from the sketchbook

april fool!

2009-03-31T21:18:00.005-05:00

what better way to get back into the swing of things than to publish on april fools??
i have been swept away from art making by LIFE!

mostly work and school.

tho getting a new computer and moving stuff from point a to point b has also been in the mix!

i am in the process of getting a masters in counseling; something i've wanted to do for years. so now i need to counsel myself to get back to making art too!

i have been taking a few photos and doing some sketching. filling the well.

a couple of weeks ago my niece and i made a trek back to the chauvin sculpture garden. we each took lots of photos, and commented that there were things we hadn't noticed before.

it wasn't till we got back home, downloaded them and looked back at old photos we had taken that we realized, much to our surprise, that the sculptures had been re-painted.

??? thus ensued the debate: is it "right" to have done that? is it ethical to have redone them in that manner? or should they remain as they were when the artist walked away?

pros and cons on both sides...

what do you think??

neither one of us remembered noticing this before. looking back on old photos we realized it had pretty much blended into the background before.

you can see the faint image just to the right of the jazz band...

finally

2008-10-13T18:37:00.013-05:00

yes, it's been a while. not much art making going on here lately. but lots of living. many of you have inquired how we did with the storms so here's a better late than never update:

gustav got us pretty bad here in houma. lot of wind damage. tree limbs, roofs etc.
i was lucky personally - just had a lot of tree limbs down. mess. a few shingles missing. nothing major. i evacuated and was gone for a week, and was even lucky enuf to have someone go to my house and clean out my fridge and freezer so i didn't have to go home to that mess and stink.
i did pack my van full of quilts and assorted art when i left, because i really believed my house would flood. i am not far from the intracoastal waterway and the predictions are that a rita sized storm surge would create flooding from here to thibodaux - about 17 miles away. not a good thing. luckily, it didn't.

the area in general sustained a lot of damage. there are blue roofs everywhere and the tree damage is appalling. my old neighborhood got hit really hard. lots of little tornadic bursts go thru so you'll see pockets of really severe damage here and there. the sight of 100 year old live oak trees, snapped, still turns my stomach.

i have not taken many photos. too close for comfort? deja vu all over again? images seared into my brain making the need for documenting them pretty useless? probably a little bit of all of the above.

then we got ike. which i watched blow thru from inside the local docinthebox as the gustav crud i had even before i left town flared up again a few days after returning home. as a little aside, i spent the week i was evacuated with little to no voice. i am guessing my fellow evacuees were grateful for that fact..;-) so ike passed in a blur of fever, and antibiotics. it flooded the usual areas below the intracoastal , and frankly, got too close for comfort here as well. i do know many people whose homes flooded for the second time. or more. my heart goes out to them.

i was out of town a couple of weekends ago and it was SO nice to be somewhere with no mess and destruction. didn't realize how stressful it was till i was driving home. as i got closer to home, i could feel the knot in my gut rising.

i haven't gotten back to making art yet, and i swore i was done with hurricane art but i think gustav and ike have convinced me otherwise. it's just a matter of getting the
time to get back to it...

the worst part is this just added to the constant chipping away of our coastline.the gulf is encroaching . it's just a matter of time.

meandering

2008-07-06T11:18:00.005-05:00

in between cutting grass and the day job i've been working at getting back to art.. mind you, with all the rain we've had lately, keeping the grass cut/weeds down has become a major pre-occupation! in order to avoid heat stroke, and lightning, there are maybe 45 available minutes left on a good day lately! the day job is a little more predictable!

have started thinking about, and sketching some new pieces.. mostly 3-d vessels in various forms and media.. ready to take them to the construction level... can't wait to get started.

in the meantime i've been doing a little exploring... which seems to lead back to the same place in spite of myself...

finding art in unusual places

2008-06-17T21:55:00.004-05:00

have come across art in the most unusual places over the last couple of weeks..
just discovered this reverse graffiti artist tonight. what an interesting way to work!

then there's this set of images on flickr which just goes to show that anything can be artfully designed..

multiples again

2008-03-02T17:41:00.008-06:00

art material that is...

as i discussed a few posts ago, multiples of ANYTHING = art supplies. little did i know what would wander by my computer a few days after that...

now, i have to say - i work with nurses. those of you who are nurses or who EAT with them know what their conversation can be like during meal times. yum. you'd think it would be the greatest weight loss incentive known to man. (sometimes it comes close!). you would think NOTHING could possibly faze them, right? well that's what i thought. till i showed this to one of them ~ and much to my surprise ~ she was spooked. dare i say ~ finally grossed out.

now ~ before you click the big red x at the top of the page, let me show you what i am talking about. frankly i find it awesome:

yes. these are bones: skulls, etc. ok ..i'll admit, it is just a tiny bit macabre, but after reading the backstory, not so much...
frankly, i think they are visually very appealing..

essentially they are found objects.

essentially this is assemblage. it could even be argued (imho) that it is a wonderful example of outsider art. they were put together by a wood carver who, i would guess, had no experience or indoctrination in using these materials in his day to day work. maybe that argument is a little farfetched, but i still think it's a masterful public art project...

what do you think??

drooling!

2008-02-12T19:49:00.000-06:00

while this isn't fiber art related it is absolutly inspirational. one of the daughters of some of my closest friends and her fiancee are on a 6 month trip of a lifetime. they have a wonderful website that her brother built for her and have been posting the most delightful descriptions of their adventure and photos that are drop dead gorgeous. they started out in africa, and are in egypt now. the photos are priceless. i sit here every few days and just drool. if this keeps up i will need a new keyboard soon!

check them out here. i've taken the liberty of grabbing one of today's shots.. which makes me laugh everytime i look at it!

i went to see the bucket list over the weekend and of course loved it. just watching jack nicholson alone is entertaining as all get out and of course you can't watch it and not think about making your own bucket list. so far i've got a list of museums i want to see that's embarassingly long! lots of travel: greece, egypt, rome, turkey, to name a few... and an assortment of other random things...

and right now i'm checking out this site *43 things* to eavesdrop on others' lists.

so what's on your list??

finding fun in the weirdest places

2008-02-09T01:22:00.000-06:00

went on a *field trip* at work yesterday. the mission was to go check out a couple of warehouses that someone has in a little town near here. the deal is we clean them out, sell the stuff, and keep the profits... and i have to admit, it was just the tiniest smidge hard to stay focused on the actual task at hand when confronted with all of the fun stuff in there. yes, there was rusty stuff everywhere. =) i got sidetracked left and right when coming upon nice little piles of things that just screamed ART MATERIALS!!! hell... we could certainly make some $ from selling this stuff... unfortunately, i think much of it could well come from me!!

as we all know, just about anything in multiples = art supplies....

well i came across a box of these....

if i am remembering right, these are some sort of brick ties... (ok so i'm a little vague on that....) i grabbed a handful and brought them home.. and have been generating all kinds of ideas of what to do with them... in the meantime, i thought i'd play with the image a bit in photoshop and print out the results to make a screen with... so here is the image after fiddling with it..

at the same time, i had rusted a blank silk tie that i had come across before leaving for cleveland. loved the way it came out. but ms can't leave well enough alone just had to tweak it a little bit.... and a little bit more... so i printed over it...

and ick... i think i ruined it...

well....maybe it's not as awful as i

thought it was. since it's too late to turn back now, i figure i just as soon keep going with it and layer a little more printing over it. no, i haven't done it yet.. but i'm thinking what better thing to print on a tie than a tie???

stay tuned...

no telling what it will look like tomorrow.. if nothing else i will have another good example of what NOT to do!

i'm BACK!!

