Earlier this month I was blessed with a 7 day respite in No. Carolina. As we rounded the bend of what was 2021, and three years of not traveling, I recognized that I was fast approaching lala land if I did not get out of town, or at the very least get a caregivers respite. […]
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three down, three to go…
For most of my adult life I have felt that older women hold the wisdom this world so sorely needs. As young as 30 I longed to visit “old folks homes” and ask them about their stories. Life intervened, I never had time being a working Mom and wife, to pursue the idea. Fast forward […]
so how is your sleep?
A couple weeks ago I wrote a comment on FB about having attended a Zoom class on End of Life Options. My comment ended with the paperwork alone would kill you! I came clean in my comments about my husband’s descent into Parkinson’s, a disease he has battled for 9 years now. Because this disease […]
on a lasting marriage…
Forty nine years ago today I married a man I met on a blind date just the year before. My first thought this morning was I would do it again, in a heartbeat, because in those 49 years, I have learned so much. I learned so much about him, about myself, about tenacity, about strength, […]
on ‘adulting’….
As I forge on constructing a replacement quilt for our queen bed, I have been thinking about ‘adulting.’ I often wonder about words or expressions that suddenly take on meaning to other generations. One of those is the word adulting, which I gather applies to any task one does that implies responsibility & discipline, which btw […]
coming ’round the corner…
Today I photographed no. 23 in the Defining Moments series and put it up on my website. This piece, The Aging Optimist was another that sat in my head for weeks, figuring out how to design it. I had yet another roll of strips made of scraps from which I had started the series and I […]
on deadlines…
Today while looking through birthday cards for all my favorite winter babies, I came across one with the grim reaper on it. Somehow it did not strike me as excessively funny. Yet as one who is rapidly approaching a new decade, a BIG birthday (as if they are not all big) I didn’t find it particularly […]
reflections on completion…
As I round the corner on the final lap of Defining Moments, a three year series, I seem to be experiencing a wealth of emotion! I am so pleased with myself that I’ve nearly met this self-imposed goal of 25 large pieces in 3 years time. Realistically I know I will not meet it precisely, […]
peeling the onion, in reverse…
I have often heard it said that getting to know someone is like peeling an onion. My new style of working is more like peeling the onion, in reverse. It is a layering process. Ever since I succumbed to the siren call of the mid-arm my whole style of designing has changed. Now, because I […]
NOLA
Last week we jetted down to New Orleans for a five-day Road Scholar program on the culture, music, food, mystique and more food. It was great fun and other than six freaky tornadoes hitting the state mid-week the weather was sublime. I was my usual aerial photography fool coming and going with the best results […]
musings…
In 2012 right after my Dad died and I was recovering from my second knee replacement, I felt like I needed a lifeline. I had been ruminating for at least two years beforehand about creating a mixed media women’s art group. So I chose 7 regional artists to join me, and six accepted. One from my past […]
stop making small…
One of the problems of being creative in a capitali$t society is people always say you could sell that. As an exhibiting member in artists’ co-ops, that has often been music to my ears as I have had an outlet for $tuff I could $ell! It is also appealing from the sense that it is a […]
great news…
Apparently I did not blog post earlier about this piece and now I have very wonderful news. The Cliff Notes version is Defining Moments 12: No Means NO has been juried into the biennial Quilt National 2017. With just 11% of the entries chosen for the 2017 exhibit it is a highly competitive process to have one’s work […]
and another one bites the dust…
This month I finished Defining Moments #11. This piece is titled Shadow Self and hopefully is the last piece I ever do about being shortened. I wanted to make it simple yet impactful and know I accomplished that. I screen-printed text about mixed messages and body image onto both silk organza and commercial batiks. I took the 6″ slice from the current […]
11, 12 and new…
I recall my grandmother at about my current age telling my 20 yr old self that time passes more quickly the older one gets. At the time I just thought, well, she’s old. Now I get it and I see it everywhere, like on laundry day. Is it really 12 days since I last did […]
field trip
