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Archive for April, 2012

Bye-bye Week-end

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

I had a busy and productive week-end. Yesterday was our spring critique for the group of Oregon fiberartists that I am part of. Marci Rai McDade, former Fiberarts editor and now Surface Design Journal editor, was our guest critic. She lives near me and when I asked her about a possible critic for us, she volunteered.

Every critic we have had has a different emphasis in their comments. Marci, as an editor, was most interested in the story that the art told. She also commented on visual impact and design elements. I had my Walking with Scooter and Mr C piece. She thought it was very successful, but was put off by my black screen prints of Scooter and Mr. C. I see her point and I wish that I had put the screen prints on the base fabrics so that they were not so prominent.

It is not as obvious in the photo as it is in person. I also had another piece that I am almost finished with. I will show that later.

Today, after church, I had a phone meeting with a consultant who is helping me conquer the Filemaker database for Artists Among Us. I have a load of inventory to enter in the system and we worked out details for upgrading it and making it more user friendly.

It was gorgeous weather this week-end. I think we will have one more beautiful day and then it will get rainy again.

I managed to get 6 more 3 x3s done. I am almost caught up.

Back to watching Mad Men.

Last Day of Desert Art Hunt

Friday, April 20th, 2012

First, I only managed to get one more purple 3 x 3 done today. I have been busy getting ready for the crit group tomorrow.

We drove out to Wonder Valley. Our first stop on the third day of our desert adventure was The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery.

The building was at one time, a rabbit pen. There really is a glass outhouse.

The proprietress was a hoot. That is her posing with the toilet. You can see out, but no one can see in. She had an assortment of framed photos in her office. They were all mistake photos with hands and fingers in front of the lens, and heads cut off, etc. Really hysterical. The gallery itself was quite nice. She changes the shows monthly. All around the place were little weird installations. This bottle installation was the largest.

In the distance, you could see one of the 5 acre plot cabins.

Next, we went out to visit Mike and Ann’s hairdresser who has quite the compound. He and his partner built an inn which has a nice pool and a room where he teaches yoga. He is an avid collector of hair product ephemera. It is in every nook and cranny.

Jeff’s partner (husband) creates beautiful jewelry, and they raise goats and chickens. It was quite the place.

Our next stop was high up in the desert above Pioneer town. This marker by a parking area is the only sign you have arrived at one of the High Desert Test Sites.

Here is what we found. There was one installation that we were unable to locate.

This had bottles of water with labels from different SW water sources.

The view from up their was just gorgeous.

This was labeled, “You Are Here.”

Not sure what this was – the makings of something, waiting for someone to assemble it?

So there you have it, the last installment of our excellent desert adventure.

And just look at this adorable girl!

The Color Purple

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

I spent some time in the studio trying to get caught up on my 3 x 3s. Here are all of the yellows. Seems like not so much considering how long the month was!

I am moving on to the secondary colors. I think purple is a good color for April. I got the first 9 done. It is really so much nicer to do one a day. I can’t wait to get caught up.

April 1 is supposed to be a palm for Palm Sunday.

Easter Sunday

Tomorrow, I have to get ready for Oregon Crit group which is meeting here on Saturday. We need to clean house and I am going to prepare the fixings for Cobb Salad for lunch.

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Movin’ & Groovin’

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

It felt good to get back in the studio just to finish my yellow 3 x 3s!!

I had a busy day, working on the art show database. Filemaker Pro is killing me, but I will conquer it, eventually. Tonight, I had a High Fiber Diet meeting. It was so great to see friends. We met for Mexican food before the meeting.

Back to the trip to the desert – on the second day, we went out to Joshua Tree National Park in search of wildflowers. We were rewarded.

Our first stop was the Cholla cactus garden.

Next, we were happy to see many Ocotillos with their red flowers.

Here are our wildflower finds. It is amazing to see these little beauties sprouting from the sand.

That evening, back at the Congdon adobe, we were rewarded with this.

Karen asked about the 5 acre plots. They are there and still deeded to those who built a structure. If you google desert 5 acre plots, you will find them for sale. Having been there and seen where they are and how isolated, it is pretty funny to read the listings for them.