Back at home and getting ready...

Well back at the homestead.  Will now focus on getting business cards ready, information cards on gemstone jewelry that I design specific for metaphysical purposes and get the 'display' items all put together!  This is just a short show coming up on Friday and the table costs go to charity, plus I donate one of my items for a raffle.  I don't think I will give a large one this time.  A moderate one will do!
I uploaded another quick video showing the two felted and embellished bracelets I completed over the weekend.
I have it posted for your perusal if you haven't see it already!

October days!

I believe that October is one of two of my favorite months of the year. The other being June.  Just as June gives us the fresh smell of early summer mornings and soft breezes, October blows a little harder with just a hint of "coolness" belying what's coming around the corner!  I love the temps today, I talked my sweetie into going for a brisk walk along the river and bay parkway.  We also strolled along the quiet streets of downtown looking into some of the 'potential' storefronts that I would love to open! Anyway, there were no shortage of the local fauna!  Ducks everywhere and these were walking towards us and very close!  I don't know if these are those that winter here or not, but next time we're bringing some corn niblets with us.  Here's some pic's!

Another gorgeous October day! Brought Truck to dealership to get a safety recall done and once it was done, I thought "It is way too nice to be in the house doing my creative work!" So, I took my activity bag (fiber art I brought to garage to keep busy while working on my truck) , magazines, coffee and myself and went down to our Bayside Park. It was sunny with a beautiful breeze lots of ducks and geese around looking for 'handouts' and I just soaked up the sun and got my daily dose of Vitamin D!  Anyway, here is a sampling of my latest felted pieces.  I am going to be making cellphone covers from these, only I am going to sew in a vinyl window, so that you can see who's calling before you take the phone out!  I'm also making up some art cards for Christmas giving.  They can be used as wall/shelf art after too!  I also have some new felted bracelets that I want to post too! That'll come when I get back home in a day or two! (I've been in the city at my honeys house for the last 4 days...Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada!)

October! Can you believe it? Has the collective conscious gone mad?? LOL

Blink! No kidding, it just seems that I was stressing over the upcoming summer Art Show and hoping to build up enough inventory...Whew!
Well, next week will be two years since I was downsized or "early retired" as the corporate world is now calling any lay-offs over the age of 50...damn. Even looking at that number seems foreign to me...I have lived off of my severance package so that I could take a sabbatical and become acquainted with new and build up my existing skill base as an artist.
I have dreamed for years of being able to just be an artist, to create and sell enough to be able to pay my bills and have some retirement too. There are people out there that are able to do that and I want to be able to tap into that too! My money is running out and it's imminent in the back of my mind that a lousy paying J.O.B is my only way out....I am crying inside and need some help! I want to become a bigger presence on the net and community so that there is a steady stream of income...networking is essential, so I need to do more of it. Will go to some of my forums and start to get my blog/website published more. We spend more time trying to market ourselves and little time to create!
Anyway...had my rant. I'm excited to start on some smaller projects to bring to the upcoming fall/Christmas sales. Went on a road trip two weeks ago to an Alpaca Farm with some Artist friends. Very enjoyable and the owner/operator also had a shop/mill there where they show their creations and sell their fleece by the roving/batts etc. I am inspired to continue my 'felting' process and make some functional pieces still, so I am designing/creating some cell phone holders with felt and free motion stitch. I have been adding some classic crewel stitching to my jewelry arm bands and really like the effect. I will be posting my lates pic's shortly so say tuned! I really hope that I can get some folks to stop by here and make some comments.
Stay sparkly!

Whew...struggling right now.

It's been a long couple of weeks. Working arse off to prepare for Art in the Park and took a couple of days off, to recoup and re-group. Will do two more shows this year, so hopefully they will bring in some much needed cash flow.
I need to market myself more. I wish it was easier than it is, so many talented hand craft artisans out there...how do you make yourself stand out? Been meditating on that without much success.
Decided to overhaul my studio and re-arrange everything to make it more productive? Always second guessing ourselves...Taking all week to do, never realized just how much 'stuff' I have and as a mixed-media artist we don't throw anything away! Perhaps I should focus on one thing?
I don't believe it's in my make-up for that so...too late! :-)
I need to look through my myriad of books to get inspired again, just feeling very melancholy these days...

A fun little diversion!

Been playing on Betabrand site where you can design your own striped socks! Since I like playing with colors...why not! So, I've signed up and created three new pairs of socks! Two of my socks had colors that have not been named yet! So, I've created some new 'color' choices for the company!

Betabrand Sock Contest | COLOURlovers :: COLOURlovers

Betabrand Sock Contest | COLOURlovers :: COLOURlovers: "

Cool Nippers by pateho
www.COLOURlovers.com

"

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Pooped! Taking a couple of days to reflect...

The Art in the Park was an amazing day, the turn out was outstanding, I believe it was the best Art in the Park ever in my memory! I didn't realize the profits that I had hoped but I still made a small profit after booth costs were deducted. I met a lot of people and received a great amount of feedback for my works. Brought back my "Drifting Saints" after a long hiatus and there were people that came up to the booth specifically to tell me they bought one of my "Drifting Saints" about 18 years ago! I said yes! that's the last time I made public sales with them! The felted vessels made some rave reviews, but didn't sell. I thought if I focussed on 'functional' art they would sell, however, I believe I will focus on large wall art and go back to painting my watercolors for awhile before going back to the 'art to wear' items...
Right now, I'm spending time with my honey as he's been an 'art widow' for the last 3 months. Giving him some extra attention this week!
I will post pictures of the event. I didn't get all the pictures from the entire festivities as I didn't have time to see them all!

