Prayer flags, journal pages, art quilt blocks...sometimes it's all the same.

I love painting with fabric. It just is so much fun to pull out all the scraps, tear strips, match or mismatch colors. Prayer flags, journal pages, art quilt blocks...sometimes it's all the same...a small canvas to send a phrase or a thought or an image out into the world. And we need messages of love, care, thoughtfulness, and lots of strength.

It's been how long?

A year and a half since my last post. So much busy stuff has happened, and I just keep rolling along. So let's see some stuff. Some of it is art journaling, but most of it is fabric art. I may have to change the name of this blog. I find that putting things in journals just means I can't see them on a regular basis, but then I tend to give or swap most of my items anyway. So.....

Last year I made myself a lap quilt. I now work at home and the corner I work in gets chilly in the winter. I can't see turning up the heat to make me comfy in one corner, so a lap quilt would be perfect. The one I was using was too short.

 I have to say, this turned out even better than I had envisioned. I love that.

We had a new arrival in the family and I made this for my grand nephew. I almost kept it. He loves it and even though it is rather bright, I don't think it keeps him up at night.

Check out the other pages for even more creations.

Fabric journal pages

Drawing or painting with fabric has become a love of mine. Selecting the colors and the fabric and the technique to "draw" the image on the canvas. Creating texture and layers. Appliqueing or reverse appliqueing, chenilling, painting, dying, ripping and layers of color.

In a recent fabric art journal page swap I created two pages to share with friends. Both make use of scraps of fabric to build up the colors and create the feel and mood for the page. Quotes are on the backs.

Art quilt blocks for community quilt

Every year I participate in the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival community quilt. Women from all over the world participate to create a themed quilt that is then raffled off at the final concert. It is always beautiful, inspiring and lots of fun. Women and girls spend the week of the festival embellishing the donated quilt blocks before it is bound and presented for the raffle drawing.

This year's theme was "What do you love about Michfest". Where do I start or end? I love the woods, I love the singing, I love the music, I love the ferns, I love the spirit and the women and the community. I love the drumming and the silence. It is a time of peace and healing and community.

I ended up making four 6" squares, Just because I couldn't stop at one. And they are also fabric journal pages...or prayer flags...or just art.

Prayer Flags send our wishes, intentions, and joy to the world.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all. ~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag

I recently participated in a prayer flag swap and received so many lovely flags. Too pretty, I kept thinking, to ever hang outside and let the wind and rain take them slowly out into the world. And yet, why must I keep them inside, pretty and inspiring to look at, but gathering dust. I want hold on to these flags, yet the spirit of them is with me no matter what I do with them. And do I really need more stuff?

Of course I created flags to send back with words of love and creation. It was a very restful and fun swap, I fell into quiet introspection as I worked on these flags. Enjoy this series of flags and note the unifying little green beads that scattered their way across the flags. I used cottons, silks, vintage fabrics and anything else I could in the process.

Create

Freedom

Renew v2

Perseverance

Renew v1

Silence

Jump

Time to pick up the journal again.

Soon you will be dancing on top of the world"

I'ts been one of those busy years, productive, fun, and just plain busy. The weather has turned cold, the holidays are over and peace is settling over the renewing season. Winter is a resting time, a time for seeds to sleep and get their winter treatment and a time for trees to dig deep into the earth and hold those buds ready for a bit of warmth.

I make a cup of tea, throw on another log, pick up the journal and work out a few thoughts.

Take advantage of a bit of ephemera to start a page. Last night's fortune cookie got me started. "Soon you will be sitting on top of the world." I like dancing better.

(This is an armchair shot. I held the journal out and took a few snapshots, no need to get up and waste all that warmth from my lap robe. I am really nesting!)

Another published piece

I got published! Submitted a piece for an art journal book. Just received the book and it's wonderful and inspirational. Page 61!. http://www.northlightshop.com/art-journal-kickstarter-grouped

It was created for a fabric art journal swap. I layered fabrics and stitched my pattern then snipped away layers to reveal  various colors. Birch twigs wrapped in thread frame the window. A scattering of beads adorn the new growth. Every birch grove holds a window into spring. 

Spring Window

It's fun to get published.

I entered a piece in a reader challenge for Cloth Paper Scissors magazine and was chosen for the November issue. It's really a blast to open a magazine and see something created by my own two hands published in a national magazine. Made me smile.

