Journey of the Cards

Here are 9 cards I collaged on placed on, or on the way to, Piedmont Avenue. I made ten of them but gave one to Mina at the flower store for her to place wherever she wished.

Birdwoman

Isn't this lovely? This is the work of Kaetlyn Wilcox of the Birdwoman blog. She has other graceful animal-headed figures on her blog.

Kat Soto

This is one of the figures from the series of holiday windows for the Shreve Company in San Francisco. This Turandot and the Rigoletto characters are by EJ Taylor included in the Kat Soto collection for Jim Cardosa Design. Most of these figures are by Kat Soto. You can see the series, a percentage of the sales of which go to benefit Doctors without Borders, on her website, as well as other windows she has done for Shreve.

The 2010 Illustration Calendar

Here are all the months, based on posts in in Artspark Theatre, for your perusal. Click to enlarge.

Calendars

One Calendar $15.00 Two Calendars $30.00 Three Calendars $42.00

Bat Decoration

Here's a pattern for making a bat decoration. Right click above to copy the pattern. You will need some stiff black paper, thread and a hole punch. Fold an 11' wide piece of paper in half and place the pattern on the fold (you can use a little tape to hold it in place) and cut around it. The result should be similar to the first photo below.

If you have cut out the protruding ridges on the top of the wings where indicated, you have the indication of where the folds in the wings should be made - make the first fold up, in the opposite direction of the bisecting fold, then make the two folds on either side.

Punch holes for the eyes - I have used the hole punch for the wings, but a more subtle hole can be made with a needle. Pull the thread through and knot it fairly hight up for easy adjustment - invisible thread will add to the realism. Bevare!

Robot saving bird from fire

Robot saving bird from fire at JinxMonsters

Ewan

This wonderful bird is by Diahn Ott. You can see more sensitively rendered winged creatures and other work, and observations about her life on her blog.

Birds of the Antique Centre

Henchard

One of Ann Wood's magnificent owls - more views of this one on her blog. I did not recognize the Hardy quote she used to describe this character - too long since I have read The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Birdwatching

This image is from the wonderful Three Little Cameras blog. I think the cat looks like a hipster, what with the little soul patch. Asja's work always seems to have something growing where you would not expect it. Her photo diary series is also remarkable.

Parisa's Book

This is one of the pages of "Talented Chicken", by the enormously gifted Parisa Mahmoudi.  The story is about an insistent mother hen, who is determined to push her chick to sing, to fly, to swim - while ignoring the fact that it is only a chicken. Click on her name to see more pages.

Robin on a hollow log

Here is a charming robin by Susan Faye, who works in water color. You can see more of her work on Susan Faye's Picture Show.

The Toucan

These two lovely birds are by illustrator Matt Dawson, who has quite an extensive bestiary on his blog . Matt's work is wonderfully lively and quirky. 

The Rolinha

This is a rolinha, or long-tailed ground dove, currently under the watchful eye of Caio Fernandes in Brazil. His observations and comment about his small neighbor on  the Mein Welt blog, a place both strange and familiar. 

Colorful Research

This exquisite bird, like a blue jay combined with a phoenix, is from the Colorful Research blog. I love that it looks like a bird you might make with your hands to cast a shadow on a wall, although of course wings and hands are the same thing. Eva is very bold about trying new things - she consistently breaks her previous boundaries. Perhaps like this bird breaking across the rectangles?

   Edit: There is a wonderful philosopher bird here.

Think (too much?) Bird

Exit

Exit, pursued by a bear...

From The Winter's Tale,  gleefully pounced on in following centuries to prove that everything Shakespeare wrote did not plumb the depths of the human spirit...it was, however, only a stage direction and not actual language used in the play.

I suppose I must be counting  the dinosaur in the lead as a bird of sorts.

Nelly Alvarez Aranda

This is some of the enchanting work of Nelly Alvarez Aranda. Here work combines materials and techniques, and much of it is on the theme of the interaction of humans and the natural world. If you would like to see more of her surprising and delightful work, her blog is dibujos en el agua 

Mother Lisa

The image at left is one of many 

on the megamonalisa site , 

link and image

very kindly provided 

by mum at coucou c'est moi.

