Catch Up

I can't believe that it is August 20, 2013.
Sometimes I feel as if I am Rip Van Winkle, waking up to find myself in a new world.
Or at least a new month!

Is it just me or does time really begin to move faster the older that we get?

So - here we are, almost a month since the last post.
Well almost 3 weeks but who is counting (obviously I am).

What have I been doing?
I traveled out to see my friend Liz Kettle in Colorado.
Taught a book making class at my friend Deb Prewitt's shop (Blue Twig Studio) (which was great btw).
I stayed with Liz for a week so we could visit.
She worked my butt off while I was there!
We were getting her (and studio mate Cass Mullane) studio ready for a photo shoot.
I took more realistic photos of the space AFTER the photographer left while we were all working and playing on various projects.

This is the corner that houses most of Cass' supplies.
I love the layout of all of the different work spaces.

This is the beautiful hand dyed fabric/paper shelving on
Liz' side.

I love the way that Liz and Cass set their work spaces up.
They can work independently yet share the space
and be close enough to talk while they work!
The wall behind Liz is a design wall. It currently has a
new series by Cass on it.

This wall has a selection of black and white (with a touch of red).
The very messy (yet happy) table in the fore ground
is loaded with paint and paper. A small group of us got together
and played for several hours. It was wonderful!

All the thread, paper, paint, fabric and base supplies that anyone
could possibly want or need are housed in this corner!

Look at Liz, hard at work on a creative project.
I love that they have their work hanging on the walls all
around them.

Cass is sitting at the machine working but can hop up and do
anything that she needs to at the work space beside her.

Here's a portion of the mess that we made while playing.

It's so inspiring to me to spend time with like minded women.
Sharing ideas & dreams, laughing and talking along with a little whining, um, I mean working through to creative solutions.
It was one way of refilling our well.
We must spend time with our creative sisters in order to nourish ourselves!

During my absence on the blog, I also went trout fishing!
My husband and I drove up to a local fish hatchery (above Walhalla SC) and fished along the east fork of the Chatooga River.
I caught my first (second, third and fourth) trout!
I really enjoyed it, getting out in the forest and river was wonderful.
I'll spare you the photos of that though.
My husband grilled the fish that very evening and it was the best that I've ever had.
But man, I was exhausted by the time we got home! The water level was up from all of the rain that we've had and it really required some muscle walking around in the river.
I think that the bike riding muscles helped on that part.


What else have I done?
Hmmm...
I have been working on a felted Kindle cover that I started in Colorado.
My color palette is a blue-greenish color. Maybe a sea green, sea foam or something close to that, plus a splash of red orange.

I had bought a small piece of ribbon from Deb at Blue Twig Studio that coordinated
perfectly with the colors of the felted cover. I felt that I just had to incorporate it into the cover somehow.

Sometimes I pin things in place while I am deciding if I want to add them.
I am auditioning them before I commit to their placement.

I don't have any photos of the phase that the cover went through while I was doing a lot of the stitching.
I tried several ideas for the spine, finally settling on one that I think I like.

Now I am not too sure but I think it would be too much work to un-do it.
Sigh...
But it looks okay the way it is.
I guess.

Here are a few shots of it.
I am not quite finished with it as I still have a little more stitching to do.
Well, here - you will see what I mean.

I love the meandering red orange stitching on the back of it.
It really leads your eye around the entire piece (even if it is a cover and not quite a "piece of art work").

I added two layers of ribbon on the spine.
The bottom one is one of those ribbons that has open sections on it.
I didn't like the open sections on the edges - they are just open.
I mean, they are not closed in at all. So I stitched the edges, closing the gap.
I felt that it finished it in a better way. 

I think that I need to do something around the stem of the leaf.
I think it needs a darker outline.

I'm still stitching the veins in the leaf. I have them
drawn out with a white marker. I do like the background stitching
on the leaf - lots of little circles in diff colors.

I stitched one section of a base fabric (a silk scarf) in a satin stitch.
I love the sheen of the thread. The way that the light catches it is beautiful.
I also love being able to find small sections of the piece that are so interesting
on their own. It makes the viewer look for more of these!

I still have to finish the stitching (I think I have already said that, right?) but also need to address the edges of the entire cover.
Hmmm...I will have to think about that a bit more.

Here are a few shots of the cover wrapped around the Kindle.
I wanted to be able to see how the spine embellishment would work (and show you too).

Back view. I like the way that the red orange ribbon wraps around the front and back.

Front.
I definitely need to add something
to define the stem outline a little more.

I love French Knots.
Love. Love. Love.

It's a little crooked but you get the idea.
The ribbon was exactly the right size!

So, what do you think?

What would you do for the edging (or binding) of the cover?
I was thinking about twisting a few pieces of thread or yarn/fiber together and stitch them to the edges.
I guess that I could do a satin stitch around the edges...
or a blanket stitch...

I have a couple of scrap pieces from the original base that I will probably use to try a couple of ideas out on.

Leave me a comment or email me with your ideas!
I love getting comments. It makes me feel like I am writing to actual people instead of myself (even though I am an actual person too).
I see the numbers on the analytics so I know that there are people stopping by but I still love to read your comments and get your emails!

I'll leave with a photo of my studio mate.

