Fantasy birds, a successful artswap.

I was asked to do an art swap, which I love,

and agreed to that. My online friend and I came to terms on size and type, and I actually got so inspired that I felt it just flew out of me.
My friend asked for a specific motif, fantasy birds in some sort of woodland, based on something I had shown earlier. My substrate measures 28 by 35 cm, so it's quite large.

I did make a sketch to position my subjects and plan the background. The birds were a bit troublesome until I changed their eyes. Then it went smooth.
Below is my piece with some initial washes of watercolor.

It is made in mixed media, watercolors, Twinks, crayons/ watercolor pencils and ink. At this stage I always feel that the lights are being turned on. It's incredible to see the change the minute the twinks comes to use.

I felt a bit uncertain to which colors to choose for the birds, and actually they started out as pink ones. But, it was wrong and I felt it all the way to my fingertips. 

I turned them into purples instead and that made a huge difference. Below is the finished piece, and I assure you, it's much prettier in person. The birds might seem a bit sad, but they're discussing where to live now that their site in the rainforest is about to be cut down.

Teresa was kind enough to send me a photo of the framed piece, and I loved it the minute I saw it. And now I'm sure the birds have found a good site as well.
And, this is it. I so much love the way Teresa has chosen to frame it, the black color really makes the birds stand out. Thanks for allowing me to use your photo, Teresa. Isn't it gorgeous?

 And, here is what came in the mail for me.  Teresa calls these trees Fortune Trees, and mine is titled Green Meadow Tree and I love it. I do need to find the right spot for it to hang though. It's a 30 by 30 cm canvas, even the hanging gear is mounted at the back. It's even more beautiful in person, and it makes me happy just to look at it.

 My old house do not have many white walls, so I need to try the painting in different places but I know I'll find the right spot for it. Thank you once again Teresa for this successful swap.

Art pieces in the mail

It's fun trading with  fellow bloggers.

I just did some trading and had the pleasure to find some exciting envelopes in my mailbox the other day.  Three years ago, I would never have thought of this to happen. I just wanted to see if I could run a blog of my own, and it should be written in English. English because I wanted to use and hopefully improve my vocabulary.
If someone had told me back then that I would get in contact with people all over the world, I wouldn't have believed them. To me it's still strange to know that I, sitting on the outer edge of the world so to speak, in fact have had contact with people in each continent because of this blog. The world has changed and the possebillities have become endless.

I've often wondered what my grandmother would have thought, she saw the cars and aeroplanes coming into the world. Now, we go even faster.

Well, enough of that and back to the tradings.

Both Janet and Lee were kind enough to be willing to trade with me, and here is what I found in my mailbox.
Below is what came from Janet, three ATCs. Two of them I chose myself and the third one came as a bonus, together with a beautiful handwritten card. Thanks Janet, I couldn't be more happy!

And this is what came from Lee, handmade and handwritten card and the ATC. Thanks Lee, I love them both!

The ATC below was one I mailed for this trading, and today I'll put up the link on how to do it.

You can see it here.  Easy to make, and I used my ordinary kitchen aluminum instead of tape. Tools I used was things I found around the house. I didn't have any special tools as seen in the link. ENJOY!

That's all for now, I'll have to get the fire going it's freezing cold here today.

Oh, I forgot...

 

Just wanted to show you something I made for a private swap this year.

There was so much happening at the time that I forgot to show you. The photo below shows the piece in progress. It's pretty much done the same way as my cards for ihannas swap this autumn. Layers of tissue papers, handsewn (the waves) and painted with twinkling H2O's. The fishes are done using some seed capcules from a plant. That tecknique I learned by watching a film suggestion (inspiration link) from ihanna way back in time. Sorry that I don't remember the link.

Normally it isn't easy to photograph the twinks effect, but I was rather lucky with this one. You can see the shiny parts well. When all the painting was dried I glued the piece onto a sturdy cardboard and sealed it with a sheet of brown paper on the back.

