Art and more art

I've been doing a lot of different things lately. I haven't done my entry way for EDM (EveryDay Matters) but while I was waiting at the dentist's office, I did manage to sketch a little of their entry way...maybe this counts!

However, much to my dismay, I realized that the moleskine book I had gotten was not the sketch book and as you can see, the ink shows through from the other side.

So, Thursday, after spending part of the day with my dad and running him around for his errands, I stopped at the Dick Blick store on the way home. They didn't have any of the sketchbooks in the black cover but, at almost twice the price I could get one that supported the Van Gogh museum and was covered in lucious silk...well, the colors were absolutely wonderful...blue, gree, yellow, purple, orange, etc. Since I couldn't decide, I just had to get two for myself. Now I just have to decide if I want to carry around the purple one or the orange one.

And then the other day I was sketching in my regular sketchbook and did some blind contour drawings of my phone along with a pencil sketch. I haven't used pencil in forever and now I remember why...it seems so namby pamby (techinical term)














But, least you think that is all that I have accomplished, I did get my new quilt sandwiched and ready to start quilting...however, couldn't start because I had to finish a painting I had started.
So here is Angel in a Pear Tree.

And, then, here is the quilt sandwiched, ready to go and since I think I have finished the painting, I can start quilting!

working on new work

Saturday I taught a class on design for abstract quilting at a guild. What fun it was! I really put everyone through their paces and had them working pretty hard. The picture on the right is of mock-ups using geometric shapes and the one on the left is using organic shapes.









I really wished that I could have had time when I got home to get to work as I was really jazed about what they were doing. However, went out to celebrate Robert Burns' birthday at our church with pipers, dances, drums and haggis. Lots of fun.

Then Sunday was busy so didn't to get started although I puttered around and found myself doing a lot on the computer to avoid working on art.

Monday I puttered some more...really procrastinating about doing this...having feelings that my work just isn't very good, Melody is really on a roll, why can't I do beautiful stuff like hers...whine, whine...she got three big pieces done in the past two months and I haven't gotten anything done.

So Tuesday comes and I spent a lot of time fusing webbing to my fabrics. I really need to do a major dye job and get some clear colors done...I am so short on so many colors! So I worked with a lot of tones which seems to be where I am lately...issues around my father are keeping me down and bright colors are what I should do but just don't feel up to doing.

Finally got some stuff put up. The picture above has a center, paler piece changed to a darker piece which I like better.


This piece has the paler piece just below the lower middle...I don't think I like that. I have auditioned a couple of circles and think I like this one more which is more cheddar than the first one.

Well, today had to go off and do my song and dance to try to drum up some lecture and class business. My classes aren't for everyone...traditional quilters just aren't interested. Those who take the design and color classes come out with a lot of knowledge and feel much better about what they are doing then before they started. But got to have a class full of people who want to do that. Well, they came out with some good stuff.

Came home and caught up on some blogs and then futzed around with this piece, and actually did the blue and red swaures and lines today with several color changes and then did the circle. Still thinking about it all.

Well, at least my class Saturday will pay for my insurance for my business. What joy!

It's Getting Real!

Just got an edited version in the magazine set up for my article on "The Art of Abstraction" for Quilting Arts. This is about abstraction from a photograph and discusses the elements of design.

Oh, my goodness, they sure make me look good! It is so exciting to see what it will look like when the magazine comes out...this is for the spring issue of Quilting Arts.

Didn't know I could write so well!!! And they didn't even have to change very much! And the layout is absolutely wonderful...did I say...six pages? Yes, SIX PAGES!

And now I have to get started on the second article which will be about principles of design. And come up with some work for it!

I'm so excited!

Tagged

Getting tagged right now is the best thing to happen to me this year! That says a lot for this year, doesn't it?

Still can't find the missing piece...the Carnegie said to keep on looking and if I find it to let them know...that is so nice of them.

Tagged

4 jobs I've had: box office person at the theater at Trinity University when I was attending there, sales cleark in Macys, children's photographer in Macys, probation officer

4 movies I could watch over and over: none...I get really tired of seeing the same thing again...same with books, etc.

