Paris Cafe Art Quilt... Done and a Rocket Quilt Started

 Well, I did add a few more final touches after these photos were taken, but it's done!  It's 40 x 50 inches with a white border.  This was made especially for my machine quilter, Annie who has done a wonderful job on all the art quilts I've made so far (except for the small ones which I did).  I hope she likes it...

 To the left is the latest art quilt.  Last year around this time, I made a mermaid quilt for our daughter (drawn and painted on Kona cotton, then sandwiched and quilted).  She loved it and my son wanted a 'rocket/blast off' quilt.  I had a mind block about it for a LONG time, since... well... I'm more in tune with mermaids than rockets.  Finally I asked him to draw me all his fave rocket ships and BOOM!  I had the basis for the quilt.  It will fit a full/queen bed nicely.  I'm so eager to get it all painted... but will take a lot of drying time before I can do all the sections.  (our dining room table is only so big :)

Will report back on rocket progress in the coming weeks. 

Now if I could just get that Light Project zine started... have not found time but hope to before school is out.  Happy weekend :)

Today, at the Cafe de Flore

Here is a little glimpse at the new art quilt I'm working on... it's actually a commission. I'm willingly and happily doing an 'art for art' trade. This quilt is for the lady who does machine quilting for me... in exchange for her services, she wanted an art quilt instead of cold, hard cash. Not a problem! I'm having so much fun with this one... she love Paris cafes and asked for something along those lines. I'll share more as the painting progresses.

Happy 'almost' Friday. Tomorrow there will be a few '100 faces' sketches to share. See you then!

First 100 Faces Thursday

This is a man in progress!

I don't know about the lady in distress directly above. She may need to be seriously re-worked. I'm letting her percolate for now. All of these woodblocks are inky and wet right now. I'm planning on painting all of them and do have some previous ones - now painted- to share this weekend and soon on flickr.

As a sidebar, I have been printing these faces on quilter's cotton squares for some kind of quilt/fiber odyssey. This was actually my mom's idea... she always has good ones. Naturally, some will go to her as she's the REAL sewing lady. (as in she has the mad skills and I am lacking in that department.)

Now that it's March (and 20 days til vernal equinox, my son informs me) it's doubtful there will literally be 100 faces for this project. I'm going to do the best I can... as much as my thumb will allow to be carved. But, as April rolls in, so will a new project!

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday

Well... here we have our first man in the group. I'm taking inspiration from the quattrocento of the Italian Renaissance. Just couldn't resist Massiacio's profile of this man... hope I can do it justice in the carving.

Rough drawing from a sculpture depicting the lamentation of the dead Christ.... soon to be tweaked, transferred and carved.

There are many more lighthouses at flickr (well there will be, I can't get onto their site right now!) This particular light is out on the Makah Reservation... quite on the very edge of Washington state. It's beautifully wild and untouched out there.

On a craftier note, I'm hand quilting my quilt I've been working on with colored floss threads. Hope to share some this weekend. Anna Maria Horner is coming to Spokane's The Top Stitch quilt shop next month. I SO want to go meet her and maybe take her class. Happy early Friday :)

A Doodle of a Quilt

Here are a few blocks of a quilt I've been mulling over for quite some time. I'm a lover of Jude's work over at Spiritcloth. So, I just had to try something inspired by her approach. These 3 pieces are sort of 'fill-ins' of other woven parts and experiments which I'll show another day :)

This hand sewing is what I love to do in the evenings when the comfy couch is beckoning and the kids are doing homework on the floor. It's what I do when I'm too tired to do anything else. It's a meditation on the day... what's happened and what's up for tomorrow. I guess it's my unwinding, comforting, thinking time amidst the chaos of crazy-kid evening time :)

Happy Friday! 100 faces coming this weekend! (didn't get a chance to print yet :)

Bonfire of the Fish Spirits- Carved Version

Originally this image was an art quilt... but, I really like this one and thought it would translate nicely into a woodcut. Here is the actual carved Shina wood. I printed this version, made some revisions and have printed the final cut. (oh, that IS relief printmaker lingo :) So, I'm going to share as soon as the ink is dry and have painted.

On another note, we are expecting our first big snow storm (already had a dusting that melted) so, today I've been getting ready... sweeping all the pine needles that fell after a nasty windstorm. (It's much easier to shovel snow without those things on the ground - and I'll be doing the shovel duty so, I'm making it easier on my arms.) Also moved all the patio/deck stuff out of the elements. Plus, we went grocery shopping, returned the library movies and bought some scrap booking stuff for Christmas pages. A swimming playdate was cancelled this afternoon because of the forecast and as of 5:15pm, still not snowing. Hmmn.

