I have been awarded with Liebster Blog Award by Kal an artist on the other side of the pond at Kalona Creativity. This award is given to bloggers who inspire you and have less than 200 followers. The Liebster Award takes it’s name from the German word meaning Beloved, Dearest or Favorite. After some reluctance, […]
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documenting my work, part deux…
Just the other day I thought I had finished documenting my work. I noted I had made 150 quilts in 12 years. I have spent bits of the past few days rounding up images of baby quilts. Today in the middle of acupuncture I recalled a small portfolio I made of my very early work. […]
documenting my work…
Last year while teaching at a Denver conference I also had the opportunity to listen to some incredible speakers. One of these was Nancy Bavor quilt appraiser, lecturer and curator. She spoke about documenting one’s work for historical purposes. In a private conversation later she really encouraged me to do so, especially for my Tall […]
what to do with all of it?
When I fetched today’s mail there was a parcel of 20 beautiful postcards for an art quilt exhibit opening next month. I was one of three jurors for this exhibit and so that is why I received a bundle of the postcards. Most every exhibit I have my work in sends me similar postcards. […]
just start…
This afternoon I took time to go into the studio and just start. My wise friend Miriam Nathan-Roberts says when the muse is dormant just start! She is wise because it works. Soon I was engrossed in the process and created this square from a linen dinner napkin for the 2012 SAQA fundraiser auction. Designing a […]
what good are excuses if we do not use them?
Holy smokes…its been almost a month since I blogged! I have some really great excuses in honor of an old soul who once said what good are excuses if we do not use them? As usual I have been immersed in the business of art-making instead of the art-making. One thing to my credit is […]
new work…
Today I managed to get to the basement to photograph two new pieces. I accessed the lower portion of the house by going out the front door and around the side to the back door with only two steps that direction. I returned via the interior staircase, 13 in total which I managed easily one […]
really love the work…
Today we made a leisurely drive up north to remove my work from a co-op gallery I joined six months ago. This gallery has potential for growth but I chose to not stick around to see it as the monthly fees far exceeded my proceeds. As a rule I keep a inventory […]
on jury process…
Yesterday I had the privilege of being a juror for “Out of the Comfort Zone: New Directions in Quilting” which will exhibit March 2-July 29, 2012 at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, CA. It was a wonderful process, a lot of fun and an interesting observation of my own artistic process. Much of the […]
making progress…
Happy New Year! When I went in for a knee replacement in October I left two pieces of cloth hanging on my design wall with the intention of inspiring me to get started again with my art-making. One piece was already designed and pin-basted to be stitched. The other was simply a painted metallic thread […]
art goals…
This is the time of year when I record my art goals for the new year. I don’t call them resolutions because there is nothing to resolve. To me resolution eventually equals guilt! Instead I set goals. The practice of writing them down seems to have a large effect on meeting them. I may not […]
blog delinquency…
I have been blog delinquent! I continue to recover at a good pace from a total knee replacement 8 weeks ago. I am now back in the pool, walking with a cane in the exterior world and less so at home, driving, prepping some food, minimal shopping, clearing out and loading the dishwasher etc. In […]
act without thinking…
As I have entered week seven post-op from a total knee replacement my thinking cap has been relocated and is now in full operation! Now that I have regained my ability to drive the car, and walk with a cane my brain has gone into overdrive with all the things that should soon follow. Of […]
winter solstice…
Most of us know winter solstice to be in the deep darkness of December. While we barely notice it in North America I had the extreme delight to experience it in Sweden in 1999. Our family escaped to the hinterlands in an effort to avoid the Y2K mania here in the States. It was such […]
making other plans…
Anyone who has seen Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day pretty much has a good idea of my life these days. After two fantastic days last weekend of doing what I was told (lap the garage 15 times) my knee swelled like a ripe casaba melon and I could barely stand on it. It has taken all […]
