Ran away for the long weekend

Tom

This post is about Tom. He fell in love with wood turning this fall. This long holiday weekend we drove north to Sebastopol, Ca. He and his buddy Gary took a 2 day class from a master.

Gary

Tom and the teacher Jerry Kermode and the very thin bowl Tom made.

The leaves are still turning in Sebastopol. This was before sunset with the sun behind me but the moon is very real.

The old Apple Drying buildings across the street from the teachers studio.

Another view of the apple drying building - liberties taken with photo playing.

This was Tom's weekend. I too had a great time seeing Sebastopol, Petaluma, a great yarn store and having tine with a long time friend and lunch with good friends.

The hardest part was driving back down to LA. I hate the drive across LA to Orange County. I consider it driving through the "belly of the beast". Flying in and out is much easier.

As my mother in law used to say - a good time was had by all.

New Year and New Projects

The Sketchbook Project - I ordered their small sketchbook and let them pick my theme, title.

"If you lived here"

I am just about ready to mail my entry into the Sketchbook Project - through the Brooklyn Art Library. These are some of my favorite pages. Check out the project at http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/

If you lived here, you might be swimming upstream

If you lived here, you would be wearing large boots

If you lived here, you would be up a tree

If you lived here you would be invited to a party

The project and my work is not great art but parts of it were great fun. If I were to do it again, I would replace the pages with paper that could be glued and painted and stitched. It was a challenge in the end.

the night before thanksgiving

Sunday I asked that we cancel turkey day. I just was not up to it, truly. I wanted to bring in from the grocery store or the local restaurant. But the promises to help, do it all - prevailed. Tom is great with a turkey and we shall see what time others arrive, and what they bring. I love turkey, my mom's stuffing and totally politically incorrect beans. In the end it will be great, I just don't want to "do dinner". As they say, we shall see what we shall see. I promise to do better with Christmas. It was a great day. Thank you Michael for taking the lead in the kitchen, Tom for doing the turkey, Jack for his enthusiasm, Larry and Barbara for flying from Kentucky and spending the day with us, Spence for being you and Erin - you made the day perfect.

I participate in a weekly design group or gathering. We always begin our morning with a word or saying - drawn from a basket. The words/sayings have been submitted by members previously. LATE LAST NIGHT was the recent saying. Do a 5 minute drawing followed by a 15 + min. interpretation. I usually use paper collage and a glue stick. This is my "late last night", as the sky might have looked with the moon above the rolling hills or furrows of crops. I live no where near either of these visions but I can take poetic license.


The sharing of this exercise has been prompted by Rose Hughes. She does weekly Tuesday Teasers. She can be found at

http://ravenspeakquilts.blogspot.com/2010/11/design-groups-tuesday-teaser.html

And I am currently working on a quilt for Noble Seasons - FALL. I like working with old photos of woman doing something. This gal, a friends grandmother, is chopping wood or preparing a chicken for dinner. As you can see, I am not quite done but I will be. I am also using silk screens of winter trees and a screen of an old house. The house is my son's in Portland and was build in early 1900's so it qualifies for the time. I am curious how this will all turn out.

And getting ready for OPEN STUDIO at my studio the first weekend in Dec. See the notice to the right or left?
Happy Thanksgiving.

Men's Ties - start to finish

Early last spring I decided to make make men's ties for my fall art fair shows. It took months to get my head wrapped around switching gears - from sewing and "doing lunch" to dying yardage.

I participate in a small design group - we meet weekly at my home. There was interest in trying soy wax batik. Soy is supposed to be far friendlier to the environment, less hazardous and easier to remove than traditional paraffin and bees wax formulas. I found it a pain to remove totally and lines far less crisp. It could have been operator error and others seem to have better results. But I glop wax on, moderation a fleeting thing.

I dyed one yard pieces of silk. Dye on, wax on, dye on, wax on. This is the scene on my patio table - for weeks, it seemed.

Samples of the fabrics in process. I used a square wooden chop on this piece. Layering the dye and the wax, attempting to vary the dye color with each application and the placement of the chop.

I used a sumi brush for this piece -

These are the 4 final fabrics that headed off to the tie maker downtown L.A.

The ties will premier this weekend at Artistic License Art Fair . Hoping for a great show and a nice weekend -

Picker for a day, possible career change

In an attempt to gather more raw good materials for my "up scaled/repurposed" sweater, jackets , vest and scarves project, Anne and I spent Wednesday, 9 am till 2:30 pm at the "Last Call" yard of Goodwill Industries, in Long Beach.






We, the collective we, place our used items in a bag and deliver to a donation spot - ever wonder what happens? Probably not, I just assumed someone bought my great donations and Goodwill made money. That happens but tons never make to the stores. Before goods wind up in China or Mexico - there are options along the way and this is one. Stuff is $1.90 a pound at Last Call.




We had a great time spending the day with professional "pickers". And once we understood the rules, they were very kind. These gals were sorting machines.

An unfinished sample of end product. ( Thanks Jeanette for modeling)

April and pretty

It is beginning to look like spring - yeah!!. I do not like winter.

I was in Oakland last week and drove past this house and garden. These are the actual colors of the bark (purple blue), bushes and house color. How could you not stop and take a few dozen photos.


And in my own back yard!. The plant/flower - it reappears each year and only gets bigger and better. The Tea Cup/ bird feeder yard decor is by and from my sister in law, she has a way with decorating - home and garden. The view out my dining room is FAB - even if I do say so.

THE OTHER DOWN UNDER

Introducing my latest quilt - The Other Down Under. 36" x 48", has been juried into "Beneath the Surface", an invitational-juried show which will premier at the Long Beach IQA quilt show this July. I hope the show travels because the collection of quilts will be fabulous.


Here is a detail - again with the birds. They honestly screamed to be included in this quilt. They are above the earths crust and below - so, obviously a portal exists. And my favorite line for all this is - and who's to say it isn't so.

See the blog for this special exhibit at