Anyone for Acrylics?

I've been exploring painting landscapes and taking a break from abstracts. I am fortunate to live in Sonoma County, California. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Lovely vineyards and a short drive to the ocean and I still have room to breath, yet I'm still close to San Francisco. So I joined an artist's group and we have a show coming up at the end of the month.


200 acres of Gallo's premium Chardonnay grapes are at the end of my road, but I chose a red variety for the color contrast.



The marguerites are all in bloom, so I made up a little still life of those. I don't think it is finished yet. I'd love some feedback on these, so feel free to comment.


I see a misshapen vase. It is interesting that I ddidn't really notice that till now. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.

Boo hoo. Michael Johns got booted off AI tonite. I hope he gets a record deal. Great voice.

On to reading email. Don't forget to say hi.

Time is flying by

I'm back. I've been keeping up on all your blogs and the list and am so inspired by the work out there. Speaking of inspiration, I just watched Diane Sawyer's interview of Randy Rausch.( The Last Lecture) What an amazing man. I may even buy his book.

"Maya - Still I Rise" is my entry to the Breaking Traditions Exhibition highlighting someone or something out of the ordinary.

It has been a month since I last posted but I haven't been sitting around munching chocolates (altho it sounds yummy). I completed 2 acrylic paintings for a local exhibition. I may post pics tomorrow. I took Carol Soderlund's Pot of Gold workshop and have some yummy new hand dyed silks to play with. It took me 3 days to iron them. I also went to 2 of her lectures. The 15 elements lecture is terrific. I completed another little quilt but can't show it yet and I am working on some others, so I've been busy. And it's Spring and I've been doing some clean up outside and a little weeding and would love to plant some color. Not sure if I can do that myself yet. Oh, if anyone has info on Moo cards, please let me know. Thanks. Off to bed, another big day tomorrow!

Fait accompli

Well, I am a little late completing Liz Berg's Better By Design class, but I did it! A little health scare put me behind but all's okay. This was a very definitive class. It had solid structure, exciting exercises and helpful critiques.

This was my first online class and the only thing I found lacking was the cameraderie and creativity of my fellow classmates. We had a closed Yahoo group so we could chat and see each other's work, but I didn't take enough advantage of those features, not wanting to look at other's work until mine was finished. Now I realize that seeing others' work added that extra spark of creativity needed in a demanding atmosphere.


I also have to finish my Quiltswap piece and I'm almost finished with Breaking Traditions.


The piece to the left is the result of a circle exercise. I just now realized it should be turned horizontally. I should've caught that. Darn brain.



This next piece is from the square exercise. I still had circles on my brain.


This is the rectangle exercise. I can't seem to get away from circles. Meaning? I need to sleep on that.

More Exercises

Lesson 5 is complete! I made these little studies with one big thing in mind... keep it simple, stupid.
This piece deals with values. I used 5 different purples. I wanted to punch it up with the black and white. It looked so boring, I added the complementary yellow. What do you think?

The second piece is built to show rhythm and repition. This was also an experiment for me as I have never fused with commercial fabrics, I wasn't disappointed. Texturing with thread comes later.

Small stuff

Well, these pieces are some little pieces I designed for Liz Berg's online class. I had hoped to complete the exercises today, but alas, Oscar made me do it.

I'm a great film buff, so I'm usually glued to my seat for these awards.

The designer's dresses aren't too shabby. Although I didn't really like Daniel Day Lewis' partner's dress. Katherine Heigl... wow.
This last piece is the largest at 8 X 10. None have any thread texture as yet. I'll be working on that once I finish the class. I have a few more pieces to complete.

Liz Berg's Online Design Class

Just a glimpse of some of the exercises I've been working on in Liz's online class. The first is
an example of textured fabric, from highly textured to soft.
I didn't try to make compositions out of these exercises; just wanted to make sure I understood the concept.









Texture is so important. I added many images to my texture folder, including this of flour resist crunched on fabric. More to come...

Resist some more

This is one of the pieces I experimented on with flour resist. I originally used a very watered down black Seta color and let it sit for 3 days. Upon inspection, it didn't look dark enough so I added Versatex black to the mixture and overpainted it and let it sit a few more days and then rinsed it out. It is a little muddier than I expected, but thay may have been from the overpainting. The original piece was dyed with Procion MX dyes then discharged. Am I finished with it? Who knows. I'll have to let it simmer in this crazy brain of mine. I'll do some more of this. I still haven't done the potato resist yet. I will soon.

