back to painting?  Maybe....             How about you?  What are you up to?  Do let me know in the comments below, and feel free to post a link!

You should know...

...that I'm hand-work challenged before you check out this post.  Although my mother went to great lengths to instill some semblance of hand-stitching/embroidery/quilting ability into my brain, it was to no avail.

So why, you wonder, would I attempt to hand-stitch a pair of curtains?  The reasons are:

1. Lunacy
2. I couldn't find any to fit the window.
3. I was working on a series of creations for the June Material Changes show at Centre 64 in Kimberley in  which I've been invited to participate.  The show features items that have been reimagined from something that would otherwise have been discarded.

Regarding item number three, I have long used dryer sheets and cheesecloth to mop up leftover paint and usually have a colourful stack of them in my studio, so it seemed like a reasonable idea to use them up, right?  Wrong.  

I started by slip-stitching unpainted sheets to painted sheets so I'd have a little more strength...don't you love the tidy look?

The front doesn't look much better than the back, does it?

There are even some smaller bits that will eventually make the curtains into a cafe style, assuming I get that far - they'll be the last to be added.

After days (weeks? months?) of slip-stitching, I finally reached the part where I could start embroidering this week, assisted by a ton of YouTube videos, a glass or six of wine, and the emotional courage of a fire-walker.  Those scissors belonged to my mother, bless her, and although she'd be appalled at the results of my efforts, I'm sure she's impressed that I'd even start the project. (Finishing may be another matter.)

 

The amazing box of embroidery floss was a gift from Alice Saltiel, who, when she heard about the project found this collection in a thrift store and mailed it off to me before I could start my own stash.

The embroidery has been started, and with sixty eight inches in width x two feet in length, I've revised my completion date to June, 2022.  Betting polls will be announced shortly.

If the finished product looks very, very bad, I can always cover it all up with the colour-coordinated cheesecloth I've saved for 'just in case'.

I will keep you posted on this craziness, if you let me know what artistic lunacy is driving you.  Best story in the comments below will win a prize!

It's a mixed bag...

today, rather akin to my mind, I suspect.

I'm in the midst of preparing for a full weekend mixed media workshop in Kimberley.  Are you going to join me there?  Please do - we're in for a crazy play-ful time!

I'm also working on three pieces for a show in Kimberley - this one is in June, and I'm already starting to  feel the push.  Don't you love doing shows for the kick-start they provide?  This small table leg is a just the start of a project that's going to take a good deal of time.

 This wood panel will sport layers of snowflakes of all kinds...final outcome TBA!

Here I'm using a technique I love - gessoed cheesecloth and organics for a background that will eventually be puddled with more than a dozen glazes of colour.  It's a tiny area of a large mirror that's in the works.

All three pieces are being created with cast-offs - furniture, wood, dried leaves (Mother Nature is so very giving!), etc.  The name of the show is Material Change, instigated by a fabulous textile artist Darcy Wanuk of Kimberley.  It will feature her work, the work of Puffin Design owners Alison and Bart Bjorkman, and mine.  I hope your Art Appetite is fully engaged, 'cause it's going to be a knock-out!

Of course, that's not all that's on my mind...there's always more.  In the studio and in my life, I expect the unexpected, so stop in next week to see what else is happening!

I love taking...

a closer look at what's in the studio.  Just as I love macro photography, zooming in on pieces of art just gives me a rush.

This is a portion of a 'man thing'...you know I got into John's stuff to work on this.  Quiet please - he'll never notice!

The cross in this piece came from a fabulous store here in town called Gold N Treasures.  I've scored so many wonderful metal embellishments from there that I may have made some enemies in town by depleting their stock.

The large button top centre of this photo came from the stash I scored from Eileen, and the coin bottom centre was part of the collection Rochelle (my favourite daughter :D) gave me when she was last here for a visit.  She spent some six months travelling in South America, and I get the mementos - how cool is that?!

This martini glass is just full of texture,

and I'm amused to find this computer bit poking out of a piece - how did that get in there?

You can tell that I'm crazy about cheesecloth.  I mop up leftover paint with it, and it gets incorporated into many pieces.

The Golden mica flakes medium is another favourite of mine right now...I must be a crow I'm so attracted to shiny things.

The brown texture below is a mixture of dried (used - waste not, want not!) coffee grounds and soft gel medium,with a bit of Inka Gold brushed overtop.

Coins, bottle cap flowers, buttons, coffee grounds, cheesecloth - it's all there for the viewing.

I'd decided yesterday that I was just about done with bottles and glasses, but then I had a brainwave this morning - Lord help me, there are four more bottles in the sink with labels soaking so I can test it out.

A medallion for you...

One of my students' favourite techniques from Mixed Media I - Playtime for Adults, is this easily accomplished marbled medallion.

All it takes is some clear tar gel medium, acrylic paint, liquid gloss medium, a palette knife, palette paper and a skewer.

Pour a pool of the clear tar gel medium onto the palette paper.  As it settles, mix two or three colours of heavy bodied paint with an equal amount of liquid medium and a spritz or two of water.

Drop the paints into the pool from the end of your palette knife.

Draw through the drops of colour with the tip of a wooden skewer,

until you have a design you like.  Prick any bubbles with a pin and let it dry overnight.

Once dry (and it does dry clear and see-through, you can lift your medallion from the palette paper and incorporate all or part of it into a painting.

River Study  Mixed Media on Canvas  20 x 16  © Win Dinn

Here you can see a medallion tucked under the cheesecloth in the upper right quadrant of River Study.