Reflections of a Ramblin' Girl

"Ask me to show you poetry in motion, and I 'll show you a horse." unknown

2012-01-24T11:58:00.002-06:00

For this week's edition of Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen's site the theme is 'story'. The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words can certainly apply to this picture of Ebeneezer above. He was actually trying to sniff the camera to see what it was.

And this picture of Pearl & Norman below appears as though they were posing for me. They actually seemed excited about having their picture taken and started following me around.

And one more photo of Norman's beautiful blue eye!

I processed all of the above using several of Kim's textures in various modes and opacities.

Can't decide which is my favorite...
How about you..what's your favorite?

Live your life creatively & always carry your camera~

cathy

open to possibilities......

2012-01-17T19:54:00.002-06:00

My contribution to Kim's texture tuesday. Theme for today is 'OPEN'. I took this photo of Lake Michigan 2 weeks ago when we were experiencing a very mild winter day. Temps were in the upper 50's and the sky was just beginning to turn a pale pink as the sun was going down. Unfortunately, I left the beach area before the sunset was in full bloom. My daughter captured it on her iphone and I should've used one of her photos to alter. Instead I chose one of mine and played with the hue & saturation as well as levels and added a warm photo filter. I added 2 of Kim's textures: one layer of embrace and 2 layers of evolve. Then I added text.
What better photo for the theme 'open' than the wide open spaces of a huge body of water.
Live your life creatively~ And always be open to possibilities!

Rose in Winter....

2012-01-10T17:33:00.003-06:00

Actually no roses in winter around here. Even though it's been a mild winter so far, still too cold for roses. This was taken at the Rose Society Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden back in September.
It's my contribution to Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen's website.
For this photo, I adjusted the levels, brightness & contrast along with using a gradient map.
Then I layered it with Kim's 'confidence' texture on soft light at 100%, then layered Kim's 'embrace' texture on saturation at 60% and another 'embrace' layer on soft light at 43%.
It has a nice vintage feel to it I think.

Originally the rose was a bright yellow. I think I like it better white!

Hope you enjoy!

cathy

p.s. just realized the first song I have playing is 'Whiter Shade of Pale'. Kind of goes along with the photo

Texture Tuesday

2011-11-22T17:14:00.001-06:00

My swan couple was taken last month at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. They were being extremely friendly for swans. But of course, people were throwing bread crumbs to them which probably contributed to their cooperative nature. Sometimes these beautiful creatures can be a bit rude or downright mean! I do love the way the pair up for life. It's kind of nice that they are that committed.
I processed this with The Pioneer Woman's 'heartland' action for photoshop, then layered Kim's 'canvas magic' on linear burn at 35%, Kim's 'kkpaper2' at overlay 34%, adjusted the levels, then added another layer of Kim's 'kkpaper2' on linear burn at 89%, then layered it with Kim's 'kkpaper4' times 2-one on overlay 32% and one at screen 45%. Seems like a lot but this photo was taken on a cloudy day and the water came across as really gray/black so I was trying to warm that up yet keep the swans nice & light but well blended. (or maybe it's just that I've been absent from playing with photoshop for so long that I just felt like adding & adding and playing with adjustments!)

I love this little guy! He was so cute. I took this photo the same day I took the banded galloway cows in the previous post. He was in the same pasture but off by
himself. He looked so lonely. Then as I got closer I realized he was asleep, standing up and his eyes weren't closed. He was just in a trance. I took about 6 photos of him and he never even moved.

What a cutie!

I processed this with Kim's 'canvas magic' on difference at 78%, then added Kim's 'kkkpaper2' on multiply at 70%, then 'kkpaper4' on multiply at 32%. I did use a mask on all layers to bring back some definition in his face. His eye looks like there are dots painted below and I wanted to be able to see them clearly.

Glad to be back and playing along with Texture Tuesday.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone : )

Live your life creatively~
cathy

"We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it." Lauryn Hill

2011-11-18T11:23:00.000-06:00

The above quote really sums it up...
Yesterday felt like the first day in a really long time that I have been able to relax & breathe. Sometimes life just comes flying at you at the speed of light and days go whirling past. It seem as though you're on a roller coaster that just won't stop. Such has been my life since September. Some good, some bad...
The good-went on a trip to see kids & grandkids then scouted out a potential area for retirement.
Got home from that trip in time to celebrate my baby girl's 21st birthday! Got busy making loads of jewelry for a local gift shop-Peg Ann Kompany and for the Fine Art of Fiber gift boutique and for the Deerpath Art Gallery's holiday celebration. Shipped an art quilt to Fermilab Gallery for their 'Stitched Together- Art & Science' exhibit. Went to college for 'Dad's weekend and to do some tailgating & see a football game. Busy, busy but all good!
The bad-my husband had a sudden, severe asthma attack and had to be on a ventilator in Intensive Care for several days. It was like an out-of-body experience for me as well as him. Just like the quote, I was 'available for it'. I put on my take-charge/be the boss/show no emotion 'hat' and dealt with everything that came at me. A pretty good coping mechanism that helped me get throught it. Funny how something like that causes you to really get your priorities straight! Suddenly, the only thing that mattered in the world was being available for my husband. I lost track of whether I was eating or bathing or sleeping. Yet, when I was at the hospital I was fully aware of everything going on and spoke with doctors, nurses; asked questions and advocated for him since he was under heavy sedation and incapable of doing anything for himself.
Fortunately, my husband recovered from the severe attack, was discharged and is doing much better. Still some issues to deal with due to his many years of smoking but retirement is sounding really good to me about now! If only I could convince him of that.
The other little itty, bitty bad thing is- I had another biopsy! Teeny, tiny- not a big deal in the scheme of things but so annoying. I have had so many little biopsies of moles that I should've lost about 10 pounds with all the little bits of flesh they've removed. Anyway, hoping for a benign diagnosis next week.
The bad from my husband's emergency is still lingering with me at times. I think about it periodically and wonder if it was just a bad dream. Cannot believe he/we went through that. Pretty scary that asthma can be provoke such a life-threatening situation.

Anyway, that's how my life has been going lately. Showing up, being available, dealing with what the day brings and trying to maintain your sanity is about all we can do.

The things which help me maintain my sanity are yoga & art. I've been so busy lately that there's been very little time for either. But things are looking up! I'm back to playing with photoshop, blogging, checking in with friends on Facebook and also making more jewelry. I have some jewelry posted on my Facebook 4 Art site if you're interested. But because of my biopsy I'm not supposed to go to yoga for 2 wks but I may sneak back sooner than that.

In the meantime, here are a few more photos I altered in photoshop this week.

These cows are 'banded Galloways'. They were at Fearrington Village near Pittsboro, NC. Saw them on our 'retirement location-scouting' trip. The bull was HUGE and the female was loving on him big time. I used Kim Klassen's 'phoebe' texture on this photo as well as a vintage peeling photo frame of my own.

This photo was taken near my house at a prairie preserve. This is an original log cabin on the property. I thought the fact that the gate was painted a beautiful periwinkle blue was really odd but cute! I used Kim's 'phoebe' texture on this one also, along with her 'thursday' & 'scripted' textures. The 'scripted' texture was used at such a low opacity that you can't see the script but it added a lightness to it that I liked.

This photo of 3 little birds sitting on a fence was also taken while in NC. I applied several of Kim's textures and a couple of my own to create this one.

I was so excited to get this close-up shot of a grasshopper on my purple coneflowers before the frost got them.
He was very cooperative even with me getting so close to him. I only used Kim's textures on this one.

This final one is a blending of 2 separate photos then added textures. I used a photo of a dying tree wrapped in vines that had turned a gorgeous shade of red but you can't tell in this photo because I changed the levels, hue & saturation to the point that it looks more like fluffy, golden grasses.
Then I added several textures and played with blend modes. Lastly, I added a photo of actual grasses at the edge of a pond over everything and played with blend modes until I got it right!

Wednesday I was wordless, today I don't know how to stop!
So I'll just make myself take a break and go put those new bracelets on my Facebook page.

Glad to be back among the blogging community! Hope to pop in for a visit to see what's been going on with you folks real soon.

Lesson of today...if you are still smoking-QUIT now! Otherwise you are probably looking at a diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in your future. Not the way you want to spend your senior years, believe me! The other lesson is-if you're still baking yourself in the sun(or tanning bed) for that
beautiful golden glow-STOP now! The sun truly damages your skin in more ways than just wrinkles.
You're capable of saving your lungs & your skin. It's your choice.

I will get off my soapbox now and say have a great weekend everyone!

Live your life creatively~

cathy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T12:45:00.000-06:00

Fall's last leaves.......
I am truly wordless-speechless today. I attempted to write all that has happened since I last posted but words fail me today. To quote the Grateful Dead-it's been a long strange trip.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to reflect on the activity of the last couple of months and show some more photos.
This is my first Texture Tuesday (albeit on Wednesday) in sooo long!

'do what you love, love what you do...'

2011-09-13T13:11:00.000-05:00

This is the 'DO' edition of Texture Tuesday over at Kim's blog. I have been so busy doing so many things lately that I wasn't sure I'd even have time to play along today. I was busy last week doing things that I LOVE--- taking a workshop in mixed media weaving and bead weaving so I didn't participate last week. BUT I decided to take a moment & play along today since I also love to DO photography and photoshop and Kim's Texture Tuesday. You just have to make time to DO what you LOVE! As the Nike ads say...just DO it!
The above photo was actually 2 photos I layered together. One was early evening, as the moon was starting to come up and the sky was a beautiful medium blue. The other photo was taken a different day as the sun was setting and the sky had these gorgeous puffy clouds that were shades of coral, purple & blue. I layered these photos with Kim's 'crackerjack' texture x 2 at different blend modes and opacity.
Unfortunately, I didn't write them down before I flattened the image.
~live your life creatively & DO what you love~
cathy

{Orange eDition} of Texture Tuesday

2011-08-30T13:27:00.001-05:00

Both of today's photos were taken back in May while I was in Grand Cayman at the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Garden.
Above photo was layered with Kim Klassen's 'cracker jack' texture x 3 (color burn 63%, hue 67% & linear burn 68%). then I layered Kim's 'canvas magic' texture @ screen 35%.

The photo to the left was layered with Kim's 'canvas magic' texture @color burn 27%, then Kim's 'cracker jack' texture @ darker color 100%, then again @ multiply 67%. Then I added Pixel Dust Photo Art's 'fleeting memory' texture @ luminosity 26%.

Orange you going to come play along with us at Texture Tuesday?
Have a great week.
Cathy

The bAck to sChooL eDition of Texture Tuesday

2011-08-23T11:37:00.004-05:00

Back to school...
What image comes to mind when we think 'back to school'?
So many from childhood.
Excitement about which friends would end up in class with you. Who would you have lunch with. Football games on Friday nights. Chillier, crisper air. Days getting shorter and nights spent doing homework rather than playing outside!

So many memories of the end of summer and the start of a new school year.

Now, since I don't have a young child at home, the beginning of school brings about different images & feelings. I still think football season and obviously shorter days and chillier weather coming on. But the whole idea of 'back to school' puts me in a more regimented frame of mind even though I don't have a child at home to get ready for school. For me, it means I need to get back into a routine of getting into my studio and getting some work done. I've played around enough this summer, not really having any sort of routine. Just doing what I want when I felt like it. Now......it's back to work/school whatever you want to call it. Back to a more regular schedule of creating.
The above photo is of my dog Rocky when he was just a baby. He was and still can be a total mess maker. If there was ever a dog that would eat your homework-Rocky certainly would! In this photo, I caught him in action devouring a stack of newspaper. He was lying amongst the pile, happily tearing the papers up. Note the sweet little innocent expression he has. Oops, you caught me!
He is 5 years old now and still capable of tearing things up although not quite as often. He's my buddy and my constant companion but he's ALL terrier (meaning a bit crazy)!
Off to create a schedule for getting back to work. Until next time.....
Live your life creatively & always keep your camera with you~
cathy
p.s. almost forgot to tell you the textures I used on the TT edition. I used Kim Klassen's 'granny's cupboard' at multiply @ 52% opacity, then layered Kim's 'just stitched' texture at screen x 3 all @ 100% opacity. Then for the final layers I used Kim's 'pourvous' texture on overlay @ 100%. For the just stitched and pourvous layers I also used a layer mask over Rocky and the newspapers and kept the background covered in the textures.

Also linking up with i heart faces

{Flashback Friday}

2011-08-19T14:43:00.000-05:00

A bit of nostalgia today...

My 'baby' girl pictured on the left is starting her senior year of college on Monday.
Where has the time gone?

It seems as though yesterday she really WAS a baby & poof in the blink of an eye she is about to begin her final year of undergrad.

Good luck my child child-can hardly wait to find out where you will be heading next year.

Live your life creatively & always carry your camera so you can catch those special moments that will enable you to transport yourself back in time.
have a great weekend everyone~
cathy

Thoughtful Thursday & The August Break

2011-08-18T11:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Thursday!
cathy

'Days of Wine & Roses'

2011-08-16T15:20:00.001-05:00

For today's Texture Tuesday, Kim asked for suggestions for the theme. She received many wonderful suggestions but she chose 'movies' as the theme.
As soon as I read her choice, I immediately thought of 'Days of Wine & Roses' knowing exactly what I would photograph. Pretty easy one I know, but it was my first thought so I ran with it. It's not my favorite movie but it makes a great photo!
Here it is~

I didn't fuss with trying to create a back drop, just opened a bottle of wine, poured myself a glass and went outside a picked the few 'Fairy' roses that are blooming right now.
I layered Kim's 'just stitched'
texture x 2. One at color burn
and one at soft light.
Then I layered Kim's 'water stained frame' texture at luminous. (sorry that I didn't write down the opacities of these layers)
Then I added the text layer & voila!
Oh yeah, just remembered that I also used a mask on the second layer of 'just stitched', as well as a layer mask on the layer 'water stained frame'. I did reduce the opacity quite a bit in the layer mask on the 'water stained frame' layer so that it wasn't a stark outline.

Can't wait to go over the Kim's site and see all the great movie titles recreated in photos.

Live your life creatively, always carry your camera AND stop to smell the roses & enjoy a glass of wine once in a while~
cathy

Stormy Weather

2011-08-15T16:28:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, hubby & I went to help our daughter finalize her move into her senior-year apartment. I'm surprised that I wasn't overly emotional about this whole thing. At the beginning of her senior year of high school I was a weepy mess. I guess I am 'growing up' or perhaps it's because she may be in her final year of under grad but she still has another 4 years to go, so she's not really done with school.

BUT.....the location of her next 4 years of school is uncertain. She could be somewhat close by, she could be MILES away. We won't know until those vet school applications are fully submitted and a reply has been sent to her. I've decided that I won't become 'emotional' until I find out where she will end up for the next four years.

Any whoooo...the drive home form the apartment clean up was a bit stormy to say the least. We drove through some of the same storms that blew across Illinois and into Indiana. The same storm cells that caused the collapse of the stage in Indianapolis at the State Fair. The storm that wreaked havoc and destroyed those inocent lives.

{Prayers are sent to the families & friends of those who died.}

I somehow FORGOT to take my camera with me so I improvised. My hubby has an iphone which I have now fallen in love with. It takes awesome pictures!!!

Here's a little glimpse of the aftermath of the storms.

These were all taken from inside the moving car with the windows rolled up! In a few you can actually see a very faint reflection of my husband's profile. I did not alter these except to do a levels adjustment

since they were taken from inside the car at around 7:30-8:00 pm at night as the sun was setting.

We were driving north so the sun was to our left and these photos were taken from the passenger side of the car. The sun had come out so brilliantly after the storms that the clouds were glowing a beautiful golden color. The rainbows were fabulous! In one of the photos the field is also glowing. It looked as though it had just been plowed, no crop? I really wanted to get a picture of the sun shining on the cornfields because the tassels of the corn were also glowing a nice red/gold. I wasn't able to capture that photo though as most of the corn was on the opposite side of the road from me.

I see an iphone in my future-- as soon as I'm eligible for an upgrade!

See ya tomorrow for Texture Tuesday.

Until then, live your life creatively!

cathy

"The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things." Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

2011-08-09T18:42:00.004-05:00

Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday today is titled "It's the Little Things'.

The 'little things'......life is made up of so many little things that can make your heart sing. I always marvel at those insignificant moments that can bring a smile to my face or make me break out in laughter.

You know what I'm talking about...holding a newborn baby, hearing a child laughing, or a kitten purr.

Smelling freshly mowed grass or apple pie baking. Watching the sun rise or set over the ocean, seeing a child take her first steps.

All these seemingly small things are moments that find us smiling without even realizing it. These moments are the real stuff that life is made of. I am finding more of these moments the older I get. Not sure if it's the realization that I'm a mere mortal and am inching towards the autumn of my life (YIKES!) or the simple fact that I have become such a camera nut that I'm always in search of capturing those moments in time that make me smile. Doesn't matter what is causing it, I'm finding so many of these 'little things' that really cause me to slow down, smile & enjoy their gifts.

