Hello sweet friends,
It's definitely Autumn here, nature changes its colours to beautiful warm tones. There are still some gorgeous flowers showing, like these soft pink roses.
I love the warm reds and pinks of Autumn and wanted to do some embroidery to add to my Book Of Bloom. So I started with a flower and some leaves and I will see where this will bring me. I do not have a design to work from, I just love to embroider like I'm drawing with thread.
I do not have much time for embroidery though, because whatever time I have available for creating, I use for painting.
Like this little painting of a Cardinal bird that I did on a dried and pressed autumn leaf.
But I'd love to do more embroidery, so I will definitely make sure to take some time for that as well! I find the slow pace soothing and relaxing.
While painting, I notice that I'm leaning towards illustrating at the moment. Especially illustrating birds and flowers, like below, with influences from folk art. But I also love art journaling, and I will share some of that on my blog Wen's Paint.
Did you have some time to create lately?
Wishing you a beautiful day!
xx Wen
Love your bird paintings, especially the cardinal on the leaf!
ReplyDeleteThank you AnnMarie :) xx
DeleteHappy Monday Dear Wen, I simply adore this post! I've never given much thought to the pink, berry and red tones of Autumn, but as you have captured in your photographs, they ARE there, beautifully there! Tell me, what are the pretty red berries scattered among those lovely pink roses? Adding these colors into your Book of Bloom is the perfect complement to the rest of the pages in your delicious book. I have to tell you the "Christmas" Cardinal you painted on the leaf stole my heart. Cardinals are one of my favorite birds. Where we live, brilliant Cardinals abound in the winter time. When our adult children were very small and wrote their letters to Santa Claus, my husband and I helped affix them to the outside of the front door. We told them two Cardinals would soon arrive to carry their letters to the North Pole. They shrieked with delight the next day when they saw the empty door. They are 35 and 36 years old, with families of their own, but still call Cardinals the "Christmas" birds. I prattle on...thank you for a lovely share!
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Judy :) The pinks, berry and red tones of Autumn I started noticing only some years earlier myself as well. I started noticing them when I took up photography and started bringing my camera with me on every walk outside. The red berries in the photo? I think they are the rosehips? It's a patch of these roses that I found on a walk, so I think these are their rosehips. Lucky you to have Cardinals in your area! Alas, we do not have them here, only one on a leaf ;) So sweet the story of your children :) I love Christmas with it's wonderful heartwarming family stories. Looking forward to it again! And no worries about "prattles", I enjoy it very much, that's what's so wonderful about blogging, the chats you have together! Big hugs xx
DeleteI love that cardinal on the leaf!! How pretty it would be in a frame on my wall. Your talent really shows.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Carole :) xx
DeleteOh I have missed this beautiful post, Wen-
ReplyDeleteyour book looks so fat and beautiful, love the pinkish details, and so beautiful is the bird you painted on the leaf- a wonderful idea.
The other little one, is a joy for my eyes, the wreath so lovely, and the bird just adorable in every way.
Also your nature photos, makes me already miss summer , dear friend.
Big hugs from Dorthe
Thank you sweetie :) I do look forward to the Christmas season, but oh how I will miss the flowers and bird songs! Hugs xx
DeleteI love the bird painted on the leaf, too! And the image of the pale pink rose is so lovely. The flowers here in the U.S. Midwest are pretty much gone. I really miss them during the cold and dark months.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to make some kind of mixed media book for a while. What is the material that you use for the cover and pages before you begin to decorate them? I have a lot of corrugated cardboard but that wouldn't be archival and might discolor the fabric or other objects over time.
I don't think poster board would be heavy enough, either. And I think archival matte board would be too heavy and unbending. What is the alternative to those three?
Thank you so much Naomi! I miss the flowers too in the darker months! Luckily there are flower shops to make up for it :)
DeleteAbout the book, how wonderful to hear you want to make a mixed media book! I can highly recommend the online workshops by Nellie Wortman and Suzy Quaife for this. You can find those at http://store.creativeworkshops.me/
Nellie uses old book covers as a base for her covers. I don't know how archival everything is, to be honest. I just use corrugated cardboard for my own projects. Up till now I just made these books for my own amusement alone and haven't tried selling yet. But I know that Nellie sells her mixed media books, so may be you can ask her for advise. Her blog is http://www.earlymorningthoughts.typepad.com/
For the papers inside the book I mainly use watercolor (or mixed media) papers and scrapbook papers. I know these are archival. I also added some other papers for journaling and old book pages to add some interest. They probably won't last some hundred years or so, but I don't worry too much about it. I don't think my books will ever make it to a museum display ;) If it's going to be a heirloom book though, I would do more investigation in the archivability (is that a word?) of papers and paints.
I hope this was helpful. Hugs and happy day wishes! xx
Naomi, I couldn't find a way to get in contact with you, so I hope you will be able to read my reply. xx
DeleteI too enjoy embroidery, your little flower and leaves are so pretty! Oh my goodness your bird on that dried leaf is just gorgeous, you are so talented and do such a wonderful job!! Beautiful picture of blooming field of flowers, I am sure you would do wonderful illustrations also!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much sweetie for your heartwarming comment :) Sending you big hugs xx
Deletelovely post, always enjoy reading what you are up too, I do love embroidery- but my arthritis doesn't
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue! I'm sorry about your arthritis, take care sweetie. Hugs xx
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