Latest Drifting Saints for upcoming Art Show (29)

Latest Drifting Saints for upcoming Art Show at Mike Weir Park, Sarnia Ontario (29):

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felting-projects part 2 - YouTube

felting-projects part 2 - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

felting-projects part 1.MOV - YouTube

felting-projects part 1.MOV - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Felted Vases - YouTube

Felted Vases - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

So excited for upcoming Art in the Park festival!

This years Art in the Park is under new organization and I was fortunate enough to get in on a cancellation! I only have a week left to get inventory up to snuff in anticipation of the event. I have only about 5 nuno scarves on the go, plenty of scarf-lettes, some hats and I've recently been working on felted vessels and vase covers. Really nice....Drifting Saints are making a comeback as well, so we'll see what the next week brings. I've been experiencing RSI due to doing too much at once, so I'm giving myself lots of breaks and variations in my duties!
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3148131 This link is to a local paper advert for the upcoming show for those that aren't local to the event!
I'm going to upload my recent videos too!

Hot and busy Summer!

Wow! Can't believe August is coming to a close already! Crikey! I haven't blogged in awhile and I've been wanting to, but as usual, I get distracted! First show of the summer was very nice, not much in the way of sales, which part of the reason was I was not able to showcase/sell my jewelry line because of the over abundance of jewelry artists, so I had to build up my inventory on my hand painted silk scarves and felted items. I also re-purpose vintage wool blankets/cloth into hats and booties etc. so I made some of those up too. My hats were popular as were my scarves.
There was really good energy at this show and I met some fantastic artists! Good networking!

I had another show within two weeks of this one and this time I showcased my jewelry, but there were very few people that came through the venue! The crowd was congregated too far away to be drawn toward the vendors and such! Too bad because I had made up a good number of my chakra bracelets and necklaces along with some amazing POG's that I had made up too.(Positive Orgone Generators are based on the principal of orgone technology by Wilhelm Reich. Orgone energy is also known as chi, ki, prana, life force, is the energy present within all objects. It surrounds us and is within us.)
Right now I am getting ready for one the big annual Art in the Park that is held every year the weekend after labor day. Unfortunately because I was a late registrant, I cannot do jewelry again! Just too many jewelry artists! Can you blame us for loving the bling?? :-)
The only down side to all this is I have major repetitive strain in my left arm right now, so I'm in a lot of pain and I'm trying to wet felt scarves and slippers!
I will post some pictures of the last two shows...but you can see some photos at my Facebook page and hopefully you'll

like

it! :-)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patti-Cook-Mixed-Media-Arts/113872642030786?sk=photos Just click on the Art in the Park and that's the first show of the summer with my Scrum Sisters!

African Angels!

Well, not really, but I like to have titles with a ring to it, so this was fitting...who knows? I may end up calling them that anyway. Been wanting to make up some felted 'doll' pendants of a sort. I saw some really cute ones at a bead workshop and thought that I would do something a little different,I want my own artistic flair to it. So, I had sketched out some ideas and then thought of how much I love bright vibrant colors against a dark background, the way a lot of indigenous cultures do and then my thoughts went to traditional African kaftans and tribal dress. The women always look so beautiful and majestic in them, so, I am fashioning my doll pendants after various African attire! Here's a couple of pics I took prior to taking the video below it and a picture of my sketches I made of others based on some research I did regarding traditional African attire.

100_4418.MOV - Google Docs

This is my latest project (well, I've got a few going on) but I wanted to work on a small project/s this weekend and I thought that perhaps, I'll do my little felted ladies...I had some sketches and now I've got a series of colored pictures of African dress that I'm going to do...here's a quicky video of my first one.100_4418.MOV - Google Docs

Muscles I haven't used in a long time!

Whew! I've been going strong trying to get this Alpaca combed, cleaned and then ultimately felted! I have an upcoming show in July with my two other Scrum Sisters! The committee wouldn't accept my jewelry this year because they have "their quota" of jewelry artists! (These are also on the committee!) Good thing I'm a mixed media artist! I am going to focus on my felted works. I am doing some Nuno scarves, wall art, I even made a funky hat from a piece of an old wool blanket and merino wool roving. I have some wool blankets and thought to recycle them to be worn or enjoyed in some way again. Will post pictures. Been trying to find some free patterns for non-knitted hats! May just have to go in and look up some at the fabric shop. Dangerous place for me though, love to go in and come out with BAGS of purchases! ooooh, I best stay away for now, I was getting excited just writing about it. I found this amazing big old Canadian made woolen blanket a week ago at the local thrift shop. I will use it as a base for some small bags/purses and also woolen hats and arm warmers. I washed it in really hot water to get it a little more felted and I really like the thickness, it will make some warm head toppers! I will also be making some more mandala pendents/cuffs etc. as well as some goddess type pendants! After all the mystics are saying that we are moving into a more gentle feminine phase! This will give me a chance to slide in some jewelry pieces without being called jewelry! They didn't nix my felted cuffs! So, I'm bringing them too! My fellow Scrum Sisters also encouraged me to paint and add some of my "Drifting Saints" Driftwood pieces. Why not? Christmas in July!
Peace and love and all that gibbly stuff!

annamora

annamora
Love her photos! Rich in saturated colors of the area, plus my favorite CATS! love cats <3

jemARTS

Fine Art

This is my ArtFire account. They are great! I was going to sell on Etsy, however, to get started on the web, ArtFire was a better deal for me and they are really taking off! I got in for ~10 a month for their pro account and boy do they give a lot of perks. I can upload as many pictures of an item to sell as I want at no charge. Serious artisans should check this out too!

Mademoiselle Chaos: How to make yarn from fabric scraps

I googled a querie on how I can make my own fabric yarn (cost me much more than fancy yarns!) I found this amazing site! She's amazing and full of free advice and how-to's! Here it is: Mademoiselle Chaos: How to make yarn from fabric scraps