Color for a rainy day

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTA1NDkzMXwyNzIwMTg0MzM3/color-for-a-rainy-day

Some beautiful things for your home from some of my etsy favorites...I need some color on this cold and wet day.

cool magazine

This is the magazine that had the embroidery article. I read it today during my break.

embroidery and photography

My friend loaned me this art magazine called "Elephant", and it had an article about embroidery's role in contemporary art. So I'm not the only one : ) Found this amazing photographer/embroidery artist--Melissa Zexter. Amazing.

New Pillow

I got my new pack of fabrics from Umbrella Prints and started a new design today. I cut a new paper cut, and will use the fabrics in a similar fashion, but I think I will change the canvas colors, for more contrast. It's fun to have a couple of things going at once...

Stitching

Some close-ups of the stitching. I started out drawing the lines and then pre-poking the holes, but finally realized I can do it as I go. More fun that way and the lines are more spontaneous. This is going to take a while.

40

Today was my 40th birthday. I have been dreading it since my last birthday,  but somehow I made it through unscathed. The kids woke me up with fun little gifts, and then they went off to school and Craig and I spent the day together. We did a great yoga class today. I haven't done ashtanga in a while, so I was a little nervous. The teacher was great--I highly recommend Pure Prana in Old Town, Alexandria....Also went to The Kreeger Museum on Foxhall Rd., in DC. It was beautiful. This Braque painting was my favorite; so many different patterns, and a very interesting pallette. A great way to spend the day. Allison Krauss tomorrow.

New Work

Still waiting on the new scraps to come from Umbrella Prints in Australia. Today, I pulled out the papers I bought in Asheville last week and opened my sketchbook to a crayon drawing I did of a riverbed in Cherokee. I was frustrated with my inability to capture the actual colors to my liking, so I scrapped my first drawing, and went a little "fauve", and used contrasting bright colors, and just focused on the shapes. It was a fun drawing to make. I am recreating the drawing in paper, and plan to using thread stitching to highlight certain aspects, and add texture. The process is very similar to my fabric piecing process, which helps. It will be interesting to see how the stitching looks on the collage. Finished the paper piecing...thinking about metallic thread...