The Lapwing

This lapwing doth run away with the shell on his head.

said by Horatio of the character Osric, who is sent to propose the fatal duel with Laertes. 

It's the strangest place to insert comic relief, right before it all falls down. The phrase refers to the fact that lapwings were said to be so eager to to hatch that the leaped out of the nest with the shell still adhering, therefore Osric, with his considerable posturing, is thought to be wet behind the ears.

The lapwing is so called for its trick of leading predators from its nest by dragging one wing along the ground as if it were injured. This blog is being given over to the birds for next while - please let me know if you are posting any birds, or if you see any, and I will link to them.

In the mean time, here are some birds observed recently:

a fiercely contemplative bird, on Random Shots

A gentler contemplation on A Room of One's Own

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2

Good night sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

           - Horatio

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2

Set me the stoops of wine upon that table.

If Hamlet give the first or second hit,

Or quit in answer of the third exchange,

Let all the battlements their ordnance fire.

          - Claudius

I think this will end in tears.

Couve do Mar

Here is the piece "Mademoiselle L joue au Baccarat" on the Couve do Mar blog. This constitutes a chapter in the story of Mademoiselle L - she is also recorded in in other pieces as having played at other games of chance and having been on Safari. Other characters and places are introduced in other necklaces, or "droplets", as their maker calls them (there is one titled "London Subway revisited"). 

Beth Hahn

Beth Hahn knits small scale sweaters, in part as a way to figure out the physics of sweaters for humans. She also does lovely, sensitive watercolor illustrations. 

You can download the pattern for the sweater on the little creature above at Ravelry, linked from her blog, Willow Rosa Knits.

The Lazy Bird catches the worm

For details, see video on the feltbug blog.

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1

Sweets to the sweet, Farewell.

Gertrude at Ophelia's grave.

The Fabric of Meditation

This fable in cloth is by Sara Lechner at Fabric of Meditation. Many of her pieces seem to have narrative and (very dear) characters involved in journeys or in contemplation. Her work is inspirational and the components seem to flow together to make a whole. This piece, which Sara says is about both the process of maturation and about how we make our own prisons, reminds me of William Blake's

A robin redbreast in a cage

Puts all Heaven in a rage

     

and also of  Yeats' Holy Thursday

'Twas on Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,

Came children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green...

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1

Alas, Poor Yorick.

You will need to click to enlarge to get a good look at the sexton in the background.

Stick in Brisbane

Paula at The Beauty of Life placed 

the MacMoe stick in a Brisbane Park. 

Paula goes boldly where noone has 

gone before in a

stitching sense -

experimental and might I say, 

frequently tiny. 

Her children get 

into the act, 

mostly willingly.

Manuales Canigo

A noble steed and a cheeky mouse

Two of the creations on the delightful Manuales Canigo blog. Parents, wouldn't you love to send your children to Cristina Moreno's classes at the Canigo School? She teaches her students to make their own wonderful art objects using repurposed materials. My Spanish is quite rudimentary, but she uses the phrase "trayectoria creativa" - how beautiful to think of creativity as a flight. More inspiration on her blog - Parents may be able to find a few projects for long summer days here, even without going to Barcelona. 

Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 7

One woe doth tread upon another's heel.

So fast they follow: your sister's drowned,

Laertes.

    - Gertrude

The Tiniest Emperor?/Holdfast

An assemblage showing Napoleon holding the reins of his empire (more on my web site). It was pretty much inspired by the words on the old needle packet at left, which I was reminded of when I saw a photo of a piece by Ali Forbes in an exhibit at the Royal college of Art in London, incorporating Holdfast bicycle tape, which wittily incorporates a reference to Picasso's  bicycle bull, on the Feltbug blog. Is it the same company making a different product a century later, or just a British trope?

And if there's a tinier emperor, don't hesitate to let me know in the comments section.

Dog Daisy Chains

Here are are two joyfully dancing protozoans which also suggests illuminated capitals from the book of Kells (with a little Miro thrown in), the top is a brooch and the one at bottom is for display on canvas - seen on Dog Daisy Chains. I love their organic lively quality. Her wonderfully witty creations are available in her Etsy Store, and she has tutorials  in Machine embroidery and silk paper making on her site.