I'm back at the easel again

Here is a look at what I am working on now. Not the best of camera work today, but the collage gives you an idea of my process.
The line drawing is in the upper left

With an Art-o-graph I projected it onto a piece of silk broadcloth which I pin to my design wall. The projected image is traced onto the fabric lightly with a pencil. When the tracing is done, I move the fabric to my paint surface. Stretch it tightly and prop it up on the easel. Because this composition has so much going on and the pencil tracing was done with a light hand to prevent visible pencil marks after the painting is completed, I had to color in the leaves and stems on the line drawing to keep myself on track.

No the colored pencils do not represent the colors I plan to use. I simply needed a way to visually separate the leaves from each other and a way to distinguish the stems. This piece as planned will be about 44" x 60". A tad longer than what I have done lately. I did a little ad-libbing as I got started painting and this is what I have at the end of day one.
Stay tuned and I'll give you daily updates.

Done.... well not quite

There is still the cropping to do. What you see here is an approximation of the finished size when the facing is applied and the result of the photo program cropping.
I will live with this piece in its untrimmed state for a few day to decide if it needs more shading in the centers of the two larger blooms.
Since I have no place in mind for it to go anytime soon I am going to roll it up and put it on the shelf until I feel like adding the facing and yes the dreaded sleeves. Of course I need to come up with a name for it as well.

On Saturday I drove to Kissimmee

to teach my painting flowers workshop at Queen Anne Lace Quilt Shop. There were ten in ten in the class, here is a collage of what they accomplished in less than 3 hours after lunch. Much of the morning was spent telling them my process and letting the get used to using the water color pigments There was only one student with painting experience, but not water colors.

All in all it was a good day.
Hotter than it should be for this time of the year they are saying.
Today, Rene and I went to see Knight and Day, Tom Cruise, not bad, funny in a comical, Mission Impossible way.
Then it was off to do something mundane; buy a new vacuum cleaner. The one that got a good review from Melody Johnson on her several blog post ago.
I opened the box, put it together. Nothing comes assembled anymore.
Turned it on, pushed it around the apartment. Boy I had no idea how poorly my old vacuum was performing.
I will spend the next day or two quilting. The piece is almost done.
Will let you see it when it is done.

During a time of "What if" and Hmmmmm

I came to the decision that I would like to have a Vespa. Mind you every place I want to get to on any given day is within a quarter mile of where I live and walking is no problem. But still... I wanted one. I told myself that I would venture a little further afield if I had a speedier way of getting there. I've known since I decided to move here that I didn't want nor need a car because it would sit 99% of the time unused. So a Vespa came to mind as an alternative means of transportation.

So on Saturday, Rene' took me to the Vespa store in Winter Park. I saw several I would love to have mainly a red one. Bad point, I would have to buy it without having an opportunity tried it first. No way. So the owner of the store directed us to the Scooter store a few block away where they rent scooters, but not Vespas.

There, I donned a helmet and climbed aboard one. After scaring Rene, but not myself, I decided I needed lessons before I would rent one or consider making a purchase. Rene who never said, "Mom have you lost your mind", called her sister Lyn and told her that if I brought one that she nor her brother Myke were to call her and accuse her of not looking after 'THEIR MOTHER"

After sleeping on it over night I decided that the Vespa was a WANT not a NEED and in truth a Vespa wouldn't get used any more than a car.

I would get a bicycle instead.

Around here because there are no bike lanes, everyone rides on the sidewalks. SAFER.... at least that is what my son Myke deduced today, as he was trying to talk me out of the Vespa that I had already given up on. When I told him I was getting a bike instead, he told me to buy an adult tricycle. You know the ones with three wheels and coaster brakes, a market basket and a FAT FANNY seat. My DIL Mel in the background could be heard saying "Myke, tell her to get a helmet with a light."

HA!!!!!

Now for a quilt progress report.

I am still piecing. I have two projects in a "just getting started" state. Neither one of which has set fire to my creative flow. But here is a look at the progress on the flowers which I am quilting on.

Im sitting on the sofa

looking across the room, waiting for this to dry. Only then can I tell if I need to change anything. I try to error on the side of not quite finished, knowing I can still add to it with thread and if not that some more paint after the quilting.
I didn't work on the piece yesterday, it was just too overcast and rainy. I didn't do my walk around the lake until after dinner thinking since the temperature had dropped into the high 70's, it would be pleasant. Wrong the humidity remained very high and I was drippy within 10 minutes of leaving my air conditioned building.

