Wow, the summer's half gone, and I seem to have missed it. The weather has been pretty lousy all summer, not really even warm and so very rainy. Not a good summer for having lots of play time with sun printing as I had planned. But sometimes things just don't work out the way I had planned and I get to do other things. I've finished an art doll, my first, and I think she's AWESOME. Maybe not the most technically sound, but I think she's of awesome design! I also played along earlier this month at the college in the dying fabrics weekend. It was a fantastic 3 days dedicated to exploring and experimenting with dyes. I took a stab at silks as well as cottons and ended up with some nice pieces that I look forward to using in a future piece of work. I think I want to explore dyes further, and take a try at dying wool fleece. Would be satisfying to use my own dyed fibers for my next dolls.

There has been a few nice days, and I took advantage of one. I took a stroll around the neighbourhood and through Lake Ontario Park with the intention of searching for some ferns to print onto cotton. No ferns were found, but I did end up with a nice collection of leaves and flowers. It felt a little strange walking around scrounging leaves and petals and I received a good many odd and disapproving looks from others. One persone even asked what the heck I was collecting this "junk" for. I just smiled sweetly and said, "I'm an artist". Strangly, that seemed to answer everything. It did feel good to say those words with conviction and have others believe it! I've come to believe in my art journey that I need to do the things I feel need doing, and not concern myself with what others think.

I did some sunprinting with said such leaves, putting oak leaves on cotton, and maple leaves on rice paper. The finished pieces are in various warm colours, and turned out decently. They've been combined, and I'm currently construction a journal cover. I've started free-motion stitiching on it, and am reasonably pleased with the results. Free-motion stitching isnt' really something I'm good at, nor have I given it a lot of practice, but I'd say this is the best job I've done with it yet. I'll share photos when it's complete.

I guess that I haven't actually completed too many projects over the last while, but I am full of ideas. Each day I come up with new design concepts and concoct plans for projects I wish to complete. I keep finding ideas and inspiration all around me. In my readings I've been finding techniques that are new to me and that I wish to try. I am excited to create and I'm excited to learn and the anticipation of what's to come out of me is well...exciting!