I completed Lesson 4 of Liz Berg's Better By Design online class and the homework for Lesson 5 gives me a chance to put what I've learned to work while making a couple of small pieces. Great teacher, great class.

Love Yourself

Valentine's Day makes me think that those of us without a spouse, partner or sig. other should do something nice for ourselves. I think I will sit in the sun and read a book for awhile. That's something I don't do very often. Then I will rinse out the flour resist I started last week. After that, I will finish my homework for Liz Berg's "Better By Design" online class. It is a great class. It makes me think more actively about the principles of design.
Today's picture is of Pima cotton stamped with Versatex fabric paint. The stamp was made with pre-cut foam pieces on foamcore board. Easy to do! I made postcards and sent them out for Valentine's day. Onward!

No Guests Please

Well, this is my guest bathroom, but I am using it for other purposes these days. We've had 15 or 16 straight days of rain here in sunny California and even tho I saw sun today, we still had rain. Yes, I have a clothes dryer but I got my utility bill last week. Yowser!
These are some hand dyes that I discharged. Tomorrow I'm going to try potato dextrin resist vs. flour resist to check out the differences, if any.
This is something I'm working on because I am procrastinating on my homework from Liz Berg's design class. But Liz, I'm working on movement here! It's a really good lesson and I'll have some fun with this one too. I'm off to bed early. It's freezing in here. Night all.

More Moons

October Moon is finally finished. This is the piece in which Wonder Under did not behave. I tried lots of things to fix it. Nothing seemed to work. So, I queried the Art Quilt list for advice and the very nice Iris Karp sent me some Misty Fuse, which did the trick. Thanks Iris.
I spent some of today discharging some hand-dyed fabric. I'd take a pic, but it is de-chlorinating at the moment. I also cut some fabric for a new project and downloaded Liz Berg's latest lesson in her design class. I now have to put away all the fabric I pulled for her color lesson. I'd rather have a glass of wine.

Butterfly Parade

Butterfly Parade is my entry for this year's Pointless Sisters challenge. It is due next month, but I showed it today at our annual luncheon at Pat's house. We were told we had to start with white fabric and it must measure 8" X 42". The fabric is a silk/cotton mixture that I love. It has the luminosity of the silk, but the cotton makes it much easier to work with AND it doesn't fray. I dyed the fabric with Procion dyes and painted the details with Tsusineko inks. Each butterfly was fused individually then machine appliqued and machine quilted. All the pieces will be hanging in the Rincon Valley library show in March. To bed. Class homework tomorrow!

Red skies in the morning

The good thing about winter storms is the spectular sunrises they produce. This is just one of the reasons I love being an early riser. Another is that I get a lot done early, especially lately, as I tire easily and am about done now.
This is a different view a few minutes later. I love the value change. Today I worked on re-learning Corel paint. I hardly used it before my stroke, so now it is like brand new. I forgot it could do so much.
Yesterday I couldn't seem to create, so I made a doll blanket top for Salvation Army. I'll take a picture after I quilt it.
We finished Lesson One in Liz Berg's Design class. Her critique was spot on. I won't look at Lesson 2 till tonite. Color and Value. This is a busy week; I'll have to find some more time... somewhere. More rain tonite; hope we don't float away.

THE BIG CHILL

The big chill has hit California and my attempt to make a large scale stamp has left me cold. This is one of the better results. It is brown stamped on a green and black painted background. It might be a little interesting but is not what I wanted or expected.
This one printed on an ugly piece of fabric that I planned to overdye someday. It's ready for the rag bag. I'm going to try again (just one more time) using smaller blocks.
Even though the printing was a bust, I've been ultra busy taking Liz Berg's online design class. It is well organized and full of info. Back to it!

This little cutie greets me when I come home from my wanderings. Her name is Sylvie.The little white fluff ball next to her is her daughter Allie, who ducked out of site too fast for me to catch her. They perch on my bed pillows to watch for me. It's quite a welcome home.
These are my front doors. They make me smile. I just had my house painted and the painter thinks I am nuts. I'm not nuts, just a little nutty. My plan for today was to make some new cloth with the painted stamps I made. So to start, I needed to clear off my table and move some things around. Somehow, I locked myself out of my workroom. I'm still locked out and am hoping to get back in tomorrow. Go figure. But I did finish quilting a piece It just needs a sleeve.