One of my favorite 'little things' is watching all the water fowl behind my house. The baby ducks & baby geese have been a highlight this year. Of course the babies are pretty much all grown up now and resemble their parents but here's a few photos of some Canadian Geese during the gawky adolescent looking stage. SMILE...

Not sure if this is mama or papa with the child. Both parents stay extremely close to their offspring.

This photo was layered with Kim's 'stained linen' texture at multiply 90% opacity and I used a layer mask to mask the mama/daddy & baby. Then I layered it with Kim's 'luminous' texture times 2. One at linear burn 32% opacity and one at multiply 32% opacity.

Love how fuzzy the baby's head & neck is. They shed the baby fuzz & feathers as they grow and the yard was full of goose feathers.

This is a close up of the baby.

Love how he's standing with his feet a bit pigeon toed! So cute.

These little things make me SMILE so much.

For this photo, I layered Kim's 'canvasback magic' texture at screen blend 100% opacity. Then layered it with Kim's 'luminous' texture at hue 67%, then added a photo filter in a light gray color at multiply 50%. And the last layer is Kim's 'water stained frame' on soft light at 55% opacity.

This little guy had just hopped out of the pond and the fluffy baby feathers were still matted down with water. Another SMILE moment caught in time!

What makes your heart sing and lightens your day? Think about those little tidbits in our lives that when
crammed all together make your life so worthwhile.

Live your life creatively & always carry your camera to capture those 'little moments'~
cathy

Thoughtful Thursday & The August Break

2011-08-04T11:16:00.000-05:00

My beautiful hibiscus cropped slightly with hue & saturation adjustments, layered with Kim Klassen's 'scripted edges' texture with some brushes added for additional texture.

Here's the original.

Happy Thursday and Happy August Break!
cathy

{Echinacea} purple coneflowers done 3 ways

2011-08-02T12:57:00.005-05:00

Close-up shot of a honeybee on my coneflowers. Layered with Kim Klassen's 'cotton candy' & 'greyday
slate' textures. I also played with hue & saturation a bit. Added a little bit of vignette around the edges.

Was able to capture this close-up of a butterfly on my coneflowers. I layered this photo with Kim's
'cotton candy', 'greyday slate' & 'cloudy day' textures. I've gotten pretty bad at NOT writing down my 'recipes'. When I start playing in photoshop I get so carried away that I forget to save a copy and I merge my layers before writing down what I did. I'll have to get better at that.

The above photo is layered with Kim's newest textures- 'scratched magic' & 'scripted edges'. I vaguely remember that for this one I did use one of the layers (scripted edges, I believe) on color burn, plus I bumped up the saturation to get this vivid purple. I also masked the scratched magic and erased it over the flowers.
Not sure which purple coneflower photo I like best. Hmmmmmm? Each one is so different. I altered the honeybee photo first and really liked it! Then when I altered the butterfly one, that was my fave.
Then yesterday after downloading Kim's newest textures I just had to play with those and the last photo became my favorite!
Last week on Wordless Wednesday I also used a shot of my purple coneflowers done in b & w.
At that time, that was my favorite...
I guess I'm entitled to change my mind. I'm having a ton of fun photographing my flowers this summer.
Not sure if it was that long, cold winter but my coneflowers are prettier than ever.
Live your life creatively & always carry your camera~
cathy
Linking up with:

Thoughtful Thursday

2011-07-28T10:49:00.001-05:00

thought ful adj. 1. engrossed in thought; contemplative. 2. exhibiting or marked by careful thought.
3. having or showing heed for the happiness of others and a propensity for anticipating their needs or wishes.
_________________________________________________________
I figured it was time to show off my gifts that my daughter brought home from her trip to Africa.
I wasn't sure she would have time to shop or would even find anything to buy since she was going on safari and camping most of the time.
Fortunately for me, she had time and she was thoughtful enough to bring home all the things that I love!
Here's a piece of batiked fabric that I fully intend to frame. It's a work of art.

This piece still had quite a bit of waxy residue left on it when she brought it home. I ironed it between 2 sheets of brown paper to remove it. The colors are so intense, I just LOVE it!

There's even the artist's name at the bottom. Very hard to tell what letters they are but I believe the first letter is 'J'. If you can figure it out, let me know.
This piece is approx. 8 x 20.

This next piece is also wonderful!

It is much bigger than it appears here. I had a hard time getting a photo of it. This one is not dyed using the batik method. It is painted and stamped and/or monoprinted. Although the way the white paint is applied makes it appear like batik in that it has some crackling in the white paint, showing the dark gray/black beneath. Pretty cool!

This piece is approx. 20 in wide by about 4 ft long. I think with this piece I will edge it in a coordinating fabric, add some batting and backing, then lightly quilt it and make it a wall hanging.

Here's a close -up of the center elephant.

You can see the crackling in the white paint.

Obviously, my daughter knows my obsession with fabrics. Especially hand dyed and painted.
She also knows I love masks. So here's the one she brought us home. (I say us, because my hubby felt a little left out, so we told him the mask was his present too)

Love the elephants!

And here's a carved wallhanging.

All sorts of animals carved in and around one another.

Here's a carved soapstone elephant. Did I mention my daughter has an obsession with elephants?

And last but not least is a little carved wooden goddess. She was a present from the monkeys! Seriously,
my daughter didn't buy this one. The monkeys that roam around freely are always taking personal belongings from campers, as well as giving them items they pilfer from others. My daughter has no idea who the monkeys took this from, but the goddess was obviously chosen by the monkeys for my daughter to bring home. So here she is.

Some very thoughtful presents indeed!

Love them all so much. I hung up the mask and wallhanging the day she got home. The elephant is
sitting on a little shelf beneath a Haitian painting of animals. And little miss goddess, given to us by the monkeys is on a table where I can see her all the time.
She makes me laugh, thinking about the monkeys roaming around and playing games with the tourist's
belongings.

Enjoy your Thursday!
cathy

wordless wednesday

2011-07-27T15:03:00.004-05:00

happy hump day ~

cathy

linking up with Alicia @

Texture Tuesday {Dream edition}

2011-07-26T12:06:00.011-05:00

Today's Texture Tuesday prompt was 'DREAM'. The very first photo I thought of was one of my sunsets in Grand Cayman. If there is ever a cause to dream, that's the place to dream about. layered the original photo with Kim's 'golden hour' & 'dream' textures. Then I added my own text--Dream.
My next thoughts on dreaming were of my daughter's African photos. I would love to go someday.
An African adventure is on my 'bucket list'. My daughter was kind enough to allow me to use her photos for the TT challenge this week. Here's the first one I altered. A gorgeous sunset.

I used Kim's 'golden hour' texture again and added the text. It was almost too gorgeous a photo to alter. I tried to just enhance it a bit. Make it a bit painterly.
The next 2 sunset shots have NOT been altered in any way. My daughter took some amazing pictures.
I love how the sun looks as though it is sitting on top of the little tree.

Just love the silhouettes that the trees make.

The leopard above was within 4 or 5 ft of my daughter who was sitting in a jeep. Great capture. I duplicated the photo, changed it to b & w, then masked out the leopard in the b & w layer to recover his beautiful spots! Otherwise he sort of blended in with the golden yellow of the grasses. Such great camouflage.
She took so many photos while she was in Africa. But I have to say that the big cats are my fave.

This little guy above had just finished eating and then walked over to within 3 ft of their jeep and flopped down for a rest. Isn't he gorgeous? I layered it with Kim's 'stained linen' and 'golden hour' textures.
Even though the big cats are my fave, I just had to show you this baby elephant.

He is too cute! I thought at first he was trumpeting his horn, but she said he was sticking his snout up in the air to smell them. I layered this photo with Kim's 'stained linen' and reduced the saturation a bit.
Maybe next time I will show a few more photos of her trip to Africa. There is a great shot of a zebra as well as a giraffe and the biggest cat of all the male lion.
Until then....live your life creatively & always carry your camera~
cathy

Also linking up with Lisa Gordon's "The Creative Exchange" & Life n Reflection's Texture Twist

Catching My Breath

2011-07-25T16:15:00.003-05:00

I'm finally getting a chance to photograph some fabric that I dyed with rust about a month ago. Also some silk ribbons that I dyed with procion dyes back in May.
Our summer has been so full of outings with friends & family, coming & going--nonstop it seems as though I haven't had a moment to relax.
Soooo... this past weekend hubby & I spent it pretending to be couch potatoes. We did do a teensy bit of yard work on Saturday, but other than that we chilled out big time. Better than great, it was FANTASTIC!
Seems as though it recharged my batteries. I was kind of running on empty in regards to creativity. Felt drained of all artsy ideas. Haven't been able to even think about going into the studio to do anything all summer except rust dye that muslin & linen.
Now...after lounging & drooling over all my fiber art, jewelry art & mixed media magazines & books, I feel like I'm ready to jump back into the game of making some art.
I haven't been entirely art free this summer. I have tried to participate in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday every week that I've been home. Sooooo much fun and relatively simple in terms of pulling out art supplies. All it takes is my camera & computer. Easy, peasy! Plus, I have become addicted to my camera & photoshop making it an absolute essential part of my life!
Now the results of the rust dyeing........
This is unbleached muslin.

The above piece is also muslin.

The process I used this time was to wrap my damp fabric around the rusty metal objects. Then I put them in a bucket.
Each fabric bundle was stacked on top of the other. Then I filled the bucket with enough water to have the fabric bundles fully submerged. Then as a last minute thought, I scrunched up some natural linen that I dampened and mashed that down on top of all the bundles of wrapped metal. I was thinking that all that rusty water might produce some type of dyeing effect on the linen.

This piece to the left is one of the pieces near the top. The ones with the most rusted tones were the bottom bundles. I'm assuming due to the weight as well as more water, since I forgot to keep an eye on the water level and it was HOT outside. I kept the bucket in the garage about a week and a half before I took the fabric out.

This one was wraped very tightly around some metal spikes. I really like the little dots and I have no idea where they came from, unless it was all the small particles of rust that I dumped in the bucket once I filled it with water.

But the ABSOLUTE BEST results were the paper towels! After doing some rust dyeing last fall, I wrapped my wet rusty pieces in paper towels.They've been sitting inside a plastic bag in the garage ever since. Now look at my paper towels!

I just LOVE these pieces. I will definitely find a use for them in a mixed fiber piece. So naturally after removing my rust metals from the fabric I wrapped them back up in new paper towels and stuck them back in their plastic bag until next time. I hope I find some more richly patterned rusty paper towels next time I decide to do some rust dyeing!
Now some more colorful photos for you. Dyed silk ribbons in various sizes to be used with some future projects. Beautiful blues, greens and a little bronze thrown in.

More bronze with some greens and a little yellow/orange added & in the very back is burgundy mixed with orange/red.

Next up is my flaming oranges/reds and some gold, along with a bit of brown.

I'm so excited about these scrumptious colors, I've got to come up with a project that is worthy of them.
Maybe I'll save a few bits to add into a mixed medium weaving that I plan to create in a workshop in Sept.
My needlearts guild starts it's year back up in Sept. & our first workshop is with Kat Allison & Cindy French. They will be teaching a 2 day workshop. One day is bead weaving and one day is multi media weaving. These silk ribbons might be just the thing to add in for the mixed media one! If you live in the Chicago area and would like to take this workshop, go to our website and check it out. We have a limit of 20 students but there is still some space left.
Fully refreshed and armed with some gorgeous silk ribbons, I'm ready to get back into a creative work routine. Next up.....I'm doing some sunprinting on fabrics this week. May as well take advantage of these bright sunny days while we have them!
Until then......live your life creatively~
see ya tomorrow for Texture Tuesday
cathy
p.s. just realized I didn't show any of the linen that I topped off the bucket with.....not much happened with it. When I first removed it from the bucket & it was still wet, I was really excited about it because there was a greenish hue surrounding the rusty areas. Kind of like a verdigris color on copper. Sadly, when the fabric dried the verdigris color disappeared : (

Wabi Sabi & Texture Tuesday

2011-07-19T16:57:00.003-05:00

"Wabi Sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent & incomplete".
Characteristics of the wabi sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness or irregularity, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes."

I tend to adhere to a wabi sabi kind of aesthetic in that I am completely in awe of the imperfections in nature. I love rough, gnarly tree bark, crinkly old leaves and seed pods. I even find the strings of algae in the pond quite beautiful even if it's a bit smelly at times. Nature is a thing of beauty in all seasons whether it's in the spring when everything appears to spring to life or even in the dead of winter when trees are bare and look like sculptures against the sunsets.
With a wabi sabi mindset, I have been photographing tree bark and pond algae, tree branches with the blue sky as a backdrop and even leaves on a cloudy day to get some variations. I also took a photograph of my concrete steps with ivy growing across them along with some mold & mildew!
With a little processing in photoshop nature's works of art are transformed even further.
Here's my first photo for TT.
Leaves against the sky. Changed it to black/white, added a color filter and then layered with Kim's 'aurora' texture
as well as her 'sissy' texture. I love how this photo looks after adding the textures.

Next photo is another of leaves that I shot looking straight up into the sun. The leaves were much brighter. It was also layered with Kim's 'aurora' & 'sissy' textures. And I also converted it to B & W first.

Final photo for today's TT is the concrete step with the ivy growing in the creases along with some mold & mildew from the summer humidity. I didn't convert it to B & W, just decreased the saturation and played with hues. I layered it with Kim's 'aurora' texture along with a couple of textures I had in my own files. One is chipped paint and the other is a crusty old book page.

I also rotated the photo. The step is actually oriented with the ivy growing horizontally. This photo of the concrete ended up looking like a gnarly old tree. Don't ya think?

If you'd like to join in the Texture Tuesday fun just hop over to Kim Klassen's site and jump in!
If you sign up for her textures you can get a freebie every week to play with.
Life's been busy this summer with a flurry of fun with family & friends. Now that it is settling down somewhat I plan to join Kim's Test Kitchen to have even more fun with her textures. I also plan to get down to the jewelry making business once again as well as finish all the fiber art projects laying wait in my studio.
I also want to photograph the gorgeous pieces of fabric that my daughter brough me from Africa as well as photograph the mask and wall art she brought home. It felt like Christmas when she brought home all those goodies!
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Texture Tuesday

2011-07-12T09:25:00.000-05:00

I was a bit of a slacker last week and didn't participate in TT. My daughter came home from Africa last Monday and we spent hours looking at all the photos & videos she took. The photos are AMAZING!
Very close shots of some of the animals.
My first 2 photos for TT are actually photos my daughter took in Africa. She took them because she knows how much I love pink flamingos! So I can't take credit for the photos just the alteration of them.

By the way, this week's TT theme is 'PINK'. Perfect for my pretty pink birds don't ya think?
This one is layered with Kim Klassen's
'canvasback' texture, with hue & saturation altered.

This next photo is also layered with Kim's 'canvasback' texture. More pink birds!!

And again, I played with hue & saturation since these birds were more of a salmon color.
I used a layer mask to mask the 2 brightest birds in the center.

Maybe for next week's TT my daughter will allow me to use more of her fabulous photos. She got some awesome shots of leopards, lions, zebras, giraffes, elephants, ostriches, etc. And phenomenal sunsets!!!

Next shots were taken by me in my kitchen. Little pink shrub roses with my collection of cobalt blue vases again.

I believe this variety of roses is called
"Fairy". They bloom profusely but unfortunately do not have any scent at all. But oh so pretty!

This photo was layered with Kim's 'canvasback' & 'aurora' textures.

Here's a close-up of the roses. I used the same layers as the above photo with masks.

And last but not least; here's a shot of a beautiful water lily I took yesterday at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. All the water lilies were in bloom--just gorgeous. I really love the dark mottled colors in the leaves.

Since the water background looked almost black I decided to go with a much darker coloring. Also, I thought it really made the leaves more interesting. I used Kim's 'canvasback magic' texture for this one.
Three layers of it, all at different blending modes and opacities. And I used a mask to keep my lilies nice & pink!
So there you have it-my pink themed, textured photos. I have been hoping to get some artwork photographed for my blog and also I have been rusting some fabrics that I hope to show later in the week. Some surprising results to show!
Until then.....live your life creatively~
cathy

Shhhhhhh... It's Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T13:34:00.001-05:00

Photo taken at Lake Forest cemetery

Texture Tuesday

2011-06-28T23:20:00.006-05:00

The last time I posted my daughter had just left for Africa. Hard to believe that 2 weeks have passed already and she will be coming home next week. I was fortunate enough to talk with her several times after she arrived in South Africa. What a major relief that was! She sounds like she is having the time of her life. Even though I've got the worry-wart mothering thing going on, I'm still glad she had the opportunity to go.

