Unfinished business

Before I get to the unfinished business, here is a picture of the Fine Young Man for Dy (one of his biggest fans!), at last week's tournament. Isn't he dapper? All the other boys wore black suits until FYM appeared on the scene in this snazzy number. Now we have one guy in a light blue suit, and another whose suit is black, but has snazzy red stripes. I like to think my youngin' started the trend when he insisted on picking this fine dandy at Value Village, almost a year ago, when it was way too big on him. He really has grown so much in the last year! Here is my current work-in-progress. (Click to enlarge) This is the Valentine collage. It is a 14" X 22.5" piece of Arches watercolor paper that I received for free in an art supply order. It has about 3 layers of paper- beginning with some patterned papers from Paper Zone, and then a layer of images cut out from the cards that a friend of mine gives me. She is a gift rep, and gets tons of samples which she usually recycles, unless I relieve her of said cards. We have a deal- I can have them if I don't just use them plain- I need to make art out of them. Twist my arm!! Third layer is some vintage and reproduction scrap, and a few more card images. I used Yes! paste to glue the images, and it is all covered with 2 coats of gloss gel medium.

So now, I just have to cut it into post cards. I will do some 4 X 6, and send them as postcards, and the others I think I will cut to 5 X 7 and use with envelopes, and just write on the back. I may sell these and make some more- I would like to do another collage that had stamps and paints on it as the fourth layer. I meant to add those to this, and forgot until I was on my second coat of gel medium. Still looks good, so no worries. I feel like I should sell these and not use them myself. Trying to get some stuff together to put in the etsy shop.
Okay, these next two photos are for my gorgeous, highly inteligent, soap-making friend Amy. She happens to love to quilt and hate piecing, and I happen to love the top-making, but not the quilting. It is a beautiful relationship. Here is a top I will be sending her this weekend. It was one of the first tops I ever made. I made this one in a 24 hour period about 8 to 9 years ago, and it could be a small lap quilt, wall hanging, or a crib quilt. I named it "Hands-on Habitat". This one is not basted yet, just the top.
This one was supposed to be the first birthday gift for a little boy who will be turning 7 or 8 in April, sigh. It is much smaller, less than a yard square. This one is basted, and you can see the background fabric on the right, there. It is un-named, and is quite bright.
When you click to enlarge these, don't mind the wrinkles- I just pulled them out of a drawer to photograph them. And please remember, these are two of my very first quilts! Exact color matching was soooo important to me back then. I am really much more "free", for lack of a better word, with my colors these days. And I rarely make any quilts with actual blocks.

Ok, so. An amazing Young Man, a work in progress, and two unfinished, and hopefully soon to be finished (Thanks to Amy) projects.
TTFN,
LB

UFOs

Here are a couple of finished projects- UFO no more! As usual, you can click to enlarge.

Here is a little 4 x 6 acrylic painting I did that I will be giving my sis for her birthday tomorrow. I used coarse pumice gel on gessoed canvas to give it the bumpy texture. I am hoping to do several more of these on gatorboard to put in the etsy shop. Sorry the photo is fuzzy. And here are the last of my Christmas Thank you cards. I couldn't get the camera to not flash, so sorry about the glare. The last time I posted about these, I was still adding layers.
This abstract is still a UFO, but I wanted to post it anyhow. It is acrylic on canvas. I am now adding details. Working title: The Shape of Things. Have I told you how much I love my easel, sitting down here by the fire, and painting? It doesn't even matter that I have no idea what I am doing- it is relaxing and fun.

And this may not be exciting to you, but just looking at this photo makes me smile! This is a box of leftover gatorboard, from Crissy. In her family's business, they use a ton of gatorboard, and generate a lot of scraps, and in my art, I use a lot of substrate, but canvas is so pricey, and much of my work is experimental. So, if I can use their scraps, everyone is happy. "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" in action!

I now need to spend some time cutting these into smaller pieces, and applying gesso, coarse and fine pumice gels, and such to get these ready to use. Fun!
That is all for now- I have about another hour to work down here, so it is time to get off this thing, stuff the woodstove, crank the tunes, and get going!
TTFN
LB

UFO: Lutradour and lace challenge part 2

This one was so pretty I didn't even add lace to it. It has gold and copper highlights that aren't showing up well.This one is small. It is just the first layer of paint.

Here is the second layer on this piece.

I'll post more when I can , I gotta get the kids to the football game. I am hoping to spend some time on this project this weekend.
LB

UFO: Lutradour and lace challenge part 1

This is what I am working on currently. I am very short on time, so will elaborate later. For now, you can just look. For others in the challenge: I am not stitching things down, but using gesso in the first layer. I want to see how that works.

Work space:Layer one:

Layer two. It is a more golden color in reality.

Layer one of a different piece. This is a long piece. the left side:

The right side.

UFO's

Monet's Bridge, circa 2004
Just the top, not quilted. This was one of a series of 3 exercises I did from a book a few years ago, the title of which I can no longer remember. THis one is my faves I would like to do more- a series of abstract bridges, or water elements. I can tell it is done by a beginner in the abstract world, but I still like it.





















This one is my least favorite of the three. It was a color exercise, focused on red, but some parts of it just don't work. But, I plan on showing stuff to you that I am not happy with, as well as stuff I love, or else how will I grow as an artist?!














This one is nice, but didn't really stretch me much. THe colors are pretty, the piecing was not tricky, and the colors are those I am already in love with.









These works are a couple of years old, the stuff I did just before my huge block set in. My thoughts have been to abandon this kind of quilt-making, in favor of more collage-y styles. But looking at them now, I almost want to go back and finish them. I didn't post their sizes, they are all on the small size from 12" square, to aprrox. 15" x 30".

So, I was brave enough to post these, now I am curious to hear what you think!
LB