Finally happy with the collage

 

I'm finally getting results I like for my collage that I'm entering into the "Dreams of the Land" challenge. I guess the third time really is a charm! (Read about my first two attempts here: having-trouble-with-collage.html)

This time I was very deliberate and thought about each step for awhile before carrying it out. I still might add a few more touches, and I'm definitely adding a border. But instead of quilting it I'm going to stretch it over a 16x20 frame.

We have to use at least three techniques for the challenge, so I've used painting, stamping, hand stitching, beading, colored pencils, photography (the hiker), and embellishment (the button face and feather).

Today I stamped a few gold spirals after deciding that the bottom needed something more. But I wanted them to be subtle, so I didn't completely cover the stamp with paint.

Then I added gold touches to some of my painted scraps, because you never know when you'll need glitzy fabric! You can apply the gold paint with a sponge ...

... or drag an old credit card or some other stiff card through the paint ...

... or use a styrofoam food tray to stamp subtle dots ...

... or use bubble wrap for bigger dots. You can get bolder dots by using an opaque paint and coating the bubble wrap with a thicker layer.

Here are some other scraps I played with.

My painting space is a mess, but I'm just going to leave everything out for the summer and pretend I'm at an art retreat. And I don't care that this is just inside my front door and is the first thing visitors see.

Have a colorful day

Summer memories

Summer is here!

Today's Summer Solstice marking the first official day of summer (and 108 degrees in Tucson) has me thinking about my childhood summers in a suburb of Pittsburgh. I don't have a lot of photos from back then, but here are a few.

 

With my brother in a pool we've obviously outgrown.

A picture I took of my younger brother and sisters cooling off with the hose. They're not smiling, so I think Kevin just got yelled at for blasting Terry.

Elementary school summers: free swimming lessons at the county pool, riding bikes, roller skating on our steep streets, exploring the woods and climbing trees, chasing fireflies, toasting marshmallows over our grill, playing tag and hide and seek after dark, running through yard sprinklers, no AC. 

My great aunt and uncle's cottage on their childhood farm, which we visited for a week or so each summer. They were brother and sister, neither one married, and lived in their family house in town but visited the farm in the summer. There was no running water, so we used an outhouse and hauled water from a cold spring. We helped my uncle pick fresh corn and beans, swung in the hammock, fished in the creek. I loved it! I was about 11 when I took this photo.

Junior high summers: walking through the huge county park (South Park) near my house with friends and waving to drivers to see how many would wave back, spending all day at the county pool and coming home with red eyes from the chlorine, playing board and card games on Patty's screened in porch, checking out summer reads at our tiny township library, baby sitting for a little cash. 

 

Me at a yearbook editors conference, summer of '72.

High school summers: working at Murphymart for more serious cash, yearbook meetings (I was the editor my senior year), drill team practice, dating, squeezing in time at the pool between working and school activities.

Sounds and scents: the sounds of water splashing, yard sprinklers, songs on transistor radios, crickets chirping, the scent of Coppertone suntan lotion, chlorine and freshly mowed grass.

What are some of your favorite memories? I'd love to see them in the comments!

How my Wisconsin grand dogs spend their summers:

Have a colorful day

Having trouble with a collage

The gallery where I sell my spirit dolls is having a mixed media show this year with the theme "Dreams of the Land." I love the theme, and my first thought was to do a collage using painted and stamped fabric, photo transfers and embroidery and beading. I would have a hiker gazing out over the desert whose sky was filled with petroglyph figures of past desert dwellers.

I got off to a good start with some fabric from my painted stash and a photo transfer of myself in my hiking gear gazing into the distance ...

... which I filled with stamped petroglyph figures and spirals using transparent and metallic fabric paints. 

I should have stopped there, but I thought it looked unfinished so I outlined each figure with a blue Pigma pen for more definition.

