Flourish is Loved : )

'Flourish' was a lot of work.  I spent the longest time on it, and it has the most hand stitching of all my pieces.  In the end, I believe it turned out very well.  I love the feeling it gives me when I look into it.  It has a beautiful glow.  I'm happy to announce that is has been spoken for!  Congratulations to the new owner : )  I'm so excited about that, and I sincerely hope you love it.  It will be displayed over the holidays at the Centre in Saskatoon if you would like to go see it.

Now, off to do some serious postcard swapping!  I have 2 guild meetings today and we're mailing cards off to a guild in Nova Scotia!  Fun.  See you all soon.

Five for Friday & I'll Let You In on a Secret

Ready to go and well ahead of schedule!  : )  No, I didn't make these all this week.  I did manage to finish two and frame all five of the ones here in this post!  Whew. 

Highway 16 in Summer, 2011  Inspired by a quick drive from Saskatoon to Jackfish Lake / Meota on a hot summer day.

detail - Flourish, 2011.  Just inspired.  : )  This has some of everything from all my favorite scenes:  blue in the distant horizon, that line of yellow, the birds, the flowers and grasses... just a great calm feeling full of contentment.

detail - Along Highway #7, 2011  Inspired by a photo from 2 summers ago.

detail - Sundown on Valley Road, 2011  Inspired by the ditches around Grasswood, south of Saskatoon

detail - Late in October, 2011  Inspired by the cut fields at the University of Saskatchewan

By the way, did you know that three of those were nearly tossed into the trash during the early stages?  Or maybe four of them?  I really got stuck with these during the early stages for creating, but then I tried something completely unplanned.  In the end, they really surprised me and I am very happy with each one.   I think they really capture the feelings I had when I was at each of these scenes.

... there's still a few more to come!  : )

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Okay.  After much pestering on my Facebook page (you know who you are), I'll let you all in on yet another surprise.  A Prairie Dress has been accepted by the Saskatchewan Craft Council for an upcoming exhibition in the Affinity Gallery on Broadway in Saskatoon!  They just emailed me.  I emailed the following back to them:

WHOOPEE!! : )  Thank you so much!

Flourishing Now

Yikes!  How many times have I shown you this one?  I keep thinking I'm done Purple Prairie, but the truth is that I have not felt satisfied until now.  Furthermore, I don't think I'll call it Purple Prairie now.  It's all about the birds and the blossoms.  I knew this piece had some Aaaah, but it lacked some Ooooh!  So I added some deeper indigos, some orange, and a lot more vertical grasses done by hand.  What a difference.  I feel it has more depth and more zing.  Can you tell the difference?  I can.

So... any name suggestions?  It's a bit of Summer, a bit of Bloom, and a bit of My Happy Place.  Hmmm.  Where's my thesaurus?

Before I forget, I also want to thank everyone who enjoyed the thread sketching tutorial over at 3 Creative Studios!  It's downloadable if you are interested, and it's free.  The link is in the left sidebar.  As you may know, anyone who loaded pictures of their thread sketching onto the 3CS flickr group before October 16th was entered into a draw for several fabulous prizes.  Michelle M. was the winner of one little postcards from me.  It's not the biggest prize, but perhaps the most personal one.  Congrats  Michelle!  By the way, I looked at her blog and she is just full of amazing work!  Go see for yourself, and please say hi to her:  Sweet Leaf Notebook