Bedside manner…
I had the total knee replacement two weeks ago today. After 3 days in the hospital and 8 days in a rehabilitation hospital, I arrived home last Friday to my nest. Home never looked so good!!! I have had my wings clipped for a month. I can walk around the house but cannot leave the […]
the greatest lessons…
Some times the best thing we can learn in a class is that we never want to EVER do that (fill in the blank) again! That is me and watercolor. For years I have admired and purchased watercolor art. And I longed to take a watercolor class myself although now I am not sure what […]
beat the clock…
So here I am just 9 days out from surgery and playing a rapid-fire game of beat the clock. I finished updating the PowerPoint, and drafted patterns for two shirts which pared down my to-do list considerably. Everything on the list has been what I figured I could not do well for several months. I […]
time management again…
One of the things on my pre-surgery list has been to flesh out two of my five lectures. With one finished I am hard at work on the other. All five lectures have been given numerous times so it is indeed time to freshen. Initially I was scheduled to deliver one in mid-November but when […]
mood indigo…
I often pile fabrics to audition for future work. While I design spontaneously I like to let the cloth ‘ferment’ for awhile before I dig in. Sometimes I will have 3-4 different combinations stacked on any flat surface in my studio. A trip to Japan in 2002 yielded a giant suitcase full of vintage kimono […]
on a roll…
Once I got past the terror of the MRI I seem to be on a roll. I am actually looking forward to surgery mid-October, getting it past me and on to the next trip, art quilt, surgery, GF cinnamon roll, commission or whatever life holds for me. I just put Upheaval #10 up on my […]
keeping up appearances #3
I just added Keeping Up Appearances #3 to my website. This one contains more vintage linens: an embroidered linen tea towel, linen tablecloth and linen dishtowel all of which are dye-painted and screen-printed with text. I found a number of well-worn (and no doubt loved) linen dishtowels in my father’s laundry room last year when […]
no mri… on rewind
I did something today that I thought I would never in my lifetime have to do. I had a MRI so the perfect knee joint can be created for me. It is all a bit sci-fi and I was told I am only the second person to have this done at that facility. Always was […]
designer parts…
At last report I was zipping along to a work-stoppage deadline imposed by an upcoming total knee replacement. Normally I like to avoid deadlines as they intimidate more than inspire but I was making significant progress with my self-imposed timeline. Last Thursday I received an evening phone call from the surgeon who said he was postponing surgery for a […]
more upheaval…
I just finished and photographed Upheaval # 9; what I hoped would be the 3rd of four new works designed in August. With just 5 days remaining in the month I am re-assessing that challenge! I am now taking a break to do some ‘housekeeping’ chores of my artistic life. And yet as soon as this one came down I […]
keeping up appearances..dos
Here is the second in the Keeping Up Appearances series! As viewer will recall this work was inspired by a long lost and then found copy of mid-20th century American etiquette. This one challenged my sense of balance with the delicate embroidered and painted dresser scarves vs. heavier woven dyed and painted dinner napkins. […]
keeping up appearances…
Last summer while cleaning out my aged father’s home I happened across my mother’s manual for life…Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Book of Etiquette published in 1954. I grabbed a spot on the sofa and began to leaf through this treasure of civility. Not too far into this tome and I was laughing till the tears came. […]
if it’s worth doing…
I must have heard that expression ‘if it is worth doing it is worth doing right’ a hundred times during my youth. As a kid I recoiled at the very idea of doing anything over again and yet I remember as an adult when the light switched on in my head. Oh yeah ….it is worth doing […]
adding categories…
It all started when I thought it was too early to start dinner. Now it will be a late dinner. I had for some time wanted to add categories to this new WordPress blog. So first I researched it and started in with my categories. About an hour into it discovered I have 23 pages of blog […]
this and that…
Since I made the decision and the appointment to have a total knee replacement on September 12th my anxiety level has cranked through the ceiling. I am reminded by those who have had them that it will be a transformative end result. And yet it seems a long path from here to there. I know […]
