Monthly Archives: May 2014

All Things May: Family Snippets

Life had picked up speed with the end of the school year. I feel squished at this point trying to keep up, enjoy life and yet still get all my art in before the summer time hits. It is all very, very good.

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dye samples for my class notebook

 

I missed my friends who were still at the Barn in week #2 of the Master Class and week #2 of Carol Soderlund’s dye class!

Artwork at the Barn

Artwork at the Barn

But I really didn’t want to miss any more of his games. I love watching him play. Mostly , I love the fierce determination he has to perform to his best.

State Cup play offs

State Cup play offs

Now on to the semifinals next weekend

Now on to the semifinals next weekend

We have travelled to 2 different states so far this week for games.

And the weekend has involved meeting her new boyfriend. He flew in to see her …she might have a long summer without him.

home from college with a boyfriend visiting for the weekend

home from college with a boyfriend visiting for the weekend

A trip to the beach to feel the warm sand, the sun and see the water. Water temp was 45 degrees. No one cared and we soaked up the warm sun on our faces walking on the beach.

Beach in May

Beach in May

And a trip to the Muskegon Museum of Art for the All State exhibition opening which was crowded and busy. I loved seeing so many enjoying art!

My piece at the All State exhibit...

My piece at the All State exhibit…

It’s been a really great and busy week and I wouldn’t trade the last week in May with my family.

What About Color?

At the beginning of the year, I set some lofty goals for myself. And one of them was to  intentionally study color. I rounded up all my color books and lined them up in a nice, neat little pile. I opened the first book and realized most , if not all , of the exercises involved working with paint-either acrylics or watercolors. I made a list and saved my coupons to go buy some more supplies.

And then stopped before I bought the paints. The idea of paints really was exciting but I felt it would just be a huge distraction for me right now. Instead, I signed up for Carol Soderlund‘s Color Mixing for Dyers class at the Barn.  I needed to know how to dye the colors I wanted and knew that Carol would be the best to teach me reproducible results on fabric. Not painting on paper or canvas.

So this is the week I am at the Barn.

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Sorting of fabrics into buckets

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Carol having fun teaching

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Counting and checking before the next steps

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the pretties all lined up for tomorrow

Carol is a most organized and excellent teacher. And by the end of the week, I will have 1029 samples of new colors and understand a lot more than I did before about color dyeing on fabrics.

It is worth waiting for and not jumping into the paints . Sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for the right class to come along.

Decision Making Time

I got some good new this week. Two of my pieces. Rooflines #2 and Rooflines #8 have been accepted into the SAQA special exhibit called Tactile Architecture. This exhibit will be at the International Quilt Festival in November 2014. I haven”t really tried to enter many shows so this was encouraging.

When I left off last time, I was undecided about whether to enter my piece into Artprize 2014. I did decide to try with it.  I will let others decide if it is a good fit for their venue or not. I guess I am tired of being indecisive with my art. My motto will be just try. Or just do the work perhaps, earlier ( ahem) , be more confident of it and try again at a later date.

Gail Baar sent me this great catalog from the QUILTS: The New Geometry exhibit.  I do love the introduction that the curator, Sue Benner wrote. It is one of the most well written summaries of the art quilt.  Try calling the museum for it as it would be a great addition to your library. Thank you Gail!

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It is finally thinking of spring here!  Since I am not ready to show you what I am working on right now, here’s a few spring pictures for you.

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My favorite daffodils

My favorite daffodils

I love their gradated centers.

The only set of tulips this year!

The only set of tulips this year!

Critters ate all my tulips but this last bunch. I might stick to daffodil bulbs next year.

I am so excited to pick my daughter up form college this week. I have missed her so much this year. Off to Iowa at the end of the week and maybe I will send you some cow pictures. 🙂