2008-01-31T23:04:00.000-06:00

gee i hope this is like riding a bike. been so long - not sure i remember how to do this!
hopefully there won't be such a HUGE gap anymore...

arrived back in town last tuesday night from a wonderful trip up to cleveland to tape a segment for qatv. not sure what was more fun. hanging out with old friends - rayna gillman and judy perez - -or meeting new friends - jane davila, who was there with hubby, carlos, and shelly stokes. and of course it was wonderful to see pokey again as well. then there was the SNOW! which for this southern girl, was a treat! tho frankly, i seem to have been the only one who was thrilled to see that! rayna couldn't believe i didn't know what the snow remover contraption in our rental car was.... hello!! not much call for that way down in south louisisana i'm sure that if i had to clear snow and ice off of car windshields on a daily basis i wouldn't think it was quite as fun....
but it and the snow were highly entertaining, as you can see:

everyone at the studio was just wonderful to work with! someone took my camera and shot these photos without me even knowing!

not sure when these segments will air, but i will post the information as soon as i do know.

and as you can see, since this took me a week to get from beginning to actually posting, perhaps this is not actually like riding a bike! had blogger snafus last week when i started this. guess this falls in the better late than never category!

the opening

2007-10-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

was great! the few photos i took don't even begin to do it justice. the gallery space is wonderful. the work was great. but the best thing for me was visiting with the people there!

it's always great to talk to Sue Galliano, and Sidney Wilder, the driving forces behind the Grand Isle art exhibit; they've done a fantastic job putting together a first class exhibit and focusing attention on the plight of our disappearing coastline.

and i finally got to meet Cynthia Scott in person! we've been connected through the Surface Design Association for many years and have corresponded but had never actually met. once we did, it was easy to see the connection.. that's me with the striped shoes.

i was just sorry i hadn't put my black and white striped earrings on! i love the vessels she had on display. anyone from the gulf coast will recognize the raw material used to create this piece:

i hope to be able to get to the Carrol Gallery for the current exhibit to see more of her work.

here is a shot i took of the Very Large window that looks out onto the city. as crowded as it was i can't believe i didn't get any people in there. to get an idea of the scale, i had to stand on tippie toes to reach the top of the partition on the left.

and on the side you cannot see in this photo is my tryptich, the longest year.

all in all it's a really worthwile exhibit. if you're in the area between now and the end of november i urge you to stop in and see it in person.

one more

2007-09-23T02:06:00.000-05:00

can't sleep. must be time to blog....received a package of wonderful postcards for the UNCERTAIN TERRITORY: LOSING LOUISIANA exhibit that opens in New Orleans on Thursday October 4, at Isaac Delgado Fine Arts Gallery. It's an invitational exhibit and should be a really powerful group of work. Heck even the postcard is powerful; it's huge and graphic:

and this is the text underneath:

"addresses the serious landscape issues facing Louisiana. However, this issue is not limited to our immediate environment, but bleeds across state boundaries and beyond. It is globally connected. There's no question that culture comes from the land. Sadly, much of our natural world is infected, deformed and quietly disapperaing because of lack of leadership or understanding about it. When all else fails, perhaps an aesthetic approach to communicating coastal wetlands loss is necessary, This exhibition is meant to do just that." Jacqueline Bishop

If any of you are in the area please stop by! I'd love to see you. If you need more info, drop me a line..

still kickin

2007-08-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

thanks to all of you who have posted. my lack of response in no way mirrors my feelings.just laying low for a while. finishing up the house, working on getting my mother transitioned,working at new job.

still not working directly at making art but ideas are becoming more concrete. and getting intriguing enough to start that itch going.

here are a few relativey new photos:

don't faint

2007-07-25T20:23:00.000-05:00

i'm back.

let's see if i remember how to do this!

i've been doing a lot of practical things: paperwork a mile high; cleaning out 33 years of Stuff.

throwing away/giving away. shedding what i don't need for the next phase of my journey. i have to say it is very freeing. kind of a nice feeling to pare down. i've done the fabric half of my studio. haven't even begun to deal with the mixed media side. that will most likely be the last thing to go through.

so, just about the only *artwork* i have done has been painting and redoing rooms.

in the background, the seeds of the next phase of art are germinating.

i'm not sure what it will be, how it will evolve, but i do know that something is brewing.

just to add a little more challenge to the mix, i've been taking care of my mother (86 yr old) as well, who has fallen several times, breaking her elbow. thank god that's the worst that's happened. tests have been run; waiting for results. it looks like a move to assisted living will be coming soon.

and....i've started a new job that i am really excited about.

life seems to be coming together.

so that is the latest.

thanks to those of y'all who have inquired privately. it's nice to know i've been missed.

back to back!

2007-05-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

posting 2 nights in a row! o my!

couldn't resist sharing the lastest hurricane news...
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/05/active_hurricane_season_foreca.html

we (terrebonne parish) are on target as having the highest possibility for hurricane force winds this year...

if that's all we get, i'm ready.
75 mph i can do.
the rest we don't want to talk about...

i especially love the last comment at the tail end of the article...

stay tuned....

7 random facts....

2007-05-22T23:35:00.000-05:00

linda minton had tagged me....

so here goes...

claire is my middle name... causes more trouble than you'd think since legal stuff is all under my first name. (nope. not telling)

cooking is not in my vocabulary. the list of things i have burnt grows daily; ditto the stiff that just plain old doesn't taste good. i CAN make a damned good salad, tho.

once upon a time i grew 77 rose bushes (before kids...)

i have extraordinarily vivid and colorful dreams (when i manage to sleep!)

i have a wonderful memory for totally useless information

i have never lived out of hearing distance of water.... from the mississippi to the intracoastal..i love listening to boats at night when it's quiet..

i am a pack rat, but at the same time, i really love clear space. those 2 extremes just don't work well together!

and since i really don't like to blog unless i have some photos to post here are some of my random favorites...

a little rusty

2007-05-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

thanks to all of y'all for the words of support...it does help!

i have been busy doing everything but making art for the most part...with the exception of rusting some fabric. while cleaning up, i came across some *new* rusty things and set to work rusting and re-rusting fabrics. between the new rust and the rainy, humid weather i got some good results.

have recycled some of the old deteriorating rusty items back into the ground where they will

enhance the landscape while continuing to decompose. ashes to ashes, rust to rust??

coming up for air

2007-05-02T21:21:00.000-05:00

i wasn't going to do this. post about my personal life. but i've had questions and concerns, which i actually appreciate...it's nice to know you miss me when i don't post.

the not so good news..
my almost 33 year old marriage is in the process of ending. it came out of the blue, and was a shock. looking back i can see there were signs. it's been a hard month of a wild roller coaster ride of emotions. i know ultimately it's a good thing, but it brings waves upon waves of change.
however, as the old saying goes: "change is good.." while i certainly don't always like the process, i can't deny that in the end. that's a pretty accurate statement...

so...life moves on...
differently..
not much art making has happened.
but things are brewing in my head again...

and 'i've realized with startling clarity just how autobiographical my hurricane pieces have been. many of those headlines well make their way into some more personal pieces...

and for the much better news...

I received a copy of British Patchwork and Quilting Magazine from my friend Marlene Cohen
last week. In it is a wonderful article she wrote about the Open Hear/Helping Hands exhibit that Laura Cater-Woods curated.

not only were three of my pieces photographed, but also the work of 2 new friends i met in Florida: Sharon Ahmed, and Rebecca Reasons-Edwards. It was so exciting to turn the page and see their work as well. what a small world we live in!

one of the pieces of mine that is in the article is I Read the News Today O Boy, which is also at Markings, the PAQA exhibit.

back at it

2007-04-11T11:34:00.000-05:00

Have had *life interruptions* since returning from Florida. Let's just say Major Life Changes are underway. They have definitely been an interruption in the art process, but I'm determined to stay at least one course.

Anyway...

I have managed to finish a sculpture piece i started quite a while back. I did the armature and created the basic piece i wanted to weave thru it last year sometime but it didn't feel finished to me. The fiber is silk paper which i heavily stitched. It still needed more, so i put it on the back burner till it spoke to me. Which it did, loud and clear, when i got back home. I've added a lot of beading to it, and may add more. Not only have i thoroughly enjoyed working on it, but i really like the way it's turned out and i realize i need to do more in this series.

