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Lemonade and Seashells

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Projects


February Lady FRONTMy grandmother knit many beautiful sweaters. When I was five, she agreed to teach me how, too. I challenged her patience, but the basics were nailed down and I haven’t stopped knitting since. A love for rich jewel tones and variety in texture are key to any of my many knitting experiments and projects.

 

 

Art Card SwapDrawing A series of gardens-inspired drawings have become marketable notecards and framed prints. The first of these began as an assignment for a landscape design course I took through the local community college. The medium, pen-and-ink, was a return to my favorite form of artistic expression during my teen-age years. Embellished with layers of colored pencil, I like to think that these cozy vignettes offer dreamy refuge for the viewer. Interested in the cards? For now, leave a comment. I hope to have the cards available on Etsy before much longer. Thank you for your interest.

Brazilian Story Mural small
About the banner mural: It measured 8-ft.x20-ft. and comprised one wall in my first retail store space. I was going to hire a friend to paint something on the wall, but my sister suggested that it might be cathartic for me to paint the mural myself, so I gave it a try. It’s my first painting ever. The inspiration was a trip I took to Brazil in ’01 — another lifetime ago. Yes, that’s me on the beach, but I added the disguise of curly hair!

handpainted table top with oranges by Lisa AllenHandpainted Table Tops: I thought my store needed tables. It wasn’t a restaurant, but I liked the idea of providing a place for people to sit, read, gather their thoughts, or visit. Inspired by a cycling trip in the south of France in ’02, I painted two table tops measuring 2×2-ft. and one 2×4-ft. The image here is the larger one. They did indeed invite conversation, relaxation, and a sense of community gathering.

7 thoughts on “Projects”

  1. snydeen says:
    August 23, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    I love these ideas! You do beautiful work.

    Reply
  2. Lynn says:
    September 27, 2007 at 3:46 pm

    I came here via a link from Sunday Morning Blogger. . .Nice site. Thought you’d want to knoa that I found the navigation menu wrapping to the next line even when I stretched the browser (Firefox) window. I’ve seen this happen on a number of themes, and it can be fixed by just changing the right side padding value in your style.css file for the ul#nav li to something lower than 40px. I hope you don’t mind my butting in, but you can see that I too have way too many projects. And you can edit all this geeky stuff right out of the comment. . .

    Reply
  3. Mosaic Patterns says:
    April 10, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    i must say this…its wonderful and i hope you will let us see more of your works…

    Reply
  4. myartfullife says:
    February 5, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    I haven’t made it to Etsy yet, but that is definitely on the list of things to do. Thank you for the inquiry!

    Reply
  5. zazazu says:
    February 5, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    I’d love to see more about your cards. Are you on Etsy yet?

    Reply
  6. amanda says:
    January 15, 2007 at 3:55 pm

    very nice

    Reply
  7. Rebecca Reilly says:
    December 15, 2006 at 5:40 pm

    Lisa, You are an inspiration for this creative soul. What a lucky boy your nephew is having you to nuture his spirit.

    Wishing you and your loved ones Happy and Joyful Holidays with New Year filled with PEACE.

