More note cards

Continuing to create a few note cards.....

I had run out of them and knew 

I wanted to send a card to birthday friends....

So here I go creating a series.

 I found a piece of fabric I had printed a few years ago ....

 I decided to fill it with stitches, but first.....

The original was an image of one of my art works.

Using PSE I put ithe image through several wandering changes. ...

 Ending up with a watery abstract.

Then cut them to fit the card with a magazine page frame.

In the meantime I am also working on 

and embroidering some multi-colored hands

These will eventually be put into a wall hanging.

Happy President's Day!

When it freezes what do I do?

When we had the deep freeze followed by more snow 

what did I spend my time INSIDE doing?

 Besides enjoying watching my striped amaryllis bloom 

and bloom again.........

 I should have been spending all my time on creating work for 

upcoming exhibits, but I didn't.

 I thought of upcoming birthdays and started creating note cards....

 That is relaxing, sort of and sometimes.

 Time is spent exploring materials,

   searching for ideas and trying designs and formats .

My thought is that one of these just might be a sample 

for a large wall hanging, someday.

I do find collages and embroidery I have preciously

 created and try incorporating all into something new.

 It always ends up with more stitching necessary and replanning 

and more thought .....

I guess that is where the creativity come in.

I do enjoy the final construction.

More will come.....

Time for Notecards

After a trip to California and to Utah and recovering from

 much time spent on computer illnesses and 

hacked credit cards and non-working phones

I have spent just a few hours each day on notecards.

That is my way of working in a bit of time in the studio

 This embroidered butterfly is on a couple of pictures cut from magazines.

An embroidered leaf on layers of silk ribbons 

stitched to a bit of magazine ad. 

 The top card has an embroidered leaf on a black fabric 

with silver and red threads stitched. 

The second card with the leaf on the black fabric uses the

same advertisement as a background that is used on the beginning card.

 Two cards using the same black fabric with silver and red or copper 

threads stitched. The card just above uses 

window screening for part of a background

This final card has a bird embroidered and appliquéd to

the black fabric with silver stitching and all on window screening.

I enjoy using pages from magazines as well as fabrics

where  I am simply trying out ideas. 

The black stitched fabric in the last 5 cards 

 had paint on it and some stamping with a final step 

of stitching to give a texture to the smooth surface.

Consider these cards as my small attempt to recycle.

Creating, Recycling or Procrastinating?

When one has art work to finish, yet viewing a studio filled with stuff 

to be given away and still wanting to be creative, 

while not wasting precious time....... what word would you give this mental detour?

 Instead of being a procrastinator, Barbara Lee Smith coined the word 'determinator'.

So for the last couple of days I have been just that, a determinator.

 Notecards are my favorite method of saving these frustrating days 

when one wants to be creative.

Two above are part of my reusing 'things' I don't want to throw away.

 This had been a maquette for a large art work. 

The two cards above and these two below are cut from that 

maquette and reworked with thread.

 Before throwing away magazines I tear out pages that appeal to me, 

usually for their color. These become the 'frames' for the center of interest

in notecards and collages.

 This small piece placed on a stormy cloud page is from another maquette.

 Small scraps from an actual piece (Dominie Nash fabric)

plus window screening and a torn magazine page 

make up the composition for this notecard.

 Another maquette I was able to resurrect into useful cards.

 By taking off the large twisted blue fabric 

this maquette became five more cards.

 It was like creating a puzzle to use every scrap of that maquette.

 Of the five cards this was the most difficult, yet my favorite,

probably due to all the red.

 In a crowded studio, small bits and pieces are often lost.

Finding this tiny piece of painted orange canvas was exactly 

what I needed to set off a bit of embroidery. 

The rug was from another magazine page.

Thinking ahead to Christmas I found some glitter and 

 thread samples, a small embroidered pine tree and 

more colorful magazine pages for these last two cards.

It is time to get back into the right mind-set 

and work on that large piece waiting in the studio.

Note Cards and time

Most of May has been filled with wonderful yet busy 

and time consuming events.

The studio time was limited to a short time to make note cards

Here are a few using embroidery on found pictures. 

 Starting with good quality Strathmore cards  

speeds up the process, a bit.

 Occasionally I find pieces of painted canvas to add.

 Trees remain a favorite and I love putting them in doors.

 Ah! the tropics!

 Another butterfly with one of my favorite flowers.

 A small tree in a vase.

Lastly some found machine embroidery.

I am beginning to get back to the real studio time and 

working on some abstracted architectural compositions.