Reflections

It's been a tough year for many people, and we've had a few bumps along the way too, however, I am very fortunate because my life is full of the things that are most important. I have a great family, lots of love and support, live in a beautiful location, and enjoy a peaceful, creative life.

I generally try to keep personal details out of my blog, but I'm going to make an exception because I'm so proud of my kids. Rachel is teaching high school in Boston and just completed her grad school applications, Sean lives in AZ and just graduated with his M.A. degree, and Jason lives in LA and was just promoted to VP of Music Licensing. Aren't they amazing?

The weather in Santa Barbara has been gorgeous, and I've been out taking lots of photos.

I love to watch these birds race back and forth as they try to avoid the waves.

Here's a simple structure that makes a big impact.

A pet cemetery, perhaps?

A fence with lots of character.

A view of the Santa Ynez valley from 2,000 feet.

A view of Lake Cachuma from 2,000 feet.

A view of the ocean from 2,000 feet.

The recent lunar eclipse.

I hope all of you have a happy and healthy new year!

A Piece of Paradise!

Here's my private piece of paradise . . . our mostly completed back yard. The plants, trees and grass are very happy, and so are we. I want to have a hidden garden in the area by the wheel barrel, but still have some work to finish that off.

We also need to build two patio covers over the living room and bedroom doors and need to finish some paths along both side yards. We have definitely made a lot progress though.

Do you remember this photo of our front yard taken in 2008?

Look at it now! The plants have really filled in, haven't they?
Our front and back yards both look beautiful now. Hard work does pay off! I've also been having a little fun with fabric postcards. A photo of hand-painted fabric was combined with other high contrast photos and printed on fabric. The purplish photos are the skylights in the convention center where the PIQF quilt show is held. They have been manipulated a bit and printed on fabric. Has anyone else ever looked up at these?

Long Blogging Break

I had many deadlines looming and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I needed to FOCUS and that meant staying away from the computer. I hope I still have some followers after the long break.

Here are some fabrics that I've been trying to improve with a another layer of paint.

You might remember this one from a previous post. I used a banana slicer to do rubbings. They looked a little obscene, so I decided to disguise them with the purple squares. I think it needs another layer . . . maybe circles.
This piece turned muddy and dull and needed some spark. I added the grid stamp on top in a silverish blue. I think it still needs another layer . . . maybe circles! LOL
This fabric was really grey and ugly and was not usable for anything. I added the spokes and dots. The upper corner needs another layer but I haven't decided what yet.
This was a blue screen print on white denim. I filled the negative (white) spaces with dye-na-flow and it instantly became very colorful. I think this will make a nice bag.
This was a very pretty (pastel) background with very regular patterns printed on it. It was one of my first attempts at fabric painting. It was too pretty and too regular and needed some chaos. It's getting better, but needs something else. Maybe circles!!??

I would love to hear your ideas on what the next layer should be.