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Even before I had finished my collages for March I started a collection of papers in the colors I wanted to use for April. With spring in the air, the greens were calling out to me.
Week 1  Week 2  Week 3  Week 4  Below is the finished four panel concertina. It's been so much fun working with all the different varieties of green this month. Each week I looked from my green and yellow paper covered table to the outside. There I saw more green and yellow as the garden is starting to come back to life. There is definitely a magical feel in the air this time of year.  Here are a few collages made from the scraps I have left at the end of April.   You can read more about see these monthly concertina sketchbooks and how they got started here.
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If it's spring in your part of the world I bet like me, you're enjoying all the new growth and beauty the season has to offer. I don't know what flower signals the arrival of spring more than the daffodil. They bring such joy to my garden each year with their bright, cheerful blooms.  I'm enjoying them even more than usual this year. If I'm inside I find myself stopping at the windows and pausing for a moment to admire their beauty. When I go for walks in the neighborhood I enjoy seeing so many different varieties. I knew there were many but Google just told me that there are over 26,000 varieties of daffodils!  For the past 6 years I've taken this same photo of my backyard from an upstairs window. It's one of those spring scenes of yellow that catches my eye every morning before I go downstairs. You can see that over the years it varies as to what is in bloom with what. For the 3rd year in a row I managed to capture the moment when the dogwood tree has just started blooming, the daffodils are breathing their last breath and the forsythia is still going strong.  April showers bring May flowers.  "In the world of safe hues, like black, red, and white, yellow shouts: Look at me. I'm happy!" - Joy Sewing I have always loved to research and experiment, especially when it comes to art processes and gardening. If I'm really curious about a technique I've seen I'll research to find out more. Then while I'm in the process of experimenting that’s where my mind stays. I'm not thinking about the possible steps beyond. Occasionally, someone will ask “What are you going to do with that?” and my answer is, “I don't know yet”. That's when a little voice used to try and tell me I was wasting precious time if I didn't have a purpose for what I was doing. That little voice has been gone for a long time now. Having fun and maybe learning a little something along the way is reason enough. I also know that things I collect or make may sit around for months or even years before I find their use. That's how this little peachy pillow pincushion came to be.  I had already been dying paper for a while when I got curious about dying fabric. After I took a class, I purchased some shirts at the thrift store and kept experimenting. I ended up with a nice pile of dyed fabric. The peachy color comes from a dye made of madder root.  That fabric sat around for probably 4 years before the idea of making a pin cushion came to mind. I finally got tired of losing my stitching needles at night and worrying about the possibility of sitting on a needle that had fallen on the couch. Problem solved.  I didn't follow a pattern but I did get my inspiration from Pinterest. If you're curious take a look at this board I put together full of adorable pincushions.  Guess what? It snowed! I know, that's not usually big news in Connecticut this time of year. But it's been unseasonably warm, and we've only seen a couple dustings of the white stuff so far. It has not felt much like winter. Just last week this is what I saw while out taking a walk in the neighborhood.  Yesterday morning it looked like this. Not as much snow as predicted but enough to get the snow blower and shovel out. I haven't needed my boots so far this year and it took me at least twenty minutes to remember where I had stored them from last year.  Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the winter months if it's got to be cold and gray it might just as well snow and pretty things up a bit.   In February, I started and finished four more Monday sketchbook collages in a concertina format. Each panel takes me longer than the sketchbook collage pages I was making over the past few years. For the concertina, I still work on one collage at a time but as I do I'm also thinking about the previous panels and the panels to come so I can keep it cohesive. A little more concentration is required but I'm embracing the challenge.  After I finished the last collage of the month in January, I used up many of the leftover scraps by making some speed collages. That was such a fun way to finish up that I did it again in February. I started with a big collage (7" sq.) while I still had larger scraps to work with and then gradually made the collages smaller (3" sq. & 1.5" sq.) as the scraps got fewer and smaller. You can read more about see these monthly concertina sketchbooks and how they got started here.
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AuthorHi, I'm Kathy a collage, eco-print artist, and rust enthusiast who loves to teach and guide you along on your creative journey. Archives
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