pictures and patterns

I always have good intentions of blogging regularly, however life always gets in the way... I am working on a larger piece with a base of felted wool, and will soon post some in-progress pictures.  In preparation for creating that piece, I spent a lot of time going through my 14K or so Flickr photos, looking at patterns and seeing what I photographed repeatedly.  Here are some pictures that I really like.

I love rocks.  I pick them up from everywhere.  I have rocks from the Atlantic, from Ireland, from hiking trails... rocks, if you are the kind of person who looks closely at them, have lines and shapes and colors.  I've even started a small collection of heart shaped rocks.

Trees and plants are important to me.  The shapes of sticks and roots, the tendrils and offshoots of a  plant, and the glorious colors of flowers can often inspire me.

Grids fascinate me - straight or curved lines, in layers and juxtapositions.  I use grids a lot in my art.  And I love drawing or writing on graph paper instead of lined paper.

And of course, color.  Right now aqua continues to be my favorite color.  This was a small color study that I did for a Cloth Paper Scissors reader challenge.  It didn't get in, but I still like it. 

I am so glad that I have a digital camera, and can take bunches of pictures without worrying about the cost.  Out of the many shots, one or two will be exactly what I want, but I have to take all of the shots to come up with those one or two.  

color combinations

I have been experimenting, well, actually, having fun dyeing yarns and fabric.  I am not at all precise and sometimes am surprised at the color combinations I come up with.  In an effort to be more organized, and to maybe be able to reproduce some colors, I've been collecting paint chips and yarn samples and sorting them into possible combinations.



lime, blue, teal, violet





lime, pink, purple





blue, lime, teal



khaki, brown, pink



lime, aqua, teal, pink, and will use black as an accent

I remember my mother teaching me about color - the blue purples and the red purples, and never wear navy and green together, unless it's plaid, my sixth grade concert dress of white lace and cotton, with hot pink tights and lime green jewelry... we had an avacado colored kitchen and a raspberry bathroom long before they became popular colors.  She had a great eye for color, and I think of her evey time I dye yarns and fabric. 

vignettes on red - a recap of my solo show

My solo show, vignettes on red, recently finished at Strolling Village Artisans in Ballston Spa, NY.  It was fun to create the pieces for the show - I got to play and forced myself to work in a color that is not my favorite.  Here are some pictures of the show, and then I'll show some of the little book I created during the process.

looking into the gallery, the red triangles piece is directly to the back.  It's all hand dyed fabric and knitted triangles.

mother's apron - hand dyed fabric, vintage apron and potholders, glass heart.

cherry tree quilt - a remnant of a commercial coverlet that my grandmother used on her bed.  Eventually it became part of our vacation bedding when we stayed at a cabin.  This is the only piece that survived.  Vintage doily and potholder, buttons.

detritus - hand dyed fabric and leftover found objects

no more dolls 2 - vintage hand made child's dress, vintage trim and buttons, vintage dolls and doll parts

and here are pages from the small book I made telling about the creative process I was experiencing.

 words

quotes about the color red, and all the different names of red.

thoughts about the way the pieces will look and loving the combination of teal and red.

on to the next set of projects!

didn't get n Deep Spaces

I didn't get in Deep Spaces, but got a very nice rejection letter and I'll get a catalog of the exhibit.  I am disappointed, but I had such great times making the piece that it certainly wasn't wasted time.  Here's pics of the piece "look inward, past boundaries and barriers"

I am working on a piece about foam, and once I do a very time consuming layer of crazy free form knitted lace, I have to figure out where to go next.  Then I am working on a wall hanging that is using three bedsprings as a base with all sorts of things dangling from it.

still here

I didn't become raptured.  I have been reading an interesting book, though -  "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman.  He talks about what would happen if humans were to suddenly disappear.  The book also suggests scenarios for what happens to the stuff we leave behind - buildings, subways, refineries, and also describes how nature would change.  Feral cats would survive well, domestic dogs would hav a hard time without people.

Maybe between now and October, the "new" rapture date, I'll read some post-apocalyptic fiction.

vacation, relaxation and back to work

DH and I got to take a mini vacation, in Portsmouth NH.  We used the last of the Marriott Rewards Points we had, and he did a photography job to get gas and spending money.

see, I'm really there.  The sound of the waves, the smell of the salt air, the rocks and shells to pick up... it was great.

