Some Christmas Cheer, and published here!

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Christmas this year has been devoted to ‘art with a needle’ and although I have been doing a few pages in my latest art journal ‘A Different Perspective’, intermittently.  I posted some pics on my flickr site a few days ago, so you may have seen them, but I am hoping to do a post about the new pages in a week or so.  (here’s the link if you want a sneak peek at the pages)  We are having our family celebrations a week earlier than 25th as our son & his wife celebrate Christmas with interstate relatives this year.  I don’t mind, ’cos I prepare for Christmas all year – but it does feel a bit of a crunch now getting to the ‘pointy end’.   I wanted to create some personal gifts this year for people I care about, so I have hand made decorations for our childrens’ own trees & for a few special friends.   Another project I have been working on is some additional Christmas stockings.  Our SIMPLY GORGEOUS Princess Ariel Faith, newborn this year needed one (pictured below) & funnily enough, all though all our children, grandchildren & DH have hand made & embroidered stockings, I have never had one myself.  I have only begun it in the last couple of days, after everything else was finished, so I am not sure whether I will get it finished or not – it depends how I go for time, especially since it will be needed a week early!  Soft moss green/murky olivey yellow being my current ‘to die for’ green (that makes sense if you read this story), but wanting to stick within the traditional palette, I have chosen ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree’ as my own stocking theme.  I will post it (if I get it finished) next week.

as an end note, it was a nice suprise to recieve an email from my fav. mixed media publication – Somerset Studios – & to find out a piece I created a while ago has been featured in the ‘Winter Gallery’, which is great fun!   I was especially ‘chuffed’ to see that they are using it to advertise the magazine this time.  Woo Hoo!  (my work is the Alice Spool made on a vintage reel)  I can wait to see how they have photographed it, cos it WAS  a tricky one!!   You can get all of the collage images  and stamp sets  that I used from the fabulous ALPHA STAMPS (including some of my own Alice collage sheet designs) Unfortunately, the article is still referring to my blog as at ‘typepad’ – so spread the word & change the link!  THANKS for your support & encouragement guys!!

changing medium with the weather

I have GENUINELY been a MIXED MEDIA artist lately….changing medium with the weather & accomodating what ever my pain level of the day is…….
We have been having wild extremes of weather – at the end of last week there were parts of our state in 'Catastrophic' Bushfire conditions and today – it has snowed!  We have had so much hail it has been like snow!…& of course this has provided us with a spectacular vista, night after night from our front verandah as the sun sets……last week it was a golden haze that almost hovered from the heat….tonight it is an ominous stormy sky, with smatterings of the purest white…… .. I am continuing my 'learning to draw' journey, done some collage work in a journal, made up a few ATCs, and continued with my 'love quilt'.  Here's a few pics of my recent work: 
I was incredibly fortunate lately to spend a little time sitting beside this lovely river recently.  A friend & I had caught up for coffee & she had to leave me & get off to work.  As it was so far from home I allowed a little time to explore & had come prepared to art!  I got down enough visual info (as well as photos) to capture what I needed to complete the drawing & then finished it off at home using watercolours, markers & tech pens.

I've had the priviledge of having a 'play' in Jenene's gorgeous 'Affectionately Yours' Round Robin Journal from Paper Traders…..the journal is based around correspondence, notes & letters, to create the topic for your pages……I have used a whole lot of vintage bits & bobs to create a story around the garment & fabric industry.   I hope Jenene likes what I have created as the last entry in her book.

This is one of my latest ATC's called 'Fish Garden' inspired by the ads we are seeing at the moment on TV about our City Aquarium.  It has large sharks swimming through the air overhead.  The Princess LOVEs these ads & has put in a special request for Poppa to take her to see the fish swimming in the air!  (they have an overhead viewing tank)  

I have also been creating a Valentines Token to participate in a swap at Paper Traders.  For those from Oz – it seems that in USA the tradition of Valentine's Day has retained some of it's original glamour & extends to friends & aquaintances as well as members of the opposite gender you may have designs on.  (or have re-designed LOL!)  I dithered & dalied with this so much – it was on my studio table for a week and it NEARLY ended up in the bin in frustration.  I have really gotten out of the altered art process & I just couldn't seem to bring this to a happy conclusion.  It is made on 640gsm Fabriano cotton watercolour, so it was a dream to work on & then I decided I wanted to stitch it, which of course was a little bit of a hassle as it's NOT that bendy!  I also created an ATC to add to the Paper Traders' Winner Takes All pot (one artist is randomly drawn to win all the cards entered for that month)  I thought that February's should be one for LOVE!

As I said I have also been doing a little patchwork, continuing with my 'love quilt' & incorporating some of my Nan's linens (as well as some found vintage treasures) as I said last time, these blocks are 15in square – so they are quite large.  It's a nice size to work with actually.

actually, in reviewing this post, it may not have been entirely a bad thing being without my computer, it's certainly been a productive few weeks.  The thing that I didn't add is that The Princess has been for a 'little holiday' at Nonna's and we have had some fun times playing.  She has started on her FIRST mixed media journal and I am convinced (in typical Proud Nonna style) that she has the makings of a fine artist!