I just love the organic flow of this piece.

And since blogger is co-operating right now, I will quickly hit publish before it changes it's mind

playing with images taken last week

2007-03-23T18:30:00.000-05:00

i think there is definately a piece in here... or several.....

the lines in the pod intriqued me to no end.

enjoy!

and a few wonderful things i came home with

2007-03-21T18:44:00.000-05:00

lucky me! not only did i have a great week, but i also got, as it was called, *pressies*:

this lovely doll from pamela:

shown here sitting in my computer chair....what

isn't visible in this image is her backside...she has her very own "plumber's crack" ;-)

and this very lovely small piece from the birthday girl, rosemary:

more snippets from the week

2007-03-21T18:26:00.000-05:00

here are a few of the things i worked on there..

this is an example of *extreme printing*.. i did quite a few pieces on the lovely palm bark that was laying around just begging to be used.. i've coated them with matte medium since i've gotten home and look forward to using them in some future work:

the dry studio space was located in what is their dance studio,

so we had design mirrors.. kidn of weird working while looking at yourself!

we also had a thermofax machine there so i spent the first day making

screens that i hadn't had time to make before i left... the next day i printed another scroll piece... i didn't have a piece of rusted fabric that looked appropriate so i printed it on white pfd and will rust it after the fact.

also started a rust composition, which was left lanquishing after i started playing with the various embellishers that were there. i did have one more rust compostion up, that is now hanging on my design wall here..

and here are a few of the things i did with the embellisher... not only is it fun, but i have so many fabrics and fibers that are perfect for this process.. i absolutely have got to get one of these.

and this one, below, is still a work in progress

some snippets from florida

2007-03-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

i spent a delightful week last week at the atlantic center for the arts' first annual retreat.

i almost hesitate to post about it cus once the word gets out, next year's will be filled in a heartbeat, and i didn't reserve my spot yet! (mary....write me in.....)

it was a little slice of heaven!

No Schedule. other than mealtimes, we came and went as we wanted... that alone was worth the price of admission! but we also had got to work in a beautiful location with light filled studios, good food, and even better, a really great group of women to share it all with... did i mention it was a little slice of heaven?

we had 2 studios set up: a wet one for painting, dyeing, and felting; and a dry one for composing, stitching, and hooking..... er...rug hooking that is...

they rang with the sounds of laughter from early on in the morning (so i was told...) till late at night.. we fueled ourselves with good wine, and dark chocolate, and talked and laughed as we worked.

one week was just not enough..

here a few photos of the wonderful setting:

isn't this just the coolest thing? now named the *escape pod* it's a tree house like structure hidden amongst the trees and palmetto. i want one in my back yard! it was a great place to sketch, and sit and soak in the surroundings.... and here are a few of the nuts, er.... artists, with their work: rosemary claus-gray celebrated a special birthday in style while we were there, but also got some wonderful pieces started...

and pamela allen not only kept us entertained but made several wonderful pieces as well...

sharon ahmed did wonderous things with felt, including the coolest faces:

linda mathews was extraordinarily generous and a fun table mate...unfortunately i didn't get any photos of the wonderful work she was doing....

and there were many more! to be continued

more collages

2007-03-02T20:01:00.000-06:00

tried to add these to the last post and blogger wouldn't cooperate..
i got these in the mail today for the 9th annual international collage exhbition and exchange
you can see the last several years worth of work, and bookmark the site for the upcoming exhibit which will be up at the beginning of april.. there will be one selection from each artist for sale.
here are a few more photos...

switching gears

2007-03-02T19:45:00.000-06:00

i'm getting ready to start teaching classes at our local quilt shop, the quilting niche, and tomorrow morning is saturday sampler...(i have to admit, i didn't even know what that was!) so i've been digging out samples of my painted fabric to bring ...and i have to say i was pretty impressed with myself! ;-)

more thoughts on keeping sketchbooks/journals

2007-02-28T08:51:00.001-06:00

one factor in how you will keep your sketchbooks is your working style...
and the actual process of journaling can help you discover your working style if you're not already aware of it.

someone who works best with a distinct plan will create small mock ups of intended work. if that is your dominant working style you will most likely create detailed sketches, include swatches of fabric you intend to use and samples of textures you want to incorporate. you will be the person who will create sample swatches of various stitches, and make color boards of the various hues you will incorporate. you may work out ahead of time what size your finished work will be, and create patterns or templates.

on the other hand, if your creative style leans more toward the intuitive style, you will likely use your journal to "prime the pump". rather than recording detailed plans you will lean more towards doodling and compiling the inherent shapes, forms, and colors that interest you.

keeping my journals has revealed to me the types of images that are important and that fuel my creative drive. these are the shapes/subjects i clipped from magazines, photographed consistently thru the years, and incessantly doodled: tall, thin vertical forms, whether they be trees, the obelisk across the river from my home, cathedral spires, standing stones, fences, long thin spikes of grasses that dance in the breeze......

thru the years i have learned that i am pretty much 70 /30 spontaneous vs planned. i like to have a notion of the shapes and colors i want to work with, but prefer to work out the details as i go, in the actual medium itself, rather than pre-plan. for me, if i already know how a piece will look down to the last detail, there's no longer a point or an interest in creating it. it's the process of discovery along the way that fuels me. my journals will look and function differently than someone who likes to work with a set plan. neither way is better. there is no right or wrong. you do what works for you.

keeping sketchbooks is a great tool to help you discover what your working style is. it's the old what came first the chicken or the egg rout
ine. working in a sketchbook will help you to define your working style, which in turn will determine how you do your books, which in turn will influence your work, etc etc. we learn by doing. if i had to have one solid *rule* for keeping a sketchbook it would be to use them consistently. spend some time every day with it. developing the habit to sit with the process for 20 minutes a day whether you feel like you want to or not is one of the keys to generating ideas and new work.

the more work you create, whether in a journal or with the actual materials, the higher your chances are that you will create good work. take one idea and doodle it or work it 30 different ways. push it past what you think is reasonable. brainstorm. play. go to what feels like ridiculous lengths. quite often it will be that 29th idea that will be the greatest.

a couple of really good books along these lines are art and fear and drawing on the artist within.
imho, both should be standard items in every artist's toolbox, regardless of medium...

and now, it's back to work for me!
next installation: the evolution of my personal imagery....views from sketchbooks thru the years..

sketchbook ... the basics

2007-02-27T19:02:00.000-06:00

i keep a couple of different types of sketchbooks at a time...the workhorse is my basic stuffeverythingintooneplace book. and for that the key, especially when you're just starting out is keep it simple:
make it EASY to use..
don't leave home without it
the book and a good mechanical pencil are the basic tools

i've just started using moleskins and love them. the paper is so much nicer, they have a nifty pocket for storing odd bits, they're a bit smaller (easier to fit in my purse), they have a wonderful elastic band that holds them closed as well as a ribbon to mark places, they're just a little bit more expensive than the standard ring bound books, and i can find them locally(booksamillion). they're available online too.

when i started out, i made covers for them, or collaged the covers... nice idea, and i still do it when the notion strikes, but i pretty much quit doing that as i would rather put the time and effort into the actual piece rather than have it just be a decorative cover. i put the year and journal number on the cover (bout halfway thru 2007 #1).

i use these books for brainstorming essentially. because i pretty much put all of my thoughts, ideas and inspirations into each book they are a chronological record for me. and because i (almost) never lose them, they are also the repository for the odd bits of info. phone numbers, record of orders placed etc, notes that i don't want to lose. (which i usually put in the back just to make it easier to find...)

everything that influences me goes in them:

images of all kinds that speak to me for whatever reason very rough sketches - ideas for materials, colors, etc
notes taken while reading particularly good books dreams, quotes, words or phrases that intrigue or inspire me
doodles doodles doodles, no matter where i am or what else i am doing!

when i was in school i was required to complete a journal a semester in each of my sculpture classes. (3 sculpture classes in one semester = 3 completed journals.) tho i was already keeping a journal, it was great discipline.

because of the way i do them, as individual books, they are somewhat disjointed. but as a series of books what happens is i start to see trends in colors, shapes, forms, thoughts that appear with frequency.. and these are for the most part the little nuggets i mine when i'm stuck and looking for ideas for future work.

what i don't do with these journals is make them precious. i don't want to feel too intimidated to use them. i love the illustrated artist journals but for my working sketchbook, i have to keep it simple.

i will doodle, and as you can see, will play with color, but only in the spirit of trying out ideas, etc. not of creating a finished work in and of itself.

when i want to add color i typically use watercolor crayons in them. this set has the water brush included... it's one of my favorite ways to play. you can also come back later to sketches you've already drawn and add color to them after the fact.

more later.

here they are...

