A Pitiful Offering

I'm laughing at my pitiful little offering for the week, but at least I'm keeping my promise to myself to post at least one creative bit a week. I saw some fun little 1960's looking crocheted flowers and thought I might try to follow a crochet pattern for a change. I've done plenty of freeform crochet in making my baskets, but I have a long way to go to learn to crochet. The flowers, when done correctly, make a charming little scarf.

My art group, Portland Art Collective, celebrated its 5th anniversary this week. We all celebrated the fact that the same group of 25 women has been together for 5 years and have really become a family. I've gotten so much inspiration from this group of artists that I thought I'd share some of my favorite bits from them. These are a few who keep regular art blogs. Most are mixed media artists and have a wide variety of wonderful things on their blogs. Just a few of my favorites:

Paula works in cheerful colors and does wonderful felted bits, stenciling and journals. I love the Visual Calendars she keeps regularly.

Tory does everything but usually leans towards metal and found object work. Look at these fabulous charms she made recently.

Suzanne does colorful fabric pieces, recently with recycled linens, and jewelry. One of my favorite necklaces.

Leigh is keeping a fun blog where she has challenged herself to do a sketch a day. It's great to watch someone progress over the year. Love these boots!

Z'Anne does intricate bead work. She is doing a monthly bead journal challenge that is very interesting to follow.

And Jan does photography and artwork that is usually nature inspired like this wonderful little painting.

I am heading to Calif. tomorrow for the week. I will be visiting my friend Cindy who puts on great art retreats. Just staying at her house is a mini-art retreat in itself as we get to play in her fully stocked studio. Then it's on to visit my parents.