a bundle of paradoxes














time to get up and get cracking in the studio. 



"The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies  every morning to keep it late." Ogden Nash



LINKS

 My Bed by Tracey Emin (yes, an unmade bed)

Woman in Bed by Ron Mueck (giant sculpture)

Embroidery Figure on

Bullion Stitch: YouTube to the Rescue


It wasn't that I couldn't see how to do it in my little book of embroidery stitches BUT the video shared something the book couldn't, how to slide the stitches along the needle and thread.







I was doing the claws of the little needle painted bird last night and getting my feathers into quite a ruffle trying to figure it out. YEA for YouTube and thanks to dimenstitch for sharing your simple

Free Friday. Girl with Veggie Escorts Pattern






Link for this image available here



LINKS

Floresita at Vintage Transfer Finds and she has a great Flickr page too.

Free Embroidery Patterns at Craft Gossip

35 Free Embroidery Designs at SloDive  




Tea Room and Needle Painting










 We decided to covert the dining room into a small tea room and media room for reading and listening to music. It's a great room for light to sit next to the window and embroider. We got tired of this lovely room being used for one purpose and taken up with a huge dining set. 



 Needle Painting is coming along very nicely and I love the quiet time as I do it.





It's true creating is

Needle Painting: bird





more info


It is very time consuming, but not the actual stitching. It's getting all the colours organized and labeled correctly and setting them up so one does NOT get into a kerfuffle. I am enjoying exploring new ways of doing embroidery, and hope by the end of the year my doodle cloth has plenty of new stitches.



Reading: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and one review said if one is going to

Studio Shelf






The painting is finished and will sit on the shelf for a couple of months to dry before I figure out the way I want it framed.



I got this lovely book for my birthday



I had seen a link about it on one of my fave blogs, "feeling stitchy", and thought it would be fun exploring needle painting on my doodle cloth.



Interesting Article in New York ART called "how to make It in the Art

What do feminists look like?


I'm always astonished when I hear someone ask that question. Some of the views are strange, check these one's out.

 That anyone has to ask it just goes to show the propaganda has worked ;)



Reductio ad Hitlerum



Photograph of Vintage Embroidery manipulated on adobe with added tie dye,  embellished with embroidery and ribbon edging. Quote is  R.L.



LINKS

Media Matters-outrageous claims

Free Vintage Embroidery: Girl with Silver Knife




Enjoy!



Please go to flickr page to get pattern


The Lights are Too Bright








Embroidery of Sunglasses 



I read an interesting commentary about artists wanting attention and I sort of agree in that yes, there are some who want to be famous, some hope the work is famous, and some who love to share what they do, etc.  What I don't agree with is the notion that by virtue of displaying one's work on blogs or elsewhere artists just want attention for themselves, or are

New Work by Brett Baumgart

Salvador Dali by Brett Baumgart

Lipstick by Brett Baumgart

New Tattoo by Brett Baumgart

When is a painting finished?








Sometimes it's so easy to know and other times, arg!  At first I thought I would be doing the whole painting in colour but it being primarily black and white seems to fit with memento mori. 






When my husband saw the rose he said it looks like a dead rose. "it is!", I exclaimed with joy. So I'm glad I was able to convey that.  My challenge now seems to be how much more colour do I put

Cultural Differences: Hairy Mary


 Even after living in the USA over 30 years I can be taken off guard and at a dinner party last night a guest said she didn't believe me when I said Hairy Mary is a reference to furry caterpillars. I think she thought I was joking, but I told her to google it. I grew up in the UK calling any furry caterpillars a hairy mary. I thought it was cute, and since the jafagirl mannequin was dedicated to

Scrapbook Snippets 1971: Mad About Aprons


NOT! I thought the drawing and the design cute. I did find it odd that a teen mag was promoting an item that many viewed at the time as a symbol of drudgery. I suppose they were trying to convince us teens that we could enjoy looking cute while we were dragged into the kitchen kicking and screaming to do the dishes. I don't think so ;)



Kind of funny to see how aprons have become such a trend.

Inspiration and Unusual Results


I saw this on Bit Rebels and they do a great write up about the artist Hong Yi. I love her use of unusual materials/objects to create art and particularly what inspired the work in this video.






War on Women: it's a bitch huh!


HUM!







I mean really, our vjayjay is too brown, our cheeks too puffy,  we shouldn't go to work, we should go to work, we are too old, egadds you are A FEManiST, we don't care about money like men do, we can't make our own healthcare decisions, we are shameful, too fat, yadda yadda yadda.






LINKS

Why the media assault on Ashley Judd is larger than a puffy face-Forbes
Attacking Sexual

Trolls








"Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,And munched and mumbled a bare old bone"


Tolkien




Well these one's are cute and fun to paint because they are weirdly cute.




However the other one's are just weird. I'm talking about those creatures that troll the internet looking for a host for their pent up  resentments or grievances. Some don't hide behind anonymity but harbor a free

Setting up a Still Life


I decided to create a still life light box  over the weekend since I have  a yen to do a few small still life paintings. This video gives you an idea of how it works.



I have a thing for shadows (can't see in the cropped portion but it lurks in the back) and it has a bit of a sinister feel to it, and my still life has become more of a memento mori.







I wasn't planning that, but I guess

Egg Head Wisdom




"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." Einstein


Hairy Mary She Was Scary


NOTICE

Dear Visitor, thank you for visiting and my apologies. Unfortunately due to the continued infringement, mining and exploitation of my images by individuals, spammers and companies I no longer have the incentive to show my photographs and artwork









The handy thing about having a doodle cloth/sampler is that in between projects I can play, experiment and practice stitches (version

OutDoor Art Gallery


In Tough Times British Artists Hit the Streets


"But a do-it-yourself, street-level arts culture is flourishing. Some of London's hipper, scruffier quarters have become so art-encrusted that they are now tourist attractions in themselves, with a burgeoning street-art economy."




This is something I have enjoyed doing with the Jafagirls. As this artist says in the above article "It's very,

Saucy Craftbombing ,eeeeeeeeeeek where's me smelling salts


well this would really put some into the vapors around here lol! Felt Vagina's is the new Yarnbombing.  



Just looks like a bit craftbombing with craft felt, but you know the actual statue is rather saucy already ahem!

Where's Millie Tant when you need her eh!




Meanwhile the jafagirls yarnbombing is rather tame, and modest, and meant to compliment the beautiful beads Susan hung in the tree

Public Art Policy Yellow Springs Council Meeting


On the whole I felt the viewpoints shared at the meeting were respectful, and I appreciated the comments by council members as well as everyone else who spoke up. Some good questions to ponder on both sides and I am pondering.  Someone brought up the point that the village doesn't display the Ten Commandments even though some would like it too.  We have Separation of Church and State and no

A visit to the Pot Shop






As in the John Byran Community Pottery, and the blossoms next to the ceramic mural was a sight to behold. 

Respect goes BOTH ways




Thought I would add her to the Doodle Cloth since she is an issue right now and sparked a wave of nude art being added to the "women's voices out loud" exhibit. 

There will be a village council meeting which will address the public art policy and a call for respectful discussion and consideration for everyone's feelings. Oddly enough that courtesy seems to be one sided considering  how the

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