Yep... I'm still alive!

Hey!
It's been quite a while since my last post. I've not had a lot of time to spend on art lately. For those of you who haven't heard... I am closing my tea business after eight years. It was a difficult decision but I think it's best for me and my family... and my artwork too!

Right now, though, I've been spending a lot of my time trying to sort everything out for the business... so that the transition can go as smoothly as possible. So I haven't had a lot of time for creating.
This is a wreath that I made before Christmas (LOL - I just didn't have a chance to get a photo of it before the holiday, first, we couldn't find the battery recharger for the camera, and when we did, I just didn't take the time to take the photo.) The gorgeous rag yarn that I used came from confections on etsy. This was a lot of fun to make!
I've always wanted to do a piece with rag-yarn. It reminds me of my gramma... she had this great rug that was made out of braided rag yarn so whenever I see rag-yarn, it evokes memories of that rug that I used to sit on and sew little snippets of fabric while gramma would sit at the sewing machine. Beautiful, happy memories!

And... this is the latest of journal spreads for the True Colors journal round robin that I'm in (Yes, it's still going on!) ... this is Tanya's journal spread, her color choice was pink!

These pages are really THICK... because well, the first work that I did - after I had worked it, I had rethought my idea and decided to go a different direction. Rather than just starting over, I worked over what I had started. Then... my first attempt at a spread similar to this one resulted in a very fat looking tree! So... I worked over that one too. The result is a couple of pages that are very, very thick... I'm hoping they will work out ok. I haven't yet adhered them to the journal!

I hope that Tanya likes what I came up with. The photo doesn't really do it justice. It's very sparkly because there is an ample sprinkling of pink German glass glitter over the pages.

Well... hopefully my entries to my blog will be more frequent now! We shall see!

~Anne

Finally getting around to posting some new art...

Greetings! Wow ... it took me a while to get around to posting this... that this art doesn't even feel new to me anymore! haha!

For the Fall Tea Swap for my Tea Group we had a "destinations" theme. Each person in the swap was to select up to three destinations to where they'd like to travel. These destinations could be real or fantasy.

My partner chose "Art Gallery in Paris," "Fall Festival" and "Outdoors/Camping" -- the Outdoors/Camping one was also specific to the sounds of nature.

For a combination of the Fall Festival and Outdoors/Camping theme, I made her this field journal, where she could sketch or write (or both) ... I imagine with her emphasis on the sounds of nature, she could also use it to write her feelings as she listens to those sounds...

As you can see, I used the box of my favorite cookies from Trader Joe's (these cookies are awesome!) as the cover of the journal, and inside I used blank watercolor paper that I stained and stamped with inks (just to take away the new whiteness of the paper ... I find that intimidating sometimes, don't you? It's much more fun to journal when you have something already on your page!) Finally, I bound the pages with my Rubicoil machine... which I love!

For the "Art Gallery in Paris" destination, I decided to create a "having tea in a Paris Museum" type of route, and included tea and chocolate truffles, and wrapped the box in a cool Paris themed paper. I also made a "scrapbook" type of fatbook for her that includes images of famous paintings that can be found in Paris's Museums. The fatbook ended up being 14 pages thick (I think -- I can't remember!) and is anything but conventional, as I took a cue from one of my favorite artists, Aileen from Outside the Margins and went a bit outside the margins of this book. Several of the images of the paintings were larger than the 4 x 4 size, so I simply ignored that and so some of the pages don't look like they fit!


Neither my hubby nor my oldest daughter liked the fact that this book went beyond it's boundaries, but I really did like it. Sure, when the pages fit nice and neatly inside a book, it's all well and good, but I like my fat books to be chunky and a bit unusual, I think it gives the book more character like that.

~Anne

Some New Art - Finally!

Greetings!

For those of you who know me, you know that I've been having issues with my creativity lately. It's been difficult to find the inspiration to work on my artwork, and when I feel uninspired, whatever I might create comes out quite disappointing.

Fortunately, my trip to Tohono Chul Park had a very positive effect on me, and I have been more inspired to work!

It really is a great feeling after such a long period of feeling so uncreative.

I finally got around to completing my entry in Bonnie's True Color Journal!

As you might have guessed from looking at the picture, Bonnie's chosen color palette is all shades of blue.

When I think of blue, I am reminded fondly of my gramma, as it was her favorite color. One of my most cherished memories of my gramma is that she would have tea parties with me. I had quite a few toy tea sets, and she would lay out her best lace table cloth and I would choose some of my favorite tea set dishes to use. She'd mix coffee and milk together and this would be our "tea" (gramma never really did care much for tea). We'd share cookies and "tea."

Thank you to Bonnie for allowing that memory to come alive in my artwork. I hope that you like the spread I created for your journal as much as I enjoyed creating it.

~Anne

PS: Be sure to check out my "Fall Is Coming" sale on my teas in tins... only in my artfire shop!

What I've been up to lately...

Well, besides tea (I'm working on a new herbal blend!) ... I've been working on Teresa's True Color Journal!
















This is the spread that I created for Teresa's Green, Orange and Red journal.

It's been hard to get myself out into the studio to work, because, frankly it's very cold out there! I do have a small space heater, and I do have a heated slipper thing (it's not really a pair of slippers, more like a cushion that I slip both feet into, and it heats and massages), and both of these things are terrific, however, it's still cold out there!

At first, I found Teresa's color choices to be somewhat intimidating, because I guess I find it difficult to use the three colors together... but, I am really happy with the way my spread came out. And I think I have a new appreciation for the color green!

I hope that Teresa likes it!

~Anne

Neutrals Journal

Hello Everyone!

Well, I finally finished Nancy's journal, and it's all dry. I chose to scan this journal instead of taking a pic because while it was a bit larger than the scanner, the colors are light and I thought that the photo would lose much of the more subtle details.


I am really enjoying the "true colors" journal round robin... I find it a lot more liberating than a set theme.

Nancy chose neutrals for her color palette. Her journal cover is so incredibly beautiful... and it evoked a feel of "vintage" for me, so I chose to go with vintage "time" as a theme for my composition.

I had a lot of fun with this piece. I hope that Nancy enjoys it too.

~Anne

PS: Don't forget to visit my tea journal and enter to win the contest. There's only a few days left!!!