Fun Train Trip to Carlsbad

I'm not sure where my week went, but it flew by, just like the speeding train we took to Carlsbad. hehe I shot the photo below while speeding though Los Angeles. I set the camera speed high and the ISO high, braced myself, held my breath, and hoped for the best. You're not impressed with this photo, are you? Who would be?

I shoot 80% of my photos as a jpg and RAW. If you shoot in RAW mode and capture all the digital information, there is a lot of things you can do to reclaim the details in the photo. Here's the new and improved version. A little different, isn't it?If you don't have a camera that can shoot RAW, this before and after photo could make you think twice about a new camera! I love cameras and software and was a graphic designer for 20 years, so this is right up my alley. It's not for everyone though.Back to our trip to The Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad. Me, Andi Perejda and Ranell Hansen spent 10 hours on the train in one day! Sherry Kleinman and Linda Miller hopped on in LA. The trip down was fun and went by quick. The first 3 hours on the way back were fun, but the last 2 were exhausting. Mary Tabar, the new So CA representative, had lunch with us and gave us a ride back to the train station. I made some new fiber friends, so it was all worth it.

The gallery was packed during the reception. Fortunately, they have a nice patio outside and it's one block from the beach, so there was a nice ocean breeze.

Sherry

Ranell

Andi and Linda

Cloth Paper

Each month, after the Fibervision business meeting and lunch, we have a mini workshop. This month, Lorna showed us how to make cloth paper.

I rummaged through my closet, gathered all sorts of paper, foil, dyed paper towels and painted dryer sheets. We slathered the papers with generous layers of diluted Elmer's glue, stuck it to a muslin backing, and set it aside to dry.

It's very colorful and quite stiff. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I will probably make more of it. It's the perfect technique for all the "stuff" I've saved over the years. Lorna has done both machine and hand stitching on her cloth paper and says the more you stitch, the softer it gets. She has made some wonderful mixed media pieces using the cloth paper.

One more tool to add to the tool box. Thanks for organizing the workshop, Lorna.

Fabulous Patio

Here it is . . . the long awaited patio. 1,000 square feet of outdoor living! Yippee. The black flower pots are covering the metal thingees that will hold the posts for the future pergolas, one over each door.The patio came out better than I imagined. I'm thrilled because rarely does anything live up to my imagination. After talking to the owner, Jose, his biggest problem is when the customer doesn't know what they want or can't communicate it clearly. Obviously, I didn't have that problem. They took my basic idea and ran with it. If you ever need concrete and live in southern CA, call Martinez Concrete & Pumping. They are a fantastic team.My DH likes to assign labels to everything, he calls this giraffe! I hadn't thought about it, but I guess it does. LOL

We will seal the giraffe next week which will bring the color out even more. Right now it looks aged, and we really like it. I hope it looks good once it's sealed. Knowing me, I will drop paint on it. It's not a matter of IF, it's a matter of WHEN. I don't want to deal with guilt, so we'll seal it right away.

Front Porch Gallery: Carlsbad, CA

I'm really excited about the upcoming exhibit at the Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad on July 9, 2011. I'm sure this is going to be a great exhibit because there are some great fiber artists represented. Here's a partial list: Jane LaFazio, Jamie Fingal, Rose Hughes, Terry Waldron, Kathy Nida, Smadar Knobler and 5 of my Fibervision Friends, Andi Perejda, Jeanne Surber, Ranell Hansen, Susan West, Pamela Price Kelbaum, and yours truly.

I am really excited that I was chosen for this SAQA exhibit. Honestly, I feel like a small fish in a big pond. That said, you can probably imagine how excited I was to see my quilt on the invitation (top right). Andi's quilt is on the left side. We're the bookends. Very, very cool!

We (Me, Ranell, and Andi) will be catching the Surfliner southbound train, and will arrive just in time for the reception. It's going to be a long day, full of fun, friends (new and old), laughter and our fair share of wine (I'm sure).

If you live anywhere nearby, please stop in, I would love to meet you.

Embroidery While Blindfolded

Katherine Loomis and Terry Jarrard-Dimond had an interesting collaboration awhile ago about creating embroidery while blindfolded. This idea intrigued me and I decided to give it a try. Katherine and Terry spent 12 hours each stitching, while I spent around 6 hours on my piece. I may continue with it, you just never know.

