Treasures

Had a wonderful afternoon yesterday. Spent it with my beautiful daughter. That alone is always a special treat....but to top off the day I found some stunning Japanese handmade papers.

I always have a difficult time finding the great stuff....so I was thrilled to be able to take a batch of these little treasures home with me.

While most people would be careful to treat them with care....I personally can't wait to "rip" into them :)

Pretty Papers

I just wanted to share a photo of some beautiful yummy handcrafted papers I received as a Christmas gift from one of my online art friends.

We belong to an art site and some of us joined a "secret santa" type swap. After giving a few ideas of what would be on our wish list....the names were given out randomly.

My friend Verna received my name and delighted me by filling my wish list of some new handcrafted papers to use in my Torn Paper Paintings!!

Thank you Verna.....they're just lovely!!! I'm sure you'll see some of them showing up in paper paintings very soon!

Merry Christmas!

A Bigger Bird

 Tis the time of the year when it is hard to get new work done!

I had been really wanting to do one of my seagull in a larger size. With an upcoming appointment with another gallery, I had all the motivation I needed. Just finished this one tonight.

He measures 11"x14". I especially love the fact that most of the body is made from papers I made myself!!

I find that extremely satisfying.

I took the picture below to show the difference between the little tiny ones I'd been doing beside this bigger version.

While the new one isn't huge....it sure looks it next to the little guys.

I'm sure there will be more of these sea birds to come!

My Own Papers

Spent a lovely day today making papers. I'm still quite interested in making more of my own hand made papers for using in my torn paper paintings.
I had a great time experimenting with different papers and inclusions....not to mention the different thicknesses.

The greenest paper you can see here in the bottom row has pink added to it, which I did with some pink slurry I'd had from a previous day of experiments. I dropped the pink into the vat before pulling up the mould.

For some of the pieces you can see fibers from adding pieces of raffia to the mix.

Making paper is a bit of a messy process...but doing it on a hot summer day isn't all that bad!!

A New Piece

Yep...my first new piece for the new year!!
While still being pretty new with this torn paper style and having for years struggled with collage....I'm really liking this!
My daughter gave me a beautiful collection of lovely handmade papers at Christmas and many of those were used in this piece...along with a bit of Asian text that I put bits of in the tail and fins.
I really enjoyed doing this one and already looking forward to the next.