Where Do They Come From? And Why?

I started painting in January 2006!  I started with flowers on round stepping stones and then in the summer of 2006 "interesting" ladies started appearing in my sketch books.  I've posted various sketches of them through the years and even painted some of them on canvas, but they are rare these days and so tonight I ponder - where do they come from and maybe even why?

Serious

My mom questioned them and why I drew them.  She actually didn't seem to like them, but I continued to draw them.  My dear friend Emily encouraged me to draw them, to see where they would lead me.  She was experiencing a return of breast cancer and so many of them were bald and some had pink caps on, but most of them were simply strange.  All of them had long necks and huge eyes and some were a little scary!  But still they came and then it suddenly stopped! On a rare occasion one would appear when I sat down with my sketch book but not often and I actually began to miss them.  A friend ask if they were self portraits and I said I certainly hoped not!

Wild Eyed

I always sketch on a plane, it's that relaxation thing and this year while flying cross country suddenly one appeared, quite serious but still with those big eyes but a little less weird than in the past. Then on another flight a month or so later another one just flew out of my pencil and she looked exactly like I felt!  Crazed from all of the things going on in my life at the moment!  I used her as my blog profile picture until tonight. I think she's still my Etsy and Pinterest pix - might want to rethink those!  But as  I look at her I think I may put her back on here if life doesn't slow down a little as I think looking at her makes me take all of the "busy-ness" a little less seriously. She makes me smile and relax when I look at her.  In fact, how can you not laugh when look at those over the top eyes!

Tonight, right after I changed her, I had a desire to pick up my sketch book and look what happened, a new lady! They happen so fast, it's like they just have to come out of the tip of my pencil.  When I look at this one I feel like she wants to say something, but, of course, you can  relax she isn't saying anything!  That will be a relief to Bill who I'm sure thinks they're crazy and perhaps me too, at least a little bit!  For me they're simply relaxing to draw and fun to look at, often making me laugh out loud and wonder what I was thinking when I drew them.   I am pleased that their necks aren't quite so long and maybe they're even a little less weird!  Some of you might disagree with that assessment, but then you may not have ever seen the earlier ones!

So, now after a good laugh and relaxation, I'll go on to bed and wonder where they come from and when the next one will surface as I drift off to sleep.

Later,

PS Just occurred to me that she probably wants to ask me why I removed the crazy eyed, over stressed lady as my profile pix when I'm getting ready to add alpacas to my already busy schedule!  She may even want to say that I might be crazy!  But if that is it, I'll have to tell her that just like my sketching of ladies relaxes me, that's just what my alpacas will do - and they will make my life just a little sweeter!

Pancho & Lefty

Happy Day after Christmas!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day.  We started our day with videos of our little great grand-baby on his motorcycle that we sent him for Christmas!  He will need to grow a little, but that's good as they have lots of snow, so outside isn't available right now!  Next we watched Jack (our dog) open his gifts.  He always loves to tear open his packages, but never touches ours!  Smart little guy!  He got two toys and a Santa hat later in the day from a friend.  Next year he can wear his suit and his hat at the same time!

Our Christmas presents were a little big to put under the tree, a new building extension, two alpacas, a new sewing machine, and lots of tools for manland added over the last few months.  We thought about putting bows on everything that we had received recently, but decided we really couldn't afford the ribbon,  (laughing) so we just enjoyed our day and thought about names for the alpacas.

And, we've made a decision!  Yes we are definitely getting two alpacas and we finally decided on names!  This was not an easy decision and we enlisted votes through Face Book, but it's done! I've sent an email to Laurence and Donna to say yes and give them the names, Pancho and Lefty for registration so now as I sit in my studio and look out the window, I can picture them out there.

I've wanted llamas or alpacas for close to 20 years!  Of course, living in Bellaire, didn't lend itself to animals of this size and so I waited!  We've been talking about them now since we bought this house and property and the time is finally right.

Last year we added three sheep, well, they're not actually real, they just look real and so I've had some people ask me if the alpacas will be real!  Yes! I promise these will move around on the property without my having to pick them up and move them.  Ha ha

We now have to get our gates done at the front and do some cross fencing, so they know where they belong!  Now if I can just remember that they belong in the back field and not in my front yard or immediate picket fenced yard for Jack!  Bill says it will be more difficult for me than them!  He's so right. We just added an area to the back of Bill's barn for them and have to finish it too.  The rails need to be added and the straw put down on the ground and then they can move on in!  For now they will stay with  Laurence and Donna at Bluebonnet Hills Alpaca Ranch and I will go and visit!

At least now I won't need to drive down the road to look at the neighboring animals and I'm excited about all of the company I'm going to be having in the near future.  I look forward to everyone coming out and meeting them in person.  Didn't know how much alpacas would increase visitation!  That's a very good thing.

So now I will close and get busy on some other projects - working on next years Christmas card and have a bunch of birthdays this month and next - so I will post again after I see them on Friday and hopefully with some very good pictures.

Until then, happy creating!

Alpacas in our future? Hope so!

White one on right!

Yesterday was a fun and exciting day!  Bill and I visited an alpaca ranch to look for a possible addition to our family!  Actually it will be two, they don't ever come in singles as they are herding animals.  We looked at about 65, not all for sale, but have decided on males.  We (I) really don't want to get in the baby business, I just want pets and fiber, so males would be best for us.

 We have pretty much settled on a young white one, great fiber and very good conformation and deciding between a solid brown one and one with some white on his face.  I want at least one white one because the wool can be dyed and I want that versatility.  They all were adorable.  It's been very hot here in Texas so the cold air today had them very frisky and it was fun to watch them run around and play.

