Tuesday's Treasures

There has been some time to work on a few  of the new ideas I had spoken about earlier. These are a couple of proto-types for baby bibs (which have changed since this image was taken) and I decided to use flannel; it is so so soft! 

This is the first time I've printed on flannel and I've learned that it's great to print on. Even the finest lines of the Balloon Ship came out. Well, at least those that came through in the exposure: you can see I had a bit of trouble with this one. But the porcupine printed beautifully! Even on cotton fleece (shown below) which I'll be using for more baby stuff to come.

And by the way: this is the last day for the set sale in the shop.

Mosaic Monday

How was your weekend? Here in Toronto  most of the winter has had  little or no snow.  It is quite unusual as January has always provided sub-zero temperatures and enough snow (even though the rest of Canada would scoff).

This mosaic has images, not only of some of my recent drawings, but some of the little treasures I have around the house (except for the door knobs which are from a photograph I took in Montreal). The bird house is by April Gregory. She uses up-cycled materials and  I love the textures and colours in her work.

Sparrow Perch

It would seem like a perfect vehicle for a perching sparrow: ya think? I'll give it some thought.
I'm looking forward to checking out some of the work for the DoDesign show tomorrow. Here are just a few of the things I might see:

Alexx Boisjoli

Reed Hansuld

Here's wishing you 

a great weekend

The Studio

In light of all the talk about January clean-up and organization, I thought I'd take a rare photo of the work table at it's neatest. You can see my little Featherweight and the piles of work slowly building. I have so many ideas in my head, I feel like there's not enough time. 

 Just thought I'd remind you that the sales in the shop will be finished on the 31st of January.

Wednesday's Work

 It's still pretty dreary here but I suppose that's to be expected for mid-winter. I'm thrilled to pieces the temperatures aren't sub-zero.
This is my screen for the porcupine drawing I did last year that you may have seen in my 2012 Calendar (which, by the way, is on sale in the shop, if you still need a calendar). If you look closely you can see the "ghost" images of previous screen burns.

I have been printing on this tea towel linen/cotton blend material now. And the cut is very generous. They will be in the shop later this week.

Hope your week is going well.

Tuesday's Treasures

Last week I began Tuesday's Treasures: 

journaling new things that 

I've taught 

myself. 

I was quite pleased when I put this chickadee of mine onto this old French label. As I've said before, I really like the combination of graphics and images, let alone the mixture of time periods. I also like how the bird's head is right under an emblem making it look like  it's wearing a crown.

This Photoshopped postcard has a little drop shadow  behind my drawing of a sparrow, making it look like the bird was a cut out that was only lightly taped down.

There are lots of tutorials on line that explain how to do Photoshop techniques. But if you're new to all of this it can be rather daunting.

Over the weekend I was working with my new light table, exposing screens. Here are two of my new images for 2012.

(Actually, 

the owl is in my 2012 Calendar,

so there was a sneak preview of it last month. 

But the humpback, 

as you know, 

is this month) 

I have to tell you that this was my first time applying emulsion and burning screens without any help. So I was a wee bit nervous in the process. But aside from the lousy emulsion application,

(the first one I did was perfect

but the screen was exposed for too short a time 

and the whole thing washed away)

the images, themselves, turned out pretty well and I've been printing up tea towels ever since. 

 Hope it's not too dreary where you are.

Mosaic Monday

All drawings by Barbara Di Lella

Such a full weekend. I hope yours was the same. I had spent it burning new screens with the Light Box Art had made. I'll show you the new designs later this week.

Part of my January studio organization

involves re-thinking Sparrow Avenue's Journal.

Monday will now be a place to record images in a Mosaic format.
I've seen others do this and it's quite wonderful to see unusual things juxtaposed with other images.

sparrow drawing,  books from adorevintage , sparrow postcard

old Bingo card,  sparrow in grass,   vintage lace

white throated sparrow postcard,   vintage heat grate,  robin nesting

Something New

It was 10 days ago that I was lamenting about other people's schedules. It's a drag when you haven't all the skills that you need to do  a project. There's a whole post right there about self-sufficiency, I guess. On the other hand, 10 days isn't really all that long (if you only knew at the start, that is)

As of today I have 

a new light/exposure box 

with which to burn my screens.

Very excited!

Thank you so much, Art 

 

Along with that I have some new images that I am finally and completely satisfied with.  Some months ago I was working on a number of bird images and everyone was so generous with their kind words but somehow I still wasn't pleased with them. These new images though, are much better. This is one of them:

I can't wait 

to start

printing

this

one

!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend

full of accomplishments

and happiness.

Sparrow Avenue

I hope your week is going well.

This is a small corner of the studio.

The hand is mine. 

Art must have molded and cast it 10 years ago. 

The spools of thread were a gift

The sparrow 

was a collaboration 

of which  Art did most of the work. 

