Glorious Colours in Nature

 long & short stitch on cotton, acrylic paint and wire, beads

YEA! Finished.

Now all I need to do is attach it. Of course this in no way matches the glorious iridescent colours in nature, but I had fun trying.

Found some peacock feathers at a local garage sale and scanned a couple.

Beautiful!

Meanderings on Google

Led To

Peacock Feather Tattoo's BUT

this one is really beautiful!

AND WOW

Found this on THE SCENIC SIDEWALK catalog of international street art site. This is in Miami and by El Mac, Retna and Reyes.

You can see more amazing art on El Mac's Flickr Page. or MAC ART blog. 

DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
 

Embroidered Butterfly Wings

I decided to change the flowers in the shiny pretty things piece and instead add a butterfly.  I found one in the garden and used it as the inspiration for an embroidered version.

Butterfly Graffiti

Image Source Bristol Indymedia

Butterfly Symbolism

Flickr:
Field Guide to North American butterflies and moths

Art and Food

I thought I would try  a cutout version of my skull and moth photograph and then enhance the colours. When I have time (too many other projects to work on at the moment)  I want to do a LARGE painting of this.

CURRY YUM

Bombay Chicken Curry

This is one of many of my favourite curry recipes. Can't tell you where I got the recipe, but judging by the use of the word bhoona/bhuna I'm guessing an Indian Recipe book I used in England many moons ago.

Yes, it's written with a fountain pen back in the day (1970's) lol!

Oh what a great combination
food and graffiti

Wheatpaste in Brooklyn

For an exact location check out my fave photographer, Satori's flickr photo of the same image.

It's the Cat's Meow

wild cat skull and moth

 I lucked out when a member of my Textile Art Group was kind enough to bring me oodles of bones and skulls.

 Big thanks to Carol.

Not sure what I'll do with them YET! but meantime I'll enjoy drawing some of them.

Here is one of my favourite videos

New Camera

I got a Kodak Z950 and was experimenting with the zoom feature.

wow

Wordless Wednesday: Journal Cover

Acrylic/Marker/Collage on wood

Photography: Yellows

Corry Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio

 Normally when we,(jafgirls) do textile/knit graffiti we try to coordinate with the surroundings, but in this case the surroundings coordinated with the pole LOL! The buildings were painted after we put up the pole and then these bright orange/yellow flowers blossomed.  It was an overcast morning and the colours were so intense the scene stopped in my tracks.

Meditative Art

Sample Testing Piece by the Jafagirls

Saturday morning I helped jafapal Nancy M. run a Paint Like Pollock Workshop for Getaways for Women.

I think I could have stood there another two hours, it was mesmerizing watching the paint drizzle onto the canvas.

It got kind of wild, uh huh! splashing and dripping, and some of us (not me) had paint up to the eyeballs. Amazing to see how different each one was. Lot of fun and I got to meet some great women.

Fun Discoveries

How Cool

I was delighted to discover of my fave sites WebUrbanist has included by hubcap (made for the Landfill Project) in it's Driven to Create: Hubcap Art article ♥

Retro Craft Corner

As I was browsing through a mccalls 1972 mag I spied these oval kits and I think this one I found thrifting last week must be one of those kits.

Some paintings take forever BUT

it's worth it

"It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake "

oil on wood and resin

Available at "IN A FRAME"

It's taken several months to finally finish this little still life painting. You can see how it started out here. Doing the sketchbook didn't take too long, and the dog wasn't too bad, but getting the sense of carved wood was a joyful challenge. Had to make sure the paint was thoroughly dry before pouring epoxy resin (how to here) on it.

hum!



Haw!

Painting and photo by John Vesty

"A Norfolk council has banned an exhibition of nudes by a well-respected local artist, condemning them as "offensive". Sky News

Wordless Wednesday: Vinyl

"Black Lace"

Vinyl Art Set

The Art of Meandering and Shiny Pretty Things

It's true, I meander something rotten. I love exploring the world around me, even the seemingly mundane. Often there is a hidden beauty in things, or they spark some creative imaginings. Check out how a painted circle on a road led Alisa Burke to create this.  I have to think all my meandering will end up in my art somehow.

I am so happy my painting "dig freedom" found a home. Yes! looks familiar!

featured in the book Drawing Inspiration

It's the same girl that I am using for my embroidery.

"shiny pretty things"

I changed the way the beads were hung. The jet teardrop beads are meant to represent bombs dropping. I think visually and conceptually I am much happier with how they are hung now than before. The concept is how children often mistake cluster bombs for toys. I am happy to see that now the  Worldwide Cluster-Bomb Ban Comes Into Force.

Unfortunately there are thousands of unexploded bomblets leaving a "long-term legacy of explosive contamination."

