latest....

The other day I made a bible cover/purse for a little toddler at church - you know, one of those little baby bibles?! I was so excited about it!! The little strap unbuttons on one side so you can open the bible, and then on the other side is has symmetrical stitchwork, as well as a button detail, but is sewn down. I LOVE IT!

Yesterday while teaching some private painting lessons, I was talking to my student about mixed media work and  how to use layering with collage to achieve really cool background textures. His amazingly cool idea was to pull out an old dictionary and tear out words to convey a meaning. I said, "AWESOME!!" and we got to work. As I was thumbing through the dictionary, strangely enough I found an entire page of words that I felt described my mood at that time, so I tore the whole thing out and stuck it onto my canvas with some medium. Then I went through and circled, underlined, and boxed in words that I felt were the strongest and most relevant. We discovered a lot of fun things during our little session, and I worked along with him. I began a painting with an intended message, and then it changed and developed as I worked. I was really  happy with the result and wanted to post a few pics on here of it.

Not sure how clearly you can see, but the "bird" inside the cage is actually a paper doll woman in a wedding gown. This is NO way represents me, but instead sends a strong message to women out there (I think so, anyway).

There are lots of little details in the painting that I love hiding so one can discover them. I left the word bubble blank to show the viewer the kind of voice someone who is trapped can have. I have been having so many dreams lately (almost nightly) where I am screaming at the top of my lungs at someone, yet nothing is coming out. Can you guess what this is about? You can see more detailed photos my following the link to my flickr gallery.

Thanks for the prayers, keep 'em coming :)

love