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Opens today!! Virginia Spiegel's generous spirit prevails once again! Hop on over to her blog today and check out the SIX(!) totes available today at 11AM.
Are you ready to help us meet our goal of raising $5000 for the American Cancer Society?Here's a preview and all the info on how it works.
A new year of journaling has started for moi. Here's my first journal of the year for you to feast your eyes on.
You might remember when I discussed my plan for 2010 journals here. This is the first fruit of those labors, although perhaps labors isn't the correct word, as it was way too much fun. Speaking of not correct words, you might have noticed that I didn't use the words "journal quilt" to describe this diptych. The reason is quite simple ~ these are not quilts. The technical term I guess would be mixed media. I did initially plan to do quilts, but I changed my mind... I decided to use my stash of 8"x10" canvas boards that I bought eons ago for a now forgotten project and make these mixed media journals. I thought that some might find it interesting to see my process for this journal, so I took pictures as I worked. I started with my acrylic paints, reds, yellows and oranges swirled together on the canvas panels. 
I scratched into the acrylic paint before it was dry. 
Then I printed my original journal sketches on Extravaganza, layered bits of fabrics and threads, and hand needle felted them in place. This was the most fun part of the entire project! I have never needle felted by hand before, even if I had the supplies for a while. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it. And I only drew blood once, and didn't get any of it on the art. 
Here's a close up of the luscious felted goodness. I've got snippets of thread, color catcher sheets, dryer lint from Laura Wasilowski, fabrics, netting.... 
Here's what it looked like after the first felting. 
Then I added a bit more bits, felted some more from the top and from the back. I used matte medium to attach the felted Extravaganza to the canvas panels. The gel was only under the felted parts, so that the organza would stay separate everywhere else. And then I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the progress.... But it went something like this: once the gel was dry, I took out my acrylics again and painted on top in more swirls and circles. Once the paint was dry, I added bits of hand stitching to parts of the organza. Then I let the journal sit around for a day or so before I declared it finished. Voila!
Remember way back when in the fall when I posted sketches of costumes I was working on for the Russian school play? Well they finally came to fruition! The play was Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, quite appropriate for January I think.
The costumes are done, the play is over and I have lots of pictures to share. Some of the pictures are from the dress rehearsal and others are from back stage during the play. It's hard to take good pictures while working backstage, but I think I did OK with a little help from my friends...Speaking of help. Lest you think that I have managed to construct all these costumes all by myself, not! I had lot's of help from very talented and hard working people. All volunteer, all parents of the kids in the school. A big part of my job was actually organizing all the volunteers.
Oh and the set design! Wait till you see the fabulous sets! Needless to say we have very talented and professional parents in this school..
OK enough blabbering, on to the pictures!
Let's start to the play's namesake shall we? Here's the Queen in all her glory! Looking a bit green in this picture, but she was all icy blue satin that I took to a long arm quilter to stitch lots of swirls into. 
Here's the Queens icy cave with Kai sitting on a block of ice. 
And the Queen enters with her flock of snowflakes and snow guards who never leave her sight.
The Queen with her maker - Marina, who just happens to be one of the costumers at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. 
This shot is a pretty decent representation of the madness that was happening on the stage, whirl winds! 
Here's our Grandmother, a beautiful teenager transforms into a frumpy grandma.. 
Here's Kai resting on the stage. 
Gerda, our heroine, posing with one of the robbers on the Grandmother's house set. 
Here's the gang of robbers on their set as Gerda begs to let her go. 
Her's our Robber Hag, sans her fabulous hat unfortunately. We took liberty here to make the hag into a sassy leader of the gang, Atamansha. Now way was this chick going to be old and haggard...
Here we have the queen's haughty councilor and the Atamansha's daughter, Robber Girl.
This was one of my favorite costumes, the princess. All froth and pinkalisciousness!
Here she is on her set with all constituents and her prince (who is wearing sneakers here during rehearsal, yes..) 
Here's the prince with one of his buddies. Is his jabot big enough? hee hee 
This at the end of the play with all the participants bowing to the audience. The only decent shot I got of the crows (the couple in black) and the two bird messengers. How cute were they??
This is our storyteller giving his epilogue with Kai and Gerda by his side. 
Dancing daisies and snowflakes made the show awfully cute! 
Here's a shot of the daisies and Gerda in the dance sequence from the side of the stage. 
And we'll end with me back stage, dressing one of the robbers.
Thanks for sticking around for all the pictures! I leave you with the 1957 Russian cartoon version of Snow Queen.