Today hubs and I took a field trip to see Earth Stories at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. The stars aligned with a dry forecast, moderate weekend traffic as opposed to heavier weekday traffic and best of all no Super Bowl festivities! We returned through San Francisco on a gorgeous clear, sunny winter’s day. It was […]
on getting out of my own way…
I have spent most of this day fighting the voice that tells me I must go downstairs (to the cold basement) and create two new thermofax screens to print cloth for #11. This sense of urgency is based on two things; that #10 is nearly completely stitched and with 15 more to go, time is a […]
quick trip to Cincinnati…
Last weekend I made a quick trip to Cincinnati for an art opening. My work Currents #13 was juried into Art Comes Alive 2015 sponsored by Art Design Consultants of Cincinnati. There was one direct flight from the Bay Area to Cincinnati so I jumped on it, flew all night and arrived none the worse for […]
this and that…
Last week I traveled with a friend for a mixed media art class in Santa Fe, NM. Anyone who knows me well knows I am a total NM junkie. It takes little to convince me to go to NM, and this my 14th trip was no exception. This time I spent no time in galleries, the cooking […]
creeping along…
Back in the day when I was a hand weaver, before discovering I could buy fabric already woven, I used to hear stories from brave souls who chose to weave with chenille yarn. The horror stories were how it creeps. Being a non-chenille weaver I never quite understood the creeping properties until this weekend, when I set […]
sometimes my work gets out more than i do…
Last year I was presented with an opportunity to submit work to an international exhibit. Ségolène Diamant-Berger had recently returned home to France after living in Louisiana and was curating an exhibit on the theme of freedom. She had personally invited several members of African-American quilt guilds, one of whom sent me the prospectus. At first I […]
on reinvention…
We have arrived at the reinvention time of year. That time of year when optimistic folks think they need to change the very behavior that makes them human. And being such they lapse back to their comfort zone generally within the first month. I have not set New Year’s resolutions about as far back as I can remember. […]
another day, another dye bath…
A little over a week ago I returned from a rather disastrous dye class in WA. Two days ago I decided it was time to remedy that and see what I could do to over-dye some of the 12 yds of fabric which came home in pastel hues. I was a bit more concerned about the water […]
out and about…
I just had the great opportunity to visit the East Coast for 9 days. There were many special aspects of this trip including my first solo trip in many moons. And I had not been to CT since my folks lived there in the ’80’s. It took me 17 hours door to door to get there […]
installing new exhibit…
I drove down to San Jose Sunday afternoon to be in position for a Monday exhibit install at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. Sadly traffic patterns control my schedule in this part of the world so I knew it wise to position myself outside of my commute zone. I stayed at a wonderful Air BnB place which […]
old hands, new tricks…
I am working on a new body of work that will incorporate vintage clothing. In a moment of complete insanity I decided to deconstruct my father’s wool WWII Army uniform (on a hot summer day). The construction is incredible. Even the inner linings are works of art. At first it felt a bit sacrilegious or unpatriotic […]
the zen of the doodle…
My friend Franki Kohler is a whirling dervish of art techniques. She is always strengthening her creative muscle by learning, playing & dabbling with various art supplies and medium. She recently posted about making art books out of junk mail and mentioned taking an online class from Silly U. I could not find Silly U as […]
Earth Stories debut…
It’s been so long that I could not share my work for Earth Stories that the exhibit opened and I forgot all about it until I read Facebook posts this morning! Over a year ago 25 international artists were juried by portfolio into the Earth Stories exhibit at Michigan State University Museum. I was honored to […]
where i’ve been…
Where have I been you might ask? Good question! We have been in kitchen chaos for over a month now as we update our mid-century ‘heart of the house.’ It is difficult, anyone will tell you that. I think it is most likely the chaos and unpredictability of many factors that create the stress. Yet […]
getting up to speed…
Our houseguest of 2.5 weeks left yesterday. It was both a joy and exhausting! As I try to relax and regroup I find myself instead catching up on my work… the photography, the documentation, the submissions etc. I can rest tomorrow! One piece I recently finished cannot be publicly shown yet so there is a […]
