Saturday, March 24, 2012

Art in the Burg



I am going to be showing in Middleburg the end of April for a one day show in a big parish hall with some of my art friends. More information about the show here: http://www.middleburgarts.org/ 
We used to do an October show in Arlington, VA but have since moved on to Middleburg with the organizer Peter Wood also known as Rusty Metal for his rusted metal sculptures. We have a great time showing and talking and even selling some of our art but it takes months to get the goodies ready to show. I am currently working on daily sketches and book binding to have a nice stack of both to show by April 28th.


Yesterday I got two books finished one "jeans pocket sized" and one half sheet size. 8.5" x 5.5" These take several days to complete but the final step is to sew them together adding beads to the spine. Monday last I went to the Beadazzeled store on Dupont circle and found nice clear blue glass and shinny metallic black glass beads to use on these two designs with the end pages of Japanese paper we bought Valentines day.
end page of turquoise cherry blossoms in the blue books 

Japanese village end pages in golden book
Each day I try to accomplish something towards filling my booth with new art and crafts. I love sketching daily and have done it for over a year now. As my subject I usually go for the flowers around the house this time of year. When the weather is a little better I step outside in the mornings to do a sketch right in the garden. Recently I began using loose leaf paper to do some sketches to sell originals along side prints of smaller sketches in my home made sketch books that I don't want to tear up for framing. I guess if anyone wants to buy an entire sketch book full, I would sell them that way, about 36 sketches in each book. I planned to make inexpensive digital prints which I will edition, sign and number to sell for this show of the smaller sketches from the last couple years. These will allow me to get a big book full of my sketch prints on the table to show and discuss that will be easy to bring home.
sketch of narcissus ikebana arrangement in the studio

sketch of red flowers 

red ranunculus
 and tulips in crystal vase

narcissus poeticus in milk bottle 
Spring came so suddenly here in DC this year. The lovely Cherry blossoms were accompanied by late blooming tulips and all the narcissus are blooming out and nearly gone the in the same week.  The tree pollen is massive and I am grateful for a day of rain today to tamp down all that dust in the air that is causing me hard times with breathing.
ikebana narcissus 
 I continue to work on the English paper piecing at night while listening to TV and have made some good progress. I now have 29 blocks done and 4 more under construction. Time to get some half sized blocks to fill in the gaps at top and bottom of the quilt design for a straight edge finish. It's nearly big enough that I can think about stopping but I am not sure if I want to make a small quilt or a big quilt in this technique so I just keep going.


rose pink block #28


copper center block #29



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cherry blossoms 100th anniversary









We took off to have a picnic on the tidal basin by the Jefferson and MLK Jr. memorials last Sunday in nearly perfect spring weather even though it was still winter until today. Keith and I had a great time and after eating Mom's home made fried chicken and some delicious potato salad with chocolate dipped coconut macaroons for desert we walked till we were ready to drop around the water under the trees with all the zillions of visitors. The only draw back about these beautiful blooms is the air around them is chock full of misery making pollen that smothers the allergic guys walking under them. It still was fun to go and see and share the photos.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Quilt show 2012 Manassas


19th century quilts for sale hand sewn 

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Manassas Quilt show with my mom and partner Keith Stanley. They had about 200 on display including a few antiques along with numerous booths of shops selling fabric and all things used in today's quilting. I came home with a sack of hard to get William Morris and Civil War era reproduction fabrics. Very exciting new materials to begin working into my current and future projects.
I took about 50 photos and I have loaded them in a set called Quilt Show 2012 on my flickr.com page you can see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodcut55/sets/72157629197225804/
Mean while I am working on new books that I am binding and printing digital prints for my shows this spring while I continue to draw something new each morning.
These sketches are from the last two mornings!
narcissus in black ceramic vase 3-10-12

hyacinth in blue ceramic vase 3-11-12

Sunday, March 4, 2012

new blocks

back of purple and green block showing paper pieces
This was a week that found me in Manassas for a few days where we shopped then sat looking at TV after we were tired. I spent a lot of time sewing together the little pieces of paper covered in fabric for new blocks to add to the Rose Star quilt project. In January I began these blocks thinking just one was enough to try the fancy English Paper Piecing technique and I immediately found that it was so satisfying that I couldn't stop at just one. I now have 21 completed and expect to get a few more done soon. I am currently trying to figure out how to assemble them in a big quilt top. Lucky this coming weekend is the annual Manassas Quilt Show at the Prince William County Fair Grounds and we are free to go and discover new quilts and find new fabrics not available to me other times of the year. We also hope to see that silent film 'picture of the year' The Artist...
aqua and red 

purple and greens 

Oranges! Finally got one of oranges for me 

aqua and linen 

Coco and green 

The felt wall with 21 completed new blocks added in the mix.