Virginia Spiegel has done it again! Yes she did say she was retiring from fund-raising, heh! Not so fast.. she is at it again and of course for a worthy cause - the American Cancer Society. Here's the scoop ~>
ToteTuesday, a Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will open Tuesday, February 2 and continue through March.
ToteTuesday will feature themed totes filled with unique, beautiful, and inspiring items from the worlds of art quilting, fiber arts, knitting, beading, mixed media and surface design.
You can expect totes offering original artwork, autographed books, hand-dyed fabrics, gorgeous yarns, beads, handmade journals, fun and useful materials/tools for mixed-media and surface design, online classes, DVDs, and much, much more.
A list of the more than 20 themed totes now in progress is here.
100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. Fiberart For A Cause has already donated over $190,000 to the ACS.
Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 2 and be prepared to be amazed!
And I am participating too! My tote will have in it my new Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop DVD and a selection of goodies from my own personal recyclables stash! Some dryer sheets, painted and not, plastic bags, fun netting, colorful scraps and a few surprises. Just the right amount of stuff to get your creative juices flowing on a new work of art!
Meanwhile check out this fun interview Virginia just did with Pokey Bolton for Quilting Arts.
PS: the Tote Tuesday logo is by Jeanelle McCall.
After the euphoria of welcoming the new year, the lovely dinner with friends, the fun times with friends and family in snowy cold Boston.. the reality sets in. Back home cleaning up after the festivities, getting ready for more (Russian Christmas), doing loads and loads of laundry...one can really hit the winter doldrums...
My antidote? To see what I accomplished in 2009 and plan for 2010! So while I cannot possibly come up with a list as extensive as Lisa's (my head can't handle that much, but she always inspires me to do more), I have come up with a small list of my own:
~ I created 26 new artworks.
~ I made 30 4"x4" pieces for an art exchange with a group of artists that I belong to.
~ among those 26 new pieces are three that are part of the figure series that I am really excited about.
~ and also among those new pieces are three larger new artworks for the St. Pete series that I am still passionate about
~ I reworked nine old okoshechki/little windows pieces that I wasn't happy with.
~ I had work accepted into 10 juried exhibitions
~ one of those exhibitions is Art Quilt Elements (which still makes me want to pinch myself!)
~ I sold two pieces of art!
~ I taped a DVD for Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop!!!
~ I wrote two online tutorials for Quilting Daily
~ I answered interview questions for Embellishments Newsletter from Quilting Arts Magazine
~ I taped a segment for Quilting Arts TV Series 500
~ I designed and made costumes for Russian school Christmas play
~ I designed and am still working on costumes for the new Russian school Christmas play
~ I attended a workshop with Jane Davila
~ I spent five weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia with my children
~ I spent a week on Hawai'i for our second honeymoon
~ I shepherded a second grader and kindergartener (my most important job!)
~ I took figure drawing classes for a semester
~ and I kept a sketch journal everyday....
OK so not too shabby... I feel better now! Thanks for indulging me.
Now I am ready to dive into 2010 with enthusiasm! I have chosen my word for the year, well, two actually ~ CLARITY and PURPOSE. Those are two things that I want to achieve in 2010 for my art. Which path do I want to pursue? Why do I want to pursue it? To get myself going on this I sighed up for a Blast Off class with Alyson Stanfield which starts tomorrow (aack!!)
Now you are probably wondering what that old journal sketch from last January is doing up there at the top of the post? I'll tell ya. I will not be doing a daily sketch journal this year or a weekly journal quilt. I decided to do monthly journal art quilts. I plan to choose a journal sketch from the corresponding month of 2009 and use it as inspiration for a monthly diptych in 2010. So that red sketch up there is the inspiration for January 2010 journal diptych. How will I translate it? What size will it be? Those are all good questions that I will find an answer to this month. And whatever parameters I choose, I will keep for the rest of the year.
There. That's the plan. What's your plan?
Tis time! as Virginia says: warm up your credit cards! The second Tote Tuesday is here, and this time my tote is up for grabs. Well, technically no tote, Virginia is providing the tote, I'm providing the contents. She's got all the info right here. And I'm just going to tease you with a few close ups of the luscious goodies that I have gathered to go into this tote. 
We've got dryer sheets ready to be painted, dyed or printed upon by you, and painted by me. 
We've got colorful plastics from my personal stash. We've got papers, tickets stubs and candy wrappers from last summer's trip to Russia. We've got color catcher sheets, naturally dyed. 
And of course we've got my DVD and a small art quilt made specifically for the DVD workshop and featured on the cover.