I was unable to participate in last week's TT because I was out of town as well. Not out of the country just in another state visiting with friends & family. I had a great time with all of them and miss them already.

It seems as though the summer is just zipping past way too fast. I had grandiose plans of getting lots of fabric dyed, making lots of jewelry, doing some painting & sketching and also doing a lot of photography. Well, so far I've made one bracelet & a couple pairs of earrings. I've taken MANY pictures but that's about it. I've really been in a reading mode so I've been spending time reading rather than in my studio. Which is good since I have a LONG list of books I want to read. There's only so many hours in a day...

**Now, for this week's TT... we had to use at least one layer of Kim's 'golden' texture. The above photo of a goose feather floating in the pond was cropped, then layered with another photo of rain drops on the pond and I used a mask to keep the ripples from the rain off the feather. I played with hue & saturation, as well as did a levels adjustment.
Then I layered it with 2 layers of Kim's 'love in layers', both at soft light; one at 80% the other at 70% opacity. Then I layered it with 2 layers of Kim's 'golden' texture, both at multiply, one at 88% the other at 75% opacity.
The photo below is the BEFORE picture of the feather. As you can see the pond water was so still that day that it looked like the feather was lying on a glassy surface. That's why I added the photo of the rain drops on the pond with their nice little ripple effect.

Next photo was a shot of the cobalt blue bottles I have in my kitchen window. I stuck a few lilac blossoms in one of the bottles a few weeks ago when the lilacs were blooming. These blossom were actually picked before they started to open. I layered this photo with Kim's 'love in layers' texture at soft light, 12% opacity, then layered it with Kim's 'golden' texture twice; once at overlay 31% and once at multiply 67%. I also adjusted the hue & saturation as well as did a levels adjustments.
I think these textures really give this photo a painterly quality. I really like it!

The next & final photo for today is a close-up shot of my columbines when they were in full bloom a couple of weeks ago. I played with hue & saturation and did a levels adjustment. Then I layered Kim's 'love in layers' texture at soft light, 46% opacity. I added 2 layers of Kim's golden, one at multiply 70% and one at overlay 33%.

Maybe now that I'm back from my visit with friends & family and my daughter is coming home next week I can settle back into a routine of working on my list of projects. I would love to be able to share some artwork with you by next week. That is if I can force myself to put my books & my camera down!
Until then...live your life creatively~
cathy

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown. In my heart it don't mean a thing." -- Toni Morrison

2011-06-14T10:53:00.002-05:00

Toni Morrison is right. A child is a child. Hard for me to admit as I constantly fought against my own mother's 'mothering', but it's the truth. As mothers, we have a VERY hard time letting go and allowing our children to sprout wings and fly away.
It's been 3 years since my daughter graduated from high school. The thought of 'letting' her go off to college was beyond my comprehension. I was certain I wouldn't be able to live through it. But guess what? I did. She is now officially a senior in college and I can't believe how fast the time has flown.

Just yesterday, I took her to the airport to take off on a study abroad program that is taking her to Africa for the next 3 weeks! I'm immensely excited for her. I am living vicariously through her. I can't wait to see all her photos when she gets home. The thing is... it was almost as hard to leave her at the airport as it was to leave her in front of her dorm at the beginning of freshman year.

I thought I had grown... I thought I had developed a 'thick' skin... I thought that the past 3 years of her being away at school had toughened me up. I guess I thought wrong.

It's that dang motherhood thing! We just can never get away from it. We will always think of our children as children. Sorry kids, that's just the way it is......

In celebration of my daughter's trip to Africa I am posting photos of all the horses that have been in her life. This is the first summer that she is not riding and she's not very happy about it, but going to Africa didn't leave much time for horses.
(Also, this is my contribution to Texture Tuesday. Kim Klassen's lovely post with the horses inspired me to go through my horse photos. Thanks Kim!)

This is Lexie. She was one of the first memorable horses in my daughter's life.
She was a crazy mare, but we loved her.

Lexie was layered with Kim's 'jacob' texture and 'mayzee' texture, both at soft light.

This next picture is her first horse show with Luke. He was a very good boy!

The above photo was layered with Kim's 'mayzee' texture at soft light x 2.

This next one is our very own horse, Dizzy. We bought her for Chelsea's 16th birthday. She was a beautiful, crazy mare. She lived up to her name!

The photo of Dizzy peeking out of the barn window was layered with Kim's 'mayzee' texture x 2. One at soft light and one at multiply. The saturation was reduced first.

And here is Chelsea riding Dizzy.

The above photo of my daughter riding Dizzy was layered with Kim's 'mayzee' texture once at luminosity.

After we sold Dizzy, we leased this pretty little black mare named Elora.

This is one of my favorite photos!I used Pioneer Woman's 'heartland' action and then layered Kim's 'mayzee' texture over it at soft light.

And here is Chelsea & Elora at a horse show.

The above photo was a shot I waited for so long! Trying to get the horse with all 4 feet off the ground over a jump--very difficult, at least for me. The photo was layered with Kim's 'memorable' texture and her 'mayzee' texture, one at soft light and one at multiply.

The final horse is Corona. We leased him last summer and he was a pretty chestnut with a very playful personality.

On the last photo I used Pioneer Woman's 'colorized' action and then layered Kim's 'mayzee' texture over it at soft light. Works really well with the beautiful shade of Corona's coat.

There were actually a few other horses in her life prior to Lexie, but they were also prior to my digital

camera and I didn't feel like going in search of the actual photos to scan and alter.

Hope you enjoyed the equines in our life. They are such beautiful creatures. I love to photograph them.

Right now, my daughter is somewhere over the continent of Africa. Her flight will get into Johannesburg early this afternoon, which will be almost 9:30 at night their time. She pretty much hates long flights so that was her biggest dread of this whole trip. Being in a plane for 8 hours from Chicago to Amsterdam and then another 10 hours from Amsterdam to Johannesburg. She was armed with her ipod and several books, plus a bottle of dramamine! So hopefully it wasn't as bad as she was expecting.

I'm supposed to get a phone call from her when she gets to South Africa and that will probably be the only time I get to talk to her until she gets back!!! I will busy myself with photoshop until I hear from her today.

Cheers to all the moms in the world who have learned to cut the 'apron strings' and allowed their children to soar! Even though we may learn to 'let go' we still never stop worrying.

Cathy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

Happy 'hump' day!

Enjoy : )

Time for Texture Tuesday

2011-06-07T18:05:00.003-05:00

Settling back in after vacation is not much fun. Especially when your dog is sick, your refrigerator decides to begin a slow death, your oven freaks out and your lawn sprinkler system quits working during 90 degree temperatures. My saving grace is yoga & playing with my camera and photoshop.
I was fortunate to be a winner in last weeks Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen's website. I won her entire Studio Collection of textures!!! Lucky me : )
The theme last week was a 'garden party', which was great since I've been taking lots of photos of flowers lately.
This week the challenge is to add text to your photo or have text in the photo itself.

Here are my offerings for this week:

This photo is from Grand Cayman. The sun's rays were peaking out from behind a cloud in the late afternoon. It was gorgeous. I layered the photo with Kim's 'golden hour' texture x 2.
One layer at soft light the other at
multiply and added the text.

Next photo is a close-up of bits of coral that had washed up on the beach. There were tons of coral, especially brain coral which you see some of here-very cool textures all by themselves!
I layered the photo with 2 layers of Kim's 'golden hour' again one was on multiply the other soft light,
then added the text and lowered the opacity of the text.

The last photo is a close-up of a conch shell that had washed up on shore. I layered the photo with 2 layers of Kim's 'just blush' texture-one on multiply and one on soft light. I also added Kim's 'sonnet overlay', lowered the opacity & added a layer mask to mask the shell and add some shadows beneath the shell. Lastly, I added the text.

As I look at the conch now, I realize I should've lowered the opacity of the text. My initial thought was that if I did, it might get lost in the sonnet overlay text but I think I still could've lowered it just a tad.

One of these days, I just have to get back to creating something with fabric, thread, beads, paint, etc.
OR maybe this photography/photoshop thing is just what I needed for the summer. Taking a break from the normal path of creativity and doing something new! Doesn't really matter, as long as I'm having fun!
And I'm definitely having fun.
Last week, I promised a photo for Wordless Wednesday but was a slacker and didn't post one.
Tomorrow I already have it planned out-stay tuned~
Until then...live your life creatively~
cathy

Back to Reality...

2011-05-31T22:15:00.006-05:00

I have just returned from a FABULOUS vacation in Grand Cayman. It was a beautiful island and a very relaxing vacation. I took hundreds of photos!
Since I was gone last week I was unable to participate in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday challenge. And I was so busy with packing and getting ready to leave town that I didn't participate the week before we left.
I am delighted that her theme this week is 'Garden Party'. Not only have I been taking lots of photos of
flowers around my yard this spring but while in Grand Cayman we went to the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Gardens there. Obviously, the tropical climate produces much different flowering plants and trees than we have around this 'neck of the woods', so I was in heaven!
I do have to admit that the above photo was taken in my yard several weeks ago. My bleeding heart plants seem to get more beautiful each year. Kim's lovely linen texture is just perfect for making this photo look like a painting! I also used her 'Yesteryear' texture.

This photo is of a Bird of Paradise
plant. There were many of these in the botanic gardens. There were also many plants that I failed to write down the name of and some that I couldn't find the name tags for, so I'm sorry for not being able to name a few of my blossoms.

The next photo is one of those that I don't have a clue as to the name. So if anyone out there knows, please tell me!
Again on the Bird of Paradise and the flower cluster below I used Kim's 'Linen' texture and on the Bird of Paradise I also used 'Yesteryear'. On the flower cluster below I used 'Not too shabby' in addition to the 'Linen'.

The photo below is an orchid. At the Botanic Garden they had a whole section of orchids growing in their natural habitat. It was unbelievable to see them growing out of trees. There were so many that just seemed to sprout from the trees-no soil necessary, just clumps of orchids using the tree as it's host plant.
No wonder they're so hard to grow indoors in soil/moss. I would definitely prefer to be hanging out in the trees in Grand Cayman too!

The last photo is of a beautiful water lily at the Botanic Garden. They had several varieties. Again, I've never had much success with growing water lilies, even when we lived in GA where it was much warmer. These were in a small water fountain at the entrance to the garden, but there were many more growing in ponds throughout the botanic gardens and one pond even had a turtle poking it's head up between the water lilies.

Again, I applied Kim's 'Linen' texture to the water lily photo.
I have many more photos of the Botanic Gardens of Grand Cayman as well as pictures of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen. Will dole them in out a few at a time so I don't overwhelm you.
Tomorrow is wordless Wednesday then maybe I can get back to posting some artwork that I'm working on.....
Until then--
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T13:13:00.000-05:00

Lone Cypress on the 17-Mile Scenic Drive in Pebble Beach, CA

Circa 2006

Tuesday's Offering

2011-05-10T10:14:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was full of fun-starting with Thursday's Cinco de Mayo dinner. Then Saturday we went to a huge Kentucky Derby party at Arlington Park & I won some money! Then Mother's Day was simply delightful---I did absolutely NOTHING (once I got home from yoga class) but lounge around and let my husband wait on me. A very lazy day but enjoyable day! My intentions were to at least do some doodling in my sketchbook but I didn't. I did however, take some pictures of all the ducks, geese, birds and flowers in and around my house.
The cardinal above was sitting in the shrubs just outside my back door. I was able to take a few photos before my dog starting barking at him. The photo was layered with Kim Klassen's newest textures, Trust & Believe. Then I used a new brush that I have which is like a frame. I think I like it!

Then I saw this little finch at the birdfeeder and I was able to get several shots of him. Again, the photo was layered with Kim's Trust & Believe and the brush frame was applied changing the color to white.

Then I got carried away and took a very close-up shot of my orchids. Love the shot! Reminds me of a Georgia O'Keefe painting. I used only the 'Trust' texture on this one and I also used The Pioneer Woman's edge burn action.
On Mother's Day when I got home from my yoga class, my husband had picked daffodils and tulips from our yard and had them on the table along with a very nice brunch that he made! So of course, I had to get a close-up of one of the tulips. They are really huge this year. Actually, it's the first time the deer haven't eaten them. So I'm really happy to have tulips in my yard & also in the house.

This tulip is red in real life but I de-saturated the photo before adding Kim's 'Trust' & 'Believe' textures to it. Love how the stamen & pistols of the center just POP with the red de-saturated.
Below is the original version of the photo. Still a pretty cool shot of the center.

I really, really want a macro lens for my camera! I love close-up shots, especially flowers.

That's all I have for today! I have taken a bazillion photos of the baby geese. There is one family where
there's only one baby goose that survived and he/she has gotten quite big. Then there's another family that has four goslings left. I think that may be the one I took photos of last week and there were 5 at the time. There's another family with only 2 babies. I haven't seen any baby ducks yet. I still need to do a drive-by and check on the swan eggs. Hopefully the will have hatched by the time I go back.
Will be posting photos of those soon I hope.
Until then....
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-04T17:25:00.001-05:00

Jordan Winery in Healdsburg, CA..........we were there in 2006..........aaahhhhhhhhhh the memories

Teacup Texture Tuesday

2011-05-03T20:33:00.001-05:00

A very quick post as today was a crazy, busy day. Just a few photos for the Texture Tuesdays challenge. This week's challenge was to use a photo of a teacup or coffee cup.
Here's mine.

While I was out & about last Saturday I drove by a HUGE swan's nest. I drove round & round trying to figure out where to park so I could get a good shot. For now I'm just showing you papa swan. He was on high alert while I was walking around taking pix. He was quite a handsome fella too!

I promise to show photos of mama swan and her nest later this week. I also plan to do another drive-by and see if the eggs have hatched.
I do have photos of baby geese. Usually the mama goose doesn't bring the babies out until Mother's Day weekend. This year she brought them out early. I have no idea why, since we're experiencing one of the coldest, wettest springs ever!
Here's the goose family.

I love the bright chartreuse color of the babies! I regret to say that I have only seen them twice since last week. I do hope that a coyote or a hawk hasn't gotten them.

One last photo of a bird's nest built inside a light fixture. While I was driving around trying to find a place to park to get photos of the swan nest, I came upon this nest in the light. The light fixture was on a brick pillar at the entrance to a subdivision. Love all the feathers spilling out of the light.

The teacup was layered with Kim Klassen's portrait texture & her love texture. Both times 2. A gaussian blur was also added. The swan was layered with Kim's portrait texture and also The Pioneer Woman's edge burn action. The goose family was layered with Kim's love texture times 2. And the nest in the light was layered with Kim's chamomile texture-multiply x 2 and soft light x 1. I really like the way her texture really adds a nice aged effect to the brick.
So that's all I've got today. Tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday. Hopefully on Thursday I'll show you some photos of the swan nest and maybe some sketchbook work.
Until then...
live your life creatively~
cathy

Tree of Me...