2007-02-27T10:17:00.000-06:00

my list of noteworthy moments... as inspired by the current quiltart list conversation.

managed to get through high school without ever stepping foot in a study hall even tho i had 3, yes - Three, hours of study hall imposed upon me one year... and for this they inducted me into the honor society... i spent most of that time in the band room, and no, i was never actually in the band,, but i did learn how to play the guitar, and spent most of those 3 hours each day laughing and having fun,,, which i consider a Major Accomplishent anytime anywhere

i can (and do) burn any number of food products on a frequent basis. my more noteworhy accomplishments in that area were boiled eggs, and pasta, tho rice seems to be my specialty. this is in spite of winning the betty crocker award in high school....;-) and yes i do know what causes it: put the pot on, go upstairs and get lost in Making Art, forget the pot is on till a rather unsavory scent wafts its way up there.... luckily i have a keen sense of smell.

i have managed to weld without inflicting serious bodily harm on myself or others...so far

i can walk in any store anywhere selling anything and tell you in an instant what the Most Expensive Items are without looking at sales tags...they will be the ones i gravitate towards....just a Gift... i have ridiculously expensive tastes.. largely unfulfilled i might add.
perhaps this comes from being born into a family of plantation owners along The River..

i am an excellent caulker...... and i Love to paint (tho numerous drop cloths are a good idea).
it is the ultimate in Instant Gratification

i can lose any and every thing under any and every circumstance. the most memorable was losing my passport in italy, just before being smuggled ...er crossing the border, into france, where i proceeded to obtain a new one ... and forgot to lie, much to my chagrin after dealing with the line of questioning that followed....(and this was way before Heightened Security).

while in france on the same trip, the group i was with bought tickets for a lovely evening voyage on the bateau mouche on the seine, pulled up our chairs and waited to roll. and waited, and waited, and waited while commenting on the lovely boats going by ... all the while not realizing
we had seated ourselvs on the pier, not the actual boat. you'd think for a group of people that grew up along rivers and bayous in south louisisana we'd have known better ...

survived sitting on top of an alligator's den with a group of friends, while playing with the very cute baby gators

and while we're on animal related accomplishments ... also survived 2 close encounters with Very Large water moccasins on the same hot, dry summer day. i had been practically standing on top of one of them while taking a photograph of a rose .... which seques into -

grew and maintained 77 beautiful rose bushes for many years (until kids came along....)

went back to school on 2 separate occasions, after swearing i would Never Go Back, and earned 2 separate degrees. general studies with emphasis on history, and, believe it or not, english...(i do know how to capitalize, and spell .. but i am hopelessly dsylexic (yes i know - not the accurate term but close enuf ) when it comes to typing...)
However, while these were wonderful accomplishemnts in and of themselves, i still feel my greatest accomplishment in both cases was commuting for a grand total of 5 1/2 years without once getting a speeding ticket.

i once had a wonderfully legible and beautiful handwriting, which prompted the french cousin of a friend of mine to comment on how much he liked those exquisite american typewriters.... all printed....i gave up on cursive a year or so after learning it...it just isn't my style

i'm sure there's more... and i'm equally sure i will think of them as soon as i hit publish.....

time flies!

2007-02-25T00:41:00.000-06:00

when you're having fun. it seems like just yesterday that i last posted. for the first time in many many years i actually did mardi gras...and enjoyed the living daylights out of it...it's been a long time since i've done that! we caught tons of beads, which seems o so important in the moment. then 2 minutes later when you're home and unload the stuff all over the counters you wonder why in the hell you brought that home and what on earth you're going to do with it! and this is after giving most of it away to the various kids we encountered...

since i'm heading to the atlantic center for the arts in a few weeks for the art retreat, i will be loading up as many pounds as i can squeeze into my luggage and bringing them with me. will give pamela allen, the embellishing queen, a bunch and ditto to anyone else who's there who might want them...

and this is my favorite end of the parade imageit's a little blurry, which just makes it more appropriate, dontcha think? this is what happenswhen the parade beats you home... we ended up getting in line behind the floats heading back to their den...

in between the parades and other goings-on, i managed to get my collages done for the annual bakers dozen exhbit.here are a few of them that should be going out in the mail soon:

those birds!

2007-02-12T09:34:00.000-06:00

have made such a hit! who'd have thought??

and i wanted to pass along this image that kathie briggs sent of her journal page that was devoted to them! several people asked me about the berries.. and i have to say i'm not sure what the trees are...

i think it might be a bay tree?? they have been here longer than i have.

meanwhile i played around a little bit with some of the photos...

feeding frenzy

2007-02-10T12:05:00.000-06:00

i came upstairs a little while ago to do some machine quilting. since it's a totally gorgeous day _ blue sky, sunshiny, cool, crisp - i had some of the windows open getting some fresh air.. when i sat down i noticed big huge clusters of what looked like big fat dark blue/purple grapes hanging in bunches in the trees, and thought to myself i should take a picture of them, and figured i would in a bit... i also thought that i had never noticed them before....

well, now i know why! unless i happened to be here right before the frenzy i never would have seen them that big and plump and plentiful... as i was stitching i started hearing bird sounds, glanced outside and saw a flock of something, and went back to stitching. a few minutes later, i heard a loud thud as one of them hit the window, but kept stitching.... then i started hearing a Very Loud Fluttering of wings which finally made me stop and Look.

it was a scene right out of the old alfred hitchcock movie The Birds.... (or what i imagined a scene would have looked like cus i was a total weenie and never could watch the thing way back when so all i've ever seen of it is clips). there must have been hundreds of them! i finally stopped stitching, and got my camera and started snapping. there were so many it didn't matter where you pointed: there were birds everywhere!

after they had gorged themselves they were having a little drink in, of all things, my rust containers! which struck me as particularly funny as i had just gone to the iron overload web site the other day looking up which tests i needed to have done... my dad had hemachromatosis, which necessitates frequent testing for me... it is the most common genetic disease (they say 1 in 200-300 have it).

anyway, i digress...

i have NO idea what kind of bird this is. it doesn't look familiar. they must be passing through? if anyone can identify them please let me know!

meantime, i'm going to get back to stitching....(deadline) and i will remember to wear shoes next time i go outside!

collagraph tutorial

2007-02-07T16:19:00.000-06:00

to say that i'm thrilled to be going to the fiber arts retreat at the atlantic center for the arts in florida in march would be an understatement! i'm looking forward to finally meeting pamela in canada as well as many other people that are going to be there.

the art center is full of great studios and tools, including a printing press, and there are many of us who are interested in playing with that. so i've put together info on doing collograph plates while i'm getting some ready to bring with me.

a collagraph is a printing plate constructed of collaged elements on a thin material, such as matte board. some of the materials that work well are most papers (typing, printmaking, drawing), self adhesive paper and/or plastic labels, paper tape, plastic packing tape, acrylic paint and white glue. i love these stickers that i bought on sale way back when at michaels; i've used them both for collagraph plates, and also as resists when painting canvas and fabric. they stick REALLY well.

on the right is a plate i made using clear packing tape that i cut with a rotary cutter. i also did some relief work, and etched lines into the board.

below is a plate made with mylar. i cut it into strips with a rotary cutter, then scrunched it up to wrinkle it, and glued it down with acrylic paint on the left, and white glue on the rest of it..

and on the bottom right is one of the plates done with the adhesive stickers.

the next step will be to coat these plates with white spray paint. it keeps the ink from soaking into the cardboard, and also makes it easy to clean the surface.

some materials that don't work well are drafting tape / duct tape/ contact paper (won’t stay stuck), silk or real flowers and leaves , and sandpaper (holds too much ink.

and finally here is one of the prints i made layering 3 different collage plates. i used one of my extra prints on one of my 2002 journal pages.

fun stuff in the mail!

