Sunday, June 28, 2015

it was a very busy week

a lot of things actually got done during the week

this piece is finished

all four of the bracelets that I wanted to have done for the art show I'm doing on July 18 are now complete

so I decided to start work on a new necklace!

actually, I did the design work and "kitting" for two necklaces -- we'll see if I can actually get at least one of them done for that show

and every summer about this time I do some sewing for Mr Cute

this week's offerings included a new pillow case --- with Ninja Turtles on it

a pencil bag with tractors and barns on it -- his wise mommy says "no crayons in the car in the summer!" -- so he needed something to keep the colored pencils contained

a then there are the very spiffy (if I do say so myself) board shorts that were made from a remnant of Cars fabric that feature very carefully cut pockets

I have a few more of these "easy sewing" projects to work on in the next week or so, which should be fun

progress on the studio is happening

this week the walls went up and the spaces that will be the bathroom and the closets are much clearer

and the newest piece of the kitchen remodel arrived

we had not originally planned to replace all of the appliances in the kitchen -- just the refrigerator (which we knew from the day we first looked at the house would have to be replaced)

along the way though the revolt of the appliances in response to the replacement of the refrigerator has continued  ---  the dishwasher made a hasty exit after it proved to be untrustworthy (that final day of spewing water on the floor just did it in!) and apparently the stove decided to throw in the towel shortly after it got wind of our plan to replace it in the future by having a gas line installed

okay -- so now there is only the microwave to be replaced -- but we're limping along with what is here on that score for now

at some point in the future I want to have the counter tops and the sink replaced, but that is a while out -- the money from the sale of the other house will only stretch so far

and even though the studio is not done yet, deadlines for shows do not change, so I have begun working on this piece which has a deadline of October 31

it is bigger than the last two pieces I've done, and doesn't look like much yet, but so far I'm on track to what the vision in my head is

moving along!



Sunday, June 21, 2015

thinking about direction

oh look!

another finished bracelet

for a while I have been trying to come up with a different way to attach the clasps on these

this one is the first with the new version, and I'm pleased with the way it came out


as I've been working on doing stuff in my new kitchen, I've been looking for fabric that "speaks" to me to use for some curtains and a few other things

I have not been able to find anything that is the right combination of color, scale and whimsy

so I decided to have a go at making up some of my own

I had a file of various doodles that I had done a few years ago when I was designing some paper dolls and other paper graphics, and this is a "marriage" of several of those motifs

now that the drawing and the coloring is done, I'll be loading it up to get some fabric printed

I finished pinning up all the quilt "sandwiches" for the shed door series this week

I'm hoping to actually get to start stitching on these this week

already my mind is working on trying to figure out what the next series will be

meantime, I've started working on the next individual piece that I want to complete

this is the "pattern" to create the background layer for this piece, which currently has the working title "tsa-la-gi", the word for Cherokee in the Cherokee language

I'm doing this one to enter in a call for entries on the theme "Diaspora"



for a while I've been thinking about applying for juried artist status in a group I belong to -- on Monday I talked to someone in person about it, and I spent some time looking at the requirements

I am going to start working on part of the process that will be required -- creating my artist resume including a listing of all the exhibits I've either had a piece in or have curated

and in the meantime, I will continue to "do the work"

searching for that next series to work on!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

the series takes a giant leap

in the last few days I've been on a real roll working on all of these pieces

each of these pairs of pictures has the "before paint" on the left side and the "after paint" on the right

because we have been organizing all of the items in the garage that will eventually go in my studio, I have located the drawer units with the spools of thread that I will need to do the stitching on these, so I'm hoping to get to the stitching of these in the next few days --- WHOO HOOO!


the beading on this is now done -- ready for the finish work


and this one is about half done

I need to finish the beading on the red, white and blue one before I can cut these two apart since the original design was one wider bracelet and I decided at the last minute before I started stitching on the beads to make it into two narrow pieces instead

I still have over a month before my next show, so I'm sure I'll have both of these done by then


now that Mr Cute is a big boy and uses a booster seat in the car instead of a car seat that has sides all the way up, when he would nap while riding, his head would "bob" -- not a good thing!

while he was visiting at "gramma's" house over the weekend, we created something that would take care of that problem

a small chunk of cotton fabric stitched into this over sized horseshoe shape, firmly stuffed with polyester fiber --- he watched while I did the cutting out and stitching (he loves watching the sewing machine work!) and then he helped me with the stuffing

and there he is modeling the finished product

now his mama has requested one of her own for when they take car trips -- I think I can make that happen

Thursday, June 11, 2015

returning to artistic pursuits

another of the Gees Bend Tribute bracelets is complete

I'm really pleased with the way the design of this one turned out

and this one is in progress

one of the fun things about these pieces is that I get to do beading that mimics the look of fabrics -- this piece includes a section that is green and white stripes and another that is orange with white polka dots

it's fun!




meantime, I have also returned to working on this series of shed door pieces

each of these picture pairs is the "before paint" on the left side and the "after paint" on the right

I'm excited to be back working on these and in a way impatient to have them finished so I can move on to the next series -- so typical of my thought processes!



and while we are discussing sheds -- we had this installed in the back yard last week

the first things we did were to paint the floor (to protect it from moisture) and install a shelf along one side to store chemicals and small tools

I'm so thankful we were able to have someone else do the hard work of the basic installation -- we've built a few sheds from scratch, and right now it just felt like our time and energy was better spent elsewhere

the studio finishing is now at the "waiting for permits and inspections" before anything else happens -- must be patient now

Sunday, June 07, 2015

surviving in a work zone

this week's work began with the sound of jack hammering

apparently when they put in "rough ins" for plumbing in a basement, there are exactly that -- ROUGH!

because we were okay with putting the bathroom in that corner, the breaking of concrete was minimal

the rest of the week was filled with the HVAC folks putting in new heating and cooling ducts and the electrician stringing wire and installing outlet boxes and round fixtures for can lights in the ceiling

and while that was happening, the unpacking and organizing and even "making look good" portions of moving continued

until we starting grouping these together, I didn't realize what an extensive collection of chicken and rooster pottery pieces I had (some of these had not seen the light of day for a very long time!)


work on art projects continues too

this quilt is moving right along -- it is getting close to being wide enough, and is about half as long as it needs to be

I was notified this week that I got into the ArtWalk Longmont show in July, so it's a good thing that these pieces are moving along nicely

the top one is finished, and the edge work has begun on the second one

rolling along

Monday, June 01, 2015

it's a frame job!

yup, the walls are going up!

for the past few days other projects have been accompanied with the sound of a compressor running and the air nailer putting up the framing for the walls of the new rooms

yippee!

meantime, I've been starting to do some of the fun part of unpacking

in my new kitchen I have high ceilings and space on top of the cabinets to display some treasures

there are some more pieces to go up there, but it is a start

 I'm working on some bead work too

this bracelet is ready for the backing and the finishing work
and this piece has been started

looking good!

can we introduce our doodle bird?

picked up this fun metal sculpture over the weekend -- love the bright colors and the funny motion he does in the wind

cool -- it's really starting to feel like home