Visually recreate fall in your journal

Fall is so visually delicious because of the contrast of wide open intensely blue sky and the layers of colored leaves littering the ground. The intricate twining of branches against the open sky, and the smooth reflections in a pond. All are contrasts of wide areas and intricate detailed spaces.

Think of your journal page this way. Balance open areas and detailed areas. Try repeating shapes surrounding areas of color.

Is your life also a contrast of smooth times and tightly orchestrated moments? Calm and chaos? Peaceful afternoons and rushed mornings? How would you represent these times on your pages?

Take a deep breath of cool, clean fall air. Spend some time looking, really looking at the rich tapestry of fall. Contrast the big panorama to the small window of a forest path. Breath the air.

Fall is definitely here

This weekend we made cider. It was a group activity and we all got a chance to stuff apples in a hundred and fifty year old apple press, turn the wheel and stick our cup under the downspout! That fresh apple juice was heady and gave a blast of the turning seasons to my life. The setting for all this fun was an off the grid farm in Maine with a wonderful group of people.

My eye was constantly caught by the colors, the browns, the tans and the splashes of red and orange, yellow and gold. I wanted to run to my studio and make things with leaves and earth tones. I've gathered leaves to press as I always do and they will find their way into my journal pages...probably when the snow is swirling down.

So celebrate fall, the turning and the nesting. Enjoy the fresh air, the apples and pumpkins and reflect on, well, just about everything.

Check out the new link on the right to PixelScrapper. This is a great source for fantastic patterns and designs for scrapbooking, journaling or just plain fun.

I am an artist!

I just spent a week at a women's music festival enjoying friends, singing, drawing and of course great music. New friends would ask what I did and I always answered with my job. But that is not who I am. I am an artist. As I age I identify more and more as an artist.

Why is it so hard to say those words....even to a stranger? Art is what feeds me, keeps me happy, keeps me engaged. I love having a project to mull over in my head as I drive or fall asleep at night. I love the inspiration, the planning and the creation and of course the satisfaction of the finished item.

So what do I do? I am an artist. What do you do?

Small journal for small, quick thoughts

I wanted a small fun journal for our upcoming trip. Something that would fit in a backpack, be light, and be ready to jot down thoughts and small sketches. I love to start with some kind of background and used paperbag drop cloths are wonderfully painted on, stained and make perfect starting points.

I take a small set of colored pencils and a fine point black marker pen. I like the R@ Rollerball .07mm pens by INC? Hard to find. Might be a Pentel brand as well. I also made pages with pockets for stashing ephemera. It is about 5 1/4 x 3 3/4. Spine has bead, paper bead and floss embellishments. See the foil off of a wine bottle on the back?

Summer bench sitting

I just spent a week and a half on a jury doing my civic duty. Tough case, tough decisions. But the bright part of the day was lunch in beautiful summer weather downtown Hartford, CT. I live about 10-15 minutes from downtown Hartford and in 10 years in Connecticut have not spent much time getting to know the city. Now, a bench in a green space near several courthouses is maybe not a typical city setting, but the mix of people is interesting.
I joined a grandmother and her 4 year old grandson on a bench in the shade. We talked a bit with the little boy as a great conversation opener. He was very interested in my lunch especially the fruit cup of fresh melon. He started angling for some strawberries..there were none, but there was watermelon and that was just as good. I let him work his way around letting me know he would really love to share some of that watermelon. I finally relented, asked his grandmother if it was alright and he got his treat.
How wonderful to be able to talk a bit with strangers, exchange a bit of news, laugh at the antics of a child and then go our separate ways. I did leave an abandoned art piece behind! #abandonedartct or Twitter @abandonedartct
Thank you strangers on a bench for a pleasant lunch break.

Sunny day in Hartford, perfect for abandoned art

Dropped a few more in Hartford last week. I have a few more days of being downtown so I need to find some more drops. It's fun to wander around and scope out drops. It is easy to drop a bird here and there, but photographing them draws attention. Hope they found a good home, there were lots of children on the sidewalks. #abandonedartct. On Twitter @abandonedartct

Abandoned art, the right kind of littering

I involved myself in an abandoned art project. You make a piece of art then leave it for someone to find spreading joy along the way. It is a fun way to pay it forward and bring some fun into someone's life.

I decided on little fabric birds. Easy to make, all from my fabric and felt stash, and bright and colorful. I've made about 18 and abandoned 6 around Connecticut. Check out @abandondedartct, #abandonedartct.

Here are some recent abandonments.