home
about the artist
gallery
blog
links
contact

Archive for the ‘Flowers and plants’ Category

Movin’ & Groovin’

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

It felt good to get back in the studio just to finish my yellow 3 x 3s!!

I had a busy day, working on the art show database. Filemaker Pro is killing me, but I will conquer it, eventually. Tonight, I had a High Fiber Diet meeting. It was so great to see friends. We met for Mexican food before the meeting.

Back to the trip to the desert – on the second day, we went out to Joshua Tree National Park in search of wildflowers. We were rewarded.

Our first stop was the Cholla cactus garden.

Next, we were happy to see many Ocotillos with their red flowers.

Here are our wildflower finds. It is amazing to see these little beauties sprouting from the sand.

That evening, back at the Congdon adobe, we were rewarded with this.

Karen asked about the 5 acre plots. They are there and still deeded to those who built a structure. If you google desert 5 acre plots, you will find them for sale. Having been there and seen where they are and how isolated, it is pretty funny to read the listings for them.

Treading Water

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

I have been playing around with my organza water squares. I did not have quite enough to cover the required size for the SDA member’s show – 12″ X 28″. So I had to whip up a few more tonight.

I need to get this finished so that I can work on a couple of other pieces that I need to have done before we leave for Japan in the middle of March. I am trying to stay calm and not work so fast that I make stupid mistakes!!

Today, I picked up my CSA veggies and found these – pomme d’or squashes. They are about the size of apples. I hear they have a really tough skin so it will be an adventure to cook them, but aren’t they cute?

Every Portland third grade class puts on a musical about Portland’s history. We enjoyed it so much two years ago when Mia’s class did it. Tomorrow night, Miles’ class will perform this show. I am really looking forward to it. Miles is playing the part of FDR.  Steph is coordinating all of the costumes.

I have had a long period of time free of sinus headaches and congestion. The regime of saline rinses and cortisone nasal spray seemed to be very effective. We are having cold windy weather, sunny, but very windy, and I have vertigo and a sinus headache tonight. This does not make me happy. So I am off to bed and hope I will feel better in the morning.

Studio Play Time

Thursday, January 20th, 2011


The next exercise in the Drawn to Stitch book is to add a layer of marks with variety in sharpness, width, shape, etc. I used some red paint and made marks on the black and white woven piece. Then, I almost obliterated the brown and yellow piece.  I am going to cut this one up and reassemble it. The paint was still wet when I took this photo – messy fun.

I also printed on the organza water with metallic paints using bubble wrap, a stamp with tiny dots, a sponge and even a fish.The yellow in this photo is really more green than this. Metallic paint is hard to photograph.

The second piece of organza has more white space which helps when I layer it.

I am anxious to start cutting and piecing this.

I also worked on a panel for the Dream Rocket project.

The Dream Rocket Team is collecting nearly 8,000 artworks from participants around the globe. The artwork will be assembled together to create a massive cover in which will wrap a 37 story Saturn V Moon Rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. We will also be displaying submitted artwork in dozens of national venues prior to the wrapping of the Saturn V.

The panel has to be 2 ft by 2 ft. I had a quilt that I made for an online challenge last year — a black hole. I mounted it on felt that I covered with gold metallic organza to make it the correct size.

I did some stitching on the organza and added some copper foiling to blend with the quilt. I then covered it with Golden Matte Medium. It ended up looking more gray than gold, but it still works. It will be outside in the elements so I wanted to do something to protect it. Definitely not a great work of art, but it was fun and is going to a fun project. Maybe when the matte medium is completely dry, it will look gold again.

With our health care, we get membership in an exercise program called Silver and Fit. You have a choice of facilities. Mr C goes to 24 hour Fitness. I just don’t like the mega gyms. So today, I went to the local swim and racquet club which has just started a program. I can take Pilates and yoga and work out on the machines. In the summer, I can use the pool.

I feel as if I am getting back into the swing of things. My energy level is greater and I am having a good time. If I keep throwing paint at stuff, something is bound to stick!!

Indigo Scraps Find a New Use

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

If you know me at all, you know that I can not throw out my scraps that are generated from making a larger piece. They usually have Mistyfuse on the back and are very  handy for creating little treasures. So, last night it occurred to me that my indigo scraps would look cool on the old denim. I added some red linen for a punch. This time, I did not completely cover the denim. I also did not do the free motion quilting under the tulle. I just topped the piece with tulle and did grid stitching.

I think I might fuse these to a base of red felt.

Yesterday, Mr C and I went to the nursery and bought a wreath for the front door. We had a bit of a disagreement on style, but settled on this one.

I had good news from my ENT this morning, he says my sinuses are quite clear and the saline rinses and steroid nasal spray will prevent a need for sinus surgery.

Are you a knitter, a friend of mine, Lori Beitler, just launched a beautiful and comprehensive online yarn shop, Stitchuary. Check it out. Lori is from New Jersey. I met her and some of her friends at the SDA conference last year. They kept me in stitches. (Pun intended!)

Where Was I?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Finally, today, I had a fairly normal day. The crappy crud just did not want to leave my aging body.

The only fiber work I had done, up until today, was some stitching on the Alternate Universe piece.

On Saturday, we had a nice visit with my niece, Stacy, and her husband Jim and my great niece, Melina, who is 18 months old. I had not gotten to meet her until now. Stacy and Jim live in Providence, RI. He has a fellowship in drama at Brown and teaches part time as he works on his PhD. Stacy, an architect, teaches at RISD a couple of days a week. I got out my box of toddler toys, but Melina liked the box better.

Then, yesterday, back with the fever and aches and pains. By last night, I felt that I might be over what ever it was. I awoke this morning, feeling strong and happy to get out of bed.

I got some clerical stuff done this morning and then took a half hour walk with Scooter and Mr C. It felt soooo good to be out in the fresh air, again.

This afternoon, I made it to the studio and created my last fiber sketch. I used some lovely silks in happy colors to reflect my mood today. Tonight, I went through the sketch book and glued down some stray element and enjoyed looking at what I had accomplished.  There is a part of me that does not want to send this in to the sketch book project, but I think viewers will enjoy seeing what I have done.

Before I send it in, I want to create some fiber art for the cover. Here it is, all plump and lovely.

Finally,  I guess I must embrace the coming holiday season. Mia delivered these to me today. I bought them from her for a school fund raiser. They are really beautiful. I also bought an amaryllis which I will start photographing as it grows and hopefully blossoms.