2011-04-28T16:01:00.001-05:00

Tree of me started as part of The Sketchbook Challenge for the month of April. The theme is "Branching out...out on a limb".
I'm also in the midst of doing a 40 Day Baptiste Yoga program about 'transformation'. With the sketchbook theme & the transformation program in mind I sat down to do some sketching. Sketching a tree was a delight since I've become obsessed with
trees, but thinking about 'going out on a limb' and the transformation process caused me to think about how this tree of me 'grows'.
My roots or gounding come from family, friends, yoga & meditation. My roots are also firmly planted in the creative process but for this tree I chose to put the creativity up in the branches (also I ran out of roots). My branches are my personal traits--good & bad. Again,
I chose the ones that popped into my head first
and also the ones that I need to be working on.
My largest branches are 'creativity & procrastination'. Why?... Because I do believe I am a very creative person (most of the time) but my procrastination tends to over-rule my creativity! Those branches are big & thick. They have quite a few limbs branching off because as my creativity grows so does my procrastination... (note to self-work on the procrastination)
My 'inspiration' branch has many offshoots and lots of new growth because I'm always finding inspiration. I see it everywhere. I look at the clouds and see a painting or a quilt. I look at weeds and want to photograph them. I see rusty objects and pick them up knowing they will be used to dye fabrics and possibly to add to assemblages or even art quilts. I have no lack of inspiration! If anything my system is on overload with ideas & choices.
My branch of 'learning new techniques is an offshoot of the branch 'keeping a journal'. At the time I did this I was thinking that it sort of goes hand-in-hand. I am always gathering new knowledge through workshops & classes or by visiting other artist's blogs and I try to keep a journal of ideas & techniques. Every time I learn a new technique I play around with it in my studio or I doodle in my design book trying it out to see if I can use what I've learned and 'make it my own'.
But here's where the 'not following through' branch comes in...I have a book full of designs but when I go into my studio I get distracted because so many new ideas pop into my head that I hardly EVER use anything in my design book. I go off on another tangent and start a project off the top of my head. Sometimes it turns out better than what's in the sketchbook, sometimes not. That's why those branches don't have many offshoots. I need to grow the techniques I've learned, use my designs and FOLLOW THROUGH!
This brings me to the last 2 branches. The branches at the very bottom. The 'confidence (OR lack of)' branch and the 'taking risks' branch. These are the branches that could use a shot of Miracle Grow.
My confidence needs a big 'ole boost of fertilizer to help me grow a stronger branch and some new limbs. My 'taking risks' branch could use a good shot of nitrogen as well. That's sometimes my downfall.
I love to play with my art supplies and see 'what if' but then I'm so unsure of how it will be accepted that I don't ever show it to anyone. SO, I need to go out on that limb; that limb of 'taking risks' and use my Miracle Grow to get those branches to push forth new growth. I would hope that if I can get some new growth on the 'confidence' branch that the 'taking risks' branch will follow suit.
Just last week I had to do something that involved my 'confidence' branch. I have a couple of art quilts that will be going out into the world for an exhibit. I was asked to send an artist's statement along.
WELL... I've never really written an artist's statement. Not a REAL one, just a small little blurb that didn't really say anything. I decided it was time to actually submit an artist's statement.
I found many good websites with instructions and samples. The best one I found was on Molly Gordon's website. She takes you through step by step. So I did it! Although my first artist's statement isn't as lengthy or deep as some, I still think it tells my story in a nutshell. So my first step out on the 'confidence' branch was getting that accomplished. I felt better after having done it, somewhat like a certified artist!
It's just that I have a hard time puffing myself up and blowing my own horn.
That's where the roots come in. My grounding--my strong base. I am learning to sink my roots deeper so that I can be stronger. Yoga is helping immensely as is meditation. They both bring clarity to my life.
I know through my 40 Day program of transformation that I will have more confidence.
(by the way, this is my second 40 Day program since Jan) I gained so much from the first time around, that I wanted to do it again!
With that said, I think it's time to go meditate and then head into my studio to see 'what if'.
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T09:02:00.002-05:00

In and Around My House

2011-04-25T18:28:00.008-05:00

I have decided to start chronicling the leafing out of my maple tree in the back yard. The first year we were here it was a beautiful specimen during the fall. Gorgeous reds with some gold veining, but during the past 2 fall seasons it turned from green to a brownish gold just before losing all it's leaves. The early buds are a gorgeous shade of red right now so I thought I would keep up with the progress and take a photo every 2 days. This was taken last Thursday. Now it has discernible leaves rather than florets. I know the quote says flowering oak but I don't have an oak tree in my yard and I couldn't find a quote about maples. So... The photo was layered with Kim Klassen's luminous texture x 2, plus her serendipity texture on top.

My daffodils are now in FULL bloom and they are bountiful. Again, the photo was layered with Kim's
luminous texture & serendipity texture with a bit of gaussian blur.

As I was driving home from yoga yesterday I saw this egret in the pond just down from my house.
We NEVER see egrets here. We have a ton of geese & ducks. We have a heron that drops by once in a
while and there's another pond near my house that has 2 swans, but I have never seen an egret except in the marshy waters at the edge of the prairie preserve several miles from here. I was so glad I was able to
get a picture of him/her. Wish it was closer. I was across the pond with no way to get closer other than my zoom lens without scaring him. I layered the photo with Kim's luminous texture and also with The Pioneer Woman's edge burn action.

My silly dog Rocky was napping with his ear straight up. He looked so cute I grabbed the camera and as soon as I pointed the camera at him, he opened his eyes. He looks a bit scared!
Photo was layered with Kim's luminous texture and I used the edge burn action again.

Here's Emmylou. She's my sweet-little-bitch-cat. She can be a sweetheart when she's tired or hungry or
a total menace! Her eyes are golden rather than green. They look extremely golden in this photo. I tried to tone them down but she still looks wild! The photo was layered with Kim's luminous texture.
Can you see her tongue poking out a little bit? She's really cute when she's being nice!

I have been saying that I wanted to work in my sketchbook and I finally sat down and spent a few minutes on it. I will have another post later in the week showing my sketchbook pages.
In the meantime...
Live your life creatively~
cathy
p.s. remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing
p.s.s. If you'd like to play along with Kim's Texture Tuesday photo group, just click the button below.

Botanic Garden Fun!

2011-04-19T22:26:00.004-05:00

Sunday I went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens for their annual Antique & Garden Show. All I can say is WOW! What an amazing show it was. I went to the Flower & Garden Show at the Navy Pier 2 years ago and was so unimpressed by it that I have not been since. The show at the Botanic Gardens was perfect! It had everything I love-antiques, flowers, artwork and more. I took my camera along hoping to get some photos of plants that were blooming in the garden but it was a bit chilly and VERY windy. I did however get a few shots.

Here is a view of some aspens surrounding the parking lot. Obviously, I played around with them in photoshop to enhance the sky and highlight the white trunks of the trees.
I have finally realized that I've become obsessed with trees. I've always known I loved them, but there's something about trees in their bare nakedness that I have come to view as a work of art. They are magnificent specimens of sculpture and form. Anyway, I could go on and on about them--maybe another post later on the pure beauty of trees...
Speaking of trees...below is a shot looking back towards the main building of the Botanic Garden. Did I mention I love trees? Especially willows-weeping willows to be exact. I love their color at this time of year when they are just starting to bud. The color goes from pale gold to almost chartreuse to grassy green in a matter of a few weeks.

Next photo is of a plant called 'Dogtooth Wattle'. It was just starting to bloom a wonderful golden color that looks almost chartreuse in this photo.
I took the photo with the sun beaming in the right upper corner.

After these photos I was so cold and wind blown, that I finally went indoors to the Antique & Garden Show. I was there FOREVER.... So many wonderful things to look at. I came home with a few things.
One is a HUGE hand hewn wooden trencher. That grew once I got it in my car. The plan was to put it beneath my sofa table but it's too big. So it's standing in the corner of my kitchen. Actually the intention was that 'one day' I will have a big huge kitchen with a big huge rectangular table and it will sit right in the middle...one day! Until then it will guard the corner of my kitchen. I didn't buy any other antiques but did drool a lot! I came away with many business cards. I did buy some jewelry though. I just can't walk past jewelry and not look. This jewelry blew me away! Obviously since it was a garden show it was nature themed jewelry. And did I mention my obsession with trees? Well, this guy's jewelry was made with real leaves! Sometimes he makes impressions of items then casts them, but most of the time he uses the actual leaves and coats them in copper. Here's a link to his website. I fell in love with a champagne leaf. Actually it's a grape leaf from the Champagne region of France. He collects leaves from all over the world to use in his jewelry. I bought the champagne leaf and also a little pair of gingko leaves. They are pins which can be used as pins or on a necklace. I also bought a little dogwood blossom pin, that fits perfectly on a bracelet.
This is a photo I took inside the garden show. These hydrangeas were gorgeous.

After those purchases I decided I best stop shopping and take some more photos. Since the wind had picked up and it was started to get chillier I opted for the 'Cactus House'. It was wonderfully warm inside there. And along with my tree obsession, I am also obsessed with agaves and echeverias. Many great specimens.

The above 3 photos are the only ones not altered. Photo below is a blooming plant in the 'Cactus House'. It was altered.

The next shot is of a rather large round prickly cactus with some other blooming succulents growing around it.

What a fun day at the Botanic Garden. I have been telling my husband we should join and go there on a regular basis since it's so close. It's a great place to walk and take some great photos.
So before I left, I joined the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I will definitely be going back when the weather warms up and there are more blooming plants!

One last photo to show. We actually had snow here yesterday! I really thought that was all behind us and then WHAM! All those strong winds on Sunday while I was at the garden show blew in some cold air along with that fluffy white stuff.

My poor daffodils were weighted down with the heavy wet snow. Fortunately it didn't last very long.
The snow was gone by late afternoon. My daffodils recovered by last night and now today they are being pounded back down again by the pouring rain.
Lots of photos, still no artwork to show....maybe later in the week.
Until then....
live your life creatively~
cathy

p.s. The first photo above was altered with Kim Klassen's serendipity texture & sweet treat.
Second photo textured with Kim's warm sun texture, plus Texas Chick's 'Luminous' action & Pioneer Woman's 'Edge Burn'action. Third photo was layered with Kim's serendipity texture x 2 as were the hydrangeas. The blooming succulent and the prickly cactus were layered with serendipity as well. Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing : )

Oh Happy Day!

2011-04-13T15:26:00.003-05:00

It's finally starting to feel & look like spring around here. Days are getting warmer-although tomorrow's temp will dip back into the 40's, today is gorgeous. Sunny and in the 60's. My yard is coming back to life after a long winter's nap beneath the mounds of snow. The grass is greening up, my daffodils are just starting to bloom, the crocus are in full bloom and the trees are starting to form buds. I don't think I ever fully appreciated spring until after living here in the midwest. Now, it's a much anticipated arrival. The daffodils above are my 'Ice Follies' daffodils that were the first to pop up.
The geese & ducks have been back for weeks now and the robins arrived a couple of weeks ago.
What a wonderful sound in the morning to hear the birds singing. They too are happy that spring is back.

I haven't been able to capture a robin with my camera yet, so this is a finch from last year. A rather plump little fellow or maybe a female ready to lay eggs?

I was further south over the weekend to visit my daughter. She's about 3 hours from here and the flowering trees were in full bloom.

I love these trees--Saucer magnolias. I always called them tulip trees when I was younger because the young buds resemble tulips. They are just gorgeous when in full bloom. This was a picture I took looking up at the blue sky through the branches.
The next photo is also a type of magnolia but the petals are smaller. I wasn't quite sure what type it was so I googled and found out it is a 'Betty' magnolia.

What a difference a few weeks make as far as Mother Nature goes.
The photo below is of a dreary, rainy day last week when nothing had bloomed.
It's a close-up of my river birch tree in the backyard. I also took a close-up photo of just raindrops on
the window and combined the 2 photos to create more texture.

Photos above were altered in photoshop using Kim Klassen's textures (warm sun, sweet treat & silence). And the saucer magnolia also has actions by The Pioneer Woman added.
I hope to have some actual artwork to post here by tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is studio day.
If anyone is interested in playing along with Kim's Texture Tuesday, just click the button below to find out more about it. It's so much fun! Warning--it's also very addicting...
Must get some actual work done--so until then.....
live your life creatively~
cathy

p.s. remember you can click on any of the photos to get a better look

Texture Tuesday

2011-04-06T13:56:00.003-05:00

So here I am again, playing with photoshop. I am quickly becoming addicted to this whole process.

Last week I mentioned that I had a quilt that had a deadline of April 4. Well---that didn't happen!

I realized last Wednesday night that in order to properly finish the quilt that I would never be done by Monday. Rather than rush the process and have the quilt be less than perfect I decided to give up on entering it into that particular exhibit. So I sat and researched what other exhibits & venues might be possible. I found quite a few that might be a good fit, so when I finally finish it, I will enter it somewhere else. I'm not going to pressure myself into finishing it quickly. This thing is going to take some time. And of course right now, I've got other things on my mind! Like playing with photoshop

and working in my journal. I have been wanting to get back to some collaging, sketching, doodling which I haven't been doing for a while because I had been focusing on fiber arts and fabric dyeing & printing.

Soooooo, I plan to take a few weeks off from the sewing machine and the fabric dyes, to get my hands dirty with some paints, inks and glue. I'm plan to participate in the Sketchbook challenge finally as well as continue with the Texture Tuesday. I also have 3 necklaces that people have ordered from me that need to be made! Hopefully when I can drag myself away from this computer today, I will start on the necklaces and be done with those.

Those of you who follow me, will also notice that I spent some time the other day working on changing the look of my blog. I felt it needed a lighter color for spring and now that I'm learning so much in photoshop, I also created a new banner from some previous fiber art of mine.

These photos below were created using Kim Klassen's warm sun texture, as well as other textures.

The first one is a fairly recent photo of my orchids.

I also played around with the hue/saturation. In the original photo the orchids are almost a purplish color.

The next photo is an older photo taken almost 2 years ago. I took it through the window looking out at my neighbor's backyard. The deer were almost perfectly aligned. I couldn't have posed them any better.

I think it was a mom and her child.

Next photo is even older. Taken in 2006 in NY-Central Park. This guy was sitting under a bridge

playing his clarinet. The original photo isn't that great-a little out of focus but I really like it much better after altering it. The lighting in the background and the people/trees almost look painterly.

That's it for my Texture Tuesday. I will now head out to the garage and fire up my torch to make some jewelry!

Will post some photos of my sketchbook as soon as I get to that.

Until then........live your life creatively~

cathy

Texture Tuesday

2011-03-29T14:34:00.005-05:00

Another blog post so soon! Can it be that I am procrastinating about the quilt I should be working on with a deadline of April 4th? Yep, that's me. I planned to spend all day at my sewing machine and here I am playing with photoshop.

The thing is, after posting on my blog yesterday for the first time in weeks, I decided to do a little blog visiting and found 'Texture Tuesday' challenge over at Kim Klassen's website. I took a photoshop workshop with Kim and just love her altered photos.

I took this photo this morning, even before I saw Kim's Tuesday's Texture challenge and decided that I just had to play with photoshop before heading to my sewing machine.
The photo was layered with her 'warm sun' texture and I used the overlay blending mode at about 50%.
I also added a photo filter and used a violet color. I also used a mask to bring back some of the clarity and color of the hyacinths after adding the texture.
I just love spring flowers! I bought these last week before they opened and now my entire house smells perfumey. Sorry to say that my flowering plants outside are not quite ready. They are just waking up after the long months of being buried under snow. Hopefully daffodils, tulips, crocus and hyacinths will be blooming here by Easter. Until then, I'll have to settle for these store-bought ones.

The reason my camera was out so soon this morning was due to Mrs. Mallard.

She greeted me almost as soon as I got up this morning. She flew up onto my deck railing. I quickly shoved the dog into the garage so he wouldn't see her and start barking and then grabbed my camera with the zoom lens. She stayed for quite a while letting me take her picture. At one point she stared straight at me.
It is mating season here for the ducks & geese. She is no doubt looking for a nice spot to make a nest. The male ducks and geese have been having fighting matches on a pretty regular basis. I really wish I had been able to get a picture of the big brawl last week. Two male Canadian geese were really tearing each other up. Beak to beak combat! And extremely loud with their honking. Wasn't quick enough with my camera though. Oh well, I'm sure there will be more fights before the mating season is over.

Ok, I REALLY have to get to the sewing machine!
I'll let you know how it goes. And if there's anyone out there looking for something to play around with while avoiding the work they need to do...go check out Kim's website and join the fun!
Live your life creatively~
cathy
p.s. just click on the pictures to enlarge them. the flowers look much better enlarged

"What I dream of, is an art of balance." Henri Matisse

2011-03-28T17:02:00.001-05:00

Here I go again-- pondering where the time has gone and completely amazed that it's been over 6 weeks since my last post. I too dream of an 'art of balance'. I can't seem to juggle all the little things in life like I used to. I used to be able to do 20 things at once and actually know what the hell I was doing.
Now...I have to really focus on what I'm doing and refuse to fill my schedule up with too many things. In doing so, I neglect things that need to be done. My dream is to BALANCE all aspects of my life. Allow myself the time to attend to all the things I need to do as well as all the things I WANT to do.
Ahhhh, it's nice to dream.....

Back to reality. The last post I was working on a project for a possible exhibition and got those items completed just in the nick of time.
I can show small bits of the art quilts but don't want to show the entire piece as yet.
For one of the pieces I decided I wanted to drive around to cemeterys and take photos of angels. Unfortunately the cemetery I chose only had 3 but the photos turned out pretty good. I played around in photoshop to get them just right then printed on fabric to use in the quilt.

Here's the photo of the unaltered cemetery angel.

Below is a section of the quilt with the altered angel printed on fabric.

The next photo is a close-up of another quilt I made of an angel. But with this one, I sketched the face in my sketchbook, scanned it, printed it on fabric then painted it with acrylic paint mixed with textile medium. I also used some pastel pencils in areas.

Her hair is dyed cheesecloth ripped and distorted then laid down in pieces and heavily stitched.
Eventually, I can show you both pieces in their entirety.

Now, I'm working on another piece with a due date of next Monday. Not quite finished but I'm getting there. LOTS of stitching to do. I'll probably be finishing up last minute again.

Here's a small section of the quilt. If you look closely, you'll see the pins still holding the pieces in place in this photo. All the pieces are in the process of being fused down, then the stitching will commence.

This piece will be entered for possible exhibition at Quilts Inc in Houston. The theme is "Good for You". So this piece has a meditation theme-since meditation is good for you!