I still thought it looked unfinished, so I pulled out my Derwent watercolor pencils, which I probably haven't used in 10 years. It's been so long that I had to watch some Youtube tutorials on how to use them and activate them with water.

After I colored in each figure, I went over it with a brush dipped in water to make the colors bloom and become permanent.

I loved the effect of layering and blending different colors and had a lot of fun with it!

I let some of them fade into the background to add to the dreamy quality of the piece. Not outlining them with the Pigma pen would've made it even dreamier.

Then I fused the photocopy of myself onto the fabric and embroidered around it with a dusky purple wool thread. (I didn't have any good photos of a sitting hiker from the back, and it was too hot to take photos outside, so I took this sitting on my living room ottoman with a timer.)

I added the circular photograph of the desert to cover up an orange spiral that I had outlined with a gold marker that made the spiral too overpowering. I love the individual parts of the collage, but I don't love the final outcome. 

I think it's one hot mess!

So I put my hiker on another piece of painted fabric. Then I noticed a female figure formed by the painted lines and embroidered over her outline, thinking that would make it a "dreamy" collage. 

I had mixed feelings about the embroidered figure, but I went ahead and free-motion quilted the background, following the patterns made by the paint.

And it was another dud! 

I thought the embroidered figure looked hokey and not very good. But I like the colors, so I'll cut it up and make spirit dolls with it.

So, I'm starting a third one.  Here are my paints and stamps and I've printed some more photos on fabric (another technique I hadn't used in many years). Mercifully, these are small pieces, about 18 inches square, so I haven't wasted much fabric. I'm considering it a learning experience, although I do have the nagging feeling that I'm losing my touch.

Have a colorful day

Earth spirit dolls

I just finished two "Earth" spirit dolls to take up to the gallery, but if anyone wants to buy them directly from me they're $35 (including shipping). Just email me: sherriequilt@yahoo.com. They're about 14 inches tall with a hanging loop on back.

 

Here are the pieces. I used fabric that I painted and stamped awhile ago (maybe years ago!) and sticks, yarn and feathers, a big button and beady eyes.

I don't remember what the long shards of stone on the necklace are because I bought them so long ago.  Does anyone know what they might be?

Both dolls are painted in an earthy evergreen with touches of gold. These are darker colors than I normally use, but I like how warm they look, almost like a deep forest in summer or early fall when some leaves are just turning orange and sunlight glints through the tree canopy.

This came across my Instagram a few days ago, and it's exactly what I did! I bought a house in Tucson, found my people (it took awhile because it was during Covid) and watch the sunsets! I caught the one below from my front patio -- with the crescent moon high above. I'll never get tired of those Arizona sunsets.

Have a colorful day

Birds with my morning coffee

The birds are having a feast on the tall stalks that my yuccas sent up over the past month. I took these pictures while sipping my morning coffee in the front courtyard. 

The stalks are also quite striking against the sunset.

This stunning golden breasted bird is a hooded oriole. I had to get my birding friend, Sandy, to identify it.

 

I don't know what these birds are, above. Do any of you know?

But I do know hummingbirds, and we get a lot of them here all year. This little guy wasn't intimidated by my flip flop propped on the water fountain. He took his time getting a long drink.

Then he buzzed up to fight off an intruder ...

... and stayed up there until it was gone.

This cluster of birds was in the tree across the street. It's a favorite spot of birds at sunset.

Doves are everywhere here, and it seems like there's always one on my roof and my neighbors' roofs. That's the big prickly pear cactus on the corner of my house, reaching up to the roof.

Here's another type of bird: the splashy Mexican bird of paradise plant. This one is in my neighbor's yard, but they thrive all over town in the summer heat.

This last photo has nothing to do with birds, but I wanted to show you my two granddogs from Wisconsin! They were rescued at different times but they look identical, except for their sizes. Cute cute cute! And they are very pampered dogs, as you can see by their raised sunbathing mat. Their pool will be set up soon.

Have a colorful day