Sheep on the Wall

Why not have some sheep to keep me company in my craft room?  And maybe they could knit along with me. There's an idea.

Folk art has easy lines and is fairly quick to draw.  Inspiration came from Kathy's Needleworks in the form of canvases for needlepoint.  I copied John Blake's sheep from a canvas available at the needlework site.  After sketching them onto the wall, I then painted them in acrylics.  It is about half finished in the above picture.  If the next owner of the house does not want sheep in this room, a quick primer and another coat of paint will cover over the critters.

(Finished: inside dimensions 40" x 32")

Rough cut 2 inch firring strips frame the sheep; they are stained and add a barn-like touch.

But for now, those woolly gals are just making me happy and keeping me company while I knit Piper's Journey Shawl in a celestial blue that is 15% cashmere and 85% merino wool.

 The sheep approve.

Professional Looking Postcards @ Low Price

Find of the week: you can order 100 postcards on heavy stock from Postcards.  And they arrive within the week.

A good value for less than $20, including shipping.  They will be used for thank-you cards, invitations and quick hello's to out of town friends.  When you consider you pay over $3 for about any ready-made card, it was a steal.

The image is glossy and looks very professional (it was uploaded from my computer from a watercolor I painted ten years ago in dimensions of 21" x 25").  Postcards even enhanced the colors.

Silk Painting continues

First posted here with an excellent tutorial on painting with silk dyes referenced here (including steam setting the dyes), this picture is the fifth dining room chair seat now finished.  The size before covering the seat was 25" x 25", with a bit of waste allowed on all sides for wrapping around the sides of the cushion.

Embroidery: Urban Themes

Spending time over at the Flickr group on Urban Embroidery, some amazing artwork can be seen.  Here are some examples:

Sarah Walton has these pieces:

(I love the dimples in the back of the knees and the pensive look on the face of the dog.)

(Does this not just scream BFF! and dogs that are wary)

(Do you see these two out for coffee and the pup waiting for a bagel bite?

And from Lucky Jackson on Flickr:

You can purchase Lucky's embroidery patterns here.

Painting on Silk

Silk painting originated in China, going back to 2600 BC. Long before paper was invented/made, silk was a medium on which to paint. Silk is durable, portable, and readily rolled for travel.  From this site:

Silk was chosen as an artistic surface not only because of its soft, luxurious feel, but also for its practicality. Silk is light, easy to cut into any desired shape and size and is convenient to carry. Chinese artisans prepared the silk for painting by beating it on a stone slab until the surface became very smooth. After the silk was prepared, the color pigments or ink tones were applied slowly and carefully.

And what lovely works have survived over the centuries. Bing has a large collection of images of ancient silk paintings; this is just one example:

Western Colorado, where I reside, is fortunate to have a variety of talented artists displaying talents in multiple media effects. Vera Mulder is one such artist who has refined batik painting and has a large following of admirers of her work.  As a teacher, painter, photographer and ceramist, she can be found here (with drawing classes the second week of February and more information).

This is one in a series of gorgeous batiks that Mulder showed at The Blue Pig recently:

From All About Fruita:

...a series of batiks titled Rhythms in Red, this batik by Mulder features rich red and lines that create movement for the eye. Cards and prints of the series can be found at Blue Pig Gallery, Palisade, Colorado and Oakley Gallery in the Interiors building, Grand Junction.

(this one can be viewed at the Oakley Gallery in Grand Junction, CO)

And across the pond, from Surrey, United Kingdom, some beautiful paintings on silk can be found at TheWoodFairy's blog, and the author and painter, Betty, has given her permission to show a few of her works here. (If you copy any of her paintings, please be sure to link back to TheWoodFairy.)

Betty's art blog, Imaginary Brushstrokes, can be accessed here.

The Wood Fairy (Betty)  gives a tutorial on how she creates paintings on silk which you can also access at this site.  Another excellent tutorial on painting on silk can be accessed at this site on Chinese painting.

Betty painted the one below for her brother, saying..

I have included the Celtic symbols for the word 'strength' on one of the oak leaves. The oak is regarded as the symbol of strength.

If you are interested in trying this technique, products are readily available from most art suppliers. Several years ago I purchased fabric dyes and raw silk over the internet.  The raw silk was cut to fit six dining room chairs, and then I painted onto the raw silk in colors matching the tile floor on the dining area floor.  Those chair seats are still in use, but I have noticed that they need to be refreshed with more paints as the years have faded the colors.  Or is it that just the wear of sitting on those cushions has caused the dye to fade?  Either way, my next painting project is to re-paint and re-cover those chair seats.