I was taught that my stitching should look good from the front as well as the back. I had to let go of that thought, and I did. For me, the most difficult part was being blindfolded. I don't like things covering my head or face, so being completely submerged into darkness was difficult. Once I adjusted to my situation, I actually became very peaceful. Without sight, the rest of my senses heightened. Muscle memory kicked in and supplied me with the details that I needed. I couldn't see what the stitching looked like, and I didn't care, I liked the way it felt. Creating art, even while blindfolded, made me feel good, and I'm happy to know that I can enjoy creating no matter what happens to me.

Now I'm curious to try my hand at blindfolded painting. You never know, it could be fun!

More Tangled Threads

Here are the newest additions to the Tangled Threads series.

Each piece is hand stitched to a painted canvas. The top piece has french knots embroidered in the center circle. The bottom piece has many stitches radiating from inner circle. I really like the idea of adding subtle texture that will only be noticed once you get up close to the piece.Don't you love the way the threads blend together to make these beautiful colors?

These are are so much fun to make . . . I'm sure I'll be making some more soon.

Have you ever used your leftover tangled threads in a project? If you have, I would love to hear about it.

Colored Concrete

Wow, what a process this patio turned out to be. I didn't realize how labor intensive it was going to be.

The guys arrived at 7:00am to make sure everything was ready, and the concrete began pumping at 8:00. It took them about 2 hours to pump, and level the concrete; then the fun began.

The finisher drew the shapes of the stone with this high tech tool.

Yep, it's a twig tied onto a an aluminum pole. I love the ragged lines it made, but the guys following behind him made the lines deep and regular. They are going to chip some of the edges for me before they grout. Even though it is concrete, I want it to look as natural as possible.

I asked him to make stones of all sizes. A couple of times, I wanted smaller stones in a certain area; he would erase the existing lines and redraw them. What a nice guy!

The base color is sandstone, and on top, there are 5 different colors. At first, I was worried that this was going to be over the top, but they assured me that it would look natural. After color was sprinkled all over an area, it was covered with yellow sand. The final step was to take a texture stamp and tamp it into the wet concrete to make it look like stone.

By the time they left, all I could see was yellow sand with some ridges. They told me I could sweep an area away this morning to see what the color looked like. This is what I found.

It looks fabulous. Can you see the stone texture? On Wednesday, all the sand will be removed, and Saturday the joints will be grouted. So far, I'm thrilled . . . I just can't wait to see it all finished!

Progress

This Tangled Threads piece was made for my friend Kathy. She celebrated a significant birthday, and I felt she needed something special. She seemed to like it even though it was a month late. Unfortunately, that seems to be the story of my life lately . . . I'm always playing catch up. This back yard renovation is probably a good excuse for being late with everything. As you can see the patio is very close to being done. It curves along the full length of the house and wraps around one corner. I did 15 different designs in Illustrator before we settled on this patio shape. I think the curves are more interesting than straight lines, and it just felt right. Once I had a shape that I liked on paper, I tested the shape in real life. I drew it onto the ground with flour. Once I had it perfect. I marked the line with flags, and the contractor placed the bender board on the marked line.The concrete will be poured this coming Saturday. The base color will be sandstone and there will be flagstone shapes drawn into it. They will sprinkle 3 different colors on top. When it's dry, the cracks will get grouted and the whole thing will be sealed.

Yippee!

Art Exchange

Lucky me! I'm the proud owner of this wonderful felted masterpiece that Sandy made.

I fell in love with it when I saw it on her blog, and as it turns out she was willing to trade work with me. She didn't want to chose something, she wanted to be surprised. Well, the biggest surprise turned out to be that the package didn't want to be delivered. The first time I mailed it, I left one number out of the address, and it took a week to come back to me. I mailed it again using Priority Mail, which was supposed to take 2-3 days, but 1-1/2 weeks passed and neither of us received it. Just when I thought I would have to replace it, the mailman delivered it to Sandy. Yeah!!!

Here's the adventurous piece that survived the journey . . .twice.

And this is what it's made from, tangled threads that come off washed fabric ends. I added 4 or 5 saturated strips of fabric for some extra zing, and a backing fabric, other than that it's tangled threads.

Rain in June?

I can't quite figure out what is happening with the weather . . . it's been raining here for two days! I know that sounds normal to some of you, but, I've never seen it rain in June in the 30+ years I've lived here. Generally, it pours between December-March, and that's it for the year. This time of the year, we have June Gloom . . . heavy fog that burns off by noon. There seems to be a lot of strange things happening worldwide . . . it really makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Our back yard is still a work in progress but we're getting very close. After 15 drawings in Illustrator, we've finally decided on a design for the patio. It will be a free-form, L-shaped patio with and a couple of cutouts against the house for plants. It will be colored and stamped concrete, that will look like flagstone. Once dry, we'll grout the low areas so it looks even more like stone. We chose a contractor and now we just have to get the irrigation done.