4 places I have lived: Hawaii, Texas, Japan, Virginia, California (and even more)

4 TV shows I love to watch: just getting in to Desperate Housewives, House, Monk, and....and....and...I'm not sure what else...there is one but I can't think of the name...and I really don't watch very much TV...maybe an hour or so a day, if that.

4 places I've been on vacation: all over the US, Japan, Scotland, Austria, and England

4 websites I visit daily: I don't have any that I go to daily. I visit some blogs regularly but not even daily on those.

4 favorite foods: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate turtles, and See's bourdeaux chocolate

4 places I would rather be: a new studio, Scotland, England, and New Mexico

4 albums I can't live without: well, let's just name the musicians instead: BBKing, Etta James, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker

Well, what have I learned from doing this? I can't count, I don't follow the rules, and I don't know much about what is happening on TV.

Gloom and Doom

Friday I called the Carnegie and told them that I could not find my piece that had been accepted. I told them I would call on Monday to let them know for sure.

Well, it is Sunday night and no quilt.

I have gone through the piles of quilts three times (where it should be) and so have two other people (well, at least once each)

My studio is almost absolutely clean. Everything has been gone through.

I have gone through all of my fabric drawers, pulled lots of fabric, given it away to four friends, put my hand dyes into drawers, filled up two bins with more hand dyes, tossed out a lot of scraps, put bigger scraps into a bin instead for eight different containers, got all my paints, glues, textures thingies put away. Put all the canvas and extra batting pieces together where they belong and still...

no quilt.

I have gone on a roller coaster ride of emotions during the past week. On Monday when I first started looking I thought, oh it must be under a pile on my drafting table. On Wed. I was still looking and starting to panic. On Thursday I felt resigned. On Friday I called and continued to clean and got people over to pick up fabric and get it out of the house. And Saturday I cleaned some more and last night and this morning I went through all of the quilts again, opening every one up, refolding, stacking old quilts in the closet, keeping newer pieces on the bed flat and still no quilt.

I just want to cry. Well, in fact I have. Partly because I don't like being this disoriented and not knowing where something is, and this is the third thing I have misplaced this past year that was very important to me and I still can't find, and because I really wanted to be in the show, and because I don't want to be blacklisted because I couldn't produce when I had told them I would.

I have followed everybody's advice. prayed to St. Andrew, prayed to God, searched high and low, looked where it should be, looked where it shouldn't be and still no quilt. Tomorrow, I call.

MAJOR PROBLEM

One of my pieces was accepted in the Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie. Yeah!
However, the piece is due to them tomorrow and I can not find it.

Anywhere.

Not in the pile of quilts where it should be.

Not under the pile of stuff on my drafting table.

Not under piles of fabric.

Not under anything.

It isn't even on top of anything.

I even had a friend come over and go through everything and she couldn't find it.

I haven't sold it.

It isn't out at another show.

I can not find it.

I have been doing serious cleaning in my studio as I have had to go through absolutely everything looking for it. It still isn't clean but I have gone through everything. I still have piles of fabric, etc but they are sorted...now I just need somewhere to put them...time to cull the stash again.

It's not in my quilt storage room, AKA the guest room, AKA the paper arts room. It isn't in an boxes for shipping.

I know I looked at it when I got the acceptance letter back in October.

Where oh where, has my little quilt gone?

To make matters worse, it is only 22 x 16"...I know, if I had made it bigger I could have found it.

I don't want to call the Carnegie tomorrow and tell them I can't find it.

Boo-hoo.....

2006--Here We Are

I look at other's blogs and I feel jealous...everyone seems to working away. I'm stuggling to find my studio again. Things have gotten so out of hand that I just can't work and I don't like that. So today I actually found my desktop where my computer sits...did website updating etc the other day having to lean over piles of papers. Had to go downstairs to sort the boxes of slides that I had picked up just before Christmas so that I can find them when I need to enter shows. I've also shredded tons of paper...mostly old bills etc that I don't need to hold on to but it freed up room in the file cabinet to put other financial papers that were sitting on top of my drafting table (which got there from my desk so I could work at my computer) and now they are in the file cabinent.

