Birdland bag

A week or so ago I made this post about the new line of handpainted/collage canvas bags that were coming to my shop. Then, Ruth, the brain, hands.... everything! behind Birdland Creations asked me to paint a bag with the logo of her shop.
I like custom orders because it is something new, you have the chance to talk and get to know a bit the person behind the shop...and it is ussually a nice experience. A challenge.
So, I set out to do it.

I printed the logo in A3 size and then tried to copy it onto the bag as acquaretely as possible. There is no making mistakes here or you have to throw away the bag and start again with a new one.






Then it was time to start painting. I mixed some yellow and red for the orange flower and beak... only I mixed too much! I don't like throwing away. I hate wasting materials... and there was so much paint left! ... quick! I thought, grab another bag and paint something else.











...the "paralel" bag. Some tulips.









The finished bag:


And the little (21x25cm) tulip bag:


This was fun, really, it was. I started to get all sort of ideas whilst painting this bag for Ruth. And I'm glad that she likes it too!

Wallhangings

For a while now I've been working on some wall hangings. Mostly experimenting with shapes, fibers and embellishments.
Making a perfectly square piece of handfelted fabric is not as easy as it may seem. Keeping all those fibers straight is quite difficult. They tend to... 'disperse'.
After hours with my hands in soapy water, I did find my own way (which probably is no discovery really) of making perfectly square pieces. And then... I figured they were boring. See, they are not me. I am a firm believer that what you make, if you let your juices flow instead of "copying"; will be a reflection of your personality. Which means that if in life you are a bit messy, loud, spontaneous... your art will probably be too. And I am messy.... and loud... and spontaneous. Exotic they call me here ...which is too funny. Let's bare in mind that I live in The Netherlands and I come from a latin country. Latin culture by definition is all 3 of those adjetives, and more!. (nononono, doesnt mean that the dutch can not be messy. but it is quite unusual! ).

Anyway...
I have this Milschschaf flees which I got some time ago, which is super soft (and still smells like sheep) and used it as the base. I then used merino wool to' draw' the shapes on it. I used silk to give some light to the petals too. But that was not it. I used chenille to needlefelt the contorne of a flower, some rainbow yarn to make stems and leaves (also needlefelted) and I hand embroidered some details as well. Wait! almost forgot! there are some linen fibers as well! pheeewwww... lots uh? Yeah.
I like them. And no, they are not perfect squares. And you know what, better. They remind me of these old mexican paintings made on leather that were always hanging on the walls of my dad's study. Very ethnic!

My husband added a piece of wood on the back for support and then a little hook so they can be hanged (otherwise they wouldn't be wall hangings, right? ).





There are a couple more to come!
Since I am not a good photographer I know the picture do no justice to the actual piece. But... one works with what one has, uh?
These two are listed on my etsy shop. In a few days, some more.