It's May already !!!!!!!

Yes,  it's May already and I feel like I'm still in January....each day rushes past and time is flying out the door.  The shoe project:  Inner Soul is the exhibit happening in July 2017 to raise money for Joshua's house with Loaves and Fishes here in Sacramento...it's going to be a place where homeless can stay and receive hospice care.  I purchased the shoes at a thrift store..black patent leather shoes for $5 and I purchased a $10 container of silver flat sided beads and glued the heck out of them.....Looking for a shoe box to decorate and include in the final give away.  They will be donated to this exhibit and auctioned off in July 2017.

Also finished "Mandala Series: Koi Fish"....30" diameter circle original design, fully stitched over entire surface...a real bugger to finish off...used foam core between the finished piece and a back piece and sewed a bias strip around the circle, hand sewn to the backing.  Not as clean as I like it, but it looks good from the front.  Started the third piece and should be complete by the next weekend.
Then I can start working on the pieces I had printed off on the large massive printer at Wholesale Giclee to see how that work as I want to do larger and larger pieces.

April's Finished Work

 "Up Rooted" was accepted into KVIE Art Auction for 2017...delivered it this week to the studios and on to the next project.  I think this one will generate some $$$$ for KVIE and that's the whole purpose.

Mandala Series: Emerald Birds....finished it this past week also.  Finished it off once and tore it all apart and did it again.  I placed a cut of foam core in between the front/back circles so it had some solid surface to hang against, otherwise the piece slumped from the weight of the fabric.  Took the entire piece apart and fused the front piece to the form core and the back to the board core, then sewed another home made bias tape to the front and hand sewed to the backing to finish it off for the second time.  Now it hangs much better, has a smooth surface instead of being bowed in the front....FINISHED.

I started sewing the purple/orange mandala yesterday and it's going fast...will sew on the purple background over the weekend and should finish early next week.  And then the third one next so I can get all three installed into the gallery early May.

Finished this 90" long scarf off the floor loom last week also...seems  like I finish several things at the same time, working on them together.  Warped another scarf using pink carpet cotton thread and turquoise warp for another scarf.  Finally getting the warping down so it's much easier and getting used to using the right threads for the warp.

Being Blown into April

 

Finished "Up Rooted" .... I'm entering into the KVIE Art Auction as a donation and I'm hoping it gets accepted...if not, it goes into the gallery...turned out great and I had fun stitching...see below:

 

 Close up of stitching on the surface design and filling in the areas with colors.....

Accentuated the green pine needles on the tree leaving some in the background to give it more of an effect of depth.

 Going to do more of these pieces....they weren't that difficult and the end product is pretty grand.

Had my hair colored again yesterday and it's so windy out today it all blew to the other side, which I like....actually took what I think is a good photo of  myself....I hate selfies, but this one turned out ok...of course my glasses aren't black rimmed, they are purple, but in the lighting, they changed color.

Found a local printer that prints on fabric in large pieces...they have a 60" wide printer and they were willing to purchase a roll of cotton fabric to print off larger pieces for me, at a cost of course...they got the sample section on a roll and they are going to print off a couple of pieces in black/white for me which is what I use to start my pieces of work.  This is so great as I won't have to tile together the larger pieces now and that's a biggie for me for sure.

Got all excited about entering wearable art (shoes) into Inner Soul...a fund raiser for Loaves and Fishes here in Sacramento...very good cause....embellish the shoes and donate them and they will be on sale late-June, early July to raise funds for this good cause....along with many other artists in the area....I went to a thrift store and they had loads of high heels...I got the highest I could fine...I'm sure these are four inch heels and they have plenty of surface to deal with....I'm thinking these are going to be my "political shoes"...left and right....get it!!!   Right being conservative, left being liberal...got to start collecting images and words to start the project....should be fun. 

Two New, Two in progress and more

 I decided I needed to start my piece of work for the KVIE auction...a donation to a great cause and the huge amount of free advertising that one gets if part of their festivities.  This is a photo I took while on vacation/hiking in Canada...a fir tree with exposed roots..you could actually crawl through the opening...I put the image into Photoshop and tweaked the color and printed it off in four sections onto fabric...pieced the four pieces together, ironed flat and then fused a piece of sheer organza over the top of the entire surface.  Now I intend to sew the heck out of the surface design and hope that it turns out well enough to get accepted into the KVIE auction.  Last year I sold my piece for $400 plus I purchased a piece myself for $400, so I actually gave $800 to a great KVIE cause.  Channel 6 is my number one go to place for great programing and the ARTS.