Planting by the Moon

Here is a new art quilt I've been working on. I actually did the drawing when I made the Mermaid quilt a few months back. But... I've been suffering from feelings of 'where am I going? what am I doing?' with my art. I haven't had many shows lately and am starting to re-evaluate why I do art and should I keep working hard on it without many prospects. Guess I need to get out there and make new connections! Or maybe just stop.

Hopefully I can get out of this funk or maybe it's a bridge to somewhere else. Then comes the commitments to home and family... and the time that takes and how important it is to cultivate that side of life. Hmmn. Just thinking out loud. Thanks for listening.

Big Night

It seems I've been working on the sleeping mermaid quilt for a very long time... and I'm not even close to being done. Here is a little progress... earlier in the week, the wave border was painted and doodled over with my fave water ditty. Then, decisions about the quilt she's laying on. So tough!! Traditional log cabin, granny's garden, flying geese??? After much deliberation, I thought about mid-century textiles and felt this design lent itself to an undersea barnacle kind of world in an abstract sort of way.

My daughter has not weighed in on the choices of color yet... hope she likes it.

Tonight is the opening of my art quilt show at the Tinman Too Gallery in Spokane. Check it out! It will be showing all month. Happy Friday, all :)

Ultimate Spa?

You know how some people put their beds outside to sleep under the stars... especially where the sun shines a lot? Well, I thought bathing by the light of the moon would be divine. But not in a murky, dark pond - no, a claw foot tub would be best. Never mind who has to fill the tubs or heat the water... just to enjoy the soak is most important.

(sidebar... the movie, A Room with A View has a great scene where many of the male characters go for a swim but they call it to 'go for a bathe'. This must be the female version of that idea)

Somebody Wants a Mermaid Quilt...

Here's our youngest cutie watching her favorite show in a special 'chair'. :) She is so very into mermaids right now and wanted me to make her a sleeping mermaid on a bed to go on her bed.

So! This art quilt will be my biggest to date. It's a very wide piece of white kona cotton and is about twin bedspread size. It was a bit nerve wracking to start but, once I got the scale of her the rest just followed... although her breasts could've been a little bit lower. Oh well! I'm now doing some borders. Can't wait to start painting it. Will share more soon.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Flip Side

Check out the back of one of the saintly ladies... I think I might like it more than the front! This thread painting stuff is really fun but there's more practice to be done. (like learning better control - it really is like driving a car without brakes).

Happy hump day :)

Brown Eyes

One of the saintly ladies series... she's now all written on and free-motion quilted. Thought it would be fun to share her on a pared down level first. More to come :)

We are so excited March is here... and the snow is starting to melt. Counting down the days to equinox and watching closely for little green shoots and primroses. What grows first in your garden?

Mixer Mamas

Mixer Mammas are in the kitchen ... baking up a storm. This was the last one for the upcoming show in March. But, I'm not feeling this one so much. I need time and space from it which is a luxury I don't have... so it's out!

Moon Flower and a little Tess Gallagher

Here is another art quilt - I have two yoga quilts and hope to do one more for a nice three in a row for the show. This one is the Moon Flower pose - it goes with Sunflower pose and both are supposed to be very good for banishing depression as well as good for warming up. The background is a rambling, funky Spokane out the 4th floor huge windows. It's not exact but more what I think I'm seeing upside down... twisted and in another 'zone'. Think I might like it better than the 'real' view. :) I'm about to write all over this one...

I thought I'd do something different and share some of my favorite things with you this year. One of my favorite things I always come back to is poetry. I used to write tons of it and at one time was going to major in creative writing with poetry emphasis... but other things went on and I went down many paths before choosing again. Anyway, enjoy!

Oh, this book of poems is one of my all time favorites. She came to my college in her hometown of Port Angeles, WA right before this one was being published. She read a few poems and I was gone. Absolutely besotted with her reading and style of writing. Her husband had recently passed away - Raymond Carver - and there are a lot of grief-riddled pieces in this one but still, the beauty of her work sometimes overwhelms me. Here are a few samples:

I Stop Writing The Poem

to fold the clothes. No matter who lives or who dies, I'm still a woman.

I'll always have plenty to do.

I bring the arms of his shirt

together. Nothing can stop

our tenderness. I'll get back

to the poem. I'll get back to being

a woman. But for now

there's a shirt, a giant shirt

in my hands, and somewhere a small girl

standing next to her mother

watching to see how it's done.

Trace, In Unison

Terrible, the rain. All night, rain

that I love. So the weight of his leg

falls again like a huge tender wing

across my hipbone. Its continuing - the rain,

as he does not. Except as that caress

most inhabited. Ellipsis of

eucalyptus. His arms, his beautiful

careless breathing. Inscription

contralto where his lips graze

the bow of my neck. Muslin half-light.

