Hand Sewn Patches (Iron-On because I did enough sewing)

For the past few weeks, I've been obsessed with embroidering iron-on patches for my jacket.  

You see, I couldn't find my favourite denim jacket when I was changing my closet over to fall and winter clothing (because I have a small closet, I store off-season clothes).  I was really sad, and I knew I'd miss it, so I bought a new one.  But, then I found it-- Of course I did.  So now I have one that I want to sew patches onto.  And since my tastes run, ahem, weird, I wanted to make my own.  And that's how it started.

I still haven't figured out my style.  I like super detailed things, so the patches I've made have a lot of details.  I waver between botanical illustrations, and graffiti.  Extreme. 

This bee was the first one I completed.  It was, ah, a little ambitious for my first one, but I like how it turned out.  

The process is kind of long though.  First I need an idea of a patch I want to make.  Then I sketch it out in a notebook, or on some paper.  Then I ink up the sketch so that I can see the lines to trace it onto the cloth. I trace it onto the cloth (I use cotton broadcloth for the backing).  I put my cotton and my stabilizer fabric onto the hoop, and start sewing.  I mostly stitch at night.  Its pretty calming.  

I've been saying "Dope" a lot since I got this shirt from my aunt:

So, you know... it made its way into my art.  And just because I think it so pretty, here's my organized embroidery floss container:

Sigh.  I love it when things are in rainbow order.  

Graffitti: The Tivoli Street Art Project

The Tivoli Theatre was a built in the late 1800's in Hamilton, and was at first a carriage factory until 1924 when it became a combination vaudeville and movie house.  It remained a movie house for 71 years, until in 1995 it became a venue for live shows, from music to plays.  This is how I remember the Tivoli theatre.  I started acting in community theatre in this building.  I was in a couple of musicals including Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical, here.  It was my favorite place to act; it had an old vibe-- and I may or may not have pretended to be part of Phantom of the Opera while lurking its halls.

I remember the hoopla about the plans to demolish the theatre.  Its roof had collapse, and the 3rd floor had to be removed.  It was structurally unsound.  The city had hoped to save the theatre, but it was demolished (along with the record store I worked in next door.)

 
Where it once was, there is an empty lot, that the Hamilton Police Department, and the neighbourhood association have turned into an improptu little parkette.  How it did this was through the creation of the Tivoli Street Art Project.  It became sanctioned to create street art and graffitti in this place, instead of people illegally creating a space for, well graffitti in this space.



How the project works, is every so often (I'm not sure of the schedule, its not monthly anymore) the walls of the old theatre are re-decorated by local artists.  Its done during a street festival we have in Hamilton every month called James North Art Crawl.  People are encouraged to watch the artists work on the new pieces.  I like to go and take pictures, to have a record of the murals that have been created in the space. 



I went for a walk to check out the murals that are up right now; our SuperCrawl is coming up, and I have a feeling that the mural will change!  I really love the murals that are on display right now.  Although I wish that the theatre was still standing, the art on its walls is a nice memorial.

I need this today...

For other cute cartoons visit Penny Loafing!

25 Things Fat People Shouldn't Do: Make Art of Themselves

25 Things Fat People Shouldn't Do is the brainchild of Jes, The Militant Baker.  After finding an idiotic and ridiculous list on the internet that proclaimed 25 tasks that fat people "shouldn't" do; she metaphorically and literally said "screw that," and  decided to do all the tasks on the list.  In her words, this list "ranges from the absurd to the profoundly shameful," so "[she] will be disproving this offensive notion with style."  I thought it was a brilliant idea; so I joined in.

 
Out of all the rules that were listed on that ridiculous list, this is the stupidest.  Art is full of large, beautiful women; there is an artist that is famous for his love of painting voluptuous women!  It makes sense though, painting curves has always been associated with sensuality, and beauty.

So instead of me creating a piece of art based on me (which I will do another time) I wanted to share what is perhaps the biggest compliment I have ever received from a friend of mine who is a great artist.

My friend Shira had asked if she could paint a portrait of me.  I was beyond flattered.  This picture came about from a series of pictures she took of me for her photography class.  She like a close up photo she took of me so much she wanted to paint it.  And I love the outcome.  She even entered it into a pretty famous art show in Toronto.

So, not only was I a piece of art, but I was a piece of art on display for 1000s of people to see.  I was more than a little surprised when people stopped me on the street to tell me about the painting of my face they saw at the art show.

The portrait, of course, was not the real gift.  The real gift was that my friend was able to show me how she saw me- that I was a piece of art!   Its silly, but I had to see something for me to believe it.  And I never had the confidence in my painting abilities to produce something that that displayed how I felt on the inside.  I am thankful that Shira could make me see that.