When we said our good byes, we headed to a wool shop in Navasota - WC Mercantile - and what a surprise!  It was full of beautiful wools and in nearly every color of the rainbow, no way more than the rainbow!  Of course, I had to buy a few things to bring home.  Not for sure what they will turn into, but right now they're just beautiful to look at and their time will come.

Fibers in back and felted fabric in front.

I was so excited about wool that I came home and pulled out some product I bought at Festival in November and sat down at the felting machine.  A friend had given me some really nice black wool scraps she had used for a dress and I had wet felted it (washed and dried it in the dryer) and so I used it as a base and this is the result. Now do I use it for a small purse or a pin.  The colors make me think of watermelon even in this cold weather, but they're also really nice winter colors.  Once I decide and get it cut I can then begin embellishing with some hand stitching, some beads and more.  So much fun.  I'm so thankful for all of the artists, Liz, Ruth, Judy, Sally, the list goes on forever, that have come into my life the last few years teaching me to do so many different things.  Felting, stitching, beading - oh, what fun on a cold winter's eve.

Be back with more soon!

Building Blocks for Aiden

I love this time of year, except that there's always way more to do than there is time!  I have so many projects I want to do right now that I can't choose what to start first, so I decided to finish some adorable blocks for Aiden/Katie I started in early summer for Christmas.  I say Aiden/Katie, as I'm not sure whether they're going to be for play or display!  Might be more of a gift to the mother than the little boy, but we'll see.  Stampin Up offered these boxes a year or so ago and I got some knowing I would have a use some time!  And sometime arrived this summer.  It wasn't the easiest thing to do - I had 5 blocks A I D E N and then I had to come up with other 5 letter words and/or 4 with a picture i.e. duck and I drew a duck for block 5.  It was a puzzle, but it was fun.

 Just a few more coats of finish and they'll be ready for the Christmas box.  I hope they enjoy.

Note:  Archiver's bags are great for protecting your work surface and a great way to reuse a plastic bag!

 Now back to the sewing machine to start a stitch bible! Perhaps, the next real project will come to mind as I watch the different stitches my machine will make!  My friend Liz Kettle showed me how to do this and a new class I just signed up for "Stupendous Stitching" on Craftsy gives it as the first lesson,  so I'm going to get started tonight and see just what my new machine can do.

Next post : Stitch Bible - See you soon!

Craft Room to Studio - The Transformation

I mentioned this the other day, either in a post, to a friend or on Facebook, but I think the most important part of changing the name of my work area from craft room to studio is the mental picture that is formed in my mind.  As a craft room I just don't take things as seriously and I don't look at what I do as art.

I thought it was the word craft, but I looked up the word craft and found the following: 1: skill in planning, making, or executing:dexterity and 2 a: an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill and 2 b plural: articles made by craftspeople . 

I looked up the word crafter and found the following synonyms: artificer, artisan, craftsman, craftsperson, handicraftsman, handicrafter, handwork and tradesman.

So, now we know that the word craft is not the issue as craft = art!  So the problem with craft room and it's effect on me is the word room.  Room just doesn't sound as artsy as studio.  This is just me and really it has no bearing on what I will or will not create (at least I hope not), but I do like the ring of it and so it shall be "the studio".  Perhaps this comes from the magazine Studios that comes out four times a year from Cloth Paper Scissors, but whatever, it's now Bev Ann's Studio and it's all cleaned up!

I finally was able to move my new Bernina into it's place and am having fun playing with it.  My goal is to do freehand quilting using my photos and original art to make wall hangings, table runners etc.  Small items, no king size quilts for me.  However, I'm not saying never, because I know what that can cause, so I'm just saying what my goal is!  Ha Ha - learned that from the "never want to sew comment" and so hopefully, I've expressed this in a way I won't have to eat those words, too!

My first effort was to make square of fabric, batting and backing and just freehand stitch!  Next was a plain piece of fabric that I drew a pencil shape of a flower on and then I began by practicing on a fun diecut dress from Sizzix.


This die is new and I just think it's adorable, so I cut out one, adhered it to the base fabric with Misty Fuse.  How did we ever get along without this!  Anyway I digress, I made a sandwich and began to stitch around the design and then tried to echo the dress outline, moving on to freehand quilting the remainder of the block.  As you can see, I have  long way to go before my echoes are clear and evenly spaced, but a girl's got to start somewhere.

I had a class all day at It's A Stitch, my local Bernina dealer, and I learned a lot and had lots of fun and laughter.  This machine is so different from any I've ever used and I have to learn to relax and let it do the work!  And, so when I got home it was more practice.  This time I started with a flower I had painted on fabric, just trying to outline the flower and do some thread painting, but I wasn't pleased with the thread I had chosen and so I moved on to another practice piece.

One of the women at the shop suggested that I pull out a fabric with a distinct pattern and practice outlining the design and so I did.  I inherited my friend Emily's fabric so I have so much to choose from and I think I found a perfect piece.  I have yards of it, so I will be able to practice for a long time!  Emily and I were soul mates when it came to buying!  If one yard was good, then 20 would be so much better!  Ha Ha  No that's really not funny, that's sadly the truth!  But looks like I will have a chance to put her fabric to good use and I won't need to step into a fabric store for a long time.

Oh, my gosh, I forgot all about my "studio"  here's a picture of before (with all the stuff out of my closest - forgot to take picture before I began the process) and after!  For those of you who had recently been in my "room" you can see a huge improvement!  For those of you who have never seen it, I'm sure you are saying, Oh my gosh, she has sooooo much stuff!  You see the condition of the room is all in perspective and mine is that it's all cleaned up and a "studio".

PS: This is just a small shot of the room - I'm saving the rest for an article on "hoarding"!   LOL

Gotta go, my machine is calling to me!

Crafty hugs,