Getting Direction

I am currently at Boise, ID taking a workshop with Gerald Brommer.  Yesterday we spent time working on watercolor collages and I was able to complete 6.  We worked on described compositions and had a wonderful time.

Today we worked on a number of other compositions which has been a lot of fun. Working hard all day with a lecture and also critique time sure takes a lot out of me!  But oh, so good to do!

I feel jazzed and excited and back on course.  We have three more days.  So far we have been working very small but tomorrow we will do a couple of 1/4 sheet (of watercolor paper) pieces.  Then the last two days we work on larger work.

I have purchased two of Gerald Brommer's small collages!  Happy dance time!

So I am posting photos of the things I did today.  Today, instead of watercolors I worked with my acrylics and felt much more comfortable as it is far easier to get texture that way.  We have been using a number of different rice papers with lots of different textures.  I am already thinking about how I can translate this type of work into fabric!

Each of these is a different compositional format....they are each about 7 x 7 inches

Walking through the Creative Process

For many years, I would hit the studio with the expectation that I would create a finished piece that was good...painting, art quilt, collage, whatever. 

As I had mentioned previously, this past year has not been a very fruitful year for me...too many things interrupting my life and not the willingness to let go of a lot of stuff.  Meaning...letting go of doing good, finished work.

So, I have been, for the first time, working on some processes described by a couple of other artists and actually working through their exercises.  This means no need to fear about completing good work.  Of course, this has lifted a big weight off my shoulders. How come it has taken me so long to reach this state of mind?  I will be submitting to shows and seeking places to exhibit but right now I am taking a well deserved break and getting back into my own creativity.  I have been driven before with the need to create new things with new ideas which has put the pressure on.  Now, I can work through a number of fun techniques that others use, try them out, play with them, and see what works for me.

I have been selling my art work since I was in college.  Unfortunately, I have the bad habit of listening to those pundits who tell us what we should be doing.  I have fallen into the trap of not believing that I can work in different styles.  I can work in my very organic manner and at the same time work in a very geometric, hard line manner.  These are two different parts of me and it is time to celebrate these different parts...instead of feeling like I have to chose between one or the other.

Collage, both fabric and paper, are both good ways for me to express myself in either manner.  I can cut the paper or I can tear the paper and achieve very different results.  I am still trying to figure out how to get that torn paper edge on fabric...I have an idea I will be playing with the transfer paints which I paint on to paper, and then iron onto polyester fabric...which can now look like silk or cotton. So, this is something to think about when I am ready to try it.

Meanwhile, I have been using three books to help me through all this process. 

Journal Fodder 365 is a great book about keeping journals.  I have done so for years and I think I must have just about all the books there are on keeping journals.  I have travel journals, I have sketch journals, I have scrapbookie like journals and everything in between.  The books I have tended to look through have either beautiful watercolor sketches or ink sketches in them, with nicely written notes.  I am fascinated by these and will spend hours looking through the work of the Urban Sketchers.  Or, else, I have books that show how to create journal papers but, even through I have tried the techniques suggested, they have never felt like me....they felt too organized, no content and an emphasis on color and funny looking women.

So, Journal Fodder 365 has twelve sections which give you suggestions.  For each chapter, there is a theme for the month and first one Gathers their Forces...images, emphemera, photos, whatever you might want to incorporate to support your theme.  Then there is a section on Strategic Planning in which writing prompts will push you to explore a different concept each month. And finally, the section on Utilizing Your Resources in which they encourage encounters daily with a variety of materials... a few each month.  I have started my first month and am really having fun as I think about the prompts they have given me, which for the first month are specifically about who I am...what a deep question but I don't have to write out a big theses...little lists work just was well...and doodling on the page and not worrying about what the finished page with look like.  What a relief!

I mentioned before Robert Burridge and his working book and studio notes called Loosen Up. This is a collection of handouts that he gives out during his workshops.  But he has tremendous ideas for letting go and doing the work to get where you want.  For instance, I have started doing some warm up painting before I start painting.  Lots of fun.  I spend some time putting gesso on heavy water color paper, cutting it down in size, and then thinking about what I want to do, such as what I want to paint, and then how I want to do it.  So it is all warm ups but there is much to be learned.

For the day I started I used a simple shape--the heart. But I sat down and decided what colors I wanted to use and also brush stroke ideas such as smooth, long, short, loaded with paint, or whatever.  And this is what I got.  Four small hearts, each one done in a fairly short time.  On two I did go back and make some changes which made it more the way I wanted it to be.

