new work

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, I contacted fifth disease from some child I taught. It's not bad if you are a kid but as an adult it's a knock out punch. They don't treat the disease, just the symptoms, I don't know which is worse the disease or the drugs. I keep being overcome by weak spells and fatigue. Not only did I break out in a nasty rash, but also had sore swollen joints. They were so bad I could hardly walk down stairs, or crawl into a vehicle. Walking was slow and paintful. My right wrist felt like I'd sprained it. The doctor's first comment was, "I wondered when I'd see the first adult with this!" The good thing, she had had it herself so was very sympathetic. The other benifit  (if there is one), is I can never get it again. So, that's my story and I"m sticking to it.

I actually did get some work done in between teaching classes at the gallery. I used the faux felt I made for this first one. I used TAP paper to transfer and image, then I machine and hand embroidered it and added a little needle felting. It's mounted on plain canvas at the moment....not sure if I will put a colour wash on the canvas.

This next piece is paper fabric made with old book pages and lace, embellished with needle felt flowers and a 3D bee. there is also a llittle stitching and a few buttons. It's mounted on a rather thick canvas, so I added a paper border to break up all that black.

This one is a mosaic of decorative apers I made using a National Geographic and a natural orange cleaner, as well as bits of gelatin prints and found papers. the centre piece looks like an etching but it is a bit of a cheat. I mixed oil paint with linseed oil and spread it on a acetate sheet with a brayer. Then, I layed a piece of paper on top and drew a simple image. When I pulled it off, there where a few white areas, so I filled in one with a pencil drawing of an old farm gate. I liked the technique so I might try some more.

The last 2 are new encaustic pieces, one of thistles and one of Mexican sunflowers. I used  a pick with the thistles which truned out quite effective. The second I carved away some of the wax, to define the petals more.