Still under construction

Well I've changed the name of my blog back to KIMagination (for the moment).  If you check in at any point this week it may look different because I'm trying to coordinate this blog with my new website which hasn't gone live yet but hopefully the next post will be a link to my first ever website!  Thanks for your patience.

Yes you've made it to KIMagination...

but after three and a half years I have decided to change the name of my blog.  I am also in the process of creating a website and I needed to find a web page name that isn't already taken and there are a few KIMagination's out there.  It's still an ongoing process though.

When I was a little girl my family and I went to the Appalachian Mountains.  The trail we hiked was called The Riprap Trail.  I remember saying "That is a cute name for a cat... when I get older I'm going to get an all black cat and name him Riprap".  I have always loved solid black cats.  In August of 1992 I got Rippy, as he was affectionately called, and his sister was Eureka.  A few years later I got a third cat named Lefty.  They all lived a very long and happy life.  So this blog has been renamed in honor of my Rippy, the black cat.

Fabric bowls gone wild!

I have taken my fabric bowls to a whole new level, embellishments!!

The first bowl was a Halloween bowl with hand sewn beads and that crazy eyelash yarn (I finally found a use for it!)

The second bowl isn't finished yet but it's a pumpkin bowl with a lid.  I created the stem out of creative paper clay but haven't painted it yet.  The white piece of paper is the template for the leaves that I drew.  It will be cut out of olive green velvet and this weekend I hope to embroider the veins of the leaf and add sead beads.

My "wedding basket".  Again not quite finished because I think it needs more pearls and sequins but I'm thinking about customizing these for brides.  If your colors are teal or burgundy I could incorporate those colors into the basket as well.  It would sit on the table with the gifts to hold wedding cards.

Then I decided that it would be fun to sew beads between the fabric rings.  My inspiration was these wooden painted beads I got in Cozumel, Mexico on my honeymoon.  I then looked through my stash and found this butterfly fabric, perfect!  Again not quite finished because I'm going to continue upwards and do a few more rings.

Art Dolls

A new artistic form for me but the possibilities are now endless!  I am using everything from Celuclay to paper mache and from Styrofoam to dowel rods.  I am scouring the thrift stores for items to use and using buttons, beads, wire and anything else I can find to create these one of a kind pieces.  They are fun and whimsical and I'm having a blast creating them!

I started out by making pumpkin heads from Celuclay and Creative Paper Clay.

I also make a cat head because I love cats. 

At this point I had no idea what these would turn into so they sat on my work table until I went to a thrift store looking for something that I could possibly turn into a body.  And this is what I ended up with.  I ended up gluing candle holders upside down to bases.

The one on the left would eventually become the cat's body and the one in the center would become the body for the juggling pumpkin head man.
I created the body using wire, batting and creating my own pattern for the outfit.

 

I'm not completely finished with these two but I'm getting there.

And here's a sneak peek at two more I'm working on, again still works in progress:

Whimsical Chairs

I finished painting these two chairs in time for the silent auction at Warwick Memorial United Methodist Church last weekend.  I received many compliments on them and was asked to paint something else for next years auction as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Image taken by me at Newport News Park in Virginia.

What I'm working on now

It is now Monday evening and I HAVE to finish "whimsical painting" two chairs for a silent auction that is in two weeks.  I have given myself until Thanksgiving to finish them, that is exactly 3 days away.  Pictures coming very soon!

Another thing I've been working on is transferring all of my pictures onto a new computer (also putting them on a disk because I'm old school) because my old computer is finally dying.  I have also bought the latest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements and I'm having a blast altering my photos.

I think creative Kim is coming back (thanks mom for encouraging me!) so look for updates on my latest art dolls coming soon.

I'm OK

A lot has happened in my life in the past few weeks (physically and emotionally) and instead of going into a long sermon I'll try to summarize. 

1.  My lease was up at The Art Gallery where I sold my art so I made the hard decision to pull my stuff out.  It has become a lot more emotional for me than I thought.  I used to define myself as an artist and I guess I still am but it seems like I have no direction now.

2.  I was in a car accident on November 1st.  I am still bruised and very sore but I'll survive.  It was the other person's fault and thank God I didn't have my kids in the car with me.  I won't post pictures because it still gives me the chills to look at them.

I forced myself to get back into my art room last night and I think slowly my creative energy may be coming back but I probably won't be posting for another few weeks.