I need to trim the hair on the bottom of his paws.
It grows so fast.

sleepy boy

Adventures in Colorado

After staying up in the Rocky Mountains for several days, I went home with Liz (Kettle) for a few days.
We spent some time in her studio (looking for stuff, finding it, then losing it again) working (read playing).
I worked on a small machine felted piece that I had started at the Art Summit, adding hand stitching and a few beads. (I am still working on that today) (and still enjoying it).

I taught a book making class at Deb Prewitt's shop (The Blue Twig Studio) in Colorado Springs.
The class was full and everyone was excited about making their own handmade book.
It was a two day affair - we made the collages for the cover and painted some on the pages the first day.
The second day, we stitched the signatures in and (if there was any time left) worked inside the book with Thermofax screens, acrylic paint, stencils and such.
We did have a couple of over-achievers (ahem Kathy and Linda) that made TWO books while they were in the class! Those ladies were smokin'!
I was so busy working my way around the room teaching that I did not take photos but I will direct you to this post on Deb's blog. She has a photo of all the books over there on her blog (thank you Deb!).

I love teaching in Colorado!
Everyone is so friendly, laid-back and eager to learn new things.
Thank you guys!



Liz, her husband Bruce and I went to the "Paint Mines Interpretive Park" about an hour or so from their house.
The Paint Mines are in Calhan Colorado.
We did a good bit of hiking and got to see some of the most beautiful natural sights that I have ever seen.
This is a quote from the brochure that we picked up at the site
"The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused by oxidized iron compounds, are found in varying amounts throughout the different layers of clay. When the outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath them, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye."
I used a small point and shoot camera so the photos do not do the site justice - actually I think that these are sights that one must see in person to fully appreciate.
No camera can capture the beauty or the majesty of this sight.

You can see how small our shadows are.
These outcrops are huge!

I would suggest, that if you do go there, you look in the little brown metal post (right as you begin to walk on the path from the parking lot) for a map.
It will save you walking a mile or so if you just want to see the Paint Mines.
just sayin'...

Smarty Arty Summit (SAS)

Okay - back to the travel log of November.

I got back from Charleston one evening, unpacked, did laundry, repacked and flew out to Colorado the next morning (I'm sensing a trend here).

The beginnings of a journal page

I met a new friend at the airport - Kim Rae Nugent.
We were picked up by my buddy Liz Kettle, who drove us to Jill Berry's house.
Team assembled.
We arrived there, unpacked and then repacked all of our belongings (I still can't believe that Liz got all of that stuff into her Subaru!).

(Wait, haven't I typed "unpacked and repacked" more than once or twice in the last two blog posts??!?)

We were going to use the trip to introduce one new thing to each person  there as well as work on what we wanted to work on.
I had my "group project" ready and plenty of book pages ready to capture what held my gaze (if anything did).


One of the fun things about staying in a cabin at Estes Park near the Rocky Mountain State Park with three other wild and crazy artists friends (well, maybe all of them are not as wild and crazy as me but fun none the less!) was that there were no outside forces compelling us to do anything except what we wanted to do.
Yeah.
Read that again.
We got to do what we wanted to!

This is the view that we had from our back door.

This is NOT a postcard!
It is the actual view from the back porch of  our cabin.

We created art, journaled, painted, stenciled, drew and ate for four days straight!

Oh, we went outside as well.
Here we are at the Rocky Mountain State Park.
It was ccccold that day!
The background is a portion of a map from the brochure from the YMCA Estes Park
facility that we stayed at.

Well, this isn't finished yet (obviously).
Did I mention that we got VERY goofy
and that we had a  very tiny convertible car too?!

Another one of my journal pages.
I have collaged a piece of the Estes Park brochure map
onto my sketchbook page, added a tiny photo from Jill's printer
(name escapes me right now) (pogo?) (I want one though!).
Then I roughed up the edge of the photo
with a bit of graphite. Needs more but that will have to wait... 

We saw elk in our front yard (and above the fireplace) and snowy mountain tops in our back yard.
We got up in the mornings when we wanted to, ate chocolate before breakfast (well I did) and went to bed when we could no longer hold our heads up.
We laughed, joked, talked, ranted and passed love, tenderness and strength between the four of us.
It was truly a bonding experience for all of us.

Bernardo the Elk.
We added the chic red scarf to his neck.
He really needed it.
Notice the cozy fire that our Fire Master (Jill) built.
Forever to be known as "the fire that Jill built".

My drawing of Bernardo the Elk.
Sans scarf.

We managed to have one "sit down" meal at the dining room table
before our art supplies took it over...we were relegated to
the coffee table to eat after that.

Notice the floor lamp in the middle of the dining room table...
lack of good light to work by will drive you to do
many odd things indeed.

The art supplies begin to reproduce and take over
the floor space around the "work table". 

And behind it to the small table as well...

If you have the opportunity - heck, just TAKE the opportunity to invite a few friends together for a "girls only" ("Art Summit") (whatever) few days - then, by all means, just DO IT.
We had a wonderful, awesome, fantastic, unforgettable time.
I hope that my name is already on the guest list for next year...


One last photo.
This is a sculpture at the main office at the YMCA office there at Estes Park.

What an awesome backdrop for a sculpture!