 So after that I decided to work on some paper and used a quarter sheet which I had gessoed heavily the day before. Each of the heart paintings had had their substrate done the day before so things were really dry.

Then, working with just a yellow and a red I did a very simple landscape which has a lot of texture also.

I first started out these not using white and then decided I needed to lighten things so in the hearts you can see the difference between including white and not using it.

And then, finally, a little more realistic landscape on a meadow which I am still thinking about. I am trying to decided if I want to add some trees along the horizon...which would need to become more prominent and level.

Still thinking.

But today I have spent time painting on a couple of 1/4 sheets of water color paper which I added gesso to and also rice paper to create something much more three dimensional.  I am using the processes from another book, Celebrate You Creative Self, by Mary Todd Beam.  I have been looking through the book for some time but now I am actually working through some of her lessons and not worrying about it if looks like her work or not.



This afternoon I look forward to finishing the satin stitching on another Triangular Intersections piece that I am doing in color...all solids for right now but I am enjoying the process.

thanks for coming along with me...this feels good!

Working with children

One of the joys of being a grandmother is the gift of time.

When my children lived at home, any free time that I had went into "me" time...time to do my art. I had so little of it that I had no real patience for sharing art with my children...besides, they always were so busy with all of their activities.

However, once I retired I had the gift of time for myself and I made use of it.

Now, with grandchildren, I am finding a love of introducing them to art. Jacob, age 8, loves going to museums with me and he takes his bag with his sketchbook and watercolor pencils with him and will look at masterpieces for a long time and then do it his way.  He constantly reminds me of my mantra--"There are no mistakes in art" and that he should do things his way.  He may work looking at a piece of abstract art and then when you see his finished work, it is truly his own and one can hardly tell that he was referencing some  famous painting.

Of course, since I especially enjoy abstract work, that is where we spend a lot of time.

Now, Ashton, his 5 year old brother, is spending more time with me and art. Yesterday I had both boys for the day and about midday we sat down with one of Georgia O'Keeffe's books (not her book but a book about her) and talked about the work we saw.  This is a book of a lot of very abstract watercolors and we talked about how the picture made us feel, what we really liked about it, what the title was and could we see why she called it what she did.  So then, off to painting we went.

With the book open in front of him, turned to an image he really liked of O'Keeffe's work, he went to work with his watercolors and heavy paper.  I introduced him to the idea of working wet on wet and he just had a blast.  I saw more control from him than I have ever seen before. He was very intentional in what he did.  He was telling me that he learned how to draw a house at school and his art work from school is typical 5 year old work...sun in the corner, grass on the bottom etc.

But with the influence of Georgia O'Keeffe in front of him, he became very excited and proud of what he had done. 

And me too!

With Ms. O'Keeffe's painting in front of him, Ashton went to work on what he saw as a tornado. Working wet on wet he created his own piece.

 And then he began to add his own brush strokes, making different marks with the flat brush and then with his finished product which had become his own.

                      

 

He began to work with another image, again wet on wet.  This time I watched him and realized that he was incorporating the border in the book in to his painting.  He continued to work

  

And then made it his own

 And his final painting from the book as inspiration was the blue mountain. He again started to include the border from the book and I explained to him that that was not part of the painting itself.  So then he began to incorporate the entire page.  I was very impressed with his ability to keep his colors separate and his utilization of three different blues in this piece. And the red was pure genius!

 

When we sit down to look at art work in a book, I spend a lot of time on each picture, pointing out how the artist has done things differently that before, how the use of color affects the feelings we get, how color theory works and how a small piece of bright color becomes even more important when surrounded by toned, darker colors.  We also look at how the brush was used, how strokes were made, if it was wet on wet, a loaded brush, a dry brush or whatever else we can comment on. But most importantly is our discussion about how we see the title fitting with the painting and how the painting makes us feel and what we especially like about it.

This is a process not just for the boys, but for me also. So even though I did not get into the  studio to do my own work, it was a productive time in there with the boys and I, in fact, did do some of my own "work" albeit in my head!

Finding Myself

It seems pretty strange that at 65 years old I am trying to find myself.  Art-wise, that is.

I know I have a voice but I am seeking new ways of speaking.