Below is the finished piece. The black line at the bottom is a shadow from something it sits on and the stain in the lower righ cornert is a stain within my camera only. Now removed. Handyman fixed it for me.

The top layer of tissue wasn't pure white but had a shade of sand colour. It was very cool to  work this this way and I'll do it again for sure. I did the details when it was all mounted together, the white bubbles and the fisheyes. I was very pleased with this piece and she who received it liked it too, she told me.

The other day I got a big surprise in my mailbox, I'll tell you all about it in my next post that will be one of the days in between Christmas and New Years eve. Untill then.

Postcard swap.

 

I just had to make another post.

All 5 cards have arrived and they are all unike. That's a great thing with handmade postcards. One never knows  what to expect, and they always surprises me.

Otherwise I have been fiddling with my computer all day to fix an error in my netbank. After 3 hours I actually did fix it, and then I had to dance the Sundance for awhile. Yayyy, ME!!!
Handyman will probably not believe that I did it myself, you see, he knows me better than anyone else. Tomorrow is decorating day and then I'm ready for Christmas.  I'm so eager to enter my studio and make some stamps that I've thought of making for awhile now. Don't know if I can do them but I'll do my best.

Best wishes!

Creative weekend.

I had alot of fun making a new product for my shop.

Even though I've made these small bags earlier, it took me alot of work to make this one. It's lined and that created some problems for me. The crocheted part is stretchy and the lining isn't. But after several tries I managed to make it as I wanted it to be. Have a look.

 The gloves and pearls are stash only, to make a sweeter photo. This particular photo isn't in use in my shop.
It was so fun making this bag, and I've used all kind of fibers. The fabric is linen and the lining is cotton.

I also got my swap-adresses this weekend, so it's time to ship my cards too. I ended up making more than needed so the ones below are the ones that will be sent.

I hope you've had a great weekend too!

Good friends are a blessing.

 

I signed up in the postcard swap after all.

The theme for this swap is empowerment, and as I was thinking of what to do/ how to approach it I got serious problems. Empowerment, how does one express that? The excact translation of the word made it even more difficult. Empowerment, it's an idea more than a single word and that's what makes it hard to nail the essence.
In the middle of my thinking a friend of mine came visiting, and she became my rescue. We were brainstorming, (she brained and I stormed.) She told me about the origin of the word, in which circumstances it arose and how it should be understood. Giving people the right tools to take care of their own lifes,among other things.  I'm overwhelmed by her knowledge, far beyond everything I know. Good friends are a blessing, and this particular one is close too.

To discuss with friends makes the whole picture clearer, the essence of things are brought to the surface in a much more effective way. I'm thankful and decided to make a card for her too.

When it comes to the swap, I have chosen to focus the importance of art. Art is an important tool in so many ways, and for some people the only way of opposing against their regimes. I don't think those people will participate in this swap though, but it's worth spending some moments thinking of it.

Four of my five cards for this swap. I used twinkling H2O's  painted and sewed on layered tissue paper. In fact I was in the middle of a process working with tissue paper, so it suited well to test my work making these cards. One more to go and I'm done. Fun doing and learning as well.

Here is the link to iHanna, not too late to sign up if you want to share the fun!

Be well and have fun this weekend!

The swap completed.

My 10th card arrived yesterday.

The last card arrived yesterday and with that the swap is completed. Anna Lena made this adorable card featuring her cat Lisko Jansi.
Anna Lena didn't leave me her blog adress.



This swap has been a wonderful experience for me and what an exitement!
Just want to say thankyou to all my fellow swappers and to Hanna ofcourse.

Wish you all the best.

The postcard swap once more.

It seems I ended up getting nine cards.

I miss one card but I was lucky enough to get one extra. Hanna sent me a card to say thank you for a little something I sent her. I really appreciate that. The four last cards are also exiting cards. I had a big laugh when I recieved the card with a photo on, it was such a clever idea. Humorous, fits me well. Shannon made it but she did not leave her blog adress.