Trying to Conquer Art Fright

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"  -Vincent Van Gogh

  

I am not afraid of a lot of things.  I'm not particularly fond of heights, but that is the start of a really short list.  

One of my biggest fears is showing people my paintings.

I know that is doesn't seem like a huge deal.  They're just some paintings I did.  They're just pictures!  I should get a grip about it.

 

But, I have been paranoid to show anyone.  In fact, most of my painting live under my couch. That's where they go after they are finished and dry.  I must have 12 of them under there; not to mention the ones that are half finished.  I feel over protective of them.  I usually don't even want to talk about them.  I have friends that know I paint, but I don't usually display my stuff, so they never ask about it. 

 

Instead, I display my friends' work, who I think are real artists.  I have paintings and prints up all over the place in my home.  I love them, they are unique and colorful, and beautiful.  And representative of my friends' lives.  My friends who seem so open and honest about their lives.  Who are happy to create and show and sell their paintings.

I, on the other hand, have not been completely honest about my life.

My life has been rife with secret-keeping.  Secrets about my depression and PTSD, and the story of how I came to live with them.  I never told anyone about what had happened to me.   Instead, I painted.  I painted things I liked seeing.  Or abstract things to take my mind off of my problems.  They brought me comfort.  And it feels like, whatever anyone says about the paintings, is a judgement on my experiences and feelings; on what led up to my painting them.

To say the least, this is not a healthy relationship to have with any items.

So, today I am going to take a risk.  

Here are some of the paintings that lived under the couch.  Now, they live on the wall.  I have to look at them everyday.  I remember the comfort I felt painting them.  And regardless of what people say, that won't change.  That is the meaning in the painting for me.  Whatever anyone else feels, is separate from that.  And if I remind myself of this, I think I can conquer this case of art fright.   

Jazz Diptych, Singer- Panel 2 2005

Jazz Diptych, Keys- Panel 1 2004

Untitled, 2011

Who knows?  I may just erase this post and pretend it never happened.  I hope I have the courage to leave it up though.

Print-y Nice!

On my walk yesterday, I picked up a print by Dave Kuruc from Mixed Media. I love that store.  I wanted something funny, and quirky for my living room.  When I showed it to D, he tought it was great.  So we framed it, and it is hanging in the front room.

I live in Hamilton, and I met D in Hamilton, so I have a place in my heart for this city.  I love that Dave made some prints about Hamilton.  They are super cheap too, only 20 dollars!  A steal. 

It makes me giggle whenever I look at it.

Art of another kind

I spent my weekend on an art of another kind.

On a trip to an out of town flea market, we dug around and found this loom.  It was broken and missing a piece, but we bought it anyways.  The best thing I've found about doing art almost everyday, is that I am always full of ideas on how to make and/or fix things.

To fix this, I made another arm out of a yardstick and some dowels I had left over from making canvasses.  And it worked!    So now I'm using some wool and weaving a scarf out of it.  Wearable art!  I love the colors of this wool, and how its working up in the weaving.

I am still working in my journal, layering away.  Nothing that I think is finished enough to show... Soon though!

Painting: Heart Hommage

"8"x 8", mixed media on canvas

I found out that I have high blood pressure.  Apparently, I don't handle stress well- but does anybody?

I thought it would be nice for me to paint something that showed my heart that I do care about it; and I hope it won't crap out on me because I've been stressy.  This painting kinda grosses my partner out.  But I like it.  I like that if you look closely, you can see that there is an image of a heart under all the veins and stuff.

I am art!

My good friend Shira painted this portrait of me for the AWOL square foot show this August in Toronto.  She is a great painter, and photographer.

I've never felt like art before, Thank you so much Shira!

Art: Swept

Here's what I've been working on this month instead of my journal.  I was working on it to finish it for a friends birthday present.  She's been wanting something I've made for a while, and I finally had the time to make it for her.  I wanted to make something calming for her, and so I chose blues and greens.  I've been on a weird Picasso-esque cubist faces kick lately, so that made its way into the painting too.

Its hard to give something away that you've made.  I knew it was going to be a gift, but now that its done, I'm attached to it.  I can't keep everything I make, but it never gets easier when I sell or give something away as a gift.  I don't know if it will ever get easier either...

Journal: Rainy Day

I got to use some new papers I found!  I love these Japanese papers- there are so many colors and textures.

Journal: Brave New Girl

The thing I love about my journal is that I can make something if its a good day.. or bad.  This was a good day.

Art: "Pocket"

I thought  should start showing some pages from my journal so here is a page I made for my husband.