Monday, October 09, 2006
Painting with Friends
I've finally completed my commission painting. it's of the last mountain in the Appalachian Trail in Maine. I did it for a co-worker whose 10th wedding anniversary is coming up. According to legend, he carried the ring with him the entire time they were on the trail, then proposed at the end. I'm not sure if my sources are correct, but it's a great story none-the-less.
I realize that this is supposed to be a blog about sewing, so I promise the next post will be about sewing. I'm running around in circles to say the least lately. My fab friend Julia was in town for the weekend to see John Mayer (OMG!!! He is so...so...so... indescribable!!) and Sheryl Crow. Here's hoping I can pull off a completely leather outfit and a "stop draggin' my heart around" duet with Keith Urban when I'm 44. Wait, i can't do either of those things now! Well, a girl can dream. i can tell you that much.
Now my middle sis and her friends are here for a few days on their break from med school. They're going the fall tourist route and going to the Jack Daniels' Distillery, which is about 1.5 hours from here. It's my favorite fall activiity. A beautiful drive and a great country town. Love it there. Let's all take a field trip!
Labels: a little something, obsessions, try again
Monday, October 02, 2006
Starting Over Again...and Again
This is a story of heartbreak. And of resurrection. I'm doing a commission painting for this super cool guy I work with. This above is the image that he gave me to work from. Below are the sad attempts I had at the practice canvas. I thought before I paint it big (24 x 48!!) I'd try it small. Not so much. I had several moments of despair, and in the end, in a fit of rage, I smeared paint over it with a dowel rod straight from a can of paint left over from my dining room. It's name is "Swampwater" (appetizing, no?) I'm pretty happy about the way it turned out, after all that. Oy, the pain of an artist!! I didn't even take a photo of every single re-paint. I started from scratch no less than 4 times. I think I'm going to attempt the larger canvas soon. 
p.s. I'm blushing over Angela's gushing blog about my class over the weekend. Thanks, Ang!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Flexing some rusty skills
In a former life, I ran a tiny but relatively successful business out of my teenage bedroom in my parents' house. (My dad to this day thought all I did up there was talk on the phone and paint my nails.) Ok, so I did that too, but mostly I made lovely little brightly colored things out of polymer clay. I made "canes" in any image that struck my fancy, then sliced them up and made beads, covered glass bottles, and made lots and lots of jewelry. I sold all these things in a little gallery in Columbia, Missouri called Poppy. A wonderul boutique. And still lovely even today.
There was something so strange about doing all the same movements that I used to do all those years ago. The rolling, the squaring up of the clay. I repeated those movements so many times. Muscle memory is a real thing. I read about it in the Creative Habit (on my "books" to the right >> Isn't there something you haven't done in years and years? I'm thinking of making a friendship bracelet. I had another little business making them for friends in the 4th grade. Almost got in big trouble for that one. Let's just say there may have been some investor fraud going on. Ooohh, that Tressa. I'm still mad that she made me go to the principal's office for the first time in my life. And I was such a do-gooder! I still remember my mom saying "Now don't let it get in the way of your school work." Sheesh! I was in 4th-freaking-grade!! How serious must one be? If you can't focus on a friendship bracelet business then, then when, I ask you? I was a pro at the knotting, too.
I've often wondered how my designs would be different if, after a college education and almost 10 years (ack!) exactly what I would do differently. I would hope to at least have better design and taste in color. Who knows.
So I decided to try it out again and here are the results. Not too bad. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with them. I may make some beads to embellish a quilt. We'll see.
Gonna go make a friendship bracelet. Well, maybe tomorrow.
Labels: handmade, try, try again
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
News! of the Exciting type!!
I had a meeting yesterday with the aRThOUSE Nashville, it's on 12th Avenue, and I'm going to be on the fall roster to teach some classes. I love to teach, and since I (not so) secretly am trying to recruit a quilting group for those under 80 years old, it's great news! I'll keep it posted on here the exact classes, etc. once they are officially on the aRThOUSE's website. I do know that I'm teaching 2 workshops--Fabric Collage and Fabric Printing--like what's in the pic above. And later in the fall, I'll be teaching a beginning quiltmaking class. Hooray! Keep checking up here, and on the aRThOUSE's website, for class info. They're super nice people there, and have a great gallery, as well.
Labels: handmade, sharing, try again, who I am
Thursday, August 03, 2006
New Design Board!
My teeny little studio (at least I have a studio, I know, I know) was crying out for a design wall. Something that I could use to put up little parts of projects and step farther away than the length of my own two arms to get a grip on whatever tedious process it was desperately in need of. This process is how I got into making 18 more blocks...yes, that's DOUBLE the original number of blocks...for my RRound Robin quilt Thanks, Kim. Ugg. Oh well. She and Lauren helped me make a couple of more blocks as part of a labor trade.
So anyway, the design wall is cotton batting tacked to my wall. And on the other wall, I've used some big ole hooks bolted in the ceiling that are supposed to be used to hang a bike from your garage ceiling. I'm so clever! Unfortunately, it was actually my dad's idea. Unfortunate because he thinks he's sooooo smart. It would have been better if he had just done it for me. Anyway, so I took dowel rods and ran them into the sleeves of the quilts, leaving their original dowels in there also, and voile` I have a great way to hang my quilts out of the way, all organized and not bunched up in a closet. "Parade!" I mean "Hooray"! My sister babysat a little girl who had the two words mixed up. But they both sort of carry the same feeling, no? Anyway. I'm making myself late for work....ta-ta!