Even though I was whining above about not being able to do a bazillion things at once anymore, I didn't do ANYTHING at all last week as my daughter was home for spring break. We did some shopping and lounging around watching old episodes of Grey's Anatomy but not much else. It was good for both of us to take a break.
Now it's back to work. Hopefully I will finish this in a somewhat timely manner. Meaning, I hope I can finish it by Saturday so I can spend Sunday photographing it and getting the photos ready to submit via email by Monday's deadline!
So, it's back to the sewing machine for me.
Live our life creatively~
cathy
p.s. the fabrics used in all 3 quilts were hand dyed silks, vat dyed and there were some discharged fabrics in the first angel quilt

Post Blizzard.....

2011-02-08T18:28:00.001-06:00

We had a major blizzard here in the frozen tundra last week. Really intended to update my blog during the time that I was snowed-in but never got any further than the title. Obviously plans to post more on this blog for the 'new year' are not going very well. I could beat myself up for it but it wouldn't do any good. The great news is -- even though I'm not posting any new work I HAVE been very busy.
I am now in week 5 of my 'Personal Revolution' program at the yoga studio. It's going quite well. Good news is my body doesn't feel like someone beat me up when I leave yoga class anymore. I'm starting to reap some of the benefits like my jeans fitting better and I'm not feeling stressed out about all the little things that used to send me 'over the edge'. Hopefully when Week 6 is over I will be able to retain the knowledge that I've learned during this program.

On top of all the yoga I've been working on projects for possible exhibition. I spent several days just dyeing fabrics, including using snow as a resist since we have an abundance! I spent a day discharging color from fabrics and I also created some more rust dyed fabrics. Below is a discharged piece.
I'm really obssessed with the colors from this process.

I am currently working on a piece where I sketched a face on paper, scanned it, then printed it on fabric and used acrylic paints and pastels to color. I will show that technique in a later post.
The piece below is the only photo I took of a project that I mailed already... I was in such a hurry to get it in by the deadline that I totally forgot to take a picture of the finished piece. That one is probably one I could show you since it isn't a juried show. It's for an exhibit hosted by SAQA titled "This is a Quilt!"
It had to be small ( 9x11) and be some form of quilt. You had to write an explanation as to why you thought this qualified as a quilt. Kind of hard to tell from my ONLY photo below but it ended up have 3 layers-top, batting and backing and it was machine quilted. It had a pieced border surrounding this piece and I did a LOT of thread painting on the ragged old tree, plus I added some texture with painted, distressed tyvek. And of course you can't see any of that in this photo since this is a BEFORE. This photo was taken during the inital process of painting layers of paint onto white fabric, then applying painted wonder under as well as painted silk chiffon and of course the ragged old dyed cheesecloth
for the tree.
Hopefully, this little quilt will return to me one day and I can
photograph it then. That probably won't be until 2013 as I think
that is how long the touring exhibit will run. They plan to mat
and frame all the quilts that were sent in and photograph them as
well! They may even come out with a book composed of some of the quilts. So even though I FORGOT to photograph it, at least
they will do so.

Oh well, live and learn... Seems to be my motto. Always making
mistakes which inevitably teach me a lesson.

This is one of my rust dyed pieces which I did a little differently from past rust dyeing processes. This time I wrapped the rusty pieces of metal in the fabrics and almost completely submerged the fabric in water in a bucket for about a day or 2 and I got a lot more bleeding of the rust, which I really like. Plus all that water really rusted up my pieces even more, so that next time I do this it shouldn't even take a whole day.

These are some of the fabrics I dyed with procion. Still haven't photographed all the fabrics yet. I dyed a lot of silk dupionni and I love the way that takes the dye. The pieces that I dyed using snow as a resist
came out pretty cool. I'm really getting into the dyeing process, now I need to get out my disperse dyes and do some surface design.

That will have to wait, as I have to finish up the projects that are due by

Feb. 28, then I can take a few weeks to play before I need to start on a few other quilts for possible shows.

Another thing that has kept me busy is a photoshop workshop with the sweet & lovely Kim Klassen. I am really LOVING the process of layering and altering photographs. Even though I have been really slack about photographing the dyed fabrics and the artwork that I'm working on, I have been carrying my camera with me everywhere I go it seems. Just about every time it snows, except for the BLIZZARD, I have gone out for a drive to capture some of the wintry scenes. Llike anything else,
the more you do it the better you get. So I'm working on
my photography skills as well as my photoshop skills. You can check out some of my photography/
photoshop images here.

Rather than hibernate in this land of snow and cold, I have chosen to stay active. I have found that
it helps beat the winter doldrums much better than sitting around and whining!
I must return to my sewing machine as it doesn't run by itself and my deadline is getting closer.
Until my next post...live your life creatively~
cathy

'GRATITUDE'

2011-01-10T17:21:00.001-06:00

First I would like to share this piece on 'Gratitude'....
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have
into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and
mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our
past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melodie Beattie

What a great thing to start out the new year with!
I've been wanting to post since January 1st but I've been contemplating what I wanted to say. Much time has been spent lounging around with my daughter, going to yoga and also trying to figure out what direction I want to take this year.
A lot of introspection...possibly because of the yoga and possibly because of the blog post I read by the wonderfully talented Kim Klassen. I took a photoshop mini workshop with her and I am starting a new workshop with her next week.
Her blog post was regarding 'one word'. She chose one word for herself last year and now this year she has chosen another.You can click on her name to pop over to her blog and read about her word.

As for my word...I have thought long and hard about what I want to accomplish during 2011. I have been going to yoga for several months now and it's really starting to 'click'. It is changing my thoughts as well as hopefully changing my body. It is causing me to slow down a bit and focus on the present more.
Usually I feel like a dog chasing it's tail.... ALWAYS busy but never accommplishing everything that I want to do!
I went so far as to get out my thesaurus looking up words that I thought might be 'the ONE'.
So many words popped into my head.....balance....align...harmony...attitude...evolve...
Obviously, there's a kind of theme that kept surfacing--- I wanted this year to be the year that I get my life in balance/alignment/harmony. I want to stop stressing over insignificant details and be fully aware
of the life I have.
Soooooooo......yesterday in yoga class my 'word' came to me! It is OPEN. I want to be open to possibilites, open to the creative process, open to change, open to a healthier lifestyle, open to living a
more grateful life. I don't want to sound all 'new age-y' but yoga really has been a good thing for me.
I also embarked on a new program at the yoga studio yesterday. It's called 40 Days to Personal Revolution. It's not about diet & exercise, it's about lifestyle changes. We even have to meditate TWICE a day. That's probably the hardest! Trying to sit still and clear your mind is extremely difficult--but doable.

Wish me luck on my 'Personal Revolution' as well as remaining open to all of the possibilities there are in life. It's not too late for you to 'find' your 'word' for the year and make it the best it can be!
Live your life creatively (& openly)~
cathy
p.s. the above photos are of Lake Michigan at the beach near my house. Love the middle picture of the waves crashing into the frozen beach and splashing up : )

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer & more beautiful." Norman Vincent Peale

2010-12-16T17:48:00.000-06:00

I think that pretty much sums up this time of year...
I've been so consumed with the holiday decorating and shopping that I haven't spent any time enjoying the sights and sounds of this magical time of year. Hopefully, now that the house is ALMOST decorated maybe I can enjoy the beauty of the season. Although, the baking isn't done; and when I say the house is ALMOST decorated it's because the tree isn't up yet.We wait until our daughter gets home from college
to participate in the tree fun! Weather permitting, she will be coming in tomorrow night and the tree will be up by Saturday afternoon. The baking will commence tonight-as soon as I get off this computer...
Looking at these photos, I guess you could say I have been enjoying the sights enough to shoot some photos. I have been playing around with photoshop so much that I'm now obsessed with my camera and taking pictures just so I can alter them.
These photos were NOT altered though, just playing around with different lighting and trying to get up close with my subjects. I would really love it if Santa would bring me a new macro lens for my camera! Then I could really get up close & personal!
These gorgeous red berries are on my hawthorne tree. It's really full of berries this year.

The rest of the photos are decorations around the house.

With all the preparations for the holidays, I've been a bit slack about getting into my studio to get anything done worth photographing. There is a project that I've started but I plan to submit it for exhibition and I am a bit reluctant to show any of it just yet. Will let you know how it progresses.

Right now, I hear the kitchen calling my name to get to all that baking I want to do before my daughter gets home tomorrow! Then maybe next week, I can relax & enjoy my daughter, along with all the sights & sounds of the season!
Happiest of Holidays to all~
cathy

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted." John Lennon

2010-12-01T15:19:00.001-06:00

So here it is the first day of the last month of the year. I've been busy with not much to show for it lately.

Nothing new in the works as far as mixed media/fiber art since the previous posts. Did finish lots of jewelry which I have finally started adding to my etsy.
Since the fiber show at the Botanic Garden I've been reluctant to start anything new in my studio after I spent THREE WHOLE days cleaning & organizing it. It's ridiculous how messy it was, yet I was quite creative in there. Now, everything is clean and organized and I haven't even been in there except to retrieve needle & thread for a small repair job for my daughter while she was home for Thanksgiving. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!
In the meantime I've been busy 'wasting' my time with the computer. We recently purchased a new Mac
and I've been trying to familiarize myself with it. I had Photoshop Elements 7 for the old PC which of course was ONLY for PC's so I had to buy the newer & much improved Photoshop Elements 9
for the Mac. WOW! It's amazing what it can do. I've been trying to learn how to create different effects
for months now, but for some reason the info just wasn't sinking into my thick head! I've taken a couple of online photoshop courses to learn specific things but what it actually takes is sitting for HOURS at the computer and just playing with it.
Here's a few of my photos I've been 'wasting' my time with lately-

This is a tree taken while driving home from Champaign for Dad's weekend at college. Since my dear husband was driving at the speed of light the original image was a bit blurred. When altered and layered with several different textures it really doesn't matter that the tree was slightly out of focus.
I really like these textures!

This barn was also taken while driving home. I changed it to black & white for this picture and added a
peeling texture and it really looks like an old photo.
This next picture is the same barn but I left it in color and obviously it was taken from a different angle.
Also, it was layered with a different texture that had some splotches of red paint around the edges which I think look really cool with the red barn.

Next photo is another shot of a tree as we were flying by. This time I wanted to add a spotlight effect.

Looks a little spooky!

Next photo is from my back deck. Last week the pond started to ice over in patches and the ducks look as though they are walking on water. It's so funny to watch them fly in and land on the ice. They slip and slide all over the place. Eventually they get tired of all the sliding and they fly away or finally slip into the areas of the pond that haven't frozen over yet.

I added the same peeling texture that I added to the b & w barn above and it really looks like an ancient photo. I love the shadows of the ducks.

Like John Lennon, I don't consider it wasting time if I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I've also been reading quite a bit. Some fiction, but mostly books on surface designs for fabric. I'm planning to do some more vat dyeing like I learned in a workshop with Barbara Schneider back in Oct. It creates some wonderful effects by removing color and then laying down a new color. I'm currently searching for some new thermofax screens and new stamping tools before I spend a day with my vat dyes. I also am going to use the thermofax screens with discharge past and also try doing some batik dyeing with soy wax as a resist. So you see, I have quite a few plans in the making if I could just drag myself away from this darn computer and photoshop!
Maybe in the next post I'll have a new project to show you.
Live your life creatively~
cathy

A New 'Attitude'

2010-11-01T13:23:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a bit of a break from artwork even though I have a show this week that I'm getting ready for-
the Fine Art of Fiber and a holiday expo next week. I know I should be getting price tags done and finishing up my necklaces/bracelets for both shows. Luckily the last art quilt is finished and all my fiber pieces are tagged and ready to go.

I think the fact that I'm taking a break is a 'new beginning' for me. I'm not stressed which normally I would be.
I am attributing that to the fact that I have started going to yoga classes. I originally went for the physical benefits. My lack of any real exercise over the past few years has really made me feel old & sluggish. Plus my back & neck problems had resurfaced and I thought yoga would be a great way to help tone those muscles and stretch out all the kinks.
Boy, does it stretch out those kinks and then some! I've visited 2 different yoga studios in my area and LOVE them both. Hard to decide which I want to stick with. My favorite classes are the HOT yoga classes. Each instructor is different but so easy going and laid back-telling us to go at our own pace and let our bodies tell us what to do. The whole atmosphere at each class is very calming. We begin and end the sessions with intentions to make ourselves better in all aspects of our lives. We are very focused on breathing and staying 'in the moment' and also of keeping the 'busyness' of our lives outside the walls of the yoga studio.It's like a combination of yoga, meditation and visualization. All of which is helping re-shape my mind as well as re-shape my body.
At Saturday's yoga class the instructor read us a little essay about 'attitude' at the end of the class while we were in our final pose, letting our bodies 'melt' into the mat. I'd like to share that with you now:

Attitude
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than
education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...
a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change
the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have, and that is our attitude...
I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.
by Charles Swindoll

It really resonated with me and I am not only trying to 'be in the moment' and stay focused on what I'm doing
but I'm also trying to change the way I react to the little things in life that normally annoy me or upset me.
I'm hoping to keep at this yoga thing until I'm as flexible as possible! Both physically & mentally.

I will post my final finished art quilt- "Can't See the Forest for the Trees" the next break that I take.
For now I must go and finish my price tags, necklaces, bracelets, etc.
Live your life creatively~
cathy

p.s. all of the above pictures were taken in Wisconsin. a little day trip up to Lake Geneva several weeks ago before the BIG winds came and carried most of the gorgeous leaves away

Long Overdue Update

2010-10-24T11:54:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe I have not posted an update in over a month! Where DOES the time go?
My time has been spent getting ready for the Fine Art of Fiber exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden
the first weekend of November. I submitted 7 pieces of fiber art on my application and ALL 7 were chosen.
Problem is there were TWO pieces that I had not even finished when I submitted the application.
I am also selling jewelry in the boutique gift shop of the show so I've been busy making necklaces & a few bracelets.
I also spent an entire week sitting in the hospital at my husband's bedside. He became ill 2 weeks ago and was admitted to the hospital. It was pretty scary for both of us but after 5 days in the hospital he is back at work and feeling much better. That week took that wind out of my sails so to speak and it took all last week to pull myself back together and get back to work on the fiber art and jewelry.
The above photo is the bottom portion of a mixed media fiber piece that I finished last week (one of the 2 previously unfinished pieces) for the show. Below is the top portion of the piece.

This piece is titled "Coral Garden". It started with a piece of felt that I was just playing around with and needle felted pieces of hand painted silk organza to along with alpaca fibers, dyed silk, silk carrier rods and dyed cheesecloth. As I kept adding fibers it began to look like an underwater scene, more specifically a coral garden. After all the needle felting, I added hand embroidery and beads. Then I painted a mounted canvas and collaged it with painted paper towels and tissue paper, added more paint and oil pastels and ink. I attached the felted piece to the canvas and added more beads and some painted, heat distressed tyvek.

And here is the finished piece.

Here's a few more of my necklaces also:

And a close-up of some of my bird nest pieces. I just love these!

A few more:

I spent a day last week playing with fabric dyeing. I've painted fabrics in the past and I've used good 'ole Rit dye but I've never used fiber reactive dyes before. I'm going to take a class later this week on vat dyeing and I needed to bring some previously fiber reactive dyed fabric to the class. SO, I rolled up my sleeves and
covered my kitchen counters in plastic and dyed some fabrics. It was SO MUCH FUN! I will post some photos of fabrics later. Maybe after the vat dyeing so I can show some before & after photos.

Believe it or not, my intention for the fall was to post something on my blog at least once a week. AND create a new blog specifically for posting items for sale. So far, none of that has happened. So maybe my new year's resolution can be to follow through with this??
Oh well, at least I've been busy creating and that's the important thing.
Now, just one more fiber piece to finish before FAOF!
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Studio Art Quilt Associates

2010-09-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

Just a little post about the SAQA benefit auction. Please go take a look at the beautiful works of fiber art that are up for bid. The auction began today at 2pm and will continue through the end of October.

More news: I will be creating a NEW BLOG especially for artwork and jewelry that will be for sale.
Rather than sell through this blog I want the new blog to showcase the artwork only and you will be able to purchase directly from it. I will still keep this blog for showing pieces in progress and tidbits of info on the process. I will let you know when the new blog will be ready!
Until then...
live your life creatively~
cathy

p.s. will post more jewelry updates later this week

Jewelry Update

2010-09-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

The very next day after the meltdown of my micro torch I went out and purchased a new one. This time a different brand. I used it exactly 5 days and it just stopped working!!! So I took it back to Home Depot and they gave me a brand new one. Obviously I have some BAD mojo concerning torches! Maybe I'm just having so much fun making these pendants that I'm overworking them.
Oh well, so far the new one is doing fine. I'm not using it for 5 hours straight every single day. I'm giving it some time off.
As you can see by the above photo, I have made quite a few pendants, there are even more that have not been photographed.

