Everyday Book Spread

This is my final piece for the Everyday Book RR that's been running on my Yahoo group all year. The theme this time was autumnal/family. Inspired by the recent 1" collage swap I hosted I decided to use more of the little cuties for my spread. The collages are quite simple, just appropriate words and pictures, but I really enjoyed making them and found it quite therapeutic. :o)

Assemblage

I've made this little shrine/assemblage piece for my friend, Jill, who's moving home tomorrow. She's offline while preparing for the move so I feel safe in posting this pic! The scan isn't very good (I must get to grips with photographing my work instead) as the light has bounced off the back and it doesn't show the verdigris/rust colours very well! Anyway, it's an old madeline tin with a key and rusty washers wired onto it. I do so love working with knackered metal stuff! LOL The wording at the bottom says "I am home" and is stamped on aluminium tape and then blacked up with gesso. I wanted to convey my message with a simple piece and I hope that's just what I've done!

Decos

These are the decos I've been working on which will be winging their way to Switzerland this afternoon. :o)

First up we have a deco where each spread has to incorporate a transparency. Whilst rummaging about looking for something to use I came across some old slides of Venice so went with that as my theme. It was a bit of a pfaff cutting the holes, not being the most accurate soul in the world, but it worked out fine. ;o)

Second, we have a deco entitled Golden Dreams. The text doesn't show very well on this scan but it says "golden slumbers kiss your eyes".

Next is a body parts themed deco. This pic doesn't really show the colours very well, in the light you can see the golds and reds over the black gesso
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And last is my fave, a winter wonderland themed deco. I wasn't at all inspired by this one until I found the text and then it all just came together as these things do! ;o) I'm a sucker for beaded trim so that's probably why it's my favourite!


Ok, that's enough deco talk for one day!

Chunky Book Page

This is my effort for a Christmas recipe themed chunky book. Although my recipe isn't exactly Christmassy, it is one I make for special occasions as it's dead easy and totally delicious. :o) Yellow isn't a colour I work with alot (I had to beg fibres as I have so little yellow stuff!) but I thought it would be nice to use it as a step away from traditional red/green for Christmas. Probably means it'll stick out like a sore thumb but hey, who wants to fit in?? LOL DH brought the metal banana shapes home from work, they're stainless steel though so I used alcohol inks to make them a more bananaesque colour. :o)

Mini Collages

These are my batch of 1" square mini collages for the swap I'm hosting on my Yahoo group. I spent a very pleasant time with my friend, Becky, today making these. :o) There's nothing like good company and someone else's supplies within arm's reach! LOL

Altered Tin & Book

I've been working on a swap piece for a challenge on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. The idea of the challenge was to create a piece of artwork inspired by this quote:

There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, an emotional, a mental, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.
Rumer Godden

I decided to alter a house shaped tin I had and make an altered book to go inside it. I sanded the tin and then gessoed it before stamping randomly all over it. I then added the border around the bottom and fiddled about with gold foil around the edges of the shapes. On the lid I stamped the four "rooms" along the edges and wireded embellishments through the four holes that DH drilled for me. ;o) Each embellishment represents one of the "rooms" - spiritual - feather, mental - spiral, physical - body and emotional - heart. The chunky board board book that I altered is more of the same (gesso, stamping and gold foil), with hand written quotes for each "room". The book sits in white net inside the tin.

Here's a few pics but there's more on my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/58739721@N00/

Another sketch!

I went to London this weekend to see a show for a friend's birthday and we stayed over in a hotel. I was lying in bed, wide awake, while my two friends slept peacefully, pondering the painting reflected in the mirror opposite and decided that since I wasn't sleeping I might as well use my time wisely and propped myself up on the pillows and drew the view! Here's the end result! It all went a bit pear shaped as I wrestled with defective perspective and trying to put shadows in but it filled a wee bit of what turned out to be a loooong pretty sleepless night!!