California Spring

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I spent a day in the Santa Ynez Valley and were dazzled by the luscious green hills and the profusion of wild flowers everywhere. Poppies were even coming up through the cracks in the pavement. Gorgeous day and great fun with good friends. Sorry I don't have any photos to share.

I am participating in the postcard exchange for the Cyber Fyber Exhibition being sponsored by Susan Lenz and was inspired to create my own version of the green hills, the lupine, and the poppies for her. The card is made from commercial fabric stamped with gold metallic ink, stenciled with foil glue then foiled with silver, foil glue randomly applied and foiled with green, and embroidery.

All traded postcards will be displayed at CYBER FYBER, January 8 - 20, 2009 at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios in Columbia, SC. Check out Susan's blog for all the exchanges, I'm #139.

Buddha Abides

I am pleased to report that my piece Opening to a Compassionate Heart - Lessons from the Bodhisattva Quan Yin was accepted in the 8th annual Buddha Abides contemporary art exhibition. This is a highly-regarded show in Santa Barbara and I am honored to be included for the third time. The show includes a dana with 20% of profits donated to Santa Barbara Domestic Violence Solutions and Tibetan Children's Village. The show is at The Frameworks Caruso-Woods Contemporary Arts Gallery at 813 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. It runs from April 1 - 30, 2008 with the opening reception held Saturday, April 5, from 5-8pm. Hours at the gallery are Tuesday through Friday from 10-5 and Saturday from 11-3.

I saw a lot of great art at the ingathering today. This is one great show and I hope to see you there.

Coming back to bite me ......

Ya know the old saying about your words coming back to bite you? Well, I think I'm bit! Here is a photo of the piece I am working on to enter in the Buddha Abides show. I am pleased with it so far...... but ......

Sometime back, fellow fiber artist Judy Rys and I were discussing the quilting aspect of our work and I told her I felt pretty lucky because the quilting pattern usually came to me along with the vision of the work content. So, dear reader, you can probably guess that I haven't a clue what to do with this. I stare at it for awhile, close my eyes and try to visualize it quilted, picked the threads in the hope that would kick start me, but nooooo, still no inspiration. I decided to just forget about it for about a day and see if anything wafted into my head, but again, no. I came in this afternoon after attending the Santa Barbara Symphony and, I swear, it smirked at me. I don't think it is appropriate for a Buddhism-themed piece to be so argumentative. There's probably a lesson here, I'll keep you posted.

Hands

Last month Fibervision invited Brecia Kralovic-Logan to speak to us about creativity and give a brief trunk show of her beautiful work. Brecia was a very inspirational speaker and left us with lots to think about and ideas to jump-start our creativity when we get stuck or discouraged. And envy of the beautiful garments she brought along.

We did several exercises and for the one shown above, we traced around our hand and decorated it as our heART's desired. While I was working on it, I got very inspired about a piece I would like to create for the Buddha Abides exhibit which will be juried later this month. Here is a picture of the hand I am starting with for this project:

Beading with Deana Hartman

Today I took a beading class taught by Deana Hartman and sponsored by Coastal Quilters Guild of Santa Barbara and Goleta. It was well attended and so much fun. I have a gazillion beads, picked up at various quilt shows and at bead shops I have visited under the influence of friends but, until now, I have scattered beads here and there on the occasional quilt, without understanding the true value of the little glass treasures. I'm a changed woman, now! Deana is a talented and organized teacher and taught many stitches, simple and advanced, but I was so fascinated with the effects of the bead collage that it was all I did. Here is a detail of the area I spend the majority of my time today:

Wolf Moon is a small quilt that I made several years ago when I was making a series of quilts based on names of the full moons from various folk or Native American traditions. I liked it before, but it is really turning into something special now.

One Great Day

Yesterday was such a great day! When I list things in my life to be grateful for, every factor of my day yesterday will be included. My two wonderful friends took me to Empress Pavillion in Los Angeles for dim sum brunch, followed by a trip to FIDM to see the exhibition of costumes from about a dozen movies made in 2007.

I'd never been to a restaurant that specializes in dim sum like the Empress Pavillion and was it an adventure. Bear with me if you already know the drill - huge room, at least one hundred tables, servers and bus boys dashing everywhere, and, best of all, the dim sum women and their carts trundling around, dispensing the goodies. It took us a bit to get the hang of it, but we soon discovered that if we wanted the attention of the cart-bearer, we had best raise our hands and wave for all we were worth, because she who hesitates is lost in obtaining the best dim sum. We learned our favorites of the day and, personally, I feel ready to return soon to get the best again, and try some new dish.

Then we inched our way throught the traffic for the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rat parade for a very long time to get a few blocks over to FIDM for the costumes. We stopped for coffee and since it was warm and gorgeous in Los Angeles, we sat out in the little park at FIDM while I opened my birthday gifts. My friends are women of amazing generosity and taste, so I received wonderful things from Linda including earrings and special soap from Kauai and this:

Doesn't everybody need a peeler with a monkey handle?

And

Handmade by Mary.

Am I not one of the luckiest people in the world?

The costumes at FIDM were fascinating, though we agreed, not quite as intriguing as in years past. One again, the favorites included the things that had the most texture, a couple of pieces from The Golden Compass, the wicked queen costume from Enchanted, and an amazing and understated black dress from La Vie En Rose. There was a dress from 3:10 To Yuma that could be overlooked due to the dull and faded colors, but it was a masterpiece of detail.

All in all, a beautiful winter day in Southern California, good food, and good friends. I have so much to be grateful for.

Yes We Can

In this new year, I do believe we can.....