Findings #4

These are two different Florida epiphytes - one is Spanish moss, which is lush and beautiful right now. These were in Lake Seminole Park. Some curlicues still need to be stitched down, then I'll add the watercolor.

The Daily Creative Practice

In between my other projects while in Florida, I joined the Facebook group "The Daily Creative Practice." Lots of great images there. Here's the pair I submitted today.

The upper image is a photo I took of the surf edge. The other is its transformation by the app Paper Artist. It would make a great background for ...

The ... Practice goes only through December 31st. Take a look!

Findings #3

The whole page of stitched live oak leaves, with its watercolor ground.

And another gorgeous sea grape leaf, with very different colors from the first two I chose. Part of the leaf tore as it dried; I clipped it away with scissors.

Findings #2

 Leaves from a walk at Lake Seminole Park, with their watercolor and thread embellishments.

Some of the nine live oak leaves on one page. My mom asked me why I was sewing all these leaves onto my journal pages. I had to think about how to answer that. I realized there are three reasons.
1. I enjoy  looking closely at these lovely objects.
2. I love doing this kind of embroidery.
3. I want a daily practice and trust that it will lead me somewhere if I just keep doing it.

Findings #1

 Finds from my first beach walk of this Christmas trip to Madeira Beach, Florida. Two sea grape leaves, combined with embroidery threads and watercolors.

Luscious colors, yes?

Holiday Open Studio on Saturday

My chickadee drawing on organza, then over fabric and hand stitched. A little more to do on these. (Thanks for the idea, Valerie Komkov Hill in Quilting Arts!)

Mini collages turned into little hanging art works.



Also paper lanterns, little books, and cards. Selected art on sale.

See you on Saturday, December 13 from 10 to 5. With over a foot of new snow, the Adirondack woods will be beautiful!

NICHE Studio with fresh snow today

Shades of Grey - Reverb14 Day 9

This first thing I thought when I saw today's blog writing prompt - Shades of Grey - was "lack of color." Maybe it's being here at my studio in the woods on another cloudy frozen day. I certainly rarely work with grey or even black and white in my art. Color is very important to what I have to say.

But the metaphor of seeing myself and the world in shades of grey is very different. It's how I try to view the larger world - allowing more variation and diversity while avoiding the "love this - hate that" mind. The choices of either black or white are so limiting. And isn't grey just so lovely sometimes?