Leaves of Green/Red Roses Too

This evening I went to North Little Rock with my daughter, and friends, Micah and Cheri. We met my sister-in-law and her daughter, Gina, had a lovely dinner, then strolled around galleries, etc., at the ArtWalk in Argenta. A really good time was had by all.....lots of talking and laughing. And, of course, inspiration. Truly, though, I believe I was more inspired by the artists I was WITH rather than by what we saw. Although the art was very nice, the music on the street was quite catchy and the food was good, these five women just 'made' the whole evening.

I knew when I got back home that a blog post was long overdue and I also knew what I was going to show you. Even though I made this little mixed media piece of art.......I'm kinda pleased with it. I don't always say that. This is an 8 inch x 10 inch painted canvas......upon which is mounted a piece of painted and embroidered quilt batting. Yes - quilt batting. I'm not sure how many quilt batting painters there are, but I'm pretty sure the idea is fairly unique and I know my design is....it was great fun to make.

Last fall, I was asked to make an item for the HGTV Forum event taking place in April and this is what I decided to do. I want to do more, but I never do two identical projects, so this is the ONLY one of it's kind and will remain that way. This was mailed today and it was hard to pack the box...as I knew I would never see this little piece of work again....but then, I also like the idea of some unknown person getting this and enjoying it.....hopefully for a very long time.

I'm thinking I could tell you how to do your own version of this.......perhaps in a little tutorial.
If you'd like that...let me know and I might see what I can come up with. For now, let me say that I used a primed canvas and a scrap of thin quilt batting....like Warm & Natural. I painted the batting first, then the canvas. I looked at these two items for a very long time before an idea hit me. Once that happened, I set about doing the stitching. By now, of course, if you read this blog often, you know that my favorite part of my work is the actual stitching. You embroider the batting before sewing it to the canvas. Well, I can explain that later.....just know that it's done in steps....and the sky is the limit, I guess, in what all you could do with this idea.

I knew before I made it that I wanted some of the lyrics to "What a Wonderful World" (that beautiful song!) to be written on the piece, as the song is what inspired my idea. So.....to inspire YOU...here are the lyrics:

"WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD"
Robert Thiele and George D. Weiss

I see trees of green....red roses too
I see them bloom for me and for you
And I think to myself...what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue...clouds of white
Bright blessed days...dark sacred nights
And, I think to myself...what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow...so pretty...in the sky
Are also on the faces...of people...going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying...I love you.

I hear babies cry...I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself...what a wonderful world.

Because of the events of the last week....these words mean even more to me and the planet and my blogging friends (wherever you are on this earth) are ever so much more special. Life is so fragile.....take care out there. pat