Next, find the drafting table. I've put away a bunch of fabric that I had piled around, got paints etc put away from their various totes, having gone to several retreats, etc.

I've gotten the article done, sold a couple of pieces, have to ship those off on Tuesday, and hopefully by Tuesday, I will be ready to rock and roll. I have several large pieces in my head. I have started working on one of the Christo fence pieces which I am doing by hand, and as I work, I come up with more ideas.

I received my disperse dyes which have been waiting for me to finish up that big batch of work I just did. Boy, am I glad those are done...just can't leave things uncompleted...can't have too many things on the burner at once although I usually have a couple of things.

Well, it is the beginning of the new year. We finally got notice that the property next door is actually going to be developed as hearings have been set for the area advisory board to okay the plans, and then the final hearing at the planning department. That means the land swap will take place and we can actually start the planning for our new gargage next to the house... The only reason I care about the garage, which will house the motorhome, is that I get half of the upstairs for my dream studio. I thought when we built this house that my studio would be big enough but it sure isn't. At the time, I wasn't painting and dyeing fabrics and doing all this surface design, which of course, needs more space. My new studio, if it gets okayed by the planning department, will have an outside door so I can participate in open studios, and will have a dry area and a wet area. It will be about 15 " x 45" or maybe longer...depends upon how big my husband goes with his garage part. Oh, I'm starting to drool! I figure at least 30 linear feet of table space for dyeing and painting. And none of that near my sewing stuff. Storage for fabrics, storage for quilts (not on the guest bed), storage for all my paints...I just drool thinking about it.

Wishing you are a Happy New Year!

Every Day Matters

As if I don't have enough to do in my life, I have taken up the challenge of Every Day Matters on Danny Gregory's site and have done my first recent contour drawing of spools of thread and then did a drawing of the thread, looking at them.

I've needed to get back in to the challenge of drawing again and back in to the real art world...the other yahoo group that I am in just doesn't seem to offer what I need.

Feeling Good

My son has just left us on his way back to Ohio. Five days is not enough but we spent a lot of time with my daughter, son-in-law, grandson and son and had a wonderful time. It was really nice not share my daughter and her family with her in-laws this year...just somuch more relaxed...last year they flew to PA and flew back on Christmas day so they were tired and everything seemed so rushed. Much better this year.

I am so excited! My first article for Quilting Arts will be in the spring issue so this month has been spent getting the article written, doing the art work for it, documenting it as I go, etc. It's there...they are doing their editing and I can hardly wait to see what it looks like when they finish. It is an article about the ART of art quilting and is abouting creating an abstract piece that is somewhat representational. I'm going to do another article on doing an abstract that is non-representations. The first article discusses the elements of design; the second will discuss the principles of design.

This is way too much fun! Hard work but really neat.

Goals for this year:
continue entering as many art and quilt shows as I can
find an art consultant
get my work on the east coast
set up one woman show
create, create, create

That should keep me busy!

Busy, busy, busy

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged. Just too much going on.

I've finished an article for a magazine, got the art work completed, got all the other pictures that went with it done, and shipped off other work to be included. I've been working on this for three hard weeks and I'm really glad to have it out of my hands. Now I am waiting for the final word from the publisher.

Meanwhile, got all those new quilts off to be photographed, picked up the slides and CD disk for the digitals and dropped off the slides for duplication. Now, I just have to come up with titles for all those new things, catalog them and get them on my website, along with pricing.

I've being told that my prices are too low. Way too low...I guess in January I will have to go through everything and take a serious look and consider raising some prices. Have had a couple of small sales this month which helps but sure would like some more!

Last week my dear priest suggested that he could buy some purple fabric and maybe I would hem it for him for the altar frontal. Oh, he knows me so well...knows I would not be satisfied doing something temporary like that. So out came the white silk fabric, the paints and I cleared off the table and painted the beginning of an Advent frontal. It goes from rose to purple to blue from the bottom up. Put it up on Sunday last, took it down after service, took it homel, painted a big black movement of silver and then returned it to the altar. So, tomorrow it comes down for the other frontal I made to go up for Christmas and then I will continue to work on it during the year until Advent again...at least now I have time to do the rest of the stuff like the chasuble, veil, stole, etc. I've wanted to do an Advent one so I guess he just lite a fire under me.

