Swapped Not Traded

Today was the opening reception for our Swapped Not Traded ATC show. We had a pretty good turn out and had fun introducing newbies to the concept of ATC's. The room was surrounded with our framed ATC collections and there was one interactive wall that held the cards available for trade. Everyone could use the supplies to make an ATC, then swap it for one on the wall.
We meet one day a month to swap . . . so if you are interested and live around Santa Barbara, let me know.

Here is my SIL and son creating ATC's. You can see some of the framed collections in the background.

Syd found these hanging vinyl holders that were perfect to display the ATC's. Here are a few of the ones available on the interactive wall.

Received good news today. Two out of the three pieces I submitted to the Elverhoj Museum were juried into the show. Yeah . . . . it's going to be a great venue.

I also submitted ten pieces to the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. Only five artists are chosen for this exhibit, so I'll be amazed if I get selected. I figure the more they see Fiber Art, the more accepted it will become.

A couple of weeks ago, I emailed a few fabric designs to Robert Kaufman. They were interested in seeing more, so I mailed off a complete package, but still haven't heard back from they yet. It would be very cool to have a fabric line with my designs. They may not be interested, but I figure I would rather try my best and get rejected than not try at all.

As you can see, I've been racing from one deadline to another and I still have a UFO Exchange quilt to finish in three weeks. I'm seriously looking forward to retirement!! Unfortunately, that is a long way off.

La Guitarra Festival

What a wonderful weekend we had listening to some of the most amazing classical guitarist in the world. Thank you, Jason, for introducing us to the classical guitar. Jason (my son), began playing classical guitar about 4 years ago. He is an amazing natural talent and I expect great things from him in the future.

This past weekend, Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria was the new host to the La Guitarra Festival. It was a fantastic venue for the festival, the sound quality was incredible and every seat in the house was good.

We attended a master class where my son performed and five other concerts over three days. For me, the highlight was definitely Pepe Romero (Spain). He is truly an incredible musician. We also saw Roland Dyens (France) and Ana Vidovic (Croatia). All three of these musicians are considered the most talented in the world. Ana is only 23 years old and is already the best woman classical guitarist in the world.

I had a little time to play with some acrylic ink, wax and rock salt before we left for the concert. Here is what happened.

It reminds me of a ice crystals on a window. Mind you, this is a very distant memory because I haven't seen snow or ice in 28 years!

Color and Cloth: Redefining a Traditional Art Form

I know, it's been a while since I posted, but I have been extremely busy. So much to do . . . so little time. I suppose I could have started sooner, but as much as I hate to admit it, I work well under pressure. Deadlines seem to keep me focused. I have two shows I've been preparing for, one is at the Elverhoj Museum entitled "COLOR AND CLOTH: REDEFINING A TRADITIONAL ART FORM". The second show is an interactive ATC show entitled "Swapped Not Sold" at the Art from Scrap gallery.

Kathy and I had a lot of fun at our guild challenge last week. As usual, there were some fantastic quilts made. Pat made an elegant rendition of "Memoirs of a Geisha" using kimono's acquired on a vacation to Japan. Darilyn relived her childhood memories by making "Saturday Night at the Drive-In". She had a giant Godzilla on the big screen with silhouetted cars in the foreground. Very clever!

Kathy and I heard wonderful comments like "This was the best challenge ever" and "Everyone left with a smile on their face". What more can you ask for?

Bill Dear brought some fantastic props from movies and commercials he wrote and/or directed. What a great guy!

These are the skeletal remains of mommy and daddy. They are from a scary movie recently finished and waiting to be released.

You may remember "Vince", the crash dummy. Bill was the director of these commercials for eleven years.This "Meat Cleaver" was the most popular "prop" of the evening. Many people had their photo taken with this attached to their head. It has four metal rods that holds the cleaver in place.
It was great fun, but I'm glad it's over . . . It was a lot of work!

Furry and Feathered Friends

Took a little break today and went to one of my favorite places to take photos, the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens. It is the nicest, small zoo I've ever been to. It is located on top of a hill with a fantastic view of the ocean. It has both wonderful animals and plants. I'm sure you can guess what this photo is of.

Here's a photo of a beautiful Lorikeet. They are the sweetest and most colorful birds I've ever seen. You can buy a little cup of nectar and they sit on your arm and have a drink.

I've have been spending a lot of time preparing for the Coastal Quilters Guild challenge, Lights!Camera!Action! We have received some wonderful entries and I'm looking forward to Thursday night to see which quilts get voted as the favorites.

A real director, Bill Dear, will be bringing props from some of his movies for us to view up close. It should be a fun filled evening. I'll post some photos after the event.

Over the Edge

This little quilt was started quite a while ago. There were several things that I didn't like in the original design, but I didn't know what direction to go. So, it hung around for a while, until I figured out what to do with it. My solution was to remove a large piece of fabric that was hanging over the edge, cut some of the finger shapes off and add circles. The circles were made from Angelina fibers and the fabric was dyed with bleeding tissue paper. I like it better now, but it still isn't my favorite piece. What do you think?

This is the final piece.

This is the unfinished top before any stitching was added.