Four Season Art Show - My Submissions

The theme for our end of the year member show this year is "Four Seasons".

I chose to do a smaller version of the large sunrise I painted for the stained glass piece. You can check out the Sunrise Stained Glass project. 

Title: Summer Sunrise

Size: 14 x 14 inches

Watercolor

Mats: White Double Archival

Frame: Black Wood medium profile

Print: 8x8 inches

I used my Loew&Cornell watercolor palette to paint this piece.  The black lines are done with a Micron Archival marker. 

Back to my regular art of photography.  This was taken a couple of years ago.  Love the crystal looking frost on this pine branch.

Title: Winter Frost

Size: 16 x 12 inches

Signed Photography Print

Mats: White Single Archival

Frame: Black Wood medium profile

Print: 8x10 inches

I chose to do a mixed media piece as well.

Title: Four Seasons

Size: 13 x 11 inches

Mixed Media

Mats: Wood

Frame: Black Wood medium profile

Print: 5 (4x6) openings

This is a wooden frame with 5 openings for 4x6 photos.  I chose the first pussy willows for spring, bees buzzing for summer, a beautiful orange horse chestnut leaf for fall, and a small evergreen tree in a snow covered landscape for winter.

I watercolored a background onto which I printed words I created which describe the transition from winter to fall. 

Decorate A Bag Fundraiser - 2 more

 I picked up 2 more bags when I delivered my 3 pieces of art for the Four Seasons Member show on Saturday.

You can find the details of the first in this post. 

I was gifted the batik embroidered leaf squares by a fellow quilter a couple of years ago.  I made a quilt with several of them.  Check out the details - Applique Leaves Quilt.

I added a 2" wide strip of black cotton fabric around the square.  I was thinking of making a pocket but I felt the leaf had to stand up straight so that idea was out.  I pressed the edge over and pinned it really well and appliqued it to the front of the bag.

I found on the first one it helped to have a strip at the top to stabilize the top edge.

Here I added a strip of black.  I cut 2 inch strips, sewed them together to have a strip at least 30 inches long.

Sewed it up and turned it inside out.  Once well pinned I appliqued it along the top edge of the muslin bag.

There is a tab of strip which is held down by the blue button.  This gives a place to hook something should the need arise. 

Again, the strip provides some stiffness to the top edge which is helpful with such a light bag.

Love the wonderful blue colors in the leaf.  

The black sashing really makes the leaf the focal point.

The blue button picks up and repeats the blue in the leaf.

I just love the watercolor effect of batik fabrics.  The background as well as the leaf are this type of fabric.

 

The button is simply decorative.

On this third bag, I did put a pocket.   I used leftovers from a man's shirt which I turned into an apron a couple of years ago. 

The pocket was cut from one of the sleeves.  Wonderful navy and burgundy stripes provides a bit of a different style to this one.

Tacked the upper corners well.  Added another strip along the top edge.  I wanted the stripes to go up and down so I had to combine several pieces to make all the way around the bag.  I chose 3 buttons to go on the strip. The center one is shanked to accommodate the loop from the pocket.

I am really happy with these contributions to the fundraiser.  I will deliver them to the gallery later this week.

I like that fact that the loop is long so it will accommodate a book or something a little taller than the 8" pocket.

The loop is just a piece of fabric folded the edges to the center then onto itself and I put one line of stitching down the edge.

The bags are about 13 inches square with fairly long handles.

Makes a great bag for all kinds of purposes. 

Exchange Cards - Christmas Cards

I am playing catch up on my exchange cards.  With Dad`s hospitalization I have spent more time with Mom which involving traveling.   These are December`s cards then I will get the November and October ones done.

I chose Stampin Up Christmas Jingle designer paper because it had a green and red side.  I decided to make A7 or 5x7 inch cards. I printed a greeting layer of Very Vanilla with greetings in Real Red and Old Olive trimmed to leave a border all the way around. I punched 14 stars out.  Then applied thin 3D tape to the bottom ones and thicker 3D tape to the top ones.  The top ones match the card base color.  I placed them in a round shape to create a wreath. I added a Real Read wide grosgrain ribbon below the wreath and taped the ends to the back.

