it has been a while since i made any cloth dolls, but i got to thinking about them this morning as i lay in bed. i uploaded a couple from the archives to flickr -- here is one, click to see the back and another imp. what do you think? it is time to make some more imps? what sort of imp would amuse YOU?
i listed 2 little autumn watercolor paintings on etsy. i love the combination of purple with the golden browns on the leaves...
i finished this yesterday..
yarn: koigu, (KPPPM), 1 skein. color: p504
pattern: shop pattern from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, Bainbridge Island WA.
it looks really cute on, i will need to get a photo of that. pretty easy pattern -- it could end up being what my relatives and close friends get for christmas this year! the beads are optional of course, but why wouldn't you want them?
i will try to get better pictures soon but here it is! my new dress. it's a louisa harding pattern called "marie" and the yarn is thalia. it took me a long time to make because i kept having to redo bits of the lace since i am not terribly good at knitting lace :)
i LOVE the dress, though!
i might try making a top from the same pattern...
just some more of the stuff i draw in my artist sketch journal. again, these are pitt pens in "S" --which i think stands for super small. though not as small as micron pigma pens. i don't use those as much as i used to. for one thing as i get older my eyes are going a bit, and for another thing i like the way the pitt ink flows. it also comes in lovely earthy tones. this color appears black here but is actually a dark charcoal grey.
this is one of the art journal pages from the weekend. click to see another on on flickr. today i mostly slept and read a little. but i think i am getting better.
this is pitt pens, actually a dark grey, is size S and the brown is size B (brush).
welcome to autumn. i am afraid it is off to a dim start for me, as i've been sick for a week and particularly over the weekend. i am going to stay home in bed today and hope i mend up soon. all i've done this weekend is lie in bed or on the couch and listen to audio books and read and draw in my sketch book journal. i will scan some more of that later. at least i have my sketch book companion, but times like these i wish i had someone to bring me soup. i did manage to do the dishes and 2 loads of laundry last night, which was a monumental and long overdue achievement. go me
a couple new little paintings that are on etsy.
it rained all day and i did not even leave my building. well, okay i did, but only because you have to go outside and then back in to go to the coffee shop and the salon on the 1st floor of my building. so i didn't leave my block. welcome to the soggy northwest. i hope it does not rain till may. i would gladly hibernate till then.
i used a pitt pen, size S. i drew this while listening to the audio book of The Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman.
You'd think Autumn was here today. It's cold and has been raining for a few hours.
well, autumn is nearly here. and i love the colors, and the leaves, acorns, apple cider, pumpkin pies, etc. i love the crisp morning air and the smell of bonfires and woodsmoke. and yet, autumn tends to make me depressed. maybe just the lack of light, the shorter days, (working in a basement with no windows), and the thought that winter in the northwest might well last 9 months. not that it's super cold, but it can get dreary. lots of people like that for me it can be quite wearing.
anyhow. here is some autumn art. i do love the colors, as i said. last night i was lying in bed getting art ideas, but blast it! i can't remember more than one or two. usually i can remember more than that. i blame the oolong martini i had last night. what do YOU want to see me draw or paint? or knit. or bead.
when i was growing up, my mother, and the other women in my family --there weren't really many men in my family-- used a toddy coffee maker. it's a system where you brew super super concentrated coffee with cold water. so when you want to make a cup of coffee, you just add a couple of shots of this brew to hot water and there you go. if you want iced coffee, i add a couple shots to a glass of cold milk. if it's after 4 you can add a shot of bailey's. and it's good coffee too. it does not taste like instant coffee or anything. and it's allegedly 60%+ less acidic than coffee brewed with hot water. and so easy! you just soak the coffee groungs overnight in the top of the picture with cold water. then it the morning you pull the plug and the trickle down through a filter into the jug. i bought my own toddy coffee maker last weekend and now i can make better coffee than the coffee shop down the street. well, one of them. the other one still gives me a run for my money but i can live with that.