Art has always been a part of my life and because I do a lot of it, it seems to come fairly easily.  I have been giving a lot of thought to where I want to go.  Too often I fall back on what is known and therefore, easy and not very challenging.  I need to push myself to try new ideas and to work harder.

So, 2013 is the year of me.  No broken bones, no husband with broken bones, time to take some painting workshops and get some of those old art skills whipped back into shape!  The end of January I will be going to Boise, Idaho to take a workshop with Gerald Brommer, an artist whose work I really admire.  I purchased his book when I first began doing serious collages and received a great deal of help from his book.  This workshop is a watercolor and collage workshop with Art Breakthrough Workshops in Boise.  It is a five day workshop and should be lots of fun. I have talked my good friend, Carol Suto, into driving with me so I can afford to go.

I have been getting instructional videos and paying close attention, taking notes, etc.  Feels good to be reminded of things that I really do know!

Another one of my favorite artists is Nita Leland. I picked up one of her videos and she talks about the creative process, which is something that I discuss in my classes.  But she also described five levels of creativity which I feel are important for many of us to understand.

1. Intuitive:  what kids do, simplicity, not trained, the beginning of the learning process

2. Technical/academic: a skill learning and training period when we learn the brush strokes, the stitches, the colors, etc.

3. Inventive: using familiam materials in a new way

4. Innovative: pushing the boundaries beyond the expectations.

5. Genius: with much discussion in the art work about whether one can learn to be a genius or if one is only born that way...her feeling is that with a lot of hard work, one can become a genius in the field of art.

But most importantly, she talks about the need to allow yourself to proceed at your own pace.  Understand the creative process and stay at the level that works best for you.

The process includes several steps:
1. decide what you want to do, what you want to say

2. do the research, find images, look at things from all angles, etc.

3. Rest and incubation time--allowing all that you have learned and thought about to sink in and when everything comes together in your mind you reach that "Ah-Ha" moment of clarity.

4.  complete the project...get the work done.

This morning I woke up with some very clear ideas of what and how I would like to work in a different way.  I especially enjoy gestural painting, expressionism and color work.  I guess that is due to coming of age during the 50's and 60's, a time with a great deal of change going on in the art world. So I got up, fixed myself a large glass of water, and sat down to write everything down that I had been thinking about as I woke up. 

I thought about what, and how and why.  And I started really growing excited.  New ways of doing things. Incorporating more painting with stitching and fabric collage.  So today I started the prep work.

Got my MoJo back!

I have been having a number of very good days in the studio.

I started a class given online by Elizabeth Barton on creating a series through Quilt University. I have long been an admirer of her work and since I have been off my art lately, I felt this would be a good thing to do in order to get me focused again.

Her lessons have been good, especially helpful for me are the parts about starting a series and how to create a series.  I did a number of exercises to warm up and have settled on a series now called "Intersecting Triangles". Originally I did a bunch of thumb nails and then did a bunch of paper collages using various shades and tints from black to white. Then, last week while I was in Pacific Grove for six days, I did 14 small fused samples that are 6 x 6". So when I returned home I rushed out and bought three shades of gray cotton and washed it and was ready to do.  Ironed fusing on and away I went, cutting backing, batting and various shades of background fabric. Thursday I had gotten one piece that is 22 x 22" fused.

Today I did the quilting on it and then did the cutting and fusing on number 2, and quilted it.  Both still need to have their binding put on.  And then I started in on number 3, cutting, fusing, and then quilting.  I am half way there on the quilting.

 This is number 1 which was done exactly like the small sample which was 6 x 6.




















And this is number 2.  I am really having fun with these and have tons of ideas of ways to take this series.  I am also enjoying working in black and white instead of color, for a change, but the series will grown to incorporate color and printed fabrics.  We will have to see just where this all goes.












I have also been busy getting the facings done on this quilt which is rather large.  It is fused and then very heavily stitched.  The shapes have satin stitching around them.

And,this is my Grand Canyon Topo map...it is almost six feet tall.  The green is the Colorado River which has created the canyons.  It was great fun to go back to the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago and have my sense of color confirmed.  I used strips of hand dyed fabrics in colors I have seen at the Grand Canyon, and then, working from an actual topographical map I started stitching.  This was started last fall before I broke by arm.  Then when I was ready to start working on it again, I couldn't find it after the move from my Oakland studio to my new home studio.  When I did find it again, Doug had broken his leg to it took me a while to figure out where I had left off on the map but I am so happy it is finished.


