we just got news!!! the babes are on the way!!! i'll be heading home to get my digicam, awaiting updates from the soon to be grandmothers {my mom shall be called pippa}. some tears have already come into my eyes. it is all quite convenient, i'm at the hospital where she'll be having sam and liam, so once i go home to get my camera i can be back at work...pray that all goes well in the OR. these boys are so dearly loved. we cannot wait!!! awgh.
sam&liam
just a quick update on the babies, incase you haven't been following along: laurie {pictured on the righ} who is married to my youngest brother, not pictured. will be having two, count 'em, two precious little baby boys on friday!!! everyone is doing great and as soon as i know something i will post!!! keep the little family in your prayers!!!
the twilight trees:revealed!!!
the twilight trees is the last piece i'll will have made madly for the clothesline show, coming up, right around the corner, beware. it is a depature from the previous paper quilts that i made only because i'm pressing toward the future, larger, more detailed pieces. practicing on a smaller 9"x9" before a 3'x2' or something like that. the repetition is there in the pattern of squares as a collage under"painting" and then a dark dark blue to create the tree imagery. i am also very attracted to the positive+negative space element. i think it works fairly well and am excited about continuing in this new direction. the painting below is one that a friend gave me and i'm planning to create a landscape, i've started in the bottom right hand corner, circles of green. the blue is brillant and a large portion of the painting will remain much like a sam flores painting with my own style. more flowers, trees, and birds.
i have also been wanting to share this quilt with you all. i didn't make it and i don't know who did but it is hanging at one of my friends house and when the light shines through it i'm aghast at the beauty and craftmanship. i finally got pictures and think it is the best. i especially love the green shapes which remind me of lovely little war tanks. you're welcome to view more photos over in my flickr account. as always i'd love to know what you think, don't hesitate. have a good day friends and family!
gallery of growth:the packrat life
i would crave a minimalistic windowsill wonderland but my head is overflowing and my heart loves the littlest treasures. i am a packrat. it occured to me this morning that i lead my internet life much is the same way that i do my real world life. i collect favorites like they're going out of style. in the course of an eight hour day i've probably perused a hundred blogs, shops, and forums. maybe not as carefully as peruse though. and yet there is always something i'll save, to pick up later. today is one of those days, you know them because you're lulled out, played out of nothing to show for the creative motions your making. i have finished my last piece, numbro ten for the clothesline show. my digicam is in the hands of another creative soul. and so i have nothing to show of progress.
instead i'm here to share: last week i became distressed, searching, grasping at straws, looking for more than one farm in the area. chattanooga no longer has a "real" down to earth, farmer's market, we've gotta make room for the eight hundred plus homeless. thankfully we've got the chattanooga market, but when you go to the website and click on agriculture to look for local farms there are NONE! which is fine, right? you've gotta be kidding me. there is moonshadow, an opportunity to learn how to grow at the sequatchie valley institute. *might we put some of the homeless to work on a local urban farm-coop-the earthisimportant program-mayor littlefield? have any of you been to rise n shine in chickamauga? here are your other options. that or spread a patch out behind your three gas burning car garage and grow something, anything to absorb some of that carbon dioxide.
***jen over at scissors paper glue has come up with a special sort of inspiration stash.
***i know atlanta recently got a trader joe's, though i haven't been since living in templeton CA, found via one of the best blogs out there: shelterrific, via dhome, enter the offical trader joe's caption contest!!! woohoo:)
***also found between the cracks, or maybe i've fallen between the cracks and i'm just now digging myself out: swissmiss features the best all around stuff this side of the sphere has see, even though...we didn't necessarily grow her here. check out the prettiest cards you may ever see. winter garden thank you sm.
***for those of you who'd die without color i found via the purl bee, PROJECT SPECTRUM; it maybe too late to get involved or participate this year but i'm sure it's worth a look, just incase, there maybe pockets of inspiration.
lucky for you, that's all i've got for today. i'm burnt.
the quilt of my
"
crunch" begins and ends with dazed and crazed. i know i don't feel as overwhelmed as say, kate in all of her moving, working, making and mothering. i am not sure what is going to happen. i mean all but one collage has been completed, my cards are packed and ready, but i still haven't got a clue as to how or when i am going to have the paper quilts framed or wrapped or well, presentable. i went to hobby lobby and had a rather unpleasant experience, instead of finding frames worthy i found canvas worthy. it is times like these that make for memories, excitement and blessing, mostly learning. these tight corners, empty pockets, smaller margains are just apart of this cat's life. matter of factly, frankly speaking i am happier in the midst of a rush, the crush and crash of projects, obligations and artworks.
i am thinking now of how to prioritize: yesterday i found in my box the paper quilt project envelope and felt a choke approaching fast. don't get me wrong i am really happy about this community effort, the honor of being invited is super great and i can't wait to find that buried treasure of inspiration. i also have got to get my five senses together enough to swap them with anastasia. and i feel i must acknowledge the sweet tammy as well. i actually sat and had what i'd call a light moment:brainstorming the five senses and have come up with a few unique ideas. the first of which; thought:"opening the package with ones eyes shut!!!" unga.
crunch" begins and ends with dazed and crazed. i know i don't feel as overwhelmed as say, kate in all of her moving, working, making and mothering. i am not sure what is going to happen. i mean all but one collage has been completed, my cards are packed and ready, but i still haven't got a clue as to how or when i am going to have the paper quilts framed or wrapped or well, presentable. i went to hobby lobby and had a rather unpleasant experience, instead of finding frames worthy i found canvas worthy. it is times like these that make for memories, excitement and blessing, mostly learning. these tight corners, empty pockets, smaller margains are just apart of this cat's life. matter of factly, frankly speaking i am happier in the midst of a rush, the crush and crash of projects, obligations and artworks. i am thinking now of how to prioritize: yesterday i found in my box the paper quilt project envelope and felt a choke approaching fast. don't get me wrong i am really happy about this community effort, the honor of being invited is super great and i can't wait to find that buried treasure of inspiration. i also have got to get my five senses together enough to swap them with anastasia. and i feel i must acknowledge the sweet tammy as well. i actually sat and had what i'd call a light moment:brainstorming the five senses and have come up with a few unique ideas. the first of which; thought:"opening the package with ones eyes shut!!!" unga.
then there are all these underlying things: how am i going to pay my bills? april was such a tight month and i am feeling the tightness a little less but i have very little breathing room. buying canvas is a total justified thing because fitness together is demanding more work today!!! i'd also like to be really open to commission work too but inorder to do it i've gotta have it-right?
there's also the cleanliness of my life right now. i am still smoking, no more no less than usual but it is the dirtiest, nastiest habit and i'm reminded of how disgusting it is on a daily basis. if it's not my phlegm, it is a lung cancer patient's phlegm i hear in the hallways at work here at uoha. my curtains in my apartment are black, my floors need to be mopped, my car is a pile of ash and the hair. i know i know i'm really about to gag!!! truly isn't it all a reflection of what is apart of my insides. the heart that yearns for beauty but is stuck in ugly. i hope my paper quilts aren't as ugly as the quilt of my life.
then there is joy, in two weeks and little sam and liam will be here. my nephews. my first nephews and what breath can be breathed without thinking of their little lives. there is clothesline and community and being bold enough, having guts enough to invite people from my church that i barely know to come and see this community of women artist. there is mother's day and bringing my siblings together to honor my mom again in this new year. there is this new book in my life; hannah coulter by wendell berry and how it brings tears of joy and sorrow, relative to my life's quilt in so many ways and not really but so good. shall i stop?