barn owl pillow

This started off as just an experiment in freehand machine embroidery, but then ended up as a pretty pillow that I really enjoy! I drew out the owl on muslin and machine stitched it using several thread colors (though the eyes and beak are hand-embroidered). Then I added two strips of pink lace and added a pink patterned fabric as the back.

idea for Paradigm show

New idea for my upcoming show at Paradigm Coffee & Music in October. I want to do these Victorian-type silhouettes with more of a stylized twist, and they will all be focused on elements of nature and each contain a different girl's silhouette and animal. Keep in mind this is just a loose rendering and will be more detailed. I'm thinking of making them more 3-dimensional and doing some embroidery on fabric as well as painting. We'll see how it goes....

in progress work for gallery show

In progress work for a final piece that will be in the gallery show. Done in watercolor and pencil. After doing all the painting I plan to go back into it with pencil to add texture. It depicts the transformation of the animals on the island from real creatures into mechanical shadows of themselves...

mural sketch

sketches for a large 10 x 8 mural that will be in the gallery show... oh man, large-scale work scares me...

fairy tale sketches - finally I'm up and running!

Some character studies of the main character and the wolf. The top one is the tight sketch - it depicts the animals of the forest transforming from real creatures to mechanical ones - becoming twisted shadows of themselves... mhuwahaha!

makin purses!

I know I haven't posted in a while - been very busy. So I guess I'll start from the beginning. I've been making lots of purses and more stuffed animals among other things in preparation for a craft fair I will be a part of on June 27 at UW-Parkside in Kenosha, WI. So if anyone's gonna be out and about that Saturday you should swing by! These are just two of my favorite purses I've made so far. I'll post more as take pics of them all. If anyone wants one made just drop me a line! :)

collage time!

A friend and I took a mixed media collage class at Kenosha's Lemon Street Gallery. It was really fun and it was a great opportunity for me to start working with traditional media again - woohoo!! So we had to do these two exercises and then a third bigger collage of basically whatever we wanted, but I didn't have enough time to get much done so it will be posted when it's finished. And yeah, they're pretty random. I really want to start doing more work with traditional media as opposed to everything being digital.

old stuff i found while cleaning!!

I told myself this blog was only for posting NEW stuff but I found these and had to share. Wowzers this stuff seems so old! In reality it's only been 3 - 4 years but I haven't seem them in so long I forgot I had them! It's also interesting to see them now because I can definitely see all the problems with them (color, anatomy, media application....). I still really like the hands though even if I can see the proportion issues :) I'm gonna keep cleaning and see if I can find more!

francis the taxidermied t-rex

I made this poor guy as if he had been hunted and then mounted on someone's wall... Made out of sculpey then hardened in the oven, added pebbley skin texture, painted and mounted. The nameplate is etched copper. I love him - he's so cute! My favorite part is his short little arms :) I have some more to post - a pirate platypus named Raul, a shiny glittery unicorn named Charlie, and a rather normal looking kudu, don't remember his name....

straightened hair!!

That's me - doin the happy straight hair dance!! Got my hair cut the other day - and then she straightened it!! First time I've ever had my hair straightened (it's naturally curly and I've never had the patience to straighten it myself). Holy crap it's amazing - I keep running my hands through it - and my fingers don't get all tangled up in curls and knots.... I wish I had the patience to straighten it myself but I don't so this will probably be the last time any of my friends and family see me with straight hair!!