So, the ideas are flowing, the time is working, I am very healthy and eager to work.  What could be better than that!



I have noticed on my stats that I have a large number of visitors from Russia.  This fascinates me. If you are one of those visitors, would you please leave a comment?  I would love to find out how you got here!

A Joyful Week

I have spent the past five days with a very nice group of about 30 women who get together each year at Asilomar for our own retreat.  We arrived on Sunday to beautiful weather, got settled in and started sewing.

I did not want to work on any original art as I find it too distracting in a room with a lot of people.  So I sewed pastel squares together to make a quilt for my niece's two year old daughter who never got a baby quilt from me.  She is also expecting another baby so I need to get a baby quilt made for that one too.  But I did finish Emi's quilt top and it won't take long to sandwich it and quilt it and send it on its way.

Monday was again absolutely beautiful and we took a short road trip into Pacific Grove to Back Porch Fabrics to load up on fabric we didn't need.  But I found some of the Sagritto line fabric and decided that I would do something with it.  So bought a bunch and away I went for the next twelve hours and got that top made by Tuesday morning.  Another beautiful day! 

Another field trip to another fabric store to see what else we didn't need.  Found some fun fabrics for a baby quilt and who knows what else but it sure was pretty.  Came back and finished up a simple top using a bunch of Kaffee Fassett fabrics that I had made a small quilt top with last year (and just quilted a week ago!) but this is very different and is in the "Modern Quilt" vein....ie., lots of white and a very simple design.  Then decided it was time to start working on some studies for my class with Elizabeth Barton.

Instead of doing collages in paper, I started doing a series of small quiltlets that are 6 x 6 inches on have either a black, white, or gray background and use only one circle and triangles of different shades of black to white (which just includes three shades of grey).  Did a bunch and then stopped to listen to Gail from Back Porch Fabrics as she came to show us some new stuff, including a scarf made from sari silk which needed to be ironing and then attached to a sticky water soluble sheet and then stitched.  Got mine done and rinsed out and even dried. I did the scarf today.  And then I started another one...this time using shot cotton which I tore into strips and will then lay out the same way at home.

Wednesday was another beautiful day and we spent some time wandering along the coast line in Pacific Grove which is just stunning.  Then back to sewing and working on various projects.

We got some rain and thunder and lightening on Thursday but it was still pretty nice.  The evenings have been cool but the days have been absolutely delicious!  The food is good and we get a brisk little  1/4 mile hike to get our food three times a day...it gets us off of our chairs.

Did some more of my triangle exercises and will post them after I get home and can take pictures and upload them.  I am having fun thinking about all the what ifs? and then trying them out.

Tomorrow morning we leave and return home.  After dropped off my three friends, I will need to do some fast laundry, pack up, find some food and load my husband, grandson Ashton and I in to the motorhome and then we take off for the weekend at Yosemite.  My daughter, her husband and our other grandson Jacob will be going also, just a little bit later.  What a wonderful time to be there.  They will be returning home on Sunday and who knows if we might stay an extra day or not.  I do feel the sewing machine calling me at home and tomorrow night I get another lesson from Elizabeth Barton so I won't be able to download it until we do get home.

Look for bunches of photos of what I have been doing early next week! Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Returning

It is now October and I have been away from my blog for the past ten months.  I have felt some guilt but then I knew that no one would be interested in the trivial doings of my life this past period of time.

As I was starting to get back on my feet with the use of my arm again, I had started working on a new piece based on a topographical map of a part of the Grand Canyon. Fitting a part of the Grand Canyon required a fairly big piece which this is.  But then,

My husband, in a fit of trying to get work down on the construction of the new garage and studio, was up working at 10 pm one night and, instead of moving the ladder over, he reached over, lost his balance and fell 8 feet to the floor, shattering one lower bone and breaking the other.  This resulted in a trip by ambulance to the hospital, and then a couple of days stay after surgery.  He returned home in great pain and trying to lay down on the couch but could not get comfortable.  So, it was time to move a recliner into the living room as well as to get a small TV.

One week later from the break, he was back in the ambulance headed to emergency because of severe pain in his back.  He had developed about 15 pulmonary embolisms which required another stay in the hospital and blood thinners.  Then I had to keep my patience for the next couple of months before he became much more mobile and could get around with crutches.  Of course there was home nursing care for a while, home physical therapy appointments and visits from the clinic that supervises the blood thinners.  Once he could get around the down two steps with his crutches, it was time to take him back and forth to all the appointments.  Needless to say, not much got done around here.

