Puerto Vallarta Mixed Media Pieces by Lenall Siebenaler

I need to be done with these to go to my next series which is screaming to get out of my head. I did these at the pool in the morning while I was in Puerto Vallarta in February. It's time to let them go and move on. I did several versions of each type and will mat them for the show in December. Any favorites?  Lenall Siebenaler

A little sunshine for our rainy days

With all the rain, snow and overcast days lately I’ve been craving something bright and cheerful.  Recently Quilting Arts TV featured Terry Grant who demonstrated how to make the cutest fabric birds.  It seemed like a small project I could handle with my limited time so off I went picking some fabric, stuffing, wire and brown floral tape.

It all started with this first little guy.  Cheerful and just kind of makes you smile even with a beak more like a duck bill.  But he looked like he needed some friends so with more colorful fabrics one by one a flock was formed. 

Truly a fun project to add a little cheer to your day.   You can download the instructions from the Quilting Arts TV website to create your own little happy flock!

Virtual Studio Tour - Paula McNamee

Welcome to my studio- in my home, in what used to be the back bedroom. I've reorganized the 12x12 foot space a couple times in the past five years. With limited storage, it's been a challenge to fit supplies for all of my creative interests. If I start working with a new medium, then something else has to go. Moving the books out of the studio gave me lots more storage space and flexibility.

1. What sort of artwork do you do and what are you currently working on?

   My artwork includes a variety of media- fiber art with fabric, stitching and felting, metalsmithing, jewelry making, painting, collage, book arts, drawing and writing.

Right now, I'm painting two 24x30 inch canvases as part of Flora Bowley's online e-course. I set up an easel on my center work table for my acrylic painting station.

I'm currently taking an Italic calligraphy class and place my slanted drawing board on my desk to practice.

2. How do you need your studio to function? I enjoy having flexible work stations that can be changed depending on my current project. I like to keep my fiber arts/stitching station in one area with supplies close at hand.

My desk area is for writing, drawing and computer work.

The center, island work table gets used for many projects such as metalsmithing and book arts. I like to stand and work on many projects and adjust the table height to fit me.

3. What do you love about your studio?

   My studio is a warm, quiet retreat – my sacred space-

surrounded my what inspires me-

a window to bring the outdoors inside-

4. What would you like to change about it? I'd like to have more space, a wet area with sink and running water, and move the computer out of the studio to another place in the house.

5. What would your dream studio contain? Besides the above mentioned changes, my dream studio would have a sitting area with a couch and a couple comfortable chairs, a large table where friends could work together and a large blank wall for a design board . My wall space is taken up with storage and artwork now. I'd also love to have space for a separate painting area that is set up all the time. Who knows, my dreams may come true someday. I am a dreamer.

6. Do you have any organizational tips? Organization helps me use my studio space efficiently. Look at the mess I used to have in my studio-

Now everything has a place-

It's all sorted by item and labeled-

One of my best organizational tips is to use tool caddies or totes. I sorted all of my metalsmithing supplies, pencils and pens into three different caddies.

The metalsmithing tools are all together and ready for my studio or to take to the garage and work-

My idea and sketch books are a handy reference-

Where to put travel souvenirs? I placed them on the top shelves so that I can enjoy them but they are not in the way-

My knickknacks grace a narrow, six inch high shelf at the back of my desk-

My calligraphy supply case hangs on two hooks on the back of my work table up off the floor. See the storage bins under the table?

Thank you for visiting my studio. To see more of my artwork and creative life go to my blog Dreamcicle Journeys.

The Auction Project

The teens in my Art and Design class put together this fabulous piece of Portland with Mt. Hood in the background for the school auction. I divided a photo into 16 sections, and they each created one piece of the total collage. They worked with magazine pages and were told to interpret rather than copy the original photo.

It was so exciting to watch the piece come together. Since they were working on such small details up close, they didn't have a sense of how the final picture would look. They were all pretty stunned at the final unveiling. What I especially love about the piece is that you can see their individual styles if you inspect the piece up close, yet they came together beautifully into a very professional looking polished piece.

If you would like to bid on the piece, it's available in the online auction and the proceeds go to support a fantastic alternative school. The piece is matted and framed and very impressive, if I do say so myself.

Click here to see it and bid.

Photos from Cuba

My Rag Rug Project

 $3.99 for a rag rug, hours of fun priceless.

A few month's ago I redid my bath room and bought some rag rugs to brighten it up bit. I loved the gentle jewel tones and wanted see the fabric unbound. So I started to clip, and clip, and clip. Piles of gray string like thread wove the rug together, it took some time to free the fabric.

 What a treasure came out - it was mostly silk.

  You can’t believe the amount of fabric in one little 20”x32” rug. The fabric come out very crimped and has not relaxed much in the following weeks. I think the crimped look is very nice for some projects.

  I broke out the iron to make the first project, one of my polka dot scarves. The base is all rug fabric, the dots are from my stash.

 

Next a square knot bracelet. A loop on one end slips over the beautiful green bead.

 

I took 6 stands of fabric braided 3 of them and looped the others to create the necklace. The center piece is a silk cocoon beaded inside and out.

  And the last thing for now is a rag rug curtain. Very lovely and amazingly it matches the rug.

Caution: After opening the first rug I went back to the store (Fred Meyers) and bought two more. One was much heavier and made from upholstery fabric with nasty thin strips. So when you are looking for the silk ones pick at the edge and make sure it is silk. This is funny all the tags say 100% cotton.

Have fun and let us know if you come up with a rug project of your own. You can e-mail me at coppercrowstudio@msn.com

Cleaning and Playing

I'm in the middle of a very big clean up job in my studio. Well....more like clean a little and play a little. I keep finding things I knew I had but could not locate. Case in point, my crayons. I found them buried under a pile of papers on my low work bench. Happiness! I was looking for them so I could make some melted crayon art, now I don't have to go out and buy a new box. So...I got some cleaning done, now to reward myself.

I wrapped a small piece of canvas board with book pages, went through the crayons and selected my color palette and went to work. I used a Clover mini-iron to melt and drip the wax on the board. I had also found some paper flowers in my cleaning and waxed them up and attached them to the board with melted white crayon, then added dots of the white crayon to brighten it up.

Now I've got more cleaning to do. I wonder what I will be finding next?