I adhered the greeting layer to the card front and pressed them over night.  This morning I added the prism elements of a snowflake on one and a star on the other adhered with Bling Zots.  I then added a thin gold cord bow to the wreath.

These are headed to my exchange partners. 

Christmas Cards for Seniors

 

I prepared some Christmas cards for seniors which will be distributed to nursing homes by a local scrapbook store.

I have several techniques in this collection of 24 Christmas cards.  

1) recycled commercial cards onto new card bases and new inserts - several which worked better in the 5x7 size.

2) refurbishing handmade cards I have received - some from friends who took my card making classes so the designs are mine but I did not make the cards, some I received in my monthly card exchange. 

I am very happy with the selection and variety in this collection.  Soon they will be delivered to the scrapbook store.

2021 Photo Card

I try to make at least one Christmas photo card every year.

I was given this dove ornament a couple of years ago by one of my sisters.  I decided this year to use it for my photo card.

I wanted Peace on Earth so I needed to create myself an earth. I set the dove up in my photo studio so assess what size the earth should be.  I determined it needed to be about 8 inches in diameter.

I found a dish in the kitchen and traced that onto a piece of bristol vellum card stock.  I found a tutorial on line on how to draw an earth.  Using the instructions I drew an earth in pencil so I could erase until I had it right. I then painted it in watercolor ensuring that I had enough texture in the land and water.  I then added the borders in black Sharpie marker. 

Once it was dry, I installed it in the studio adhered to a blue material background I have for the studio.  I used several Zots to hold where I wanted it.

Then I found many shots with different lighting and angles.   I reviewed my shots and took some more and repeated the process one more time.

I was finally happy with one of the shots.  

I added the greeting and the olive branch in post processing.  I printed the card at 4x6 inches.  Once those were back from the developer, I got ready to create the cards.  I was glad that I had used black borders and black shadow on the greeting which worked really well with a black 110lb card base.  I adhered the photos to the card front of a 5x7 (A7) card base.  I printed a sentiment in keeping with Peace on Earth on letter paper and trimmed those to fit inside.  I adhered those with glue stick. 

Just like that I have 15 photo cards to add to my stash.  Very happy with these.  The ornament is headed to my other sisters house for Christmas because she loved it.  I am sure the earth will come in handy in the photo studio again.  Win Win!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

My aunt and I took a walk along the river with our cameras recently.

It was very nice temperature wise and the sun was shining.  A great time.

As you can see, though the river is frozen but we still have no snow.

Love the fall grasses in the foreground with the reflection of the sun on the river.

Gorgeous blue skies which are typical for Alberta.

We heard geese which I was surprised were still here despite the frozen water.  Who knows what they are thinking!

I joined another aunt for a visit to the Art Gallery.  The weather was still nice and I was tasked with driving us downtown and finding parking.  That went well.  It was really weird to be out and about.

First time, I used my vaccination record to visit a non essential place of business in 20 months.

There were 2 exhibitions I was interested which both featured colorful art.  Mostly abstract as well.

The blue and pink piece was about the how color can be dispatched to for social control.  The pink color which is used in institutional settings was studied in 1978 and was found to make inmates violent.  The barn is a piece about our abandoned farm buildings.  Love the abstracts.

Our first snow arrived on Sunday Nov 14th.  

It continued to come down for a few days in varying degrees.

I had to go out on Wednesday and the roads were like slushy soup as they had not been ploughed yet.  Yuck!

I had several places to stop and it was a bit harried but I managed to keep the car and myself intact.

I made roasted vegetables yesterday.  I used the large roaster so I could keep them to one layer.

Yams, red onions, brussel sprouts, rutabaga, turnip, garlic and carrots.  A bit of olive oil and seasonings.

I added fresh oregano in the last bit of its time in the oven.

They were yummy.

That means its time to head for groceries as I am completely out of veggies in the fridge.

An Irish Cottage by Patrick Taylor is the book I finished this week.

Love this author and his stories of a medical practice in rural Ireland in the 1960's.  

In this book the Donnelly's looks their cottage to fire and the community rallies to find the family a temporary place to live.   Then further efforts are made to rebuild the burned out cottage.

