Hot, hot, hot

Before I get into the 4-H fair pictures (which was HOT, HOT, HOT!) from our outing yesterday, thought I'd post some of my current art work! Yes, I said artwork, finally!!!!

The theme for this year's MQAI exhibit is 'South of the Border'. I had wanted to do a thread painting of a Golden lion Tamarin monkey, which is an endangered species, but couldn't get permission to use the photo. So I resorted to looking at some bookmarks I've been saving over this past year and find some other inspiration. There are several different art forms of Mexican Folk Art and I found a great web site, Latin-Mexican Folk art, that sells some of these great pieces.
I was quite inspired by the art work so I contacted the web site and they gave me permission to use one of their photo's in my quilt for the exhibit. You may have to click on the picture to see the drawing, even then it might not make sense! I'm using Tyvek fabric for my substrate to paint on, trying to replicate painting on bark, which is a folk art tradition dating back centuries Latin America.
Here's what I painted on Tuesday. Colors are orange and shades of blues and after the painting is finished, I'll cut out the drawing leaving about an inch or two around the edges. I'll attach to my quilt sandwich then free motion quilt and burn away some of the edges and several areas within the painting. Bark painting is so interesting and I want this piece to look a little on the 'old' or 'aged' side. Hope it turns out! I have another piece that I started hand stitching on last month which is a record album but I don't have pics of that yet. it's been in my sewing room for over a month and only has about 25% stitching finished. Today I plan on finishing up the painting on this piece. Click on the picture to enlarge so you can see the birds.So here are pics from the fair! The circus was great as usual but check out the pattern on this duck! Of course, I had to take a picture just because of the shading and colors....hmmmm beading, painting??? Love this duck!

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The little girl 'in the air' is only 7 and her mom is beside her - not net either!!! The circus is the best part of the fair. A really nice show and we've watched some of their kids grown up over the years! I took Amber to her first fair in 2002 which she was 3! The circus is run by a family called "Circus Pages". They put on a really entertaining show for young and old. Geezz I sound like an advertisement!

It was really, really, hot yesterday...we got to the fair grounds at 11 and didn't leave until 5:30. I think the kids enjoyed themselves because there is so much to do and see! And lots of free stuff as well, which is always nice isn't it! I have to admit the old body feels the 'day' today. Sign of old age and maybe the heat as well. Just another memory for our journals! So I'm off to take some of my RA meds! And to get the day moving..or do I mean to get the old body moving!