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Archive for the ‘12X12 challenge’ Category

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Positivity

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

I am trying so hard to be positive and find the energy to be creative. I went to bed with a scratchy throat and woke up feeling the same, with a slight fever and achiness. I don’t know if it is allergies or a cold. I do feel better tonight.

M & M came over today while Steph and Jack had lunch with a client. I felt badly that I was not up to being super granny, but they had a great time playing computer games and watching Disney TV channel.

The sun came out for a brief visit this afternoon and I took Scooter for a half hour walk. I even felt pleasantly warm.

Tonight, I had some fun in my studio. I felted the little landscape for my sketchbook project. It was lots of fun. I want to try some more little pieces.

I also worked on the yellow/purple piece. I am really excited at how it is turning out. I am going out on a limb and trying something that I have had in the back of my mind. I am hoping that I can spend some quality time with it tomorrow. I leave you with this positive affirmation which I will take to heart.

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.

—Anon.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

Raindrops Keep Falling

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

We Portlanders are consumed by our terrible weather. We are only half way through June and have broken the rainfall record. I think we have record cold temps, too. I am so tired of my winter layers of clothes and socks. Not to mention that I now have a scratchy throat and probably have caught a crappy cold. Oh woe is me!!

Anyway, for today’s fiber sketchbook, I grabbed a piece of fabric that was gray, brown and white and reminded me of how the day had looked — like the middle of winter. I thought about how to represent rain. I grabbed some gray Perle cotton and started stitching. I did some more controlled and even stitches, but felt happier with the more random stitching on the right. Rain is random, right?

Here is a tease of what is really making me happy.

I just love this organza that I painted and the interplay of the colors.

Today, I received a packet of postcards for the Beneath the Surface special exhibit which is premiering at IQF, Long Beach, in July, and then going on to IQF, Houston, in November. The postcard is really well done and eye-catching.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Juried Shows, Sketchbook Project | 2 Comments »

Blue Skies

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

…Blue skies  Smiling at me   Nothing but blue skies   Do I see

What a gorgeous week-end. The perfect culmination to my frenzied week of meetings and other social activities!!

I love to work with my fused scraps, cutting skinny bits that I can turn into a composition. I love grasses – color, shape, composition. My fiber sketch for today is titled grasses. Here are some of the scraps that I have been using.

It was good to go down to my pristine studio tonight and start on my yellow/purple themed Twelve by Twelve piece. Here is what I accomplished tonight. This will be the last photo until the reveal on July 1.

Today, we walked down to our neighborhood park for the annual milk carton races on the casting pond.

Scooter and Steve kept waiting for me to catch up because I was taking photos.

This boat won best Show Boat. It is the Dairy Air.

Scooter met lots of friendly pooches.

There were lots of free dairy products because the event was sponsored by Oregon Dairy Farmers. We enjoyed a root beer float.

Tonight the family came over for dinner on the deck. We had fresh tuna burgers with Asian slaw. It was delish.

I hope you had a great week-end, too.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, My neighborhood, Scooter, Sketchbook Project | 2 Comments »

Joy

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Yesterday, I had to take a day off because I was still feeling like a truck drove over me. It was our first sunny day since I can’t remember. Scooter was not feeling so well either. Maybe he was having sympathy pains.

Today, we are both back in action! My fiber sketch for today is called joy and represents how I felt after a couple of days of a nasty virus.

I had to pick up some new gallery canvases at the art store today. I also bought some Dynaflow paint in the colors of the next Twelve by Twelve challenge — purple and yellow.

I am planning to paint some silk organza for the challenge. I just had to give it a whirl tonight.

Gaaa! I love it. I love the color you get when the purple and yellow are mixed.

Here is the cotton that I had under the organza.

M & M and their parents took off on Friday after school and got in two nights and a day of camping before the rain came pouring down this morning. I loved the photos that she shared on the 3191 blog, but especially this one.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to get my studio cleaned up. I might have company at the end of the week.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, painting fabric, Sketchbook Project | 5 Comments »

Hot, Hot, Hot

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

This is Lava Flow. I loved the color palette that Kristin chose for this color/colour play theme. I already had that reddish silk. I decided that this piece would need to be created from hand-dyed silks. I could never replicate the gray and taupe with dye and found that I cot a much better control by painting the silk. It was the first time I had painted silk charmeuse and it worked beautifully.

I fused undulating strips of the different colors to mimic the way lava flows down the volcano after an eruption.

Here is a detail:

I had fabric left over and by now the volcano in Iceland is wreaking havoc on the lives of folks in the path of its plume. I saw many dramatic photos online of the lava dancing and creating sparks and lightening. I decided to create a second piece which would represent the spouting lava.

I used tiny seed beads and Golden gloss medium for the sparks. I did not use the chartreuse color in this piece, but used all of the other colors. Here is a detail.

Now, I need your help. You might want to check out the other Twelve X Twelve pieces and then, let me know which one you think should go into the collection.

Posted in 12X12 challenge | 4 Comments »

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