atc art spring 2012

RED

Red was the prompt for Feb in the ATC exchange with  artsinthecards folk.

 my mind went  directly to the comb of a rooster,

in fact, Peaches the rooster that shared 5 years with us was y model.

 one of the redest reds i have  ever seen was the afternoon sun shining through the

 comb of the rooster.

 i drew and painted the head. next some layering  and quilting.  a sky blue background made me happy. after i scanned and printed 9 rooster heads on cardstock i had lost some

 of the vibrant color i  wanted.

out came colored pencils and more paint.

still not there,

i turned over the pieces and embossed the comb with a stylus tool to ad demension.  

 lastly, i added  a bit of golden glitz into the neck feathers to show shimmer of light.  

                                                              LIME

the prompt for March was Lime.

 i have a citrus tree that has lime scented leaves that i believe to be a rough lemon or what i call
 a lumpy lemon. see photo below.

 then there is that song about de lime in de coconut and call me in the a m ...

now i can't get that image or tune out of my mind. i sketched an assortment of slices quickly as
not to overthink this little project.
 then i get out  some paints of yellow and blue
and plain muslin fabric and lightly draw simple arcs for the lime skins
. painting very loose, i reach my bliss.
(and this is why i paint afer all!)
 after the paint is dry i quilt in some slices segrments. the blue between gets tiny circles quilted, and a few cards get seed beads sewn on for dewy drops beore the envelope captures them.
some did not. i also put in one real leaf because i love the fragrance. i sent one leaf  to New Zealand where lime-sniffng inpectors found me out and held up the mail. for weeks.
note to self: do not repeat that leaf sending out of USA if real !

 and in the very last shot at the  bottom  

 having  turned a  card on its side  i now  see a Lime in a bikini!

 you never know where art will lead you but it makes me happy today!

be well!
sonja

the birds the word.....

                                 "everybodys heard the birds the word....bbbbbbb....."

dh mower with chicken inspectors

(my mower is the bottom one and it goes on woman power.)

 

And if you are old enought to recall this song or watch Family Guy upon ocassion, what does that conjour up for you?   and not to mention some of the art blogs i follow that  are bird  art talking/making  as well, and the birthday card i got this year from a dear friend  had a photo of a chicken crossing the road and asking that age old question.......why DID the chicken cross the road?  all this and the fact that i have a yard full of chickens and can't  find but a few eggs a day....lead me to this post.

that and the last painting class i  held.

i painted a chicken as a demo when i asked students to think about an animal to paint in the afternoon session. we painted flowers mostly in the morning cause i think that is least difficult and you need to put the color somewhere after all, unless making yardage.  the chicken i drew / painted was indeed crossing some surface, she was dashing and colorful. just recently i quilted the road she was crossing at a very high speed!   

yes, she is certainly a  colorful bird as seen in this middle  close up above.

a few weeks ago i thought it would be fun to put my  class painting samples  together and i am in the process of quilting  some more of them now.

can you see the rocky road the red hen is crossing with speed? 

lots of fun was had by quilting the dots.

i love to finger paint alot so this is repeating pattern in my work lately, those  finger dots. 

we painted poultry, penquins,peacocks,butterflies, and even a pineapples showed up on fabrics on the sunny afternoon.  what a great class  this was with 3 repeaters and 3 new ladies. all artists on cloth in my veiw.i  will post some of their art .  i always wish i had taken more photos the next day but there never seems to be enough time when you have a paint brush in hand! 

i will

also will try to rotate this one later.

 pineapple upsidedown.

blogger thinks this is is what i want even thou my jpg has leaves at the top.

fun in the summer is painting outside.