Singing into Spring

The pollen has finally blown away and things are looking so beautiful here in Atlanta. I want to move all my furniture outside and just live there for a few weeks. The mosquito season is right around the corner and I will soon need to bathe in deet and wear flea collars just to take my trash out. But for now... perfection.


In celebration of this beautiful spring, I decided to make some fun little birds. I got the instructions for these in an article by Renee Rogers in the May / June issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. Renee attaches her birds to springy wire. I wanted my birds to hang, so I just adjusted the directions slightly and used some beading wire and crimping beads.

To begin, you use plaster gauze to fashion bird shapes.

Next, you can add strips of tissue, paint, and mod podge or other varnish.

You can't really tell from the photos, but I also added some cheerful phrases to my birds.
Sing for the beauty of this day...
Good morning beautiful life...
Each day is a new song...
Not sure what I'll do with these, but think they might make nice little gifties for some special people I know. They were so much fun to make and have inspired me to think of more (and bigger) creations that I'd like to try this summer. This is also a great project to do with your kids!

It Smells Like Art Again

As you may have noticed, I've been taking a small break from blogland. The school year is about to wrap up and it seems like every day I've got some sort of concert to attend, party to plan, play-off game to watch, or check to write. My brain has been taxed. The studio has been collecting dust.

But enough of that... I'm back down here, cracking the paints open, spraying inks, making messes. As my son said one day when he came down here, "it smells like art in here" again.

After an hour or so of painting this morning, I opened up my email and was so delighted to see a wonderful blog post by Cate Prato with Cloth Paper Scissors featuring one of my techniques and a plug for my second video workshop with Cloth Paper Scissors. This one is called Collage in the Round and features wire and rice-paper structure techniques.

I can't say enough good things about the wonderful folks over at Cloth Paper Scissors. From my first challenge entry until now, every contact has been so warm, friendly, and supportive. If you are interested in having your work published, give Cloth Paper Scissors a try. If you have questions or want advice, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment here. I'd love to share any of my experiences with you.

Now off to get artsy. Hope your day is filled with happy, colorful messes!