But time marched on, he healed, but still can't walk for long, and I started back to working on my art. But I found myself blocked.  I worked periodically on the Grand Canyon which has tons of stitching in it but my shoulder would tire.

So, not able to settle down into art, I started moving into my new studio and with the help to two strong young men and a big truck, we made two trips from the Oakland studio to home and they were able to get everything upstairs.  I had already had a Ikea-putting-together party when we got lots of shelving, and cabinets built with the help of great friends and my two helpers!

Then it was time to start organizing and getting things put away.  It was nice until I started moving things in from my old studio at home which still held a lot of stuff!

Still couldn't get into making art so I made two baby blankets for the granddaughter-to-be, and started cleaning out a bin that was full of partially made panel quilts, etc and just started quilting them.  Nothing fancy, some pieced things, some printed panels, some old class work, etc.  But it felt good to see the pile grow.  I still have about ten more to finish after finishing about ten of them.  The finished ones will go to various people and are also great to hang on to for the baby that shows up around church.

And then we were off in July for a seven week journey to Michigan and back for the birth of our granddaughter, Myrnaleah.  We wandered through northern California, the eastern side, eastern Oregon and Washington, and then traveled on US 2 which is just below the Canadian border. Went through the panhandle of Idaho, into Montana, through North Dakota and into Minnesota and dropped down to the cabin of a cousin to spend several days on the lake.  Then off to the north coast of MN, across Wisconsin, and into the upper peninsula of Michigan. Our granddaughter was born while we were up there but by C Section so we took our time headed down to Lakeview, northeast of Grand Rapids.  We arrived and the other grandmother had to return to work.  This was her first grandchild so we felt we really didn't need to rush since she was there.  We stayed for two weeks and just enjoyed ourselves and got to know this sweet little girl.

And then we headed home via Rout 66 through Illinois, Missouri, 13 miles of Kansas, Oklahoma, the panhandle of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and back to California.  We have now settled back in to home and I am still trying to get moved in to the new studio...this will take a while.  But I have finished the Grand Canyon and another pieces but both are awaiting their finishing hand sewing of the facings.

To get myself jump started and to get that focus and disciple back, I am taking Elizabeth Barton's online class through Quilt University about working in series.  It is fun to be back in a class setting and seeing all the ideas the other students bring to the group.  There is a lot of sharing of websites about various artists off all sorts of media and I am really enjoying this.  I am also enjoying the structure and exercises we have been doing...feels good to get back into that groove.

But, during all this time I have been doing a bunch of paper collages as creative exercises. I have an art magazine which has beautiful heavy paper with lots of announcements about shows which use wonderful colors in their displays.  I have been tearing these papers out as I go since the magazine is over half an inch thick and this gets rid of some of the paper and our of my house.  I have kept inspiration notebooks for years and always clip things that I like to paste into the books.

So, I thought I would share a few of these collages.  None are for sale, they are all done in a sketchbook and are back to back so I would not even think about selling them as I was working.
Hope your e

                            

Just fun things to do...usually torn paper. there is a shadow on one side from the scanner.  I am reminded of how much a prefer things that are clean and simple.

The building continues

Construction has continued at a pretty fast pace...This is where we were just before Christmas.  In the picture below you can see the walls going up on the upstairs part. Everything is braced at this point although sheer wall is already up on part on the lower section (sheer walls keep things straight during earthquakes and provide more strength to the building)

My grandson Ashton who is constantly finding great things to do on the construction site

The studio is beginning to take shape...this photo is taken from the very front and looks back...the south is to the left and the back is facing west. The garage is attached to only part of the house so it has created a small storage area between the house and the new garage wall.

This is the view of the studio from the middle part near the stairs.  The open area on the right will remain open to accommodate the RV.  The room toward the back will be my sewing room, at least that is what I am planning at this time. The area to the right now has a window and the wall on the right will be a 12 foot design wall. Across the room from the design wall with be bookcases for fabric storage with a large 4 x 8' work table, cutting area and ironing station.

Ashton is busy building his own buildings.

And, ta da!  my sink!  What a beauty!  My husband will put in some shelves on the bottom right that will pull out.  Under the sink is storage

And here you can see just how big that sink is...although I know you have nothing to compare it to.

