Carol Wiebe

. A very good case is made for assembling a dream team in “Making Your Dreams Come True,” by Marcia Weider: You want to simplify the journey to having your dream . . . . If you’re part of a winning team, you can excelerate progress and expand your horizons. In short, it’s easier and faster to accomplish things with help from other people (p. 148). Although we all tend not to want to bother others or recruit assistance, what happens when two or three are gathered is uncanny (p

I often take photos of petals, flowers, stems, twigs, leaves and so on that fall onto sidewalks, roads and patios. I love playing with the calligraphy they form. Summer Languishes and Tribute show results that came from playing digitally with what I call flora-calligraphy. Here are a couple more. From the Core Seeking Contentment I print and lightly gesso these pages to form wonderful backgrounds to paint on, or use them as collage elements in larger paintings. I spend many h

I definitely have the stitching spirit. It’s a bit funny to try to stitch “the look” of spirit. What makes me think it looks like spirit, anyway?  And stitching spirit would need a mighty fine thread, indeed. Gossamer fine. Having no spider webs to cut up and thread through my needle, I used my usual polyester sewing thread, which looks more like steel cables in this context. Just wait: when I paint this piece I will bring out the gossamer look. (The pressure I put on myself!

Well Worn Glory has gone from the Yupo original, to a partially stitched version, to the totally stitched version. Well Worn Glory Well Worn Glory, stitched to the max At this point, it is hard to see the original image. However, now I will get out the acrylics and have fun painting with all this yummy texture. #yummytexture #WellWornGlory #CWWOL20110701 #tothemax #stitch #Yupo #stitched

I am still working on various journal pages, including this one, which I now call Keep Dancing. Keep Dancing 1 I inverted the colours, then tweaked them, and did a horizontal flip, so we’ll see how the double page spread turns out. Keep Dancing 2 My watercolour paints arrived by courier today, so I will be spreading out the Yupo paper very soon. We are having visitors for the weekend, which means uncertainty as to how much time I can spend in the studio. The Yupo is calling t

Even the back of a stitched piece, which is just stitces on white paper, offers many possibilities for play. And, as always, every one that I create can be used as a collage paper, or stitched applique for further works. They can also be painted on, slashed, burned, ripped and re-stitched, stenciled over, stamped on ~ you get the idea, I know you do. I have already made more of these than I can use in a single lifetime, and the fever has still not subsided. Unfortunately, a s

Don’t answer that question. I just really like the way my stitched papers look on the back. For instance, this one from Seemingly Serene looks like the following pic: Mag painting 1 back The stitched piece from Repeating Myself  is also followed by the back: Mag painting 2 back Those backs will be terrific to paint on. I have used them to do monoprints as well. #monoprints #collage #Artjournal #back #CWWOL20110604ba #handmade #backside #stitch #stitched #CWWOL20110604b

Before I went to work today (running a school library), I took a quick look at my mail and saw the notice of a comment from my talented friend, Elena Ray. This prompted a visit to her site, where one of her recent works, Sacred Architecture, burned its way into my retinas and my brain. I kept seeing after images all day. In between class visits to the library, where I sang “Aiken Drum” and assembled a silly man in the moon out of pictures of food (much to the delight of my st

Last night, I grabbed a piece of plain, computer paper along with a magazine, needle and black thread, and a black pen. I started ripping pieces out of the paper and sewing magazine scraps behind them. Other bits of pages were added on top. I let my needle be my pen, and sometimes I drew with the actual pen ~ like that face near the top right corner. Original stitched collage This morning, I scanned the collage and fixed it up a bit. Fixed up collage Some would call this an i

On May 5th, I showed you this painting: Quite a few layers have followed, and this is the latest result: Finding a Door to My Secret Garden Viewing it on the screen like this, I can see I’m not done yet. #painting #door #CWWOL20110518 #garden #secretgarden #FindingaDoortomySecretGarden #stitch

Suspended has been stitched. Examining  it, I can see a few more areas to emphasize, like those two rounded rectangular pieces on top and bottom. "Suspended" with stitch It’s a bit shocking for me to see the stitches blown up when I go to the “original” image. They don’t appear nearly as good as they do to my naked eye. I want to go in and fix them. Actually, the large size is closest to the original image, and is closer to what I see when I look at this stitched paper in my

I never liked playing the X’s and O’s game, but I seem to keep painting them. Huh? I was looking through some of my work from a few years back, deciding what to keep and what to trash, and I rediscovered this X and O piece. X and a Fiery O #XsandOs #fiery #fieryO #CWWOL20110330 #stitch

I am still working steadily on the painting in a shadowbox, the quilt for the Grand National and a couple pages in one of my art journals (which are all drying as I type). It is Spring Break, this week, which allows me to have so much on the go. The problem is, I have nothing to “show,” except this little stitched piece, taken from an artwork I made long ago. I don’t know why I spend time tracing the “lineage” ~ it seems better to consider each element of a collage as just th

My Journal page start has undergone a sea change (full fathom five). I now call it Purple Heart. Purple Heart A brave heart has a spillover effect: in its presence, others find courage, too. #painting #fullfathomfive #purpleheart #seachange #CWWOL20110306 #stitch #acrylicpaint

I have finished stitching “Broken.” I have more stitch than paper ~ a bit extreme? We will see when I paint it. All I know is, when I am stitching like this it is quite hypnotic. I admit to getting a little carried away, stitching each and every blob of paint or change of color. I could have just chosen a few highlights of stitch, here and there, or maybe just an outline, or just the face. There are many choices as to what to stitch: I chose everything, this time. Broken, ful

These are the original pics for Love Cornered. Icicle shards Plant in the snow After taking the pics and creating Love Cornered, I grabbed a bunch of paintings and printouts and sewed them together into the following: Finding Your Way #Findingyourway #CWWOL20110208a #plantinwinter #icicles #icicleshards #stitch #CWWOL20110208b

I spent the entire day working with my grandson, making a Pikachu figure out of felt. It turned out well, and he is VERY pleased, but I can’t show it, of course. Copyright, and all that. I can show you the originl painting of Broken. I did it in the morning before work, but first I took a few minutes to “ask” inwardly for an image. Broken ~ original painting I scanned the painting, then took it into Photoshop and put another figure behind the first, added a hand, and changed

Just in case you were not yet fully convinced that I am obsessed with stitching paper, here is another piece that I am working on presently which will leave no doubts. Another stitched paper in progress Here’s the thing: I struggle with this kind of work, because it is so time consuming. But no matter what kinds of shortcuts I find for myself (like free motion stitching by machine), I eventually find myself getting back to long, meditative hours with a needle and thread. I r

I used my Cracked Paper Quilt technique to make a frame for the stitched piece, or matte, if you prefer. I can make it as wide or as thick as I like, and make as many as I want, in any shape. I think the two (the stitched painting and the matte) are very compatible. I can make them in contrasting or matching colors. I can add beads, or found objects. I like having those kinds of options, without having to go hunting at a framing store. #framingstore #matte #frame #options #pa

STOP, already! Do you think I’ve been carried away a bit? I just have to laugh. Next, I start painting again. Don’t worry, those edges will get covered. You will also notice that the thread pulls at the paper a bit (and makes visible holes), but when one knows one will be adding paint again, it doesn’t matter. You’ll see! #acrylic #painting #paper #stitch