My exotic King quilt

 After upgrading from a Queen to a King size bed, I didn't want to part with my Queen duvet I had made. I made an entry for this almost seven years ago in Finally back to sewing. I questioned if taking it apart, adding borders, hand quilting it, and then sewing the binding would be worth it. So, with a week off from work as a creative 'Staycation', I got to work. 

This was a huge task, and my fingers are pretty much devoid of fingerprints from hand quilting around the squares. I used a dark gray bed sheet for the backing because a) fabric is expensive, and b) I like to use what I have on hand. Once I quilted it together, I had to cut binding at a 90' angle from another bedsheet, pin it, and ensure the corners didn't show any gaps. 

All throughout the finishing of this quilt, my cat Cece lended her paw-well, not really. But she definitely enjoys this quilt and thinks it's hers now.

Virgo

 Sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone with creativity helps determine where focus should be placed upon. While I am pleased with this piece for the most part, it has taught me that my preference for watercolors and gouache runs deep. 

Virgo is a zodiac sign that I have encountered on a deep and personal level. We can just leave it at that. The actual symbolism of the sign is a maiden, who reigns over wheat, who are portrayed as innocent, and apply logic, practicality and order into everything they do. They are the perfectionists, the critics, but always kind. This painting shows the maiden peering out over the windy atmosphere, hair flowing to the wheat she stands among, and her collected daisies disperse with the flow of turbulent airflow. Her eyes hold concern for a coming storm, but she remains grounded.

I used M. Graham acrylics, which are high quality paints on a 16" X 20" canvas. This piece taught me that acrylics aren't a medium I enjoy. It took a few months to complete this, mostly because I couldn't find the enthusiasm and joy I feel when working with watercolors and gouache. Acrylics don't flow well, even when mediums are added. And you have to use A LOT to get the vibrancy I am after. Once it dries on the palette, you can't rehydrate it like watercolors and gouache. I have a huge set of nice acrylics, so I will save them for other projects, like rock painting.

PNW Mitts

New design for crocheted fingerless mitts using Scheepies Softfun yarn. These are easy to work up and can be adjusted for larger hands. The link can be found here. (apologies for the PDF not accessible originally, but should be viewable now).

 

The Green Man

 Green is a color I struggle with when it comes to painting. It easily can get murky and not stand out. So of course that means I have to paint an entire 6x8 canvas board in gouache with as many greens as I can get my hands on. This one will be a birthday gift to someone who loves plants. 

More pet portraits

 More pet portraits, including my two dogs and cat.

Pet portraits

 My love for animals of course includes those we choose to care for in our homes. Recently I announced to my circle of friends on social media that I needed pets to paint as an experiment-complimentary of course. That experiment was to see my own progress in painting pet portraits and this post is dedicated to the first set of requests I received. I definitely see myself doing a lot more of these. These are 4x6 watercolor on paper with fineliner outlines and details.

The Golden Pheasant

 I had never heard of these birds until I searched online for 'the most beautiful bird'. These are truly striking birds that are native to China. This painting is the male which has the colorful feathers, where the female has more muted colors. While these birds aren't endangered, there is concern that deforestation will impact their numbers. Watercolor on canvas, alcohol splotches on wet paint for the background. 

Baby quilt

 I am going to be an aunt again! My older brother is expecting his 2nd daughter this November, and I couldn't be more excited for him. Of course that means I made my niece a baby quilt already. This is one of my simple quilt patterns from years ago when I first taught myself to quilt. It's quite larger than a traditional baby quilt, but definitely one she can use for many years. It's a beautiful peachy pink palette using Moda fabrics.

Fine liner and watercolor pieces

There was a time that I had strong wanderlust, and I made the big bucket list of places I wanted to visit. The actual reality of traveling however gives me slight anxiety of being away from my home and especially my pets. I still have a bucket list, but it's much more refined to places that are worth that travel anxiety of leaving my fur babies behind. 

My compromise in alleviating any wanderlust now is to paint the places I most likely won't put forth energy to ever visiting. The feeling of charm while being in an old foreign city, or the awe saturating my emotions when standing in the middle of nature's creations is what I seek to capture in these painted places. I keep them small, but detailed. Some are the size of a postcard, some are in a small journal, others are like bookmarks-all intended to be a window to another world that exists, but is replicated with watercolors and fine liner pens. 

Below are some of the samples of small pieces I've done, perhaps someday I will open that online shop to sell for others to enjoy these views.

