What I'm working on

My desk is usually in a mess, but never quite like it is at the moment. We have our annual exhibition coming up again in May so I thought I'd get in early and do some paintings. I like to work on a few at a time and move around from one to the other. They're all in different stages of completion, and all are still being worked on.

I'm not sure where this one is heading, I might add some sheep.

This one's almost completed. I've added black stitching around the flowers. I love combining stitching and paint.

This has a long way to go, I'll be adding sheep and stitching around the poppies when they're finished too.

I'm also working on more journals and have some workshops coming up too.

Thanks so much again to you all for visiting and your comments.

Thanks so much too for those of you who have signed up to the on-line workshop 21 Secrets, it's still open, so click on the link above if you would like more info or care to join us.

Daily journal

I started a daily journal last year with very good intentions of working in it everyday. That idea worked for about two months, then it became every couple of days, now it's down to once a week. I'm really endeavouring to work more in the journal as it frees me up from the structured work that I do. Following are a few of the pages from the past few months.

this page uses Pitt pens, black and white marker pens and water colour background.

I painted and decorated a piece of deli/tissue paper and glued it to the pages. I cut out some flower heads that I had painted onto white paper. The leaves and stems were created by painting over part of the background, like a mask, then outlining them with white pen and made veins with black pen.

this page used a piece of patterned paper from a magazine that I then altered with paint and white marker. I copied and created simple forms from the patterned paper on the opposite page.

this page was created using acrylic paint, ink, markers and oil pastels.

Thanks so much again to you all for visiting and your comments.

Thanks so much too for those of you who have signed up to the on-line workshop 21 Secrets, it's still open, so click on the link above if you would like more info or care to join us.

More Eco Dyeing

We were very low on rainfall over January, so that's a good time to collect fallen eucalyptus leaves, as they have a higher concentration of colour. I still had some recycled silk left and and a pure cotton top that I'd bought at an op shop recently. I added red onion skins, red cabbage and tumeric to the mix and here are some of the results.

this photo shows the detail where I wrapped the fabric around an old rusty spring

the total piece, the left is quite a deal more purple than shown, the spots are from steel wool.

this piece is very dark, I wrapped it around a steel bar and placed the cabbage inside the bundle.

this is the top, it will need remodelling, I'm not a fan of frills or ruffles so I'll remove the sleeves and the trim around the base and probably open it up down the middle.

I've also added another collage card or picture to my Etsy shop

and I forgot to add a side view of the journal in my Etsy.

Thanks so much again to you all for visiting and your comments.

Thanks so much too for those of you who have signed up to the on-line workshop 21 Secrets, it's still open, so click on the link above if you would like more info or care to join us.