2007-02-06T11:42:00.000-06:00

yesterday's mail brought my copy of the long awaited and anticipated new book by our very own lesley riley. the book is entitled: Fabric Memory Books: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration and it's very aptly named as it's very inspirational! it definitely makes me want to get out piles of stuff and PLAY!

the other reason i'm thrilled to see it is i have a piece in there that i've been waiting to unveil.. here it is:

lesley invited 11 artists to submit a page for a book that will be auctioned off later this year revolving around the them of home. this piece was done with mixed media techniques based on a photograph i took at laura plantation just a few months before the fire. this image is the upstairs back gallery, (porch ) and is the essence of home to me. i've got other photos and mentions of laura plantation in the archives as well. this piece is bordered with the same wonderful woven paper fiber that i used in a couple of my sculptures. i just love the stuff and it's always fun to use. i attached 3 small glass vials to the side of the page as well symbolizing the past history of this particular home, which was in my family for many years...

i was thrilled to be included in lesley's project along with the rest of the notable cast of characters. the other quilt artists included are susan shie, mary fisher, and laura wasilowski. and mixed media artists nina bagley, sas colby, patti culea, claudine helmuth, karen michel, lynne perrella, and lynne whipple. what a wonderful group! i urge you to get the book and enjoy!

the aftermath

2007-02-01T20:11:00.000-06:00

and here is the mess on the floor...

the tree

2007-02-01T19:29:00.000-06:00

that was clear as mud wasn't it?

i went into photoshop and enlarged the tree image, printed it on paper, and pinned the paper to the piece to visualize placement. see right:

then i took several photos.

this is one of them

i decided i liked it better without the screen printed organza behind it, so took several without it... (not pictured)

i then back into photoshop and erased most of the white paper from the orinted page to get a better idea of what it would look like once it was printed onto the piece.

and got this (see below) a photo of the image, printed on paper, (with most of the white background gone), and pinned to my piece...

which allowed me to get an idea of what it would look like,

and make sure that the scale was right.

i burned the screen, and then printed it onto the piece.

pictured below in last post.

i hope that is a little clearer!

why does who's on first keep running thru my head?? ;-)

yippee!

2007-02-01T16:27:00.000-06:00

a new piece!

it's been incubating for a while. i've had these fabrics floating around the studio for at least 2-3 years. i've taken them out, put them back. taken them out, put them back. ad infinitum. until a few days ago...
and i actually really like what it's evolved into - which is not even close to the vaque notion i had in my head before i started. so i''ll walk you through a few steps. what did we do before digital cameras?

step 1. a random assortment .... i twirled the composition around and around in photoshop, looking for which side wanted to be up... and played with rearranging fabrics.. and ended up taking most of them down, as i wanted it to have a more vertical look....

so here is step 2.

it's moving closer to what i want...there are definate vertical lines happening. now i see that i need to repeat the vertical

and take out the horizontal bit of striped rust fabric. i also added the small strips of *stripes* which are actually pieced strips recut and resewn...i love the discharged circles (still vertical) and the rust shapes on the left hand side, which are starting to look like, what else??? - fences.

so now it's a matter of refining...

and here is the next step. i'm pretty happy with it overall, but not wild about the middle section... so still thinking..

in the meantime, once i got to this stage, it told me what it

was and finally had a name...which helped to decide where to go next with it..

i like the screen of the tree in the center, but it's way too small.

so back to photoshop to resize that image, and make a few modifications....

i printed it out, cut around some of the white areas, pinned it to the design wall, and took another couple of photos... played around a bit more and eliminated the bulk of the white background till i had it where i wanted it....and did the deed...

and now it's ready to be stitched.. and frankly i can't wait to start

on it! i can actually see exactly what i want to do to it....

(tho it remains to be seen if what i want to do ends up being

what it wants... you know how those pieces start getting

demanding!)

and it's name:

echo ( as of now.. i reserve the

right to change my mind!)

a visual aid

2007-01-27T15:39:00.000-06:00

this picture was in our local paper this morning. it's a shot of the intracoastal.
essentially you are viewing it from the west, heading east...i put a yellow dot up in the left hand corner about an inch or so down from the top...which is where we live. and why, tho i never worried about flooding before....after katrina/rita, it has become an issue. the article is about a proposal to relocate the intracoastal further south, to both avoid the chance of flooding, and also to attempt to lessen the occurence of salt water intrusion this far north, which is one of the reasons for coastal (and not so coastal) erosion.
interesting proposition. the way governments move, IF it ever were to occur, i'm quite certain it would be far into the future.
fwiw.

post game

2007-01-26T15:43:00.000-06:00

the postcard has been made and will be mailed tomorrow.

while we didn't win the game, it was hard to stay down for longer than a few minutes.

it's been wonderful (finally!!) to be a saints fan again, and it was a magical season.

so as much as i'd rather be receiving a postcard, rather than sending...it's been a good ride .

and while i was at it i made a few more postcards as well...

and the rest are available for purchase...

email me!

SOLD

GEAUX SAINTS

2007-01-21T09:33:00.000-06:00

switching gears here.....

gettign ready to make some bears voodoo dolls ....from the pattern that was on the front page of the lagniappe (arts) section of the friday paper: ( ya gotta love it!)

and here's a photo of our son when he was @ 3 .....

in training to become a rabid, wild and crazy SAINTS fan....he's 21 now!

the atmosphere is ELECTRIC down here.

and to get you in the mood.....click here!

i had hoped to have my saints postcard made by now...

the one that sharon rexroad will never get, cus I am going to

win this bet.....

got sidetracked by the events of the last week....but will post it as soon as it's done... this is as far as i got: the background; will create a larger section of painted and printed canvas then cut up for cards..

I FOUND IT~~

2007-01-19T12:03:00.000-06:00

the shower cartoon that we've been looking for every waking minute for the last 4-5 days.

i can breathe now.

it was right where it should have been , only buried under so much other stuff that we overlooked it the gajillion times we opened that closet door.

this is a cartoon he drew after my dear husband flooded our house manymany years ago (1983 to be exact...) a few weeks before they got married...in our home... why we thought we needed to repair the shower before the wedding is beyond rational explanation. obviously it started a family trend... check out nov. 7: art imitating life

and here it is.....

it was the best of times...it was the worst of times

2007-01-19T11:03:00.000-06:00

dickens said it just perfectly.

very big sigh.

as a 40 year saints fan, it's the best of times... no words can convey the thrill of finally being able to ENJOY an entire season + of games.

as a 30 year friend, it's the worst of times.....as one of our best friends will be laid to rest tomorrow...

all i can say is heaven has got to be a happier place right now... one of our most shining lights has made his way to the pearly gates...and the image i have is of him up there telling stories like no one else could....

below is one of the cartoons he drew for us many years ago.

for some completely unfathomable reason, the best cartoon he ever did, one that we had framed, has gone missing. we have torn this house apart from top to bottom- more than once - looking for it. it was here a minute ago.

will put the best of times in another post.

calming pregame jitters

2007-01-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

note the attire!

i figured it was ok to paint black while wearing my saints black and gold...just in case i got messy. it was probably the only thing that kept me from bouncing off the walls. i'll have to do a repeat performance for next week's game....

we had friends over to watch the game....including this idiot who showed up with an eagles jersey on. i covered his face to spare him.....he was actually a smart ass saints fan in disguise.

and to make this art related: here's the piece in progress: note the printed image beneath. it's a photograph i took last year that i've been wanting to play with. this is the first of many renditions i think.. it's about 30" wide and @ 70" long...some of it was cropped

many thanks

2007-01-11T16:40:00.000-06:00

i'm grateful to have received a special award for my quilt "prayer flag" that is currently on exhibit in "Form not Function" at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, ( New Albany IN -- just across the river from Louisville KY.)
this is the announcement that kathy loomis made on quiltart last night.

