Sunny Bird Cards: The Antidote for Winter

Here in Connecticut we’re having quite a winter, so to bring a little bit of sunshine into my art, I’ve been making yellow and orange blank greeting cards with birds on them. Just looking at all those ocean and sunshine colors just cheers me right up. A few of these are still left for purchase on my Etsy site, just in case you want to send a little sunshine to someone special.

I’m in love with the combination of watercolor panels with textured paper (from PaperMojo, one of my favorite on-line sources for paper, located in sunny Raleigh, NC). The bird images are from a old pocket guide to birds which was falling apart so I’m happy to give these little birds a new lease on life.

I made a total of eight of these cards, so if you’d like to see pictures of the others, take a look on my Flickr page.

 

Free Christmas Downloads

Every year Lisa Vollrath gives the art world a gift and posts a new sheet of printable images for others to use in their art. It is truly a gift to be treasured all year long, and I can hardly wait to see what she posts each day. Click here to go directly to her site. And as Lisa would say “Now Go Make Something!”

 

Seal Music

This is a 5″ x 7″ card I meade earlier this year. I loved the blue airmail letter — such a lovely soft blue — I’ll have to use it sparingly while I look for more like it. One issue with only using original papers is that when it’s all used up it’s GONE! Should be a Zen lesson in there somewhere about the impermanence of material objects . . . But then nothing compares to the texture and feel of the REAL thing.

 

Nine 9/9/09 postcards

I participated in a 9/9/09 postcard swap – here’s what I sent out. Always so much nicer to get homemade vs. store-bought cards!

 

Card for Mitzi

Here’s a card I made recently for a friend’s 50th – I think of it as the “Royal Womanhood” card, with a bit of a sardonic twist with the washerwoman image. Those old-time dresses always look so horribly uncomfortable – I’d rather be a modern woman than royalty back then, that’s for sure!

 

Hungry Caterpillar Quilt

IMG_0934, originally uploaded by papercoyote.

I took some time away from paper this summer to work on a few fabric quilts. Here’s one I made for my niece Emma. Heare’s a photo of the pieced back, and a close-up of the quilting on the border.

 

Make It Your Own . . .

IMG_0587, originally uploaded by papercoyote.

This collage started out as an experiment using John Talbot’s method of ironing papers onto board. Basically, you apply glue to the papers, let them dry, compose your collage, then iron the papers in place. The theme of girlhood fantasies of future love seemed to grow out of nowhere, and the pink and green theme seemed appropriately rose-y. I’m not even much of a girly girl, although in my youth I had a few girly phases, so this one is a bit of a mystery.

I was primarily inspired by the title on some sheet music (where the title of this piece came from), and by a lovely collage I saw on another blog — Love Letters by Kathy McCreedy. While my color scheme is quite different, I embraced the multi-layered complexity of the collage. Not being a calligrapher, it also inspired me to practice some handlettering/mark-making, which I then cut up to make smaller collage elements.  I also love the little hearts, and so went out of the way to try it since it fit so well with my romantic theme. I typically tear things up, so using a punched shape in repetition was a challenge for me, but I’m happy with the result. And the pink was a nice break from all the beige, cream, tan and black I typically use! 

Thanks Kathy for the inspiration, and Thanks Michelle for the challenge – I loved your definition of craft vs. art, and you’ve inspired me to keep pushing my envelope.

GPP Street Team Crusade 31

 

Mary Eloise Ethel Close up

LR ladies scan, originally uploaded by papercoyote.

This is a scanned image of the previous post so that you can see more of the detail. I was especially happy to be able to include some of my favorite marbled paper in this one, which is what inspired me to include the bits of pink and green.

 

Threesome

PaperCoyote Living Room series, originally uploaded by papercoyote.

“Mary Eloise Ethel and Birds”
12″ x 16″
2009
This is part of the living room series of three collages on charcoal paper. Much busier than the other two, and more colorful incorporating pinks and greens. Click on the image for a link to Flickr to see it in detail. Which of the three do you like best? Why?

 

Closeup of Josephine

Here’s a closeup of the last collage so you can better see the detail.This is a scan rather than a photo, and the color is a bit distorted, but the resolution is better.