Whimsical home decor

Because my boys are out for the summer I don't have as much time to paint but here are two of my most recent items:

Before

After

I don't have a before picture of this one, it was a 1970's beige color.  It is not recommended for food but you could use it for jewelry or sewing notions, etc

Thanks for looking!!

 

Save the Date!

October 7-8th, 2017... I've been accepted into the Newport News Fall Festival of Folklife so please come see me!!  Here is a temporary link NN Fall Festival  I will update this link as they update their website.  I don't have my booth number yet but you all will be the first to know where to find me.

I will still be selling my fabric bowls but will have new items as well.  A new line I will be introducing is my whimsical hand-painted home decor.  Here is a sneak peek of my pink and black end table:

Before

After

A close-up of the base:

I am also working on a child's bench that I will have in the show so stay tuned I'll be posting pictures soon.

Painting, painting and more painting

This Blog is all over the place just like my brain!  A few months ago I was all about quilting.  I was going to create a new quilting blog but, with my creative gene, I've bounced back to painting.  When I tell people I'm an artist, I quilt, I do handwork and I paint people ask, "What medium?" or "What do you paint? What's your style?"

I paint mainly in acrylics but I also like watercolors.  My style?  I've never been able to define this.  It's not folk art and its' not realism.  I like the word whimsical but that in itself is open to interpretation.  Abstract, pop-art maybe?  You be the judge.  Here are some of my latest creations:

Wall hanging for the princess in your life (wood)

Snowflake wall hanging because I love snow! (wood)

Nothing is more patriotic than a red, white and blue anchor (wood)

My Christmas reindeer (paper mache)

Because the word home should be done in folk art colors (one piece wood)

My idea of fun pumpkins (paper mache)

Paper mache trinket boxes

Stoneware catch-all tray

My new website: October Cat Studios

Without further adieu, here is my website.  I will still keep blogging here but my website is for those of you who just want to see my work without listening to me ramble on and on.  It still needs tweaking but here it is!

http://octobercatstudios.com/

I made the name plural (October Cat Studios) because I have many creative outlets and in my mind each one is a different studio, but sometimes they  like to visit each other.

Upcycled Paintbrushes

If I tried to explain how my creative brain works sometimes you might get lost or dizzy.  I have never been one to keep a sketch book but lately I've found that it's now the only way to organize my thoughts.  I quit my day job a few weeks ago which now allows me to devote more time to my family, my two boys, and my art.  

Ok so back to these altered paintbrushes... They are fun!  They are whimsical! They are way out of the box!

I will be doing a small arts and crafts show this weekend and will be debuting them there:

"Shabby Chic"

** "Ladybugs"

"At the beach"

"Steampunk"

** The ladybugs on the ladybug paintbrush were made using flat black stones, I then painted them and put a clear top coat on them to protect from chipping.

Thanks for looking!!

Merry Christmas!

I much prefer to create Halloween stuff but I have been working on these two Christmas wall hangings for some time now and I have finally finished them!  

I designed and embroidered this nutcracker adding beads and sequins.  The face and hands are hand painted with acrylics.  I then free-motion quilted the entire wall hanging.  It has a rod pocket on the back for easy hanging.

My "cutesy" snowman was created with the coiled fabric bowl method.  The red and white background is actually an upholstery remnant.  The snow is three-dimensional (gel medium) and I hand painted all of the buttons

The back is pretty fun too!!

Found objects and photography

Today my son asked me "Mommy why did you get interested in smashing things?"

"Well Joshua, do you remember the Steampunk wall hanging that I'm making?  Steampunk involves a lot of gears and wires and instead of buying them at a craft store I thought it would be more fun to smash apart an old electric knife cutter."  (This truly makes my art pieces one-of-a-kind)

Today I decided to go back to these railroad tracks that I explored a few months ago to look for more found objects.  These tracks are about an hour away so I don't make it up there often.  When I was there a few months ago I remember finding A LOT of railroad nails.  I picked up a few last time, and again this time, but what I was really there for was other rusted metal pieces. Rusted metal = steampunk look!

I am a very quiet and "to myself" kind of person so walking on railroad tracks by myself, enjoying the beautiful autumn weather is pure heaven for me.  I have always liked railroad tracks.  Maybe it's the idea that they could take me to different places that intrigue me.  Maybe it was the 1986 movie Stand By Me that turned me on to railroad tracks.

While I'm looking for rusty metal and taking pictures of these beautiful tracks today I remembered that photography was my first love, my first artistic expression.  So here again two of my artistic interests cross paths.

If you'd like to visit my Steampunk board on Pinterest you can find it here.  

  

Steampunk and it's after effects

It all started with a show called Steampunk'd.  This is Wikipedia's definition of this genre:

"Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.^{[1][2]  ...}steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has maintained mainstream usage, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power."

