Cay Denise

I'm part of a local creative club that got together for a recent art-making adventure, and what an adventure we had! Our theme for the day's effort was letting go -- because one of our group members moved out of the area and this was our first time meeting without her.  We started out with a blank piece of paper twice as big as the one pictured.  Over the course of our arting day, we collaged, laughed, painted, talked about memories, had lunch, let our efforts dry, and then...we cut the color-filled large piece in two. Each person then chose which side they would keep and finish for themselves and which one they would pass to the next person in the group to be decorated.  Each piece being decorated in this way was passed on until all members had the chance to work on it.  Then it returned to its original creator and would go home with her as well as the other unfinished side. Our day was filled with acts of letting go as part of the project.  From imagery in the collag

In follow-up to my March 16 post, my art quilt was selected for display at the City Attorney's Office and my painting was selected for display at the Housing Department!

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My employer is sponsoring a first-ever (that I know of) art display of employee art creations through the fall. Interested departments have identified a space for a piece and will be choosing the one they want to display--from among a broad array of submissions--tomorrow. I'm excited to be participating!  The pieces I have submitted for display including 'Forest Storm' juried into the 2014 IQF and an Untitled painting featuring a painted/deconstructed/reconstructed canvas quilt-let (made in a Katie Pasquini Masopust class) in the center. Three cheers for employers who recognize the avocation passions of their workforces!

This trailer is for a movie about Iris Apfel, an amazing woman who has led an incredible and artful life!  See it, if you haven't!

This lesson was on painting the 5-minute flower pot with flowers in the wet-on-wet watercolor technique.  Of course, I'm not as quick as the instructor (she's been practicing for a while).  But here are the two I completed. What makes the image is the black Micron pen outline of the flowers and leaves.  It just adds a level of detail that helps the viewer 'see' both.  The suggested finish is to sew black lines around the piece.  I haven't done that yet. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

I recently saw a post from Katie Pasquini Masopust that she was filming two courses for iquilt.  I had not heard of it until then.  So, I checked it out and it's a series of online quilt courses offered through the American Quilter's Society.  I'm certainly going to to be looking forward to one of the courses Katie filmed.  To find out about other course offerings, check out the following link: https://www.iquilt.com

The Week 6 project was to create a piece with 'quirky' birds perched on a tree branch.  I wanted to complete a piece in a day and decided the tree was going to take too long.  So, I made a single quirky bird. Part of the assignment was to also explore using a wet-on-wet watercolor technique.  I really liked it! Anyway, my quirky gal is dressed in bumblebee camouflage wearing a tutu and loves platform shoes.   I like how the stamping reinforces a decorative element.  The empty space beforehand was distracting Down the road, I may change the background color/treatment further, since it is quite plain.   This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .