I have been invited to present my artwork to the Valdese Heritage Arts Center in Valdese, NC, in order for the committee to decide whether or not to jury me in. So, I've been deciding what pieces to turn in, and making a couple of new pieces to make sure I have a variety of items to offer in the gallery. I was advised to turn in samples of "anything you think you might want to display here," so I am turning in some pieces using different mediums as well. Here are pictures of some of the newer pieces I created, and an old, sentimental and special little handbag that I created after my youngest son was born, still makes my eyes fill up when I look at it...
"Seed Pods and Shell" 8" x 10" I start this piece out by creating one digital image which incorporates two different images into one with Photoshop. I print one copy of the artistically manipulated photos onto cotton poplin (in the background) and another copy on silk organza (in the foreground) and mount them both to a stretcher frame, giving the two photos a holographic effect that you really can't appreciate in these pictures. Then I covered the wooden frame with a piece of upholstery fabric that I had screen printed metallic fabric paint through a thermofax screen with a crackle design.
Switching to another medium that I love--jewelry, I decided to finish this piece, which I started probably 5 months ago. I crocheted sterling silver 28 gauge wire, and included various shapes, sizes and colors of beads throughout the three strands. This is addictive! It's a simple chain stitch, if you can do that, you can do this. Added the clasp and the fun silver pendant at the end. It is so light to wear, you don't even know it's there, and it will go with anything.
Had to make the earrings to match, I promise, it is addictive--give it a try.
I bought this adorable watch face at Michaels or AC Moore probably a year ago, and kept waiting to feel inspired to make a band to go with it. After I made the necklace, I knew I wanted a watch using the same technique, so here it is. The watch face had four holes drilled on each side, so I made each strand individually, then put them together and added the heart shaped toggle clasp to match. Very light and comfy to wear! I love the metallic beads, they're my favorites.
Here is another cute watch using buttons and beads hand sewn onto elastic, which was sewed to the sides of the watch. Colorful and whimsical. This too is easy, and very tedious, but worth the results!
This little canvas bag is the sentimental piece I was speaking of earlier, I made it in 2008 after my youngest was born. I carried it for about a year and loved it. It started as a Dharma Trading Company blank, which I tea dyed, then dyed fabric to match, which I ripped into strips to create the fun fringe all the way around the top. Then I took some special photographs of my husband and son and printed out transfers of them onto fabric, added a coordinating commercial fabric under it and satin stitched it on. The word "cherish" is at the bottom of the bag, and I used a huge bead and a strand of smaller beads on jute twine for the closure, adding a ceramic pendant at the bottom for weight. Using the coordinating fabric, I created a lining for the bag which includes pockets for your pens, emery board, cell phone and lipsticks. Behind the pictures are two larger pockets for keys and such.
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Here is the back side. Using a long strip of the dyed fabric, I wrapped it around from the front and glued it in place with a fabric glue and attached the bead that says, "Hope" on it. As you can see I used another print out on transfer paper to include a photo and a poem that touched my heart, which is layered over a larger piece of the commercial fabric and satin stitched into place. The poem reads, "Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature of a boy." Author unknown. I like that this piece could be customized to anyone's tastes and using special photographs like these makes it a keepsake.
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I'm going to include all of these pieces, along with my favorite art quilt, "Strength" and the smaller art quilt titled, "Breakthrough," my new/old Shibori Shirt, a Shibori scarf, and my batik laptop bag. Cross your fingers for me, hopefully they'll like these things and invite me into the co-op.
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