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

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!

True Colors -- FINALLY!

Hello Everyone!

Well, this post is long overdue -- and even longer overdue is the artwork of this post. I am in a round robin swap with a yahoo group, and we are working on a True Colors round robin (and have been for many months now!). If you've read the True Colors book by Kathryn Bold you are most likely familiar with what this round robin entails.

The palate chosen by Candace was comprised of the following colors: turquoise, orange, red, yellow, purple and lime. A retro rainbow! (Hey... if I had thought of the "Retro Rainbow" before I started working on this journal entry, I would have come up with an entirely different layout!)

Here is what I did come up with...


I had a lot of fun with this layout, especially with the word/letter placement, because I wanted it to complete the quotes that I utilized, but I also wanted to make it appear random and interesting at the same time.

I hope that Candace likes what I came up with... and hopefully she'll like it enough not to be too terribly upset with me about how long it took me to complete it!

~Anne

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!!!