Since I decided that using the torch constantly was probably not good for it and the fact that I haven't actually made a necklace out of any of these yet, I decided to take a break from making them and concentrate on
completing a necklace. I also plan to do a few bracelets. But all of these are destined for necklaces right now.

I also played around with etching some copper. These pieces above will be used in various projects.
The largest piece is going to be the cover of a journal, the smaller pieces used for a bracelet or two and then cut some smaller pieces to go into necklaces. I want to etch some brass and nickel as well but ran out of those 2 metals, so I just used copper. It etched really well, although from this photo it's hard to tell.
Not a very good day for photography today-cloudy & rainy.

But I did take a photo of the first 2 completed necklaces. Here they are:

Now I'm off to my work table to finish more necklaces. Will photograph more later.

Life your life creatively~

cathy

"Playing with Fire"

2010-08-25T17:37:00.002-05:00

I'm taking a little break from fiber art at the moment and indulging in another passion-jewelry.
I signed up for an online course with the lovely & talented Stephanie Lee to learn how to make soldered metal pendants & jewelry.
Above are a few that are almost finished. I need to drill holes for jumprings and for the ones with bezels I need to put a cute little picture in there and fill with resin.
The class started over 2 weeks ago but I had so many other things going on that I wasn't able to get to my metal cutting & torching until last Friday. My first attempt was pretty laughable, then I got the hang of it and these are turning out pretty good.
I worked very hard last Friday, as well as yesterday and most of today. I am using a hand-held butane torch because I need a small torch for this process. I DO have a larger heavy duty propane torch for larger projects that I absolutely LOVE. But this particular type of soldering needs a smaller hand-held. The torch came with an extra canister of butane luckily since I've done so much soldering. This after noon I ran out of butane altogether and ran to the nearest little hardware store to buy more. They didn't have the kind that came with it so I bought the only kind they had. Came home, put it in my torch and proceeded to get to work.
WELL, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! My particular little torch clearly states that you should ONLY use RONSON BUTANE. I didn't....
I was also having trouble with the trigger that automatically starts the torch so there's no need to light it.
So I'm not sure if the trouble was the trigger or the WRONG butane but my little torch got TORCHED!
Here it is now:

All melted. Luckily it didn't explode on me. And luckily I didn't get burned in the process. Also VERY fortunate that I happened to be working in the garage rather than my studio IN THE HOUSE!
As soon as I pulled the trigger, flames started shooting out from the trigger area as well as the end of the torch. I immediately dropped it on the floor and kicked it away from me. Grabbed a piece of copper pipe and pushed it out of the garage and onto the driveway.
All the while it is continuing to burn!

I realized there was a fire extinguisher in the garage so I grabbed it and then realized I didn't know how to use it. Of course the instructions are on the canister but when you are a little freaked out about your torch blazing away in the driveway, you just start pulling and tugging without reading. After a couple attempts at trying to get the fire extinguisher to spray I actually READ the instructions. Really not that hard if you READ it first!
Lesson ONE: only use what the manufacturer recommends!
Lesson Two: ALWAYS use a torch outside or in an area with concrete floors!
Lesson Three: If the trigger isn't working--maybe there's something wrong with it...just saying...
Lesson Four: If you don't have a fire extinguisher in your home-go out and buy one-then read the instructions so that if you ever need it, you'll know how to use it!
So here's a few more photos of the almost finished pendants.

And another:

And here are some pendants awaiting a new torch so that I can solder on the bezels:

I guess I'm going out tomorrow and buy another little butane torch. For now, I need to go explain the ordeal to my husband in a way that he doesn't put a moratorium on soldering or using a torch at all!
Wish me luck!

How did we get here?

2010-07-27T11:32:00.000-05:00

July is winding down and summer is breezing by at a rapid pace. Amazing how you think in May that you have an entire summer spread out before you with a million plans. Then all of a sudden it's mid July and you start to panic because you realize there isn't that much time left to do all the things you wanted.

The panic set in last week as my daughter & I realized that we only had 3 weeks left before she leaves for college. I also leave for a high school reunion 2 days before she leaves, which gives ME even less time.
We are scurrying around like squirrels gathering the last of the acorns before winter in an attempt to get all the "stuff" she needs for her apartment, school supplies and last but not least all the clothes she needs/wants!
So far, we're doing pretty good at gathering. Of course then it all needs to be packed...

Needless to say, time spent in my studio has been precious little! I haven't worked on my second tree piece since the last post. I am however working on another felted, embroidered, beaded piece for another mixed media type piece like my "Autumn Detritus" & "Tidal Pool". They were both done by hand and then mounted onto painted, collaged canvas, with more stitching, beading added. I like to have something to work on at night, so this is my current project whilst being a couch potato in the evenings!

I started with a piece of wool felt that I laid bits of painted silk chiffon; dyed silk strips; silk and wool fibers;and alpaca fibers down on, then needle felted. It started to take on an underwater look and feel. Possibly a coral garden?? At this stage the only hand sewing I had done was the copper mesh ribbon that I manipulated into a coral-like shape and stitched down. Since then I have begun to add, silk ribbon stitches and regular embroidery floss. I will take photos of the stage I'm at now before I begin to add beads.

As I look at the photo now, the blue water areas really show a lot of movement. I like that! Lots of swirling water. Very cool. Amazing how you see things so differently when you photograph it.

Gotta run...More gathering of back-to-school essentials to be bought!
Enjoy the rest of your summer as it is slipping away rapidly.
Live your life creatively~
cathy

"Do not be afraid to go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is." anonymous

2010-07-13T15:45:00.000-05:00

Quick update on my 2nd piece in the 'tree' series. I posted this photo above in a previous post when this was in the early stages. I have since added a little more ink, fused some sheer fabrics that were stamped with alcohol ink, and fused some netting. Then I added some batik borders and have started to free motion quilt my trees.

This particular photo shows me stitching the sky.

The trees with the first phase of stitching with some weeds & grasses stitched as well.

A closer view and you can see the stamped words on the sheer fabric that has become a tree trunk.

Several spools of thread later and I'm almost done with the trees. Just need some darker and lighter accent
stitching. I have decided to leave them bare of leaves--or naked if you prefer. I kind of like the sculptural quality of naked trees in late fall.

I am also working on a felted piece that will be embroidered and beaded then added to a painted/collaged canvas. Will show photos later.

Right now I'm waiting on some setacolor paints to dry. I spent a couple hours today doing some sun printing on silk, using setacolor paints. I've got my fingers crossed that the huge piece I painted will turn out pretty good. I'm hoping to use it as a whole cloth quilt. We'll see.....

Will keep you posted. Until then...live your life creatively~
cathy

Etsy Inventory Reduction Sale

2010-06-22T12:31:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to announce that I am selling the remaining items in my etsy shop at drastically reduced prices for anyone interested. These pieces will be for sale through the end of summer and at that time I will be revamping my etsy shop.

If there is something you would like, please go to etsy and purchase before the end of summer!

Thanks!
cathy

"Use what talents you possess:the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." unknown

2010-06-03T16:30:00.000-05:00

This is the first in what appears to be a series focused on woods/trees. I've decided that I need to start doing series of my ideas and expanding on the theme a bit.
To the right is the centerpiece of the art quilt titled 'Keeper of the Woods'. The little metal guy hanging from the branch of the tree was created in an NSNG workshop with Mary Hettmansperger. I knew once I made him that he was destined to be in the center of a project. Just wasn't sure what that project would be.

I had a piece of heavy weight decorator fabric that was pretty UGLY and I had smeared it with gesso-thicker in some areas than others. I did try to let a smidge of the orginal fabric show through. After the gesso dried I used inks and shiva paintsticks
to smear on some color. Still wasn't sure how I was going to use it. This was just playing around one day during a "what if"
moment. I let the fabric sit for a while, occasionally auditioning different fabrics, transfers, etc, etc on this piece. Nothing suited me, so I folded it and stuck it aside.

The fabric was quick a bit stiffer than normal with the application of gesso so after being folded up for a few months it had a pretty permanent crease. Not happy with that I decided to cut it along the crease and took the larger of the 2 pieces and began fusing some wonder under that I had painted with orange and brown and coral onto the piece. Then I went crazy fusing down sheer fabrics and tulle when all of a sudden I realized just what this piece was going to be...a forest for my little metal guy to hang in. Below is the decorator fabric before cutting it into.

After I knew what this was going to be I started to pull together some fabrics that would work as a border.
I had discharged some black that I knew I wanted to use and I also had some great batiks in the colors of the woods that I wanted to create. I also used some dyed cheesecloth to create the large tree on the left that the 'keeper' hangs from. I continued with the cheesecloth to wrap around the piece of driftwood that he was already hanging from . Then I sat down at the sewing machine and starting free motion stitching. I stitched a smaller tree on the right then the cheesecloth/stitched tree on the left. I stitched rusty red clouds in the sky, I stitched grasses and weeds along the bottom. I went a little crazy stitching. But once I got started I couldn't stop.

Then I started piecing together the sections for the top and bottom, added some side pieces and a binding.
Below is the complete piece.

This is a closeup of the cheesecloth tree.

This is a close up of the rusty clouds.

After completing this piece I decided I just had to use the other piece of the gessoed decorator fabric and continue on this woods/tree thing.

So here is the beginnings of the next tree piece.

I've added some very loosely drawn trees with ink. I'm not sure where this one is going yet. Since taking this photo I have fused some of the painted wonder under on in places, but I'm not sure what or how I'm going to create the trees. I feel certain they will be stitched but I might use some cheesecloth?? or I might use some fibers?? We'll see.

As soon as I get further along I will post more photos.
Live your life creatively~
cathy

Spring Revival

2010-05-26T17:58:00.002-05:00

It's moving rapidly toward summer and I am finally finished with my art quilt titled 'Spring Revival'. I have always loved springtime but I think now that I live in the frozen tundra of the midwest I relish spring even more.

When I was a kid it signaled that glorious time of year when I could shed my shoes and go barefoot. Yes, I am a country girl at heart and going barefoot -especially on cool green, freshly mowed grass is such a delight. Of course I lived in the south and it was warm even before spring approached but I could never convince my mother to let me go barefoot before mid April.

Now that I live in the north it seems like spring takes forever to get here and even when the calendar says it's spring the temperature DOES not. BUT, the thing about living here is that it makes me so much more aware of springtime and all it's glory. Long before the weather is warm enough to go walking barefoot in my lush green grass, all of nature has awoken from it's sleepy winter dreams and puts on a magnificent show.
I'm not sure if I just never noticed how vibrant the world becomes in spring when I lived other places or it's just the simple fact that I'm so relieved and happy that the freezing cold and snow has disappeared.

So during these last few months while the world around me was coming back to life I was putting this little art quilt together. It started with the piece above. It is a piece I created while in an NSNG workshop with Barbara Schneider. I made it using disperse dyes that were first painted/stamped onto paper and then the paper was laid down on polyester fabric and heat pressed. Voila! the dyes transferred to the fabric and came out in much brighter colors.

I fused this piece to the center of a piece of felt and began fusing other fabrics around it. I used the colors from the disperse dyed piece- blues, greens and goldenrod yellow. I also used some setacolor paint to stamp

the same leaf pattern onto some of the green fabric along with some other stampings to dress up the otherwise BLAH commercial fabrics.

It took me awhile to get the pieces together like I wanted. I cut random sizes and moved them around like I was working on a puzzle. When I liked the placement, then I fused everything down.

I wish I had taken photos throughout the process but I didn't. It was certainly a learning process. I did this without any pattern or forethought so I think next time I might do things a bit differently. I did draw a rough sketch of what I wanted to do before I started but this looks NOTHING like the sketch.

I free motion stitched around the center and then stitched each block individually. As I was going along I kept holding it up and trying to decide if it 'needed' anything else. So I added the little tumbling blocks of yellow and used a satin stitch around them. I think they really help make it 'pop'!

When I was done with all the stitching, which took WAY longer than I thought it would, I decided to add a few buttons in coordinating colors.

Here's a few close-ups of details. The bottom right corner and the top.

Right now I'm working on the second of what appears to be a tree series. Again, no planning or forethought went into the first piece, the second one started with
a very loose design plan. I will post the first piece in the next day or so and I will try to take pics of the second piece as I move through the process.
Happy springtime! Now go take your shoes off and walk in your cool, green grass~
cathy

Neural Pathways

2010-05-14T17:25:00.002-05:00

It's been a VERY long time since I posted any new work. It's not that I haven't accomplished anything it's just that I'm a real slacker about photographing my work and then taking the time to load the pics and post on my blog.

So here is the piece I did for the yearly project in the needle arts guild that I'm in. The theme was 'Pathways'. I knew about this since September of last year when I joined the guild but you know me-- queen of the procrastinators, so I didn't even start the project until about 2 wks before it was due, which was our April meeting.

I thought long and hard about pathways and considered so many different options.
Pathways can mean so many things. My life has certainly taken me down MANY different paths through the years and I contemplated what I could design for the art quilt that I wanted to create.

It just so happened that the first week in March I was on the phone with a dear old friend and we were discussing her father who is beginning to have some dementia. We both agreed that becoming extremely forgetful was a path we didn't want to go down. But it seems like it's inevitable with the magnitude of people being diagnosed with Alzheimer's nowadays.

March 18 was also the anniversary of my mother passing away. It has been 3 years and her diagnosis was Alzheimer's. This got me thinking about pathways and how I could translate that into art. Then my daughter came home from college and was talking about her physiology class. They just happened to have finished studying about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

So all of these little things sent me to the computer to search for images of neural pathways. As I searched for neurons and neural pathways I decided to make it even more meaningful-so I searched for neural pathways of someone with Alzheimer's. Amazingly, there were quite a few images both of the neurofibrillary tangles & plaques as well as images of brain scans.

I decided on a close-up of the neural pathways showing the tangled webs of neurons along with the plaques. These tangles and plaques are the reason for memory loss and decreased brain function in Alzheimer's patients. As the disease progresses areas of the brain start to shrink. This has started me on a quest to do a series of art quilts related to the brain of Alzheimer's.

Here's a close-up of my project.

Another shot : The tangles are matted up dyed cheesecloth sewn down and the plaques on the mass of tangles is pink angelina fibers.

And here's the full art quilt. The background is commercial fabric that I overdyed to get some variations of grays. I used metallic variegated thread for some of the little neural fibriles.

I have several projects in various stages. Hopefully I will get them photographed and posted before another month goes by.
Although my daughter comes home from college tomorrow for what will probably be her last full summer with us, so I may be playing a lot of hookie from my studio.
live your life creatively~
cathy

Book Giveaway

2010-04-29T10:06:00.002-05:00

I know it's been a while since posting any new work. I'm working on a few things but not ready to post about it just yet.

I just wanted to share a giveaway with you on Susan Tuttle's blog. She is an amazing photographer. I took an online class for altering photos with her. She has a new book out that she is giving away. She uses her own photography to incorporate into mixed media art. I can't wait to see it.

Susan's previous book Exhibition 36 is wonderful. I bought that one last year.
If you have a moment go take a look at Susan's blog. You'll be amazed at her photos.

I promise to post something new SOON!
cathy
p.s. you can either click on Susan's name or the title of this post and it will take you to Susan's blog.

"The Vocabulary of Rust"

2010-04-09T15:46:00.001-05:00

Vocabulary: An aggregate or range of things, qualities, or techniques that form the basis of a means of expression, especially in the arts: a painter with a rich vocabulary of colors.

This new piece was created with the fabric that I rusted several months ago. I was just playing around to see what if...
I was in the middle of creating the piece for the 'pathways' challenge in my guild when I grabbed some of the rusted fabric and started mixing them up and adding some paint to some of the pieces.
You can see the original post with many of the rusted pieces here. This is actually the piece of rusted white cotton velvet and the rusted commercial printed cotton that I used in the final piece.

I used some black paint to create some circles on the printed cotton piece to coordinate with the rusted circles on the velvet piece. I created a collage with the velvet in the center and I also used some dyed silks that were in similar colors as the rusted pieces. I also threw in some gold tissue paper as well to see if it would work. Once I had my collage like I wanted it, I fused it all down on a piece of felt then placed a piece of burgundy polyester chiffon over the entire piece. I free motioned outlining the rusted shapes and the dyed silks then burned a few holes in the chiffon with a heat gun. The bright white of the velvet was a little too stark so I then used some watered down quinacridone azo gold acrylic paint to dab around the burned chiffon and I liked it so much I added a bit more here and there.
I found 3 rusted & flattened bottle caps and 2 rusted metal washers to sew on top of the finished piece.
It is edged in a rusty colored chiffon ribbon.

The burgundy chiffon really changed the colors of the rusted fabrics as well as the dyed silks.
Here's a closer shot.

