A New Year, A New Project

My camera is nothing fancy, a little Canon Powershot, several years old. I've always just used it on automatic, letting the camera do all the figuring. This year I want to (finally) learn how to use the programmable settings. Downloading the instructions was a start. To make sure that I actually used the directions, I signed up for a Project 365 group on Flickr.

You may have seen some of these groups on-line. There is the original Project 365. Most of the social media sites have groups with the same type of daily project. Some have more rules than others. The group I've joined is fairly laid-back and welcoming.

Since we are already 2/3 of the way through January, I thought I would show you my photos so far. Most of them were taken while walking Knight. These are in no particular date order.





The top left is rocks in my yard, using the vivid color setting. The Christmas lights used the night setting. I think the other two were automatic. A squall was coming in over the hockey players.




The picture in the middle doesn't look like much, but in real-life it was very interesting. A nearby pond had frozen, thawed, and refrozen, causing these star or snowflake-shaped holes to form. There were a bunch of them, but to get any detail at all, I had to zoom way in. They were about 2 feet in diameter. Does anyone know if this happens often? I've never noticed it before.






On the right,  another snow squall makes my neighbor's shed look like a Christmas card. In the middle, a cheery bit of green. On the left, one of Knight's favorite things. I keep telling him not to be such a cliché.

 

Speaking of Knight, here he is in dragon slaying mode.

 

On days too cold to go outside, I photographed a stack of papers with the corner of a folded up bunny tunnel. Also, some clamps in the workshop. The last one is my parking spot at the MFA, with some Photoshop lighting effects.

You may have seen the pictures above on Facebook. It's amazing how good zooming in can make things look. Just like in the garden in the summer!

 

Of course the bunnies haven't been left out. Here is Jensen, looking regal.

 

And finally Buttercup, grooming. Or maybe plotting. Not sure. What I do know is that she has gotten the most views of any of my pictures for this project so far. But then, that is the way it should be, right?

I Bet You Are Wondering

if I managed to finish out Art Every Day Month. Well, amazingly, I did. Even with some travelling thrown in. Luckily this project was nice and compact, an easy one to carry along. I was able to sit at The Southern Daughter's table and play while she cooked!

Thank you all for the nice things you said about the last batch of fabric pictures. As a bonus, one of my brothers even left a comment. That really warms a sister's heart. Also, I'm so happy that shell and RG think the one of shell looks like her. I wonder if I will ever get to the point where I'm not surprised that someone recognizes what I've made?

Here is the final batch.

Day 20

More positive feedback. My husband recognized that the fish was supposed to be a tuna.

 

Day 21

 These guys look like trouble....

Day 22

See Jensen hiding in this one?



 



 Day 23

I have no idea how this one with a large reptile happened. I'm not really a reptile person.

 

Day 24

This one was done after spending an afternoon with shell and the Buns. 

 





 Day 25

My Southern Daughter says this will be her house some day. She loves a porch. And horses.

 

Day 26

The owl showed himself in some splotches of paint on the fabric. 

 

 Day 27

Another llama appeared, and I think maybe those women are the faces of Fate. Or maybe the Triple Goddess. Or both.

 

 Day 28

Took a long trail walk with the family and dog, and saw a bluebird. That's not a bird that I get to see very often.

 

 Day 29

My goofy dog, aka my Knight in fuzzy armor..

 

 Day 30

A catbird to finish off the month. Some summers we have had catbirds that would follow us around the yard, scolding us if we picked their berries. 

 

That's the lot. I have already done a little stitching on these. A "red thread of connection" has been sewn across some part of each one. Now I need to layer them up with batting, and begin the actual quilting. The hand stitching should be a good stress reliever as Christmas approaches. I am definitely not ready for it. Are you?

One last thing. I want to offer apologies to Mr. Mick for only getting his likeness onto one piece. I promise to make amends for that shortcoming in the near future. Maybe I should send him some rum, too. Think that will do the trick?

More Pencils on Fabric

Well, I haven't been good about posting for AED Month, but I have been doing the artwork! Here's a round-up of what's showed up.

Day 8

Shell on her recycling bin goat. 

 

Day 9

Silly bird. 

 

Day 10

Going nuts. 

 

Day 11

Space mouse. 

 

Day 12

Owl.  The sheer fabric did not cooperate with the camera here.

This looks better in real life. 

 

Day 13

Spooky cat. 

 

Day 14

His Majesty. 

 

Day 15

I had a squiggle on the fabric, and someone asked if I was drawing a stick figure.

 So I did. Sort of. 

 

Day 16

I was thinking about a hawk I had seen that day.

May need to revise this if it triggers Jade's inner 10-year old. 

 

Day 17

A fine day.

 

Day 18

Started with paint blobs, found a polar bear.

He was golfing. 

 

Day 19 (Today)

Made some squiggles with the pencils, sprayed them with water,

 and let them spread. This is what I saw in the result. 

  



This drawing project has turned out to be lots of fun. It's hard to believe that so much of the month has already passed! Since I prepared my fabric pieces ahead of time, I've managed to keep up with the drawing. I like several of these more than the others, but that may change once they are stitched and quilted. Do you have a favorite?

Playing with Pencils

So November has rolled around again. I imagine a number of you out there are busy scribbling away on your novels for NaNoWriMo. I don't know how you do that, especially with the holidays approaching! Maybe someday I'll be brave and try a novel, but once again this year I have decided that Art Every Day Month sounds much more doable. The use of Derwent Inktense pencils on fabric has interested me for a while, but I have never made the time to actually try them. So for November, I'm playing with pencils.

We have already reached Day 7, so here are seven small 6"x9" pieces that I have worked on. Besides the pencils, I am also using collage and paint on each piece. After November is up, I plan to go back into each of these with hand and machine stitching. So now, here we go!

Day 1

Of course, I had to start with a bunny.

 

 

Day 2

That weird little creature in the middle? Don't tell anyone, but it started life as a badly drawn chair. You can see on the flowers where the pencil color spread. You can activate the pencils with aloe gel or water. You have much more control of how the color spreads with the aloe.

 

 

Day 3

In a weird coincidence, the random number generator that I used to choose a number to paint chose the same number as the day! 

 

Day 4

 

Day 5

My Wonderland bunny looks like Ginny.

 

Day 6

The lioness is showing how I feel about political phone calls.

 

Day 7

 

 

I've seen some wonderfully subtle quilts drawn with these pencils.  As usual, there is nothing subtle about mine! But, I think I'm starting to getting the feel for using the Inktense pencils on fabric, and that's what I hoped for. To see more AEDM work, check the Day 7  links at the Creative Every Day blog. Have a great weekend everybunny.



 

 



Rabbit Approved. Barely.

Before I went away for a little trip, the weather had cooled off enough to be able to stand having a quilt on my lap. That meant I had to stop procrastinating, and I finished the binding on this quilt.

 

That also meant that it was time to have the quilt rabbit-tested. Buttercup and Jensen got together, and consulted on the criteria.

 

 

Jensen took the time to explain to Knight about their rating system.

 

 

Meanwhile, Buttercup got serious about the testing process.

 

 

She even checked out the back of the quilt.

 

 

She and Jensen talked over their findings. The discussions went on for a while, and I started to get nervous.

 

 

Finally, Buttercup informed me that they had decided to give the quilt their Paw of Approval. She also told me that too much dog smell on the quilt should have disqualified it, but they took pity on me as I had taken so long to get this done.   

 

I was grateful, and promised to try harder to meet their standards next time.