Rock Formations

I found these wonderful rock formations on a beach in Grand Isle,  Vermont.  I did not stage these, they are just as I found them, the top photo, I believe, is natural, the bottom, most likely man made.
Wonderful discoveries!

Working on my Website

It's about time, I know! What took me so long? Me, myself and I got in the way.....
But, I am currently working on putting together my website, literally!
Yes, I have been awfully quiet this summer. I took time off from Blogging.
I drove my daughter around to various colleges and I took a Web Design class at Lebanon College. The culmination of the design class has me scrambling, yet producing! : ) It's all due August 13th!
The good news, it's forcing me to look at old photos of my work along with the new stuff. I am getting in touch with my work in a new light. So it's all good.
I hope you are enjoying your summer, too. I'll be back regularly in September.

The Grocery Store Photos

Sliced Cabbage Close up

How could I resist the beauty and color of this cabbage! Our co-op has an appealing way of displaying vegetables, especially this time of year when things are grown locally and in abundance. Look at these wonderful squiggly lines! I find myself drawing like this, doodling like this, admiring drawings like this! My subliminal influence has been brought to light. I see this all the time and draw it from memory. Therefore I am convinced, I am influenced by natural elements all around me.

Grocery store beauties!

"No one else knows your true potential. There is a power within you that can change everything. Decide to be a disciple of yourself. Let your heartbeat be your guru, pilot, and broker. You will know everything you’re meant to do, when you stop denying your design." ~ Tama J. Kieves

Great Quote

"Because the artist fears business, she hesitates to think as big as she could, to imagine the impact she might be able to make, to envision the leverage that's available to her." ~Seth Grodin

Celebrity Spotting in NYC

Matthew Broderick with an unknown fan

NYC Times Square at midnight!

After seeing, "Nice Work If You Can Get It", we waited outside the theater to meet one of our favorite celebrities, Matthew Broderick. It was a thrill to see him casually enjoying his fans and allowing photo ops and giving autographs. My daughter was sooooo happy!

The ghost of me

Sorry, folks... I need to take time off to college tour with my daughter...
I'll be back, but this month may be a little spotty.
Keep on making your art.

"I live in my creativity, a very sweet mansion" ~Tama J. Kieves

Work in progress

For sculpturefest... 

Thoughts on teaching

Parfait Dying, Anyone?

I am currently proposing new classes for the League. "What would I like to teach this time," is the question I usually ask myself, but the economy has me thinking the opposite now. "What do I think the public wants to learn?" is the present question.  So, I joyfully propose some new classes (and a few past, well attended classes), what I think would make both me and my prospective students happy.
In an ever changing world, the term "follow your bliss" has been replaced with "do what is economical and practical". One must remember to fill the well, though. An art/craft class can bring you joy.

"We can deny our hearts or we can deny our limits. We can choose to be practical or we can dare to be magical" ~ Tama J. Kieves

Summer!

Sorry for the lapse. School is out, so the schedule is whacky right now. I have been busy outside of the studio... so I'll post something more interesting soon. Sculpturefest installations are due soon!

“…Weren’t you always distracted by expectation, as if every event announced a beloved? (Where can you find a place to keep her, with all the huge strange thoughts inside you going and coming and often staying all night.)…” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

It's time to get me a kayak!

Today, it was a hot one.  I stayed home, indoors, and worked on my Sculpturefest stuff and some pillows for my crafts fairs.

But, I'd rather be on the river exploring.....

Yes, I'm doing what I need to do, but I'm dreaming of being somewhere else. Isn't that how it always is?

Kayaking on the river

The Connecticut River

I went kayaking with my high school girlfriend all weekend. She brought up her new kayaks for us to play with. We explored a part of the Connecticut river in the late afternoon when the lighting was really wonderful. I shot this image with my android phone. It was weird sitting in my boat and transmitting it to my Facebook page! Ah, the joys of modern life.

We drove over to my families summer place and explored Long Pond in Maine, too. It may just be time to get myself a kayak. I really loved it.

Sunday's Surface Design Blowout

The blue tent was my workspace. I shared with Nellie Pennington with the
hope that I could absorb some of her creative energy! Rose Birch was in
the brown tent. Lots of good stuff happened there, too!