The civil unrest with north and south regions plays a part which I don't really understand well.  

Another theme is women's reproductive rights in the 60's where one women is not wanting another child and another woman desperately wants one and is having difficulty conceiving.

The doctors and their house keeper and neighbours provide wonderful stories!

The Perfect Christmas - Debbie Macomber revolves around a young woman who wants to be in a relationship.

She finally decides to hire a matchmaker for $30,000 to find the perfect match for her by Christmas.

The matchmaker gives her several tasks to prepare for her first date with John, her perfect match.  She stands outside a mall ringing bells to raise funds for a charity, dressing up as an elf with Santa at the mall, and prepare Christmas dinner for her neighbors in the apartment building.

Each of these provide opportunities to learn things about herself and ensures visits from the matchmaker to monitor her progress.

In the end, she finds the man of her dreams but it was not exactly as the matchmaker had planned.

It was okay for a light read.

"My Quiet Time" Kit

I am working on Christmas gifts.

I put together these "My Quiet Time" kits which provides a few things for one to set aside time to be still and recharge.

I know we all want to spend time with family in these days but I believe we need balance in order to recharge our batteries.

I am an introvert so I need time alone to build up my energy.

This kit would appeal to several different practices whether that is meditation, prayer, taking time away from technology, or breathing to center yourself.

The jumping off point for this was a set of sky photographs I put into a collection recently.  They provide a contrast to my usual macro get in close type of photography and I thought gave the sense of an expansive point of view.

Thinking they would work well to be used a starting point for spending some quiet time where we can calm our spirits from the chaos of our times.

I put together a collection of 10 sky photos from several years worth of picture archives.

I was amazed that I had quite a few.  I was not aware that I regularly took landscape photos.

They fit nicely in a black metal holder which allows a person to browse through them and place the one for today's practice on the front.

They are 6x4 photographs with a nice white border around edge with no further distractions.

With the objective of engaging several senses during this quiet time I wanted to work with sight and touch.

A candle provides warmth for the sense of touch and a flame for sight.  

The flame could be used as a focus point where one can get lost in time.

It is an unscented candle as I know many people have scent sensitivity.

The candle included can be used for many sessions and when it is used up, it can easily be replaced.

Please remember: Do not leave a lit candle unattended.  Blow it out before you leave the space.

I have included some "Focusing Phrases" which are positive thoughts which one could spent time with.

They can be repeated silently or audibly depending on the circumstances of the quiet time session.

The card is stored along with the photos in the black holder.

I have added a tab so that it can be easily pulled from the holder to make a selection of a phrases in any given session.

These are only suggestions and there is room on the back to write down some personal ones.

With the idea of incorporating scent to engage the sense of smell I thought an essential oil diffuser would be a great addition.

Wanting to work the supplies I had on hand I went to my metal and wood drawer.  I had several wood shapes in there but I wanted the diffuser to have some presence and not lay flat. I found these small wood peg dolls which I thought would work perfectly.

The person can add their own favorite essential oil to the doll by placing a drop of oil onto it's head.  I placed the wood figure onto a metal disc to protect the surface it is placed on from damage the oil may cause. 

I bit of colorful thread tied in a bow around the neck added the final touch.

With a bit of research in quiet time practices it was suggested in a couple that beads could be used in several ways.  To track the count of repetitions of phrases or they could be just a way to keep your hands busy so your mind can focus during the practice.  

I am a big believer in counting blessings and the positive effect on our lives when we practice gratitude.  I would use the beads to count my blessings during my quiet time.

A person could also add a journal to their quiet time routine to record blessings.

I hope they will be a blessing to those who receive them this year.

Decorative Magnets

I had fun a while back making liquid acrylic paint backgrounds using 4x6 photo paper. 

I lay drops of liquid acrylic color on a piece of glass, spritz it with water and then lay the photo paper on top.

It always creates wonderful colors in random patterns.

Great abstract art.

Almost always the ink is completed absorbed by the photo paper's front layer as it is meant to be.

This time I found some of the inks acted a little differently, in that some color lay on top of the surface instead of being absorbed.  It may be that I had took much liquid and it could not all be completely absorbed.

