Shadows Revealed...

I'm happy to say that "Shadows" is finally finished!

Here are a couple of close ups that show the hand and machine stitching in a little more detail:

I have another photograph that I am thinking about doing in a similar way...this could be the beginning of a small series.  Time will tell.

Another Piece of Rust...

The current GOE challenge has me working with rust again, but this time I'm approaching it in a whole new way.

Ann, one of our GOE members took these photos of a rusty grate while she was on a golf course in Mexico (perhaps this is why she never make it on the Women's PGA Tour...just saying...).

I can't reveal too much yet, but I thought I'd give you a peek at the machine stitched grass I've been working on.  I've layered some tan thread under the green to give it the texture and colour of the old, dead grass that's under some of the healthy green grass in the photo.  Instead of using rust dyed fabric (which is too hard to work with right now with the cast and all), I've edited the original images in Photoshop Elements and then trasferred it to a piece of cotton using Transfer Artist Paper.

This image shows a bit of the hand stitching I've started to accent the larger blades of grass.

I'm having fun with this piece, but it's  frustrating me that the hand stitching is causing me pain. I've decided that in the interest of my hand I'm going to have to lay off all hand work until I've healed.  I can't wait to get this cast off!

A Day of Piecing

I spent some time yesterday piecing the marbled fabric for this new art quilt that I'm thinking I'll call "Count On It" unless I can come up with something more creative.  The numbers are all my own photographs (you can read about them in a previous post if you're interested).

Right now it's looking a bit disjointed, but I've got visions in my head that involve extensive free motion quilting, so hopefully what I see is what you will eventually see too!

If all else fails, I could donate it to a school as a funky 100's chart. LOL

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Work in Progress...

Yesterday I was going between a few different activities in my studio.  I can't seem to stay focussed on one thing for very long these days, so I've been starting a lot but not finishing anything...'sigh'.

Back in the Spring, I started to photograph numbers while out on my cycling trips.  It made for some disjointed rides since I was always stopping and pulling out my iPhone, but I ended up with a great collection of numbers from everything from road signs and telephone poles to rural mailboxes and house numbers.  I'm now starting an art quilt using my recently marbled fabric and those photographs.  Here's a bit of a preview of it.  So far I've transfered the images onto fabric and started to piece some of it.

As you know from previous posts, I've also been setting up a calendar journal for 2013. You can see the first three pages by clicking on these links: January, February, and March.  Well, today I got started on the drawings for the April page.  I'm afraid it's a bit cliche since I've gone with raindrops as the shape, but I've also added a few fun bits cut out of magazines.  I'm planning to use the Peerless watercolour paints to colour this page.

Hopefully I'll have some finished work to show you soon...thanks for your visit :o)

Sketchbook Challenge- June Theme: Pathways

This month's theme took me back to the road trips of my childhood.  We used to all pile in the Ford Galaxy station wagon and go on camping trips around Ontario.  Some of my best family memories are from those trips!  I was also brought back to the wonderful VW bug that my oldest brother used to have when he was in university.

This page started out as a paper collage that I then photographed and digitally altered before printing it on fabric and stitching it together.