Reflections

I see things differently than most people; I've known this for a long time. Usually, people look around at the general scene as a whole. I can also do that, but I tend to focus in on the details. I notice the patterns in cracked concrete or the shadows on a building. Water is always a fun to look at.Here are a couple of photos I shot of reflections of boats in the harbor.

I thought they were really cool while I was looking at them, but found that by changing the shutter

speed, the image changed dramatically.

You should take some photos of reflections, it's a lot of fun and very inspiring.

My daughter is a competitive swimmer and the pool is right by the ocean. There is a lot of waiting between her swimming events. Needless to say, I've taken many harbor/ocean photos over the years.

Beautiful Postcards Received

Here are two postcards I received from the Surface Design Color Composition trade.This one is made by the incredibly talented Joanna. I love the complimentary colors she used. Visit her blog to see more of her fabulous work. This beautiful postcard is made by Jan Z. As far as I know, Jan doesn't have a blog or website. Correct me if I'm wrong Jan. I love all the different purples in this card. Jan also incorporated some purple yarn for additional texture.

Color Composition Trade

I belong to an online group called Surface Design. This group of artists LOVE to trade PC's, pins, padfolios, ATC's, etc. It's hard not to sign up for every trade, but I know I wouldn't have enough time to get them finished. The color composition trade sounded really appealing and I just couldn't resist. Here are the postcards that I will be mailing to my trade partners.I used a split complimentary color scheme. These aren't colors that I generally use together, but I really like the results. I am going to explore this combination further.I was looking through a pile of hand painted fabric and this yellow orange just jumped out at me. It contained all of the colors needed for the split complimentary scheme.The green fabric is also hand-painted. The purple is a commercial fabric.I had fun cutting the fabric and rearranging into different compositions. The finishing touch was machine embroidery and beads. I hope Joanna, Jan, Carol T. and Norma like them.

Painted Canvas

Several posts ago, I had a small quilt with 3-D flowers and a butterfly. I was searching for an unusual way to mount or frame this small piece. Well, I built up many different layers and textures with paint and gel medium onto the canvas, looking for just the right background. The colors started dark and gradually went pretty bright, then I added a wash over the whole thing to unify it. I like the idea of mounting a fiber piece on canvas and want to make some more. What do you think?

Busy Art Week

Even though I didn't post anything lately, doesn't mean I haven't been creating. I guess I've been too busy to take the photos! I'm a very visual person, I need to have photos with each posting.

This month, my ATC meeting was at Art from Scrap. I received these wonderful little pieces of art from the many talented members. I really enjoy creating in a different medium than fiber, it makes me think differently. This month my ATC's were photographs that I have taken.

I also had a wonderful meeting with my Fibervision buddies. We had a short business meeting, a really good critique session and a Jeanne led a very fun lesson in portrait painting with Tsukineko Inks. I love these inks and this technique. It is very easy and we all had very good results. Here is the portrait I worked on, unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, so I can't show all of them. Thanks Jeanne, it was a great lesson!

Templeton Outdoor Quilt Show

Kathy heard about this outdoor quilt show in Templeton and asked me if I wanted to go. Templeton? Where is it? Turns out it's an old fashioned town, 160 miles north of us. Quilts hanging outdoors is unusual, but the real draw for me was the architecture of this sleepy little town. Off we went, with my trusty camera in tow.The drive along the coast was foggy, pretty typical for June. As soon as we turned inland, the fog lifted and the temperature began to rise. Fortunately, for us, there was a breeze. Turned out to be a great day. The town was a blast from the past! There were a few innovative quilts and many traditional ones hanging in front of the businesses along Main Street.

My camera found Templeton to be quite photogenic! There were lots of OLD buildings in various states of disrepair. I couldn't resist the shadows and textures on this old building.

This bright turquoise door caught my eye. I suppose I did a little trespassing to get these photos, but nobody seemed to care.
Not sure what this was in its former life, but the patina was wonderful. It made me think of all the fabric rusting experiments I've seen lately!

California Photos

I thought I would take a few moments to post some of my favorite "scenic" photos of where I live in California. It is located about 10 miles north of Santa Barbara or in the middle of the state, right along the ocean. We (bloggers) interact with people all over the world on a daily basis and probably don't know much about where we are from. Hope you enjoy the little tour.

This is my favorite park in the downtown Santa Barbara area. There are massive Koi and turtles that live in the pond. A Blue Heron flew in to fish while I was taking photos. There are many wonderful plants and trees. The tree with the red flowers blooming in the background is called a Coral tree.

