fabric and linocut ......

No post for November!!!.... I've had a very busy time of it lately. As you may know from previous posts my MIL has been very ill these past two years.  Sadly she passed away last week .....she will be missed in many ways, one of them being that she has been a large part of my creative life.  Always encouraging me to paint and sew.   She was never scared to try something new, she encouraged me to try lots of things I would never have been brave enough to do without her nudging me along (ever the procrastinator).  I have begun a cloth, marking it with stitches, in memory of Norma.  No pictures today,  but I will share it with you soon. 

 Even though I have been busy I have still been doing a bit of art.  I recently got together with my art friends Ro, Dot and Patsy at Ro's home and we did some fabric printing...lots of fun and  Ro shared her fabric printing technique with us all, showing  how to make our own prints from bits and pieces we all have around our home.  I was very happy with the fabric printing I did on the day and will make sure it goes into a special cloth.  Some of these pieces were using a stamp I had myself on the day and others with stamps that Ro had made earlier. Isnt the effect wonderful!!!

I have also been doing a bit of printmaking lately.  I took part in an exhibition with a couple of my art friends,  Meg Abrecht (painter and printmaker),  Regina Dudek (jewellery and sculpture) and Nic Perrin (oil painter).   Will share some photos once I upload them.  I carved and printed quite a few whimsical birds for this exhibition with my "Sunshine Owl"  being my inspiration.  Below is a little owl  linocut print, approx. 3 inches x 4... I have named him "Whoot".  He was the simplest and smallest of my pieces,  but I loved his simplicity and he came up well framed.

I hope you are all enjoying your preparations for the festive season.  I love the Christmas season,  everyone is in such a happy and generous frame of mind ... the world is a nicer place. I intend to get all of my Christmas decorations up this weekend (normally I have them out by the 1st December...bit slow this year).  I love decorating the house for Christmas.

I will be back soon with a photo of my new cloth.

ENJOY A TINY

ADVENTUROUS MOMENT,

CLOSE TO HOME.

IT CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE,

REMINDING YOU THAT THE WORLD

IS DEEP AND RICH AND FULL OF

COLOR AND MIRACLES.

-SARK-

have a wonderful week.

Jacky xox

Playing with neocolor & art gifts ...

Oooops.... once again my images have loaded in reverse order.... please bear with me (or is it blogger???????)
Recently I have received some lovely "art mail" which I thought I would share with you. From the gorgeous Sharon Tomlinson an absolutely beautiful envelope arrived in the mail (picture below this picture...). Inside the envelope, which is a work of art in itself, were these beautiful serviettes for my art - thank you so much Sharon, I share your passion for serviettes in art. Also these wonderful moo cards and images of Sharons beautiful ladies. Very special.... This is the wonderful envelope..... a treasure itself, and how exciting to see this in your mail box! AND..... that is the back (wondering where my photo of the front is??? will find it soon and share).

Below a beautiful package of handmade lace and vintage embroideries from my very dear patchwork friend Mary. These will be cut up at some stage and used in a patchwork piece. I adore the work of Karen Ruane who uses vintage embroideries in her wonderful wrapping cloths and binders. Pop over to her blog and take a look, her work is stunning.

Talk about spoilt.... I received these beautiful fabrics from Julia of Verdigris Rose blogspot. Lovely florals and the embroidered voile is my favourite I think... or is it the lovely blue background floral? The are all so beautiful and I cant wait to play with them. Thank you Julia!

Finally.... I have been playing around with my neocolor crayons. I just love how creamy and smooth they are. This page in my journal is titled "fronds" as it was inspired by the bracken fronds unfurling. Next I might try the bracken open. I am enjoying playing with ink and watercolor crayon.

Thanks for popping by and visiting my blog! Next weekend my sister and I are doing a handmade journal class with Ro Bruhn..... looking forward to that! My last class with Ro was such fun and inspirational. Will share some of my journal pages from the class with you very soon.

Have a cerulean blue week.

Jacky xox

For Magda and Linda ......

This post is for Magda and Linda. Firstly.... the fabric pages below are for Magda, one of the lovely ladies in our Fabricgirlz group. We are currently doing a Round Robin with our books travelling around the world over 9 to 10 months. Each month a different fabric artist makes a page for your book... I am soooo looking forward to mine coming home so I can see all of the pages up close and personal. As you can see the little knitted people won out.... I had been debating whether to put them in or not, but I think they add a fun element to these pages and Magda's book is all about coming out to play.
My photography is not the best, but I wanted to try and get a close up so you can see the stitching and embellishing. The page is finished, but still needs binding....mmmm ..... I am still pondering that one!
Linda.... this next pic is for you. One of the faces I have done in my Suziblu online class. Make sure you pop over and visit Linda's blog to see the wonderful art she is creating in these classes! She is a little ahead of me.... I will post a pic next week of my finished girl (with body!!!!).
Below are the first lot of preliminary sketches I did in week one.... lots more practice needed, but some very valuable lessons from Suzi in the classes....Lots of fun and proceed at your own pace. I like that.
Have a fun week.... I am going to practice, practice, practice these faces and finish off my bigger piece for next week to show you (this way I have to finish it AND I have to show it on my blog whether I am happy with it or not).

Take care.........

Jacky xox

Some Banners to share ....

Gails banner Hopes banner
My banner (colours of the sea)

Maria's banner (celestial) Patti G's banner (Lime green, turquoise, brown)

I have been busily stitching these past few weeks making these banners for swap in my Creative Chix yahoo group. Each person chose their colour, theme.... and then we set about making a banner especially for them. This first photos is a shot of the group of pennants (?) all together showing all the different colours etc.

The photos below are just a couple on their own to show you a bit more detail. I had lots of fun choosing fabrics, images, embellishments.

Banner below for Connie.

Banner for Debbi

This banner is for Sammy

Girls... I dont know what has happened to this post! These photos were supposed to be at the top and those at the top were meant to be below????

Hope you enjoy this topsy turvy post - I'm not getting along all that well with posting on blogger lately (and I am sure it is me !!!).

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend. I intend to do a bit of painting, stitching and some housework ( I think the housework was meant to come before the painting and stitching.... mmmm priorities!

Birdies and a woodland nymph...

Just wanted to share these pictures of some birdie projects I have been working on.


Problems with my blogger, so I hope the picture and text are in the right place!!!
This little green bird has been made for my dear friend Patti G. We are both in a fabric book round robin swap. Her template was this beautiful little birdie with a hidden pocket in the wings.

Inside the pocket I have made a little woodland nymph (or sprite as my friend Dot calls it). She hold a little twig with crystal dewdrops (thanks from Keron Lee) and a lovely little gold heart.

This photo is of the other side of the bird. I have used some of the seven gypsies gaffer tape for the wording... love that stuff! The fabrics used are from the Tina Givens range.... I love them too!

This photo is one of my Funky Bird quilties that I made for my friend Elizabeth (from my Creative Chix yahoo group) to celebrate her birthday. Her package has now arrived so I can safely put the pic. on my blog. We have a Secret Sister Birthday Swap within the group and you send your person a shoe box size package with goodies. Must include one handmade item .... lovely surprise on the day!!!

Now.... I am going to post this, so here's hoping that the pictures appear (instead of all the gobbeldy gook I can see) and this everything is where it should be.

Enjoy the rest of your week!