Almost finished with his sheppard's costume for our Christmas pagent...first time we are doing one in years and years so we don't have a collection of appropriate robes for Mary and Joseph and all the others so people have been busy...I got to do the priest's stuff. Pretty plain!

Advent has been very special this year. It is a time of waiting and anticipating and thinking. I have been more in to the Christianity of Christmas this year than all the decorating and gift buying. I know on Thursday I will go absolutely crazy when I realize Ihaven't shopped for Christmas dinner and still have presents to get. But I have been working on my cards and Christmas letters and am almost ready to get those sent out...didn't get around to it last year!

Well, got to do the hem on this sheppard's robe....see ya!

The Rest of the New Work

Well, I have finished all the pieces of "Where Have All the Children Gone", at least the ones I had already started. So I will post them:

I have no idea why these are appearing into the last posting...it did this before...

Work Coming Home

I had three pieces returned from the Grant's Pass Museum of Art show The Fibers of Your Life. Two of the pieces had to be immediately shipped off for the Art and Soul of Quilting so they made it home just in time! In fact, I was on my way out the door to go ahead and ship off a big piece to Art and Soul when the UPS guy pulled up with the other quilts that needed to go out.

When I opened the box from Grants Pass, there was some paperwork rolled up next to the quilts...it was a poster that they had used in all of their advertising and one of my pieces was prominantly displayed. They also sent a CD of the show which was very nice to see. Almost as good as being there! They do a really nice job of displaying stuff...this is the second time I have had work there in shows and I have been impressed with how they do it each time.

Will have more of the new pieces up tomorrow...then off they go to the photographer's!

Another just finished

This is part of the children series...where have all the children gone. It is hand dyed, silk screened, photo transfered, screened with glue, discharge via silk screen and who knows what else. It is part of a group of 7 pieces that I did at Charlotte Yde's class at Art Quilt Tahoe.

Another new piece just finished!

I am frantically trying to get these nine new pieces done...facing done on this one, and almost done on another one, facings to add to a series of four and then one last one to do...I think that adds up to 9. Then I can get on to working on the Running Fence project...

This piece was created at Houston in Rayna Gilman's workshop on printing with found objects...I went in for a play day and to finally meet Rayna and had a great time...stamped, silk screened, rubbed, etc and then just finished the quilting.

What Have I Been Up To?

It seems like forever since I have added to my blog...I guess in blog time it has been. I have sort of kept up with what is going on with other people and am just amazed at the work coming out of Sonji, Melody's stuff she is doing for herself which is really good, Gerrie's new work, Claire's new work, etc. It is so inspiring.

I have been busy for the past two months doing a lot of art. However, I am just getting nine pieces quilted and have two finished which I will show you now. I realized that I have really been dwelling on the fate of children in our world and have started a series about Where Have our Children Gone? I haven't wanted to use graphic photos so I have been using old photos to represent the innocence that is missing from so many children. The children who have gone through the hurricanes and have been uprooted, the children who have lost everything, including parents in the tsunami last year, the children turned in to soldiers and sex slaves in Uganda and other parts of Africa, the children who are living in constant warfare in Iraq and Afganistan. I can make myself silly over the politics of it all but have just decided that I can only point to the children.

And then on a positive side, my grandchild, loved, protected, happy, exploring, funny, silly, serious, everything one could want in a child. And, oh so innocent. I have not posted photos of him before but now much add them to share. Gerrie and I can argue about who has the cutest,ect. but I think all of our grandchildren are so very fortunate.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this during the Thanksgiving week. We had turkey day at our house and then went up to our cabin in the Sierra mtns on Friday and on Saturday we had a left over Thanksgiving turkey. The kids all left on Sunday and my husband and I stayed until Tuesday. I stayed up until 3am reading a mystery, worked on a jigsaw puzzle, and just watched the rain and played some computer games. I have not had that much relaxing in a long time. I knew it was time to return when I kept having dreams about new work.

