Aaaaah, California . . .

Well, I am in the San Francisco Bay Area on vacation for another week. This is an annual thing where I (smartly) leave the Bowling Green area heat of August for the cool micro climates of the Bay Area. It is a beautiful place for me and a time of renewal and inspiration for my fall art show. Soon I will be reviewing books for artreviews.com and will have info about that on this blogspot. Thanks for those of you who have checked in, even though I have really been too busy to keep up with blog entries! I am going to make a renewed effort, and of course, I will be posting a lot of new art as I build up pieces to have in the November Studio Art Show and Sale.

This ArtDoll I named "Sequoia". She is made from a redwood stick that I collected in California last year, and I used fabrics that I bought while I was there also. I've collected more sticks, so I'm hoping for more in this series. She is a "wall doll" that I have mounted on a framed black background and she can be removed easily to view the backside or to be hung on a wall. This piece and the following were just entered into a local art show sponsored by U.S. Bank.

I named this piece "Coming Soon To a Galaxy Near You". It is a stitched collage mounted and framed on a black wool background. I love looking at the Hubble Telescope site photos and some of my dyed silks remind me of those photos. This isn't a really good photo of this, so I'll try to get a better one after the show.

New Kitty

Okay, I am a really terrible blogger it seems . . . I am going to try harder. I wanted to post a photo of our new kitty, Sassafrass. We got her from our vet. She was a stray kitten who got hit by a car. My vet did all the surgeries and healed her up good as new. I believe she is the happiest cat I have ever met!

Soon, I'll post some new stuff that I am working on, maybe even an item or two for sale, by request. I am presently trying to finish two pieces for a show here in town sponsored by the U.S. Bank. I entered last year and it was really fun. I'll post photos when I finish them. I belong to the Capitol Arts Alliance here in Bowling Green, which offers many opportunities to show and sell art. It is a great community of artists here -- lots of talent.

Batik Scarves on Etsy

Someone was asking me to put up full photos of scarves, so I'm going to start doing that a little at a time. These two are for sale on Etsy.com. I used a batik/wax resist process on these also, using hot soy wax as my resist. Each scarf has many layers of dye and wax and can take several hours to complete -- some large pieces take me an entire day or more to complete. I try to put in a few simple explanations on how I do these, because quite a few people that I know stop here to look are not artist.

Fishy Batiks

Well, I finally had time to put up a few new photos. These are 10"x10" framed silk batiks. I've been learning a few tricks from others on how to frame textile pieces with foam core. It really works out great, so I am planning on framing a lot more of both silk painted pieces and art quilts. I love making "fish art".

ThankyHappsgivin everyone!

I'm giving thanks right now because I'm at my mother-in-law's house for the holiday and she is a genius in the kitchen! As Rachel would say "yummo"! It is hard to be away from my art making for even a few days though. Soon as I get home I'll be posting new photos, so stop by soon. Suse

Giving Thanks

Thank you to everyone for the nice comments on my work! This is the first time I have had the nerve to put it out there for everyone to see. I'm also getting some nice requests to be on my Christmas card list. I just got really tired of paying $4 or $5 for a Hallmark card, so I also make greeting cards using photos I take of my work. So fun! Sometimes I print out photos that I have taken onto silk or cotton and use those in my fiber art. Here are a few examples of non holiday cards.