I'm now on RedBubble.com!

So....if you are interested in purchasing a print...here's where you can go

Yes! I actually sew onto my work

The unfortunate things about websites is that you really can't see how the work is done (boo)
In my case, since I hand stitch on top of my work, once the main image is completely drawn...even when people look at the actual work, it takes them about a minute or so to figure out that my work is a bit .... different (Gasp!)
So here are some close up shots of my stitch work :-)

And yucky photo of me whilst in the process

Audrey featured at YStudio and Gallery, Soquel, Santa Cruz

Big thank you to Yvonne at YStudio and Gallery for this opportunity. And big thank you to Joan Hellenthal for this as well. Congrats on another Open Studio, Bonny Doon, CA!

Japanese Crane and more Hand Embroidery

"Japanese Crane and Thread" 10"x20"...there will be another one soon.

Have a verbal offer on this already :-) yippee

Pastel on watercolor with hand embroidery threads

"Sea Turtle and Sewing Threads"

This is the continuing work of my obsession with paper embroidery and mixed media. I finally finished this little guy! It took me off and on, (mostly off) for about a month. I get a couple of questions about the background surface and paper. I used watercolor on PastelMat paper and let it dry overnight before I start to draw. I love the look of the watercolor with this sea turtle. The hand embroidery are illustrations of sea plants and thought it would be a good and unique balance to this piece.

I'm at a weird place with my brain these days. I'm finding after I finish a species piece, then I get attracted to architectural things...mostly local homes. My attractions towards the organic to the inorganic. Having said that, my next piece will be on our current dwelling on the California Central Coastline. Hmmm...maybe I should do one seascape to show people what our new outside view is...but Naaaah...I'm not very good at seascapes.

In the Studio! SCAL Joan Hellenthal's class

Joan showing and creating a wonderful still life floral piece.

Her website:

http://joanh.fineartstudioonline.com

These are just quick snap shots of the studio

I'm at the PACL Art League in Palo Alto

Finally saw my "Koi" piece on the wall at the PACL Gallery. I had to miss the opening night.

The theme for this show is "Fur, Feathers and Fins".

So you'll see fish, birds and dogs (of course) and other interesting interpretations as well.

Congratulations to Rebekah Sisk's piece "Bonobo" won Honorable Mention!

Visit her site at:

http://rebekahsisk.com

45th Avenue House

This is the house I "mostly" grew up in. Located walking distance from the Pacific Ocean, near the famous "Sutro Park" and "Cliff House" in San Francisco.
The house has been re-painted in a dark clay color, but I wanted to paint it in the pale blue-tinted pink that I remember while growing up there. Alot has changed over the years in my old neighborhood. Too many cars and streets are now over crowded. The house next door, actually has ugly black steel fence around it. I don't know why. The crime rate here has been low or next to nothing, even today.

What is considered a front lawn...has never really been.
For over 50 years, this home never had green grass or plants that lived long enough to be somewhat healthy. So I drew it with sad shrubbery and yellowish to brown for the lawn. Today, it's actually filled with pot holes and random plants stuck in the front.
This is all done in pastel (fyi-duh) （´・ω・｀）

Yay! I got into the PACL Group Art Show....see

There's my "Kingyo" piece on the Gallery's promo postcard!

Yipeeee! 

I guess all my efforts on fish, got some positive energy.

"Fur, Feathers, and Fins"- at the Palo Alto Art League

June 7th through 27, 2012

Palo Alto, California, USA

Only one block away from the famous University Ave.

note* University Ave. leads straight into Stanford University.

"Koi and Sewing Thread"

Diptych- word comes into my mind here. Yes, I created a second piece to go along with my previous goldfish piece (below).

I don't think I ever explained this: all of my hand embroidered on the paper pastels, use machine sewing threads. I don't use traditional hand embroider threads, right now, because they are much thicker. I want the focal point to remain the focus, and sewing machine threads are thin enough to remain more of a visual support and then using something thicker and fear of the embroidery becoming distracting.

Looking back, I have more goldfish drawing/paintings then originally thought...hmmm... 

Okay, the history is that as a kid I got two young koi fish* as pets. My father used to buy these baby shrimps, and made a special spoon so I can feed them on top of their fish flake food. But waking up at 6am everyday before getting ready for school proved to be too much for me. Plus, I was too young to have the responsibility and commitment to grow my koi fishes. So eventually, they ended up in fish heaven :0(

I still admire them and we have relatives that have actual koi ponds in their backyard, where they can grow big. I don't have the space nor do I have a backyard, so I'll just admire them from a distance.

*plural fish or fish·es

"Kingyo and Sewing Thread

Aaaa.... another fish piece! I decided to draw goldfish again, beause I actually had a creative block. UGH! So this time, I wanted to embroider again to make these fishes different. This piece using the kanji in the middle of the subject(s) says, "kingyo", which is Japanese for goldfish. 

Yes! I was hesitant to stab through the middle of these fishes so I can embroider the kanji, but I had threw a tissue paper with this kingyo character outlined beforehand and thought, that this would be a cool and different approach. I still admire the look of paper embroidery with a drawing. For me, I approach embroidery as linear imagery which is a great balance when it is against a solid subjecct matter....that's my take on it at least. It goes back to my love of typography graphic design.

White Egret on Newsprint

I don't why it is...I tend to feel more loose on newsprint paper. I have made several attempt trying to draw this birdie out on ArtSpectrum and on Canson Mi Teintes Touch paper and failed....

badly...so I did this in pastel class alot quicker then thought. I used my box of cheap-o pastels and charcoal pencils and Derwent pencils for the beak/eyes. 

Whew! I'm done. Now off to my next project

Jack O'Neill's House

"Jack's House"

'Tis the title of this drawing. Watercolour and pastels. The founder of the O'Neill wetsuit and lines of surf-life style clothing lives close to us....so I just had to draw out his house. Unfort...you can't see the front of the house unless you are out in the ocean waters. So don't know if I'll ever see what the rest of his house looks like. (sad) 

Ugly Pink House

This un-attrached pink house...an ugly incident happened last summer and so I felt like drawing this out and giving it a negative title. >< 

But of course, I had to do the title in Japanese. 

It says," mini-ku-i pink no- iie".

translation: ugly pink house

Done with watercolor background and pastels on PastelMat paper.

I just had to do this....

"Houses on 45th Avenue and Geary Street"

Well, I just had to do this. 

A small group of pastel painted homes that are just above where I grew up in San Francisco.

It was originally intended as a gift, but I'm thinking that I might just keep it myself (smiles).

Anyways, it was a nice sunny day, sort of rare if you live in this neck of the neighborhood, and I just couldn't resist. All in pastels (no mix media this time) on Art Spectrum paper.

At the "Local Essence II" Exhibit (A-K)

With fellow pastel artists...including the fabulous Joan Hellenthal <;0)

Thanks for all your wonderful support and creativity!

Yellow Butterfly and Sewing Thread

"Yellow Butterfly and Sewing Thread"

This is my latest piece which will be showing at the SCAL Member's Local Essence Show. I had fun using watercolor in the background, then once dried, used my usual pastel set for the butterfly. I've lightly drew the plant and circle shapes and then proceeded with the embroidery. I had originally started out with a monarch butterfly, but wanted try something different instead.

Tree Frog with Sewing Thread

Tried another version of me using sewing threads through the paper. Paper Embroidery- which is puncture through paper and thread/sew through same motion as if you were using fabric. But the challenge is not to make any mistakes on the hole puncture, because you can't correct those. Wanted to see if I can do other shapes then just circles. Background is with acrylic paint on Art Spectrum paper.