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Archive for the ‘indigo’ Category

Happiness is Creating Art

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

Buoyed by this news, I have been having a wonderful day.

American evolutionary-psych researchers have produced eye catching research suggesting that women whose hips are significantly bigger than their waists are more intelligent, and tend to produce more intelligent babies. They believe that this might explain why men tend to be attracted to women with this type of physique, apparently theorising that what men really really want is women (and children) likely to be cleverer than themselves.

Who knew? I thought my kids got their brains from their father.

Yesterday, was a lost day. It was a really dark and stormy day. the wind was blowing mightily. Trees and branches were falling all around us. And the power went out. It is so spooky quiet when the power goes off. No background humming of the computers and the furnace. Mr C and I did our class homework next to the window with a fire blazing in the fireplace.

Today was glorious — bright and sunny —, and after a nice long walk with Mr C and Maggie, I got quite a bit done in the studio.

I have to get at least two journal size quilts done for a High Fiber Diet show next month, titled Small Treasures. And I am still working on the Good to Be Green quilt which I can not show you.

I have had this idea percolating in my brain — that is to use indigo shibori fabric to make aspens in a night time scene. So here is my go at it for one of my Small Treasure pieces.

This is the general layout.

I wanted to put some silver foil on the moon. First, I applied some glue with a small brush, very lightly.

I got a lot more foil adhering than I had planned for so I just went with it.

I decided to do hand stitching with Perle cotton. I did some silver stitching in the foiled moonlight and the trees are stitched with a dark blue.

I really enjoy doing the Perle cotton embellishing.

Here is some stitching I did on the Good to Be Green piece. I have not clipped the threads because I might want to leave some dangling threads.

The sweet Deborah of Deborah’s Journal has posted some photos of my work hanging at the Houston show. Click on the link if you would like to take a look.

Hope you are all busy and creating, too.

Posted in High Fiber Diet, indigo, My creations, shibori | 8 Comments »

A Mixed Bag Day

Friday, November 9th, 2007

The day started very nicely. I received an e-mail from the Carnegie Center telling me that Indigo Moons had been accepted for exhibition in Form Not Function. When I look at the list of past exhibitors, I feel very honored to have been selected for this show.

Then, my quilt, A Thin Place, came home from Houston where it had been on display at the International Quilt Festival. I had completely forgotten that it was being judged. So, with trepidation, I opened the judges comments. The three did not really agree on the worthiness of this piece. One like it a lot. One didn’t like it very much. The third was positive, but graded me down the middle. I had done a lot of wonky hand stitching and not much machine quilting so I didn’t have to deal with that criticism.

I called Steph and asked if I could help out with M & M since they are out of school more that they are in, this month. She said that they were still in there jammies playing with every toy in the dining room. I suggested she bring them over after they get bored with their current activities

Mr C and I set out to walk Maggie and get some errands done up on Woodstock. It started raining during our sojourn, and I was soaked by the time we arrived home.

Let me just say that as the afternoon wore on, I began to feel more and more yucky. I had an earache and body aches and a headache and a fever. I had Mr C entertain the grands. They built a skyscraper out of moving boxes. Miles was mad because he wanted a castle, but they told him that knights can live in high rises and even made a sign to verify this. So, every one was happy, except for me. We were supposed to go to the opening of the Trinity Artisan’s Fair and then out to dinner. Instead, I am wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea and numbed by the wonderful Aleve.

Posted in indigo, Juried Shows, My creations | 11 Comments »

A Great Day

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

Today was a stellar day for all sorts of reasons.

I slept in, getting ready for the end of daylight savings time.
It was a spectacularly gorgeous sunny fall day.
I made some great progress on the green quilt.
Mr C and I went on an art date.
Maggie and I took a nice late afternoon walk in the Rhodie Garden (probably our last one until spring).

Here is a sneak peak at the quilt I am doing for an invitational, curated by Larkin Van Horn. The theme is “It’s Good to be Green.” I have known for a year that I need to have this done my December 1. I was originally going to make a piece out of recycled green fabric — sort of a double entendre. Instead, I am making a composition from my indigo fabrics. One of the pieces I did was a green hand-dye. Also, the process of indigo requires the dye to be green before it turns blue with oxidation — so it is “good to be green.” Here is a sneak peak. This is a small section. The final piece has to measure 18″ X 45″.

This afternoon, Mr C and I went to see the Chuck Close exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. I really enjoyed the show. I watched the film of how he does his painted works.

Much of the show were prints of the portraits that he does. I loved seeing the plates and woodblocks displayed with the piece of art that they produced. I took a print making class once which makes it even more exciting to see his work. I particularly loved the portraits made from gradations of gray paper pulp.

I could imagine how you could create these images using fabric.

I made a few purchases in the gift shop where they had lots of things with a Chuck Close grid.

Sorry about the quality of this photo, but I took it after dark with a flash. I have cocktail napkins with a grid design, Chuck Close earrings and a cool ring with Chuck Close circles. I also got myself a Miro ’08 calendar.

Hope you all had a good day, too, and remembered to set your clocks back so you can get a well-deserved extra hour of sleep.

Posted in indigo, My creations, Out and About in Portland, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Finishing Touches

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

I have to send in my inventory for the Japanese Garden show at the end of the week. So I am trying to get everything done. Here are the two little framed pieces that I did. After seeing the photos of last night’s lunar eclipse, I have named them Lunar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse 2. I had a little problem with reflection in the glass. The actual work is about 4 and half inches square.

Here are closeups. Click for larger views.

I also finished the winter bamboo fence. This has a facing and will have a silver bamboo hanging rod.

And a closeup:

I like the original bamboo fence better, but this was fun to work on.

I need to attach the bamboo rods to this and two other pieces. I also have several silk scarves that I am putting in the show.

VIRTUAL IRAQ WAR PROTEST: Time for an update on the virtual protest. I hope that those of you who received bumper stickers and have not sent me a jpeg of your sticker for the virtual protest will still do so. I just added a new photo. If you have not checked out the virtual protest which is on my Flickr page, just click on the End this/endless bumper sticker on my sidebar.

Posted in indigo, My creations, shibori, Virtual Iraq War Protest | 6 Comments »

Week-end Wrap-up

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

We had a great family dinner on the deck on Friday night. We had chicken pesto sausages, corn on the cob, Sesame ginger slaw, roasted rosemary potatoes, tomato-basil-mozzarella salad and for everyone else, ice cream and raspberries. M & M spent the night so that Steph and Jack could go out with Mark and Jayme.

After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and bacon, Mark and Jayme packed up to head back to California yesterday morning. Here they are in front of a nice clean car (compliments of M & M, well sort of).

Look at the dewy grass in our landscaping – so pretty.

After they left, Mia and I got to work in my studio. She started stitching the quilt that we are making for her American Girl doll, Kirsten. Notice the hand embroidered square with Kirsten’s name.

After they went home, I got some work done on my Japanese Garden pieces. Mr C and I went to the 5:30 showing of Bourne Ultimatum! It was a white knuckle experience. Then, after dinner, we watched the very charming Breakfast on Pluto, an Irish film about a transvestite who discovers that his father is the parish priest. I was on sensory overload and couldn’t get to sleep.

Today, I worked some more to finish the Japanese Garden pieces. I bought a couple of matted frames at IKEA last week, and I thought I would make a couple of small pieces for them. Here is one possibility. It is not stitched, just a possible use of some of my shibori pieces.

Tonight, I splurged. I made pizza margharita with Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough, Roma tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella. It was soooo good.

Posted in Family, indigo, M & M, My creations, This and that | 5 Comments »

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