Featured Image Photo Credit: Kristin McCarthy, Hand-Made Card; Pastel Painting “September Sheep”

Handmade Cards

Charming and whimsical are words that come to mind when you see these hand-created cards. They are constantly changing and developing into something new as I come up with different ideas. However, they are always blank inside for you to add your own sentiment. Each card is approximately 11cm X 14cm with matching envelope. Each card is cream coloured textured linen on acid free paper.

Each card is an original piece of artwork. Using beautiful Japanese papers and a pair of scissors, I cut out shapes and designs taken from my imagination. Using colourful threads, I hand stitch the papers together—adding beads as I go. I sometimes use natural tree bark or wool. The only glue I use is to adhere the little art piece to the cardstock. Some have sentiments, others do not.

I am awed by stained glass church windows as I try to capture their beauty with my pastels. I create faith inspired Stained Glass Pastel paintings using soft pastels and India ink that look quite authentic! I offer cards that are reproductions of my original pastel designs. They include Holy Spirit Dove, Cross, Chalice and Eucharist, Fleur-de-lis (Mary symbol), and Pantocrator Icon (of Jesus)

For more information, visit my Hand Made Cards page or contact me.

Paintings

Living in Rockwood, Ontario (near Guelph) allows me to stay in touch with nature on a daily basis. Surrounding myself among trees, fields, rocks, natural waterways, horses, cattle and sheep are calming forces in my life. Seeing sheep grazing in their field, the wind in the trees, winter shadows on a snowy landscape and pathways that lead to light. These are the things that inspire me to paint.

When I open up my box of pastels, the colours just sing- waiting to become one of these images. Each group of colours reminds me of the four seasons: whites, blues and greys for winter; bright greens for spring; deep greens, pinks and yellow for summer and ochres, purples, deep reds and oranges for autumn. As I begin a new painting, it takes on a life of its own—a little snapshot of a particular time, during a particular season at a certain place. What wasn’t there before, now exists as a reminder of where I have been and what I have seen. And that allows me to share it with the world around me.

For more information, visit my Pastel Paintings page or contact me.

If I was to describe my woollen paintings, it would be something like this:

Imagine a jigsaw puzzle. I am first inspired by a picture, always a photo I have taken. I draw it in the scale/size I desire. Then I begin to knit each piece of the picture. As I begin piecing it together, I then wet felt each piece. It kind of turns into a moving target. Each knit piece changes drastically after felting, it’s size and shape. Very slowly, the pieces begin to look like my working photo/drawing, until finally it turns into one large piece all stitched together. I then embellish it with needle-felting, stitching, or whatever I can come up with that gives me the desired image in my mind. Sometimes I add glass beads, sometimes I leave it as only wool. The process takes quite a while so I often have to step away from it to give me clarity and fresh eyes. This is much more rewarding to me rather than knit a garment, such as a sweater!

For more information, visit my Felted Wool Paintings page or contact me.