"As many of you long-time quiltart readers know, I have a theory that I like to rant on, namely that I think the art quilt world is too nice, that we tend to avoid darker emotions and edgier subjects. I have speculated that one of the reasons this occurs is that we fear (rightly or wrongly) that dark quilts won't get juried into shows, or that they won't win prizes.Well, today I got to put my money where my mouth is.I served as a juror for Form, Not Function and today my job was to shut up and take notes while art quilter Penny Sisto judged the show. After she made her choices, I decided to donate an award for social and political commentary, and I plan to do this in future years as well. At least in this show, we are going to reward people who make quilts with an ax to grind.
I am thrilled to report that the winner of this award is our quiltart friend Claire Fenton. "

if you're in the area, visit the exhibit: it will be up through March 8. The opening party is Friday 1/12 from 6 to 8 pm at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, 201 E. Spring Street, New Albany IN -- just across the river from Louisville KY.

and if you do, please take px!

last night's insomniac moment

2007-01-11T13:50:00.000-06:00

which was created from this original photograph :

i think this might need to become a fiber piece.....

one way i use thermofax screens

2007-01-08T12:32:00.000-06:00

in working on this baby quilt, i wanted to carry the inner border fabric to the outside edge as a binding. i tried other fabrics but nothing else looked good. unfortunately i didn't have enough of the original fabric left:

so i searched around in my stash for a fabric that was close.....i wasn't concerned about duplicating it but rather bringing in similar qualities....the green, blue and black.....i found a batik that was fairly close, then got out 2 screens i've used often, some black ink, and blue paint and this is what i ended up with.

with those 2 screens i was able to add some black and blue into this batik that was primarily green and yellow.. since it's going to be binding, only a small bit will show, and the designs that were printed on are fairly irrelevant. i then tucked the printed piece under the quilt with an edge showing to see if i had achieved the look i was after....and i think i did!

now...back to the sewing machine to finish this and get it in the mail.....

weird weather

2007-01-06T10:07:00.000-06:00

i was going thru some old photos last night, and came across the ones i took on our one and only white christmas down here...which happened 2 years ago. i did a little editing and ended up with this photo which i just love.....since this winter season seems to be one of weird extremes (ok....too spooky... as soon as i typed that another deluge began here!!) i thought this was a timely photograph to post! for those of you in the northeast who are winter-less, here's a little reminder....

persistence!

2007-01-05T10:35:00.000-06:00

is what it's taken to get into my new "improved" blogger account this morning. is it just me? or do the words new and improved signal here comes trouble to you too? i seem to be on a technical downhill slide so far in 2007. first, i had trouble creating a coallge in picassa...finally got that done days after the first attempt. second, the new universal remote i got for my tv up here has ceased to work after 2 days. don't ask me why. third, i have ended up in log in hell everytime i've tried to update my blog. i am hoping that i am getting all of 2007's glitches out of the way in one fell swoop and the rest of the year will flow seamlessly.....(one can hope!)

so. i've already forgotten who's brilliant idea this was, but here is my 2006 collage. (postcards excluded...)

there is a definate theme there isn't there? rust, circles, hurricanes...with a bit of red creeping in...

and here is the first piece of 07: VERY different!!

the first baby quilt i've made in i can't remember when! my husband's niece had her first baby a couple of weeks ago and auntie claire decided it would be her job to introduce the little sweetie to color! we haven't met her yet as they live in st. louis, but hopefully we will before she starts school!

it had been so long since i made a traditional quilt, i wondered whether or not i'd even remember how! i had 9 patch blocks leftover from swaps i did in another lifetime, so had fun using those.... in fact it was so much fun i have taken out all my dad's shirts and pajamas i've had tucked away for the last 6 years since he died and it may be time to do that quilt....it feels sort of like *cleansing my palette* before embarking on a new year of art quilts.

i've thought about making goals/resolutions and about all i definatly know that i want to do is at least make Some work that is Big. (anything over 45" qualifies as big in my book). there are those that say the space you have to work in influences size. since i am blessed to have a huge studio, with an 8 foot square design wall i don't think i fit in that category. the simple fact is i just naturally tend to work smaller. after hearing WORK BIG for a week last summer at qsds, i have decided to make a whole hearted attempt to do just that.

we'll see!

hope we all have a wonderfully productive and succesful 2007~!

finally got to the other side

2006-12-28T12:41:00.000-06:00

of christmas! whew!

actually i got caught up in house stuff before the holidays...painting doors and windows i had never done; installing molding and anaglypta wallpaper on the ceiling in our living room and getting that painted, etc... then there was the blitz shopping trips! which of course took longer than anticipated. for someone who really doesn't like to shop that much, i couldn't believe i was at the mall 3 days before xmas! me and everyone else within a 50 mile radius i think!

anyway, that's done thank god!

we had a wonderful christmas. had our annual christmas party with old friends here this year, then had a (relatively) quiet and relaxed xmas eve and day. i'm embarrassed to admit that my daughter and i got totally hooked on playing the desperate housewives game on her laptop. pathetic isn't it? hey it was a cold, gray, wintry day and we were killing time till the football games started....and the next thing we knew, the games were over and we were still at it... i am pleased to announce that we haven't touched it since!

and i finally got back to working in the studio! i stitched and did a little beading last night on a piece i had put together before the holidays....

i haven't gotten around to writing goals for next year yet, but i am thinking about them.... making more work is definitely going at the top of the list ....

so ... back to it..

hope y'all all had a great holiday season.

2006-11-27T18:23:00.000-06:00

original skylight in the b & b

2006-11-27T17:07:00.001-06:00

sculpture along the river

2006-11-27T17:07:00.000-06:00

cabildo iron work

2006-11-27T17:06:00.000-06:00

love the color juxtaposition

a few more

2006-11-27T16:11:00.000-06:00

px. one of the highlights for my hubby was running into leah chase , one of the *grande dames* of new orleans cooking. he had met and photographed her while he was workign at nicholls, so was glad to be able to visit with her and buy her newest cookbook, which she graciously autographed to me (the NON cook!). we will definately be on the lookout for the restarant;s re-opening, hopefully the first of the year.

i made a few relaly fun purchases including this little critter which i bought at the french market. i wish i remember it's name...it's a *good spirit*. tho frankly i love it cus it makes me smile! however if it wants to keep the bad spirits away that is perfectly fine with me. in that vein, he's sitting on top of my computer monitor, hopefully protecting me from crashes and nasty bugs.

saturday we were heading for magazine street when we passed a park with white tents set up, and stopped to see what was going on. and to my delight, it was an art fair! how cool was that? there was lots of really nice stuff but the first thing that caught my eye that i had to have was a print of a watercolor of mr. bingle! if you're from down here no further explanation is needed. if you're not you can find it here and/or here.

and here are a few more photos :

well. it won't let me upload any more px....so i'll send this and add some more later...

