Done weaving- now to cutting, pasting, painting, stamping and embellishing. I glued this lightly to a paper backing so that I could cut it more easily, but I had to sacrifice the other side, which was interesting too. Then I brushed on some matte medium, so that I could glaze and paint on it a bit. I think this will become 2 cards.

The next technique I want to learn is paper marbling- I hear that you can do it with acrylic paints but it looks like I'll need a day and a large space to make a mess in. That might take a while. I've requested some books from the library so that I can read up on it, and I was looking at some exciting work by Julie Martini after Merill Comeau told me about her work.

There's an iphone in the weaving, and images of artisanal honey. I'm enjoying this palette and would like to push it further.

In Progress

Learned a weaving technique from Stacy Piwinski at the Lowell Open Studios in February, and I'm using it here to begin a valentine. Magazine strips from Yoga Journal and Martha Stewart's Living, and colored paper.

This valentine started with an idea from Virginia Fitzgerald, who has drawn these beautifully patterned hands. It reminded me how so often I've traced my children's hands in journals, cut them out, colored them in, traced them on aprons for grandmothers and aunts, traced them on plates. It's such a tangible record of a moment in time when their hands are small. But then Virginia's decorated hands seem like an ode to the art of mehndi, or henna tattoos as practiced by Indian and Pakistani women on their wedding days.

A Valentine a Week

The goal is to create a Valentine every week. In Groton, MA we have a fundraiser in which artists make and donate valentines. A sale is held annually at the end of January, and the money raised goes to a grant that is juried and divided among the juror's picks. As an artist and mother of 3 young children, I need a realistic goal to get me back in the studio and working small until my youngest goes to kindergarden. I plan to post the Valentines here.
For more on the Artists' Valentine grant, go to:

www.artval.org or find our Facebook Page (keywords Artists Valentine)