My sweatshirt. I was very pleased with the outcome!

Lisa Johnson got some great dying results!

Nellie Pennington hanging up another successful piece.

Sarah Monego painted this silk scarf using glue as a resist.

Surface Design Saturday!

Peggy Sadler's newly dyed fabrics

Sue Geno's dyed scarves

Joanne Shapp's printed T-Shirts

Surface Design Blowout Weekend

The annual Surface Design Blowout is happening live and in color this weekend!.  It's an opportunity for textile artists to get all the messy work done, in all types of mediums, outside, with a bunch of like minded individuals.  We all come together to work, share and express our passion for textiles.
The weather looks like it will be fabulous! So, we will get really good results with any dye baths and drying.

I am very, very psyched.
I hope to see you there!
I'll post some images after the event.

Cat tested and approved!

My three boys

I'd like to introduce you to my quality assurance team.  They oversee the production of all my work.  I should make up little tags for them that say," approved by moi, meow!' and insert them in hidden crevasses of my quilts after they have been walked on, laid on or "pawed" in any way by them.
Most of the time this team thinks I'm pretty boring.  But every once in awhile, they glance up at me as I rev the engine of my sewing machine.  "Aren't you done yet? That's so boring, you know!" is what their glance reveals.
I keep sewing away anyway.  "Don't mind me," I say, "just sleep through it!" And surprisingly, they do!

An oldie but goodie

"Continuing Convergence"
collection of Mary Hardy

The SAQA 12" x 12" Auction

I have to say, for now, Susan Shie and Nancy Eriksons pieces are my favorites!  Oh, If only I could afford to own one of them! Check it out for yourself.... click on SAQA AUCTION

My studio

These are pictures of my studio, in the height of activity.  Yes, it looks better when tidied up... but I  thought it would be a good exercise to see it how it usually is. A mess in action.

I have been enjoying my creative energy lately.  It's all been good in this space.

New Fabric, Store bought!

 I took some close up snippets of the new upholstery fabric I got yesterday in Massachusetts. I will be making some products for my crafts fairs from this fabric. The colors are striking and I hope to enhance their eye grabbing appeal by making them even more graphic! I'm ready to have some fun! See ya!

"I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away."
~ Heath Ledger 

Studio Day

Felix the Cat

"Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

I'm enjoying a "thumbs up" day in the studio with Mr. Felix, my cat, who follows me around looking for a cuddle every now and then.
It's raining. The bleeding heart and Lily of the valley are out in full bloom now.

Remembering my husband

Joshua Winer, Me, my husband Matt Winer, Mimi & Bert Winer

Today is the anniversay of the death of my husband.  He died of lung cancer seven years ago, at the age of 47.

The birds were singing beautifully today.
I have lit my candles.
The garden is in.

Thinking of you, my dear Matt.

Finished!

"Creativity"

My 12" x 12" quilt for the SAQA Auction is done.  Now I just have to mail it in! Yahoo.

"You do the work and you want people to see it; but, um while I'm doing the work, the result doesn't matter at all to me. Ultimately, I don't, I don't care whether the film is - you know - some big giant box-office bonanza and I don't care if its a complete flop. To me, when a film gets made and it's actually finished it's a success. They're all a success in their own way." ~ Johnny Depp

Sketchbook Challenge Fruit

5" x 5" Drawings from my sketchbook

A Creative Space

The Hanover League's studio/classroom space

There is something about a good working space.  My requirements: Lots of natural light, room to move around, space to hang things to dry, space to spread out supplies, space to work comfortably, and space to play music loud.
I work in the Hanover League's studio space sometimes and I am now enjoying playing there too.
Looking at this photo, I can see how my home studio needs some improvement.  Hmmm. Maybe I'll get out the white paint this weekend.

“The studio, a room to which the artist consigns himself for life, is naturally important, not only as workplace, but as a source of inspiration. And it usually manages, one way or another, to turn up in his product.”  ~ Grace Glueck

Interesting patterns

I'm just loving the look of these mono printed patterns. I haven't had a moment to play with these fabrics (as in cut them up!) in my home studio, but I'm certainly excited about them and can't stop thinking about them.