wonderful weekend

2006-11-27T14:31:00.000-06:00

just getting back to reality after a wonderful thanksgiving weekend. we did a non-traditional tg day; brunch instead of the usual turkey adn trimmings. it was just right. and friday we headed off to new orleans for my birthday...stayed at the block keller house b&b which was the best! it was the first time we had been there but won't be the last. it's built way up off the ground so even tho they had 5 feet of water during the storm there wasn't a lot of damage. i think there's mostly storage on the ground floor. the're on the fringes of lakeview, and i'd say the area right where they are is @ 50/50 as far as getting back to normal goes. they even had some really cool fiber art hung upstairs

we spent a gorgeous afternoon in the french quarter which was full of people -- a glorious site! and enjoyed the sounds and sights down there; the calliope was playing as we pulled up and there was music everywhere we walked, so things seem fairly back to normal there. walked around and took some photos. my favorite is this one....and it's NOT manipulated...(only cropped the teeniest bit):

lots of wrought iron photos too....this one is already a screen:

lots more architectural photos to be turned into screens; and lots of inspiration. in fact, time to get back to work! more later

2006-11-11T20:59:00.000-06:00

red nest 3

2006-11-11T20:58:00.000-06:00

still untitled...any ideas??
well its now SOLD so the new owner can name it....;-)

and art imitating life

2006-11-07T23:22:00.000-06:00

about a month ago i sent 4 of my katrina pieces (chaos , maelstrom, prayer flag, and the longest year) north of the lake to the berry patch quilt and art expo in pontchatoula. i have to admit i did feel a little anxiety over having them hanging outside but knew they'd be in capable hands, so off they went. when they were delivered back to my daughter the day before halloween i suggested she should bring them up to her room (sorority house) rather than leave them in her car, figuring they'd be safer there. which she did.

2 days later i got the phone call... you know the one that starts with: *everything's ok but....* expecting it to be another fender bender, i was somewhat shocked when the next phrase came out: "your quilts flooded".

???? flooded? on the 2nd floor? when it hadn't even been raining?? surely she's kidding, but no, she wasn't..... as it turns out, her roommate (hi katie) fell asleep in the bathtub with the water running after returning home from a halloween party. and with a new twist to the phrase trick or treat, my Hurricane Katrina ( o, the irony) quilts proceeded to get trapped in their own personal little flood.

she's SO like her dad- who flooded house #1 while *fixing the shower* many years ago... an event that was brilliantly depicted in a cartoon drawn by our neighbor, which unfortunately i can't find at the moment or it would be displayed here in living color.

she did manage to deal with it well.....hung them up all over the living area downstairs with signs attached proclaiming: "My Mom's Art; Don't Touch", and proceeded to stand watch over them while they dripped and dried.. figuratively speaking. she was awakened at 4 am from her cozy little perch on the sofa to find all the lights on and her sorority sisters ooooohing and ahhhing (and, yes, touching them too), but they were safe and sound.

she was Very glad to bring them home the next evening.

they survived quite nicely; they were only temporarily traumatized.

and they are now truly Authentic Katrina Quilts having endured their own personal flood....

never a dull moment around here.

speaking of losing things

2006-10-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

i spent much of last week tearing my studio and house apart looking for a small quilt that i had set aside to mail to it's new owner. while i wasn't looking it vaporized into thin air. i am VERY thankful that it's new owner took the news very gracefully and i am in the process of creating a "replacement". searching for that piece made me think of ALL the various things i have lost over the years.... and a quilt i made on that topic a few years ago..aptly titled "where does it all go?" . i made it in 2001 (and i still know where it is ) the first semester i was back in school for the "forks. knives, and spoons" themed show. i have added a few priceless mementos to it over the years...

]

above is a lost ...and subsequently found (MONTHS later) prescription for adderall....how approriate? after all, if i could keep track of the prescription i wouldn't need it....;-) after that i started having them sent directly to my drugstore...

and finally a little shopping.

2006-10-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

after the museum, we went to the mall to restoration hardware as i was looking for house numbers,which i found, and i also wanted to look at doorknobs. completly forgot about those ..
oops! we got sidetracked by mignon faget, not a bad way to go! i did get a fleur de lis....
and am coveting the bracelet from her new ironworks line. and/ or the red bean bracelet.

i will get back to quilts soon!
it's just been fun to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather...
house is getting close to done! the door will be purple soon.

front door is already....one coat on, another one to follow.

just wish i could attach the scent of the sweet olive trees. they're intoxicating!

next time: fiber art

2006-10-23T22:47:00.000-05:00

life imitating art!

carnaval!

2006-10-23T18:15:00.000-05:00

my HUSBAND actually wanted to go the new orleans art museum yesterday! so, in spite of an icky sore throat, off we went. i wasn't about to blow that opportunity. we missed the katrina photo exhibits, but there is an online slide show, and i bought the book. there are some awesome photos in it; very moving and emotional.
we did see the newest exhibit: CARNAVAL! with exhibits, photos, and videos of how mardi gras is celebrated around the world. i was very grateful that i don't live in spain, where in one town, in addition to the usual pranks and festivities, they dig up ant piles and throw them on people....OUCH> that does NOT sounds like my idea of fun. i loved the masks from venice, esp. this one:

which is a replica of a mask worn by a doctor during the plaque: the long beak was filled with herbs and perfumes which supposedly kept the germs at bay. while i doubt that was effective, i'm guessing the extra distance it put between him and the patients certainly didn't hurt.

we strolled thru the sculpture park afterwards. only 1 or 2 sculptures were damaged in the storms/floods....the landscape took a helluva hit. leaving a new form of sculpture in it's wake:

even the surviving trees looked a bit down at the mouth:

on the other hand, there was some new more lighthearted work: tho even blue dog looks like he's suffering with ptsd.

and finally, there's my daughter, the ham, in "life imitates art":

well never mind! i've tried to upload that photo 6 times and nothing's doing.

COLOR!

2006-10-23T16:52:00.000-05:00

i haven't started any new (fiber) work, but i Have played with color! obviously i was more color-starved than i thought! i also seem to be in a nesting mode: empty nester re-feathering the nest. so along those lines, out came the paint charts, and instead of agonizing, i picked colors in @ 5 minutes, and off i went. the ceiling and walls in the garage and laundry room in this old house are darkly stained and highly varnished wood. so the laundry room, which is a really nice space, has gone from looking similar to this:

to this wonderful space!!

SO much better! it's actually fun to wash clothes now...and i love my lime green ceiling. since it's relativly low, you just see a slice of it....

more later! don't want to tempt blogger fate.

starting a new one

2006-10-04T10:10:00.000-05:00

when i started this blog it was my intention to actually post images from my sketchbooks..
to give a glimpse into my process, etc. i was so swamped with working the day job, then katrina hit,
and rita hit, and life continued to go in other directions. and much to my dismay, i fell out of the sketchbook habit...
but am determined to get back at it.. so this morning i collaged the cover of my newest book, adn am
ready to roll. i actually like this cover design enough that i think it needs to be done in fabric...
stay tuned!

2006-10-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

new sketchbook

paint!

2006-10-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

after seriously considering every color in the rainbow (except orange maybe..) the colors are up. the painters were scheduled to be here first thing this morning, and i finally chose colors @ 7 pm last night...how's that for last minute??
we now have: silent path, twilight, and abundant wine.. i even like the names! i've been teasing my dh when he went out of town telling him i was going to paint it green and purple while he wasn't looking...(he did not want green) i guess i wasn't kidding!

2006-10-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

finally! a decision

and these 5 postcards

2006-09-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

are for sale ... $ 50 each... contact me if you're interested
i am loving this series.

2006-09-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

underground

2006-09-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

tree

2006-09-29T19:48:00.001-05:00

SOLD
span

2006-09-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

trio

2006-09-29T19:47:00.000-05:00

roots

postcards

2006-09-29T02:55:00.000-05:00

these 5 postcards are among those winging their way to Virginia Spiegel right now for sale at Houston's FFAC booth. Once again, Virginia and her crew, including the indomitable Karey Bresenham and her staff at IQA, have done a wonderful job of raising money for the American Cancer Society, and letting us all enjoy the process.

