Some of these will be shown at the upcoming Fibre Fling Show April 4-5 of the Out of the Box Artists.
Others won't (they are hanging in my house).
All of these have been created - and stitched on - as a result of the course I've been taking at the Ottawa School of Art. Only 3 weeks left.
Hover over the picture for more info. 

We have been working  in our class with Tibetan papers (fibrous but somewhat translucent papers) and rice papers. After creating a collage using handmade papers, fabric, photos and other interesting pieces, we had the choice of using a gel medium or encaustics (beeswax) to attach all the pieces together. Most of us put an extra piece of Tibetan paper on top, forming a sandwich.

I guess I didn't add enough gel medium, and the great papers and fabrics I had in the sandwich didn't show well once the medium had dried. The colours are definitely there, but only some of the detail can be seen and only in some spots.

Decision time. Do I start over and try another piece, or do I see if I can make something out of this piece.

Not wanting to start over, I decided to persevere. After all, sometimes our artistic accidents turn out to be a good thing. And it's only through continuing with the piece that we know if we'll end up with something that will turn out even better than the original plan. 
 

Although this piece is about only half finished (again I took on way too much and have oodles of homework), I'm getting a textured look by adding a design common in the 18th century (the meandering thread line in green) plus the dragonfly as a focal point. The focus is now on the embroidery instead of on the papers and fabric sandwiched in the middle, and which are now a colourful background. The picture here is just a small portion of the piece - about 1/6 of the whole thing.

The Ottawa School of Art is giving us gallery space from March25 to April 8 at the Shenkman Arts Centre - I'm thinking this piece, if finished, will be on display. If not this one, then I better get cracking to start something else!

Wow, this has been a fun undertaking. About half way through I was already mourning finishing this project, and wondering what I would do next.  The last 2 letters are at the end of this post. But first, I wanted to mention some observations about this project that I've made over the past two months:

• I really do work better with music playing than in a quiet room.
• This kind of project pushes one to try to use all those materials purchased over the years with great intentions to try or use, but which got stuck in a cupboard somewhere. I dug these out and can now say that I have tried them and, even better, would use them again.
• There are some great art technique books out there. You just have to take the time to
  read through and try the techniques, and not worry about the results. Some are great, others not so great.
• I think this project worked so well as all the steps were laid out clearly. A, followed by B, C and so on, and with the techniques or materials identified in advance. Projects without a plan, well, I just seem to fumble all over those until a clear plan emerges.
• The concept of taking detailed notes during an art class was reinforced (some of my old notes were great, others not so great). We tend to think we have good memories. But it is so easy to forget important details or the order of steps to take, especially when we don't immediately practice a newly-learned technique. Thank goodness for Google.
• I am noticing that I'm starting to incorporate more of the techniques and materials that I tried in the ABC book in other projects, where before I had not. This is good.

Now, on to the last two letters. And be sure to come by the Fibre Fling show April 4-5 and see the completed ABC Alphabet Book, as well as other projects I've been working on. The show looks like it will be amazing.