I'm not sure why I'm intrigued by this form of art, I think I like it because it's so different than any other art I've done. (I'm also starting to get into Shabby Chic but that's a whole different blogpost).  Steampunk has to do with gears and mechanical objects usually powered by steam.  
This photo is from a wallpaper app on my phone:

I love creating one-of-a-kind art quilts and the theme of steampunk lends itself really well to an art quilt.  With an art quilt I can attach gears and leather and paint a Nerf gun to look "post-apocalyptic" to add to the 3-D effect.  Believe it or not steampunk fabric does exist but I had to order it online.  

(photo to come!)

Another idea I had while creating this is that I could easily find gears and parts if I take apart other electrical things.  Thrift stores are my best friends so off I went!  I have two boys and when I asked them if they wanted to help me smash things they said "SURE!"  We had so much fun that day smashing a "boom box/CD player" from the 90's.  Joshua (blue shirt) is still working on the radio while Jacob (yellow shirt) and I moved onto breaking out the glass from an old window pane for another project (again Shabby Chic for the window pane),

After taking apart a few things and looking on Pinterest (small addiction) I stumbled upon "Assemblage Art".  This art form is called by many different names like upcycled art and junk art.  If you click on this link it will take you to my assemblage art board on Pinterest.  I am now working on two different projects (actually three, paper quilling, but again for another blogpost) so please stay tuned because there will be plenty more pictures in the next post.  

Altered Barbies

About 20 years ago when I was collecting Barbie dolls (yes I have the #1 Barbie that came out in 1959 in the black and white bathing suit) I remember going to a Barbie convention and seeing a few "altered Barbies".  At that point I was teaching myself how to reroot hair on old Barbies and that's when the two ideas merged: reroot non traditional hair and design a non traditional outfit.  That weekend I tried to create my first altered Barbie and let me tell you that my vision was a lot more polished than what actually happened!  I will try anything once and I tried it but decided it wasn't for me... until last year.  I tried it again and this time I loved my results!

My forest Barbie was one of my first ones:

This was one of my favorite ones because of her wire skirt:

Zentangle inspired:

This one was inspired by the button on her back that, when pushed, lights up her torso and legs.  I'm not sure if I'm finished with this one yet.  I would like to paint more designs on her chest and maybe put some braids in her hair.  In the last picture you can see that her belly is lit up blue and one of her legs is lit up red, this is more more vibrant in person.

I also create one of a kind art dolls and in my mind these two go hand-in-hand, art dolls and altered dolls.

Jewels for the Wall

For Christmas I received a subscription to Quilting Arts Magazine.  I love this magazine because it combines quilting with other mediums (right up my alley!).  I started making art quilts about 1-2 years ago, embellishing with found objects and beads.  This magazine shows me how to create my own fabrics with dyes, stamps and silk screening.  An article in the December2014/January2015 issue entitled Jewels for the Wall by Natalya Aikens inspired my next creations.  She made mini art quilts, framed them and then painted the frames to match the colors in the quilts.  Mine, of course, looks nothing like hers but that's the beauty of art!  Every artist has their own talents and interpretations of their world.

This was my very first one:
I only used fabric, beads and paint.

And because I love owls this was my second one:
For this creation I used fabric (the owl), upholstery (the gray background and the blue branch) and puffy paint (little designs coming off the branches).  There are also beads sewn on the eyes.

My third one is my absolute favorite because it's not as tight or structured as the last two.  I call it Steampunk and Butterflies.
(again I used fabric, upholstery, beads, clock parts and other hardware)

(top part):

(bottom part):

This is the start of two new creations.  I will be embellishing with seashells, sea grass and of course more beadwork.  The horizontal frame will be the seashore and the vertical frame will have lighthouse fabric in it.

These and many more creations will be for sale in my booth at the Newport News Fall Festival of Folk Life first weekend in October, please come out and see me!

The start of my Nutcracker Art Quilt

I love art quilts.  I love making them and I love looking at them.  Sometimes an art quilt contains embellishments such as beads, ribbons, found objects and things from nature.  A few months ago I started hand sewing beads onto one of my art quilts and I LOVE how it is turning out.  Granted it is taking a while but it is totally worth it!  

After deciding to embroider the centers of my Block of the Month blocks (see last post) I have really embraced this type of needlework.   I love it because to me everything about embroidery is creative, I can draw my own pattern and I can use any colors I want.  If you can't draw, or need ideas, all you have to do is search "coloring pages+mermaids" or whatever you little heart desires.

About a year ago I found this Christmas fabric on sale.  I traditionally like red and green but this one really grabbed my eye.

I had not known what I was going to do with this fabric until a few days ago.  Along with peacocks, mermaids and Halloween I also like nutcrackers (like mother like daughter!)  I found a line drawing of a nutcracker online and have decided to embroider him in blues and greens.  He will then be the center of one of my art quilts with this fabric being one of the borders and maybe the backing.

I love adding sequins and beads to make it really "sparkle":

I purposely did not sketch in the eyes because I was going to use black beads and I didn't want the pencil marks to show but last night I had an idea, I may paint the eyes so I can get the tiny details.

This may be for sale at the Newport News Fall Festival next year or it may not depending on how much I fall in love with it.