One complete site relating to products needed for painting on silk gives a complete listing of available items including dyes, paints, silk material, resists, etc. This site, Dharma Trading, can be accessed here where I purchased the Jacquard brand dyes and resist products over ten years ago, and the dyes are still strong and vibrant.

For further assistance in painting on silk, a book entitled Beginner's Guide to Silk Painting by Mandy Southan (Search Press Limited, 1997, Great Britain) was my inspiration into dyeing on silk fabric.  This little book (available on Amazon) is a gem and highly recommended if you desire further instruction. Southan gives gorgeous pictures and detailed, step-by-step procedures.  If I can do it, so can you!

Update: as soon as my husband read this post, he asked when those dining room chairs were going to get reupholstered.  Sigh.

Christmas: A Picture and a Recipe (and Green & Red Socks)

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483–1520), Detail of Angel c 1499-1502

Let's call them Christmas Socks.  The pattern is L.Linneman's, free on Ravelry and found at this site.  The technique used is called "afterthought heel" in that the sock is knit as a tube, and then the heel is put in after the tube has been completed.  A YouTube video found here helps in learning how to knit the afterthought heel.

And on another note:
Christmas cookie baking this year in the Kinsey-McCarroll household has been a bit spare. One batch turned out acceptably.  That term is used loosely.  They were acceptable in that eating just one cookie would fill your tummy for the entire morning...a little too loaded with every dried fruit in the cupboard, with chocolate to boot.  So next on the baking agenda are some lighter, fluffier cookies.

My friend Natalie liked these little jewels, so I tracked down the recipe, courtesy of King Arthur Flour.

Soft and Chewy Vanilla-Orange Cranberry Cookies
These cookies remain beautifully soft for days, and their flavor is outstanding: bold orange and cranberry, complemented by a hint of aromatic vanilla.

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
3/4 cup sugar
grated peel of 1 medium to large orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups Flour
2 cups dried cranberries; or a mixture of dried cranberries and toasted chopped walnuts or pecans

read more for how-to's:

Madonna Con Gesu Bambino and Icons

This is Esteban Murillo's portrait of the Madonna and Child, located in the Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy. Murillo painted this about 1650.

I purchased a small copy of this work on eBay about ten years ago and have been trying to paint a similar portrait from this print for probably just as long.  I finally "finished" this last year, and am displaying it on a table with other Madonna and Child icons in our living area.  This is my rendition:

It obviously pales in comparison to the real work, but it was an enjoyable artistic challenge.  When I look at the face of Mary that I have painted, she looks quite a bit older than fourteen or fifteen, but the gist of her facial expression has a sweet countenance.

Many more of Murillo's paintings can be found here on a slideshow.

This is a picture of two tops of tables displaying my icons of Madonna and Child which I have collected over the past dozen years while traveling.  Each comes from a different country [Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Venice and Florence)  New Zealand (Christchurch), America, and several place in the United Kingdom including one from St. Abbey's Cathedral in London].  One is a beautiful Christmas card that a friend sent one year in the mail.

These icons serve as our holiday "Christmas Tree"

Urban Sketcher

Photo taken on Halloween in Dublin at Madigan's Pub:

A group of us waited here for our hotel to accept our reservations on October 31.  It was a lively crowd, and grew larger by the half hour.  We sat, and I caught this picture on a camera.  While sitting at a booth, I sketched this scene quickly.  Here is my rendition of this fun time:

Artist Bloggers and Urban Sketchers

In looking at artists' works on the internet, I came across Urban Sketchers and some beautiful pictures.  You might find some of the artists' work exceptionally appealing.

Urban Sketchers is a web site that features artwork from over 100 invited artists from 30 different countries.  Imaginative, delightful images are found there; it is an absorbing site and a feast for the eyes.

Above is a watercolor from Caroline who lives in Brittany.  Her blog is An English Artist in Brittany, where she shows some of her watercolors.  She says about this piece:

This beautiful 'maison de maitre' at Dinard was built in the late eighteen-hundreds and is called 'Les Roches Brunes'. It was bequeathed to the town and exhibitions are now held here.

