anna

Discovered by cats. . .

There's always choking while in the house alone. . . (thanks Paige)
Postage stamp size.

The Yo Yo

Have you ever taken a close look at those traveling amusement park rides?

Happy Birthday Estelle!

I just gave Muchacho some teeth:

Felted horse

I made this horse for Tom's cousin for her birthday. She loves horses and from the day we moved to Charlotte has been so generous and kind to our family. It is only a small token of all of our appreciation for all she does.
For those who are curious, I started with a very spare wire armature and tacked a basic shape with simple white wool roving. I then covered it with the colored roving and felted it tighter and tighter, adding bits as I needed to form the shape- much like sculpting with clay. I used beautiful wool yarn to cover the lower legs and form the curlicues on the body. Finally, I strung glass beads on a couple of threads and sewed them into the mane and tail, which was made of unfelted roving. The color, curlicues and beads gave it a magical sort of look, and I dubbed it Diana's wishing horse. I hope it brings her good luck.

Ukrainian Folk Tale

Sometimes a project I am working on makes me very happy. It can be the way the project flows with ease, the nice people I am working with, or a wonderful story. In the case of the current project I am working on, it is great in all of these ways. So, I am putting aside my worries and anxieties for a while and enjoying drawing.
Here are a couple of sketches I am working on:

flight anxieties

Travel provided lots of food for thought:

Two new anxieties

I have been a little lazy lately, and today feel cursed with the sleeping disease. Anyway, what I was going for in my first drawing I didn't really capture. We have a wood stove that we keep going almost constantly in the winter. It is usually pretty hot . When we have kids over, they love to run around the first floor of our house in sort of a racetrack that passes by the wood stove. I often worry that someone will trip over something and will fall, hands first, into the wood stove. Then I will have to use a spatula to get their hands off the hot surface of the stove. Yikes!
This one comes from my personal experience cross country skiing today. Thankfully we all made it back to the lodge safely.

Creepy. . .

I have always had a bad feeling about this one, and now that I've finished the recent New Yorker article. . . .

Don't run into the street

How many times were you told this as a child?

Happy Birthday Charlie

For my brother:

Fifteen on the Sled!

Last week, I did a program at Charlotte Library. We started by reading Ten on the Sled aloud. It was wonderful to have my huge teachers edition. The pictures were big enough for everyone to see. I explained how the the project went from words and sketches to a finished book. By the time we were done with that, everyone was ready to move around a bit. I brought with me a very long toboggan that I had made and some undecorated sledders for the kids to color and decorate. Each child did a fabulous job coloring their sledder and giving them their own personality. The sled and all fifteen sledders (plus the Caribou in front), was hung on the front of the circulation desk. Take a look at the finished product:






Thank you to the Charlotte Library and the kids at the program for a fun afternoon!

planning a New York Trip

This has me thinking about my most current worry: BEDBUGS. Yuck.

Pan Handles

I think I will be about 90 years old before I stop turning pan handles inward on the stove.

Sledding Anxiety

Ice Skating

Need I say any more?

Icicles

Anxiety a day

I am not sure if this happened when I became a mother, or if I have always been this way, but I worry constantly about completely irrational things. Things that may happen to me, our children, or really anyone. What better source of inspiration than these fanciful imaginings of my worried mind? Here are a couple of doodles:

Painted Stools

When we completed our kitchen, we added a bar, and thus needed bar stools. We went with unpainted stools with the idea of painting them ourselves. I have been chipping away at them and am finally finished. I decided to do the four classical elements: fire, water, earth, and wind.
In researching the four elements, I found that the Greeks believed them to be the root of all existing matter. Eastern cultures incorporate them into their beliefs as well.
Each element corresponds to a direction on the compass and has its own individual traits. Quoted below are descriptions of each element:

Each of the elements is associated with traits and meanings, as well as with directions on the compass. The following directional associations are for the Northern hemisphere; readers in the Southern hemisphere should use the opposite correspondences.

Earth: Connected to the North, Earth is considered the ultimate feminine element. The Earth is fertile and stable, associated with the Goddess. The planet itself is a ball of life, and as it turns, we can watch all the aspects of life take place in the Earth: birth, life, death, and finally rebirth. The Earth is nurturing and stable, solid and firm, full of endurance and strength. In color correspondences, both green and brown connect to the Earth, for fairly obvious reasons!

Air: Air is the element of the East, connected to the soul and the breath of life. If you’re doing work related to communication, wisdom or the powers of the mind, Air is the element to focus on. Air carries away your troubles, blows away strife, and carries positive thoughts to those who are far away. Air is associated with the colors yellow and white, and connects to the Tarot suit of Swords.

Fire: Fire is a purifying, masculine energy, associated with the South, and connected to strong will and energy. Fire both creates and destroys, and symbolizes the fertility of the God. Fire can heal or harm, and can bring about new life or destroy the old and worn.

Water: Water is a feminine energy and highly connected with the aspects of the Goddess. Used for healing, cleansing, and purification, Water is related to the West, and associated with passion and emotion.

I think from day to day, I will pick my seat as my needs indicate.
Wind:


Fire:
Earth:
Water:

Hayley

My most current illustration project is on hold for the time being. I am getting lots done here. I have felted the baby raccoon and now this, my friend's elderly black lab named Hayley. I think it is a pretty good likeness. I started with a simple wire armature that looked essentially like a stick figure of a dog. I then wrapped the armature with white wool roving (because I have plenty of white and not as much black) and needle felted it until it was secure. I then covered it with a thinner layer of black, and felted it on, sort of sculpting by adding a little here or there as I went along. The final touch was some white fibers on the muzzle and chest. Here's the finished product: