Whew! This is week 3 with Jane and she’s really ramping up our game. The assignment: divide a page into 8 sections and complete assignments using 4 different techniques. Don’t worry about where you start on the page or how you divide the page. . . just get going! So here I am so far: […]
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More Everyday Objects
It’s the end of the week with Lesson 2: Everyday objects. I’m always optimistic that I’ll get several pages of sketches done in a week, I certainly intend to. I feel lucky to have completed 2 pages! Here is the first page of objects from the dining room: And here is the second page with […]
Lesson 2: Everyday Objects with a Tombow Pen
This lesson introduced a new tool: a Tombow pen. This nifty pen uses water-soluble acid-free ink and has 2 ends: a brush and a fine tip. The fine tip is great for drawing the outline of a final sketch. The brush end is handy for getting more ink on the watercolor brush for darker shading. […]
Sketch/Watercolor with Jane
I completely enjoyed the class I took with Jane LaFazio in early 2012 — Sketching & Watercolor, Journal Style — and regret that I haven’t made use of my new skills beyond the class. So I decided to get back into a class with Jane and take it to a new level. I’ve never done […]
Bibs for Baby Girl, Part II
Just as soon as I had completed this bib, I learned that baby girl had been born. Luciella and Mom are just fine. And once I focused on the person at the other end of the spoon, I really had some fun. I think mealtime will be fun. You can see the first 2 I […]
Early Girls and more!
We celebrated the first day of summer this week and this morning I picked our first ripe Early Girl tomatoes along with some basil. Can we say Caprese Salad? The rhubarb is about to take over! It is growing in a 4-foot square raised box. Too bad those enormous leaves aren’t edible! The magnolia I […]
Bibs for Baby Girl
My nephew and his bride will be presenting their son Oliver with a baby sister any day now. I decided it was time to check out some of the embroidery designs I have and see what I could come up with. Baby Girl isn’t going to care what these bibs look like so I’ve had […]
Mendelssohn Goes to IQF
I’m thrilled to share the news that Mendelssohn has been selected for inclusion in the special exhibit Festival Awareness Project 2013: It’s Raining Cats and Dogs which opens October 31 in Houston and will be on view through November 3. This is the second year of a three-year IQF project intended to throw the spot […]
Chair Fabric
About 35 years ago I needlepoint stitched a single K design and used it to reupholster a chair purchased at an antique shop. The needlepoint piece still looks new. Do they every wear out? Just wondering. The chair has been used in nearly every room of my house by now and, frankly, I’m pretty bored […]
Put Your Best Foot Forward a Success!
It doesn’t seem possible, but two months have flown by and the first exhibit for the Northern CA/Northern NV region of SAQA is over. According to Heather Piazza, owner of Creative Framing & Gallery, this exhibit has enjoyed more viewers than any exhibit she’s had in the past 5 years. In the final week of […]
The Door — A New Look
Here’s a quick update on progress with the door and side yard project. The door and post have been painted. Here the door is open so you see only the edge of it and the post. Paint colors were inspired by an orange succulent and some of the blooms (for the post) and a new […]
Circle design — deconstructed
One of the tricky things about stitching multiple designs when one has to rehoop is alignment. I tried that with the square design and was unhappy with the results. So I decided to think outside the square and do some deconstruction of the design. I think this has real possibility.
Circle Embroidery Design
I recently took a digitizing class at my local Janome dealer and came home with this nifty circle design. I’ve stitched it out on an upholstery fabric used for a couch in our family room. This design could be the answer to a fresh look. I can see using it several ways: as a single […]
A Bit of Cooking
A bit of excitement here — yesterday we received the first box of vegetables from Shooting Star CSA. Deliveries will continue each Tuesday through the end of November. I couldn’t wait to dive in! I made Radish-Top Soup with Lemon and Yogurt from Deborah Madison’s new book, Vegetable Literacy. Yum! You can see more about […]
Oakleaf Hydrangea II
I fussed and dithered and tried like crazy to use a couple of the fabrics I had pulled out for this project but in the end I edited down to just a few that really worked. I have to stop treating my audition fabrics like my dinner plate — I do not have to use […]
Threadpainting Begins
For me, the beginning of every art quilt with a cyanotype is threadpainting the print. And as soon as that happens I become excited about how the print will look when it is quilted. It’s hard for me not to jump ahead imagining the great definition that the quilting will provide, the real puff of […]
Back to a Cyanotype Print
It’s time to start something new. I’m auditioning fabrics for possible use with a cyanotype print I did last year. I shared the original printing of the oakleaf hydrangea here and the learning experience that came shortly after here. There is only one commercial fabric in what I pulled (fabrics on the right). Most have […]
Santa Fe is Serious About Art
Yes, indeed, there is gallery after gallery on Canyon Road, but there is art and inspiration that everyone can enjoy on just about every street you drive or walk down. Here are some final shots I found inspiring. Meet “MAThilda,” the first Art-o-mat installed in New Mexico. You can find it ‘. . .one block […]
Doors
Appreciating architectural details in Santa Fe can become a full-time occupation. My eye is always drawn to doors. The first two are on the front of the same house. This wall and door provide privacy. When the greenery fills out in a few weeks the house will be completely obscured under its shade. I find […]
New World Cuisine – Chocolate!
I’m in Santa Fe for a SAQA conference and had a morning open. My friend Carol Larson suggested a class on mole at Santa Fe School of Cooking and I said, “Count me in!” David joined us and we had a great time. Chef Tracy Ritter took us through an historic background on chocolate, a […]
Dinner with Deborah Madison
I have long been a fan of Deborah Madison, her cooking philosophy, Greens, the San Francisco icon she opened years ago and, above all, her cook books. More than pages filled with recipes, her books are truly a culinary education. When I learned about a dinner/book-signing event at Camino, one of my favorite Oakland restaurants, […]
Reorganizing the Stash
Last week I did some printing and painting with my friend Denise. When I saw her fabric stash it was like a slap on the side of the head. Today I’ve begun the reorganization of my stash . . . top shelf done! As I’m going through the stacks I’m weeding out the fabrics I […]
Sunflower Scrap V Done
After making several of these foot-square sunflower quilts my sister shared a half yard of sunflower fabric with me. When I saw Christy last month, she handed me a scrap of another sunflower fabric. It came together. . . I shared the beginning of this piece here. The half yard of light-colored sunflower batik provided […]
No One Likes Rejection
but let’s face it, it’s part of life. I do my best to feel the sting of it and then let it go. I received a bit of that sting yesterday when I learned that Woodwardia Wonder was rejected for an upcoming exhibit. I have been working on this piece since last December and I […]
Opening Artist Reception: Put Your Best Foot Forward
The opening artist reception for Put Your Best Foot Forward, Foot-Square Works from the Northern CA-Northern NV Region of SAQA was last night at Creative Framing & Gallery in Oakland, CA. The gallery was filled with quite a lovely and lively buzz the whole evening. The gallery is small, making cooperation among viewers necessary. This […]
Rhubarb Update and a New Project
If I want to harvest any rhubarb this year from this front-yard plant, I’ll have to remove the blooming stalk. It has reached 58″ tall and competes with the Eddie’s White Wonder Dogwood. Once the stalk was removed I could get a nice shot of the fully opened flowers. The stalk is a full inch […]
Fixing a Weighty Problem
When I took Forget Me Not: Collaboration with Grandma off the wall to deliver to the Pence Gallery I noticed a sag in the fabric on the bottom right corner. This corresponds to the location of the label on the back of the quilt. Clearly, the addition of a broderie perse rose surrounded by beads […]
Put Your Best Foot Forward Open!
The first Nor CA/Nor NV regional exhibit featuring art quilts of SAQA artists opened earlier this week. Creative Framing & Gallery is hosting this exciting event. See more details about the artist receptions and location under “Exhibitions of My Work” to the right. Read the nice article that Sumiko Saulson published in the San Francisco […]
Serious Spring Fever
There can be no hiding my joy in seeing all the vibrant signs of Spring — I’ve got the fever bad! I popped tomato plants in the vegetable bed along with seeds for lettuces, radishes, cilantro, parsley, basil and more. While those are busy sprouting, the classic dogwood is in prime bloom. Next to our […]
Family Friday: Spiders on Sage
