Five-by-seven embroideries
I did part of #drawlloween in 2016. I had too many obligations to do all 31 days, but I got a few out of it! I've been trying to remember to make my embroideries at standard frame sizes (or to fit frames I already own). I know I should get ~*professional*~ with custom framing to fit the pieces but I'm just.. not ready for that kind of expenditure. So these all ended up a standard 5x7. A few from the series - the ones with cats - ended up larger. These were photographed before the trimming/backing/edge finish.
(Slightly) larger scale embroidery
Most of the embroidery work I've done in the last ten? years has been pretty small. My first pieces were all little sketches, cut out with ribbons attached for hanging. Over the past few years I started doing more elaborate compositions and adding color with paint. And now I'm scaling up, and trying to remember to make them the right sizes for frames. Do I always do the cats? No. Do I usually do the cats? Yes.
May 2016
Forbidden Yogurt, 8x10" (sold)
Cat Memorial, 8x12" (sold)
Commissioned by the person who bought Forbidden Yogurt to memorialize her own cats, based on one of my previous pieces.
October 2016
These three pieces were part of my #drawlloween contribution. I didn't finish the challenge because of some other obligations. Most of the embroideries I did were 5x7" (they'll be in an upcoming post).
Hugomet, 10x12"
Radioactive Kaiju Linus, 8x12" (sold)
Gnome Linus, 9x12"
Eek! Linus, 12x12"
December 2016
Portrait of Alice, 8x10" (gift)
I made this one as a birthday present for my grandmother. (I just want to say that my source photo was from our annual Christmas trip to Storybook Land in Cardiff, NJ. Alice was watching Santa Claus as he waved his magic wand to turn on the lights in the park at dusk. I loved how intent she was.)
The ibex will never be able to play sick solos on a Warlock
machine embroidery and gouache on canvas
and more whales
concerns of vanity on the left
a pile of whales on the right (thanks again to books on the brain)
sharks and whales
My favorite movie is Jaws. I watch it all the time. Always hope hope hope that somehow the mayor will get eaten by my hero the shark, but sadly, he never does.
For a long time I resisted reading books on my iPad, but finally became a convert last October. I'm still into paper books, but the wide availability of free classics in electronic format is just too good to pass up. I've been reading Moby Dick, and it's taking forever because I read at night, and only manage about ten pages of brain whir before I pass out.
Anyway, I was thinking about how Quint's quest for the white shark is a small bit like Ahab's obsession with the white whale. But only a little bit: Quint's thing is that he's a jerk, not that he is seeking revenge, though the shark did eat some people. People are tasty. Whatever. O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Linus and the Halo of Ham
After Ham Katten, I thought it would only be appropriate to make another one with Linus.
Cookie Monster, at the Mercy of Spiffy
My friend Jeff's birthday was in December. When we were in high school, Jeff had a cat named Spiffy and a stuffed toy Cookie Monster. Spiffy was in love with the Cookie Monster, and regularly did awful things to it. Over the years (yes, years), the Cookie Monster came to have matted fur and a permanent look of terror. I thought that a small memorial of these events might be a funny birthday present for Jeff. (He laughed!)
dreamy cat feet ACEO
I did some water-loaded drips on this card, and then once it dried I thought it looked like dreamy, floating cat feet. So I painted them in.
Ham Katten
I bought some pre-cut ATC-sized paper and started painting little things. Here is what I called Ham Katten, an original watercolor ACEO.
(This guy was sold on etsy before this post was written!)