Marbling Workshop at the Ocean City Arts Center

I had four students for my workshop Saturday: Jane, Sue, Doris and Elizabeth. These gals dived right in, producing lots of beautiful fabrics and marbled papers. We all had a good time.

As a final piece, every one added inks to the tray. They pulled one last piece of fabric together, then divided it into 4 pieces so everyone took a piece home.

Daffodils

It's been so cold here. Today it rained all day, with fierce winds.

I usually just enjoy being surrounded by daffodils as I work my flower beds in April. I've been cutting them and bringing them inside to look at this week. I fear they all may bloom and be fading by the time I have a chance to really enjoy them.

Altered Book Artist's Dream

The Cape May Court House Library had a book sale- a box full of books, just one dollar!

The two boxes on the left are mine. Ray went with a friend, and brought home the other box. He picked a couple of books out and filled the rest of the box with books he thought I would like for Altered Books. He is the just the best!!

It was fun picking out titles I might not come across at a thrift shop or yard sale ( where I usually find books to alter.) I got lots of gardening books, small children's books, and women's titles. The possibilities are endless...

I've already started painting the pages of one small book for a new project, while still working on an Altered Book Journal with a sewing/quilting theme.

Purple Paisley Platter

Here are the results of my first Pottery Class at the Clay College in Millville.
I'm really happy with the way my paisley platter turned out. We rolled out the clay in a slab and shaped it over a tube of extruded clay.
I stamped a textured design into the bottom of the plate and it filled in a bit with clear glaze when it was fired, kind of highlighting the simple shapes. (Hard to capture in a photo.)

The double pinch pots are much smaller and were fun to make,too.
They also have a design stamped in the bottom.

Happy Easter

Here's wishing you warm sunny spring days!!

Signs Of Spring

The Moon Flowers are taking over our little seedling station- reaching to wrap their tendrils around the tomatoes and peppers and basil.
After getting our indoor garden started, I got back to work painting the pages of my next Altered Book. Lisa V. ("Go Make Something!") is offering free spring/Easter artwork you can download, asking only that you post a link. She'll add something new each day so save the link:

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Ya Ya

Can spring be less than a week away??

Self Portrait with Chihuahua

Book Class

On Saturday I attended the most wonderful class on making books. It was presented by the fiber arts group 'Trio Creations' and held at Gloucester County College.
Fiber artist Harry Bower taught us several different methods of binding books, and we finished six separate examples in the class!

Here are my finshed books:

• Piano Hinge
• Five Stitch
• Three Stitch
• Carousel or Star
• Accordion
• Rubber Band

I'm really looking forward to making lots of little books, using what I've learned. And then there's a follow up class in March on fabric books!

I've never come home from a class or workshop with this much finished work.

Pink Polka Dots

Here's Ya Ya enjoying her first snowfall in her new winter coat, a fleece lined jacket with matching ric-rac trim. She loves prancing around in her coat and it keeps her very warm!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Here's the first photo I took with my new camera. How lucky am I to look into those big brown eyes every day??

Tag A Day

My challenge was to create a tag a day for the month of November- so here's 30 tags uploaded to my picture trail album. Lots of decorative papers & photo images, and a chance to try out some very cool resist techniques from my favorite magazine "ClothPaperScissors."

Lucy's Crate

Our big girl has a big and generous heart- sharing even her own crate with Ya Ya.

The Hunter

Hawk's Return

This young Hawk scared me last week when he hit the window of my studio. I'm glad he's ok but I wish he wouldn't hunt at my bird feeder! I say he is a Northern Goshawk but Ray says he must be a Sharp-shinned Hawk. (The birdbath is less than 20" across.)

Altered Book

I finally scanned my altered book "Gift of the Sea" and added an album for it on my Picture Trail page. This was my first altered book and I really had fun doing it. I had a 'less is more' attitude when embellishing the pages, now they look a little plain when I view them on my moniter. I'm wondering if I should add some photo transfers of seagulls and crabs and such.

Tree Lights

Christmas at our house

Santa

Montgomery Wards Santa
1962

Christmas Lights

A little camera play and photoshop on our tree lights.

Finished Cards

Here's the completed set of cards that I made.
I added text to the original art, created a back and printed them on matte photo paper in a couple of different sizes.

Decorating the Tree

Here's my two helpers, fast asleep on the sofa, long before all the lights are on . . .

It has been 50 to 60 degrees everyday this week.
Great for housetraining a puppy but . . . . no sign of snow.
Here's an example of Ray's artistry from winter past.
Maybe January will bring the white stuff?!!

Companions

Hey, she's touching my stuff! She's touching my stuff!

Lucy consents to a game of tug-of-war

After a hard day's play ...

Santa Door Tag

I painted this in a fun class taught by Sue Rau.

We buy toys, toys, toys and what does Ya Ya play with? . . . . . . . . a potato.

Ya Ya!

The newest member of our family.

The Queen of Cats

Garden Queen

The Queen of Cups

My most recent artwork for a Studio X Project:
The King of Cups

Anniversary

Remembering our sweet little Asta girl on this very special day, the fifth anniversary of her adoption.

Our Dearest Girl

On September 18, 2006
our beloved Asta passed away.





She was a treasured member of our little family, and is so, so, so very missed.

Marbled Fabrics

Here is a recent batch of marbled cotton fabrics I did. This is a class I'll be offering in October.
I'm doing an eight step gradation dyeing class as well.

First Flight

I've been watching these little wrens every day for weeks.
I was delighted to be around when the babies left the nest for the first time. And lucky to have my camera handy.

Fabric Transfers

This is a set of successful inkjet photo transfers onto fabric for the fabric journal I'm working on about my garden. After alot of experimenting, I'm able to get consistent results using Golden Gel Medium. Next comes the text for the book.

Backyard Thermometer

This was the temperature in our backyard today, the hottest I think so far in this weeks heatwave.
And this is in the shady corner of our Hosta Garden

Fabric Painting Class

This is the lighthouse scene I painted in a fun class I took with Sue Rau. We used acrylics and fabric medium, and painted on heavy weight muslin that had been dyed blue. Overall, I ws pretty pleased with my results (even though the lighthouse looks kind of looney-tunes.)

Our Resident Wren Family

Every morning Asta and I go out into the garden and sit in our favorite chairs while I enjoy that treasured "first cup" of coffee.
Lately we've been watching Momma Wren catching insects and feeding them to her hungry babies.