I love to catch a wave just as it is breaking...

DH patiently Blackberry-ing and waiting for me to finish getting rocks and pebbles.  The round rust circle was a base for some sort of gun, I think from WWII.  This was at the Seacoast Science Center.

I am now a very ferverent convert to the iPhone - got one since I was due for an upgrade, and I love love love it.  I have all sorts of apps on it, and can get work email plus regular email, and can make lists, and read books... I looked at tablet computers but really like the small size of the iPhone and the fact that I don't need to carry around all this other stuff.  i've got everything in one place.  I do still need to get the TeleNave option but I've got the phone, camera, music player, several e readers, games, tasks and to do lists, travel stuff, etc.   DH is still a staunch BlackBerry fan, though.

Inside they had displays and an aquarium set up.  This was a very strange but very friendly fish, came right over when I looked through the glass at him.  Or her, hard to tell.

foam at the edge of the waves.  I'm trying to replicate this in knitting for an art quilt but it is not easy.  I can get the holes but the transparency of the bubbles is something I'll have to think about.

We visited open studios at a mill building in Rollingsford, NH and I picked this room for me.  I can see myself moving in there with all my stuff.  The windows overlooked a river and trees.  We also visited artist's studios in Lowell MA, run by a former art quilter Maxine Farkas.  She's doing really cool boxes and assemblage now. Could only stay a little bit but it was great to see her again.  I could have a studio there too!

Walking down one of the flights of stairs in the NH building.  Very steep but very cool stair shapes.

We visited the American Textile History Museum in Lowell MA.  Great exhibits and friendly staff.  They don't allow flash photos, and only personal photos, but I did get permission to post a photo here.  I highly recommend visiting, you can see hand made textiles all the way up to very technical racing gear.

 Had lunch in an Irish pub, with real Irish food and Guiness.  Got pizza for dinner, ordered online and delivered right to our hotel room.  So convenient!  Went to Portsmouth Fabric Co, and got some great fabric.  Also during the artist studio day I met Wen Redmond, an art quilter, very friendly and great work.  It was so interesting to see her studio and the things she had to create with.
  Here's her website:
Wen Redmond Artist  and I really wish I could take a workshop with her.

Went to a friend's daughter's senior recital at Emma Willard school, in Troy NY and this lil guy was hanging out above me, along with some other stone friends.  Creepy and cute at the same time.

 Now I'm home, at least for a little bit - going to visit my brother over Memorial Day, and then to Boston the end of June for a business conference.  I am working on some artist trading cards, for swaps, through ATCs for All to just play and experiment with drawing and collage. 

And now I leave you with another crazy cat picture... this is Sir Douglas Fir Tree exhausted and resting from the ordeal of shredding tissues and papers all over the bedroom floor...

the weekend goes by too fast

Errands to run, meals to cook, books to read, internet searching to do... just a regular weekend but satisfying.  I got some stuff at the Salvation Army, shirts to dye, two old cursive writing blank books, a picture painted by someone named Diana of a woman looking at a lunar eclipse.  I love the anticipation and the fun of finding things.  Sometimes I can't afford everything but I sneakily take pictures of things that I would own if I could. 

My dream was if I ever won the lottery to buy the old 2 story Borders store on Wolf Rd, (the shopping and restaurant corridor), and have the upstairs be for classes and workshops in the fiber arts, and the downstairs to be a shop where artists sold things, and I sold things from all over that I found in my travels.  Can you imagine having enough money to just get in the car and drive the back roads, stopping at all the thrift stores and flea markets and antique stores and getting things, rescuing things, that would become part of a display in a store that people would want to shop at because it had such funky stuff?  But  a group of Albany NY state workers won the lottery and I am glad for them.  Especially since I rarely buy a ticket.  My big win was $2 from a scratch off ticket that was part of a holiday gift.  I really wanted the $30 K but  ....

I visited a place called At the Warehouse - a combo of antiques, art, and salvage.  I got a crystal ball from a chandelier and had lots of fun wandering around and taking pictures.

branches and shadows

 old typefaces

 looking out through glass blocks

 looking through stacked windows

decayed cardboard in the parking lot

I am working on a new piece for a show, and since it has yarn, it is a magnet to my cat Aspen.  So I will have to give her credit, since she is my helper, as you can see.

I am not quite sure how she fits in there since sometimes I can't even get the quilt in there.