Okay - Butterflies

My friend, Karen, commented that when she read my last blog, she expected to see butterflies. I had forgotten to put them on the last one, so here is a photo with the butterflies. This is a different background - one I sun painted using Seta transparent paints. Not terrible, but not what I wanted. Better than the first picture, though. I think I'm getting there. I'm looking for something that blurringly hints at background foliage. So far, all of the commercial fabric I've found is too dark or, if light enough, too plain.

I like the butterflies, but they are very thick. Each is completely threadpainted over a photograph that is fused to 10 oz. cotton duck. I am in the process of making more in a hoop with water soluble stabilizer that will be much thinner.

Below is a closer view of the butterflies. The branch going off to the top is not that dark - it is the same color as the larger horizontal branch. The leaves coming off the top vertical branch will not actually be coming directly off the branch, but will be connected to a longer, narrower stem. Haven't got that far yet. Still working on background, then placement. More leeaves. Definitely need more leaves in various colors, both from bottom and sides. Do you like the leaves coming from the bottom? Not sure what else I could put there.

And here is an even closer look at some of the butterflies. Don't look at all the loose threads off the leaves and branches. The branches have been cut off the cotton duck, so the cut threads look shaggy, but that will disappear when they are stitched down.


And this is even closer. This is my favorite butterfly - 2 of them together. Thick!

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When I was helping Keri move on Saturday, Steve's mom and sister, Abbie, helped move the plants, fish, and some small stuff in their car. Abbie brought me this birdhouse to paint for her. What was that I heard about Picasso being a painter, but you wouldn't ask him to paint your house? Just kidding! Actually, I've painted several for them and our own yard in the past and they are getting a bit old and rickety. I just got so tickled when Abbie gave me the paint set to go with it. How cute is that? They must have come with the house!

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I had a productive evening last night, though it was awfully quiet without Steve. He called and said it was pretty hot, but he was going out fishing last night and was going to get them! He's having a good time, anyway.

I managed to finish the BBQ City Quilter's Guild newsletter, email it, print out the ones that have to be mailed and get them in the mail.

I submitted 3 entries to the Uncommon Threads exhibit of "Threadlines" and got that out.

I did the yard stuff - mostly feeding/watering birds and fish (no, fish don't need water.)

I played with the butterflies in the hoop with Vilene - a heavier water-soluble stabilizer. We'll see how that turns out.

Tonight I have 2 more shows to look at whether I want to enter anything. I'm trying to be more selective about shows. Rather than running around trying to make something for a specific show, I'm looking at how long they run (paying an entry fee, then shipping to and from for a 2-3 day show hardly seems worthwhile, unless it's a really BIG show), how "visible" they are, and whether my stuff fits in theme or size requirements. I'm actually building a good stock of things that I can submit without killing myself to make something. That's giving me time to spend making what I want and (trying to) make it work - like this blasted butterfly piece. And playing with sun painting.

Oh - I also over-painted the last forest fire scene I did. I wasn't that happy with the way it came out, so I tried overpainting before using up more pfd fabric. We'll see tonight when it's dry how it came out.

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Another PAQA-S meeting this weekend. We are meeting at Christine Hager-Braun's to come up with a theme for next spring and then we will visit the Durham Arts Council galleries and conference rooms. Our exhibit next spring will be there in their 2 galleries, and we will have plenty of room for our conference there, as well. I'm looking forward to that. We are also putting together our step-by-step "manual" of how to run our spring and member's exhibits, so when we finally hand this off to new people, they won't have to reinvent the wheel. I hope to take some photos of the DAC to post next week.

We had nearly decided not to have anymore Member's Shows in the fall, but we hated to lose the Page-Walker for that time period. PAQA-S is not all that large an organization, and the local people available for the hands-on stuff like hanging, publicity, food, etc., are always overextended. But, we decided we would step up to the plate and do it again. The Member's Show is much smaller, so that will be very helpful. I will be receiving the entries again. Knowing what to do and how to do it makes it so much easier.

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