New Blog

I have started a new blog, please join me at http://queenbegonia.blogspot.com. 

See you there!

Cindy

Latest effort - acrylic on canvas. 

Happy Thanksgiving

To those far away, whom I love so much and am SO proud of, Happy Happy Thanksgiving Day.  Mom

Treasures

                                                   This is where I play. 

 Some of my Treasures - a glass tray filled with oyster shells smoothed by the ocean, a cup made by my granddaughter, mason jar of watercolor tubes, spice jars filled with bits, ott light, watercolor brushes, a corked jar holding a twig dressed in lichen.

 

                                         More Treasures

Peep Show

I love the look of windows softened by bright white shears and miniblinds.  The combination lets in lots of light, and adds a nostalgic touch to my rooms.  If you look closely, through the window, you can see the neighbor's house, right across the canal.  So, what about privacy....

Just stroke your hand down the lower section of blades to close them.  Voila!  Sunlight, privacy, nostalgia, Happy Dance! 

Pillow Number One

Finished the first of two pillows.  The pattern is modified from the book I mentioned in an earlier post.  The circle in the center is made using a french knot, the stems are stem stitch, and the petals are done in a split stitch - just in case you're wondering.  I love the juxtaposition of contemporary design with an heirloom art form. 

Speaking of heirloom, I bought a craft magazine from 1992 at a recent neighborhood yard sale.  I thought it would be fun to see what was crafting twenty years ago, and maybe try out some retro ideas.  Well, here's the first page I flipped to, and honestly, I think I'll just let that idea go!

Have a great day,
Cindy

Love, love, love Katherine Shaughnessy's book, "New Crewel, The Motif Collection." 

Of course, I have to put my own spin on it.  Crewel embroidery, which is distinguished by it's materials of wool and linen, is not something you can just throw in the washer.  So loving the designs, I drew one of them onto cotton twill, and proceeded to stitch using DMC size 5 cotton thread.

So Far, So Good!

 

 

 

OK, so it's been awhile!

I have not posted in over a year - the truth is I lost my blog.  REALLY!  I'd try to log in, no blog found.  I'd search, no blog.  Turns out there was a conflict between my google email account, and my local provider-supported email account.  Each one thought the other was the host., but I didn't know this, and it didn't take me long to give up all effort. 

THEN.....last week, I decided to just start fresh, signed up with blogger with a new name, and guess what?  Both the newly created blog, and this one showed up on my dashboard.

AM I THE ONLY PERSON THIS STUFF HAPPENS TOO??  Determined not to let go of the past, I contacted Google, and found out about the conflict.  I did everything they instructed me to do to straighten things out, and hopefully, I can now pick up where I left off so long ago.

I finally finished the first of two "twin" quilts.  My hand quilting is slow and my attention span is short, so it's a real accomplishment.  I love the backing fabric on this, it's actually turned wrong side out to mute the colors just a little. 

Slow Going on the Quilt

Slowly, the quilt is getting pieced.  There is something soothing in the process.

Slices......

Painting with fabric...a new quilt in the works.

Still Playing Around with Corel's Paintshop Pro

Love being able to take an old sketch and doing something new with it.....
Have a great day,
Cindy

Multifloral

A spring bouquet to brighten my day.

Fresh off the Painting Table

I just finished this painting today.  It was inspired by a photo taken last summer of our show-off, supersized begonia, which I loved.  I confess to being stumped by the perspective of the bricks in the picture, and resorting to trickery and tomfoolery to draw them correctly.  Hope you enjoy, and have a nice day.

Grandma Floyd's Pineapple Lime Desert Recipe

I recently went through my grandmother's collection of recipes - all yellowed and fragile.  A little photoshopping, and this is what I came up with.  (p.s.  I also made the dessert - delicious!)

Freebie - Birthday card ready to print

Here is a birthday card I drew and painted.  To print it, just click on it and save it to your desktop.  Once there, open the image, select Print, select paper size  of 8.5 x 11", image of 5 x 7", preview to be sure it will print on the correct side of your page, and print.

Write your own message inside.  Maybe something nice like "I see it got there in time", or not so nice but funny, "Sorry, I should have overnighted it". 
Enjoy your day,
Cindy

Rainy Day Dreamin'

Today was rainy and cold, what a great time to stay in and paint.  This is a little female cowbird I had a photo of. . . . she looked so cute with her head slightly cocked.  I've included the sketch so you can paint her too.

Summer Memories

Painted last summer, one of my beautiful hibiscus....I hope these plants made it through the winter to bloom again in the spring.
Have a great day

You Paint

Your turn, use this drawing to practice sketching or painting....

My painted version was posted earlier.  I sometimes have a very hard time being inspired to paint or draw, so here is a little free inspiration for you.  I hope it gets you going!
Have a great day.

Playing Around with the bird

Since my bird painting on handmade paper wasn't really very good, I started playing with paintshop's special effects, curly cued, tiled, and lastly, patterned.  It was fun to see all the different ways a picture could be treated.

Lastly, a rose I sketched from my garden.  You're welcome to print and paint it, please have fun with it!
I'd love to see your pictures when you finish.

Playing with Paintshop

Playing around with Corel's Paintshop.  The picture is of a painting I did last month.  I paintshopped it with a bubbles background, and love the results.  I might use this image to make notecards.  What do you think?