I have come to realize that my work goes in stages...I will get an idea and let it percolate in my brain for some time. Then I am ready to do what I have been thinking about. Then the physical process starts...the fabric, surface design, fusing, whatever I need to do and the piece starts to come together. At that point I always feel a little disappointed until I remind myself that I still have all the sewing to do which finishes the piece. And then, the paperwork...photographs, labels, data entry, website and all that junk. Here, on my blog, I just take a snapshot and put it up! Instant gratification.

Now, when you look at the pictures of my grandson you have to be properly appreciative and say "Oh, he's so cute!" I'll know if you don't!

First taste of cranberry sauce! But he kept on eating it and each bite he would pucker up, stick out his tongue, eat it and go for more. The last picture is a very satisfied Jacob after eating his third Thanksgiving dinner!

A few pictures from Art Quilt Tahoe

Sunrise out of our window












Carol Suto, my room mate buried in pillows












out the huge window in the lobby of the resort












Sunset











frost and spider web with frost on my truck mirrow.

I am including some pictures from Art Quilt Tahoe...none of my work...that will start getting finished tomorrow.

Tomorrow...I can hardly wait...I actually have a few hours of my own time! Ever since I got home that has not happened, plus I have been suffering from this darn cold and now I am starting to feel better. Sandwiched three pieces (one from Rayna's class and two from Charlotte Yde's class) so that I can get started on the quilting part and see what it really looks like!

Something Wrong Here

There is definitely something wrong here!

I woke up, had my shower, and there weren't two shower heads gently washing my body...only one.

No one put out clean towels for me.

No one put out nice little bottles of shampoo and lotion for me.

I went downstairs, and there was no breakfast buffet waiting for me...no tempting sweet rolls, no cooked bacon or sausage, no melon cut, no pineapple, no berries, no salmon, no special egg dishes and most of all, NO OMLET MAN waiting to take my order for my own personal omlet! In fact, there weren't even any eggs in the refrigerator...so it was cream cheese on Triskets for breakfast.

And instead of spending the day working away in my studio, I am washing clothes, unpacking, taking my Dad out for his weekly errands, and then maybe I can do a little work...

And then, tonight, I get to watch the videos of my grandson's first birthday which I missed while I was in Tahoe. The weather was so beautiful there and I have come home to spring-like weather here...oh, this is why we live in the San Francisco Bay Area!

TAGGED! I'M IT!

Well, I'll be darned...Claire Fenton went and tagged me for the 20 list...had to go through other people's blogs to see just what I had to do...Claire wrote lots of stuff but then I looked at Gabrielle's list and it was much shorter. Must say I had noticed these and had read them but didn't realize that one get's tagged! See how out in left field I am? Just don't have all this protocol down!

20 things about myself.

1. I was born in Texas and consider myself a Texan although I have only lived there for two years when I attended Trinity University in San Antonio.

2. I am a honest to gosh red head whose hair has gotten darker over the years and I don't color it...there really is grey in there if you look hard enough!

3. My father was in the Navy and we traveled all around the outskirts of this country....not very many Naval bases in the midwest, although we did live on an Army post at Ft Campbell KY for a year...that was fun during the Army-Navy games...we had a beat Army sign in our window!

4. I lived in Japan in 1957-59 and 1961-63.

5. I taught English conversation to a group of students at Waseda Univeristy in Tokyo where I was able to hold my own when they discussed intergration in the US (I had attended a middle school in Virginia just after the public schools were reopened after being shut down for two years in response to the order to desegregate them)

6. I graduated from High School in Hawaii...from Waianae High and was one of a very few haolis at the school.

7. I majored in art for two years and for 1 1/2 of those years, my roommate was also an art major and we would stay up late at night pulling prints from our woodblocks...had clothes lines strung around the room with prints hanging from them...didn't get to sleep until 4 am.

8. Went to my 8 am class the day after in my babydoll pajamas under my trench coat...the private Presbyterian school did not allow the women to wear pants on upper campus where all the classes were...and my 8am class was a religion class...

9. Rented a house in the community of the school with a group of art students and music and drama students so we would have a place to hang out...everyone not a senior had to reside on campus and we had curfews, etc. Lots of interesting things went on at that house...I built myself a stone carving table and would work on carvings with my hammer and chisels outside. Parties at night.

