Another fabulous mail day...

Two days in a row. Wow. Well today brought a surprise package from an art friend, Nadine. She made two altered rolodex art cards for my altered rolodex art wheel. The cards are done in her signature style, and I love them! Here they are as I received them in the package:

You can see that I also received a greeting card/post card and an art card/post card along with. Such treasure. Close-ups of the rolodex cards:

And here they are placed in the art wheel:

And this is so great an addition to the wheel. It keeps growing...

Nice to see you today; I hope to see you soon, hugs, Norma, x

WOYWW[188] and dc:86 cactus and a GREAT mail day...

Today is one of those days that could be marked on my calendar. There's a few things going on all at once so let's start with What is on your workdesk Wednesday, hosted by the one and only fabulous Miss Julia. Here is a birds' eye view of my desktop, or work surface which, today, is a table I like to work on because of the glass top:

I was calmly working away on a drawing for the drawing challenge no. 86 which has the theme 'cactus' and is hosted by the beautiful Nadine, and while this challenge happened a few weeks ago, I am late for it but still very inspired. I'd found a picture of a mummified head with a cactus spine pinning the lips, and I knew instantly that that was what I wanted to do for the challenge. I worked on used tea bag paper as usual, with india ink, pencil crayons, watercolor paint, and with plans to use gold leaf as a nod to the Mayan cultural art tradition...and happily worked away. Here is a close up of the lips:

The instant I laid eyes on this handsome chap, I was struck by his magnificent teeth, the colour of White Titanium. His lips are pinned with a cactus spine but his teeth peek out from a corner of his lips:

So, really, that is the finished drawing. Because I don't want to do one more mark on it for fear of wrecking it completely. You see I was going to do quite a detailed work, showing his hair wrapped carefully with cloth, etc., and I really wanted his eyes to look fierce. I'd planned to do a tiny bit of gold leaf in his eye area but I could only find silver around here...and I need to practice with the application of it...I painted full strength gesso in the area and it kind of spread more than I'd planned but I let it dry a bit and then rubbed on the silver leaf. Only a part of the silver attached itself and the white gesso kind of spread out even more. But this in the end made him fierce. The white gesso suggests the white of the eye, and the silver leaf suggests an otherworldly iris. He sprang to life before my eyes. He has a kind of scar/wound on his cheek and so to counter that I added pale pink to his other cheek. And he is done!!

So I was about to clear the deck (my table top), I decided to check the mail. Holy Cow (and I am talking to the cow mask on my work surface that watches me work) there was a package from LaWendula. Suddenly my table was covered in a whole new layer of visual lusciousness:

And there are more and more and more little packages filled with small images and an assortment of magic. Some fell on the floor, some in my lap. Oh gosh. I'd ordered some tags from Franca Maria from her etsy shop, and had at the same time signed up for a paper swap so she decided to make me her partner so that she could send everything at once. I thank my lucky stars...

For fun and happiness, drop in to see Julia's fabby blog where players from all over the world show you what is on their workdesk today. And drop in to visit Nadine where you can see different art from different artists who contribute their creative vision to us all. And if you are into paper. For goodness' sake, visit LaWendla, who hosts paper swaps with players who swap from all over this globe of ours.

Thank you for dropping in today. I hope to see you again soon! Hugs, Norma,x

Hanging out on the chandelier

Well that is it! Finally. The birds have been operated on and I am ready to move on. Boy I will not be sad to see these babes leave the nest. And you will probably be glad to not have to listen to my banter about them.

There is always one bird that I keep from a batch (either it is a good sample reference for myself, or for many differing reasons) and this black one will be staying with me.

And now it is time for a little studio clean up and then on with something completely different. I'm itching to paint or draw. I do plan to start a new batch of very RED birds for Valentines' Day but will give myself a break for a few days, and I promise I won't show and tell birds for awhile.

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope to see you again soon! *smiles* Norma, x

Shimmy Shimmer Shake

The brain surgery on the wee birds went well. I was able to save 8 of the batch and had to say good bye to 4 of them. Here the pink bird is getting his final coat of shimmer. A cap of pink. In the background is a selection of new sparkle that my daughter put into my Christmas stocking this year. Here is what he looked like when complete. As you can see this is bird number 116. I just keep going with the numbers...

Here he's stands inside my velvet box of glitter where he feels mighty majestic.

I'll finish off the rest of the birds now. Some will go to neighbours and friends and family, and I'll put three aside as a giveaway for the wonderful one-of-a-kind International Blogwide Art Event which is coming up and hosted by the lovely Lisa. See you there I hope. I'll be amongst the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bloggers, visiting from one artist blog to the other...

Thanks for dropping by today; we'll see you soon, I hope...hugs, Norma, x

Birdbrain Surgery

Last month I started a new batch of birds which I'd planned to give to friends, family and neighbours. I laboured for weeks over these. When I'd reached the stage of wrapping the beaks I realized that the birds were completely unuseable and were destined for the trash bin. They lay silently for a few weeks while I scrambled to purchase some of the gifts to replace them, and make completely new things that I'd not originally planned for this year.

So now today, with the hustle and bustle quietened down I went back to the pile of birds. Out of desperation, I'm attempting brain surgery and this just may well work. I have started on the pink one as it is a special birdie for a special friend which I will see at month's end. So far so good.

But look at the operating table. It is a book I got yesterday from my daughter as a Christmas present. I can barely wait to get started drawing birds again. It's been a few months since I've done that. Now that I have this brilliant book that gives lessons, I am thrilled to dig in. But bird drawing will have to wait upon brain surgery on a dozen wee birds.

Hope you are all having a swell time. See you soon, I hope, love Norma, x

Jingle bells...jingle bells...

There is nothing like South Asian gold trim. Unless you are in Las Vegas where there'd be a tie in the glitzy shiny sparkly flashy attention-grabbing category. One of the things I collect at the local second-hand department store, are bags of South Asian gold trim. I keep thinking that one day I'll do something with it.

I've been making paper bells and actually, they are a bust. One of them is salvageable and will be given to my neighbour. She will love it. The others are experiments. I know that I want to use the paper sewn together as a fabric of sorts and I am very excited to do many more experiments to see what I come up with. A few days before Christmas is not the time to do this. So I have to force myself to put away my toys and get on with the gift wrapping, baking, and last minute shopping.

May the bells ring out in your homes. Nice to see you today, and I hope to see you again soon! *smiles* Norma

dc84: Little Red Riding Hood

Big Bad in the forest...

Here 'Big Bad' pauses in the forest, admiring the fresh snow fall. He is on his way to 'Little Red's' house. 'Little Red' has got wind of 'Big Bad's' whereabouts, so is sharpening the axe as we speak. Oh my!

A closer look:

The combination of felt, embroidery cotton, sequins and glitter make my inner child squeal out loud with delight. For a few years now, I've been dreaming of working with these materials and for this challenge (yes, I am a few weeks late but oh well...) I decided to put the materials to work. Here is my design in my art journal:

Here he is with the pieces cut out and laid out on the felt background:

Here the felt pieces have been embroidered and decorated and ready to be sewn:

So you can see how the design came into reality; from a drawing in a sketch book to the finished piece. To see more lovely artwork with this theme drop by Patrice's blog where she, as host, has links to the players. Thanks for dropping in, and I hope to see you soon! *smiles* Norma