A new week

I'm trying new things. This is a piece of foamcore that I've dabbled with designs in paint. It is fairly large, 12" x 18" and I am going to try to print with it.
Another design, same size. I didn't get any work done today. I tried though. I was changing the bobbin on my Bernina. I had the embroidery casing loaded. And it somehow got caught on a spring inside the bobbin case area. I tried to get it loose but found I needed two hands for that so I had to wait for help. Luckily, my daughter came and was able to rescue it with no damage. I got lots of responses from the list about my fusing problem. Even Laura W. answered my query. I think I over-ironed it. Iris Karp is sending me some Misty Fuse. I've been wanting to try it since it first came out. I also gotsigned up for Liz Berg's Yahoo group and am looking forward to the class. If you have time, check out Tall Girl's blog for her new work. Inspiring!

New tools

These are some of my new printing tools. I picked up a bucket of geometric foam stickers at Michaels (with a coupon, of course) and stuck them to foamcore board.
Obviously I can't cut the foamcore straight. but I still placed the squares correctly.
The design possibilities are endless, so this is a good first step.
I wanted to quilt my October Moon piece today and I did start it, but for the very first time, the Wonder Under didn't hold and I'm not sure what to do about it. I fused it before the holidays and just got back to it now. I will try Terry Grant's fusing method to see if I can correct this problem but if anyone has any other suggestions, please email me. Thanks.

Help is coming!

OOPS! I don't know how to reconfigure these pics at this point. Oh well. The good news is that I will have help taking down decorations this weekend. This is my living room Christmas tree, looking a little forlorn without presents.
This little tree decorates my family room. It is totally decorated with blown glass ornaments that I have collected for years. I can't wait to get these little treasures put safely away.
I have started taking down some decoration. Pretty soon my dining room table will look as messy as my kitchen table.
Surface design area, formerly known as kitchen table! It looks worse now. I'm also folding laundry on it. Enough! I saw the Art Cloth Network is recruiting new members. I've always wanted to join. But I still have no web site and my studio is still occupied by my daughter and her family. And will be for some time, it seems. I'll still keep working away at it. Onward...

New Year, New Stuff

Well, I have survived another year and another birthday. I survived the New Year's storms with only a few downed branches, but I may not survive the bill from the pump and well company who gave me back my water (no flushing). I have been creating consistently since the holidays. I completed one piece, hints are in the pictures, and am working on another. So, what's the problem?


Part of my problem is that the house is still decorated for the holidays and I have to wait for help to UNdecorate it! My workrooms are full of all the things I moved to make room for Christmas. The birdcage is on my surface design table and my kitchen table is a poor substitute.
Too cold to paint today. I'll try to do some tomorrow. I've been missing it. I've been thinking about doing some artwork in my guest bathroom.I'm not sure I'm UP to it, but I may be able to get part of it done. (the lower part). I've also been making some new stamping materials. I have decided that I will experiment with several of the techniques I've learned but haven't put to use yet. More on the pictures later...

HO-HO-HO!

Santa came to the Ortelle family Christmas again this year and he had quite a sense of humor. Here, he tried to coax 3 year old Vinny into his lap. No luck yet.
Still no luck. But after giving Vinny an extra large present, Vinny decided Santa needed a hug. Alas, no picture, but they both got a round of applause.

15 year old Sierra may still believe in Santa and she really enjoyed seeing all of the family and friends gathered, including a new baby and the parents of the next new baby, due in June. My house was bursting at the seams. My brothers and sister liked the family quilts I made (see the previous posts). Now,time to get to the real work. Only, will the Christmas elves come take down the decorations and get my house back to normal please?

Christmas fun

More Christmas presents. Nieces and nephews quilts as gifts for my brothers and sisters. Nephews Chris and Dan.
Nieces Alicia and Jessica. Godson Anthony.
Andrea, Jennifer and John. I was fun making these. I hope their folks like them.

These are members of my Stitch'nBitch group. I'm on the far right.I'm not sure how many years it has been since it began, but I joined a few years after it was organized. We were named by Kathy's mother because we literally bitched while we stitched. Back then, it was about husbands, kids and jobs. Now, due to death and divorce, only one husband remains, so we don't bitch about them anymore, and the subject of sex is mostly met with blank stares and wishful thinking. We are all retired now so we mostly moan about nothing important or our aches and pains. We try to be support systems for each other. After my stroke, they pitched in to drive me to therapy appointments, and visited me when I really needed support.

Pam S., Kathy R., Arlene W., Diane S., and Maxine D. We had our gift exchange, champagne, and lots of good food. I hosted this year and made grasshopper pie for dessert. Sorry, we ate the evidence. Merry Christmas everyone.