Sunday, February 21, 2010

NeoVictorian Adventures


Here is a piece that I've been working on for the past two weeks. It's not quite finished yet. The caption is, "Everyone admired her graceful movement." I'm still trying to decide if those words belong in  the piece, or under the piece. It is 22 inches tall, so the words will have to be pretty large if I do decide to put them in. And, I'll have to figure out how to get them in there.

This piece is a mixed media collage. Most of the images were taken from late 1800s issues of Scientific American and early 1900s issues of Ladies Home Journal. I only have two more weeks to work on it, so I'll let you know how it turns out. As always, suggestions are welcome!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Creative Anachronism



Cabin Fever is finally starting to set in. I just can't think of spring and blossoms, right now, so I've begun working on some Halloween projects that I didn't have time for back in the fall!

I'll wait until this fall to post them. In the meantime, enjoy this Valentine's Day greeting from one of my favorite artists, my daughter. And I'll enjoy the peppermint patties and snow caps that my husband and kids got me for Valentine's Day. Hope your day was full of sweet surpises!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Heartfelt


I've often said that February only has 28 days because we just couldn't take any more than that. Just when I thought I'd had enough of the snow, I happened upon this gravity-defying curl that brought the magic back for me again. I can't imagine the complex set of circumstances that had to occur for the snow to end up like that. Look at the angle of the icicles on the bottom of the curve! (You can click the photo for a closer look.)


Another benefit of the snow is that it's forced me to stay in and get some projects finished. Janet Moss had the perfect word for me: "Heartfelt". I was looking for something short and sentimental, and heartfelt summed it up perfectly.

After I had my word, I framed it in a brass frame, punched some holes in the frame and added some dangles from an old pin that I had.
This year, I'm working on using the items I have, instead of hanging onto them in case I need them for something better later. In that spirit, I used not one, but two of my precious tatted doilies - a white one and an off-white one. I made the heart on top, and aged it with instant coffee.

In the meantime, the original flower I had disappeared. I suspect my fabric-loving cavalier Bordeaux had something to do with it. So I created a new one. I've been doing a lot with these flowers. I'll show them in another blog post.
Here is the finished product. I think sweet Charlotte looks right at home in her new surroundings. Heartfelt thanks to Janet for her inspirational choice of words!