She Wore Flowers in Her Hair...

Hi everyone!

Well...it's a beautiful rainy day today! Really, though, I do love the rain and the cool of autumn. Warm enough that you don't quite have to bundle up, but chilly enough that you can wear those lovely sweaters.(:

And besides...even if the weather outside is frightful, it's always so nice and cozy inside. ^^

Anyway, I wanted to share one of my more recent mixed-media projects, a little painting and a little collage. So I tore up some sheet music, article pages, and phone book pages, using them for the background, then took a woman's profile and a bunch of flower clippings, glued it all together on a porcelain tile, and went crazy with paint. At the end, I added one of my tracing paper butterflies.

This was the end result:



I hadn't originally intended to make her face a silhouette, but I really like the effect it has...it makes it simpler and helps the bright flowers to stand out.



And the butterfly adds a bit of dimension...(:



What do you think? This is one of my new favorite little pieces....I have it sitting on my bookshelf perched on a miniature easel.(:

Have a lovely day!

~Vicki

The Roaring Twenties -- One of my latest drawing attempts

Hi everyone,

Are any of you excited for Fall to arrive?(: I've been stocking up on long-sleeved shirts and blouses and a bunch of new sweaters all summer long, and I'm super excited to get to wear them! I came home from LA to find the Washington weather even hotter, which is pretty rare. But now it's cooled down and it looks like maybe, just maybe, Fall is ready to make an appearance. ^^

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of drawing lately. Maybe it's to compensate for all the drawing I didn't do during school, maybe it's just a way to pass time, or maybe I've just been more inspired -- I'm not sure. But I've been drawing a whole lot, and instead of mimicking other artists, as I used to do almost exclusively, I've been drawing things that are my own, which makes me pretty happy. Today I started work on a mermaid, then I drew a fairy for my uncle, a cross for my aunt in memoriam of my uncle, and then two weeks ago, I drew this flapper for a contest where you were supposed to show your flapper style. I'm not sure why, but the roaring twenties is not my favorite time period. I do like some of the fashion, though, and I drew from Erte for this look.



I love the colors, and the brightness of it! I also like how the girl's makeup turned out...it looks very 20s-style to me!
What do you think?(:

Have a lovely night, and hopefully I'll be back with some more posts soon! I have so much to show you!

~Vicki

My First Attempts at Chainmaille

Hi everyone,

I feel like such a bad blogger...I make these promises to blog at least once a week, and I'm lucky if I blog once a month. :P Last month was pretty busy, though...it started off with my first Renaissance faire, and then came my mother's birthday, and my birthday, and then our vacation to Disneyland. I probably wouldn't be blogging today if our vacation hadn't been cut short by a saddening death in the family. But, although we didn't get to finish our vacation last week, we do get to finish it this week, by spending a couple of days on the coast! I'm excited to feel that cool ocean breeze!

Anyway...I now have a new hobby! As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I've started making chainmaille. ^^ I've always wanted to, and after I found an inexpensive chainmaille-making kit at the Ren Faire, I knew I had to grab the opportunity. I read in the instruction manual that it's sometimes called "chain knitting," and I realized while working with it that it really is a lot like knitting! For one thing, I find both of the crafts very confusing because I want to start off doing all these complex things when it's best to start simply, and follow the directions VERY closely. It didn't help that I decided that I didn't want to do the project that the kit was initially for and decided to make up my own. It was frustrating, but it actually turned out looking very, very cool.

Here's how my two projects turned out:



This is my first one, and it's got this kind of romantic look combined with the hardness of the metal, which I love. The centerpiece is actually from a gargantuan ring that I got from Forever 21. Its base slid off of my thin finger, and the ring just looked too long and slightly gaudy to be used as a ring. I mean, I like big rings, but not quite that big! So I decided to make it into a necklace!





And here's one that I just made this weekend, inspired by a Forever21 necklace that I spotted while on vacation. As soon as I got home, I started work on it! And I love the result.(:





I thought you might like to see a photo of what I wore to the Renaissance faire...I felt obligated to dress up and had so much fun doing it! Next time, I want to make my own costume! There was so much inspiration at the faire to drool over...I only wish i had taken more photos!



Have a lovely day!

~Vicki