BJP 2010 - Heartsquares - October

This fabric square is the base of the beading, although, in this case, there doesn't seem to be an obvious connection between fabric and beading in the way of matching colours

I did not make the netting especially for this BJP piece, it was a leftover from some project I had worked on at least two years before. In any case, I was happy to integrate it.

BJP 2013 - Here comes the Sun - September

Limited Dimensions

With my mind lately set on finishing my unfinished objects, my September piece had to be a little patient with me, but here it is now, brand new, finished this morning.

 

Limited Dimensions

I read, and maybe so did you,

a moving story which is true

of Robin Atkins and a donkey,

which shows that, while a path seems wonky,

it may be purposeful and straight.

In any case, the tale is great.

What's that story? Here's the LINK.

Now, what do you feel and think?

The question that we here advance

is: Did they re-meet just by chance,

or are man and beast connected

and subconsciously directed

by the power we call fate?

We'll never get the answer straight.

To the Happy End three cheers!

Oh Sun, caressing Donk's long ears,

did you foresee the story's twists?

Is there a pattern that insists

on being followed to a tee,

a pattern that we cannot see,

but have to live by all the same?

I wonder: What's the secret game?

Obviously, I can't rely

on you to send me a reply.

I know you cannot ease my tensions –

I'm caught in limited dimensions.

You may be wondering why there is a whole animal pyramide on my piece, instead of just one donkey, as would be adequate to illustrate the story. Wellll - it happened like this: I went out to look for a donkey, small enough to sit in the centre of my 6" x 6" piece. I soon met one, but ... he was not alone ... Now, we all know that donkeys have a reputation of being stubborn, and this one turned out to be no exception. When I asked him whether he would like to become the star of my bead picture, he thought that over for a while and then said that he might consent to accept that job, but only on two conditions. First: His pals had to accompany him. Second: His fee would have to be paid in Carrot currency. What could I do? I was in a tight spot, so I agreed, and here they all are. May I introduce: The donkey's name is Oskar, his friends are dog Benno, cat Winnifred, rooster Lorenzo.

Here's some more background information:

Rough layout after the fabric had been prepared.

I made the carrots from polymer clay (Fimo), with a hole from one end to the other to fix them to the background and add the greenery.

Fastened to the embroidery hoop.

Silk backed with thin, iron-on interfacing; two different fabrics fused on top.

Ready to be taken off the embroidery hoop.

I purchased the blue glass firefly in London/UK, at one of the gateways to Beading Paradise (see information below). I then elongated the tail with some seed beads.

The raffia bee was given to me by one of my children's friends many, many years ago. It was the craze at that time to knot these sweet little critters.

Details about the a.m. London bead shop, last updated in summer 2011:

The Bead Shop www.beadshop.co.uk

21a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NS; there is a good map on the website.

Business hours: Mon 13.00 – 18.00, Tue – Fri 10.30 – 18.00, Sat 11.30 – 17.00,

however downstairs area Mon – Fri only until 17.00, Sat only until 16.30.

Tube: Leicester Square (Piccadilly or Northern line) or Covent Garden (Piccadilly line).

Have fun with Oskar and friends!

(Un)finished Projects: "News of the Day" - "Die neuesten Nachrichten"

Materials: Canvas; acrylic paint; part of a calender page, altered, and backed by corrugated cardboard; newspaper, backed by watercolour paper.

Another unplanned motif that came to life step by step. The newspaper protecting my kitchen table provided the drawing surface for the chatting birdies. They were drawn, cut out, painted, stuck onto watercolour paper, cut out again, touched up with some more acrylic paint, then adhered to the canvas. Voilà, here they are, exchanging the news of the day.

(Un)finished Projects: "Red Bird flying home across the River in the Evening"

("Der rote Vogel fliegt abends über den Fluss nach Hause")

Materials: Canvas, various kinds of acrylic paints, piece of newspaper.

In the first place, I tried a technique on the riverbanks that failed completely, utterly, totally: Both banks were green originally, dotted with flowers in yellow, blue and red - just big dots in the foreground, small dots on the far side of the river. Then I followed a technique suggestion that I found in a very interesting book about acrylic painting techniques (I will add title and author later, as I lent the book to someone and can't remember the exact details). Well, the suggestion there was to paint flowers, then cover them with a thick layer of acrylic gloss medium and paint more flowers into the wet medium, then let it dry. The result should have been a stunning flower piece. I don't know why, but my thick acrylic medium layer took half an eternity to dry, and then it did not dry clear, but left the riverbanks covered in a thick blanket of fresh, white snow. Heck! What to do? I completely repainted the riverbanks, on top of the bulging medium, this time the foreground in greens, the background bank in earth tones. A rosebush quickly and surprisingly grew on the right-hand side. Everybody, including the bird, was happy again. The bird, by the way, is collaged: As my drawing talents are rather undeveloped, I did not dare draw the bird into the painting directly. So I drew it on newspaper, cut it out, painted it and stuck it to the painting with acrylic medium (an extremely thin layer this time).