peachy illustrations

I was thinking about book illustrations that I loved as a kid and some of my all time favorites are by illustrator Nancy Ekholm Burkert. She illustrated a number of books I have, The Fir Tree, The Nightingale and the one shown here, James and the Giant Peach. I just love her work and thought I would share it. The seagulls in the center image are just amazing!

magnolia

here's a drawing/painting i did a while ago but never did much with. i was inspired by some beautiful photographs of magnolia blossoms at the time. have to say that i love the magnolia. we had one in our backyard when i was growing up and it was always magical when it bloomed every spring.

i am now in the process of photographing and documenting all of the work i currently have and this little guy was in the "to photograph" pile. all this cataloging and organizing is challenging for me but it will be worth it in the end. watch for more photos of my new and older work on Flickr!

inspired

just got the new National Geographic today and saw this photo of shoes from an article on bodies found in the bogs of Europe. amazing photos. the shoes were found with one of the ancient bodies. so incredible.
the article and the image reminded me of a scarf i knit last year that i was photographing today.

knitting temptation

I’ve been thinking about the temptation of knitting the last few days. I can’t figure out if knitting is an obsession or an addiction or both. I could have a thousand other things to do but I will often pick up the needles and get to work. Admittedly, it’s a healthy obsession/addiction (that fills the void so well when flying, waiting for a movie to start, or watching crappy TV shows), but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to deal with. I currently have so much on my plate (web page design, collages, sewing projects to complete as well as just the basics like grocery shopping, phoning friends and cleaning my abode) but of course, the minute I saw a great new pattern I was somehow able to fit shopping at the knitting store and casting on 144 stitches into my schedule. I often have to give myself knitting time limits so that I don’t neglect every other thing in my life. Judging by the amount of yarn stores, craft websites and magazines, I am guessing that I am not the only one out here that feels like this.
For me I think it’s the immediacy of creating something, the lure of perfect stitches, the feel of the yarn in your fingers and the zone-out factor that are all part of the appeal. And it still does fascinate me that in any given hand-knitted object the creator has touched every inch of yarn and has crafted each individual stitch.
Anyhow, here’s a detail of the dress and little bag that I finished for my friend’s 6 month old baby. The dress is for her 1st birthday. Apparently, I just HAD to finish it even though she won’t fit into it for 6 months. See what I mean?

color!

here's a work in progress shot of a piece i started the other night. i want to start to integrate more color into my drawings and collages. lately they have been pretty muted with mainly ink or pencil drawing but i don't want to get stuck in a rut.

this piece started out very different but wasn't working so i pasted some new paper over the crap drawing and began again.

gold

a 6" x 6" collage on paper i just finished. i incorporated a knitted swatch as well as drawing and hand stitching.

new moo cards

i got my new moo cards last week. it was my first order of them and i might change around the images next time. i wasn't as happy with my crops as i thought i would be but they are fine for now.

new collage

6"x6" collage on paper with drawing. i am working on a whole series of small pieces with similar elements.

stitches

I'm working on some new pieces that incorporate multiple layers, different opacities and even some knitting swatches. I'm not quite sure if the knitting is actually working but since I do so much knitting I wanted to see if it would work in with my collage work.

I will try to post more images as I work, though this blogging is a whole new animal. An animal that I have yet to tame.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!