Folk Art Projects for 2014

Happy New Year everyone!  It seemed like the last year just flew by.  When I was thinking back over the last year, I felt like I did not accomplish very much.  However, as I scrolled through the blog, I found that I had actually done more work than I thought.  I completed two major projects, the Folk Art Carousel and the Shaman Staff walking stick.  There were also some smaller projects: two Halloween mask decorations and a painted floor cloth.  And then there were things I did just to have some fun: three painted boxes and some mixed media hearts.  Also, there were two projects that did not make it to the blog.  One project was a set of three art jewelry bracelets that I made for a magazine submission.  (One of the bracelets was featured in the gallery section of GreenCraft magazine.)  The other project was a large Johnny Cake Face similar to the small Johnny Cake faces on the Folk Art Carousel.  I gave that as a gift to someone.  So all in all, it was a pretty productive year.

Now I am facing a new year, and a new set of projects.  I have spent the last few days thinking about what I want to accomplish this year.  Sometimes that can seem like a daunting task.  I finally decided that one of the things I need to do is to try to use up some of the things in my studio.  So a fair amount of work this year is going to be assemblage.  I don't have an exact plan as to what they will look like at this point.  I've found that sometimes when I can't figure out what to do that it is best to start and let the work speak to me as it goes along.  People have donated items left over from their projects.  This includes computer parts, bits of hardware, sea glass, shells, wire, and fabric.  I'm going to do my best to put some of these things into good use this year. 

I also have some small gourds that I had saved from a year ago and dried out in the shed.  I plan to paint them with dyes and may use some of them in some type of Halloween scenario or for an autumn wreath or decoration for later in the year.  Actually, I had forgotten about them until my husband reminded me they were out there the other day.  In a case of serendipity, the same day he reminded me that they were out there, an email newsletter I receive had a link to a set of free tutorials on working  with gourds.  So I am going to take this as the universe is making the suggestion that I get started on those gourds. 

If you are interested you can check out the tutorials here: 
http://www.welburngourdfarm.com/videotutorials.aspx As its name implies, the site does sell gourds and products for working with gourds.  If you have never done any work with gourds, or are interested in learning about how to work with gourds, this is a great opportunity to learn about it through a series of relatively short tutorials.  Side note:  most of the gourds they sell are already cleaned, which is convenient. 

I also plan to do some painting and experimenting with acrylic products.  Earlier this year I purchased some expensive glass bead acrylic medium when it was on sale.  Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it.  I am thinking of recreating my peacock mosaic in a painting using the glass bead medium.  I expect that this material may show up in some of my assemblage pieces as well.   I also would like to paint a winter scene of some pictures that I took at the cabin. 

Another project is to make some paper and encaustic mosaics.  I have some painted papers that I made for a group project that weren't used.  I plan to use this for one times when I need to take a break from more serious projects. 

If I get through all of those projects, I still have some walking sticks that should be well dried and ready for decoration.  There is always plenty to do although sometimes I am unsure of where to start.