Midnight Fairy, by Donna Hollywood

This piece is #1 from my co-challenger, Donna, whose theme is toadstools. The midnight fairy looks after things that grow at night, such as mushrooms and toadstools Donna says the only time she has ever seen fairies is at night, along with the fireflies !! Neat eh??
Shirley

Openings #1

This piece relates to an episode in my life that was dark and depressing.
I was driving to work on a very grey day with heavy cloud cover,
feeling really glum and despondent, but suddenly noticed a small break in the clouds above me.
I remembered that when I fly, the sun is always shining above the clouds, and realised my dark and depressing episode could also have sunshine if I let it in. It was a huge revelation, AND it allowed me to finally deal with the problems that were dragging me down.
There are layers of black netting which were cut away to show the blue hand dyed fabric, with different shades of grey wool rovings sandwiched in between the layers to create the dark sky. Lots of hand stitching emphasize the cloud formations. Shirley

Frustrating is the name of the game!!

Yesterday I was part of the Women's Art Festival in Kingston. Wonderful show with 200 VERY talented women artists, in the beautiful City Park setting. The show is very well attended, and is a lot of fun due to the fact that ya get to see all your women friends, either as participants or as attendees, and also meet some new artists. The only problem was that it was REALLY hot and humid. I did spend an hour in the new water garden with Isadora, my friend's 3 year old daughter, and I got totally drenched,and cooler,and developed a few more larf lines!!
I was having a great time, but said to Isadora, I really gotta go back to work, and she didn't even look up. She just waved her hand goodbye and carried on playing with the water...... so demoralising when you feel you are essential to the game at hand and a 3 year old puts you into a reality mode!!
However, when my clothes started to dry out I'm afraid I added somewhat to the steamyness of the day - and apparently I looked somewhat like a drowned rat!! Fun day.

and this morning I spent hours trying to upload some of my art into a slide show and didn't think I was very successful. However, this last try seems to have worked by golly. Hope ya like it.

I recently joined Creative Every Day, (link in the right hand column) and am managing to do exactly that: be creative in some way, every day.
I am a fanatical book purchaser, and this month's books and study CD's are so interesting. #1 is the latest thr3fold, #4, from Linda and Laura Kemshall in the UK, #2 is a DVD by Pamela Allen of Kingston, Ontario (Pam's almost a neighbour!!). I found a used hardback edition of Colour via Abebooks, for a buck from the Seattle Goodwill plus a Building Websites for Dummies for a buck, again thru Abebooks, from a New York used bookstore. Gotta LUV IT!!
Another passion is listening to the local library's stock of talking books. I have the CS Lewis series at present, recently " read" the first five Harry Potter books, and am waiting for the final two. I tend to listen to them when I am handsewing or doing chores around the house. And I have listened to all kinds of spy and adventure books, Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum amonst many. Now I am re-learning how to draw and paint, so have drawing books, "Creative" painting books, and on and on.
Small wonder I don't get much "art" made!!! Have a great week. Shirley