While roaming around JoAnn Fabrics yesterday, I came upon their fabric quarters and I had been thinking about putting together an abstract pieces using solids..and their quarters were 60% off so I bought a bunch...over 40..actually saved $80 total on my end bill...what would have cost me $160, cost me $80...great savings and I have just the amount I need for my project...no waste, which is my favorite thing when I work in fiber.

 I've  put together the eight squares I created with all of this blue/white Japanese fabric using the vivid colored faces from the fabric I've had for years....and now I'm cutting out the smaller ones with the idea of fusing them onto the surface for the final sew down when it gets under the sewing machine needle.

And last but not least, I created this circle about two months ago along with two others and I need to do the surface design sewing and finish them off...so I'm going to start with my favorite one...not sure how I'm going to finish off the back so I have a stretched piece when hung, but I'll figure it out as I go...first I need to sew over the entire surface to keep it together and give it more interest...I have a strong feeling this piece is going to be something special when it's complete and I'm anxious to finish it...it always makes my soul feel better when I can produce a good piece of art work. 

If I concentrate and stay on my week's schedule, I should be able to put a dent in my project list and get some finished pieces together. 

Can I complete one piece of work a week for the year?????

My latest finished piece "Migration" put together a couple of weeks ago, sewn yesterday and today I'm hand sewing the backing in place.  12" wide by 16" high stretched, wired on the back to hang against the wall.  Most likely I'll take down to the gallery next week and install.  I'm trying to do a new piece a week, which means I should have 52 pieces done by the end of the year, but I don't think I'll be able to keep up the pace as some work just takes longer.  And then were the heck am I going to store 52 more pieces of work, I'm maxed out as it is already.

I drove over to Blue Line Art Gallery in Roseville to see the last day of the Crocker-Kingsley Exhibit and was really very disappointed.  Both my daughter and I submitted work to the jury and didn't get in, which is okay, but then when I saw the work that was selected, I was stunned and amazed as some looked like first year art school work.  There were several pieces that were worthy of being in this exhibit....some that was just stupid and some that was so sloppy and crazy you have to wonder why it was called art.  There was only one juror and for a well known exhibit as Crocker-Kinglsey is known to be, I was surprised at that....and that's the reason the show was "the same"....everything was abstract in one way or another and the juror is an abstract artist...thus the show was as it was.  Something I really noticed was that in the prospectus there was no mention of multiple items that could be accepted and every artist in this exhibit had up to three pieces of work displayed, something that wasn't talked about when entering the exhibit.  Oh well, it is what it is...they had their exhibit and on to the next.  Only a few were sold...the pricing was very HIGH for what you got. 

Spontaneous New Project

 I was cleaning up some of my fabrics and came upon my collection of Asian fabrics that I have collected for years....and I mean  years.    One of my fabric shopping trips in Berkeley, CA., we visited a Japanese fabric shop and I purchased what was a fabric book of Japanese fabric samples.  Each page was a piece of cotton indigo blue/white fabric 18"long by 12"wide and probably near 100 pages marked with a Japanese marker in English and Japanese.  And over the years I have used a good amount of these pieces of fabric, storing those that I've never touched.

 At the same time I have been reading and looking at these fabrics thinking maybe I'd start a crazy quilt using Japanese fabrics...and then I remind myself that I really struggle cutting random sized pieces of fabric, placing them together and then embroidering their seams randomly over the fabrics.....and because the surface design on the fabric is so intense, all of that would be lost.  So I drew a 10" square and create my own design to cut/sew and using the color images in yardage that I found, developed these square with the idea of sewing them together into a nine patch or long eight patch (four on four). 

So I dove into the project and created each block one by one.   Now I need to sew the blocks together with the thought I'd then add smaller images randomly over the sew together surface and then in the border that is planned.  We will see what actually happens once I sew the blocks together.

 

And so here I go again with another project to add to the others I have going here and there and everywhere in my studio.  With the big question:  why do I continue to add new projects one after another?   It's not that I don't finish project, I do.  But my mind keeps telling me "you only have so much time left on this planet and you need to create as much work as you can between now and when the end happens to be"....it's like I can't get enough of everything...........and I really need to relax a bit.  Hard for me to do....even when I watch tv I am either reading while watching or knitting while watching or writing while watching.  Knowing that I'm doing this I am going to try to conscientiously try to RELAX!    I know it will be difficult and I'll fail from time to time, but I am going to give it a try.  

I am a terrible blogger.......

