Felted Jelly Rolls!

I made felted jelly rolls this weekend! Aren't they cool! I will use them in a needle felted project very soon (I hope!). This is my first attempt at doing something like this so I still have a lot to learn and want to make the next ones differently. They are made from prefelt fabric that I purchased from Outback Fibers online and I added wisps of wool roving in the orange/brown roll on the right and wisps of silk roving in the black/purple/green on the left. The silk roving didn't show up like I wanted it to.

Abstract Challenge - Orange

This is the little piece I made for the Abstract Challenge list that I belong to. The word this month was "Orange". The center orange piece is painted tyvek and it reminded me of the texture on the outside of an orange. The next two layers of teal and orange are painted cotton batting, the yellow is wool felt, and it's mounted on a painted wrapped canvas.

What a Mess!

Here are more photos of my messy living area. You really need a big imagination to see the potential. We have ordered vinyl plank flooring that looks like hickory wood. We will have to move all the furniture and boxes to one area so we can start installing the floor. The problem is it won't fit in one area so we will be moving all this stuff several times to get the floor layed. We ordered 2400 sq. feet of flooring so this is a large area. I only posted photos of the central section.

Painted Walls

I have painted walls after living 2 years with textured sheetrock! I'm still living in a construction zone but at least the walls are painted. I chose Cinnamon Cherry for the dining room area.

The bistro area has taupe walls and the other walls are a blue/gray. We have furniture and boxes everywhere. It's really a mess but I can't unpack until we get the floor layed. The flooring is on order and should be here in a couple of weeks.

I still can't get my photos posted in the position I want them! There should be a way to move them around. Oh well. I have more photos but I'll post them later.

I have the furniture covered with old blankets because of the cats. One of these days I hope to have new more modern furniture but that will have to wait.

OWA Mixed Media Video

I know I shouldn't publicize this video of myself because it's really poor quality and I'm not experienced at talking about my work in front of a camera (or anyplace else for that matter!) but here is the link if you want to watch it http://www.sonarta.com/event/video/38 . Sonarta is a relatively new organization in Oklahoma City that has been visiting a lot of gallery shows in the area. They take photos and shoot videos of the artists and publish it on their website at http://www.sonarta.com/ . So if you are interested in what's happening in the art scene in Oklahoma City, OK take a look at the different videos. We have a lot of wonderful artists in the area and many opportunities to exhibit. I know Oklahoma isn't known for having art so I'm glad they are trying to get the word out to the public with this website. This isn't Sonarta's main focus and the videos aren't the best quality but I appreciate their efforts, their love for art, and their community.

Moving Day

Whew! I hope I never have to move our residence or our business again! If there is a next time I will only take what will fit in my car and drive away. We bought this commercial property a little over three years ago and have been remodeling and moving ever since that time. Our business and all of Ron's machinery and tools are on the bottom floor and in the two warehouses. My studio and our living quarters are upstairs which is about 5,000 square feet. We did some work on our house before putting it on the market to sell and moved all the equipment in the 3 car garage and a few essential things that we needed to our loft. We have been living in the loft/warehouse for two years but we left the house furnished. It took 17 months for our house to sell. We close on the house tomorrow at 1:00pm so I'm thrilled! We almost have everything moved from the house. This has been a major undertaking because it was full of stuff we have collected over the 29 years we have been married.

I was going to keep this blog art related but moving and selling our house has really influenced my art work......or should I say hindered? A huge burden has been lifted and this phase of my life is over so I feel a new beginning emerging. I just noticed a bird outside gathering twigs to build a nest in the little holly tree by the front door. It's Spring so it's an excellent time for a new beginning! Praise the Lord!

MWC March 2007

The FAD Group has a display at the Midwest City Library. Six of us met there to install the exhibit last week that we titled "Purchased or Handmade?". We hung our art work on the long slotted wall and filled the three glass display cases with more work and educational material about felting, spinning, and knitting. We had a fun afternoon at the Library and we seemed to generate a lot of interest with the patrons and the staff.

FAD members pictured from left to right are; Carla Houston, Marilu Benton, Marie Miller, Shirley Conaway, and Lynn Craigie. We are taking a well deserved break in the lobby of the Midwest City Library where our exhibit is on display.

OWA opening reception

I attended the opening reception for the Mixed Media Collage exhibit yesterday at the Norick Art Center in Oklahoma City. Kathleen Blake won the $500 Best of Show award for "Listening to the Silence". Regina Murphy and Bert Seabourn each won $200 Award of Merits. It's a very nice show with 71 pieces by 27 artists and I am proud to have my work included. I guess I should have taken my camera to take photos of the opening but I was in a hurry to leave and didn't even think about it. They had a crew there taking photos and interviewing the artists with a cam recorder to be published on the web. I reluctantly agreed to be video taped. It was pretty painless but I'm sure the severe pain will set in once I watch the video! I really need to learn how to speak intelligently about my work! I don't think I will post the link here on my blog until I have a chance to watch the video myself. I may not want to advertise it, LOL!

OWA Mixed Media Collage Exhibit

I found out yesterday that the three pieces I entered in the Mixed Media Collage show sponsored by the Oklahoma Watercolor Association were accepted! The opening reception will be Sunday, Feb. 18th from 2 to 5 pm at the Norick Art Center on the UCO campus. The pieces are "Edges of Time" , "Documents of Time", and "Time Reaches Out". I'll add photos of the work but I still haven't figured out how to add text so that it will appear under the appropriate photo.

The black and cream piece is "Documents of Time". The red, green, brown, & black piece is "Edges of Time" and the blue & golden piece with the tree is "Time Reaches Out".

I'm brand new to blogging and I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. I can't seem to get the posts in the right order so I appolgize for the confusion. Maybe I'll figure out what I'm doing in a few weeks!