With all the construction going on, I am having a hard time focusing on any art work....all I can think about is dyeing fabric and doing deconstructed silk screening as now I will have the sink big enough to handle the silk screens and the space to have everything together in on place.  I won't have to drag things home to wash after batching the fabrics....All I can think of is getting in to some jars of new dyes from Dharma!

So much has been happening

A very long overdo update on what has been happening.

Christmas was wonderful and spent with the immediate family for a change.  My father, my daughter and her husband and their two boys, my son and his wife from Ohio....who is now pregnant (my daughter-in-law I mean!)

Got over the cold and am now feeling well again.  Back at the gym to try and build some strength back up...two months in a recliner and a month of a rotten cold have taken their toll on me.  My shoulder is doing much better and some strength exercising of the arms is helping this muscle to remember what they are for.  And about time, too!

In late November we began construction on a new oversized attached garage which will house cars, our motorhome and lots of space for my husband to have a great metal and wood workshop.  I am hoping to be able to park my car in the garage for a change.  In California we are storage deprived as we don't have basements nor attics....and relatively few closets.

So, the big exciting thing is that we are including a new studio for me which will be somewhere between 800-900 square feet.  I will finally be able to move out of my Oakland studio and work completely here at home.  My current studio as home will become our family room with TV and our older, smaller TV room will now become a part of my new studio which will be my office, genealogy stuff, etc.  The new studio has a wet working area, a small bathroom, a hugh, wonderful commercial sink, a design area, lots of storage, and a sewing area where I can set up two sewing machines and their big tables.

So the foundation has been formed and the concrete pumper is working away....8 truckloads of concrete! Fortunately, this was done during a time when were

Then the huge crane comes (it isn't even extended out yet) to unload and set the steel I beams for the moment....earthquake country and this garage is being built to withstand anything!

Here to two huge vertical beams and be bolted to the foundation and the cross pieces are being lifted into position.  

And then the welder spent three and a half days welding all the pieces together that had been bolted together initially. He must be twenty feet up in the air!

I have many more photos to share and I will eventually share some of the collages I have been doing.  For some reason I can't get my cable into my camera so I can download more, which include pictures of my sink and my upstairs just framed in...

So later...

A long time ago....

I was so on a roll!  Went off for a week at Asilomar in Pacific Grove with a wonderful group of women and spent a lot of time doing some hand embroidery on some new pieces and then decided to make a very simple (modern) quilt....you know, one where you don't have to match anything and there is lots of space around the fabrics!  But what fun it was to do that and to get it done very quickly.  It just needs to be quilted now.

And then, on Monday, October 8, I took a nose dive off the next to the bottom step on my stairs and landed right on my left shoulder.  It took my husband 20 minutes before we could get me up off the floor and off to the hospital where it was confirmed that I had broker the left humeral head bone.  This is the rounded top part of the big upper arm bone.  Can't be casted. Just a sling and lots of pain killers.  Oh, did it hurt.  My poor husband has done wonderful duty caring for the invalid.  Could not get dressed or undressed, wore practically nothing since it hurt too much and lived on the recliner since I could not sleep in bed.  Well, six full weeks later and I am still in the recliner but left the sling after three weeks, and now start PT on Monday. I can do more and more but can't extend my left arm very much and certainly can't use weight with it.  So we move back into the rebuild mode.

This is why you haven't heard from me.

But, on a positive note, I have caught up with several DVD's about quilting and art and several workshops I have down loaded.  My good friend Carol Suto took me to my studio two weeks ago so I could play with printing deli paper with some new 12" x 12" stamps I had made using fun foam which is sticky and works well on light weight acrylic.  Had a blast and then made three more stamps which I went down to try our a few days ago.

Going to the studio is difficult. I am very limited and have only started driving again a week ago.  I have to be very careful because I don't have full range of motion in my left arm.

I couldn't go to New York to teach which I was supposed to do five days after my fall.  I was really unhappy about that but Kim has given me a new date in early 2013.

Will have pictures for you shortly.  We have broker ground for our new RV garage with a new studio for me upstairs.  Hoping to pour concrete for the foundation maybe Friday or Monday.

My arm is now very tired from typing this little bit.  Will try to get photos up tomorrow....

