Quilt of Valor

After having so much trouble with the technical side of this blog, I am cautiously posting on my blog today. I won't push my luck and try to post more than one picture as additional photos seem to disappear.

This was a quilt that my friend Karen and I made for the Quilt of Valor Foundation. This organization is trying to make a quilt for all returning veterans. So far, over 33,000 quilts have been made. They have specific guidelines as they want it to be a certain size and quality.They also want a journal to accompany the quilt. We were glad to make it.

There is another organization called Quilts of Honor that is also making quilts for veterans. My next donation will be through them as they are more local to me. Each is reaching out to the the men and women who serve.

Catching up

I'm back from Ohio where I got to meet our twin 5 week old granddaughters and to play with the 2 year old big brother. I had visions of drawing the sweet little ones, but the best I could do was a couple of minutes drawing Loretta, one of the two hairless cats who was sitting on my lap. I mean, the breakfast dishes didn't get done until 4:30 pm. The parents are doing well, but what a lot of work.

Do you have a clue how many EDM postings are done in two weeks? It does take a while to catch up on the conversation and all your creative pieces-a task that I'm happy to do!

I'm having some challenges with Blogspot. I press to download pictures and they don't appear my blog. When I was in Ohio I saw three of the same picture on my blog using my son's computer. Here at home there was only one. I just tried to add a couple of pages from my Sketchbook Journal and they do not appear here. Any help would be appreciated.

Sketchbook pages

 

Here are a couple of more pages for my Sketchbook Journal with the subject of Lines and Grids. The idea for the above piece came from my visit to the Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento. Guess that there is a connection between seeing other work and translating it to your work. I used metallic colored pencils.

This was done with black pen and colored pencils.

I can feel the pressure mounting as I must get the journal done.

It's so easy to say that I'll do it later!

Sketchcrawl

I actually made it the a Sketchcrawl gathering which was held in Davis, CA. Pete Scully organized this group and all went well. Lots of inspiration, pleasant company and fine food. Of course, what to artists do while waiting for lunch to be served? They sketch each other!

Then we went outside and drew the restaurant!

Fabric painting

The artists at Every Day Matters are constantly challenging and inspiring me. Shirley reminded me that I had Paintstiks hidden in my studio. They are oil sticks that can be used on fabric. It's hard to see the colors on this piece as I hid them under the stitching. However, the shape which I drew during my figure drawing session shows up. I cut the shape out of freezer paper, ironed it down and, with a stencil brush, added the color. Since I'm giving myself the permission to experiment, I added the dense stitching instead of just an outline and then quilted it with invisible thread on fabric that I had painted.

The twins have arrived!

I'm so excited and want to share the newest additions to my oldest son's family.

This is big brother Oliver with his mom, Lindsay,  holding Isla who was the first baby to come home.

These are the new sisters, Isla (Eye-la) and Ruby born Sept. 27th.

They live 2,000 miles away, but I do get to visit for two weeks in November!

I'm learning

I'm trying to overcome my fear (of failure?) and draw faces. Really now, what is going to happen if I draw in my sketchbook? For me, the fact that these faces each have their own look is a big deal. Now only 9,995 more to perfect this aspect of my art.

Today I attend the grand opening of the new wing at the Crocker Art Museum here in Sacramento, CA. This addition to the Museum is so terrific! Edwin and Margaret Crocker (made his money when the railroads were being built) bought a mansion and had it transformed to include an art gallery in 1886. From 1869-71 the two of them collected more than 700 paintings and 1,344 master drawings during a European tour. In 1875 Edwin dies. In 1885 Margaret gives the Crocker Art Gallery and collection to the city of Sacramento and California Museum Association.Over the years there have been additions to the collection and renovations of the mansion. 1997-99 the idea is underway to build the Teel Family (they own a grocery chain) Pavilion which acknowledges their $13 million gift. Today on 10-10-10, was the public grand opening. One room displayed a collection of work by Wayne Thiebaud. Since I seem to like contemporary art, I was blown away. So humbling to see so many outstanding pieces. 

I do hope that you have an opportunity to visit this museum that is now able to display the old and the new.

Oh yes, they had a large gift shop and An Illustrated Life was on display. A woman was glancing through books and I told here that this book was so filled with journal pages of talented artists and it was so inspiring. I noticed that she had the book in her hand as she stood in the checkout line. I felt so proud.