Little Paintings

3" x 3", 3" x 3"

Little Paintings

6" x 6"

Deb's Fiesta Ornaments

My sister Deb wanted to make a Fiesta Ornament before she went home, so she pulled out my designs and sat down and began to paint. Deb is an altered art/mixed media artist, she uses paint in her art a lot but not the way I do.
She started several designs and was unhappy with her results and said she wanted to watch me paint. We each pulled out a bird design to paint and I walked her through the steps of mixing the paint in gradations and painting the different parts of the bird painting solid areas, gradations, glazing and adding details.

This is Deb's bird after the lesson. What a difference from her first, Pretty darn good, huh?This is the bird I painted for the lesson.
Then she painted a few more on her own and took them through the final steps of quilting, sewing the metal and embossing it.
Fantastic ornaments Deb!

Little Paintings

3" x 6"

Little Paintings

3" x 3", 3" x 3"

Little Paintings

This painting is 6" x 8", pretty close to the size shown here.

Quilting Arts December

The new Quilting Arts is out. I love this cover, it is a detail from a beautiful quilt by Catherine Nicholls.

This issue has some great work in it. First of all the feature is Pam Rubert, can't go wrong there. My good friends and fellow Gomez sisters Vickie Hallmark, Frances Holliday Alford and I, each have an article. Also included is the work of German artist Sara Lechner who does wonders with a felting machine. She has a great blog.

Happy Thanksgiving

I woke up this morning to see snow flurries out my window. That really makes it feel like the holidays are here.

Yesterday I finished painting the birds that I started for Open Studios in Houston. It was so nice sitting down and painting. I began listening to a book called The Pillars of the Earth a historical fiction about cathedral building in the middle ages. (I have the audio version from Audible.com)

(from Publishers Weekly) Set in 12th-century England, the narrative concerns the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. The ambitions of three men merge, conflict and collide through four decades during which social and political upheaval and the internal politics of the church affect the progress of the cathedral and the fortunes of the protagonists.

The story is so interesting to listen to I decided to keep painting and painted this little piece. I don't know why I always seem to be painting images that do not relate to my present time and location.

Advent Calendar

This is the Advent Calendar I designed for Quilting Arts Gifts.Here are a few detail pictures you can't see in the magazine.
I used old family Christmas photos, pictures of retro toys,
and details from quilts I have made.

Wonderfil thread

Two days at the International Quilt festival is never enough time to see everything, but I had my short list of priorities. One of my priorities was to make it to the Wonderfil booth. A textile artist can never have too much thread in my opinion. Wonderfil is a thread company based in Canada, and do they have some gorgeous thread. The stuff that caught my eye was this 40 wt rayon thread called Accent and D-twist. It is a slightly heavier weight and has a lovely sheen. If you wanted to draw attention to some stitching in your work, this would be the thread to use. I especially love the subtle variegation in the greens.