Continuing to Catch Up

I have been continuing in my quest to get unfinished work off of the old piles and in to the finished piles....which are all on top of an extra bed...so many that if I need something on the bottom it is quite hard to get out!

But anyway, enough of my woes!  This is a fused piece that I did several years ago and I had wonky edges on it (on purpose). The edges curved but it never hung flat because I did not plan the curves correctly.  So I cleaned it all up, cut off portions, and refaced it which I like much better.

Summer Time

Yesterday I spent several hours creating sleeves for three other pieces that I have previously shown on this blog. It is really nice to get these things done.

Now, all that needs to happen on these is to put labels on them.  I have even been putting them into my catalog!  Will wonders never cease. Oh, I do hate all the details that have to be done for the business end.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is a reception for a new show opening called Fabric Art/Art Quilts Plus, at the Cinema Place Gallery at 1061 B St. Hayward, CA.  There are quite a few pieces of work in this show and I have two of my new pieces in it.  The reception is from 5-7pm and the show runs until November 12 if you are in the area. There are many northern California members of SAQA in the show.  Lots of great work!

So, I have sandwiched the Grand Canyon/Colorado River piece and am about ready to draw in some basic shapes. I have spent a lot of time studying the topo map of the Grand Canyon and have decided on a portion to work with which I think has very interesting shapes.  I am impressed with myself that I have been patient, have quilted three quilts created by women at the Federal Correctional Facility in Dublin, CA, have been working on a piece for the altar at church, and have worked with a small group of teens at church to create a new stole for our new assistant priest who is heading up the family ministries.  Just have to finish each of the those for church and then can get them in to be used.

Next week a small group of us are going to Asilomar for the week of free time with the sewing machines.  I am trying to figure out just what I want to do with this time....hmmmmmm...what shall I do with four full days away from home?  Well, you will just have to wait and see.

Your help is needed

I have a piece that I created a couple of years ago that I made wonky sides on but it never hung correctly and was only shown once at a guild show.  I have now removed the facings, trimmed it straight and refaced it.  All I need to do now is give it a final pressing and then photograph it so I can post it here...promise I will do so very soon.

My topo map arrived for the Grand Canyon piece and I have been fascinated as I study it.  There is so much information contained on these maps.  I have found entries to the north side of the Canyon that I didn't know existed and now hope to get back there before too long to check it out.  But I have been planning this quilt in my head, which is the way I usually do things.  I have such a clear image of what I want to do that it almost feels done....but I guess that really isn't the way it works, is it?

However, I have been busy doing some quilting on community quilts.  One of our members from the Amador Valley Quilters has worked with the women at the Federal Correctional Facility in Pleasanton for a number of years. She brings in fabrics and the women make quilts.  Since they did not purchase the fabric, they can not keep the tops they have made so they donate them to the guild's community quilt project.  This December we anticipate giving away about 900 quilts to various organizations within the community where there is need. So I am just doing a very small part.

But on to more important things.

Two years ago I went with six other members of my church, All Saints Episcopal Church from San Leandro, CA, to Uganda where we spent two weeks, most of which was working physically at a small orphanage which we had been providing some support to over the years. At that time, I made  a plea to people to help support this project and offered 20% off on any of my work and the payment would be made to the church and I would not get any of the money. This then afforded a very nice tax deduction for those who purchased my art work. I was able to raise over $3500 from generous purchases and donations.

When I returned I raised a little bit more and was able to send money to purchase three treadle sewing machines.  They had an instructor to show the kids and staff how to use the machines. I had hoped to be able to follow up with further fund raisers to help them but was not able to for a while.

Which comes to today. All Saints has been trying to work with Sunrise House to become more self-sufficient. Uganda has over 4,000,000 children who have become orphaned as a result of the very serious AIDS epidemic in Africa. Sunrise House has, had various times, had up to ninety children there but now can only afford to help about 25.  They are having serious financial difficulties and need immediately $3000 in order to get the children into school. School costs each student about $50  for a term of 3 months, plus money for their books, paper, pencils and uniforms.

I am again making the offer of 20% off for any of my art work with a check made payable to All Saints Episcopal Church.  If you are interested in making a purchase, please contact me first to confirm availability before sending any money.  Many of my newer works are on my blog and have not been updated on to my website so search here also.

One of the girls after making a craft project together

Our Fr. Rob on the left with boys from the house all ready to do major clean up on a fire destroyed room prior to repairing and repainting.