The Art of Hurt

I had to share this video by Thierry Alexandre because as creepy as it is, it really captures the essence of horror of a situation that so many fear or face.

Sometimes art like this is so ugly, but the ability to manifest the raw essense of something into an art piece is something I admire and strive for. Kiki Smith's work does this too, sometimes it makes one cringe but it speaks volumes.

I am struggling with this one piece. I don't think it even compares with artists like Kiki or Theirry, but have to keep trying.

"shiny pretty things"

linen, oil paint, embroidery, button, beads, lace, resin and acrylic on mdf

I special ordered the jet teardrop beads because they remind me of bombs, but I'm not happy with the way I attached them. I almost feel they need to be more random and different lengths. Also not happy with the background either. I feel like it needs something, but not sure what. My friend says once I use a colour to stitch the piece to the panel it might help. So off to the studio to rework this and stitch.

Friday Finds: Old Victorian Birdcage and FAF

Again I have to thank Jafapal Karen for pointing this out at the charity shop.  It's listed as a victorian cage on the Cages Through The Ages. Whether it's an antique or not is hard to tell or how much it's worth, but I  am LOVING this find.

Free Art Fridays

A different kind of find

Heart painting on wood by jafagirls

mmm, not sure why but my camera did something wierd and all my pics are blue.

Retro Wednesday: pyrex and aprons

Went thrifting with  jafapal Karen after we had a smack bang curry lunch (told you I LOVE curry).  She knows I keep my eyes out for pyrex and saw this one "garden medley" on the shelf. What a find and in the original box too. According to Pyrex Love this particular one is fairly uncommon.

Can you guess what will be going into this baby, yep curry LOL!

but I won't be wearing this

McCalls Spring Summer 1972

Meanwhile in Jafabrit's Studio

I am struggling to put the finishing touches to "shiny pretty things".

Guerilla Art Bunny

Put the bunny up today in pub alley in Yellow Springs with jafapal Nancy.

bunny based on the Newcastle Vampire Rabbit

This is the kick off for the jafagirl Pub Alley Project.

Evil Bunny but

acrylic, nail polish on mdf

Not really!

It's based on an ornamental rabbit above the back door of the Cathedral Buildings on Dean Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne. The doorway faces the back of St.Nicholas Cathedral and Amen Corner.
Nobody actually knows the origin but there is a theory, Vampire Rabbit Theory.

Designed by Oliver & Leeson circa 1901

It's gone through some colour changes, in 1988 it was white, and grey, and in 2008 it was painted black.


Links
Get into Newcastle Advert

Yellow Springs may not have the architecture, but it will have the bunny, goes up on Tuesday.

Free Art Friday: stones, upcycled can & cd

View from Dayton Street

jafagirl textile totem

Nancy and I spread a little art around the Dayton Street Art District in Yellow Springs today.

Slide show of past FAF art

Transfixed by the Masters

I remember it vividly, that moment when for the first time I was truly transfixed by a painting.

Rain, Steam and Speed by J.M.W.Turner

I was fascinated by the light on the train and how the brush strokes and seemingly ambigous scene there was so much to see.

It's not the first painting I remember, but it is the first to really grab me.

What about you?

Copying the Masters

Cropped version of The Fortune Teller by Georges de La Tour

Original on the left, copied version on the right I did in 2000

One of the things that I found very beneficial in  helping develop my painting and drawing skills was to follow the old tradition of copying masters. It really sharpens the eye to colours, layers, brush strokes, etc and that is where the value is.

I just couldn't get the subtlety of the skin tones, but I really enjoyed trying.

"You have to copy and recopy the masters," Degas insisted, "and it's only after having proved oneself as a good copyist that you can reasonably try to do a still life of a radish."

I've never painted a radish,maybe I should!

Links

Drawing Tips:Copying old Masters

Nipple Issues and Other Sundry Stuff

I just had to laugh at this story. Well okay, they are rather perky but heck, did you see the Statue of David.

I started with this

and ended up with this

I uploaded the pic onto adobe and had fun playing around with the colours. If you're thinking it has a middle eastern flair you would be correct, it is meant to be a decorative nazar bonjuk (evil eye).

Sketchbook Play

photographers beware

No, NOT of Phineas, my studio dog,

but what happens when you photograph

this

Image source: Anthony Graber's Video Still

I found this disturbing story on norwegiantie's blog

 The young man, a staff sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard, who videotaped am unidenfied police officer with his gun drawn is facing 16 years in prison.

ACLU FactSheet

Links

War on Photography

Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse, Unless You're in Law Enforcement

Photography is not a Crime

From The Washington Post:Freedom of photography: Police, security often clamp down despite public right

I think I will stick to taking pics of Phineas Phallis in the Studio.