Merry Christmas!

I'm away from the computer for a while to spend some time with my family. May you all have a holiday season full of joy and peace!

Rejuvenation

I'm heading to the coast for a little rejuvenation and quiet time with my family this week. I'm taking along these journal prompts. They post a new one every day this month and have some really great topics for contemplating both the past year and the upcoming one. Thanks Maggie for pointing me to those.

I'm looking forward to catching up on blog reading when I return.

A Happy Blur

We spend so much time getting ready for the show, then it all seems to be over in an instant, sort of like Thanksgiving dinner. But it is such a happy event that it all feels worthwhile, and it just seems to get better every year. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and support the show!

I am always busy until the very last moment setting up my booth, so I have only a smattering of decent pictures to show. You can see all the artist's work over on the Portland Art Collective blog.

Here's my booth this year:

I was planning on just having these little silver and white trees bare for props, but my son told me they didn't look right. At the last minute I decided to add my baubles that I'm planning on using for a bigger project. I was really happy I did. I sold quite a few of them, and I now have a reason to sit and make a lot more.

One of the centerpieces of our show is our dangly tree at the entrance. Many artists make small ornaments and we display them all together for a very dramatic entrance.

And just a sampling of some of the wonderful art.

Lorraine Jones' zen-like hangings which start with the wooden slats from old barrels:

Tammy Vail's hand-dyed tassels.

Dayna Collin's Fearless Faces:

Darlene Veltman's wacky stuffed figures and wall quilt:

Lenall Siebenaler's bright, whimsical paintings.

Paula McNamee's flooded metal, key pendants.

Stephanie Brockway's carved and found wood sculptures.

Tory Brokenshire's found object sculptures:

I apologize for all the wonderful pieces that I didn't get pictures of, but then it would be impossible to capture it all.

I stepped outside on break one evening just in time to catch the sunset in the windows. A spectacular ending to a glorious weekend.

Few More Things

Here are a few more things I've been working on for the show.

I started these little pillows quite a while ago back here without any direction in mind. They formed into funky little wall hangings. I hung one of these in my kitchen to see how long it takes my two teenage boys to realize that it doesn't really work.

And I've been doing more of my "Delicate Soul" series and enjoying every minute of them.

Now just a few last minute details and I'm all ready for the show. It's always a great weekend of hanging out with art friends in a very festive environment, and I will be very thankful when Sunday arrives and it's all over.

The Art of Repetition

As I'm busily producing lots and lots of the same items for our show next week, I'm realizing that I actually enjoy repetition. There's something quite relaxing about having a prototype and then repeating it, as long as I can keep playing with color and texture changes.

And I'm finding it's allowing time to let new ideas germinate while my hands are busy. I started a list of After Show Projects, which are probably especially appealing because I can't divert and do any of them right now. Maybe once I have time for them, they won't sound so good after all.

I've been working on a set of larger owls. These ones are about 8" tall.

And a parliament, which I recently learned is the word for a group of owls--how perfect is that?

I like this larger size because it allows even more room to play with layers of texture and color:

They look giant against the small ones, but it's mainly camera angle. The small owls are 4".

This week I received this fabulous little owl from Jacky. I am so thrilled with it! Jacky's owls were one of my inspirations, and I had been coveting one since I first saw them. Not only did I get this sweet little, meticulously stitched beauty, but also a very generous packet of goodies along with it. Thank you Jacky!

I almost forgot to post this wonderful giveaway from Jan Harris this month. Jan is giving away this beautiful coptic stitch journal. I love to work in coptic stitch books because the pages lie perfectly flat, but I never have the patience to make one. Hurry on over to Portland Art Collective blog and leave a comment to enter the giveaway.

Stitching at the Coast

I'm on a mad dash attending to the zillion little details for our show in less than 2 weeks, but not so busy that I couldn't escape to the coast last week.

My friend, Cindy, was visiting from CA, so we headed to one of our favorite places--Neskowin on the Oregon coast.

I haven't been there in winter and was thrilled to see how dramatic the skies and waves were. We spent most of the week staring out the window and watching the changes as storms passed through:

Unfortunately, the Oregon coast is too dangerous for beach walking in winter, so I had to head inland, which wasn't such a bad thing.

Lots of beauty there:

Magic mushrooms sprouting everywhere:

And it was perfect weather for sitting inside, talking and stitching. Cindy was working on these confections:

And I was very happy working on my pile of baubles:

I would love to get them put into a large piece for the show, but not sure if that will happen. Maybe I just have a very good start on next year's show.

We rounded out our week with lots of good food, antique shops and estate sales and were two very happy girls. (Cindy's the cute blond and I'm the not-too-much-brunette-left.)

Delicate Souls

I have been busily finishing up pieces for our Dec. show. I decided to take some of my favorite faces from my 2 weeks of face experiments starting here, and turn them into finished pieces. I'm calling this my "Delicate Soul" series since they all feel very gentle to me. I've been framing them in fragile fabrics full of soft frays and giving them just a line of text as it comes to me while I'm working on them.

I'm thrilled with the hanging device I came up with. I stitch a clear straw on the back and thread a string through it for hanging. It keeps the piece feather weight yet gives it support at the top. You can barely see it here, which is why I'm so happy with it.

If you are interested in art journaling, Paula has a very fun art journaling zine giveaway over here.

Color Inspiration

I can't leave Mexico behind without a final burst of color. It's everywhere!

The doors:

Mosaics:
Chandeliers:
Flowers in store windows:
And on the streets:
Color to eat:
And to drink:
Color Parades:
And their aftermath:
So what did I work on the whole time I was there? These white-on-white bits! These are approximately 2" baubles for a large project I have in mind. I want to do one in color, but it always feels easier to start with a white-on-white version to get my bearings and focus on design instead of color. And it's much easier to grab a small bag of whites for travel.
But as soon as I got home, I decided I needed to jump into color again.
More on these soon.