An Abrupt Change in Focus

First, I do have one picture to post from a couple of weeks ago when I was still working on detailed flower drawings -  I do find these very therapeutic.

And just because, here's a pic of my handsome boys being so good and staying on the deck as they were told even though someone was walking by with dogs. 

Now on to my sudden change in focus - I've decided to have a booth at a Holiday vintage antique and art show coming up towards the end of November.  I have plenty of vintage antique goodies and creations, and plenty of art, but not enough Christmas items, so I've pulled out my Christmas stash and have called forth my inner crafter.  In spite of the strangeness of working on Christmas items in September, I've really been having fun.  Below are some of the finished items I've made, I've had multiple projects going on at once, and managed to finish these ones over the weekend.

I used a couple of precious old Christmas candles that I've been hoarding for these two, the round metal rings are from an old flour sifter I took apart.  I did find a tiny little drum last night that I'm going to add to the little soldier (it was a very exciting find!)

This is an old cigar box that I created a little Christmas scene in.  It's hard to see the tiny little reindeer in front in this picture, but it's my favorite part, he's very old.  The entire outside of the box is decorated as well ( I don't think I'll be doing more of these to sell - WAY too labor intensive.)

These little trees are made from a piece of old ceiling tile, cardboard, and various vintage goodies for their base.

This one is my favorite - I know you don't see angel butterflies every day, but that's just what she turned out to be.  Every single part of her is old except for the red glass glitter.  Her head I've had for several years - I planned to print an image and glue onto cardstock for her head, but once I had the idea to use this I couldn't go back.  I have a very old hymn book, and I opened it to see if there was any Christmas music in it and opened it first thing to Hark the Herald Angels Sing, so I pulled that page right out.  ( I should have scanned it first before I cut it into butterfly wings, now that I think about it...)

Mish Mash

I've got such a weird variety of art to catch up on that I struggled to name this post.  But mostly I've got that satiated feeling I get when I have one of those rare weekends when I can spend the whole time on art if I want - such a treat!  Plus my weekend started out yesterday by being woken up to a bagel and a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks by my sweet husband (I'm not normally much of a Starbucks person, I like to go to our local coffee places instead, but when it comes to Pumpkin Spice season at Starbucks, all rules are off!!)

 

This first one is the result of me wanting to start sketching in pen and trying to give up the safety of an eraser.  So I took on drawing this dried Dahlia from a photo, and it ended up being quite an undertaking, but I enjoyed it.  I just sat in front of the TV and kind of zoned out a little while I did it, and I find that I really like that look of delicate really fine lines and detail.

This next one I did for fun, I have a scarf with similar birds on it and they looked like fun to draw.  This is entitled "Cold Shoulder", subtitled "He regretted suggesting that she devote more attention to him and less to her tail".

 

 

The next two are my attempt at getting better at a really loose style of scenic watercolor that I really like, but struggle with.  So hard for me to relax and let go of perfectionism and be loose with the paint. I have a long way to go, assuming I manage to remain patient and keep trying.  Patience isn't one of my strengths!

 

This morning we went to our local monthly Antique Fair, and I found some treasures I thought I'd share - that monkey is just too photogenic to resist! Got some old Shiny Brite ornaments (love the boxes), a great deal on a clock with broken glass (it'll be taken apart, the only way to afford old clocks for parts is if they have broken glass!), and some old lamp parts that Mario will hopefully also take apart and help me make mixed media assemblage magic with!

 

 

And lastly, we went to the Sausalito Art Festival last weekend (this was it's 61st year!).  It's quite an event with artists from all over the country, and it's in a gorgeous setting right on the water, I feel lucky that we're within driving distance of it.  I always find a few new artists who really inspire me.  Below is a pretty shot from it...