circles

so in the middle of painting water...

dear reader..

I stopped for a break to make onion papers...

and sat down with a cuppa 

to peruse an old French book...

and before I knew it

I had tiny scissors in my hand and I began cutting circles...

that ended up in

some new pieces in

the French Paper Series 

I used watercolor papers...

as my substrate

pencil, pastel, and vintage and antique ephemera

and I will be putting them in the shop..

and speaking of the shop

check it out here

Dolce Shop

I have cleaned it up

retired several pieces and

created room for 

commissioned portraits...

what's up with all the circles?

he asked...

hhmmm..

I could tell him that they represent the eternality of life...

the wedding ring is the symbol of connection.. linking us together..

of the ripples that start in the middle of the lake and fan out until they touch all sides..

or how the circle is represented by the seasons of the year.. cyclical

the phases of the moon ...

or the sun that must be up there somewhere...

I think of the circle as a power symbol that

is locked inside our very dna..

but I wasn't THINKING when I sat down and began cutting...

I was just playing..

so instead... 

I think I will just say

that cuticle scissors cut the best circles...

and aren't they cool?

C4N..

waterside abstracts

it is so nice to report

that

 painting again.. 

has been like a breath of fresh air..

I have a renewed sense of energy in the studio...

I am loving being in the flow... pun intended..

Waterside -Caribbean 9 x 12 watercolor paper 

and I have a treasure trove of personal photos

to use as inspiration..

in a variety of colors...

the one below made me break out the 

acrylics and I am working on a 

cradled board...

to be revealed soon...

some of the pieces are more stylized

as the caribbean pieces above and some are more impressionistic as

the piece below...

Waterside-Michigan.. mixed media on water color paper, 9 x 12 

what I noticed when I put it on my easel and walked to the other side of the room...

is that it LOOKS like water...

so ... gentle readers ... it is hard to peel me from the studio

another wip below with prismacolors, and nupastels..

what I love about them, is that they are both water soluble..

and what is not to love about products that play well together?

  

mixed media work in progress.. Grey Waters...

inspiration below, glittering like little diamonds on

the page...

it is funny...

because I hear that antique french book calling my name..

"tear my pages... use me"...

so 

book pages may be included soon...

you will have to visit to find out how I accomplish 

That!!

and as always, the finished products are going 

to the 

Dolce Shop...

have a lovely weekend

dearhearts...

C4N!

jardin collages

well, gentle readers...

I told you I would be back before I left on my 

spring vacation...

I put a couple of collage paintings 

in the shop and I thought

I would show them to you before I go... 

from my 

French Paper Series...

stitches... paint... texture...

and it looks like I will be learning how to 

charge taxes soon in the 

shop...

my, my, my...

perhaps paypal will make it easy..

we will just have to wait and see...

I loved making these

jardin pieces...

from an old botany book... and French note books, and bits of crumbling books..

 as a set...

we are off shortly to take a trip

home to Colorado...

I have missed everyone so much..

not quite a year since my last visit, but it feels like forever...

and then some fun in Vegas

I promise to take my camera...

who knows what I will find in Vegas...

hope you are having a beautiful spring/fall

wherever you may be...

xo

april pages and mini concertina...

finally dear readers,

the color green has returned...

and 

I am feeling it in my soul...

makes me want to paint with the windows wide open...

so my april pages are not difficult to understand...

I did a lot of writing though... so much going on and lots of travel plans coming up...

this little piece of Victorian scrap

seemed a perfect piece to layer on the botany page... 

and I did a little stitching...

you can view my art journal pages from last April

Here

ingredients: gesso, acrylic paint, lumiere paint, antique paper ephemera, thread, pencil, glimmer mist, coloured pencil... 

and I finally finished that little 

mini concertina I had been talking about...

you can see it up close in the 

Dolce Shop

wherever you are I hope the weather is 

finally suiting you...

I am getting ready for a spring blog break...

but I will be back soon...

as always... Grazie for stopping

by the Sweet Life...

xo

the sewing book series and where my header came from

sewing...

is a big subject with me

I had two grandmothers that sewed...

but they were very different...

and that made me a different kind of sewer too...

you knew there would be a story didn't you?

in 2007

Stampington announced that they were going to begin a 

new publication called

Sew Somerset

and I knew that the altered catalogue 

I was working on would be 

something I would submit...

it was made from old sewing bits and bobs

my substrate was originally  a JJill catalog

and I made a cotton transfer that turned out perfectly...

it was from an old ad

in a sewing magazine

of a woman with a downcast gaze..

and in 

2009

when I started blogging

I realized that it was the perfect image

for my header

because it looked

just like

La Dolce Vita...

doesn't it?

I was delighted to have my work published

and although I had been published in Somerset Studio

and a few of their other publications

I felt like I was home

in Sew Somerset...

flash forward on the current

of time to 2013

when I found this lovely gem of a book

Lippincott's Home Manuals-Clothing For Women

written in 1924

and you will understand 

that those sewing issues are still being resolved...

and... 

my work has really changed...

The Sewing Book Series

Sommaire

Sommaire detail

Part 1

and something tells me

that there will be a 

part 2...

these are both in the 

Dolce Shop

in the studio I am working on

 small paper stitched concertina books with nature themes

and mini collages ...

can't wait to show those to you

and see what you are all up to..

soon...

C4N!