Observations on life & art and the inspirations I see around me

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Slow down & Breathe


Inspiration for benches in San Marcos - we've got the fallen trees.

Early morning fog on Eagle Nest Lake

One of our Little Friends
 Friends of friends have a cabin in Eagle Nest, New Mexico.  We were lucky enough to be invited for a long weekend.  The cool air and soft wind were a soothing relief from the Texas heat and it was hard to come home yesterday.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Taking a page......

A few years ago when I first met Deborah Boschert I knew immediately that she was someone special.  Over the years I was often been amazed by her maturity -  to someone my age she's "just a kid" but boy do I wish I'd been as wise at her age.  She has talent galore and an incredibly giving spirit. I felt sad when she left Texas but she's still teaching me when I slow down to remember. Today I took a page from her book and worked small & quick on 2 project whose deadlines are looming. I wanted to do these and I'd put them off to the last minute.  Thanks Deborah for giving me a kick. 

#1 is "On a Wing - Say a Prayer".  It is a collage on nicho frame from Ten Seconds Studio. and will be part of their Auction for Breast Cancer.  I hope I won't get in trouble for posting it early but I figure publicity is good.  Go to their site for details coming soon.  

Project #2 is "Coins of the Realm" a small art quilt for C&T Publishing's Call-Out for Liquitex Acrylic Metallic Inks.  I did the background fabric in plenty of time but wasn't entirely happy with the results of a resist of flour paste (I will try again).  The problem was the white ink didn't show up as much as I'd like.  We only got 3 colors to work with and I knew I wanted the metallics for the elements.  On those I did stamping & stenciling with bronze & copper.  This is a favorite technique of Deborah's and also, Rayma Gillman, another inspiring lady.  If you don't have her book "creating your own hand-printed cloth" it's definitely worth the price. 

It feels good to be on a bit of a roll but studio time will get interupted once again on Thurs. as we're heading to northern New Mexico to cool off for a few days.  I do expect to get inspired there so I'll take my journal and do "a page" of a different sort. 

Happy creating; remember lessons learned and thank your teachers. 

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Abundance

We definitely are seeing the end of the summer drought. That's the pond in the background, well over it's banks, so Karl got his wish that it would fill before the house goes on the market.  We've had between 7.5" & 10" of rain since yesterday.  Happy that we're dry inside thanks to the ditches being dug out after much campaigning with the city and the drainage improvements we've made in the last couple of years. Sadly there are flooded homes in the area; I feel for anyone with water in their home.

Another bit of abundance is this stack of books I've read lately.  My favorites are on top & bottom but all were a nice diversion during the heat and my drought of creative energy. 

I loved the weeds, grasses, wild flowers and cactus fruit on the property this weekend.  We discussed cactus flower wine but researching the recipes led me to decide it's not worth the effort.  I'll just use the images as inspiration.