One day I'll show some of the other collaborations 

that we've done.

copyright Barbara Di Lella 2012

 I wanted to show you the final drawing of the air ship I've been working on. Something's still a little wrong about the perspective and I'm pretty sure I know what it is but it would mean starting all over and I'm not sure I want to do that. Seeing as the idea is a little wonky, I don't see why the drawing shouldn't be as well.

Vintage Inspiration

 Part of what I try to do with my work is combine images and graphics. Maybe it was game boards when I was little, that started that attraction, I don't know.

Mostly it's the vintage items that compel me. You can find this one here.

And this one here.

What images inspire your creativity?

Tuesday's Treasures

Last year I had recklessly said that I was going to try to learn something new everyday. I quickly learned that that was a wee bit ambitious. However, I'm thinking that something new each week might be manageable. Tuesday's Treasures

The image above was done in Photoshop. Most of you would think nothing of that but for me: it's something new. In the past I would have done this direct. I would have found an old post card (of which I have boxes and boxes), photocopied it, aged it, stamped it and drawn on it. Simple.  

Tuesday's Treasures 

will become my catalogue of new things learned.

Winter Work

Sonee

The last few days have been pretty cold: the girls and I stay curled up in the studio instead of going to the park. This gives me a lot more time to work out drawings and patterns.

Winter Trees

Air Ship

And then later on I have these to print and sew and hopefully put them in the shop this week.

Hope your weekend was 

restful 

warm 

re-energizing

for this new week.

Drawings and Sales

original sketch (copyright Barbara Di Lella 2012)

I don't have a sketch book anymore. When I stopped painting I didn't think I needed one. Now I just scratch out my ideas on any piece of paper lying around and half the time there are scribbled notes pertaining to other things. Anyway I wanted to show the beginnings of this idea.

copyright Barbara Di Lella 2012

Here it is, still not quite done but the idea is definitely there. Sorry I didn't show the process of the humpback, but it was coming so quickly and easy, I just didn't stop to document it. Actually, the idea isn't fully presented because I'm tweaking it just a bit more. Hopefully by next week it will be done.

The 2012 Calendar with all my animal and bird drawings is now on Sale in the shop. 

Here's wishing you

a lovely January

weekend.

Early Morning Drawing

Because I wake up so early in the mornings I have to work on quiet things. Drawing has proven to be quiet enough and, as I have a cup of coffee, I'm at my best for this. (During the day the concentration required just knocks me out)

Still a long way to go but bit by bit I'm straightening out the perspective. I have great plans for this. Perhaps by the end of the week it will be further along...

Hope your week is going well.

O, and by the way, check out some of the sales in the shop

Toddler Hat

What a glorious weekend we had! I hope you had some of it too.
I've had a bit of time to fine tune the little toddler hats. I'm wondering if a band of brown across the bottom might just give it that extra  little bit of accent? 
Nothing ever seems to happen quite as quickly as I would prefer; other aspects of the studio are being worked on and someone else's time schedule has to be considered...more about that later.

Sales Ready to Go

A Fresh Start

The significance of this picture is that there is nothing there! This is my work surface (well, part of it, the printing part) and it's absolutely clear of work. I've tossed, I've purged, I've sorted and rearranged. There's still more to do, but I can at least start this year's work knowing that I don't have to look under piles of other work to find it!

 And speaking of work, I have been putting some "sales" in the shop. One is here and another here. There will be more coming next week.
Have a great weekend. I hope the weather where you are is as great as it's been here: totally unseasonal and brown!

Mosaic Monday

Peter and the Wolf

Inadvertently while cleaning and sorting, older work comes into view. I have a few of these small oil paintings left over from a show I had a number of years ago.

Out With the Old, In With the New

I've finally come to the conclusion that I have to clear out a lot of my old stuff. There is so much that accumulates over the years. I organize it and put it in boxes but then what? 

So it has to go.

And what a struggle that presents! 

I've always worked in very tiny spaces making do with just a little square surface space while things pile up around me. You'dthink I'd be claustrophobic; but not.

I wonder if I'm just one of those 

who needs the mess to inspire the work? 

See what I mean? I've been working on Summer Hats for Kids: a new project I'm quite excited about. This is just a prototype. But just look at the stuff all over my work space. And yet that seems to inspire me. 

 Nevertheless, wish me luck in my endeavors to "Out With the Old, And In With the New.

Thursday Things

When I have down time, I use it to either draw or build stock against a "rainy day". The last few days I've been working on more of the pouches; I might as well because it's pretty rainy and dreary out there these days. Prelude to Spring.

I've finished a new screen but I'll show you that later after I've tried it out.
 

2012

Gung Hay Fat Choy / Sun Nin Fy Lok  *  Gong Xi Fa Cai / Xin Nien Kuai Le *  Wishing You Prosperity / Happy New Year

The year of the Dragon: a year of success and happiness

You can go here to find out which symbol you are.