Challenge accepted!

This is Ringo

The American Tapestry Alliance hosts an unjuried exhibition every two years, in conjunction with the Handweavers Convergence conference. It will be held in Wichita, Kansas this summer in a gallery that is mostly aimed at sight impaired visitors. So the challenge for the small tapestries is that they need to be highly textured, as visitors will be allowed to see them by touch.

A sketchbook version of Ringo

So, I looked through my sketchbooks for something that would inspire me to weave textural, as well as visual interest. I decided this sketch of Ringo would be my maquette.

I bought a really fuzzy yarn, a skein of something I would normally NEVER consider weaving with, but that said ‘Ringo’ to me. It turned out to be SO fuzzy and textured, that nothing showed up, either visually or texturally, but fuzzy yarn. I knew I’d never get any details to show up, using this yarn.

So, I unwove it. Looking through my stash of knitting yarns, I found some less fuzzy, but still textured yarns. One was blue, one was tan, and one white. I decided I could try them.

When the tapestry was woven, I added whiskers, and the word CAT, in braille. This tapestry is about 7x9”. It turns out that I actually enjoyed being challenged to do some out of my comfort zone, with materials I wouldn’t normally use. I hope it will be enjoyed by all viewers in Kansas this summer!

String Theory

 

Ok, I don’t know anything about string theory, except maybe what I see on The Big Bang. But there is an excellent fiber exhibit right now at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod by that name, now through March 6. If you can go see it, definitely go! If not, watch this excellent video of the exhibit:

https://youtu.be/024N2VSELmc

My tapestry, ‘The Duet’, is shown towards the end of the 6 minute video.

The exhibit is in South Yarmouth, MA. Let me know if you get to see it there!

Ready or not…….

It seemed that Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year, with summer easing quietly into a warm fall.

And you don’t even have Thanksgiving dishes done and the National Dog Show watched, before being slammed into the Christmas season, via ads and watching your social media follows decking their halls.

As I always confess at this time of year, I have a very hard time getting into the ‘Christmas spirit;’ the one that includes decorating, shopping, and parties.

My Christmas includes advent readings, candle lighting, reading by the fire with hot chocolate, avoiding malls, and doing what I do anyway - like my daily sketches. My sketches recently have been ‘holiday’ themed. I am not a total Grinch. I put a tree up for the cats to enjoy, and I have done some minimal hall decking.

And I am doing an ‘advent challenge’ in IG to sketch a weekly holiday themed sketch, like ‘Mistletoe Kisses’ above. But, just about the time the holiday mood finally overtakes me, it’s time to celebrate a new year. Who can keep up anymore?

 

Inktober… I didn’t miss it!

I have participated in Inktober each October since 2016, but I forgot to post the ink sketches here this year. So here they are. They were all done in a large sketchbook that has paper that won’t take paint, so just ink, Inktense pencils, and ballpoint pens.

Each day in Inktober has a prompt, which I pretty much stuck to, but I think I’ll just let you guess the prompts this year!

I enjoyed sketching with ink this year, even more than in previous years. The sketchbook I used is a larger format one, and I have grown to like that.

Recent trip sketch journal

 I previously added a few pages from my travel journal from a trip we took to New England. I used the same small sketchbook for our trip a few weeks later to Bryce Canyon National Park, and to view the recent solar eclipse in nearby Utah.

We stayed in a VRBO ranch just beyond Hatch, which was secluded and very nice.

My favorite activity was while my husband was biking through Bryce, I sat and did a small (5x7”) oil painting. The resulting painting was not great Art, but it was great Fun! 

I did a few little watercolors in the sketchbook on site, as well. And I also sketched the cow and turkeys at our cabin before we left there. 

One of the fun new things I did in this sketch journal was to buy a little Bluetooth printer that prints small 2x3” Photo stickers, from my phone. I did try to do at least one actual sketch on each spread, though, and not just fill it with photos. That was pretty hard though, as my sketches do not do justice to Bryce’s beauty! But then, neither do photos, do they?

After our several days in Bryce, we went to where we could see the eclipse best. My husband set up his photo equipment to track the sun, and take photos every few minutes, then seconds, as the eclipse progressed. I sat nearby with my sketchbook, solar glasses, and a few colored pencils and documented the eclipse in my own way. My result isn’t as stunning as my husband’s photos, but what a great way to remember the event!

My husband’s photos.

Between the two trips, I filled the little sketchbook. I wasn’t sure if I would like such a small book, but it turned out to be just right!

 

 

The trip that finally happened!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally were able to take the trip to New England that my heart attack at the airport had delayed. Our flight was the same one we had booked before, very early in the morning. I brought a small sketchbook with me, to use as my travel journal, so sketched for a part of the flight, to pass the time. (I am not fond of flying, and having a heart attack at the airport did not improve that.) Our flight agenda took us through Texas, then on to Boston, where our son and puppy, Milly, met us at the airport.

                                                          

 

 

 

 

After a great day and a good night's sleep at our son's family's house, we left the next morning to drive to the Berkshires. We stopped along the way in Concord, one of my favorite spots, for coffee and a pumpkin donut, and a bit of a walk-around.

 

 

 

Our next stop was Amherst, which was a bit  out of the way, but I wanted to at least see Emily Dickinson's house, then go to Eric Carle's Museum of Illustration.

 

Eric Carle's studio makes mine look downright tidy!

I loved seeing the original paintings from some of Eric Carle's children's books, and there was another exhibit there of the  lovely book illustrations by Claire A Nivola, whose work I had never seen, but will be looking for.

We traveled on to our lodging in Lenox, which happened to be right next door to Edith Wharton's home, The Mount, which was on my list to visit. We walked through the beautiful grounds and gardens of both our lodgings and The Mount, then went to find dinner.

That was our first day in The Berkshires, with more to come....

 

Every little thing is gonna be alright!

 I was hoping to be adding sketches and photos from a trip to New England now. But that is not to be. We went to the airport, checked our bag and went through security, and settled in to wait to board our plane, when I had sudden and severe pain in my chest, and down my left arm into my hand. We waited awhile, took something for heartburn, then an Excedrin (the only thing we had with aspirin in it) but nothing helped. I finally told my husband I could not get on an airplane, and we called 911. I had indeed, and surprisingly, had a heart attack, so ended up in the hospital, instead of in New England.

I had a couple of stents put in blocked arteries, was given a bucket load of medicines, and was sent home.

 

I was pretty discouraged, but a friend brought me a decaf americano and a flamingo bubble machine, and we sat on my porch, enjoying ourselves ‘anyway.’

I happened to hear Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ and decided it is my new ‘theme song.’ I am playing and singing it every time I reach for my guitar.

 

And I am trying to let myself notice things that give me Joy, like noticing the view from my doctor’s office waiting room window.

I have good days and not-so-good days. Good moments and a few not-great moments. Don’t we all have them? But this is my message to you-oo-oo…Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing’s gonna be alright!