Textured Surfaces

I've been painting some of my textured surfaces today. The top one is molding paste with cheesecloth embedded into it, and the bottom one is molding paste that I combed through (in both directions). I have another one that isn't dry, and still another one that is quite ugly at this point - I hope I'll be able to save it, but I'm not at all sure about that.

I'm quite enamored with the molding paste - it's a really fun product. And you're supposed to be able to sew into it too, although I haven't tried that yet. But the pieces are flexible, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to. Probably not until the next lesson, however.

Textured Surfaces

click on picture to see it larger

This isn't finished yet, but I wanted to post my progress so far, because I've just been introduced to the coolest new product. Well, it isn't actually new, it's just new to me, but still . . .

It's Modeling Paste (or Molding Paste, depending on what brand you buy). It is for adding texture to surfaces. I put gesso onto chipboard. When it was dry, I added modeling paste. While it was wet, I put cheesecloth into the upper right corner and combed through the lower left corner. After it dried, I stenciled into the center with more modeling paste. Then when that dried, I tried to paint the whole thing. I used Golden's Fluid Acrylics mixed with Glazing Liquid, and I had trouble getting it into the cracks and crevices.

I'm taking (another) online class; this one is Textured Surfaces. I've had my first lesson so far, where we've learned to create LOTS of texture. The second lesson will be about coloring the texture we created in lesson one. But being the impatient person that I am, I tried adding color to this already. It's not bad (I actually really like the color combination) - I just want to get all of the white modeling paste colored. So I guess I'll have to be patient (as difficult as that is for me) and wait for lesson two.

This is going to be a cover for a journal that I'll bind with my Bind-it-all. I've already punched the inside pages.

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Another story about ancient Egypt. Told by Nefertiti's sister, Mutnodjmet. Nefertiti marries Amunhotep, who may have killed his brother in order to become Pharaoh. Amunhotep's mother hopes Nefertiti will stabilize him, but Nefertiti is ambitious as well. There is much intrigue at court, and all Mutny wants is a quiet life away from court with her garden. At the end, I really couldn't put it down. I rate it 4 out of 5.

Goodbye Lucky

Lucky came to us in January of 1993 as a young adult cat, about 2 years old. He'd been dumped by his previous owner, and he was starving. I wanted a cat, so I fed him. I never saw a cat eat so much so fast - and after that he was ours. He started out as an outside cat, but after our dog nearly killed him (which is why he was missing an ear), we moved him inside. That turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, both to him and to us. We'll miss you Lucky!

Lucky

This really isn't finished - I need to do something with the background and put some words on the page - but it's another drawing of my cat.

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Very interesting book. Obama writes about what it was like growing up as a mixed race child in Hawaii - his confusion over who he was and where he fit in. Even though he was raised by a white mother and white grandparents, he always identified himself as black.

From the Epilogue:

"The study of law can be disappointing at times, a matter of applying narrow rules and arcane procedure to an uncooperative reality; a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power -- and that all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition.

"But that's not all the law is. The law is also memory; the law also records a long-running conversation, a nation arguing with its conscience."

I rate this book 3 out of 5.

Happy Anniversary Brian and Jessica

I made this card for my son and daughter-in-law's anniversary. The only catch was that I was late with it (their anniversary was May 22; I mailed the card on the 27th - I hope they got it by the 30th at the latest).

I colored the stamp with watercolor crayons, misted with water, and stamped onto watercolor paper. I tore the image and then used distress inks to color the background. Then I layered it with some patterned papers onto the card.

Lucky

I've been wanting to do another drawing of my cat for awhile now, and I finally decided I needed to do it today. You see, he isn't doing well at all, and I'm afraid we're going to have to put him down sometime in the next week or two. He's 18 years old or so, and he seems to be shutting down. He was sleeping this morning and I got started on it then, and finished coloring it tonight. I know I didn't get the shape of the face quite right - but he had his head turned at a funny angle, so it's actually not too far off (even though it looks funny).

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Edgar Sawtelle is born mute and can only communicate with sign language. His parents, Gar and Trudy, breed and train dogs. Gar's brother Claude comes to live with the family for a time, but old hostilities between Gar and Claude drive Claude away. Edgar's life seems ideal until Gar dies suddenly. Claude returns to help out when Trudy is too ill to work. Edgar becomes convinced that Claude had something to do with Gar's death. It is very well written and I rate it 4 out of 5.

