Tuesday, February 21, 2012

And now for something completely different....

Lighthouse at Fort Point, San Francisco --
Processed with Kim Klassen's "Felicity" and a texture I created from a photo I took at the fort,
 using the tutorial Kim shared in our "Beyond Layers" class
(linking with Texture Tuesday)

I'm taking a break from showing images from my trip to Thailand ..... Instead, my husband and I decided to take a quick trip out to California last week to visit family.  The weather was wonderful, and we were outside as much as possible.  One day we explored the parks around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  

Although I've been to San Francisco many times (I even lived here for a few years when I was a child), I had never visited Fort Point before.  Fort Point was the main naval defense for the city of San Francisco until the civil war.  It is tucked away under the base of the bridge, and probably isn't high on tourists' must-see lists.  Despite my fear of heights, I had a marvelous time -- there were so many interesting angles to capture:

This was the walk back from the fort towards Crissy Field:


Crissy Field was originally an early aviation strip, and is now a well-used park along the beach.  It certainly is a magnet for dogs!  We met my husband's sister and her boys there with their Golden, Brooklyn.  As you can see from the first photo, he was so happy in the water (it would take an awful lot of treats to get our Golden, Jackson, to venture anywhere near it)!  I was surprised to see how many professional dog-walkers were out, too.  I am still a little nervous about taking pictures of strangers, so I only got a few shots of them, but they were legion that day:

And now, on a completely different subject......

My creativity seems to run in cycles, and lately all I want to do is work in fabric.  In the last few weeks I have completed three quilt tops.  I will send two of them out to be finished by machine, but I plan on quilting this one by hand.  Since it might be awhile (a long while) before I am finished, I'll show it now:

It's really big, so wish me luck!

20 comments:

johanna said...

wow, this quilt is gorgeous! i have a fabric phase once in a while, too... oh, if the day had 100 hours...

Teresa said...

A beautiful set of photos I love your entry for TT and also particularly the arches . . .Good luck with the quilt . . .:-) Teresa x

Terrie said...

I just love the subtlety of your lighthouse pic! It's perfectly composed. And that quilt - holy moly it's gorgeous; those colors just jump up and grab you and I love the random shapes. Bet you'll love having it to use....

Dianne Poinski said...

I love your images from Fort Point! I live a couple of hours away from SF and you have inspired me to take a trip myself. Beautiful use of the texture too!

geetlee said...

Oh my gosh, you were in my part of the world! Lovely to see your perspective of my city :) love the processing and I agree Fort point is quite lovely and there are so many photo opportunities there!

Amarie said...

Awesome! I simply love old structures!

cathy @ma vie trouvee said...

wow the colors and patterns are beautiful - do you find that your trip to Thailand is influencing your color palette?

Kathleen said...

Thanks, Cathy! I don't think that Thailand has influenced my palette so much as it has reinforced it. I tend towards the warmer colors, and it seemed as though that's all I saw there. I think you wrote in one of your blog posts that you will be going to Thailand soon -- I'll be very curious to see your photos!

Sharon said...

I love the textures and processing. Stairs are fascinating, aren't they?! My favorite is the bay and a dog. All lovely work!

Prairie Jill said...

Beautiful images and processing! I really love those angles in the Fort Point shots.

Marilyn said...

These are all great photos and some wonderful processing with textures.

Becs said...

Great photos. Love your use of texture and that quilt is just gorgeous. :)

The Artful Diva said...

Good luck quilting - I really enjoy that part of the process.

Kia said...

Awwwww, what a feast for the eyes, Kathleen! I love every photo you posted today! The Golden Gate Bridge is stunning, the lighthouse just exquisite, and the happy dog and the beach a joy to see. :)
Thanks for sharing! San Francisco is my (and hubby's) fav city in the US and we have been there 4 times already :)

Kia said...

Sorry, I forgot: good luck with the quilt! :)

Connie Smiley said...

What a beautiful post with all those interesting angles and arcs. Love the shot of Brooklyn. Jackson doesn't know what he's missing.

Kia said...

Ciao Kathleen, thanks so much for your kind words about my problems with the English language :)
Sweet dreams and have a lovely weekend! xo

Kathy McCreedy said...

Kathleen,
Thank you so much for your very kind comments on my blog! You are very generous! Your photos from the fort under the golden gate bridge are terrific! Who'd have thought there'd be such incredible beauty inside there?!?
And your quilt... AMAZING!!! LOVE the colors on the black background!!! I am in awe! Your work is really inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful piece of artwork!!!
All my best,
Kathy

Kathy McCreedy said...

BTW, did you put those "squares" of color onto the black background using applique? I don't know how else you'd do it... if you have time, I'd love it if you'd email me and tell me how you did that! I may have a technical question for you about a crazy quilt I started for my son many years ago, and haven't figured out how to put it together... kind of a crazy way to do it, but I was thinking short term, not long term, and now I'm stuck!
Many thanks,
Kathy

hannah said...

So much in this post and so diverse. Love the catacombs with their straight lines and the quilt: would love to se a close up of some of those vibrant motifs some time.