The cook on the left with one of the kids bringing a load of bananas down to the cook house on the right. Cooking is done over an open wood fire.  On the left are the latrines for the house. In the background is the town of Fort Portal, Uganda.

My thanks to any of your who are able to help support this effort.

Another one is now done

I am waiting for the map of the Grand Canyon to come from  USGS so that I can figure out the right contours for the Colorado River in my Grand Canyon piece that is waiting for me.

For once, I am not feeling impatient to start. I guess having several things to finish up allows for that! I have just finished the facing on one which is about 106" wide and about 48" high.  It still needs to have a sleeve put on.
It is one of my ridge series and hasn't been titled yet....it really is amazing to see what I have sitting around in various piles of things. And I have given you a close up.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time making sleeves for about 5 pieces.  And during all this time I have quilted two large quilts for our community quilts at my home guild, Amador Valley Quilters.  One of our members works with the women at the Federal Correction Facility in Dublin and I have agreed to quilt a bunch of the quilts that the women have made.  When done, those will go into the batch for community quilts...over the years this project has grown quite a bit and we now give away about 700 quilts at Christmas time to various agencies in the community.

Meanwhile, I continue to do my collages with found paper and am really enjoying doing them. They are all done in a book where they will stay as they are done back to back. I enjoy looking back at my color combinations and choice of composition.  Some day I will scan some and post them. It is a nice way to start the day.

And, for any of you who are in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have a couple of new pieces that will be showing in Hayward at the Cinema Place Gallery, 1061 B St., Hayward, CA from Sept 21 until Nov 12.  There will be a reception on Wed, Sept 28 from 5-7 pm. Come on down! There are a lot of SAQA artists from the area showing in this show.  It should be quite interesting.

Another thing on the burner.  We are currently interviewing and discussing building plans with several contractors to begin finally to build our additional garage to hold our motorhome and it will have a space above for me to have a much larger studio at home.  I have the scale drawing all ready and little cut out pieces of furniture (4 x 8' plywood tables) which I move around.  I will have my own outside entrance which will be nice for open studios in our area.  I am really looking forward to this since my studio at home house all the household finance stuff genealogy stuff and more stuff and more stuff.  I have been going through things and filled up our recycling bin yesterday with a lot of paper stuff...old bills, etc...all the shredded paper went into our greens bin and get composted but the sheet paper goes off to recycling.  It feels good but there is still a lot of stuff.  I am going to have to hire young men to move my other studio stuff to the new studio when the time comes because I sure can't haul everything up stairs!  Once I am in there, I may hardly ever come out...oh yeah, dinner time and bed time....but it will be especially nice to start working on my collages first thing in the morning before I do anything else, and in my pj's too!  Feels so decadent!

Back to sewing sleeves on....

And it keeps on coming

my goodness, I spend the day at the studio and then come home and do my hand sewing while I am watching Masterpiece Theater...what is wrong with that....oh, did I say my husband went up to the cabin without me? That's why I get to sit in my comfy chair and watch MP Theater!  He can't sit through the commercials and has to hold on to that silly remote...so, I come and go when I feel like it and don't have to worry about fixing a real dinner...just get out the lettuce I have cut up, add some chicken slices that I bought ready cooked and cut and veg out....oh, life doesn't get any better! LOL

So, anyway, I have completed Roots:

And then I finished Lone Tree which is based on my trip to Uganda...the tree is a photo I took while I was at the Queen Elizabeth National Park

 

 

 

 And finally, the beginning of a new piece which will be the next one in my River Series, The Grand Canyon.  It will show a topo map of the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon.  It is ready to sandwich and then start quilting.  It, too, is pretty large. I don't know why but all of a sudden I am working really large...probably a result of doing so many small things the past year!

 Meanwhile, at my chair at home is another very large piece, about 98 inches long and about 48 inches high which almost has all the facing sewn down and then another piece which needs the facing sewn down.

It is really fulfilling to get these things finished.  I am feeling a great sense of accomplishment as the pieces that were around I had just done the quilting and left it...never doing the final finishing. But, as I decided I wanted to get back in to showing work, I felt I needed to get some of these things done. But it hasn't stopped me from doing new work. I am getting much clearer about what I want to do...some time ago I did several pieces that included a lot of silkscreened trees and I have decided that those are just too busy for me...I like my things relatively simple....except for the quilting, that is!