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Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

We arrived home last night after a bumpy flight and incredible lightning show seen from the plane. We spent a little time hugging Scooter and then crashed. I awoke New York time so I am very tired tonight. It was a busy day of stocking the fridge, unpacking and doing laundry.

I did manage to make a fiber sketch. I must get the next Twelve by Twelve piece done. Our color theme is the colors of lorikeets. I went searching in my stash for lorikeet colors and found it severely lacking in the blue and green. I made a little study with those colors trying to warm up to them.

I found these photos from our trip on the camera. The first is the lake side view of an artist’s home. He makes art out of found objects.

Here is the front of his home with one of his creations perched on the wall.

I took this photo on our last morning. The sun was hazy. I love the mood of this.

I am very inspired by the sculpture of the fields where I grew up. This was taken from the car as we drove by.

I hope to get a good night’s sleep and then tackle finishing the silk aspen piece. I need to move on to other things.

Here I Am!

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

We have been enjoying a midsummer’s vacation with my family in upstate New York. We survived a red eye flight on Wednesday night. After an afternoon nap, I was revived and ready for the new time zone. My sister lives on a small lake near the Finger Lakes region. The light was so beautiful the first night when I snapped this photo.

One of the joys of the trip has been getting to know the youngest members of the family who have arrived since I was last here. This is the newest, 3 week old Gwen.

On Friday, Mr C and I drove to Auburn, NY, about 35 miles from where we are staying, to see the nancy Crow exhibit at the Schweinfurth Museum. It was a fantastic show and a huge body of work. No photos allowed. So this is all you get. It was fun to see the museum because I have had work there in the Art=Quilts=Art show.

After a delicious lunch, we headed south along one of the small finger lakes, to Groton and the home of The Main Street Gallery which hosts the annual National Small Quilt Show.

This is a sneak peak at the quilts. The show, as a whole, was very embellished — not my cup of tea, but obviously the vision of the juror. There was work by many of my friends in the show. I saw this show 3 or 4 years ago and liked it much better.

Yesterday, was our family reunion. Here I am with my sisters:

Carole is on the left, then the youngest, Judy, then Jean and me. Judy has been taking care of her 3 year old and brand new grandsons and has dropped a lot of weight. She looks fantastic.

Here are our progeny, minus two of mine and another nephew.

This is a handsome and accomplished group of young folks, ranging from age 50 to 28. It was so much fun to see the kids running around in the tie-dyed t-shirts.

Today has been a low key day of rest and relaxation. I have loved holding the baby, reading a book, helping my BIL freeze green beans from his garden and taking a long  walk with Mr C. I took mu camera along and shot lots of cool stuff like this assorted fencing.

You can see all my photos and the tie-dye t-shirts being worn by the kids on my Flickr site, HERE.

My family does not have wealth,they are not super educated, but they have so much heart. I am so proud to be a part of them. (I wrote this late at night. Apparently, some of my family was offended by this. My intention was to say that we do not come from a lot of wealth or higher education, and our greatest strength as a family is that we have so much heart and love for each other and those who enter our midst. I am sorry if it dame across differently.)

More Studio Tours

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Before I flew home tonight, I spent the day with Lisa, visiting her studio and  the studio of her best friend, Diana.

While we were there, she photographed one of her daily collection photos. Her 2010 project is to photograph or illustrate a collection every day. She is posting them on the blog, A Collection a Day. Her project will be featured in the May Martha Stewart Magazine.

Her studio mate, Jamie, does glitter paintings. Here are her bottles of glitter. These must be seen to be believed. Check my Flickr site.

After lunch, we went to Lisa’s home to pick up Wilfredo and then went to visit Diana in her pottery studio. She takes care of Wilfredo when Lisa and Clay are out of town. She calls him Noodle and he adores her.

Here are some shelves in her studio.

I love the glaze samples.

I bought a set of these glow bowls that hold votives. If you would like to see more of Diana’s work, check out her website.

You can see more of my photos from the day on my Flicker Set: Lisa and Diana’s Studios.

It is good to be home. Scooter really missed me and jumped and jumped to welcome me home. Mr C said he did not eat for the first two days. It is nice to have such unconditional love.

Inspiration Galore

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Today, I enjoyed a full day of visiting textile artist studios in the East Bay. We left the hotel at 9 am and returned at 5 pm. Above is a photo of Ana Lisa Lindstrom’s live work space. She no longer lives here, but she could.

Here is a sneak peek at one of her gorgeous art to wear pieces that I am bringing home with me. A photo on me later.

Yoshiko Wada and Jean Cacicedo had work at Ana Lisa’s studio, also.

Next, we went to Richard Eliot’s studio. Richard has been head of fibers at California College of Art. he says he makes work for himself and does not care if it sells. I like that attitude. These are rusted pieces stretched on round canvases. He meticulously rusts with steel wool to look like real cellular structures.

After lunch, we went to the shared space of Susan Avila and Candace King – both do amazing work. This is Susan talking about her work.

We then stopped at the home and studio of Robin Crowley who is just now getting her sight back after losing it as a result of two strokes. She did not have new work and as a result of her problems, she is looking at new ways to work. Her husband is a landscape designer and their garden was a delight.

Our last stop was the studio of Karen Livingstone who designs and creates fabrics for designers of clothing and home decor. I loved this piece of shibori hanging in her studio.

To see many, many more photos of the day’s delights, go to my Flickr site, SDA/SAQA set.

Back to Reality

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

We arrived home on Tuesday night, and it has been difficult to get back in the swing of things. I had quilt show entries to get done; housekeeping to do as I have a meeting here tomorrow morning. Ya da Ya da! Part of me is longing to be where this is the philosophy!

Here are few photos from the last couple of days. We had an absolutely gorgeous last day on Monday. We took a 4 mile round trip hike down to Tunnel Beach, so called because in the winter the surf often forms tunnels for the expert surfers. But, it was pretty calm when we were there.

Here is the sunset on Monday evening, not spectacular, but very lovely.

On our way to the airport, we stopped at an overlook of one of the wildlife refuges. It was so lush.

While on Kauai, I did lots of reading and some hand stitching on my silk irrigation circles. You can see a sneak peak up above and here. It is slow going. I am not sure that I can get this done in time for the High Fiber Diet show.

Scooter stayed at a dog boarding/day care out in the country. I think he had a great time, but he was a mess. His long coat was matted and dirty. No one was brushing him!! So I took him to the groomer today, and now he looks as if he was on a crash diet. She even had to trim his bushy tail!

I am going to do a little reading  — I am so close to finishing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Then, it is PR!!