We've been trying to recycle/reuse as many plants and materials as possible. These large patio pavers have a new home under my potting bench and under the trash cans. Each one weighs about 400 pounds and was very difficult to move.

The old concrete path has been removed and is ready for the new patio and path. A cutout in the patio will be made for the angel trumpet tree on the right.

I'm still exercising quite a bit, and have lost 14 pounds. At first, I was exhausted from all the exercise, and didn't have much energy left for other interests, but it's getting easier now, and I'm back in the studio making art. Yeah!

This will give you an idea of what I'm working on. These are made from the knotted ends of washed fabric. They will look different once they are stitched together and mounted onto the painted canvas.

I'll share a couple other pieces made with the same materials in next post. I'm just about ready to applique my hormones onto the background.

Progress in several areas is underway!

Shared Stories, SAQA Exhibit in Carlsbad

Yippee . . . Inside Out: Golgi Body was Accepted!

Congratulations to:
Betty Amador, Charlotte Bird, Patt Blair, Loris Bogue, Cherie Brown, Jamie Fingal, Barbara Friedman, Doria Goocher, Desiree Habicht, Gail Hansen, Ranell Hansen, Carol Henke, Rose Hughes, Sara Kelly, Pam Price Klebaum, Sherry Kleinman, Smadar Knobler, Jane LaFazio, Linda Boone Laird, Sandra Lauterbach, Jill Le Croissette, Nancy Lemke, Felisa Lyons, Kathleen McCabe, Linda Miller, Jeannie Palmer Moore, Gillian Moss, Kathy Nida, Andi Perejda, Judy Rys, Lois Sprague, Jeanne Surber, Mary Tabar, Terry Waldron, Deborah Weir, Susan West, Sally Wright, and Lisa Yoder


for having work accepted in Shared Stories~ Expressions and Stitched Memories. Read more at Front Porch Gallery's blog.

Hot Time in the Desert

The last time we were in Arizona was 30+ years ago when we drove across the country. Our son is attending grad school in Tucson, so we have a great reason to revisit the desert state once again.

First we flew to Tucson, picked up our son, drove north to Sedona to visit the breathtaking red mountains. From there, we drove to Jerome, an old copper mining town, and then back to Tucson. It's really quite surprising to see how different the vegetation is in each area.

Tucson is definitely the home of the Saguaro cactus. They are everywhere . . . thousands of them . . . standing tall. It's amazing that anything, plant or animal could live in that scorching desert, but both have found a way to survive and thrive.

This little guy was photographed at the Desert Museum, where they have exhibits of 300+ desert animals.

Sedona is as gorgeous as I hoped it would be. The mountains get their red color from a high concentration of iron. They have some wonderful hiking trails that take you to the base of the mountains. We also went on a jeep ride through the back country. It was called an "Adventure Ride" for a good reason! Fortunately, the woman driver was amazing; she knew the trails like the back of her hand.

No Saguaro cactus here . . . their main cactus is the Prickly Pear. You really need to be careful where you walked in Arizona, there are pickers everywhere.

Our hotel, Sedona Rouge, was also gorgeous. Beautiful fountains, private patio, pool, spa, handmade lemon-mint soap. I would definitely recommend it.

Jerome couldn't have been more different than Sedona. This mountain town was built because copper was discovered. There were a lot of jobs and money to be made. In its heyday, Jerome was the 4th largest city in Arizona. Once the mine closed, the population dropped from 15,000 to 100 residents, and basically became a ghost town.

Around 500 people live in Jerome now. Quite a few of the buildings remain in various stages of renovation or disrepair. Several shells remain that add an authentic flavor to the odd ghost town.

I'm not sure what is holding this facade upright, but it makes an very interesting entrance way to a glass blowers studio.

The remains of this bank building displays an odd assortment of items like an outhouse, toilet, wheel barrel, and sink. People stand above the building, and throw coins, trying to hit the various vessels. It reminded me of a carnival game, without the prizes!

Here's a photo of a sign that made me laugh out loud. Perhaps it was originally posted in the very popular brothel.

All in all, we had a lot of fun in the desert . . . but there's no place like home!