This is a sunrise photo at East Beach. It is a popular tourist area and is very beautiful. There is a wharf with shopping and restaurants, a breakwater where you can walk out between the harbor and ocean and a walking/bike path following the beach for many miles.

This is a very interesting photo of downtown Santa Barbara with snow on the mountains. The elevation of these mountains are 2,000 ft. This is the only time in the 29 years that I have lived here that snow has fallen that low. You may be able to see all the Spanish architecture, red tiled roofs and palm trees.

Before and After

Here are the before and after photos of my new flower garden. The hummingbirds and honey bees love all the flowers. There must be 75-100 bees on the hebe bushes at any given time.

By the time I remembered to grab my camera, Mike had already pulled the bricks out of the pathway and was starting to pull weeds.

Ta-da. Here's the new and improved version. We planted fuschias, dianthus, geraniums, kaffir lillies and impatients. I really like the way it turned out, it's a huge improvement. And of course, all those flowers do "Color My World"!

Flower Garden

I know it's been a while since I posted, but it couldn't be helped. Mike and I spent every spare minute of the past week planting a flower garden in the front of our house. We worked all weekend and every night after work. I was so tired every night that all I could do was clean up and go to bed. It was so much work, but it was worth it, it looks fabulous!

I love all types of flowers and plants; the colors and shapes really inspire me. I'll post some photos of the new garden next time.

I finally got back into my sewing room last night. Good thing, I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms! LOL.

I finished a pillow for my boss' birthday. She has everything imaginable, so it's always a challenge to give her something special. She loves art and has a good sense of humor. She frequently says "Humor Me", so I decided to incorporate the saying into a pillow. I think (hope) she will get a good laugh!

Fibervision

Several people have asked about Fibervision, so here is a quick description.
There are 26 active members that live in CA within 150 mile radius of each other. We rent a room once a month at a community center to plan/discuss exhibits, art topics, share finished work, seek advice and play. Each month one or two of the members shares a technique or knowledge with the rest of the group. The talent and expertise within this group is amazing. I am very fortunate to be associated with such a wonderful group of artists. They are always a source of inspiration. Visit our website at www.fibervision.org
This month Michelle brought pigment based dyes and Cathi brought fiber reactive dyes for us to play with. Wow, did we have fun. Most people dyed cloth, Joan overdyed rusted cloth, Kristin brought a rayon shawl and Diana brought a silk tank top .

This photo shows the results I got with the dye. Left to right: White on beige, white on white, the next 3 were black and white and last one was a pink, beige and cream stripe. My favorite is the white on white/beige pieces.

This photos shows three pieces that were painted with the pigment dye. This pigment dye is very bold, the colors are much stronger than the dye-na-flo or setacolor that I am used to. I love them all.

Spring of Creativity

Here's my second challenge quilt for The Artist's Muse group. The chapter discussion was Spring of Creativity.
The individual challenges were as follows: create a piece to depict flowers on a pieced green background using 3 or more green fabrics using a repetition of one to three shapes and then add some punch to your design by adding one unexpected shape or color to create an off center focal area.

Do you think I met the challenge??

The background is a lot of chopped bits of fabric, thread clippings, avocado bag pieces and fuzz balls from the cut end of newly washed fabric. It was all layered in between water soluble stabilizer and stitched like crazy. After the stabilizer was dissolved, the piece was stitched to an irregular background. I was inspired by the amazing ice plants that bloom every spring outside my sewing room (see the post on Mother's Day). The three-dimensional construction is very simple, but effective. Basically, it is a strip folded in half, gathered and clipped. I had a difficult time getting the butterfly embroidered just right. You can see from my last post, I used a different butterfly. As expected, the first one was way too big, the second one wasn't sturdy enough to stand up, but the third one was just perfect!
This challenge was a lot of fun and I'm really pleased with the results. I'm thinking that I will mount and frame this piece somehow. It is fairly thick, three-eights of an inch, and pretty heavy. I would like to hear any suggestions you might have for framing.

Sneak Peek

I'm working on the second challenge for the Artist's Muse group. Below is a photo of a butterfly that I may use in my piece, but it may be too large. I guess I'll decide when it is finished.

I should be able to leave and work on something else why the machine is stitching away, but it's always so fascinating to watch the design develop, I can't leave. This photo is showing you how much detail is added on the last color pass. The left side is completely finished.