Down The Rabbit Hole

This is my most talented friend Sharon Cotton - check out her work at www.sharoncotton.com. She just had her first gallery show this past January - very exciting to see her work up on gallery walls. What was even more exciting was receiving my very own, custom-made just for me, art work for my 40th birthday. That she choose Alice as her subject matter was the cherry on top of my 40th birthday. Alice in Wonderland is quite simply put my favorite story. I have long related to Alice and her fall down the rabbit hole. And considering the family in which I grew up I can certainly relate to being surrounded by people & things that do not make sense. My experience was that it was an often confusing, frustrating and even at times scary journey that I was on - trying to navigate my way through my youth and family. Some of my Christmases could make the Mad Hatter's tea party look quite sane. I do feel that I am emerging from the underground - creating sanity and serenity in my world and more easily recognizing the insanity - I smile and send it on it's way - "Very nice to meet you Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Would love to stay & chat, but I simply must be getting on - I have a very important date, you know."

I was blown away when I opened my painting & there was Alice - falling. And I love what Sharon wrote for me. "Down. Down. Down. Shall I ever reach the end? Alice knew that approaching 40 had been a perilous journey. But she also knew that getting there would be the beginning. And a most agreeable time. She was going to grab life with both hands and wring every last drop out of it. She had heard, at a tea party once upon a time, that life begins at 40. What a wonderful thought. And more than anything else, she hoped there would be cats, she loved cats, especially smiling ones."

So thank you my friend for creating this priceless work of art for me - and for being my only blog reader! I will cherish this always & take what you wrote to heart.

So, I must dash now & go grab life by both hands now - evidently I have a lot of wringing to do if I am to get EVERY last drop out of it!

Keeping Buzzy

So this is my latest creation using Telamadera Fusion. It's a gift for my friend who celebrated a 40th birthday.....on January 27th. I don't need it pointed out that this is February 10th and that it will be February 17th by the time I have all the varnish layers done & ready to ship it out to her. I KNOW this. I was waiting for my muse to come and she did - around January 29th! I decided on a Queen Bee theme as my friend has taken up bee keeping and now has hives and makes her own honey - delicious stuff - have tried it myself. Perhaps this piece is a bit simple and sweet, but was made with her in mind. OK - that came out so wrong - my friend is not simple & sweet - quite the contrary - always keeping everyone on their toes with what she will do next - hosting her own 'funeral' for her fortieth & picking up friends in a hearse for a photo shoot & dinner is just an example of what she can pull out of her hat.

This piece was harder than the one I did in Alma's workshop.......because I didn't have Alma sitting there guiding me!! I tried to remember everything she taught me. It was challenging to take it one section at a time - I kept wanting to jump ahead. And then when it was time to pick out the fabric I started grabbing too many at a time & overwhelmed myself. So then I pulled it back. It all worked out. I'm particularly pleased with the way the stenciled background worked out. I used Alma's trick of using a piece of lace card stock paper as a stencil - a heck of a lot cheaper than an actual stencil.

Now I'm on to my first NON GIFT piece! Got all the wood burning done of the design and have painted it all today. Now the tricky part....fabric selection.....

I was recently at a gallery show this past Friday - chatting with a local artist. The person asked what I do - I tried to explain the process. The person paused and said - "Sounds simple." It was a bit of a slap, but I quickly came back with "Yeah, I suppose it is....except for creating a design, choosing the colors and choosing the fabrics." But of course the comment stayed in my head until the next morning when I finally had to dump it in my God box and let Him have it! I like what I'm doing. It feels good to me. I will continue.