The red card with butterflys is a very nice card too. It's made of fabric and stitched around the images, feels very soft and is kind of quilted. A lot of work I guess. Diane made this.

The next card, I guess you all know the artist who made that. This was Hannas thankyou card. I really don't understand how she does this magic. All her collages looks so great and her colours too.

The green hearted card is very exiting. What do you see? Most people I've asked see a bird and a pig/dog. First thing I saw was a male face or more correctly his eyes and a bit of a broken nose. Can you see it? Super exiting card. Laura made it.

The turtle card contains several different images too. A horse, a duck swimming in a pond and an eye. Can you spot them? Very nice and a big card too. Christine made it but she didn't leave her blog adress.

The postcard swap.

These are my first five cards that arrived.

It has been so exiting checking the mailbox lately. Each card ment something special when they arrived. I was far from knowing how exiting this really was. I'm still waiting for my last card and I'm really glad that they didn't come all at once. This way the joy last a little longer.
This was my first swap ever and now I have a whole lot of ideas how to create more cards.



Today has been like a real summer day where I live. We have really enjoyed it. And yesterday I came across a new sock pattern that I just had to try. They looks great. I'll show you when I'm finished.

Wish you all a happy Easter and my hope is that you all can enjoy suitable weather.



Have a look at my swappers blogs!

Lis here
Moira here
Ninette here
EWian here

The fifth one didn't name her blog, if she has one.

My cards are on their way.

Yesterday I finally sent my cards. And I recieved my first card too, a very nice card from Finland. I'll make a post when my ten cards are here and show them off all at once.
To join this swap has given me plenty of hours with joy. I've been doing a lot of different stuff. Seems that creativity grows while beeing creative. Right now I'm experimenting with art journaling and that's a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I found this blog about: Raw art journaling, very interesting blog.
Tomorrow I'll have to buy some more acrylic paint. Just have a few colours now and I need a lot more to my experiments.



My best wishes to all of you.

Still working........

I'm still working the postcards. I've lost my count by now but it doesn't matter. This has been a thrill since I started. My 10 cards are ready ( think the number is 14 by now)and all I have to do is to choose which cards to use. If all the participants have had as much fun as I have, there has been a lot of fun going on the last week.



These are my last 4 cards, but I'm going to make at least 3 more. (if I can ever stop again)These four are slightly different from the others and has been very fun to make. Hope you all have a good progress.

This is my 7th card.

Let me just tell you all to join this swap, you can sign up until the 18th this month! It's so fun. You can join here at Hanna's place.
I have been working on these cards some days now and it's fun to notice how one idea leads to another and before knowing it I'm almost done.
My photos don't have the quality I want and the cards turns better in real life. That's a good thing. Mostly I have been drawing and painting since I enjoy it and it feels relaxing.
Probably I'll finish this weekend and then the looooooong waiting starts.

My cards so far.

I have been busy all day making cards for this swap I have joined. My "catcard" came out pretty well I think ( hopefully the reciever like it too) It's a bit scary to think I'm going to send these cards to people I don't know and what if they get dissapointed.


This next image shows a card in progres. I know it's going to be just as I have thought. Strange thing that one can feel when things are on track.
This have been a snowy day so I have stayed indoors all day. I long for spring now and don't want more snow. But it helps doing funny things.



I wrote this post yesterday evening and now I have finished 4 out of 10 cards. Don't know how much I can do today though since there are other things to do too. But it's difficult to leave this cause it's so fun and housekeeping is not.
A nice and creative day to you all.........

I am participating in a postcard swap !

This is going to be fun. I'm already going and my first card is ready. The second one is in progress and I'll show you some pictures,


This card is a result of some trouble I had with my cellphone the other day. And I was thinking back how easy it was back then. Just to dial......(wouldn't be back though)


As you see this is in progress. I don't want it too sweet so I'll have to do something more at the background.

This swap is open to everyone so I hope a lot of people will join in. If you read this just go to this place to join.