    Reply

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lisa_allen_artist

Joyspotting enthusiast. Blogging at LemonadeandSeashells.com

Morning thread work has been a favorite way to sta Morning thread work has been a favorite way to start a day since I was a kid. My first sewing lesson was at age 4 or 5, when my Aunt Mary let me help hand stitch a flannel bed jacket for my new baby sister. My impatient grandmother tried to teach me how to knit when I was 5. The instructions didn’t stick but I figured it out on my own after falling in love with mini skeins of angora at the 5 & 10 store (remember those?!), and immediately went into headband production! One after another, all in garter stitch. For me, stitching in quiet solitude is a form of meditation. A perfect setup for the day. #embroidery #mornings
I am determined to finish this story panel sooner I am determined to finish this story panel sooner rather than later. Started during #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn in class led by @suzettesmarttextiles , I am having fun riffing on the idea of home. Today it meant a front garden of beach roses. #embroidery #dailyart #dailycreating
Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve Thanks to @jonehallmark and @twohandspaperie I’ve been introduced to paper cutting. Playing with combining pretty paper cuts with watercolor backgrounds. #2&3&5are Jone’s designs, my snips. #1&4 are my first attempts at branching out on my own. #dailyart #weekendlearning #papercuts
Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio Sunday painting session with @innerpeaceartstudio . The prompt was painted blobs. Despite cat #1 looking like a jazzed up potato, I could not stop! At some point in the flow I got the idea to paint some of the cats of my childhood. In the winter we burned paper trash in the fireplace to supplement what served as central heat in our very old house on Nantucket. Our (many!) cats and kittens would join us, huddled on the bricks to warm themselves, too. This funny little painting feels like the beginning of that writing project a couple of friends have been nudging me to start. Here’s looking at you @dianelesbecquets and @bettinacaserta ! What a fun — and surprising — day of painting. #artforwellness #watercolor #cats_of_instagram #memoir
Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the f Stitching under a half moon in Vermont. It’s the final night of #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn ‘26 when it’s tradition to stitch into the wee hours. #collage #embroidery #crafting #vermont
Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgene Happy chaos. Storytelling with fabric. #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn #vermontlife #sewing #embroidery
Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #french Morning sky watch. #porchlife #vermontlife #frenchgeneralatwarmbrookbarn
“Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting pro “Gardening in no-man’s land”. Morning painting prompt: article in Boston Globe about Maine’s prison system. #dailyart #hortitherapy #garden #prisonreform #watercolor
Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained br Finding flow with happy colors and unrestrained brushstrokes. Best relaxation ever. Love the dense hues of @kuretakejapan paints. In search of a better paper that will tolerate multiple layers of water and paint. #healingart #artasmedicine #yourbrainonart #ilovecolor #dailyart
Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #wat Leaf study / after-dinner painting. #dailyart #watercolor #naturestudy #learning #recoveringperfectionist
Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvi Sunday collage. #paperpaintpen #collage #weekendvibes #circles #dailyart
“A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, “A Mother’s Story” told in four walls with needle, thread and memory bits and found objects. These four walls are an interpretation of my mother’s life experience. The cloth houses were a craft workshop project, intended as decorative objects. Hand stitching is like a silent moving meditation for me. The motion of the hand stitching was the spark that launched this piece. So caught up was I with the storytelling bug that I stayed up stitching until I had completed two of these ‘memoir houses’.
Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling l Morning harvest. Unbelievably delicious. Feeling lucky. #homegrown #homegrownfood #peaches #grapes #fresh
A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #p A homegrown peach is a wonderous treat. #august #peach #freshfruit #homegrown #eatingclean
Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden Dressing up the office. Freshly cut from my garden this morning. A summertime joy. #gardenerofinstagram #zinnia #cutflowergarden #officedecor #pink
The family that vacations together, crafts togethe The family that vacations together, crafts together. #tiedye #retrocraft #makingmemories❤️ #ilovemyfamily #vacation
Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinn Hot days are better with a garden filled with zinnias. And I love how easy they are to grow from seed. #inmygardentoday #gardensofinstagram #pink #zinnia #joyspotting
Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiti Susan’s patio garden. Drawing and visiting, visiting and drawing, celebrating her new book, “Nearly Native A Nantucket Story of Adoption, Love and Luck.” Not to mention our friendship that dates back to 4th grade, when my family made the island our home. We made stamps with pliable erasers and found impressionable surfaces on her patio to ink. The green ‘dots’ in first pic were made by pressing the putty eraser onto a decorative metal shelf.
Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities Learning how to watercolor adds new possibilities to my favorite season. Here, today’s attempt at iris, thanks to instruction by @crystaltanart , all the way from Australia.
#august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer #august #sunflowers #garden #lovemygarden #summer
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