Thinking Christmas

It has been almost a month since my last post and I have been focused on making some quilled paper ornaments that I hope will sell at the Wynndel Christmas Craft Fair on Dec. 2. I have managed to do one mixed media piece with quilling and watercolour...

#1059 - Strutting his Stuff! 5 x 7 matted to 8 x 10

... but the rest? See for yourselves.

Rufous Hummingbird with glitter - 1/4" paper

Calliope Hummingbirds with glitter - 1/4" paper

Fantasy Hummingbirds - 1/4" paper

Gold Snowflakes with glitter and faux gems - 1/8" paper

Gold and White Snowflakes with glitter and faux gems - 1/8" paper

Mauve Angel with faux gem - 1/8" paper

My Rainbow of Angels - 1/8" paper

Christmas Traditions Ornaments - 1/4" paper

Well, I may not be painting but I am having FUN!!!

A Fabulous Fall

The weather has cooled down, leaves are falling and people are getting back to their fall/winter lives.

For me that means Painting Parties, lessons, workshops and thinking about Christmas Fairs.

Yesterday I held my second painting party of the season with five party-goers and we had a great time.

Everyone did two 5 x 7 paintings. Mary Mae brought her granddaughter up this summer for a 'mini' painting lesson and found out about the painting parties then.

 So far, Eileen has attended four of my parties - I guess that means she has been pleased every time.

Abby saw my posters at the recent Art Club Fall Show and left her name and contact info. When I got in touch she asked if there was room for her sisters; there was and they all came and had a good time.

All three girls chose to paint the scene with the Skimmerhorn mountains but Darcy also picked the Lake at Sunset picture. It is too bad that the photo doesn't show all of the colour because her sky is lovely.

Heidi chose the Winter Sunset scene as her second piece and it was fun to see her expression to the effect of salt on the wet paint. Again, it is too bad that many of the details do not show.

I haven't been doing much painting myself but I have been making some quilled ornaments as I am thinking about November's Christmas Craft Fair.

 So far I am just focusing on hummingbird ornaments as they are very popular and usually sell well.

I have added a few new patterns and I have started adding glitter on the neck of some of the pieces. Sigh - glitter really doesn't show up well in photos!

For the rest, my cataract surgery went well, I have started cleaning up my flower pots and gardens and I am enjoying the fall colours in the world around me - gotta remember to take some photos! My first classes of the fall start this week. Then, I will have my (possibly) final Painting Party of the season and the next weekend I will attend an acrylic workshop on Contrasts. There are other things on the list too but then, I like to be busy and all these things make this fall just fabulous!

Something a Bit Different

This is the time of year when many artists think about displaying their work at Christmas Art and Craft Fairs. As I don't like the bustle of large events I usually just set-up for the local Wynndel fair which is happening this Saturday, Dec. 3.

I will be displaying a few of my smaller paintings, a wide selection of my cards, crocheted Christmas ornaments and many of my quilled ornaments. This year I am adding some new items which I hope will appeal to people looking for gifts for boys.

 

I made some stencils for the first time with not much idea of what I was doing. Then I painted some leftover pieces of mat board and added the stencils. The final step was to cover the back and make a border on the front. These signs have hang-tabs on the back but are also light enough they can be stuck on the wall with Fun Tak. I think they turned out well and hope that others like them too.

Because I had the stencils I figured I might as well use them again but this time I put them on T-Shirts.

It has been quite sometime since I had a young boy in my life so all I can do is hope that these will be a success.

I came up with another item that I hope will sell. I often get pains in my hands and the rice/wheat bags I had were much too big so I took them apart and made small ones.

Some of these were made with recycled material and others were made with  my painted fabrics. Thirty seconds in the microwave makes them nice and warm and the heat lasts a surprising length of time.

I think I am going to do a few signs with a different stencil design for the fair - just for fun!

I have had a sign with this "Artist at Work" design for years and when my friend Linda saw my stencilled signs she asked if I could make a stencil of this design. So, while Linda played with some acrylic abstracts, I made another stencil. Once the stencil was done Linda made her own sign and I figured I would make a few too. Who knows, maybe they will sell  - I'll even take commissions - lol.


It is always interesting to see what items do well at the Wynndel Christmas Art & Craft Fair and will I never make a killing I usually do okay - time will tell.

Art and Christmas

Like most people I am usually pretty busy at this time of year but I have always taken time to paint original Christmas cards for my children and grandkids.

Christmas Card 2009

Sometimes I like the card so much that for the next year I get a number made to sell.

2010

Sometimes the cards are based on a painting I have done but most of the time they are right out of my imagination.

2012

The cards might be a complicated scene or just an expression of a winter bursting with color.

This year I was so busy crocheting Christmas ornaments to sell locally at Christmas fairs and through a local 'Buy & Sell" on Facebook that I forgot all about doing cards and ending up sending each of my kids one of the mass produced cards.

As always, I got carried away and just kept making more and more. Some designs have sold out but I will still have enough left to sell again next Christmas. I really enjoyed making the ornaments and changing the patterns so that many of them are unique.

I particularly like these little angels and ending up making a wreath so I could display one, as well as some of the other ornaments.

 While I broke tradition by not sending my kids personal cards I did send them each a snowflake with the mass produced card - I hope that satisfies the personal element!

I imagine the next few week will be busier still so ....

    MERRY CHRISTMAS AND BEST WISHES FOR A NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Making things and Organizing

In the late Spring I started doing some new creative activities because my walls were too full of paintings. Many of the items I made are going to be available this coming Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Wynndel Community Center's Annual Arts & Craft sale.

  My granddaughter, Jasmine modeled some of the items so I could get some photos. On the left she is wearing one of the T-shirt scarves I made (we call them fun dangles) and one of the mixed media brooches I made last year. Below on the left, Jasmine is showing a belt and headband done by finger weaving as well as a crocheted wristband and choker. The middle picture shows more finger weaving with a hat band and a tie/belt. The final display is an infinity scarf done in crocheting. I have had a lot of fun making these items and other things - I just hope I can sell some!

 Of course, I won't have Jas available to model during the event so I had to come up with a way to display some of my product. Once again my granddaughter came to the rescue! I traced around her upper body to make some mat board figures and she traced around me. I think they look quite smart.

Now comes the organizing part! Whenever I have a show with a table display to set up, I always set the display up at home first. This gives me the chance to decide if I have too much or too little product and it makes set up on the day of the event much easier.

As you can see I have a full table full of color and variety. In addition to the items already mentioned I will have some of my little boxes, my mixed media brooches, a selection of my paintings and some Christmas type cards. I hope to see many of my friends this Saturday at Wynndel Hall.