I was going to use wire to attach the metal pieces but I didn't want to punch holes in the bottle caps and I didn't like the way the wire was looking so I used kreinik metallic thread. Hopefully it holds up!
Was initially going to call this piece the language of rust because of the words printed on the commercial cotton and because of the way the rust reacted with the fabrics. But then I realized that 'vocabulary' was a much better word for it. The rust was 'expressing itself onto the fabric', imbuing it with colors and patterns
of oxidation.
As soon as I photograph the 'pathways' piece I will post that.

Until then-live your life creatively~
cathy

"Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage." Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

2010-03-31T13:00:00.002-05:00

Procrastination... I'm a master at it. I work in a flurry for several days and then I allow myself to fall into old habits. I spend my time thinking and planning what I WANT to do, researching techniques I want to TRY and then I put everything on hold. Can't figure out if I do this because I'm afraid of failure or maybe I'm afraid of success??

However, I did finally finish this small art quilt I started in a workshop back in October with Laura Cater-Woods. It is titled "Driftwood". I used the small piece of driftwood attached to the center as inspiration and sketched the driftwood, made a pattern and used an assortment of dyed silks and a couple of commercial cotton batiks to create it.

Here is a close-up:

After completing the free motion stitching I did add a few beads here and there and of course I added the driftwood with some dyed cheesecloth wrapped around it. I plan to hang it from a piece of driftwood. Currently I don't have an actual piece of driftwood large enough, but I do have a few nice old sticks that I found that might work.

After finishing "Driftwood" I finally completed "Autumn Detritus". This piece morphed from what was just going to be a mixed media painting into more of a mixed media fiber piece. I painted the canvas and kept adding layers of colors and textures. Then realized the paper towels that I had used to sop up the excess paint needed to be used in this piece. I tore the paper towels into irregular shapes and used wonder under to attach them to a piece of felt. I free motion stitched over the paper towels and the felt, then zapped the felt with a heat gun to burn holes and distress the felt. Then I added more paint to the paper towels and felt to blend the two. After that, I added beads then attached this felted/beaded piece to the painted canvas. I also used alpaca fibers, and some heat distressed polyester fabric along with some mesh from a vegetable bag. I also added some twigs to the background.

Here's a couple of close-up shots:

Hindsight is 20/20 and looking at it now, I wish I had made the felt piece much more irregular. It looks like a bean! Should be more like a pile of leaves and rubbish.

I have almost complete another small art quilt that I did while I was supposed to be finishing my project for the guild. I will post that later when I finish sewing on the final pieces.

Hopefully I can force myself to go finish my project for the guild because I have another project that is due by April 15 and it has to be shipped to a gallery in VA which means I need to get it done soon, so that it will make it there in time.

Live your life creatively~
cathy

Another Play Date With Bleach

2010-03-24T16:03:00.004-05:00

I spent a few hours playing with good old household bleach experimenting with different weight fabrics and different applications. My last play date with bleach is posted here.
This time I decided to play around with a 'resist' in the form of a crocheted doily.
I have lots of these doilies. My grandmother used to crochet them and I've picked up a few in antique stores over the years. They come in handy while working with clay. I use them to lay down on the clay and send it through the slab roller or use a rolling pin to impress the clay with the design of the lace. Very cool results on clay. SO... Here is my first piece with using the doily as a resist on some black cotton.

I actually used Tilex spray instead of chlorox since I wanted to spray over top of the doily. This worked just as well since Tilex's main ingredient is bleach. I sprayed the Tilex pretty heavily and the doily became saturated and actually started to absorb some of the black from the fabric beneath it. I left the doily on the fabric approximately 15 min. Took it to the sink and soaked it in water. Washed then threw in the dryer.
Really should've ironed it but you can still see the lovely kaleidoscope pattern the doily created.
This black cotton discharged to a creamy off-white with touches of blue/green here and there. Really pretty.
Next piece was done the same way but I used 3 small doilies rather than one large one.

Interesting colors and design I think!

Then I grabbed a new batch of black cotton and used rubber bands to crimp at intervals.This cotton discharged to a beautiful rusty orange color.

This next piece was using the same cotton and trying a circular crimping with the rubber bands.

Love it!

Then I tried a piece of black cotton from India that I had and it was almost a faded charcoal rather than black. I used a roller with squares on it to print the design using regular bleach.

The roller randomly sprayed flecks of bleach in areas and I also went back over it twice with the roller so the design is a random checkerboard. This piece discharged to a peachy tan color.

Next fabric I tried was a black cotton twill. I loved the colors I got on the last experiment with the twill and I was hoping for the same rusty golden colors. Not quite the same with this twill but I do like it.

This discharged to more of a salmon/coral color. I used a sponge roller to lay the bleach down in the stripe pattern.

Final piece I tried is a piece of black burlap. Wow! Love the color this discharge to-bright red!

With this piece I used comet gel rather than liquid bleach or the Tilex spray. I just squiggled some gel on, let it sit for maybe 5 min. Rinsed, soaked, washed, dried.

Not sure what I'm going to do with some of these but I have several designs in my sketchbook for using some of my discharged fabrics.

Right now I'm working on a project for the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild. They have an annual project with a theme. This year it's 'Pathways'. The project is due at the guild meeting in April which is 2 wks away. Forever the procrastinator I am now just starting to work on mine. I started sketching the design the first week in March but I've been tweaking it and researching it before actually cutting my first piece of fabric. I'll post it when finished.
I still have several more projects that I just completed but will save those for another day...
Until then- live your life creatively~
cathy

p.s. The blog banner is a piece of fabric I disperse dyed in a workshop I did with Barbara Schneider a few weeks ago. I have a couple more things I disperse dyed in her class I will post in the next few days.

Whatever Happened to the Multi-tasker in ME?

2010-03-18T17:14:00.004-05:00

It used to be that I could do 14 things at once. And actually know what was going on.
Well...That was then and this is now. Rather than multi-tasking I should maybe call it dual-tasking. I can handle a few things at a time and that's about it.
Currently I have been focusing mainly on painting, sewing and more sewing and more painting. So forget about blogging, forget about laundry, forget about dishes that need washing, doctor appointments that need to be made and my poor dog barely gets to go outside because I'm so caught up in my feverish frenzy of art-making.

I'm patiently waiting for my daughter to arrive home from college right now. She is gracing us with her presence for 2 nights, then she's off to Florida for spring break. Once upon a time I used to get to go on spring break with her...
Oh well, I've got art to make!
Anyhoo, since I've got a minute or 2 to spare while waiting for her, I thought I would update my poor old blog.
These photos are way overdue in posting.
First up, is Somerset Studio's Jan/Feb issue which a piece of my artwork landed in.
I sent it as a response to Girl Gone Thread Wild's blog back last spring. It was to create a piece to call attention to the devastating murders in Juarez Mexico. So many young girls have been murdered in the past few years and now they are making news again with more senseless murders. The challenge that Monica proposed was called "AdDRESSing the situation". The piece had to incorporate a dress of some sort.

I'm sure I posted a photo of my piece back in the summer before I shipped it off, but here it is again.

I didn't even know it was going to be in that issue. I used to receive a letter or postcard from them telling me my artwork was going to be in a particular issue.
I was so surprised when I opened up the magazine and saw my piece featured prominently on the first page of the article titled "Without Words:AdDRESSing the Situation". WOW! I did the Snoopy dance of joy. It's been a while since I submitted anything for publication and this was pretty cool. Also pretty cool that Somerset
did the article to call attention to the victims in Juarez. Thank you to Monica and to Somerset Studio.

Next items up are the art doll swap that my friend Sandy and I did recently. We usually do a swap once a year or so. We come up with a medium to work in and a theme usually. This time there was no theme, just an art doll that began as a muslin
bendi doll. She sent me the blank doll last year. We changed the deadline a few times I think and then just said 'send it when you finish it'. Her doll arrived at my doorstep in early Jan. just after the Christmas holiday and I was so excited with the outcome that I got busy working to finish my doll for her.
Here is the doll Sandy sent me.

He/she is so wonderful. Lots of textures and I love the bird face she added. The individual feathers are just gorgeous!
I had already started my doll for her, but was stuck on trying to figure out what to do with the head.
It took a while to get all the coats of paperclay on this doll's head, but finally I got it right and was able to paint it and ship it off to Sandy. Here is the doll I sent her--'Little Miss Susie Sunshine'

Daughter should be here any minute now. I will post many more creations in the next week or so. I've got lots to share.
In the meantime, live your life creatively~
cathy

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another." John Dewey

2010-02-22T16:38:00.004-06:00

The past few weeks have been spent trying to finish up projects I started a while back, along with starting a few new ones. It seems when I'm working on one project it spawns ideas for other ventures so instead of finishing what I'm working on, I jump into yet another new piece. Of course that happens with reading also. I never read one book at a time. I've always got at least 2 that I'm reading; one fiction and one non-fiction. Guess I've got ADD or just trying to cram too many things into my life.
Whatever it is that keeps me jumping from one project to another or reading multiple books at once I can honestly say that I'm never bored!
Anyway, back to the reason for this post...
First, the project I finished 2 weeks ago and am in the process of framing this.
I showed this in progress a while back. The title is "Tidal Pool". The background was done on mounted canvas. Then I used a piece of dyed silk to embroider and bead on. I used some netting and chiffon as well.
There's even a piece of painted, distorted tyvek.

I attached the silk to the canvas with more stitching
Here's a close-up. You can click on the photo to enlarge.

After finishing this piece, I went back to a piece I started in a workshop with Jeanne Beck back in September. I started the stitched squares in her workshop by layering painted fusible webbing with painted bits of paper towels. Once I was satisfied with that I added embroidery and beading. Again, I've shown the squares in a previous post but I wanted to incorporate them into a whole piece. After taking a workshop with Laura Cater-Woods and seeing her chiffon sandwiches I knew I wanted to do something like that for a background for my stitched silk squares. I layered chiffon with fibers, skeleton leaves, feathers and gold leafing, added a piece of netting over the top and then saturated the whole thing with a 50-50 blend of good old Elmer's glue and H2O. Let it dry and then decided to cut windows in the piece for my stitched squares.
They say hindsight is 20/20 and I wish now I had just sewn them on to the background BUT I cut windows out so I dealt with the issues that came up. Guess that's why it took me so long to finish it. The windows made the background less rigid, flimsy actually so I had to figure out what to do next. Trash the whole piece and make another or improvise. I hate to throw things out so instead of just sewing the pieces into the window at the 4 corners I glued tissue paper to the back using the 50/50 glue mix, let it dry then used free motion stitching all over the background with metallic threads and I reinforced the edges of the windows with stitching to make them a little more substantial.The tissue paper really gave the whole piece more texture as it dried because I crumpled up the tissue paper then flattened it before gluing it.
Then I found some bamboo sticks in my stash while I was cleaning out my studio which I decided would be perfect to further enforce the stability of the piece. Then I came across some mother-of-pearl buttons that I thought would be great for adding to the top and bottom squares.

This is a close-up.

Even closer... The title is "Flotsam & Jetsam"

After completing these pieces I went on to finish an art doll for my friend Sandy. The doll is on it's way to her right now and I don't want to post a photo of it in case she reads this blog before she gets her doll. I don't want to spoil the surprise. As soon as I hear that she's received it I will post a pic of the one I made her and the one that she sent me. I received her's back in January. We have been doing art swaps for several years.
We decide on a theme and the medium and then we each create something and ship it off to the other one.
I received some beautiful creations from her. Over the years we've created art quilts with a Jimmy Buffett song theme, jewelry with just a summer theme, art bras with 60's TV show theme & shrines to ELVIS !
Lots of fun.
While I was working on Sandy's doll I had to start another project or 2 because I was waiting for the paint to dry. That's what always prompts me to start another project. If you're waiting for paint or ink or glue to dry, you just have to start something else!
SO....I decided to drag out the huge canvases that have been sitting around waiting for me to throw some paint on them. I bought the one for our bedroom over a year ago and the other canvas I purchased about 3 years ago. Figured it was time to jump in and just do it.
I seldom work BIG, I prefer small projects. BIG empty canvases scare me. But I put some music on and started painting. Oddly enough I finished the 30 x 40 canvas that I purchased 3 years ago first and I had no idea what I was going to paint on that one. The one for our bedroom was the one that I wanted to do first and I THOUGHT I knew what I wanted to paint on that one. Well, it's still not done. It's a work in progress.
The size is 20 x 60. It has morphed from one thing to another over several days. I have a little work left to do before I can say it's DONE.
But I'll show you the one I did finish. I've already found a frame and a place to hang this one.
I used a photograph I had as the inspiration. The scene is a river at sunset. The trees which looked like a big black blob in the photo gave me the most trouble. I wanted to add depth and texture to the trees and their shadows. Adding depth to black is really quite hard. I found the sky and the reflection in the water so much easier. AS a matter of fact I really got into this painting and the music that was playing was Puccini! Never really felt like I was a huge fan of opera, but boy did I really get into slapping that paint on while listening to it.
I tried Puccini with the other painting but it wasn't working with that one. The other painting has cooler colors so I put on some soothing Vivaldi and that worked a little better.
So here's my BIG painting. I really love the sky. The photo doesn't do the colors justice.

As soon as I finish the painting for the bedroom, I will post that. I am also in the final stages of finishing another project along the same lines of the first photo I posted above. It's a beaded piece of fabric that will be attached to a painted canvas.
Enough chatter from me for one day...
cathy

Mixed Media Art Quilt Workshop with Mary Hetts

2010-02-17T11:23:00.005-06:00

I had promised myself I would try and post at least once a week! Well, it's not happening. I have to confess that I've gotten hooked on Facebook. This time last year I was hooked on blogging. When blogging was new to me I met so many very talented people that I was constantly checking out everyone's blog to see what they had created. I was posting several times a week and I was online daily for several hours in order to keep up with everyone. I finally told myself that in order to accomplish anything myself as far as artwork or housework goes, I needed to 'kick the habit' and limit myself to just one day a week at blogging.

That worked for me and then my Facebook friends started to increase and I have been checking Facebook several times daily for months now! It's become quite a habit and I find myself not getting any blogging done but more importantly, not getting the artwork done that I had planned for the New Year. I have been pretty good about the cleaning and purging of my studio and the rest of my house. BUT, the artwork is calling me and I plan to ween myself from Facebook, just like I did with blogging.

The problem with Facebook, is that my high school is having a MEGA reunion in August and Facebook is pretty much the method of contacting everyone to inform them. Every time someone new joins Facebook and 'friends' me, I have to chat with them and then that leads to commenting on their photos and their status, etc, etc, etc. It's been great reconnecting with folks I haven't seen in 30+ years but I'm going to have to back away from the computer in order to get back to business.

Back to the business of making art! I will try to post weekly but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't. Hopefully if I start creating I will want to post my new 'stuff'!

Finally, the reason for this post is the workshop I did 2 weeks ago with Mary Hettmansperger. She's FABULOUS! She's fun, warm, giving and oh so talented. I just love her work. It really speaks to me. If you ever get the chance to do a workshop with her, I highly recommend it.

This is Mary demonstrating a technique to Alice.

This is Stana at the torch. We did a LOT of torching and a LOT of hammering.

These is some of Joan's work. Love her woven piece!

This is Kathy's torched copper mesh and copper piping.

This is Tracy's mixed media fiber piece. She made the copper leaves and the twined copper to apply to her fiber art. Love it!

This is Shelley's mixed media fiber piece.She created the copper leaves and branch to apply to her fiber art.
Beautiful!

I didn't have the forethought to actually make a fiber piece ahead of time nor did I attempt to create a fiber piece during the workshop. I was having so much fun playing with the metal that I only made jewelry pieces and one piece for a future fiber art project.
Here's a brooch/pendant I made. It has a pin back but also a jump ring so you could hang it from a necklace.

This is a twined, woven and wrapped piece. I incorporated several of Mary's techniques in this piece in order to spread the copper ribs out to form the branches.This piece is a possible candidate for a future art quilt.

This piece was done with the intention of using in a future fiber art piece also. We'll see...

Ok, I'm off to play in my studio. I have a project to complete for a friend of mine and then it's on to finishing curtains for my bathroom. THEN maybe I can concentrate on the projects I have planned out!

I did finish a piece I started in Jeanne Beck's workshop WAY back in September. But I'll wait and post that another day.

Until then...live your life creatively~
cathy

Discharge Dyeing

2010-02-01T12:22:00.001-06:00

Is it really February already??? How did January come & go so quickly? I still haven't finished all the things on my to-do list for January... Oh well, at least I got my studio clean and organized, that was my main focus.