 Here is a sketch by Rob entitled Budenfest found here, painted at a train station in Germany on September 10, 2011.

And below is another sketch by Rob from May, 2011, found here on Urban Sketchers where he writes:

It's been a very dry and warm spring in southern Germany this year. I've been zipping around on my little 50 cc scooter with my sketchbook, looking for little scenes like this to enjoy and draw. I pulled off the road at this spot near the village of Hertingen, watching a tractor plowing up the dry soil and enjoying a field of buttercups before me. Warm. Dry. Wonderful! 

Liz on Sketching Architecture featured this picture on Sept. 10, 2011 where she said...

I love the fluidity and forcefulness, the bold 3-dimensionality, adventurous complexity and all the fun games that are played with curved vs flat surfaces and all the crazy decoration. Today while tidying up my study/studio I came across a print out of a photo I took in Rome last year of a building that I didn't have the energy to sketch at the time.

Judy from the Netherlands sketched this on September 9, 2011.  She can be found at her blog where her sketch was featured here where she said...

The room is filled with the colours of the cyclamen. The flowers are totally odourless but when I let their colour "bleed" into the background, I always feel that I am painting flower fragrance.

Below is a scanned copy of my watercolor worksheet.  If you are not familiar with this "painting tool" mixture of colors on a grid, it is merely the original color of a certain named color down the left hand side of the page with its associated color painted to the right of the name.  Across the top, in the same order, are those same colors.  By mixing the colors, one on top of the other (after each color dab has thoroughly dried), the resulting hues are the combination of the two colors listed on the chart, going from left to right and top to bottom.  In using this worksheet, one never needs to wonder exactly what shade will result in the mixing of colors.

This is one of my watercolors from 2001 painted from a photo I took before a luncheon meal outside Volterra, Italy:

This is one of my watercolors from a vacation in Greece in 2001:

(size 11" x 14")

And thus concludes a blog foray into sketch art from various climes and times.

Vintage Seed Packet Images

Vintage seed packet pictures: an internet search came up with many good links.  The beauty of Victorian ephemera is quite fetching, especially since all images were hand drawn and painted.

Links to free images of vintage seed packets are cataloged here for my (and your) future use, along with some of the pictures that captured my eye.  These images will be an excellent source for referencing, painting, and posting on my Floral Art blog.

Here are some links, in no particular order:

Smithsonian Museum: "Seed Packets, Vintage"

(sweet peas)

(pansies)

and my favorite:

Free Vintage Fruit Crate Labels:

Go to Google Images and you will see many such as this one:

Bing Search Engine has lots:

Vintage Seed Packet Templates shows many templates with flower and vegetable images, all free to use for your own non-commercial purposes.  (They are in PDF format)

Home and Garden has more images:

And some blog posts about vintage seed packet images and how they might be used can be found at The Frugal Mennonite, The Vintage Workshop, Blue Hour Studio, to name just a few.

So there you have a short run-down of sources for your viewing pleasure.

Referencing a Multi Talented Woman Blogger

For art lovers and those who enjoy beautiful images, please wander on over to It's About Time.  This site will provide pictures and bio information about a variety of topics, including:

• flowers and gardens
• reading
• motherhood
• outside art
• boating
• the countryside
• folk art
• working with textiles
• Madonna and child
• and NINE other topics for you to investigate for lovely illustrations
• PLUS Four, yes four, other blogs Barbara authors, each in its own separate blog space, and each fascinating in its own right

Michael Peter Ancher (Danish artist, 1849–1927) Artist's wife Anna Ancher

This is just one of the pictures found on one of Barbara's blogs.  She entitled it Outside in the Hot, Hot Garden.

Can you tell I am very much impressed by this prolific blogger and researcher? In part, she says:

I am a historian, the images usually cluster around some social, cultural, or academic theme or a timeline. I try to choose works that justify their inclusion on aesthetic grounds. There is a little museum in each blog -- no travel necessary.

A blogging buddy who lives in the UK doing her PhD (The Domestic Soundscape) introduced me to Audioboo and provided the bird call. (It is one of Felix's top hits!)  Just click on the arrow and turn up your speakers and you will feel like you have a morning flower bouquet in your hand!

The picture of  the yellow flowers In Anna Ancher's arms reminded me to put this small work of sunflowers in oils that I have been painting for a few weeks:

The stems have not been started, and the centers have no definition yet.  We shall see.