Love doll for mmartfriends swap

Finished up the "Chakra Love Doll" for Lori A, my swap partner on mmartfriends.  The doll has bits and baubles to represent the 7 chakras:  white, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.  The body is a collage of fabric paper, stitch, quotes, sequins, and paper ephemera, inspired by Kelli Perkins' Stitch Alchemy.  Thanks, Kelli, for being a generous participant and co-host in the study of your book!

Pieces I've worked on lately

Here are a few of the acrylic and encaustic pieces I've worked on lately.  (Thanks, Wally and Barb for the photos!)

Bohemian Memory was done in the summer of 2009 and hung bottom-side up for quite awhile until I kept seeing Abraham Lincoln peering back at me!  So I flipped it over and liked it better this way.  It's 24" x 36" acrylic textured with molding paste and stencils and some paper collage.


Breathe and Live Abundantly were both done in January 2010.  They're highly textured acrylics with paper collage.  They were done for fun.

The last one of this group is Delight, an encaustic collage I worked on in the summer of 2009.  I changed my color palette from the darker tones to a pastel palette.  R&F oil paint sticks were added to the encaustic medium to achieve this lighter look.  I collaged a vintage photo, some sticks from a bush in the yard, pieces of map and dictionary pages.  It's a 10" x 8" piece that I need to find the right frame for it.  I'm thinking weathered white wood.

Esther's Place

Yesterday I stopped in at a wonderful fiber shop in Big Rock, IL called Esther's Place.  It is a feast for the eyes and a tactilely soothing experience.  The Lehrer family owns a farm, sheep, and this lovely B&B/ fiber arts studio.  I can't wait to return to take some classes.  Natasha Lehrer was a demonstrator last week at the Kishwaukee Valley Art League in DeKalb and truly opened up my eyes to the art of wool felting.  Her work is beyond that of what I usually associate with felting - very artistic and creative.  Check out the blogs for Natasha and her mom, Donna, as well as their Facebook page

I specifically stopped in to purchase some Lincoln sheep curls to include in my artwork.  After admiring the rack of a multitude of hand dyed curls, I decided on just purchasing the contents of the scrap basket and was pleased with the variety of colors.  The curls in the 3 baggies in the photo are Wensley dale lamb locks.

Check out a great review of Natasha and Donna Lehrer's venture on the Try Handmade blog.