Musk of kerosene in the hall, fixative

to ceaselessly this rain, in which

there is nothing to do but be happy, be

free, as if someone sadly accused

came in with their coat soaked through

and said, "But I only wanted

to weep and love," and we rolled toward

the voice like one body and said

with our eyes closed, "Then weep, then

love." Buds of jasmine threaded through

her hair so they opened after dark,

brightening the room. that morning

rain as it would fall, still

falling, and where we had lain,

an arctic light steady

in the mind's releasing.

~Tess Gallagher, 1992

Beautiful Felons

Hello and happy Friday! I'm so glad the weekend is here. Meet a group of 13 beautiful felons... I wanted to make some smaller art quilts for my upcoming show... it's nice to have a variety of sizes in my opinion. These ladies were so much fun to draw! There are a few ideas I've been playing with surrounding these women... but haven't decided yet - so they may not be felons just yet. I really would like to do even more, but the clock is ticking faster and faster.

Messenger swallows bringing good yarn to coastal villages... I love the idea of messenger birds and have wanted to play with the subject for quite awhile. This one is already painted and has some writing/journaling on it. I'll be working through the weekend on these things and maybe a few more larger ones. I hope y'all have a nice and relaxing weekend!

Sketchbook Wednesday

Here are a few ideas I have churning today. They've both made it onto fabric for more art quilts. The March show is coming up faster and faster. (well, a late Feb deadline is what's on my mind!)

I'm really having fun with this style of art making. Not many rules and drawing loose... it is very freeing. Oddly, I haven't carved a woodblock for a long time now. This is the longest stretch, I think (although I did do some mastercarve stuff recently). After this project, it's going to be woodcuts galore!

Speaking of woodcuts, I'm honored to be included in an art blog, Apt3 Design... amongst many wonderful printmakers. The writer is Tina, a student at Portland State University - my art school Alma Mater. Check it out here .

Peace in the New Year!

Another year's almost here... to unfold and live, live, live!

A prayer for peace in the new year... albeit crooked - but a good prayer all the same!

Blue sky and snowy pines... we had very low temperatures today but lots of sunshine, but we couldn't convince the kids the snow was not going to melt. :)

Bonfire of the Fish Spirits... the painting part is done, I've been writing all over it for most of the day. This one is my favorite so far - it's very personal.

Happy, happy new year to one and all. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog... I hope the new year brings you goodness and happy surprises around every corner.

Bonfire of the Fish Spirits

A little glimpse into one of the latest art quilt drawings. The location of this one is inspired by my hometown. I hadn't planned the drawing this way, but changed my mind... it began to morph into (yet again) something about the seashore, coast, water etc. It's one of the many to be in the gallery show this March. I'm definitely feeling the pressure of a deadline! Happy Wednesday, y'all.

Gobble- Gobble!

Our son's sign he put at the head of the Thanksgiving table. I love how young minds think!

By our baby girl

Snow and more coming tonight... well, all weekend.

A glimpse of my latest WIP 'art quilt' - this one is on 84" wide fabric... my largest piece yet. There's still a lot to do - I'm adding the background hopefully on Monday.

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful feasting day of good food, good company and good cheer! We had a lovely one with family today at our house. It was a great time and fun to break out all the china and crystal...my mom did all the cooking and brought it over here. Since I'm a vegetarian, my peeps are still worried I'll make another Tofurky like I did one year. :) They all had one word for me, CARDBOARD!

Whew! It's been way too long being offline... we finally got some computer stuff sorted out and are back online this evening. It's been bitter cold with temps in the single digits and even -10F. I had bad karma on Monday when 2 different cars hit my parked car while taking our kids to school. :( We just had it fixed this spring after being hit (rental car for 18 days!) and a major overhaul when the car died as soon as we reached Portland. (PS this is a newer SUV, not an old clunker!) We're thinking this car is jinxed... and after it's fixed, maybe selling it.

I'm off the warm up in front of the fire and chill with the corgis and everyone... goodnight.

Drawing and Weaving...

Foxglove with stones

Old Letterpress

I'm an avid reader of the wonderful blog, Spiritcloth by Jude Hill. She's so innovative and creative in her approach to fabrics, quilts and often includes water elements her work as

she lives close to the beach on Long Island Sound. Also she embroiders little lions and beasts on the quilts - they have a charm all their own. Anyway, I just had to try one of her methods... cloth weaving (which equals a perfect checkerboard). Not sure where this is going but it will tell me over time.

Here are two more unfinished ink drawings with gouache. I love to draw old machines of any kind. The dark iron, wheels, and 'innards' are a never ending fascination of mine. We're off to rake leaves in the sunshine... have a great weekend!