Good Things

"Halloween: a day when we get it right. Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd, or scary, and we accept them all without question, compliment them, treat them kindly, and give them good things. Why don't we live like that?"  Steve Garnaas-Holmes  (posted by my friend Dana)

This is a photo cutout collage my sister Angie made years and years ago of Nate and Sam in some of their Halloween costumes.  

Homemade Batman and Robin continue to be my favorites. 

I've enjoyed my little Halloween display on my puzzle table....but it's about time to tuck it all away for another year.  I only had one little chunk left when I finished my morning coffee....but I walked away saving for later in the day.  

Then...later in the day it was done. Finally.  

Isn't it gorgeous!  Difficult....but beautiful! 

I was quite taken with this Japanese maple in its FULL glory.  

It was just glowing in the afternoon sun.

The translucent red leaves were amazing! 

And of course....I gathered some of the bright red leaves 

that were on the ground for my bowl.

I started this post talking about Angie...so I'll end talking about her too.  

Tracie sent me this photo of the tree they planted in Angie's honor in the park across the street from their home in Madison, Wisconsin.  It had a good summer...and it's getting ready to rest for the winter.

Thanks Tracie! You are one of those people who lives like it's Halloween all the time.....accept, compliment, treat people kindly....and give good things.  This tree is a good thing.

Scrappy Play

Over the last few days I've been leaf and grass printing again with my gel plate.....and putting together a few collages.  But today.....I'm played with the scraps.  

I've been working in two tight color schemes....blues and the greens....and autumn oranges and golds.  I'll share the finished pieces when I'm done....but this post is about the scraps.  I've said it before....but some of the best collage fodder is along the edges of the prints.  Just look at all the color and texture in this scrap.

I isolate part of the print I want for the collage......leaving lots of leftover pieces and parts. 

There are scraps of both the colored papers....and the heavy watercolor paper I'm using as my base.    

I save all the precious little scraps.  That's a Connie line....and I love it when I think of it. She actually had a file with that label.  

At first I was roughly cutting the scraps into squares....and making grids.  This one I added a paper cut and stitched it onto heavy cardstock.  It's a 5 x 5 collage on an 8 x 8 piece of cardstock.....ready to frame.

Then I started overlapping and layering the random smaller scraps onto the scraps of substrate....wrapping the edges to the back.  For now I'm just making them and the use will make itself known when the time is right. They're kind of like little tiles....or quilt blocks....and I kind of love them.  

I going to pull more colors of papers from my stash...and bring in some other colors.  I can always add a little pop of color or a focal point on any of them.....it's an ongoing puttering project

I made a larger piece using the blue and green scraps.  This is also a good way to use the "not so good" prints.  I just realized this is kind of a mastersheet....and the use will present itself one day. Possible next steps:

A light whitewash to unify it

Cut it up

Add Stitching

More collage

Focal point 

Pops of color

My only real goal today was to do a little organizing and cleaning in the studio....but didn't spend even one minute doing that. Just a lot of scrappy play.

The color scheme looks like this photo from my last trip today to the Winslow Farm Stand for the season. The blue sky and orange pumpkins.....the the little pop of green in the photo fit right in to my scrappy play day.

Dusk and Dawn

I can't believe it's almost the end of October.  It's my favorite month...and it's been spectacular. I've loved every minute of it.  It was a chilly morning for a walk....and the fog on the pond and the predawn light felt like Halloween.  I'll be a little sad to see October go....but I also love November....and December...so it's all good. To quote Linda again..."it's good to be content wherever you land."

I was pretty excited to get the whole left side of my puzzle filled in the morning.  I'm down to just three boxes....and they're not even that full.  There's light at the end of the tunnel.  I didn't realize until I posted this that my bittersweet wreath in the woods made it into the photo and I love that I can see it from my perch here at the puzzle table.

This puzzle is a perfect color match to my berries.....even the shape of the bowl matches the vibe of the puzzle.  

This was the scene a few nights ago on my evening walk....foggy and ominous in the dusky light It had that Halloween vibe too.

Simple Solution

"The question is not "Will you find your wings?". ----It's "What are you going to wear with all those magnificent feathers?"

I didn't have 4x4 frame on hand for my little oxalis project....and I didn't really want it under glass anyway.....so I came up with a simple solution.  

I used fabric binding again then mounted it on a piece of foam core. I fused the binding to the back and added a simple stand.  I think the striped fabric adds a touch of whimsy....and cost virtually nothing.

I've been collecting tiny fall berries on my window sill.....and I added a few today.  I have one tiny acorn, a few partridge berries from the woods, some bittersweet...

.....and just this morning I added these beautiful euonymus berries. Aren't they fun!

   

The euonymus shrub is right at our condo entrance....and I've never noticed these fabulous pink and orange berries before.

The tiny partridge berries are hidden under the leaves in the woods this time of year....so you really have to look for them. I think the teensy leaves and berries are just delightful!

And you know I have access to lots of bittersweet! I love my little fall berry collection!

