Meow

Marla Helton talking about one of her beautiful creations during an opening of a selection of her gourds on display at LibertyTown through tomorrow.

I created a funky gourd in my workshop today which was really fun! I have called it Meow.

And then I got home to find out that I'm featured in a treasure on Etsy called Tea and Cupcakes. Made my day!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=45183

Lotsa Gourds at LibertyTown

Marla Helton's small show of gourds is up at LibertyTown for the weekend. I took her class last night where I learned to stitch the cording around the top of the gourd with embellishments. I didn't finish it, so no picture here of My First Gourd, but I will show you my finished work as I get pictures. The "gourd" above is not actually a gourd, as you can see, but is a woven, shaped piece.


This is one of Marla's Wild Women. They are made from pieces of gourd with beads and fiber and beads and wire...and more. They are fabulous and fun! My pictures of her pins did not come out, but some are wild women faces with hair and features. I'll try to do a better job with the photography later this weekend.


The starting gourds come in all kinds of amazing shapes and sizes.



Here's a gourd shoulder bag. She has several on display. She orders the gourds to make these from California.


I love the shape and elaborate weaving on this one.


I thought the beading on this one was beautiful. This is a sample of the technique I was learning about last night, only more elaborate in decoration.


The piece in the center of these three gorgeous things is a woven gourd using a pottery structure around which ribbing of vine is constructed so that ribbons and other things may be woven around to make the round shape of a gourd--without actually being a gourd. That will be Sunday's workshop!

We still have openings if you want to join us today and/or tomorrow from 10-5. Descriptions on the LibertyTown website--see link to the right.

Stay tuned!

WIP, Birds on a Wire

I pushed back the flying leaves in the sky and added a few mountain dwellings that can be seen from the front porch rocker. More about this one later.

Tonight I plunge into a two and a half day set of workshops on gourds led by Marla Helton. It is being held at LibertyTown and is sponsored by the Fredericksburg Area Spinners and Weavers Guild--nicest group of people in the world. My buddy and fellow LT artist, Lynette, grew up with Marla and is hosting her for the weekend. Marla has brought some of her works with gourds with her and we will set up a small showing at LT today to run through Sunday, March 1. If you're in the area, come by for an opening reception tomorrow night 6-8 pm.

"Piles" of Gumballs

This picture is a little dark as compared to reality, though the paper I am using IS pretty dark with age. This is the piece I had in a previous post marked as "beginnings."

Below is yesterday's addition. I based my shape on a jelly bean machine that Bill, a talented colleague of mine at LibertyTown, keeps in his studio. His work is so cool, he doesn't even need the bribe to keep people coming back to see more!


I'm not done. More light and shadows and details will be added (I hope today if it is dry enough.)

Birds on a Wire

Above is the first layer of midnight blue acrylic and prints on 12 x 16 (10 x 16?) canvas.


What I added yesterday--tentatively entitled Birds on a Wire.

Today I hope to make progress on commission work on slate and to add a gumball machine on the "piles" collage piece. Of course, what will happen once I actually get started is anyone's guess!

Productive Day

Yesterday's state:



Today's work: It's a little hard to see since the birds and their egg are made from aluminum cans--a tricky lighting situation.

I'm having fun with titles: That's the last time we go drinking! or It looks like he's going to take after your Uncle Al. Or It's YOUR turn to sit on it.


Any other suggestions for a title?

Beginnings--a Mixed Bag

Here are some starts I made last week that I hope to make progress on this week. My student load has dropped some--it's that time of year--but below is one of my faithfuls. She was working on her own drawing, and I sketched her onto a scrap of this weird new multimedia board. I got a piece of it from my friend Cheryl who owns a framing and art supply store here. She's tried pastel, oils, watercolor, and other media on it. I decided I'd use the larger scrap for my collage --If a Red Hand (see previous post). The best thing I know about the product is that is flexible as to media. The worst thing I know is that it is not flexible when you bend it. It snaps off into odd shaped chips!

I'm not sure what I'll do next with Little Girl, here. This piece is about 3 x 3.


The canvas square below is at the same place I started to create Why Young Mothers. I haven't found the next right thing to put in my tree, but I'll be looking. This will finish out at 8 x 8 or 10 x 10.


Don't you just love this--Piles--when I first looked at it, I read it as Pills! This is on more of that multimedia board and is about 5 x 5. I really love working small. The little balls are in oil paint.



This is a canvas, 12 x 16, with the first layer in acrylic in my new favorite color for underpainting--midnight blue.