I can't believe it is already February of 2011

Work has definitely gotten in the way of my fun and my creative endeavors! I have started to clean up my studio to get ready for the next art work. So I will lovingly go through my art and sewing supplies and get myself organized. This might take a while! But I am itching to get working on art so I am hoping for the studio cleaning elves to show up this weekend!

Austin's Stocking

I made Austin (my two year old Grandson) a Christmas Stocking. He loves baseball so did a baseball theme.

Austin's Pig

I painted this ceramic Pig for my Grandson Austin's second Birthday. It is never too early to learn to save money!

Salmon Button Blanket

I finally have finished the Salmon Button Blanket. I began this journey back in March and now the blanket is finished and has made its way to Laura in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada! You can read about this journey by clicking on this link: Salmon Button Blanket

Button Blanket – The Journey Begins

Back in March my clan sister Laura (Desert Fire Hawk), had a request for me, to make a button Blanket for her. I was greatly honored by this request and started to do some research into this ceremonial art form. There is a great book about Button Blankets, "Robes of Power: Totem Poles on cloth" by Doreen Jensen and Polly Sargent. I also picked up a child's book, "the button blanket: Northwest coast Indian Art Activity Book" by Nan McNutt. And to further my understanding of Northwest art I found the book, "Northwest Coast Indian Art: an Analysis of Form" by Bill Holm to be very helpful. And then there is a short video on the web called Vistas: Button Blanket . After reading all about the process of making the Blanket, I started searching for the materials. I wanted Black wool Melton cloth and Red wool felt. I live in Florida so wool is not a big selling item here. I found a few good websites for the fabrics and ordered what I needed. I also needed Abalone Shell Buttons, so I found a website for that.

The most important part of the Blanket process was to come up with a design that would show Lauras Family ties and stories, so we had many Skype conversations, and I began to get an Idea for the main design element the crest.

My Annual Trek to Boise

I made my annual trek to Boise to visit my BFF Susan! We hiked and did art projects, met with friends, went out for sushi (yum!), shopped and did I mention Hiking? Well in all we hiked about 25 miles in the week. The First hike was up Bob's trail, schlepping all our rain gear, just in case, (the humor of the Gods would be not to bring the gear and it would pour, bring the gear and sunny Sky), It did snow just as we got back to the house, very nice! We hiked Polecat Gulch twice, the second time going the full outer loop for 5.75 miles. Then we hiked Upper Hulls Gulch for 6.75 miles.

We did watercolor monotypes, this was new to me and very fun, see my efforts below. Also I wanted to learn to use Acrylic modeling paste so we had fun with that. I tried my hand at lynocut printing, hand registering each plate and using a Baren to make the print. We had a wonderful time. And as always the time goes by to fast then I have to go home!

Scorpion

I wanted to learn how to use acrylic modeling paste so Susan showed me how! Why a scorpion you might ask? Well, we were talking of the old moral of the Scorpion and the Frog....The story is about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion reassures him that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown as well. The frog then agrees, nevertheless, in mid-river, the scorpion stings him, dooming the two of them. When asked why, the scorpion explains, "I'm a scorpion; it's my nature."