New Website, New Blog Site...

I now have a website, http://cherylstevenson.weebly.com complete with a home for my blog. If you will follow me over there, I would love it!

My blog, In My Studio is at http://cherylstevenson.weebly.com/in-my-studio.html

Is it Spring yet? LOL Because I am back!

Sorry, let some medical issues I'm struggling with get the best of me. However, creating and sharing my artwork is my enduring bit of joy, no matter what. I had forgotten. Jani Franck's new e-course, Comfort and Joy reminded me how much joy there IS in my life, even in the midst of struggles. 

A good example is the artwork below. It is a collaboration with my good friend and UBER SUPER talented photographer and digital artist Judy Horn. We printed her "Barnacle Lace" on some of my handmade paper (using Daniel Smith's new Digital Ground on the paper to prepare it to accept ink). Then, in my studio, I found (serendipity!!) a piece of my hand-dyed paper that seemed to echo and re-echo the color and texture of her photo on my paper. That is JOY! 

On Hiatus until Spring

Thank you for stopping by. On hiatus until Spring. 

Don't Throw Away That Little Bit of History!! (a scrounging collage artist's battle cry!)

Hard for me to throw away any beautiful bits from the past.... I have several boxes of things that have fallen apart (books) or not been finished (needlework) or discarded envelopes, illustrations, and bits of paper ephemera...Oh yes...buttons, bits of cloth...need I say more?  Each one tells me stories and I think if this bit has survived this long to see the light of day, it deserves to be seen and enjoyed. (LOL my mission statement as a collage artist!!)

This collage uses an old book cover (inside lining paper showing), and old letter on which I hand inked a flourish from a stencil I cut, very old tatting remnants, antique button, very old pen and ink illustration placed on an old paper frame--so much history in such tiny bits. Collages like this take a long time for me to do. I often spend down time just sorting through things until something catches my eye....

I've Been Published in a Fabulous New Book by Leslie Riley!!!!

The quote I was given by Leslie to illustrate for her book Quotes Illustrated was “In life as in dance: Grace glides on blistered feet” Alice Abrams, and the painting is I created, and which was selected for the book is shown below.

 

Collage Play Time in Miniature

Hard to work in my studio on regular projects because of my neck and arm, but I am finding other ways to play while I await surgery. I am a huge Pinterest fan, and I collect ideas there to tryout.  This "Snippets" idea came from Carole at kiwicarole.blogspot.com/ (scroll down on the right side of her blog for directions to make your own "Snippet" !

Essentially you use an old wooden spool, and a long sandwich of fabrics and lace to create a surface for a tiny collage.

Wrapped up Snippet!

Shown: vintage spool, hand-dyed silk strips from another project...

 Unwrap begins!

Shown: the outside back of the strip is rescued from a tattered old, old quilt top

 Detail closeups of collage as the Snippet unroll

Shown: embroidered flowers from India Sari remnant; tiny metal tea set, Garden Tea for Two from fabric selvage, tatting label and tiny vintage tatting pieces from thrift store find...

Shown: 1898 from vintage printed magazine, morning glory from vintage dictionary, vintage elf pin missing back clasp, snippet from another tattered rescued vintage quite, puzzle piece...

Shown: Found paper word Yellow, tiny vintage metal hearts and button, stamp from Czechoslovakia, old tatting snippet, tiny hand embroidered flowers from vintage hankie, vintage paper four-leaf clover...

Shown: Scrap of paper from a vintage invoice for Buttons, small snippet from tattered, rescued vintage crazy quilt, vintage buttons, very old paper scrap illustration of sewing machine...

Shown: Small hexagon vintage fabric pieces from my grandmothers sewing box, metal thimble charm, vintage illustration of cross-stitch, Pattern # .15 from a fabric selvage, vintage quilted flower fragment.

 Shown Full Length: 34" 

Working Backwards!

I make my art backwards. I always START by creating a body of random painted, patterned papers. No ideas in mind. Just immersed in papers, paints, dyes, stencils, spackle...anything at hand. I add layer over layer looking for a complexity that pleases my eye...I have no idea what will emerge. These paper form the basis of my subsequent work. It is only later that I get an idea and begin to create a piece of art, usually suggested by the the paper itself. After 20+ years of doing this I am STILL amazed to find among my other collage material "matches" to the most unusual colors, patterns, and happy paint accidents.

Recently (see blog from October 8, 2013) a crazy color-dying afternoon a few weeks ago resulted in a big new batch of papers. In the case of the leaves below - I noticed that one large sheet had all these colors in the amazing subtle and bright blends of fall leaves, so I cut out leaves. Oh my!! That is when magic happens for me. They LOOK like fall leaves!! I personally could not have painted these individual leaves so beautifully...(other people can and do, and I admire them)...because, well, lol, I work backwards.