Summer Flowers

The finished spread. Embroidery done by hand using fly stitch, lazy-daisy stitch, back stitch and french knots. The watercolor was painted by me, inspired by a painting by Alfred John Billinghurst (b. 1880) called The Herbaceous Border. I may have to put this aside for a day or two to decide whether or not it's really finished...I tend to want to keep embellishing...what do you think?

Cottonwood Trees

The origin of my Blog title: Art Beneath the Cottonwoods...
A view of some of the cottonwood trees in our yard...they have large heart-shaped leaves, as the watercolor painting I used for the title banner shows. When the wind blows, it often sounds as though it is raining, when in reality it is just the rustling of the leaves. These trees are a mixed blessing because they drop many little branches ( or a lot of big branches during a storm!) but they do help keep our house cool. In July, the leaves begin to turn brown and fall...no pretty colors. We have to rely on the Maple trees for autumn color...I hope to add more photos of the Cottonwood trees throughout the seasons. In the spring, there is a surprising amount of "cotton" that resembles snow!

Mail Art

This is a Halloween postcard sent to a friend in Artgang Ohio. We've had a great time sending art to each other in the mail, in many different forms. This Ohio artist's group gets together once a month to try out new techniques, and share what we've been working on with each other. On-line groups are great, but there's nothing like cementing a friendship face-to-face! We've had so much fun together and it's wonderful to be with people who actually "get it"--the mixed media art that we do! I knew Diana likes vintage Halloween, so I had a blast making this.

Halloween ATC

An Artist Trading Card for a swap. Original watercolor of the Goblin Queen. Rose is Dover clip art. Text is inspired by a poem "Halloween" by Harry Behn:

Tonight is the night
When dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky,
When elf and sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen.

Tonight is the night
When leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground,
When spooks and trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy and green.

Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves
Everywhere,
When ghoul and ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their queen.
It's Hallowe'en.

Halloween ATC's

Artist Trading Cards created for a swap on the Altered Book Club Yahoo Group. The crow is drawn in ink over a watercolor wash. The pumpkins were done in watercolor and then color copies were made to create the multiple copies. The pumpkins were inspired by vintage Halloween images. Jolly Halloween!

Fairies

A drawing in one of my art journals...
I think fairies must wear things that
they find in the forest...flower petals,
leaves, woven grasses...or maybe
nothing at all...another rise to the
challenge of Make It Mondays...

Bandana Postcard

This postcard was created with craft acrylic paint and black Sharpie markers. The swirls are hand-drawn, and the white dots are white acrylic applied with a liner brush...green is not one of my favorite colors (unless it's leaves on flowers) so I try to periodically challenge myself to use it. Make It Mondays on Go Make Something had green as its theme in July, so here it is...saw the "bandanna" technique popping up several places on-line so had to try it!

Gypsy ATC

Artist Trading Card entitled Gypsy, inspired by Go Make Something. Background is cotton fabric. Image is hand-drawn in ink and watercolor. Embellished with sequin, beads, and copper spiral.

Beaded Pins

Beaded pins stitched onto a felt background. The center of the black and red brooch is a small flat button, onto which I glued a tiny bit of clip art, and then decoupaged over it to seal it. Assorted beads were stitched in concentric circles around the center. After all beads were sewn on, I stitched another felt circle to the back, covering the stitches, and then tacked on a pin back. The blue brooch was made using the same technique, but looks very different just by changing the color combination. Actually was fairly quick and easy to do!

Altered Book Spread

A two-page spread in an altered book featuring a Christina Rossetti quotation:

"And sometimes I remember days of old,
When fellowship seemed not so far to seek,
And all the world and I seemed much less cold,
And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,
And hope felt strong, and life itself not weak."

-Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), The Thread of Life