"Daycation"

I spent the whole day with my friend Anita on what we called a "daycation" in Portland and South Portland, Maine.  I had a few chores to do at my house there...then we just enjoyed the deck and poked around here and there at shops and consignment stores.  It ended with a lovely evening beach walk in Ocean Park with a nearly full moon.  A great way to spend a day!  

Commission

Dr. Adams commissioned me to make two fabric and photo pieces inspired by this little "serenity" piece.
She provided two photographs of the same water view...a dusky evening view...and a daytime view.

I just finished the evening view and I'm pretty happy with it. It's larger than the inspiration piece and the companion, daytime view will be smaller. The frame is 12 x 12 and the matte opening is 4 1/2 by 4 1/2.

It was a little bit of a process....picking fabrics and coming up with a design that honored the photo....but I think I landed where I needed to be. Next I'll tackle the daytime view.

At first I tried exactly the same thing I had done before...but a patchwork square wasn't right for the photo. I played around with layers....and knew that was the direction I needed to go.



I chose printed batiks that picked up the textures and colors in the photo. I decided I needed complete control over layers and the slopes....so I did the whole thing by hand. I would have benefited from an appliqué lesson....but I think I did OK just winging it. If you look closely you can see my stitches....but I'm OK with that.  It is hand pieced, after all.

I started at the top...with skinny strips of fabric to create a horizon line. Then I cut gentle curved pieces of the fabrics and played with placement and order. Hand dyed solids and batiks are the same on the front as the back...so I could try a curved piece several ways. 

I finger pressed the edges and sewed them in one at a time.  I constantly laid my matte on top see how it looked on the photo and in the matte opening. Using fabric tape I added the gold ribbon at the top with just a sliver showing.

It's not pretty...but here's the back.  As I added a layer...I tried to cut away excess fabric to reduce bulk.  After a good pressing I secured it all together using fabric tape and popped it into the frame.

Go Figure!

I took three new pieces into Dr. Adams' office today....and before the end of the day two of them had sold....including the photo mosaic mirror. Go Figure!

Lifeline

Several days ago Paul and I were sitting on the back patio watching what I think was a chickadee moving into one our birdhouses. It was fun watching her wiggle in with her nest making materials...and here she's peeking out. (sorry about the poor photo).

And just yesterday Paul noticed a string dangling from the hole....too cute! I'm going to keep an eye on it to see if she pulls it all the way in....or maybe it's her lifeline.  

Splashes of Color

I walked down town today to do an errand and stumbled on an arts festival...bursting with splashes of color!  I love my town!

I just leaned that this bike was done by Tami at Happy Art Studio...one of my
favorite local jewelry artists. Check out her website here.

In one of the trees there were beautiful paper butterflies suspended in netting....in no way does this picture do it justice. It was just lovely!

Determination

Today I helped my niece Clarke move out of her 5th floor college dorm room...with no elevator.  It was hard work....but we were determined and we persevered.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to share this photo from a morning walk a few days ago of a very determined lily of the valley plant that found its way up through the asphalt.

Side Views

I finished the photo mosaic mirror today and I think it's kind of fun. With three coats of medium...those tiny photo snippets aren't going anywhere.

Mosaic Mirror

Several weeks ago I started a photo experiment where I mounted punched photo squares on card stock...then re-punched them creating these mini mosaics. You can read about it here. 

I finally decided to mount them on a mirror.  So after a morning of gardening....I spent a chunk of the afternoon at the dining room table adhering the mini mosaics with my favorite fast drying white glue.

The squares were not the perfect size to completely go from edge to edge...so I had to do a little patching. I always outlined every piece in black sharpie....in this case it looks like grout.

Finally I coated the whole thing with matte medium. Tomorrow I will finish the edges and add at least 2 more coats of medium and get it into my show.

Picture Perfect

It was a picture perfect day to be in Boston! My son Sam is a PhD candidate at Boston University and today he received an award for outstanding work in his graduate program. I'm a proud mom!

 

Mixed Media

I'm working on an experiment with a mixed media photo collage on a recycled canvas board that I painted black.  I may play with it a bit more....we'll see.  It's different!

I thought it was kind of fun to add in my sweet little pig on this shot....he matches so well!

Cool Boxes

I'm one of those people who can get just as excited about cool boxes as the gifts inside of them. They don't even have to be cool....just useful and sturdy. THIS is a cool box!

It was a lovely gift from my dear friend Connie in honor of Mother's Day...and it was filled with wonderful Harry and David pears.

I'll be sharing them with you Connie when they get ripe...but you can't have the box.  Thank you!!!

Me and My Mom

Happy Mother's Day!

1959....I was two months old.  My mom gave birth to me at home on the farm (not on purpose) and I was the 7th of 9 children. She was a wonderful mother and I miss her!

Act Opposite

Still feeling a little blue....but a coping strategy we use in our family is "act opposite." So today I went shrub shopping for the Maine house and spent a few hours working in the yard in Lexington. It was...after all...the first non rainy, fairly nice day in a long time....and a little sunshine and fresh air would do me good.

There was one orange tulip in the garden....all by itself. 

The first thing that came to my mind was that orange is opposite blue on the color wheel. Hmmm...must be a sign. Then... because I'm easily distracted I wondered if I could find the whole rainbow spectrum in my yard. I think I came pretty close!

Maybe the opposite of blue is rainbow!

Blue

It was just one of those days....

Images found Pinterst.....a good place for me to go when I'm feeling blue.

Signs of Life

I've been gardening most of my adult life....and still...every year I continue to be amazed that perennials keep coming back year after year.

I mentioned before that I have quite a collection of hosta.....including several miniatures.  I use some of them in a small concrete planter by my back door with some other interesting small plants. Last fall I pulled them out and planted them in plastic pots and put them in the garage for the winter.

A few weeks ago I set the pots outside and started watering them.  For the first time this morning I see signs of life!

Now...I wonder it there's hope for this pot.  It's full of "rain lily" bulbs from my sister.  I only got a couple blooms last summer...so I'm anxious to see what year two will bring.  This pot has been dormant in my basement all winter and I just pulled it out today and have started watering it. I'll keep you posted for signs of life.

Plant Snippets

A few days ago I came across some beautiful photographs of plant snippets and found objects and I was totally mesmerized. They were taken by an artist from England who goes by the name 5ftinf. Her motto is "tea and sitting" and almost all of her photographs are taken on this rustic table. She sometimes incorporates objects from her home....often a cup of tea....you can check out her website here.

These photos were found on her website.

It was mostly a rainy day here and I was out and about with friends for much of it. But I walked the yard for a few minutes this morning and plucked a few spring leaves and blossoms and did a little photo shoot of my own. 

I enjoyed seeing the colors and textures of the leaves and blossoms up close...it was a wonderful way to fully appreciate what was growing right outside my door. 

The lighting was poor...and my table was a bit dark...but not bad for just a few minutes of playing.  I think I'll have fun trying it again when I have more time...incorporating interesting things around my house. Thanks for the inspiration 5ftinf!

Splashy Socks

I got a fun box of splashy socks (and some napkins) from my sister LaVonn today.

All Decked Out

Paul was all decked out in his new stole and what he calls his "long black dress" ready for a celebration this afternoon. All that was missing was his "happy face."

I'm pleased with the stole.

And here's who we celebrated with. Alex was a student minister at our church in Lexington and is now the new associate minister in Andover. Today was his installation celebration service. His red stole is from Africa....I love the back.