Fish. Think Monday Think ATC

This is my entry for "fish", this week's challenge at Think Monday Think ATC. This ATC, called Piscean Dreams, has an image of a fish overlaid with a transparency covered with words created by me via computer, embellished with gold metal tape (same iridescent shade as the fish's eyes) and a bubble-like cabochon disc (find these in the vintage glass cabochons section of Bumbershoot Supplies).

I got thinking about fish and what they might dream or think about, and then I remembered Dory in Finding Nemo - "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, that's what we do, we swim, swim, swim".  What a great thing to remember during the continuing difficult economic times, just keep swimming, what else is there to do...  I added in "clean water" and "food" since I thought fish might think about those things too.

 

Fish are pretty big in the Pacific Northwest. In Seattle, great places to see fish are the Seattle Aquarium, and the Ballard Locks, where there is a fish ladder for salmon to migrate from the salt water of Puget Sound to the fresh water of Lake Washington and beyond.

Triangle. Think Monday Think ATC

This is my entry for this week's challenge at Think Monday Think ATC: triangle. This is an abstract fabric ATC made of a collage of my hand dyed fabrics and denim (from old jeans). It is both machine and hand stitched. Lots of triangles in here.

When I make these types of ATCs, I usually make a large pieced fabric, then use a template with an ATC-sized hole cut in it and move it around the fabric until I find a section that I like. Then I mark and cut out that section.

Since this is an abstract piece, I thought it would be interesting to photograph it in each of the 4 directions in which it could be viewed. See which you like best.

Nature's Awakening. Think Monday Think ATC

This is my posting for this week's challenge "Nature's Awakening" at Think Monday - Think ATC.  Background is painted with watercolor paints, tulip doodled on scrap receipt paper, letters are rub ons, with doodling, and ribbon embellishment.

To me, tulips are a classic symbol of spring awakening, and they are celebrated here in the Pacific Northwest because just north of Seattle in the Skagit Valley, there are acres and acres of them.  The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival runs April 1-30 every year, and in just a little while it will look like this:

If you are interested in visiting, see the festival web site for more information and "bloom maps" so you can visit when the flowers are at their peak.  You will see every color of tulip imaginable, maybe even a blue one :)

All in a Row. Think Monday - Think ATC

Here's my entry for "All in a Row" this week's challenge at Think Monday - Think ATC.  This is an ATC made in memory of the row house I lived in for many years in downtown Toronto while I was attending the University of Toronto.  Smack in the middle of downtown, just 2 little old rowhouses, connected, in the midst of skyscrapers, theatres, pubs, shops, warehouses.  It was wonderful!  I had a studio apartment on the top floor, with a deck out the back, on the roof.  I could sit on my roof and watch the fireworks at the CN Tower.

ATC made with layered hand dyed papers, stamped with paint, drawn, and embellished. The base paper is a house blueprint.

My Toronto row house was not painted in these vibrant spring colors, but it was painted with a beautiful mural on the street side wall.  The artist, Bill Wrigley, lived on the second floor of our building - those are his windows incorporated into the streetcar, and in the lower right corner of the mural you see our landlord, Leon Katz.  I lived in the house before, during and after Bill painted the mural.  How cool is that!

Orange. Think Monday - Think ATC

My first ever posting for the challenge blog, Think Monday - Think ATC.  The challenge was "orange".  Layers of dyed papers, stitched, stamped, foiled, drawn, and embellished with vintage white rhinestones.