Not a painting BUT.....

Well with two telling me to use my snowy sheep I decided to create an image but I chickened out of painting it (for the moment anyway) and cheated creating a digital image instead.

Wonder if that horizontal snow line should be a bit lower down? Never was one for the rules.

Had my hair trimmed today, worked off a few calories by running up and down the bottom half of my staircase 30 times and now back to cutting out all those triangles for my quilt.
It isn't going to be a full quilt - more an art quilt wall hanging so it shouldn't take too long!!!

'Inchie' box

While planning the probably final piece for the E project I had a go at making the infamous 'inchies' I keep reading about and seeing in swaps.
As I was making them I began to see a little box so that is what I made but with an Ancient Egyptian theme so it could fit into the project.
And the finished mini box.


Didn't much like using an inch so it is a 3cm cube box - doesn't have the same ring to it though.

Now onto the final piece! heard that before I think!!
Going to cut lots of triangles in bought, painted, dyed, printed fabric to create an Ancient Egyptian quilt.

Oh and the snow has gone - a 'here today, gone tomorrow ' it was.

Snow

Well it snowed last night a little earlier than forecast. We had to take out grandson to a birthday party up into the hills of North Yorkshire not too far from us. Flakes of snow were falling as we set off but the main road was cleared.
As we approached the village the snow was so pretty that we decided to come back to take photos once we had dropped our GS at the party.
It was a narrow but very busy road and drivers were driving at very unsuitable speeds in such conditions so it wasn't too clever to stop to take photos but we managed the following:
When we stopped to take this one - the sheep spotted us and began to head in our direction. I think they thought we had come to feed them - poor things.

As soon as we had taken this one we headed back to the party to get a warm. We hadn't even been missed.
After I had finished taking a few photos at the party my husband leaned over and said ' Pull your trousers out of your socks. You look funny'
I had tucked my trouser bottoms into my socks when taking the photos in the snow.

First and last

Happy New Year everyone.
Hope you are all set for a very creative and productive year. It will fly by faster than you think so don't put off any ideas or ambitions. Go for it or my favourite 'Go with the flow' - remember mistakes are the learning curve and they can always be cut up, painted and incorporated into something else so don't hold back. I look forward to watching what you are all creating over the year.

Here is my First posted image of 2008 which is of the Last piece I made in 2007 but the light wasn't suitable to photograph. (The title of this post reminds me of a holiday I spent when a teenager in a small holiday cottage in Staithes on N. Yorks coast. It was called the First and Last as it was the first cottage at the top of the hill going down into Staithes and the last cottage on the way out. Climbing the hill home wasn't very welcome after an evening in the Copper Kettle coffee bar at the bottom of the hill - which is an art gallery now with some wonderful paintings and sculptures displayed there. Ooops I'm rambling....) Here's the image:
This is a mobile based on an image of Queen Nefertiti. The header is a curved triangle - like a Toblerone box but curved inward in red, green and blue with her bust machined, painted and then highlighted with gold leafing pen. The colours being common to much of the Ancient Egyptian jewellery (thank goodness they had found such rich colours to use in their jewellery and decoration - amazing really for so long ago). The hangings are the letters of her name - machined on satins in the front and painted and sponge on the back. The edges of the letters are satin st using the Madeira FS20 metallics in matching colours. I am pleased with it.

The decorations are down and stored away - how much bigger the room looks. I didn't make any new year resolutions as this year may be unpredictable depending on whether the book is to be published this year or next year. I won't know until I speak to my editor.

Will have my grandson for next 3 days so will not have time for much else. There are a number of CD's to get to grips with. One of the discs I bought him was a disc to play chess as he has shown an interest in learning to play the game and he is very keen to progress to Cluefinders Year 6 which I won't let him do yet until he completes Cluefinders Year 5 much to his frustration. The top level of a Cluefinder is usually equivalent to the first level of the next one so that's his aim and he's almost there. He is desperate to see what the next adventure will be.

As with yourself Sharon, I want to spend some time creating more digital collages and as you call them composites. And, as soon as the weather permits - out to do much more photography. We've made a list of places to go.

I have a shopping list too - will be ringing the man I know who said he can mix any colour metallic paint I would like - I have a list don't you know - and hope he can mix some colours I would like to add to my collection for a lot less than buying the well known brand names. He also has pearlex type powders for a lot less too - will ask about them.
And there's more!!! but not until I've reorganised some of the storage. Must find somewhere else to keep my 2 guitars - they block access to a set of drawers which I may use more if they were easier to access.
And another thing I must do is begin to use much more of my stock and rediscover what I have forgotten I have. Do these sound like resolutions??? Sounds like a lot of work to me - just as well they are not resolutions!!!

Goodness this is a long post - sorry. Must get on now - 3 more pieces to finish.

All sorts - not liquorice

Bits of all sorts today - working on several designs at once. Machined out 3 digitised images in white on white ready to paint and then highlight with a gold leafing pen. They will form the head of a tassel type hanging.

Then I began a layer for another piece - staining some paper with a sepia stamping ink pad then overstaining this with walnut ink. I then created a page of hieroglyphics and printed them over the top of the staining. This sheet will be torn up into small pieces to go behind some motifs when I decide how they will be created.
Then I digitised some text and machined each letter out to make mobiles for the hanging. I still have one letter to stitch out.

The next bit is for Sharon.
The thread I told you about is around £7 - £7.50 (<1000m -20g) per reel for the lge size and £2 -£2.50 (200m) for the small reel - depending where you buy it.
Here is a close up of a tassel top I made for some themed tassels - still to be completed. I have created winter and the oceans and this one for autumn where you can see that particular thread.
As you can see - it is perfect for autumn and in particular - oak leaves.