Look Down

Happy Autumn everyone.  It is my favorite season. perhaps it's the colors. I'm partial to 

reds & yellows to begin with. Ask anyone who has been in my house. 

The brilliant Staghorn Sumac fruit always grabs my attention this time of year. 

If you look closely the individual little nodules are beautiful in themselves. 

 So much beauty in my neighborhood park. You need to pay attention to the details 

and look down while you are walking. I just happened to spot these. 

They are pearlescent with some smokey sooty areas. I took loads of pictures of them.

Two days later they were liquefied. Glad I caught them at their prime. 

Thanks to a friend who saw my Instagram post of these I now know they are 

Shaggy Mane  Coprinus comatus.

They are edible . Good to know. 

 

 A view from above on a flight to see the colors at their peak last week. 

These gorgeous lichen look like white roses. 

Now I need to get busy in the studio & put some of this inspiration to good use. 

Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment. Would love to hear from you.

 

Where I've Been & What's Next?

London, Greece & Turkey. That's where.

The first stop on our trip was London to visit son & daughter in law who are 

living there for 2 years. Not a bad place to have family to visit!  

 The Tower of London was well worth a visit.

 Of course I found the giant book 

to scrutinize the binding technique. 

If you look closely you can see these animal sculptures are made from chicken wire. 

 Took a train ride to Cambridge and went "punting on the Cam". What a fun activity. 

Enjoyed lots of great food, wine & beer.  Isn't that what travel is all about? 

After a great visit with "the kids" we headed to Athens for 3 days of exploring. 

Greece is so chock full of history it's mind boggling. 

The view at night of the Acropolis from the rooftop of our hotel. 

We walked the Plaka of Athens endlessly. Just steps from our door the the wide pedestrian pathway that is loaded with shops, restaurants, & leads to the Acropolis, as well as other ruins of interest. 

We did a guided food tour for an entire day with our delightful guide Delloro. 

What's a food tour without some smiling pigs at the huge market? 

 

A group shot of our intrepid band of 3 couples who traveled Greece together,

 & our food guide on the far left.  

 The next day we toured the Acropolis and the stunning museum. 

After 3 packed days in Athens we boarded our Windstar ship for a week of port & island hopping. 

This is a shot from Ephesus. What an incredible UNESCO site. We had the privilege of seeing a performance of Carmina Burana in the theater on the site. Just think I was sitting on stone that once had the likes of Cleopatra in the audience. 

So many high lights from a great trip. 

The process of boiling silk cocoons. The first step to making a Turkish rug. 

Waiting for the best lunch ever on Patmos. 

My partner in all things waiting for the biggest piece of baclava we've ever seen,

 or eaten.  On Santorini

 

Not a bad way to travel the Aegean.  Our ship at anchor.

I could go on & on as this was such a nice trip with so many special moments. 

If you've made it this far in the post, I appreciate your time! As for what's next? That is what I am pondering greatly at the moment. Fall & winter are approaching and I am feeling aimless in the art realm. Doing lots of revisiting of old journals, inspirational magazine & books.

 

 One of my favorites for obscure fiber ideas. A UK publication, Selvedge. 

Working my way through Creative Strength Training by Jane Dunnewold.

Good prompts to get things moving. 

 

Fun exercise from the book in contrast, negative space. Doing more of these.

When in doubt decorate pages in your journal & wait for something to surface. 

 A thought I've had about fiber sculptures. Make 'em big! 

 Words from Julien Smith.  I think I get it. But if we are in the act of copying in order to become more proficient at something aren't we automatically evolving? 

Hence the search for inspiration. 

  

Would love to hear your thoughts on this blog, the travel sharing, & the what's next conundrum. 

What's in your garden?

It's the time of year when everything in the garden looks wonderful. 

This guy was on the side of our home the other day. Stick bugs are

such a strange product of evolution.  

My two pots of basil have been great this year. 

I've made several batches of my "pesto pucks" already.
The link to my post with the recipe & process I use.

Another pot holds a mass of herbs that have made it for a few years.

The Sage had gotten quite large so I decided to try some preserving techniques.
The Kitchn had some ideas. I hung some to dry,
did some in the microwave, froze some in water & did some sage butter.
Next clipping I want to try the sage honey.
 Should be great in home made dressing as the sweetener.

Tid Bits on Thursday

Summer is in full swing and I am drawn to the textures & colors in the garden.

Had to bring this teeny floral arrangement inside after the bush got a pruning.

Got this sweet ceramic frog at an art fair last summer. Time to put it to good use. 

Hosta leaves make such a great statement on their own.

Dunno, just had to take picture of these eggs.

 

One of my recent creations now graces the fabric table with one of my favorite tools,

 the everyday clothes pin.

 So here's the real reason for all the above photos and noticing tiny details in everyday things. 

Here goes, transparency time. 

Above is all the "stuff" I took to the art fair last week end. I sold one piece. 

Despondency ensued the next day. After a bit of a pity party, a good walk in the park, 

and some time in the studio looking at inspirational ideas saved over time, I'm ready to move on. 

 I figure all this experimentation with fabric, paint, stencils, stitching was 

a learning experience that  can be applied to bigger things.

 The rest of the summer will be spent just playing around in the studio to uncover old & new ideas, some sketching, going back to playing with photography...

& some great travel coming up for us in a few weeks. 

Not to mention lots of music & visit from friends on the calendar. 

Lots of the storage items I've made are being put to use in my own home.

 That was plan B all along.There is still areas I can add more bins to, & I will. 

When all else fails, there is always beer. Love these corn hole boards at Right Brain Brewery. 

It could be my self portrait from last weekend.  Thanks for "listening". 

Stencils of Summer Plant ID & OMP Art Fair

Had another glorious week end on North Fox Is. Does anyone know what this flower is?
It is a spectacular little bit of Mother Nature. The blooms hang down.
If you turn them over you see this.

I would love to know what they are. Anyone?

We have rediscovered tent camping thanks to North Fox 

& the FUN people we've met on the overnights. This is a panorama of the field.

 The red nose is us with our little tent next to the wing. Cozy.

About a dozen planes "dropped in" over the week end.

Only 3 days until the Art Fair at Old Mission Peninsula School. 

Saturday, July 21 9 am to 4 pm.

Come take a look at all the vendors, get a snack from a food truck, listen to some music,

take home some art, & support your local artists!

All my stencils have names and a number. 

Anyone who wants a custom vessel can easily choose the images they want .

 

I've cut lots of new stencils this summer. here is the line up...

with example on fabric.

 

These last 2 haven't made it onto canvas yet. I need to fix that. 

 

 

 Hope to see you Saturday!