Wednesday, May 13, 2009

New Fiber Art ACEO's, Art Updates and Moms

Not much time this last week for dedicated stretches of time to any one project. So you don't think I'm a complete slackard, I'll share some updates to projects I have been working on and some new ACEO's that I finished yesterday.

Before I do that I had the good fortune to be interviewed by Andrea, the editor, at ArtsyBeat. The focus of the interview is on my fiber art which is inspired by the "mothers" in my family....my Mom (Phyllis), my Grandmas Gladys and Blanche, and my Great-Grandmother Ida.

My Mom is just such a joyful spirit, has a wicked sense of humor, and always sees the glass half full. My grandmothers were so different, one a beauty operator and thought there was nothing better in life than giving a good perm or as she called it a finger wave. She was a flapper and led quite an independent and wild life for those times. My other grandmother was a homemaker with eight kids and a slew of grandkids...independent in a different way. My favorite memory of her was the sugar cookies she ALWAYS kept in a jar in this weird-shaped cabinet by the stairs. I have one of her mixing bowls that was ALWAYS on the counter with her Mix-Master. It's one of my most treasured possessions.

I never met my great-grandmother but I have quite a few pics of her and she is quite vividly planted in my brain from the stories my Mother has lovingly told me over the years. She lived half the year in town (if you can call about 15 people a town), and the other half on the farm. She died in 1939 but left among her possessions a few quilts. I have one of her quilts and a small snippet of another that was made into a pillow by my Mom. Two more of my treasured possessions.

I could go on about the pioneering spirit and independence of the women in my family back to Scotland and Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries....but maybe another time.

Here are two fiber art ACEO's I finished yesterday:


"Sunshine" and "Tidepool" are available in my Littleton Studio shop at Etsy and 1000Markets.

Finally, updates to my colored pencil painting "Vintage Teapot" and my pastel class project "Cobalt Blue Bottle":

Have worked on the handle of the teapot and now working on adding the roses on the front of the teapot. Also working on adding some "atmosphere" to the background, because there is a ton of light bouncing around in this set-up.

Have just about finished the vase learning how to make the vase look "splashed" in light. I now will move on to the cobalt perfume bottle and the foreground, including the skin of the onion. I need to make it smaller so it doesn't cause problems on the left side when framing.

Cheers everyone!

2 comments:

Carolina said...

I love your grandmothers's stories. Thanks for sharing them...

Brenda Boylan said...

Cindy, I LOVED reading about the women in your life! It warms my heart. A thought came to mind...what if you painted a series of work with some of those heirloom snippets as a background to your work? Just a thought. Anyway, you are so fortunate to have such fond memories of these ladies in your life. Honor them!