What in the Sam Hill....?

Vineyards at Maryill... on the Colombia river.

On our travels back to Spokane, we stopped at the Maryhill Museum in Goldendale, WA for a picnic and some art. Samuel Hill was a wealthy business man who built the Colombia river Highway... and collected art. He had a mansion built, perched above the Colombia river, thinking it would grow into a nice farming community someday. It never really happened and he never even lived in the house. His famous dancer friend, Loie Fuller, convinced him to turn it into a museum.

There's a nice collection of Rodin sculptures, a collection of gems, paintings, furniture etc. from Marie, Queen of Romania... a fashion display from the 40's-50's, as well as a stellar chess set collection. Currently, William Morris - a glass artist - has a beautiful show inspired by the northwest and walks in the wilderness. (I believe he's a teacher at the Pilchuck Glass School).

Thinking in Circles...

I've been doing lots of calligraphy lately... outside in nature. (well, mostly on the deck at the picnic table.) The more I do the more experiments happen. My fabulous calligraphy teacher in Portland (Carol Dubosch) had a motto she shared with us at the time - 'Stay together, learn the flowers, go light'. I love the idea of combining few words with a motto, season, idea etc. So, combined with my love for writing in the circle format, I think I've hit a new idea... but what to call it? Circle poems? Still mulling it over - but I've got more of these to share in the coming week :)

Have a lazy Sunday!

Rambling at Cannon Beach

Love the sign... looks just like a woodcut.

I was dying to eat at this place... but we never made it. It didn't look very kid friendly either - but what a cute spot.. and the bill of fare - very tempting. That's the sign - Bistro - is the only name it had. Will try to find out if they have a web site!

We've just returned from a much needed, lovely trip to the beach and Portland, OR. It was great except for the fact that our car broke down as soon as we arrived in Portland (after about 6-7 hours of driving!) . We waited about an hour or more for a tow truck to come and take our sad car to the dealership and ended up renting a car so we could still get to our 'beach leg' of the trip. Who can tell what's going to happen in a day!?

I took about a million photographs that are all potential paintings :) Now, I'm thinking about school starting on Aug 31 (yipes! we're nowhere near ready). I've been purging in the house, de-cluttering and clearing space for a calm, serene dwelling in the fall and winter. Our little girl will be going off to her first year of pre-school (she's got a Sept birthday and will be one of the older ones). Naturally, this is traumatic for moi... she's my baby! But, I'm thinking I may sooth myself by partaking in a bit of nesting and paint the living room, dining room, bathroom and hallway. :) Been wanting to do this for about 5 years now!

Raspberry Tarts

Here is the latest art quilt top... almost done painting it. I knew a very interesting Swedish lady when I was little who had us over to her family's house. She literally prepared a smorgasbord for us and made raspberry tarts in charming little silver tins for dessert. I was so impressed with the fluted, shiny tins and whatever it was she was filling them with (was around 6 or 7). This drawing was inspired by her - and the desire to do a 'kitchen ritual' series.

Have a great weekend!

Summer Banners

Baby girl's banner...

Big brother's banner...

Special summer breakfast. (usually it's just Cheerios!)

I finally finished the first art quilt/fabric painted thing from all the 'Turtlemoon' exploration I've been doing since late spring -meaning the banners above. I used bias hem tape for the 'string' and it sure was easy just to open the package... no cutting out! Getting ready to start another big piece, I just have to decide on the subject matter. Better get back to the old sketchbook (drawing board sounds better!)

Summer Chamomile

Latest art quilt underway... it's summer, so of course I had to do a beach scene. Here it is drying in the hot sun.

The old water table is new all over again. I can't believe the hours of fun both of the kids have had with this thing. Our son dumped sand in it because he wanted to create the 'bottom of the ocean'. I thought the notion was pretty cool... not to mention my 3 1/2 yr old daughter asking every day, "Mama, where is heaven?" Makes for great conversation.

Here's the Granny's Flower Garden quilt I've been working on since late spring. I've had to back off a bit from it since looking down for such long periods actually gave me a stiff neck. Who knew hand sewing was a hazard to the old bod.

German chamomile that was grown from seed. I'm very proud of these little flowers since it's the ONLY thing planted from seed that ever grew from my amateur gardening hands.

And all the while some good old fashioned jazz playing in the background. It's quickly becoming the soundtrack of summer 2010 for us at 'Midnight Pines'. (all the kids in the family chose that name for our dwelling since it houses a bunch of night owls... not to mention all the Ponderosa pines in the yard.) Happy weekend :

More French Drawings...

Here are few more drawings... they are pretty 'doodly.' I don't know if they'll even make it into the shop because I'm not that happy with them. Maybe the sketchbook is a good place to go right now and hash out a few ideas.

It has been very warm here and the flowers are growing like crazy. There's nothing like checking the garden every morning to see how much growth there was. I like being that kind of 'busy' :) Thank you, summer, for finally arriving in our neck of the woods.