well, i needed a little change and to get away. so i took the ferry out to bainbridge, which is only about a 35 minute ride. it was a beautiful day to be on the water, and i know there are not many beautiful days left, so i wanted to take advantage.
when i got to bainbridge i walked down to waterfront park, and wandered around a bit in the woods and on the beach.
then i went up to the town, and wandered around a bit, window shopped, people watched, and went to the bead store. i finished up with a visit to churchmouse yarn and teas, a fantastic yarn store. i signed up for a class in knitting skirts 11/1. got some great yarn and everyone there was so nice. then i went and had home-made icecream at a nearbye icecream shop. they had gluten-free cones! it had been so long since i had had an icecream cone that i forgot how to eat them and made a mess!
after that back to the ferry and home to my little condo. took a nap and finished knitting the front, back, and 1 sleeve of my lace dress while listening to the audio book of the house with a clock it its walls. the front and back and blocking now, and i will make the other sleeve today (they are just little cap sleeves) and assemble!
i also have lots of chores to do - ugh!
just so you know, i have listed some more autumny art on etsy. leaves, dia de los meurtos, and halloween stuff.
i am almost done with the lace dress i am knitting.. i hope to finish up in the next couple days! and today i am going to try to go out and have an adventure.. a little one.
well, halloween is coming. and here we have a sweet little witch. this is not the bad scary kind, but the sweet kind who goes to hogwarts or something, or is on an after-school-special. she has a wee little kitty and would not hurt a flea.
and she, and 3 of her girlfriends, are on etsy.
i finished my 1st knitted skirt! and redesigned the waist band as i went. and learned a lot. so i am sure the next one will be a bit different, but i am happy with this. it looks good on, though of coruse it's kind of hard to tell from this photo. it's a bit hip hugging and drapes nicely. it comes to a few inches below the knee. i have to wait for it to cool down a bit to wear it! i'll get a picture of it on soon! it's so comfy. well, other than being a bit warm for this time of year!
the pattern i started with handmaiden pencil skirt. but i motified the wasthe handmaiden pencil skirt. but i motified the waist band to be drawstring. the yarn is handmaiden ottawa in earth.
sometimes in summer i just want to lie about and read kid's books. probably because that is how i spent so many happy summers during my childhood. i have one particular memory of drifting about in an inflatable raft reading The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs and illustrated by Edward Gorey. John Bellairs was my introduction to horror -- i imagine he was for many kids -- and to this day it's as scary as i like my scary to be. which is, i say as an adult, not very scary. but as a kid i was scared. almost all of the John Bellairs books had covers and frontplates by Edward Gorey, and i think it should be illegal to publish new editions with covers by other people -- i mean if you HAVE a Gorey illustration for something, you should use it.
so Gorey and Bellairs are quite tangled up in my head. and i have been reading about Gorey lately -- he sounds like such a lovable old coot, holed up on cape cod with his cats, avoiding people and writing wonderfully creepy books for kids. his house, Elephant House, is a museum, and i would really love to go there someday -- or maybe even work there, maybe they need a registrar. then i could hang out with Soren, too. anyhow, this is my toast to Gorey and Bellairs, sometimes when i read the books i forget Gorey did not actually write them. i don't know too much about Bellairs but i do hope he was a lovable old coot as well.
my two newest paintings:
mehndi II and mehndi III
5x5 x 4x5"
these are on etsy:
etsy.
these are shoes i designed using my original art at zazzle..
trilobite shoes.
i listed a couple of my newer paintings on etsy if you are interested!
http://www.meinoel.etsy.com.
after a lovely 2 weeks off, i go back to work tomorrow. i had lots of time for reading, painting, knitting, and napping. i also went to San Francisco for a couple days and to Port Townsend for a day. It would have felt more like getting away if I had not gotten emails and phone calls from work every day, but I guess you can't have everything!