I took some time on Friday to experiment a little bit with discharge dyeing.
It's not really dyeing, it's actually removal of dye from the fabric. I just used standard household bleach. You need to rinse thoroughly and then soak in a solution
afterward to stop the bleaching process. I have read several articles on this subject and some say you can just rinse in white vinegar and that will stop the bleaching. I've also read that that is WRONG! That the fumes from the vinegar on the bleached items can produce nasty toxic fumes and that the vinegar will not stop the process. I have to admit, the very first time I did any discharging was with
softscrub cleanser. I just squirted it on the fabric, in this case it was cotton velvet. After I saw the amount of discharging that I desired, I soaked the cotton velvet in water for a few minutes to ensure that the bleach was thoroughly diluted.
Then I rinsed in white vinegar. That was SEVEN years ago and the fabric is still just fine. Not disintegration of the fibers have been noted. It worked fine on that particular application. I'm assuming since the softscrub was more viscous and sat on top of the nap rather than completely saturate it, that rinsing with vinegar was fine. Who knows?

So this time around with the discharging I had no other type of product to stop the bleaching except white vinegar, so that's what I used again. Keep in mind this was an experiment. Before I use any of these fabrics for a project I will watch them for further bleaching and/or fiber disintegration.

I happen to LOVE discharging on black fabric so that was what I used. I went through my stash and found as many different types of black fabrics as I could.

First up, is my very first experiment with shibori. I sewed 4 different patterns on this piece of black cotton twill then I laid the fabric on plastic and using a sponge brush, just brushed the liquid bleach over the gathered up fabric. It immediately began to turn a beautiful rusty red, and I almost stopped the discharging then, but I waited a little longer and got these wonderful golds with tinges of rust. I rinsed and re-rinsed, then soaked in vinegar before taking my stitching out. Then I rinsed several more times.

The next piece is black cotton broadcloth and I prepared this as though I was tie-dying.
I used rubber bands at intervals, laid the fabric on plastic and again used the sponge brush to apply the bleach. Same rinsing pattern as above.
This discharged to a lovely beige/tan with echoes of some green in areas.

Next piece is the same fabric as above-black cotton broadcloth. This time I secured with rubber bands but instead of using the sponge brush, I soaked the entire thing in bleach. The rinsing process involved soaking the entire thing in water for a while then soaking in vinegar to ensure that it was thoroughly rinsed.
Again, this discharged to a lovely beige/cream/tan. Not as much green as the one above. I really like some of the patterns from the rubber bands.

The following piece is rayon velvet. Since I had used softscrub on my first piece of cotton velvet many years ago, I decided to try a bleach pen on this rayon velvet. NOTHING! Absolutely nothing happened. So then I thought maybe since the bleach paste from the pen was actually sitting up on the nap of the velvet, I would rinse that off and try the liquid bleach. VOILA! Little better. But since I had rinsed the velvet and it was wet,
I think it diluted my bleach a little too much? I'll definitely try this one again later.
I prepared the wet velvet by fan-folding it lengthwise then securing with rubber bands. I laid it on plastic and used the sponge brush the paint the bleach on the folds. This discharged to a coppery color that is very cool.
I wish I had used more bleach OR used dry velvet. Again, this went through the thorough rinsing process.

Next up is a piece I almost gave up on. It's not pretty but could possibly be used in the right project-maybe?
It was a piece of black poly-cotton blend. I gathered it in sections with rubber bands and soaked the entire piece for a LONG time. So if any of these fabrics disintegrate, this should be the first one to do so.
I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally, I thought there was a slight change in color so I removed, rinsed and took the rubber bands off. After the whole rinsing process I finally started to see a definite change in color. It discharged to a funky gray with some peachy/pink colors blended in.The original black fabric that was bundled in the rubber bands even turned a dark umber color. This was definitely a surprise piece!

The next piece is another experiment with the bleach pen. This time on black cotton canvas. I just made squiggles and swirls. Let it sit, then rinsed, rinsed, rinsed.

And finally-- this is the piece of black cotton velvet that I discharged with the softscrub oh so many years ago. The piece that was rinsed with white vinegar and is still intact. I made a little bolster-type pillow out of it. I think it's quite cute!

Time for me to get to work. I have more experimenting to do!
Live Your Life Creatively~
cathy

Rust Dyeing

2010-01-29T17:28:00.001-06:00

Finally getting to post about the rust dyeing that I mentioned several posts ago.
I am a member of the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild and several of the members have created their own little group known as the "Free Motions".The group consists of Tracy , Shelley, Leah & Nina. They get together to 'play' and try out new techniques with fabrics. Not only do they learn something new but they have a load of fun while doing so.

I was fortunate to have been asked to join them back in December when they were invited by Nina to come up to her beautiful home in Milwaukee for a day of 'playing'. Nina had buckets of lovely rusted pieces to choose from to lay on our fabrics for the dyeing process. She also treated us to a scrumptious lunch while we were there.

The dyeing process takes several days and must be kept wet. That was my FIRST mistake. I got home with several flat containers with the fabric and rusted objects
all enclosed in a garbage bag. I was busy getting ready for the show I did at the arts center so I just laid the garbage bag on the floor in the garage and forgot about it for a few days. Since it was nice and COOL in there I just assumed that it would at least stay moist for the several days. HAH! When I finally took the garbage bag off the fabrics were so dry that the rusted objects were stuck to the fabric. There were some pieces that were OK, but for the most part my dyeing didn't look as nice as I'd hoped for.

What to do? Well I took several of the plastic containers to the basement shower,
laid the fabric down on the plastic, then the rusted objects and hosed it down with the shower head. I kept checking on the fabric EVERY day and sprayed with more water each time the fabric looks as though it might be drying out. After 4 days this is the results.
This first piece is commercially printed cotton that was NOT prewashed, so it might have dyed better if it had been washed. I also did NOT lay the items on this piece I wrapped the fabric around a long rusted metal object. I really like it the second time around. Originally this piece had a few specks of rust, but now it's much better after the second dye job.

This is a close-up of the above piece.

The next piece is white cotton velvet that Tracy was kind enough to give me to try. Really, really love the velvet. Love the way the color bled out around the rusted pieces. This piece had little to NO rusting on it prior to round two of the dyeing.

The fabric in the piece below was PFD cotton and initially did not look very good until the second round in the shower!! Again, I love the way the rust bled out around the objects.

The fabric used in this piece below is commercially dyed cotton and I did NOT wash prior to dyeing.
This is after the second dyeing process and looks much better.

That day the group exposed me to my first screen printing using thermofax screens. WOW! I was in love with the process immediately. So much so, that I came home and started pricing thermofax machines. I haven't bought one YET but maybe one day. Until then, I'll just buy the screens already made from someone else.

This is my very first screen print below.

Today, I spent most of the day playing around with discharge dyeing. I got some great results. I
will take photos and post them later. And I promise not to wait longer than a month to post, like I did with the rust dyeing.
Have a great weekend!

cathy

"Nobody can go back & start a new beginning, but anyone can start today & make a new ending." Maria Robinson

2010-01-25T16:29:00.001-06:00

The above quote pretty much sums it up for me. The only problem is that I KEEP starting over and over and over again...

I hope everyone had a great beginning to the New Year. I had a good but uneventful one with a strong commitment to recharging my life. ALL aspects of my life.
I am committed to getting BACK into shape and rediscovering the thinner person that I know resides in my body. Along with getting physically into shape, I am also committed to changing the way I eat. Which is going to be hard, because I LOVE FOOD.
I have gotten WAY off track this holiday season though and I need to get back to a healthier way of eating.

I am also committed to restructuring and reorganizing my life which means getting
my house in shape as well. I'm sure that previous posts have mentioned that this last move really 'kicked my butt' and it shows in the way my house looks. I have never really organized everything. Usually when I unpack my belongings I organize as I put things away. Not with this last move, I just tossed things here & there, hiding them anywhere and everywhere there happened to be a vacant spot. Whether it was in a cabinet, drawer or closet didn't matter, and I really didn't concern myself over whether it even BELONGED in that particular room. Just hurry up and get the boxes unpacked and things put away... Now that we've been in this house a year and a half, it's starting to UNNERVE me, the way things are soooo disorganized.

I have started the new year by organizing my studio. That was the biggest disaster area. I had sewing supplies scattered all about the room, duplicates of so many things. I have so many containers of supplies for doing collages that I realized I'm never going to get around to using half of that stuff. PLUS, as I mentioned in a previous post, I've decided to concentrate more on the fiber arts, rather than on collages. Not leaving the mixed media arena, but just steering more towards fiber.
My studio is now clean, organized, rearranged in a much better way and I even found a vacant wall, albeit small, for a design board for designing quilts!
I'm so excited about my new clean room, that I am now hesitant to even start any new projects. With that said, I am also committed to finishing all the projects I started back in the fall and had to put on hold in order to finish items for the holiday market at the art center where I do ceramics.

The piece below is a mixed media piece I did for the show. The center is a ceramic head, then I beaded around it, the frame is also ceramic. Layered with fabrics onto a painted canvas. (this is the close-up) The name is "What If?"

This is the full view. Color not so good. Note to self:take a photography class geared toward photographing your artwork

This is another mixed media piece-incorporating ceramics, antique wood, etc on painted canvas.

This is the close-up. I love the background on the canvas of this one. It looks like leather. Very deep dark red. The name is "The Measure of Women"

This is another mixed media with another ceramic head that was first beaded then layered with an antique leather book cover and fabric on a painted canvas.

This is the close-up. The name is "Grow a Soul". Got the name for it from the quote that I printed on fabric and used at the bottom. It says "Life is just a chance to grow a soul."

I have a couple more pieces that the pictures turned out horribly, so I'm not posting them. Lucky for me, they didn't sell... So I can photograph them and post later.

I will show you the angels I made for the show.
This one sold the first day of the show.

This one sold BEFORE the show started, while we were setting up.

This one sold the second day of the show.

And this one I sent to my girlfriend for Christmas!

I had one more angel that I forgot to photograph and again, she didn't sell! I've got her hanging on my wall, so I'll photograph her later and post her.

It was a pretty good show. Turn out was not as many as they had last year, but most people come for the functional ceramics. I don't do a lot of functional things.
I prefer to make things to look at and make you smile... Who needs another coffee mug? Besides, I can't seem to make any 2 bowls or mugs the exact same.

I also started my year off with another 2-day workshop sponsored by the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild. It was with the very talented Katie Pasquini Masopust. It was a great workshop and I learned quite a bit about designing. I usually don't start ANY project with ANY set plans. Maybe a general idea in my head but usually nothing on paper. She really helped me see that I can do things differently! And probably get better results. We'll see how that works out.

Next week, I'm taking yet another workshop sponsored by the guild. This one will be with Mary Hettmansperger! I'm so excited! She is multi-talented. I have one of her jewelry books but this workshop is right up my alley-- MIXED MEDIA QUILTS....

I still have my rust dyed pieces to photograph and show you. I have also finished a piece that I have given you glimpses of along the way. I will photograph things whenever we get a SUNNY day here on the northshore of Chicago. It's been gray and gloomy for way too long.

As for my long lost blogging pals...I'm so sorry I have not been around to visit for months. I know I will need at least a week to sit and visit blogs. I'll bet I've missed a ton of wonderful artwork out there.
Speaking of missing...I even missed my blog anniversary! That's how committed to working out and cleaning up I've been. I regret not chatting with you folks and I promise to stop in soon.
Until then, live your life creatively~

cathy

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU & YOURS

2009-12-24T16:13:00.007-06:00

I know I've been absent from blogland for quite some time and keep promising to post my new work. BUT... I've been caught up in the holiday hustle & bustle since my show at the art center last weekend. By the way, it was quite an interesting show. I sold a few things which is always nice, but most people were looking for holiday bazaar type items and functional pottery. My 'stuff' is NOT functional but I did sell most of the angels I made.
AGAIN-I promise to post photos of the angels and the other mixed media pieces as soon as time permits. I also have some rust dyed pieces to show.
In the meantime have a marvelous holiday with your family and friend
cathy

Happy December!

2009-12-02T16:35:00.004-06:00

How did it get to be December already? Why does time seem to fly so quickly the older we get?
It seems that I can only manage to post once a month to my blog. I have been keeping track of friends and family via Facebook but I've been just horrible about keeping up with my blog friends.

The Fine Art of Fiber that I posted about previously was a wonderful show and I regret that I didn't take any pictures. It was very inspiring to see all the talented pieces of fiber art that was showcased.
I was fortunate to sell one of my pieces which was exciting as well as a little sad. When it's a piece I really like I feel as though I've just sold a piece of my family.Hopefully it's in a new home and the owner loves it.

Since the fiber show I have been busy getting items ready for the show featured in the postcard above. I am
tickled to have my raku mask/ mixed media piece on the front of the postcard. These will be mailed out to
all residents of the town I live in. The artists participating have been given postcards as well to mail to friends and family. As you can see, the show is next weekend so I still have projects in various stages of being finished. I still have NOT taken any photographs of the items that are in progress. Hopefully I can do that this weekend while I'm pricing and packing.

I have also been working on a piece that will not be in this show. I always have to have something to work on 'just for me'. When I'm creating for a specific show or magazine-something with a specific theme, I feel like I have to have a 'side' project where I can just create without worrying whether someone will buy it or worrying that I'm having to follow someone else's rules and guidelines.
So, this next photo is the piece I've been beading and stitching at night. Still not done but this is a pretty good start. The background is a mounted canvas piece I created back during the summer and was undecided about what to do with it. I grabbed a piece of dyed silk that blended beautifully with the painted background and just started stitching and beading.

There is also some distressed polyester chiffon and some painted and distressed tyvek. I plan to add a little more tyvek and maybe a few more beads or perhaps a few more shells. Currently the silk is NOT attached to the canvas background. I did all the stitching and beading on the silk which is backed by felt, then I will attach it to the canvas with some more stitching.

If I haven't been around to your blog lately, I promise, promise, promise to stop by for a visit soon.

Until then, live your life creatively~

p.s. if you click on the photos you can enlarge them to see details

'I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." Eleanor Roosevelt

2009-11-03T13:11:00.002-06:00

I searched for a quote to try and sum up my activities of late and this was the best I could come up with. My life has been quite full lately and my curiosity for learning new things and new techniques never seems to slow down. If anything I probably try to cram too many things in at once. I've been busy as a beaver in my studio at home as well as at the pottery studio for the past month or so.
I joined the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild back in September and have taken TWO workshops which has really jump-started my desire to play around with fabrics and threads. By joining, it allowed me to submit some fiber art for the upcoming Fine Art of Fiber at the Chicago Botanic Gardens this weekend. I am thrilled to be a part of this show. I have never exhibited in a fiber show before so this is a major event for me!
I had mentioned in previous posts that I would start to show some items that I've been working on and I PROMISE I will. BUT, first I want to post the items that will be in the Fine Art of Fiber show this weekend.
These are pieces that I had already completed (thank goodness). Otherwise I never would've had time to create for this show. I'm already thinking about all the possibilities for next year's show.
First photo is one of the very first (actually the second)art quilts I ever made.
It is a layered fiber sandwich as the base and then the ceramic raku heads are mounted on brass mesh and placed on the felt, attaching it down to the fiber sandwich.

These photos don't really do it justice. I need to take a class in photographing artwork! It is really more purple than it looks. This is a close up and the next photo is the full art quilt. Since this is one of my first and one of my favorites, this is only on display at the show and NOT for sale.The title is Purple Haze.

Ok, next item: This is a larger art quilt, done mostly in winter white. Again, lighting was a issue the day I took the photos and the color is not too good.

The next photo is a close up of the above. The title is Virginia's Virgin Voyage.

Next item: I posted this one as I was working on it, so this is a fairly new piece. It's a crazy quilt with vintage image at the center. Title- Abigail Loves Autumn

This is a close up:

Final piece for the show: Title is My Flower Garden.The color in this piece looks pretty funky as far as the green goes... Again, these photos are not my best. I should've retaken them.

I realized that I do have these photos on my flickr site as well, probably a bit better. If you click on Fiber Art in the left-hand margin of my blog you can see photos of these in a better light.
I am also getting ready for a Holiday Show & Sale at the ceramic studio where I take classes. I've got several tables and desks piled high in my studio at home with projects for this sale. Most of the work that I will have in this show will be using ceramic pieces I've made and incorporating them into other works of art.
Similar to my first art quilt above with the raku heads.
I will post those items as I finish them along with the projects from the 2 workshops I did at the guild. Believe me when I say that there is NO available space in my studio at home to set anything down. I have worked myself into a corner
with all these projects going on at once. And to top it off I started an online
digital photo manipulation workshop today with the lovely and talented Susan Tuttle.
A wonderful class if you're photoshop illiterate like me! I've already fallen in love with altering photos and I've only done 2 pictures so far. You can check those out at my flickr.
As soon as I have a moment to breath, I will be by your blogs for a visit.
And I promise to post the art that has been consuming my time ASAP.
Until then...live your life creatively & to the fullest~