A walk in the park

I've been working on finishing my quilt, so I'm being quiet on the blog front.  (That's a good thing... remember push-pull.....)

Well, I can't be too quiet!  I took this photo yesterday, while I was out on assignment for my Silly Photography Class with Steve Sonheim.  I used three of Kim Klassen's textures to give it a vintage feel:  serendipity, chamomile and magic scratches.


But that was just for fun.  My assignment was to find an interesting (yet safe) spot to close my eyes and shoot 20 pictures without peeking, and then choose one to submit to the class pool.   I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so I worked on this while walking in the park with my dog, Jackson.... in retrospect, not a great idea!

Most of my photos looked like this:



This was my best shot :

 I like how I captured some bokeh, but for the life of me I don't know how I did it... in other words, I don't think I could replicate it.  Well, maybe this class will help me understand my camera a bit better and have some fun along the way!

Bittersweet

The end of the school year is always bittersweet -- even now, when most of my kids aren't in school any more.  Today my quilt group has its final meeting of the year, and that always makes me a bit sad.  My quilting friends are the nicest, most creative and giving group of women anywhere, and the thought that I won't see them for three months always makes me feel like I'm being cast adrift.  This year, though, there is some consolation in the fact that my wonderful online community never takes a break!

In that slightly woeful vein, here is my submission for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday link party.  The task today is to use text on your image:

I used Kim's "warm sun," "pour vous," and "grey slate" textures on a photo I took of my daughter Sam in Rome several years ago.  I have been teaching myself to use photoshop elements over the last year, and am now at the stage where I can use layers and textures pretty easily.  The trick is to do so artfully, and I'm still working on that part.

Of my three children, two are passionate about the arts.  One is a singer and actress and the other is a visual artist.  When they are both at home, life is a pure joy.  Ali never stops singing, and Sam is always drawing.  I have to admit that there are moments when it can be aggravating, as in when the songs are so loud I can't focus on paying my bills, or when my best pens mysteriously go missing, but that is small price to pay for the energy and creativity they surround us with.

Here is Sam's latest painting.  I love how she focuses on the eye, and the whole piece looks so abstract until you come closer.  Bittersweet is the word here, too. Sam is going away for the summer to study art at an artists' dream school.  She went there last summer, too, and had a secret wish that we would just forget to pick her up so she could stay there forever.  I'm happy Sam can live the life of an artist for a few months, but if truth be told, I'm also very jealous!

Here is the latest finished page in my art journal -- it just about sums up how I'm feeling these days...:

eye candy

Today was so beautiful.... especially after all the rain and nasty weather we've been having for months.  So instead of doing anything on my "to do" list, I went outside and took pictures in our field.  I am learning about photography by playing along with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesdays.  (I used some of her beautiful textures on these pictures.)

Our side porch, dressed up for Memorial Day

Jackson, AKA "the wolf"

community....

I was honored to appear today on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog, writing about the intersection of quilting and art journaling.  Check it out here.  I love the community of like-minded people I've met through blogging, all sharing their art and their feelings so generously.  It is also amazing to see how there is no limit to the creativity of this community -- more really is more.  Thank you all!

Push-Pull

I studied karate for 10 years, and there was a principle we were always working with, called push-pull.  That is, power is created when force in one direction is balanced by an equal force in the opposite direction.  This principle applies to life and our creative pursuits, as well.  I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I am caught in a dilemma.  Do I make art, or do I write about it?

I love quilting and other needlework.  Passionately.  I love the meditative quality of slow stitches and the deliberate, relaxed process of creating a large cloth out of lots of little pieces.  To the outside world looking in, however, it is kind of like watching the grass grow.

I am not afraid of "slow."  I am following the Erosion Bundle Project, an internet-inspired effort to create naturally aged and weathered materials to use in my art. The basic idea is that you gather and put together a bundle of materials -- fabric, paper, bits of metal or other items to bleed color, plus any other ephemera you can think of. Then, you leave it out in the elements (some people bury their bundles underground) for a period of time to weather, after which you make art with the results.  Here is my bundle, which I put together in August of 2010.


And here it is today.  In August, it will have been out on my fence for a year -- I don't know if I can wait that long to open it!!!


Back to my dilemma -- the internet community is so inspiring.  I am constantly amazed when I see the wonderful art that people are making and sharing online on a daily basis.  I am not part of a local art community, so the internet has become a virtual group of friends with similar interests.  The trick is, you have to participate to be part of it.  It all moves so fast, though, so if you wait more than a few days, you are not part of the conversation.

I think that karate holds the solution.... push-pull means finding a balance between "slow" and "fast."  Now, if anyone has a clue how to do that, please let me know!

Color Frenzy

I tend to work in frenzied bursts of energy, where I can't think of anything but my current project.  My husband was out of town this last week, and so I had three days of uninterrupted time to finish this:

I absolutely love these colors, and I enjoy the needle-weaving technique.  My problem is that in the back of my mind I want my art to be practical, and I can't quite see how to use this.  It is about 9"x13," with raw edges;  I suppose I could sew it into a larger wall hanging..... any other ideas?

May Fair!

Today was our town's annual May Fair, a wonderful event I look forward to all year. There are carnival rides for the kids, lots of booths selling flowers and baked goods, a giant tag sale, and the best barbeque north of the Mason-Dixon line... But if you ask me, the real highlight is the book sale.  Most books are priced at a dollar each; here are some of the treasures I found today:

      

An 1867 American edition of Charles Dickens

I've never owned a book published in the 18th century before!

This is a gorgeous set of children's books, published in the 1920's
(the whole set was only $5!)

These books were all published prior to 1860; they have such a lovely feeling of weight that modern books just can't match

These books are going to be harvested for visual journaling -- including an 8-volume set of the Memoirs of Casanova (in French):    


I had a lot of fun today!