I’ve always enjoyed drawing, painting, crafting, and creating. These interests served me–and my students–well in my 20+ years as a high school art teacher!
I worked in a therapeutic recreation field before I started teaching.
From the 1970s to the mid 1990s, I did a lot of commissioned work, primarily portraits. Getting good images of my artwork before cell phones, digital cameras, or scanners, however, was pretty hit or miss, and the photographs I did manage to take back then with a 35mm camera weren’t always good. Of course by the time I had the film processed, the work was out the door and/or already framed under glass.
But that said–and in no particular order–here are pictures of some of the things I’ve made over the last 50 (wow, FIFTY) years!
ARTWORK
Each wanted her in a different color dress, and I worked from a B&W photograph!
I’m finally starting to experiment with watercolors (Fall 2024), and thus far the learning curve is a bit steep! We’ll see how this goes…
CROSS-STITCH DESIGNS
In the 1980s I hand-charted some simple counted cross-stitch designs based on my photographs, and created cross-stitch kits–complete with the pattern, fabric, floss, and a needle. These were carried by retailers (mainly gift shops) in three states.
CROCHET
I learned to crochet when I was a teenager. Most of the time now I make easy items such as small blankets or hats which I usually donate to local charitable organizations.
SEWING
I’d never really used a sewing machine until July 2015 when I wanted to make curtains for a travel trailer we were restoring; I’d just never been interested in learning. So I bought a 1960s-era sewing machine from a seller on Craigslist, and with the help of Google and YouTube, I was able to make functional and attractive curtains for our camper.
To my complete surprise, I found that I really enjoyed sewing, and this first small step led to much bigger steps. In January 2016 (just six months after learning the basics, myself) I co-taught a week-long beginning sewing class for teens. This class was offered each year after this, and next I started a sewing-related service group at my school.
With practice, I continued to gain new skills, and this allowed me to move on to more challenging sewing projects, such as a set of seat cushions for our camper.
Next came custom spare tire covers, first for our travel trailer, and then available in my Etsy shop. I started this particular venture thinking I’d be making small camper tires, but most of my orders were for large SUVs!
More sewing…
Just few more (very) random pictures….