10. When I left Trinity to go to the University of California at Berkeley in 1967, the dean of women told me she felt I would be much happier there...I wasn't.

11. Attended UC Berkeley (Cal) during riots. Changed my major to social work as the art department and I didn't get along very well...surprisingly, Trinity had been much more open to differences in styles of work. The best thing I learned from Cal was how to weld.

12. Met my husband at the shooting range where I was quite proficient with a rifle.

13. Although my mother outfitted me in a wonderful trousseau, I spent my honeymoon in blue jeans, tee shirts and boots as we wandered around Yosemite in the fall.

14. Art has always been a very important part of my life, even when being a mother, probation officer, wife, Girl Scout leader, etc., etc., took up all of my time.

15. As a probation officer I specialized in working with sex offenders...both adult and juveniles. I know just about everything that can be done to a person and how ugly people can really be.

16.The balance of my case load was usually women drug and alcohol offenders who, surprise, surprise, had been victims of sexual abuse in their childhood but never told anyone before they got to me...

17. I am very glad to be away from all that!

18. I stay away from a lot of political statement making because I have been around a lot and have seen both sides of everything and I just don't want to...my head is not in the sand, but I can't do much about it myself so I work one-on-one to create change where I can.

19. I am an extremely spiritual person but did not feel good about organized religions until I joined an Episcopal church and found people seeking answers as much as I was.

20. I cannot go through a day without doing some type of art.

Here I am!

Linda Minton took a great photo of my while at Houston...thought I would share it with everyone so you could see the "real me". Actually, I think this is one of the best pictures ever taken of me...I can hide a lot behind that fabric. Actually someone had purchased the fabric to use as a table runner since it had the beads on both ends...being the fool that I am, I decked myself out!

So, for those of you who have lots of self portraits showing up on their blogs, I now have my very own portrait...of course, it isn't a self portrait but it will have to do!

Saturday in Houston

Well, things are beging to wind down although the noise in the Hilton lobby sure doesn't seem like it! I'm waiting for a table for dinner a lone...a chance to just reflect and think about all the things that have been going on and all the people I have been meeting. What an eventful week!

The quilts are all beautiful. I am so impressed with everything here! I have a piece in Tactile Architecture and a piece in Small Wonders, which I hadn't seen since the spring when it went off to Chicago. I guess it comes home now and Holes in the Castle Wall travels for a little while.

All of the shows here are stupendous. Men of Biblical proportions...with Tristan's piece along with several other names I recognize from the list. There is a wonderful show by an Isralie woman whose work is just staggering...have to get her name down and add it to this list. The I Remember Mama show is wonderful and I got my book which has all three years in it, so it includes my piece from the first year. Katie Pasquini Mausupust's show of her work over the spread of her 30 years of quilting...really impressive. So many things!

Laswt night I went out to dinner with Lisa Chipetine, who is now on the board of directors for SAQA, and several of her friends and went to an upscale Mexican place which was, as they say in Houstonk, Mex-Mex, as opposed to Tex-Mex. That was lots of fun as I haven't seen her for two years.

Spent time down at Art for a Cause where Virginia Spiegle and her sister Nancy are covering the postcards that have been for sale. It is really impressive to see how many have sold and how much money they have made for the American Cancer Society.

Visited with Laura Cater-Woods and chatted about about how her sale of Art for a Good Cause was going...found out she had bought a piece or two of mine...

Took a class with Rayna Gilman, just so I could have a play day and had a wonderful time. Went to lunch with her one of the days.

Met up with Pamela Allen in her Presidential Suite and had wine and chatted and got to know each other in person.

Went to the Tiara Parade and had a blast...descided that mine was about as close to wearable art as I would get. I'll post a picture later.

Went out to lunch with the crowd for Chinese food after the parade.

Met Lirick Kinard, Larkin Van Horn, and tons of other people that I just know by their word and chatting on line. it is so wonderful to be able to connect faces with all these people I admire so very much!

Tomorrow we were leasurily stroll through to see what we have missed with the vendors. This place is so huge...the convention center fills at least two blocks so if you are at one end, it is a long hike to the other end. Glad we are here and can take time to rest up in the afternoon before heading back out!