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Archive for January, 2013

I Got Nothing

Monday, January 14th, 2013

nothing-to-say-so-blog

 

I have been pretty much working on registration for the SDA Conference.  We had several glitches at the beginning, but basically, people are finding the website easy to navigate. The problems are the behind the scenes stuff, verifying payments, getting proper reports, etc. It has been very time consuming and going on since Saturday night.

Scooter and I walked down to the Rhodie Garden this morning and it started to snow.

snowyscooter

 

I always look at the ducks and geese in the water when it is so cold and wonder how they deal with it.

ducksgeesecoldwater

 

In the winter the graphically interesting Buffleheads are at the garden. I love seeing them.

 

buffleheads

 

I was going to post that I felt I had to give up on my drawing a day. I have not had time for days. Then, when I opened up to my blog just now, I saw the last drawings that I did and I was quite happy to see them. It made me want to find a way to keep it up.

I have finally stopped the incessant coughing. I still need about a box of tissues a day, however. Also, an update on my hip pain. The exercise has been working, but I was assigned to do it for another two weeks. Then, I will start on another routine. I feel so much better than I did a couple of months ago.

Yesterday morning I helped with Sunday School at Trinity. They had an amazing display and activities for the kids about many of the world religions. Each station had a beautiful banner and objects from that religion which the kids could pick up and examine.

buddhismdisplay

nativeamericandisplay

judaismdisplay

islamdisplay

hinduismdisplay

christianitydisplay

 

There were many art projects about the different religions.

Decorating candles with colored wax pieces. Prayer bundles that were fashioned into a necklace to wear, prayer bead bracelets, prayer flags, etc.

prayerbundles

tieingbundles

prayerflags

 

So there you have it. My sort of nothing post!!

A Lively Wind Opening

Friday, January 11th, 2013

mightywindreception

 

I pulled myself together and Mr C and I went down to Trinity tonight for the opening of A Lively Wind, the art show celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rosales Organ. There were lots of folks in attendance and great jazz  trio provided musical entertainment. That is my piece behind the people.

Here is a better view of it hanging. The lighting and the foil on this piece made it hard to photograph.

rosalespieceinexhibit

 

For regular blog readers, you know that this was a difficult one for me to execute. I had a vision in my head which I did not create. The resulting piece is really quite impressive.  I got lots of positive feedback. There is a possibility that it may be purchased for the church vestibule. I am honored to even be considered.

Twenty-five artists were represented in the show. It was one of the largest we have hung. There were two runners up and one best of show awards given out. Here are the runners up:

mightywindrunnerup1

 

This is a collage piece which I couldn’t photograph because of the light.

mightywindrunnerup2

 

This is calligraphy and ink.

Bonnie, who used to teach music at Reed College, won Best of Show. This is a beautiful abstract painting.

bestinshow

 

I loved this small replica of the organ. It is only about 2 feet tall.

roaslesreplica

 

This is a very blurry detail, but you can see what the mighty wind from the organ has done.

rosalesreplicadetail

 

I am slowly getting better, but am still feeling crappy with a head full of snot (sorry, but that is the case) and then there is the incessant coughing. I hear this lasts for 3 weeks. Argh! I missed STASH yesterday. I love spending time with that group of friends.

Today, I got a couple of big jobs from SDA to do in Constant Contact. It took up most of the day and I still am not finish. I have to create new banner art and get oks from people. Takes time.

I have not had the time or the energy to do more drawings, but I will. I am liking the challenge.

The Art of Doing Nothing…

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

sick

 

I have been perfecting it for the last 5 days. It is all quite a blur. Where was I when I was rudely interrupted by a vicious upper respiratory bug. I helped to test the new online registration system for the SDA conference. I have little memory of it as I was in a stupor, but there were enough glitches that we postponed the opening of registration to next week-end.

Mr C and I went to see The Book of Mormon on Saturday night. It was so hilarious, I almost forgot that I was sick. We paid too much for the tickets to miss it.

Since Sunday, I have pretty much been in my PJ’s in  bed. I was supposed to make a big pot of soup for commission meeting night at Trinity last night. I got dressed and Mr C took me to the store to buy ingredients for white bean, kale and sausage soup. I chopped veggies in my Cuisinart and sauteed then sausage. I packed everything up with detailed instructions and sent him off to meet my friend, Diane. With her help, he actually made the soup and got kudos for how delicious it was.

Today, I went to see the Dr and started on antibiotics. The most annoying thing is the awful cough. I feel better tonight and scanned my drawings with my iPhone scanner. Mr C said it was nice to see me doing something. Here they are.

1-5-13drawing

 

1-6-13drawing

 

1-7-13drawing

 

1-8-13drawing

 

1-9-13drawing

 

So there you have it. I am supposed to go to STASH tomorrow, but I don’t think I will make it. I still feel quite wiped out.

Something Finished

Friday, January 4th, 2013

illuminatedrosales

It has been another busy day. But, I am happy to say that I have the Illuminated Rosales ready to deliver to Trinity tomorrow. It has been a while since I was working on this. This piece sort of evolved and went in a direction I didn’t originally plan, but I think it is an interesting piece, none the less. Here is the original photo:

rosalesorgancrop

 

I am quite pleased with the backing that I used. I had a rather large piece of industrial felt which I cut larger than the finished quilt. I Mistyfused the felt and the back of the quilt to give a better adhesion.

fusedfelt

 

 

fusequilttofelt

 

After the quilt was fused to the felt, I carefully rotary cut the edges to the same size.

rotarycutfelt

 

We bought some aluminum bars at Home Depot and cut them to size. On one, we drilled holes a half inch from each end. I had a bit of a problem finding the right glue, but my local mixed media store had E6000 epoxy which Jane Dunnewold recommends in her tutorial. I glued one bar, with the holes to the top. The ends with the holes are not glued so that the holes can be accessed for hanging.

 

 

topaluminumbar

The other bar was glued to the bottom to help the quilt hang straight. I fused a label, and I was done. The fusing makes for a nice tight bond on the edges so I did no other finishing.

bottomaluminumbar

 

I was so busy doing this and gearing up for the SDA registration to start next week, that I almost forgot to do my drawing. I hope I have time to work on the drawing a bit more once the registration is underway.

1-4-13drawing

 

This is a drawing of a very bruised pear.

I still have a scratchy throat, but I seem to be able to keep going. Tomorrow, I will be helping to text the new online registration system. Hopefully, it will go live on Monday.

 

 

Glub! Glub!

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

1-3-13 drawing

This is all I have to show. I spent a lot of time on other stuff, like getting ready for the  onslaught of registrations for the SDA conference, which starts on Monday. I also got the Rosales Organ piece ready to prepare for hanging. I finished the quilting and clipping threads. I have to turn it in on Saturday afternoon.

I have decided that I am going to prepare this for hanging the way Jane Dunnewold does her quilts. I am going to fuse the quilt to a felt back and then use aluminum slats, glued to the felt for hanging. I have seen her quilts done this way at the Schweinfurth and it  looks very professional. She has a tutorial on her website. You can find it here.

Today’s drawing is a bit wonky, but I am very pleased with the cup handle.”

On a sadder note and something I do not need, I think I am coming down with the bug that was rampant in our house last week. I have a scratchy throat that feels like a bad cold coming on. Wish me well as I slog through the next few days.