Sardinia, Italy

Glacier NP-I did visit here in 2020

Provence region, France-possibly on the bucket list

Bruges, Belgium

Yamhill County OR-replicated photo taken by my husband

Bungle Bungle Range in Australia

Tuscany, Italy-on my bucket list

Puglia, Italy

Utrecht, Netherlands

Cefalu, Sicily

Drama Free

 Llamas are amazing animals. They provide wool and llamas are often used as pack animals. Their wool is one of my favorites to knit with as it's light but warm. Generally, these are gentle easy going animals, but occasionally they will spit to assert dominance or if they are annoyed. Other than that, not much drama from them.

Here's my tribute to these sweet animals of South America. Sketched in fineliner pen and enhanced with watercolors.

The Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep

 On the Endangered Species Act list, a unique breed of these Bighorn Sheep roam the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. I made this one very detailed with the finalizer, and then added washes of watercolor. The background is a very wet wash of watercolors lightly dotted with alcohol.

The Flowers are Blooming

 I spent most of yesterday in my back yard planting, weeding and gearing up for spring flowers. It's rare to find a rainless Saturday to tidy up the yard as spring is arriving. Today I am resting from all of the work done yesterday-and it's raining. 

Flowers are the most amazing plants. How incredible it is for a plant to display such vibrant colors in the most beautiful shapes. Not only that, but they produce nectar for our pollinators. To celebrate flowers, I made a 'book' of some of my favorites. This has been a work in progress for several years and today I finally finished it. Please enjoy the short video of my first completed 'book'.

A non-art post about creativity

Growing up, I drew a lot but never thought of myself as any good by other's standards. This internal mindset killed my motivation eventually, and my creative drive lay dormant for many many years. It was that Wine and Paint class April of 2015 that revived it, and I started indulging in visual arts for my own pleasure. After a few years, people encouraged me to sell some of my art, but it appeals to me more to give it away. I've 'sold' a few pieces on commission only charging for supplies and postage to mail it. My time and energy toward the piece is a gift to the recipient and also to myself. 

I'm linking a video that I hope inspires you to pick up a pen and sketch, even if you think you can't draw. This isn't about becoming an artist, but more about indulging in the creative process which is extremely healing. It describes how we can change our perceptions to our world with our eyes and mind. I really like how Ralph Ammer states in this video how his sketching stores memories in his mind and not in his camera. What a powerful concept in today's world of smart phones and social media.

How drawing helps you think

Starting a new sketch with Cece

Sicilian Citrus

 Something about peering down a narrow Sicilian alleyway under the hot sun and spotting a bowl of citrus fruit invokes a nostalgic feeling within in. For this painting, I used M Graham gouache, which is by far my most favorite medium. This is on a good quality watercolor paper made by Carson. 

Paradise Found

 Very pleased with how this one turned out. M Graham watercolor on paper. This sketchbook isn't 100% cotton watercolor paper as it began to ball up with heavier water usage. Still like how it turned out.

The Hawaiian Monk Seal

The Hawaiian Monk Seal resides in the northwestern Hawaiian islands, and is on the endangered species list. About 1600 remain today.

This is the final of a series of four paintings dedicated to marine life. The links to the others are:

The Sea Turtle

The Blue Whale

The Giant Squid

As with the others, watercolor on fine watercolor canvas.

Roses are Red, Creepy Eyes that are Blue...

 The inspiration behind this painting was a weird one to start, plus it didn't quite turn out exactly like what had given me the idea in the first place. My youngest plays Sims a lot, and I love watching her decorate her houses within the game. One house was very gothic, and one particular room had ornate wall paper with oval paintings of roses with gaudy gold frames.

This painting took on more character when I got the idea to put in eyeballs everywhere. I thought painting plain roses would be boring. This is gouache on 100% cotton paper. I painted an old picture frame dark wood to frame it, and it now sits on an end table in my eclectic studio office. My husband isn't a fan of it, but that's okay because art can disturb sometimes.

The Dragonfly

 Guess I'm on a bug painting roll. Another small one on paper this time using Daniel Smith watercolors. 

Seven years of paintings

 In April of 2015, when I went to my first sip and paint class, little did I know where I would be years later. Those first couple of years were definitely experimental, and it kept me progressing in my style. Lately I've been feeling that I'm stagnant in my progress perhaps because I lost that sense of enjoying the journey rather than making a finished piece.

Below is a set of lotus flowers I did in 2016 in gouache. I had these hanging somewhere in my home, but took them down once I felt these were my more basic works.

Now, nearly seven years later, I found them again and thought it would be fun to spruce them up, add my style I have currently progressed to. The re-do used acrylic this time, with a gouache background.

It will be interesting to see where the next seven years take me on this journey of discovering my creative side.