Author: JP Dawes Artist

Free form Scrappy Crocheted Finished!

| JP Dawes Artist

 The piece I started last month is finished….I ran out of cotton yarn! This was  therapy for me, mindless hand work, no pattern and no plan. It finished out approximately 45 x 60 so it is large enough to cuddle under. There isn’t anything as comfy as cotton in my mind.

I have always loved the Rastafarian clothing. This isn’t the traditional colors,but it still has the Bob Marley look to it, also  the qualities of scrap quilts made from whatever was in the rag bag.

 These are photographs of a few of my favorite areas of the coverlet.

Now I have to get the sleeve on my quilt for SAQA’s Beyond Comfort exhibit and get it in the mail.

Toad Hollow

| JP Dawes Artist

Here is this morning’s visitor. Well, it isn’t a toad, it is a Pickeral Frog. I wonder if it is the extreme heat we are having in this area that is making the usually silent and hidden critters become visible.

I knew this guy was living in the trashcan enclosure. The other day when I moved a pot he and 2 siblings hopped away. I wonder if he is stunned by the heat? My remote thermometer says it is 102 in the shade today. YIKES!

Here’s Looking At You

| JP Dawes Artist

When I stepped out to get the paper today there was this amazing pair of eyes looking up at me! Last year I was treated to a Luna moth and now this huge beauty came to visit.

Bandit and Little Lulu wanted to chase it so I had to quickly close the door. I carefully opened the door again after I got my camera  to capture its image.

The two kids stood in the living room looking at me like I am the meanest mom in the world…I’m used to it!

Fabulous Fakes ATC challenge

| JP Dawes Artist

The Arts in the Cards atc group’s challenge for this trade  is Fabulous Fakes. Karen Musgrave is our hostess.

I have to admit to being totally stymied and every kind of fake I came up with just didn’t fit the bill.  When I started thinking about things that we value that turn out to be fakes, I thought of gold and how easily we can be fooled if we aren’t careful.  So my cards are “Fool’s Gold”.

I used gold lame and two different golden ribbons on the background. The center golden pieces are the circle with a dot n the middle, the alchemist’s symbol for gold.  This gave me a chance to tryout some of my powders I showed you in a previous post. They were wonderful! I used the brown powder and dusted it over the ribbons. It stuck the most where some of the fabric glue had come through but it still blended very nicely. I finished them off with a coating of workable fixative. As my way lately, I will leave the edges raw.

On the back is this quote: 
Gold is one of the seven metals of alchemy. For the alchemist, it represents the perfection of all matter on any level, including that of the mind, spirit and soul. The symbol for  gold [ a circle with a dot in the middle] could also be used to represent the sun in astrology.

 

New Work – Emergence

| JP Dawes Artist

It has been a long time coming for any artwork being done. I just finished this piece and wanted to share it with you.  The name is “Emergence” for a few reasons, the most important for me is that it signals my emergence from a long block and it symbolizes the sprouting of a new life for me from the tangled seed of my past.

This piece measures 9 x 6 1/2 inches. It is tiny compared to most of my work, but that too is symbolic since we all have to start with tiny steps before we flourish.

 The shape came from a piece of rusted fabric. The amoebic form was highlighted with Inktense pencils. The crochet center was stitched down and accented with embroidery which was also highlighted with Inktense.  I have no idea how many little seed beads are stitched down but I like to think they are all the ideas swirling in my head that have been set free. The long outside perimeter stitches use some of my hand dyed floss. Hope you like it!