#dd paints

[ddpej]

Arts + Crafts Dump

I have not had a lot of time for stitching of late, thanks to a mix of my own choices, work projects, and general tiredness/burnout, but have a roundup post of everything y'all haven't seen since last September!  It’s mostly cross-stitch, with a few art pieces at the end.

There won’t be proper image descriptions, just keywords; I’m sorry to those who use them but I just do not have that many words in me. =(   If anyone would like more information on a specific piece, though, by all means please send me an ask and I’ll be happy to do that for you!  Answering an ask is much easier for my brain than posting from scratch.

The first two images are stitchbits from my Jan 2024 winter cards, which go to select family members and close friends+coworkers.

Color-variant poinsettia triplets and five dessert-inspired patterned hearts:

Domestic rabbit, stylized poinsettia, dragonfly creek, and elegant cat:

Next up are a variety of other-cardified stitchbits. On top, an eclipse for Mother's Day plus a pi pie and fossil for (Grand)Father's Day, all from @mathysphere's patterns. On bottom from a variety of places, a lavender bunch birthday card, a blue blossom wedding card, and a blue bird w/beads for another birthday card.

The rest of the stitching is some misc stitchbits, many embellished with beads: golden retriever, tiny pink bird, cardinal, galaxy pi (also from @mathysphere!), assissi flower, heart of roses, blackwork window cat, snowy pine, and antique evergreen.

Last up are the art pieces -- two watercolor versions of a picture of the Sandias (included for reference), and a tiny marker coloring of Dale Ray Deforest's Perry Rodent lineart from my Bubonicon badge.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for looking! Please feel free to ask me about any of these, and as always I hope you’re doing ok out there. For those of you in the US, check your voter registration status and please do make sure you've got a plan in place to vote in November. <3

[ddpej]

I've been exploring events at the city library branches this summer, and there have been some specific crafty ones that I thought came out pretty well. Here's a preview; I'll put larger versions of each below the cut, along with some basic info. Feel free to ask for more detail about any of them if you want!

First up is a (very simplified) take on Huichol yarn painting, which we did with standard yarn and glue rather than the traditional fine yarn and beeswax. The examples that were brought in for us to look at were amazingly vibrant and intricate, and all handmade by relatives of the presenter. We were working on 6x6in boards, on a time limit, and with limited yarn options, but I tried to echo the overall symmetry and vibrancy of the examples as best as I could. Hopefully snakes aren't terrible omens or anything in Huichol culture! There was no particular reason I decided to do one; I just like them. <3 I did pick my sky yarn because it was trans colors, and the snake yarn because it was the brightest. Other than that, I was just kinda making it up as I went.

We are currently in Perseids meteor shower month -- just passed the peak, in fact -- and sadly I did not get to go out looking for them this year. Therefore, for the first painting event I decided to do a piece inspired by them. <3 It's just a small 4x4in canvas so not super detailed. Came out better than I expected though! The paint was some mystery stuff (those little rows of connected plastic paints, and surprisingly watery) so I was guessing even more than I otherwise would have been. The vegetation is generally kind of a hot mess but I'm quite happy with the purple along the skyline, and the little bits of texture in the hills. ^_^

Painting the second was also a 4x4in canvas, but with ~fancy acrylic paints! I recognized some of the colors from Bob Ross. xD This event was specifically a "What is your medicine?" Navajo-run workshop -- described as "paint what brings you joy, calm, emotional and/or spiritual healing" -- so I was aiming for an evening rainstorm over the mountains. In reality this painting is a little darker, but I couldn't get my camera to cooperate in the bright sunlight of the day! I think I ended up overworking the mountains a little at the end and the lighting is all over the place, but I am still quite pleased with the end result. All it's missing is the wind.. I really do love me a good windy storm. <3