With Christmas just around the corner I have decided to make a few small gifts this year.

With these wonderful papers I chose to make decorative magnets.  Since it is photo paper I decided that I could easily print on it with the inkjet printer.  I set out find images and sayings I thought would be compelling.  I have used some sayings I gathered from the internet. I love the flip magnets which you turn over to indicate something.  Like the Clean/Dirty one for the dishwasher.  I have used some of  my Stampin Up digital sets as well.  Again, I had to keep my images and fonts to thin lines because ones with too much surface area did not absorb and stayed wet which was a bummer.  These will make great stocking stuffers.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The weather has been so good!  My aunt and I took a long walk in the white spruce forest on Saturday.

In the center of woods people have set up bird feeders so when we could not yet see the clearing the chickadees and nuthatches were welcoming us.  Unfortunately, we did not have food with us but I did have a chickadee sit on my hand for few seconds. Amazing.  I have seen many pictures but had not experienced it.

Woodpeckers were around as well.

When we walked the river trail we found Canada Geese on Big Lake.  There was very little open water on the lake and the river was frozen but they had found the bit.  I really don't know why they are hanging in here.

It's been a couple of weeks since I dropped 13 quilts off for charity.  

These quilts are headed to fire departments and ambulances where victims of emergency situations are given a quilt to keep them warm and to provide comfort.  They get to keep the quilts.

They were all made by my sister as I have not sewn a quilts since I got since last fall.   I am glad to have passed those anniversary with no further issues and improvement in several areas of my health.  God is good.

I am so grateful for those who distribute these to organizations who made a difference every day as first responders.

We are decorating cotton bags as a fundraiser for the gallery.  I think it is a fabulous idea.

I picked mine up the other day and gave some thought how I might decorate it.

I decided to add 3 stripes of fabric wrapped around the top edge of the bag.  I chose 3 different colors of green fabric.  The strips were cut to about 35 inches long by 2.5 inches wide.  I sewed and turned it inside out.  Then I started on the left hand side and ran it across the front, then across the back then back to the front again.  I left a tab on the front which was not sewn down.  I sewed an orange button on the end of the tab to hold it down and add an accent.  As you can see in the first photo I staggered the ends so the buttons where offset.

Despite not blogging I have continued to read.  

I finished this book a while ago. Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs.  It takes place in an Amish community.  I found it interesting to learn more about the life style and beliefs.

Caught between two worlds, Caleb Stoltz is bound by a deathbed promise to raise his orphaned niece and nephew in Middle Grove, where life revolves around family, farm, faith—and long-held suspicions about outsiders. When disaster strikes, Caleb is thrust into an urban environment of high-tech medicine and the relentless rush of modern life.

Dr. Reese Powell is poised to join the medical dynasty of her wealthy, successful parents. Bold, assertive, and quick-thinking, she lives for the addictive rush of saving lives. When a shocking accident brings...   I really enjoyed this book.  I look forward to another book by this author I picked up the other day.

This is my first of Sue Grafton's books featuring Kinsey Millhone the detective.  W is for Wasted.  Not sure I get the title.

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds shocking connections between two seemingly unrelated deaths in this #1 New York Times bestselling mystery in the Alphabet series.

This was okay.  The detective seems to have a moral compass and leans toward doing the right thing.  Love life is a bit come and go.

The twist was very good.

I have another novel in this series.  I will decide if another story with Kinsey will add her to my reading list.

Another card for my Dad who is still in hospital   We were all called down on Sunday October 31 thinking he would not survive the next few days.

There were many of us seeing Dad, feeding him his meals, spending the night with him in hospital, helping Mom with anything she needed.  He pulled through the crisis but has a long ways to go.

A move for each of them is in their future so the cleaning process has started.  We went through that when they moved from the house to the apartment and now downsizing needs to happen again.

I was there for 3 days and spent most of my time with Mom.  She is doing well despite the circumstances.  She sees Dad every day for lunch.

We shall see what the future holds. He will celebrate his 92 birthday in early December, God willing.

Stained Glass Light

I have been working on very long projects recently.  A lot of problem solving also.

If you read my last post about the Sunrise Stained Glass piece I realized that I would not have the sparkle when I wanted it.