 I am a terrible blogger...I start the blog thinking I'm going to post on a weekly basis and the next thing I know it's been months.  I keep myself so busy I don't think about writing into my blog, just like I never did very well creating a journal.    I started this blog when I turned 70 in October and here it is February already and I haven't blogged much at all.  Maybe I just doesn't have much to say, but I find that strange, because I always seem to have something to say. 

 These new floral pieces I just finished and they are up on the wall in the art gallery in Old Sac..."A Single Flower" and "A Couple of Flowers".........I'm not a big fan of duplicating flowers...many have given me what they think is advice..."why don't you create floral pieces, they will sell well"....but I just have a hard time duplicating what others "want" me to see.  I guess for me, placing a flower image onto a background is just plain "boring"....it's got to be much more than that!   The design needs to be different, not expected and strange and I'm working my way into that, I hope.  I have four more surface designs worked up that I need to stitch..not floral, more animal related, but blocked backgrounds.

 Once I wrap the finished surface around the stretcher bars and staple it into it's stretched state, I am creating a background piece that I am now sewing onto the back instead of using the staple gun.  I didn't like the finished look of the staples around the entire piece, it looked sloppy and ugly.  The only solution is to hand sew it onto the wrapped piece to give it a clean finished look..a more fine art look.

Doing the stitching is becoming complicated at times because the surface I'm sewing it to is tight against the stretcher bar...takes a bit of time to sew against the wood surface, but it does give a far better affect when complete.  And when handling the piece, there will be staples sticking out to catching your hands/fingers. 

Creating better surface designs and coming up with ideas for fine art finishing is one of the secrets in creating good art.  No matter what you create, how it's displayed and finished off is just as important as the final product.  And I was taught at a very early age..."the backing should be just as fine as the front" and I've remembered that throughout my fiber art career. 

A New Beggining

Augie at graduation...long hair and casual jacket

Augie at 14 staring out at the ocean wishing he was a whale to swim free 

A New Beginning with 2017.....it's been awhile since I've been on my blog...very very very busy with loads of different and crazy things going on in my life; more than I needed and now that the holidays have wound down to a low roar, I'm finding more time to do what I like to do. 

The new beginnings I hope are for me and my new "single" but still married life.  Some know that Lynn and I are separated...because he has gone over to the other side in his mental health issues and we can't live together any longer.  My safety would be in jeopardy.  Lynn is living in a Board & Care facility in Folsom, CA (no not Folsom Prison, a real Board & Care home) where he is cared for 24/7 and he's finally settled into the place, has accepted what he has done and seems to be happy where he is right now.  It was a tough six months, but finally everything has fallen into place.  I now live alone, except my two grandsons are living with me right now.  Augie, 22 and my oldest grandchild, is a free spirit and is set to roam this earth until he finds his place to settle.  Next week he's moving to the Bay Area to live with his Uncle Patrick, look for a means to make money and experience the big city of San Francisco and the Bay Area.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh to be 22 again...I lived in SF when I was 18, going to Healds Business College, working for Pac Bell, now ATT and dating military guys home on leave from Viet Nam...crazy time...lots of music in the park, smoking in the park...SF was great.

What I've learned from having Augie live with me.....don't sweat the small stuff or even the big stuff.  So what if you don't score high when bowling, so what if something doesn't get done when you wanted to do it...enjoy your life and it will all get done when it gets done.  Thank you Augie!

Now my other grandson, Jack...he's another character...he's 16, works full time for a teaching mechanic here in town earning his mechanic certificate and is finishing high school courses on line.  He's living with me because his Dad, my daughters ex-husband, became very ill and is still after six months living in a care facility/Kaiser hospital.  Jack & Augie lived with their Dad, but when he became ill and it has ended up to be a long term illness, he had to give up his home and the boys were displaced until Mom can find a larger house for the boys to live with her and her new hubby/step-daughter.  It's complicated!!!     Jack is the opposite of Augie is every way possible, except that they both have the same Mom & Dad.  The only thing they both agree/like is old cars...specifically old Mercedes Benz...they buy, fix and sell at an alarming rate and they intend to make money at doing it and they are.  One of these days Jack will probably have his own service garage...he already owns about five old Mercedes and he's got the drive and the way to make this all work...at 16 years old!!!!

What I've learned from having Jack live with me....focus and drive!   Sometimes I sway off course and I loose focus on my desire to create fantastic art...I have the drive, but I sometimes loose the focus...and Jack has taught me to eat, sleep and dream about what you want for your future...thank you Jack!!!!

Eventually both boys will be on their way into their own lives and I'll be back to living alone again...but this time, it's okay because of what they taught me and what I want out of the rest of my life. 

Jack and the two drums he made at age 14.