On the Prowl

I finished this today - I thought it was finished yesterday until I realized I hadn't put the whiskers on. But now it really is finished and hanging in my entry way. It is from a pattern by Toni Whitney and published by Bigfork Bay Cotton Company.

Wordle

Anne, of Gaal Creative, reminded me of how cool the Wordle site is.
Go here to create your own.

Tennessee Trip 2009

I finally finished the journal pages that I kept on our trip last month to visit friends in Tennessee. I had the whole thing done except for coloring in the turkey a few days after we got home; I finally decided I needed to do that today, so here it is.

I laid out the grid on day 2 of our trip, so it was a challenge on some days filling the boxes. But I made it work.

Book Rating System

I have decided I need to simplify my rating system for books, and so I am going to use the same scale that is used on Netflix:

5 - Loved it
4 - Really liked it
3 - Liked it
2 - Didn't like it
1 - Hated it

No more .5's added either. I've revised my ratings to reflect this new scale.

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell

I was going through my book journal this morning, comparing entries to my blog entries, and discovered that I forgot to post a review of a book I read last October. What is really funny about that is that I had forgotten to post a review of the sequel to that book until a month or two late; but I didn't notice then that I had never posted the review of the first book.

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn shows a very different Anne Boleyn than The Other Boleyn Girl. Both books are works of fiction.

Anne kept a secret diary that is given to Elizabeth shortly after Elizabeth becomes queen. The diary shows Anne's "fierce determination, her hard-won knowledge about being a woman in a world ruled by despotic men, and her deep-seated love for the infant daughter taken from her shortly after her birth." She was a much more sympathetic character than in The Other Boleyn Girl, where she was much more scheming and calculating. I enjoyed both books; both were well written. I rated this book 4 out of 5.

The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner

This book follows Peter and Rosemary Grant, who have spent 20 years studying finches on the Galapagos archipelago. This book was the current selection for my book club, and I was afraid I would find it boring, but it was really very interesting. It talked about many examples of evolution that are occurring right now, in an understandable way for non-scientists. Anyone who doesn't think that evolution is a fact should read this book. I rate this book 3 out of 5.

Newest Face Quilt

I've been working on this little quilt off and on for a week or two. I finished it this morning. The face and the flower are my designs; the cat is a Darcy Ashton pattern from her book Claire's Cats Volume II. I wish the cat showed up better from the background. As always, if you click on the picture, you can see it bigger.

The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History by Joseph M. Marshall III

We listened to this audio book on our trip to and from Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. It is the story of Crazy Horse written by a Lakota Indian and read by the author. Since history is usually written by the winners, this was a fascinating look at a man and a culture from the inside - not the history we learned in school. I highly recommend it.

The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

Ambrose Zephyr, at age 50 or so, is told he has a month to live, more or less, and so he and his wife, Zipper Ashkenazi, take off on a tour of places that he has always wanted to visit or places he has always loved, from A to Z. It is a beautifully told sad story of love and life and death. I rate this book 5 out of 5.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Fifteen year old Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home from school one day and is helped home by Hannah, a woman twice his age. Michael and Hannah become lovers, then Hannah disappears. Michael sees Hannah again several years later when she is on trial for Nazi war crimes. Much of the narrative is Michael's thoughts and feelings about Hannah, his relationship with her, and his feelings about Germany's actions during WWII. I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

This is book four of the Thursday Next series. While it was enjoyable, I didn't think it was as good as the earlier books. After spending 2 years as Head of Jurisfiction, Thursday decides to return to the real world to get her husband back. I rate this book 3 out of 5.

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan

Book 3 for my World War II Reading Challenge, and April's selection for my book club. Louis Belk, a soldier who has recently completed a bomb disposal course, is sent to Alaska on a secret mission: the Japanese are making bombs and sending them out in balloons, hoping that they will reach the US and explode here. I had never heard of these balloon bombs before; maybe because the news media cooperated with the US government in a policy of silence in order to reduce the chance of panic among Americans and to deny the Japanese information about the success or failure of their program. The story is told by Belk, who after the war becomes a priest and returns to Alaska. The story goes back and forth between past and present. This seems to be a very popular way of telling a story these days; several of the books I've read recently have used this method. It was quite effective for this story. I rate this book 4 out of 5.

Migraine Journal Page

I had a particularly bad migraine episode Thursday night; this is my response to it. I started it Friday and finished it today.

Spring???