Today started out somewhat better with partly sunny skies, but I still had to turn on the daylight bulbs to get a clear picture of what I was doing by noon as the clouds got thicker and the rain began to fall.
The last two day I started and stopped on two different pieced pieces but put one aside, left one on the design wall the mull over. But I know the first one was not talking to me and the second one, looks too much like too many other pieces done by too many other piecers I have seen over the years. So I fear it too will see the unfinished pile as well, that is, unless I can see a way of turning it into something that interest me.

All is not lost. I have another idea that came to me as I was having my morning coffee this morning. I did a few quick sketches. A few look promising. I will have a go at one of them shortly.

Check back to see what I am into next.

They are coming into bloom

I picked up my brushes again today and started painting while the light was still good.

Stopped around 3PM when the clouds rolled in again and the rains came.
Check back tomorrow, the large flower has only the first layer of paint applied, I should have it done by then.

I'm working and it is raining

here today, both of which are a good thing. It has been so HOT here that by 10:00 AM all you want is some place with AC. No venturing out for me since after that hour for the last two day. Since the rain began about an hour ago the temp has dropped more than 10 degrees ahhhh.
I've been working as you see and this is what I've done so far. There are three flowers in this composition I am moving on to the next flower in the composition now that I think this one looks okay. I don't want to overwork it and muddy the colors or over do it because the quilting lines will add more texture to the pedals later. I am only in the sketching stage of my pieced piece, so I can't show you what it will look like until maybe tomorrow if I firm up what I want to do.

Back in the saddle again

or should I say at the easel. I know it doesn't look like much now, but stay tuned and see how it develops.

It's been a while since I've stood here, but I find I am enjoying it.

The website for the retreat I am organizing for January 2011 can be found here.

My friend Marti and I talked by phone for a very long time several evenings ago. We discussed many things. One of the topic we gnawed on for awhile was the way we approach our work. Then we talked about how another artist friend of ours Kathy Loomis is able to work on several pieces at the same time; putting out both large and small pieces with seemingly ease, whereas Marti and I don't. After we hung up I began to think about why that was.

I came to the conclusion that maybe the reason I didn't work like that was due more to the fact that I have always worked large and have always had a limited amount of design wall space and rather thannworking on one piece and taking it down to work on another or filling the design wall with a lot of small works, I opted from the beginning to fill it with something more substantial, plus the techniques I employed from the beginning in creating my work until I got interested in whole cloth painted images has been either pieced or pieced and appliqued.

For the next few months I am going to try working on two different pieces. The one I am painting measures about 54 inches by 45 inches and I plan to piece something in the same size range or larger.

I have many pieces of hand dyed fabric that I did several months ago that have been waiting for me to use.

The truth is, when you live an ordinary life,

no matter how wonderful and joy filled it might be. The fact is, writing about my ordinary days doesn't make for great reading.
So for those of you who have been wondering and waiting to see my next blog entry, or e-mailed me to see if all is well, here it is and this was my day, so far.
I got up ate breakfast. Sat down at my laptop. Read my e-mail. Check the few blogs I follow and got back to working on a website to promote "Art with Cloth" the seminar and retreat I am hosting here next January.
When the site is ready to go live I will let you all know. Hey,you just might decide that you HAVE TO COME TO FLORIDA next Winter and spend some time with me.
Rene arrived at 11:20 and we went to the movies and had popcorn for lunch as we watched the Karate Kid. Not a bad way to spend 2 hours especially at the end/ It has a really slow beginning with some interest in the middle.

Emerging from the air conditioned theatre, the 90 plus heat was really noticeable, but on ward we went to the Library to return some books and check out others. Then it was off to Winter Park to shop on Park Avenue. I really love this small community in the Orlando Metro area not far from where I live. Guess what? I finally found a shoe store that carries Earth (R) brand shoes. While the selection was not huge, they at least had enough styles to make choosing a pair or two interesting. I settled this time on a pair of sandal that will feel good walking around the lake in. However, I will have to look elsewhere for a pair of shoes suitable for walking fast on the treadmill. I guess there is always Zappos and Lyn did say last night on the phone that she would be happy to will ship me a pair from Dryer in Columbia, MO. Now they had a SELECTION!!!
As we strolled along the sidewalk from "Shooz on Park" to "Panera Bread" to get a carry-out salads for dinner, we stopped in the "Cheese Shop" to ogle their wares and we each brought a hunk of Sage Cheese. YUM. Great stuff. In that block long walk we also passed a Thai Restaurant with buckets of fresh cut orchids for sale. $1.00/stem. There were purple ones and pinkish one, but I had to bring a few of the yellow stems home with me. Aren't they great...
Iwonder if tomorrow I can find four things that bring me joy in my ordinary day. I guess both you and I will have to wait and see.