Ripped and Stitched Collage

I love mailing my art to 

Stampington...

it takes months for it to come back to me

and when it does..

it is like greeting an old friend..

Mixed media detail on paper, Caterina Giglio

I just sent in my summer submission

think fabric quilts, tiny flowers and collage on fabric

warm and cheery...

harder to do when the weather is chill..

even here in the sunshine state...

Stitching up the Sky,  6 x 6 on 9 x 12 watercolor paper

there is something so satisfying about ripping up old papers...

repurposing them...

and giving them a home...

Are the Stars Out Tonight? Caterina Giglio, Mixed media on paper 6 x 6

taking something mundane 

and meant for a trash heap

and creating a piece of art with with it...

Ruffled Edges, Caterina Giglio,  6 x 6 on 9 x 12 watercolor paper 

it elevates it and all the different pieces of paper

sing together in completely new song...

Detail of Ruffled Edges, Caterina Giglio

inside the layers are songs and poems and stories

of friendship and love 

of loss and longing...

betrayal and darkness...

Solstice Stars, Caterina Giglio

but above all there is 

always the 

light

shining down...

December 2014 issue of Sew Somerset

and one only

needs

to see to find it...

I am going to keep the cover piece and have it framed, 

but the other three pieces will be headed for my online shop, 

which will be going through some big changes this year..

so stay tuned...

C4N!

ruffled edges

when we have a permanent home..

dear reader..

there will be 

organization in the studio...

there will be filing cabinets..

where images and photo copies will live...

and plastic boxes with labels on the side that read... HANDMADE PAPER,

ANTIQUE IMAGES  and PATTERNS AND MARKS...

but for now

I contend with a couple of small boxes and the bricolage on

my table to use for collage...

Are the Stars out Tonight?  6 x 6 on 11 x 14 Bristol Board

you know I cannot keep my hands out of the paper stash...

and it seems away from the thread... and needle...

why not stitch up the tears in the paper with a little thread?

I have been using a couple of old books

imagining who read those books and what thoughts they had

while reading...

as I place the papers and use archival glue, I hope that my work

lasts as long... as the books with marginal notes and

and dog eared pages...

Stitching up the Sky, 6 x 6 on 11 x 14 Bristol board

I am in love with Bristol board again...

not that I don't love Khadi paper, I do.. but Bristol will really take a beating..

and only curls slightly...

a definite plus when working with different media..

I have also been experimenting with ironing 

work to make it lie flat...

Ruffled Edges, 6 x 6 on 11x 14 Bristol Board

warm and steamy has the best effect...

between cloth of course..

Martha M. Wood  owned this book ... the works of Coleridge

it was a gift from James.. in 1895..

we are so connected to the book, to the paper, to the stories, to the relationships...

our lives are made of papers..

and as I ponder them, I put the stories of my life 

onto paper, and stitch the sky together again...

and wonder if it is possible to feel even more love than I do...

I am also working on my journal pages...

stitching more stories together and hope to have them for you on Friday..

but we will see...

anything can happen in the studio..

ciao!

january pages

finally!!

caught up with my

art journal pages

it is nice to be

on top of things again...

until the next deadline of course...

 the woman who cried flowers

have you ever noticed that sorrows

can turn into joys when given enough

time to heal

and mend?

I was thinking this month about a relationship

that has completely transformed in the last two months...

and how delighted I am to 

be a part of that change...

I used antique book pages

and cut out petal pieces and realized that they were

tears...

as well...

funny how that works...

or raindrops...

I have been drawing more lately...

and painting on book pages

ingredients: Acrylic paint, pen, colored pencil, PVA, thread, paper ephemera 

tissue paper, workable fixative, fine pumice gel.

I found that if I used my brush dipped in PVA and water, it worked the colored pencil like watercolor

I am taking another blog break,

because we are headed to Florida...

so I will bring you along with...

some of you may need sunshine too...

I want to thank you all for your kind remarks

about balance...

certainly something that many of us

consider a work in progress...

grazie,

grazie!

be back in a couple of weeks...

xo