OH, and BTW – I have FINALLY joined into Facebook – if you are out there and want to touch base via facebook – here's the link to my facebook page.  I haven't worked out how to link my blogs & pages all up yet – I will get on to that shortly! 

a little birdsong

these are a couple of ATC's I made from scraps on my worktable, left overs from some Christmas treasures I am making, using music. WHEN I DO post them, you will have to be kind -it's my first attempt at soldering (oh, apart from a little go in Stephanie Lee's class last year) & they are a little 'rough' around the edges.  
Any who – back to the ATC's…….  A little while ago, my dear friend from Paper Traders, Connie Holso, RAKed me some watercoloured backgrounds, which are what I used as a base.  First I collaged on some scraps of music, I then used a palette of acrylics to create some foliage & flowers & in the wet paint, used some watercolour pencil to ‘drizzle’ some black line work in.  I added more paint to create ‘centres’ of flowers…..then added in the birds.  I poured over them with ‘self levelling medium’ (Golden) then (perhaps a BIT kitch) – added ‘frinkles/micro beads’ & a little german scrap

 

  

On the TWELFTH DAY of Christmas

Blessings to you and all those that come to your house during Christmas.  I pray you have had a safe and prosperous festive season, & are filled with memories that will endure a lifetime.  On the 12th day of Christmas – my true love gave to me…… 12 drummers drumming……….

 

Continuing with our story of the 12 Days of Christmas…… we have arrived at the last feast day….. the 12th day …… The 12th night, often included feasting & the removal of all the decorations & French & English celebrations of Twelfth Night often included a King's Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi (Three Wise Men).  For myself – we used to always have up on 1st December & down on New Year's Eve – so we greeted the new year fresh – however now that we don't have any children at home, we usually go away on 27th, so I like to at least get the tree down before we go away, otherwise, it is pretty messy by the time we get back mid January – all dried out & dropping nettles everywhere.

 

Today's free images are by a Russian Artist Andrei Ryabushki – He has a fascinating style that really appeals to me.  Have fun with it!  The 'butterfly' is an invitation from a Twelfth Night party in 1912…. I love the colours of it!

WELL – this is the last day of images – DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

 

On the ELEVENTH day of Christmas

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

on the TENTH day of Christmas

my true love gave to me…..10 lords a-leaping……..IF I had a lord – I'd definitely want him leaping!  LOL!!  Not alot to say today……….I hope you are having some fun in the sun (for those in the Southern hemisphere) and the you in the Northern Hemisphere are keeping warm & snuggled by the fire with a good book.

 

The "ten lords a-leaping" represents the Ten Commandments this first image is from a manuscript dated approx 840ad & ascribed to the Dutch artist Karolingischer Buchmaler.  The second is by Rembrandt.

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

on the NINTH day of Christmas

my true love

gave to me - 9 ladies dancing.   We have SO many NON-Dancing stories in our family that it's a bit of a tradition – we don't dance……. like paying for weekly dancing lessons for ONE YEAR leading up to our son's wedding & not even being able to do a waltz!  Or like our Son & his Bride having a song choreographed for their 'dance song' at their wedding and him not able to get around her dress & kept tripping her up……. or the one when my DH just about broke something vital falling in a 'conga line'  Our family has 'team' shirts – that say………..'DON'T DANCE'  LOL!!!

The "nine ladies dancing" were representative of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

on the EIGHTH day of Christmas

eight maids milking of course!  Who'd be without their milking maids????  Especially on New Year's Day……..did you drink too much last night???   Hopefully it was milk & nothing stronger & you are feeling ok today! 

Our 8 milking maids were reminders of the Beattitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

On the SEVENTH day of Christmas

My TRUE love gave to me – seven swans a swimming – look at them here – they are not just swimming – they are flying as well!! LOL!!!  This is rather like what I imagine the 'travelling court' of a dignitory or a monarch would be……..fascinating!  The small image, is SO small, you might wonder why I bothered – but I love the woman's expression and I thought you still might be able to use it for SOMETHING (a postage stamp?  an inchie??? LOL!!!)    the B&W is a very early (c. 1885?) pic from the Russian Ballet production of Swan Lake (ok – there's much more around about 'ladies dancing' than 'Swans Swimming' – so this is a bit of artistic licence!)

The seventh day is to remind us of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit

1. Prophecy
2. Ministry
3. Teaching
4. Exhortation
5. Giving
6. Leading
7. Compassion

You can read about them here and here

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.

On the SIXTH Day of Christmas

 On the SIXTH Day of Christmas – my true love gave to me – SIX geese a-laying…. what a wonderful sight – have you ever cooked or made cakes with goose eggs?  They are SOOOOOO luxurious – you can make 6" high sponges with these babies!  They have such huge yolks – in fact a place in Melbourne uses them on 'gorment' hamburgers – the hamburger is $30AUD though!  (they are about $5AUD from a take away shop and about $3AUD from McDonalds)

Traditionally – the 6th day is to remind us of the six days of creation – although this is a sticking point with some people there is much wonder in these verses about creation……….have you ever read them? As important as that – we also need to remember in our busy world – that God commanded a day of REST – something we find difficult to achieve in our fast paced 21st century lives!  Take some time today to be alone – to be separate to embrace bordom and let your mind wander a little on to 'The Road Less Travelled'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DON'T FORGET – Please leave a comment and a link on the day with the image of any of them you use and on January 14th I will draw a winner – to recieve one of my original pieces of artwork.