Continusous line

A friend who is transitioning from one place to another said "It's good to be content wherever you land."  I love that line....and it has always been true for us as we've moved from one house to another.  Paul reminded me one time when were were deciding which house to buy that "we've been happy everywhere we've lived"....and he was right.

This was the view of our condo in the early morning light at the end of our walk this morning.  We're pretty content where we've landed this time!

And these days....Linda's line is also true for my art and craft projects.  Right now I'm content where I've landed stitching faces and images....so I'm just going with it.  And anything you can draw with a continuous line....you can translate into a continuous stitch.

I had done this drawing of Angie's bottle of marbles for the Sketching and Watercolor Journal Style class last April.....and thought I would try in stitch.  Another one of Gina's lessons is to cut our our funky face....or motif...and mount it on fabric...or another background.  So I thought I would give it a try with this sketch.

I drew just the simple bottle shape on the fabric (which I fused onto medium weight stabilizer)....then machine free handed the marbles referencing my drawing as I stitched along.

The writing on the bottle was a little lopsided....but not bad for never lifting the needle  even one time.  I colored some of the marbles in with posca pens....and shaded the bottle with colored pencil.

Here's how it looked after I cut it out. It's like a little patch.

I wanted to stitch a plaid for the background using black and colored thread. In the end I wish I would have stitched even more lines....and maybe just in colors....and maybe even added a little paint.  That's the advantage of putting a cut-out motif on top....the background can be anything you want it to be.

I wished I would have used the whole crayon box in the lines....and something more interesting for the foreground.  Next time.  I'm just experimenting for now.

This image above is framed digitally.....but I ended up doing a quick little fabric binding today giving it a colorful border.  I'm not exactly sure it was the right choice....but it was worth trying. And this little project is proof that if you can draw a continuous line....you can stitch one too. I'm content where I've landed.

We had dinner with Dana and Anne this evening....

with a beautiful view of Casco Bay.  

It's always a delight!   

 

I took all my recent funky faces and projects because that's one of the things we do....we show and tell. Anne always has fun projects to share with me too....and we learn from each other.

Anne really loved my continuous stitched marble bottle....so I seized the moment and gave it to her.  I couldn't be more tickled.

At some point I may try to sell some things again.  But in the meantime I just need to make things as I'm learning new skills and techniques.  So if you see something you love.....say something. Maybe it can be yours!  

Something To Watch

I'm calling it....I think these sumac leaves have done all the drying and shriveling they're going to do.  I've been watching them since October 11th.

I was surprised how well they kept their color and shape.....I expected them to just shrivel up. 

They're wabi-sabi beautiful!

I moved them off this pew board and into a bowl to enjoy for the rest of fall. There's a little background on this precious wabi-sabi board here in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2017/09/trash-or-treasure.html

And if you're new to the blog....one of my favorite stories ever is story of the actual pew....where this board came from.  You can read that here:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-pew-story.html

Sometimes Mother Nature leaves a little gift.....pun intended.  

Paul watched this leaf plop onto the freshly washed windows during today's rainstorm. I think Mother Nature was nudging him to pay attention. 

Now....I wonder how long it will stay.  Always something to watch.

When I did a search to find out when I arranged the sumac....this post came up where I made a fabric piece inspired by the fall sumac. At the time I thought I should have done it in batiks....still might sometime.

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2018/10/fall-sumac.html

Mistakes Become Opportunities

Everytime I visit Margie I have to check the winterberry....I just love it. 

Then when I looked at the photos....I was most taken with the whisper thin spider webs.  And I still love the winterberry.

I'm still working my way through the lessons in the funky faces class. Although none of my self portraits really look like me...it may be time for another subject.  I am starting to experiment with other images to stitch....I'm sticking with faces for the class.  But I think I need a different face.....so I'll have to start sketching again.

Using another one of my continuous line self portraits....I recently did two projects that were almost exactly the same. This is the start of the second one....after it was stitched. This time around I wanted to experiment with funky free motion backgrounds....it's a little goofy. 

The first one I did I thought I ruined it when I colored the hair in purple again.  I only have one shade of purple posca pen....and this time I didn't like it at all.  I didn't even take a photo.  So I stitched a second one just like it....with the same wonky background....and this time I experimented with thread painting for the hair....another one of Gina's lessons. 

I've never done thread painting before....and It's pretty fun....and very effective.  Basically...you're just coloring in with stitch.....and I have lots of choices for thread colors!

So here's the second attempt.....with her glorious green thread painted hair. After coloring the oxalis plant with colored pencil....I had another option. So after doing some free motion black dots on the dress...I colored it in with pencil blending several colors.  The soft color of the pencil gives contrast without being overwhelming.  

Then I thought maybe I can fix the first one!  So I thread painted over the purple hair ...and it was a big improvement.  And what I love most about it...is that there is extra texture because you can see hints of the paint underneath adding to the color variation and interest. It's kind of like highlights. I wished I would have colored the hair green before I thread painted.  Now I know. It's nice when a mistake becomes an opportunity.

They kind of remind me of the puzzle that was finished on Margie's board.! 

She said it was a fun one.  Maybe I should do a funky cat....in stitch.