2006-09-29T02:54:00.000-05:00

river current 2

2006-09-29T02:53:00.001-05:00

rooted

2006-09-29T02:53:00.000-05:00

hope 3

2006-09-29T02:52:00.001-05:00

bridge 4

2006-09-29T02:52:00.000-05:00

bridge 3

2006-09-29T00:41:00.000-05:00

brown bayou

2006-09-27T22:02:00.000-05:00

for stacey

2006-09-27T21:59:00.000-05:00

reality
SOLD

2006-09-24T00:53:00.001-05:00

red nest SOLD

2006-09-24T00:53:00.000-05:00

autumn fence

2006-09-24T00:51:00.000-05:00

autumn trees

2006-09-24T00:48:00.000-05:00

forest nests

dyptich? tryptich? is there a RIGHT decision?

2006-09-23T15:49:00.000-05:00

well, just shoot me now...of course i sent in the dyptich.... (before i saw all the
tryptich comments....) and i'll tell you why... i went to school to use the slide
projector there to view them...and also had the benefit of my sculpture teacher
and his beginning class who all looked in on them...that crowd was @ 50/50..
and i have to say that the tryptich looked better on the screen than i thought it
would....but the dyptich just popped.. you could see so much more detail and
really get a sense of what it contained.
and my thinking was that no matter how much i liked the tryptich, if the slide
didn't catch their attention it was irrelevant... for me, there was a wow factor
when the dyptich came up...you could READ the headlines and it just made an
impact.

was it the *right* choice? maybe not... but in the end i went with my gut.
we'll see.

sometimes i am way too close to the work when i'm done with it to have a good
perspective on it...esp pieces as emotional as these are...

so i'm wondering...am i alone in that? do any of y'all experience that after the fact?
is it just inherent in the artistic process? or does it happen when you're so heavily
invested in the work??

interesting thoughts to ponder...

i can tell you that after all that i am having fun cutting up some of the printed rust pieces
and using them in small pieces with COLOR! after all this rust i am craving a little more color...

which brings me to the other design decision looming overhead.... picking the
House Paint Color.... i currently have 3 different reds on the wall outside...
then i start thinking of all the other wonderful colors out there that would look good too!
clearly i need to do less thinking here......

back to working on these small pieces addn postcards...will post photos when i'm *done*

another detail

2006-09-15T09:59:00.000-05:00

another detail with a little better view of the stitching. look above and below the green text. i didn't want the stitching to stand out so i pretty much ran it close to the edges of textand images. i also didn't want them to have a typical quilted look so i used fleece instead of batting. as a result, they're fairly flat. i've got slides of a tryptich, and a dyptich....trying to decide which version i like better for a quilt national entry...opinions anyone?

this

or this

2006-09-13T18:54:00.000-05:00

a detail shot

and done again!

2006-09-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

have been furiously stitching... and finished another scroll....
after having made 59 screens following the anniversary blitz of articles and headlines.....
they didn't all make it into this scroll...
and now i am CRAVING some color...and totally meaningless abstract work.

done!

2006-09-05T01:13:00.000-05:00

finished up this evening. i ended up lacing the sections together..after first stitching them together and realizing i didn't like that look. ripped them apart and spent the afternoon hand stithcing them instead. now to finish the scroll, and make more screens for the next one!

overdeying southern style

2006-08-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

only the best for these fabrics....
here are the fabrics for the markings piece, happily soaking in their crystal vase...(it was the right size and right there....!) and since it's a most wonderful, almost fallish (for us) day they have course had to go outside to catch the low humidity and nice breeze! 79 in the daytime without rain is rare in august. and i'm heading back outside with them!

2006-08-31T11:13:00.000-05:00

overdyeing

2006-08-29T22:33:00.002-05:00

blue sign

2006-08-29T22:33:00.001-05:00

tangled mess....MUCH erasing happened here.

2006-08-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

change

finally.

2006-08-29T21:29:00.000-05:00

the longest year is history (almost)
you can feel a very palpable sigh of relief as this milestone passes.
i've been watching the local goings on while stitching all day...
a very appropriate backdrop.
i overdyed a couple of the printed squares and think the result is a lot
closer to what i wanted....
will do the rest..

sandra asked about the screens...

here is a detail photo of the last scroll...

the dark brown image that fills most of the detail is a manipulated tree photograph. i have MANY many photos of uprooed,, snapped, leaning, etc. trees and was obsessed for a while editing the images down to their *bones*. i went through @ 10-12 versions of this image, continually erasing all but the structure. it's one of my favorite images. to me it reads as a relationship.. i *see* 2 individuals ...separate but connected.... anyway... the text: *change* across the bottom is from a photograph of a building in the french quarter....the word *change* etched in the stone facade...i thought it particularly apt. there's a fema headline above and to the right of change... which says *fema says katrina taught it a lesson...* (that remains to be seen!). above the fema print is a roulette wheel (clip art); in the space between the branches is the (green) text from a sign that was propped up on a ruined sofa in front of a house in the 9th ward and reads: *most costly disaster in history yet most of congress hasn't been here to see it in person. all who do say its much worse than one can imagine*. truer words were never spoken above that in blue is a gear (clip art). which is an apt metaphor for the response (or lack therof) to the hurricanes: it was definatly a case where the gears were anythign but well oiled adn funtional. nowhere did it mesh. and finally, above that in gray green is a recent newspaper headline: *sounding the alarm*

here are my original photos that change, the tree, and the sign came from:

well. for whatever reason those photos aren't uploading. i will try to re- post them.. (they're above this post)

2006-08-27T16:13:00.001-05:00

scroll 3 top

2006-08-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

scroll 3 bottom

the longest year scroll 3

2006-08-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

i printed this friday before heading out of town. i'm very pleased with the results. i had washed all my screens out downstairs when i was done, so had them all in one place, and counted....i used 40...yes FORTY different screens on this one piece. with the last few days worth of newspapers, not to mention what will be coming in the next few days, i well could use up an entire roll of screening... (21 1/2 yards worth). will need to order more....

i am just very grateful that we don't have another storm breathing down our necks right now. hopefully ernesto will fizzle out.

back to the screening. there are many more where this came from

getting closer

2006-08-24T22:59:00.000-05:00

to the end of the longest year. the anniversary tv shows, newspaper and magazine articles, weather re-broadcasts, etc., etc., etc., are piling up. as is the stack of headlines...
there will be much more fodder for artmaking soon. i've been making @ 5-6 screens a day.

and finally a quilt related post!
put these up on the wall yesterday.....

they have potential but need somethign to set them off. the black seems to work so photoshop to the rescue adn i can get an idea of what it might look like...

closer. i'm still not convinced this will be the final layout....it needs a little more
???? impact... i think.....
stay tuned...
off to the gulf coast tomorrow for the ohr gallery opening...
will get back to work when we return.
it will be an interesting experience to be there this weekend in particular; i haven't
been there since the storm, and here we are with the anniversary just days away.
will have pictures later...

2006-08-22T20:49:00.000-05:00

piles of paper

it doesn't look nearly as overwhelming in a photo as it does in reality. i feel like i've been buried in paper. somehow i am managing to get the really important stuff done. i did actually show up for jury duty this morning after unearthign the summons a few days ago...
not that it's high on my personal list of priorities but they do frown on people not showing up, and somethign makes me think *ooops i lost the paper on the bottom of a stack* probably doesn't hold much water.
actually i have been busily multi-tasking:

working on new pieces requiring heavy (as in Time Consuming) hand embroidey
de-foresting my backyard little bits at a time in order to avoid heat stroke
actually taking care of the growing pile of paperwork
helping to move my darling blonde daughter back to school
working my way through some summer time reading
and redoing the images on my website after accidentally wiping them out

pretty much everythign but blogging. i've taken a short *blog-cation* i guess. however in the meantime i have also sold a few pieces, gotten some work delivered to the mississippi gulf coast for the ohr rising exhibit, and am in the process of getting some work shipped to denver for the taking a stand: voices in fiber exhibit

and now, back to stitching. deadlines await

2006-08-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

the river...on the other side of the levee...