DLP Week 13: My Unique Elements are Blooming...

So for this weeks DLP 2015 I decided to play around with marbling on paper using nail polish to create my unique 'custom elements'. Chalk that one up to experience...it's a first and a last. It turns out its a very stinky process (I guess I could have figured that out) and the results were not terribly satisfying! However, not wanting to waste anything, I went ahead and used the flower shaped post-it notes on which I had tried the technique and added lots of doodles with paint markers and black and white pens.

  

What's that...

...yup, I smell Spring in the air!

DLP Week 12: Inspired by a Friend's Silliness!

This week's DLP challenge was about focus, but all I could focus on was the silliness of a friends photos of his dogs. He's my stylist, and obviously has way too much fun on Sundays when he goes in to clean his salon. The 'girls', Sasha and Bella, play dress up and have photo shoots in the chair! Love these sweet dogs!

DLP Week 11: I Can't Stop...

Do you ever find yourself in a mood to doodle...always being able to add a little more detail...a few more marks to the page?

This week's Documented Life Project challenge was to use a border, so that's where I started. I randomly drew a border using the inspiration of lines from a French curve. I traced that line using a parallel pen to get thicker and thinner parts to it.

I always start the page by using washi tape to create the journalling part of my page, so using the washi tape for colour inspiration, I painted the outside of the border line in the pink. The inner area  was then randomly painted in patches of the other colours represented on the washi tape.

Again using the parallel pen, I did some marks along the border edge line and then added a few circles within the larger space.

Using a combination of black pen, white pen and paint markers I continued doodling and adding text around the border...Help me...I started doodling and I can't stop!

DLP Week 10: Make Your Mark

I've got no process or description this week, just the spread as it stands on it's own, intentionally 'scratchy' and quick. 

As always, it's not too late to join the FREE Documented Life Project fun!

DLP Week 9: Give Me A High Five

 This week's challenge for DLP was to use at least five layers...well, that's not really much of a challenge since I tend to build up many layers on each journal page.

I started by using some torn pieces of Gelli prints, collaged on the page. Theoretically I guess that's only one layer, yet the Gelli prints already have multiple layers of texture created with various found objects.

To give that wonderful pop of black and white that I love to include, I pulled out some washi tapes.

Then, using black and white Signo pens I added some doodles and drew a couple of silly characters.  In hindsight I should have drawn an odd number but, oh well ;o)

Finally I used some Copic markers to add some colour to the two 'ladies'.

DLP Week 8: It's Worth Repeating

Sometimes things just don't go as planned...

Funny that the text I had used on this page makes sense with the 'journey' I took in doing this page! I started by laying down some layers of Gelli printing and then glueing torn paper of the words in the message onto the page. That's probably where it started going wrong because I was then forced to work around the text. Anyway, the doodles of the little doily type flower motifs kept popping up and I ended up adding them in a variety of ways (thus the 'repeating' theme). 

At one particularly ugly stage (and often there are those ugly stages in the process) I was losing hope of being able to salvage the page so I added some smaller text at the bottom...

Not a great spread, but a good 'journey' none the less.

If you're interested in joining the fun and FREE Documented Life Project, it's not too late to get on board!

Exciting News!

I'm excited to share the news that several of my pieces of fibre art have been selected by Sandra Sider for inclusion in her soon to be released book, 1000 Quilt Inspirations.

Dr. Sandra Sider, a New York quilt artist and independent curator, has published articles and reviews concerning fiber art and other aspects of visual culture for three decades. Her graduate degrees include an M.A. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She was President of Studio Art Quilt Associates (2010-2013), and is Curator for the Texas Quilt Museum.

  

A number of SAQA Central Canada Artists have work in the new book due to be distributed mid-March 2015.  here are a few we know as of today..

Arja Speelman

Bethany Garner

Diane Eastham

Dianne Gibson

Mary B. Pal

It's great to see our SAQA Canadian Artists featured in all of these great publications. (and the book is ready for pre-order at Amazon.ca...)

Finally Some Fibre Art...

I'm totally perplexed by this image. It's a shot
of the back, showing the doodle quilting,
but the piece is backed with BLACK!

I went to our regional SAQA Central Canada meeting a couple of weeks ago and among other things we had a trunk show by Al Cote.

Al is a very interesting and talented gentleman! He explained one of his techniques, which he offers as a class, and it sounded like a lot of fun so I'm giving it a try. I can't be sure I'm doing quite what he described, but if not, it was a great springboard to get me back to my studio.

These are a few of the pictures I took while working on the early stages of the piece. Hopefully I'll have more to share soon.

A Little Bit of Baking...

This week I came across a recipe for pumpkin puppy treats and since I had all the ingredients in my kitchen I decided I'd bake some healthy, all natural 'cookies' for Yoshi and Wafer. I can't believe the price of dog treats, especially the healthier 'natural' varieties, so discovering how easy these were to make was a great bonus and the puppies just love them!



I found the recipe on Facebook. It had been shared from John Hammer's page by a friend. Here it is if you're interested in trying it.

DOG TREATS

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin...not the sweetened pie filling!)
2 tbsp dry milk
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 cups brown rice flour*
1 tsp dried parsley (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF
In large bowl, whisk together eggs and pumpkin until smooth. Stir in dry milk, salt and parsley. Add brown rice flour gradually, combining with your hands to form a stiff, dry dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface (use brown rice flour) and if dough is still rough, briefly knead and press to combine.

Roll dough between 1/4 - 1/2" thick, depending on your preference and use cookie cutter to cut out bone shapes, gathering and re-rolling scraps as you go.

Place cookies on a cookie sheet (no greasing or paper is necessary). If desired, press a fork pattern on biscuits before baking.

The puppies happily sit pretty
to earn a cookie reward!

Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and carefully turn them over. Bake an additional 20 minutes on this side. Allow to cook completely before storing in an airtight container or letting your dog sample them.

*Brown rice flour gives the cookies a nice crunch and promotes better digestion, especially for dogs who do not tolerate wheat well.

Makes about 75 small biscuits or 50 medium biscuits. I ended up with about 120 using the little bone cookie cutter I have and these are a perfect size for training treats (broken in half for Wafer). 

DLP Week 7: Going Under Cover...

I love how the weekly prompts in DLP 2015 get me thinking outside of the box and trying new things while incorporating some old favourites that I haven't used for a while.

This weeks challenge was to 'cover up the good stuff' so I started by using Sakura Gelly Rollers to journal some thoughts in overlapping 'patches' of script on black gesso.










I then used some hand-marbled paper and a piece of scrapbook paper to tear strips to cover some of the journalling.












I cut some hearts out of the lining of an envelope that had the word love repeated in a variety of fonts. I drew in the lines suspending the 'love' hearts using a Liquitex paint marker and with a black water-soluble stabilo pencil, I added some shadows to give more of an illusion of depth and layers. A red Neocolour II crayon accented some of the circles on the marbled paper and the doily heart.



Finally I added a bit of doodling in black and white and called it done!