"The sorcery and charm of imagination, and the power it gives to the individual to transform his world into a new world of order and delight, makes it one of the most treasured of all human capacities." ~ Frank Barron

Mark making

I am loving my mark making lately. This is news.
I never liked my mark making before. I was always critical of myself.  But this past weekend, I transcended. I allowed myself a fluid motion. I put my whole body into it.  I freed myself. And, I love it.

Next step.... to allow that same creative, fluid, momentum to infiltrate into my sewing.

Mono printing Images

Close up of my marks

Yesterday I had a really productive day! I pushed myself to get past the initial inertia and I won! New movements and ideas emerged. I go back to the studio today to work. I hope to achieve, if not go beyond, that same level! It feels so good. Pure studio bliss.

“If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything.” ~ Win Borden

This fabric started as a preprinted sheer.  I used it as a wipe up cloth, then
 mono printed the indigo swirls.  The faded color is due to the nature
of the material.  The bright dappled orange is what "makes" this work!

Mono Printing Today!

The beginning of another quilt

Im off to the League Studio to mono print today! I feel good!

“It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life”
~ Barthold Georg Niebuhr

New piece 12" x12"

I had a great day in the studio yesterday. I put together this piece for the SAQA auction. At 13' x 13', it's still unfinished at this time. I've got to chop it down an inch.

I am amazed at how much information I can get into a small piece. I'm playing with contrast and movement along with adding my own handwriting and doodles.

I'm pretty happy with this.
Well, gotta go!
I want to finish it up.

A rainy spring keeps me in

Central Park, NYC

I have been forced (Oh, darn!) to be inside while the constant, gentle rain aides the trees and flowers in their extravagant explosion.  Everywhere I look I feel optimistic.

I just love all the greens of spring!  If I were to count the many shades, I know I would be amazed.

Now, I just want to add a little warmth and sunshine outside so I can open up the doors and windows of my house.  Yet, then, I would want to be outside of my house!  and not in my studio, working!

Ah, nature, you are such a tease sometimes!

The power of flowers

Don't kid yourself.  Flowers have incredible impact.

The moment must be right, when you are raw and vulnerable to their vibrancy.  They can penetrate your very soul.  When emerging from the monotonous grey of winter, the happy innocent shocks of color are a riotous and welcomed distraction.

Oh spring!

New York images with home town thoughts

The guggenheim, through my daughters camera lense.

I have been really happy since my NY trip.  There has been a lot of art around me.  And the beauty of nature emerging with the warmth of the spring sun is always rejuvenating.

I'm going out into the sunshine today to refresh and renew.

Graphic images in Central Park

New York, Yes!

Times Square during the daytime

Times Square at night

My trip to NYC was fantastic!
I went to Mood Fabrics, The Art Quilt Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim Museum and saw "Wicked" and "Chicago".
I walked Greenwich Village, a lot of Central Park and stopped into a couple thrift stores.
Ooooh Lah!
When can I do all that again?

New York, Here I come!

It's April Vacation for my daughter and we are heading to the Big Apple.  I am getting very excited!  One of the stops I hope to make is at the Art Quilt Gallery, celebrating it's first year anniversary!  Sue Benner is the featured artist.    http://www.artquiltgallerynyc.com
Also, Mood Fabrics, here I come!  I have a gift certificate to use there, Ooooh La LA!
I am so looking forward to the hustle and bustle of it all.  Then returning to my country home to garden!
Life is good.

Last year in the big city!

Recouping from a spill

This T-Shirt had an Indigo dye spill disaster!

"There is something enlivening about expanding our self-definition, and a risk does exactly that. Selecting a challenge and meeting it creates a sense of self empowerment that becomes ground for further successful challenges."~ The Artist's Way

Work on display

For the month of April, I have been given the Hanover League stores Crafts studies display cases.  Yesterday, I put my work on display there.  It is to advertise what I do as a craftsperson /teacher and to drum up interest in my summer camps I will be teaching.  I included some reviews the students gave me after taking my classes.  My work is located in the front door showcase (on the right as you go into the store) and inside a freestanding display case located toward the back of the store!  Check it out!

I also have one quilt in the Coop show, located in the Lebanon foodstore cafe.