I set out to solve that problem I decided I needed a stained glass light/lamp.

I headed to the ReStore store in hopes of finding a vintage Tiffany type lamp which would create sparkle on the walls and ceilings.

The store had a few - one had amber glass - that's not going to work.  None where plug in lamps.  There was a great chandelier of clear glass but it was $100.

I was fortunate that my sister was with me and we revisited the lighting section.  

 I found a crackle glass light which would work.  The picture on the right is an example of the what I found. 

It was a swag pendant ceiling light with a crackle glass shade. The metal parts are much fancy than the one I bought.

I could not find a price so when I headed to the check out I mentioned that there was a 50% discount on in stock light fixtures.

He mentioned that he could not reduce the $1.00 price any further.  Wow!   I was thrilled.

The fixture metal support was antique bronze lacquered.

You can see in the photo on the left actual metal fixture which supported the crackle glass shade.

The wiring was cloth covered and the socket was ceramic/porcelain.  After a bit of research, it was like new in the 1950-60's.

The original had a incandescent light bulb but I decided that I would use an LED which produced no heat, especially in an enclosed shade.

I took the pendant lamp completely apart then I had the shade separated.

I spent a few days trying to figure out how I could convert the light in a lamp with a plug in and switch.

I decided that it had to be a desk lamp. 

This shot is with a small flood light fixture inside the shade.

That is the sparkle I am looking for!

This light is very directional, the light cord comes out under the shade which makes it unstable.

I was encouraged that I was headed in the right direction.

So, on my regular day out I headed to thrift stores.

There were a lot of lamps but some I could not take them apart easily, some were very tall, a few had an aesthetic that I liked.  I hesitated making impulse purchase despite I was very anxious to get something.

On the third store I found exactly what I was looking for.  An IKEA desk lamp with a very large glass globe shade with the perfect base.

It was $10 but considering that the shade cost me a dollar I splurged and paid the price.

The base has 2 prongs on very strong springs which fold toward the bulb and release outwards inside the shade to keep it in place.   

It had a plug in cord with a switch on the cord.

Here, I have colored several cells on the crackle shade with Sharpie markers.  

That is starting to look like what I really wanted.

I was trying to decide whether I would leave half clear and half colored.

The Sharpie markers I had did not have enough color options so I investigated the liquid acrylic paints I had on hand.

Here you can see the prongs on the base which hold the shade in place.

Now I have found the 40 Watt LED Clear Light bulbs.  They were stored behind a lock at the department store.  It was about $10 for 2 bulbs so I'm not sure why they were locked up.

Now with the light bulb in the base it was time to put the shade on.

See how the top light pattern is very linear.  That is because of the yellow light filaments in the clear light bulbs.  All clear LED lights them. 

I wanted something softer and smoother.   Now I needed a clear diffuser to soften those lines.

I hunted around my photo studio because I have collected several materials to use as diffusers over the years.

I found what I was looking for.

I think it is plastic that one might use to line kitchen cupboards.  It is pebbly and textured with little round knobbies and quite clear other than the texture.  It worked to diffuse the lines very nicely. 

Here's a shot of the set up for painting the cells on the round shade.

I chose colors that I liked.  I decided to leave the crackle lines between the cells clear because it would be a pain to paint and it provides space between the color on the wall when it is shining.

I left it over night but some of the colors were still not dry.  I ended up getting some on my fingers when I touched the shade to get it on the lamp base.

I don't know if they will every dry.

It is in place and I don't  have to touch it again till I have to replace the bulb and with 10,000 hour life time that will be a while.

It is very magical.  I love it.

The linear colored shadows on the top are where the diffuser is open at the top.

Such is life.

I set it up in my bedroom.  There is light on the 2 walls and the ceiling.   I can see it from my bed so I can lay there and enjoy it.

Now what would be perfect is if I could go to sleep with it on but it would go out on it's own.

That would mean a timer.

I was all set to pay $20 for a timer but today at the thrift store I found one for $4.

I checked it to make sure it worked and took it home glad to pay that price.

Now I can go to sleep with sort of the northern lights every night.

Except tonight the post took me so long that I missed the 10-11 o'clock time frame I had set.