My latest journal page, done yesterday during the snow storm.

Zentangles

For the first two Zentangles I did, I doodled a random shape, and then divided it up into sections and made patterns in each section.





After that, I traced a CD and divided the circle up. I'm not sure why I never thought to just fill the whole page. You could also leave a space for writing in. I did most of these while we visited our son and daughter-in-law. I'm SO glad we traveled when we did - our whether was perfect. Tonight, on the other hand, it is sleeting!













Anyway, these were fun to do, and really not as hard as they look. You just do one section at a time, and there isn't any right or wrong. You just put patterns into the sections.

Shades of Grey

I'm taking another online class (I know, I'm addicted to online classes, but they're so fun and I learn so much from them). This one is called Shades of Grey, and it's being taught by Pam Carriker. You can see a description of it here (scroll down a bit - it's the third class listed).

If you've read my blog for very long, you'll know that I've been interested in art journaling for over a year, trying several different ways of doing it, not completely happy with any of them. Well, I think I've finally found a way that I really like. What appeals to me so much about this is that it combines doodling with lettering, and I love both. The first journaling I did involved drawing actual objects, which I'm not all that good at. I know enough to know that drawing is a skill that can be learned, and I could learn it if I devoted enough time to it. The problem is, I'd rather quilt than learn to draw.

I've tried other forms of journaling too; mainly painting and collage. The painting is fun, but not exactly portable. Plus it's messy and it takes up space on our dining room table. My DH doesn't complain, but still . . . And somehow, collage just doesn't seem very meaningful to me. I save things, thinking I'll put them in my journal, and I usually don't.

But recently I started playing around with Zentangles, which you can see here (I'll post some pictures of the ones I've done when I have a chance). I really like doing them, and I figured out what it is I like - it's just pattern, and you can do any pattern you want. You aren't trying to make it look like anything - it's just decorative. So this journaling that Pam is teaching in her Shades of Grey class is similar, with the addition of lettering. It can be words you write yourself, like about the day you've had or your feelings or whatever you want to say. Or it can be a quote, or words from a song or a poem, or whatever. I also happen to love quotes, so this seems perfect for me.

And here is my first original page (I did another page first, but I basically copied one of Pam's pages with a few minor changes of my own):



I really like the way it turned out. We're using Pitt Artist Brush pens in shades of grey for this class, but I will probably add color to some of my pages too. And I'm using a Moleskine Sketchbook, which is great. I may also make my own books in the future, since I have the Bind-It-All.

As always, you can click on the page to see it larger.

Second Finished Face Quilt

This quilt is only 6 X 6, while my last one was 12 X 12. Making the face that much smaller made it much harder, in my opinion. So I don't think I'll be making any more faces this small. But I think she turned out ok. The flowers are silk flowers stitched in the centers, and the edges are satin stitched. I'm having a lot of fun learning to paint faces! It's amazing how different each one is. The 12 X 12 quilt in the last post was made for a swap, and this one is a small gift to the swap hostess. Hope she likes it!

Beppe

We didn't take many photos of our trip to Minneapolis to see our son and daughter-in-law, but I did take this one of their cat, Beppe. Sorry I didn't move the cords out of the way before I snapped the shot.

Finished!

She's finished. She is for a swap hosted by Lenna Andrews of Creative Swaps. I added eyelashes, darkened the outer edges of her irises, and fixed the mouth to make it more even on both sides. I finished the edges a little differently on this - I couched a piece of yarn to the top edge, and then I painted the side edge. I also rounded the corners a bit to make the couching easier. I'm already working on my next one - I can see that this may become addictive!

Faces on Fabric

We got our lesson for painting our face today, and I worked on mine right away. The white highlights you see in the photo are not as bright in the quilt as they are in the photo. I'm really happy with how this turned out. I HIGHLY recommend this class by Terri Stegmiller if you have any interest in learning to paint faces on fabric - Terri is an excellent teacher. We still have one more lesson on finishing techniques, but I've made enough quilts that I may go ahead and finish mine this week.

When Wanderers Cease To Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put by Vivian Swift

I finished this book a couple of days ago. It is a beautiful journal with watercolor sketches all through the book. After spending many years traveling all over the world, the author decided to stop traveling and put down roots. This book is her journal of the next ten years. There is a chapter for each month of the year, with her sketches and thoughts, in her own handwriting. For a much more detailed review of the book, see Jessica Wesolek's review here.