11/1 Happy Birthday to my oldest daughter

111 is said to be a magical number for making a wish. Birthday wishes to my oldest daughter who is 47 today. At 8 months of age we were told she wouldn't see her first birthday. She's beat the odds many times. Kidney failure being right up there with a high fever that left her brain damaged. Last month marked the 6th year since the kidney transplant and two years since the last round of chemo I had. For some reason I decided to have an October health breakdown and ended up in the hospital for a night with intense vertigo. The world wouldn't stop rotating upside down. I can finally say that the health crisis is over. Done!

Fall in the desert isn't exactly spectacular: leaves don't turn colors but a 

little color has shown up.

 The sunsets have been glorious!

Sometimes the sky looks like it's on fire.

A finch on the water fountain looks decked out in Fall colors.

And the occasional dry grape leaf is wind-tossed into a tree.

White doves may be the symbol for  love and peace

but the gentleness and serenity that this daily visitor provides

never fails to delight.

Playing with some of the sun-prints that I created

over the summer. 

August Happenings

 Feather fabric sun print. Painted fabric. Machine Stitched. 

Painted canvas board.

 Jumble of leaves on work table.
Some of the leaves have been scanned or photographed

 for digital or fabric work.

 During the rainstorm last Sunday an outdoor circuit died after an extension

cord tripped the reset button. Mind you

this is the circuit that the fountain, drip system, and outdoor lights are plugged into.

There are now 3 extension cords running across the yard to the fountain; sitting water

is a magnet for mosquitoes carrying West Nile.

I miss the outdoor lights at night but not nearly as much as I'm missing the automatic

drip system! Triple digit temps and hand-watering . . . well, I could either whine about

it until an electrician can come to replace the circuit or turn the unpleasant time into photography

sessions. I always say that there are photographs everywhere and to prove it I shot

the above one this morning. iPhoneography at its best. 

Digital piece. Trio of leaves. Acrylic painting. 

I still can't figure out where July went! Anyone 

have a clue?

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

 Sun print. Stitched. Attached to
painted stretched painted canvas.

 Grape Leaf. Decayed by Nature.

 Trio of leaves from Brachychiton Populneus AKA. Bottle tree.

 Waterlogue app.     

Twig. Waterlogue app.

Wishing everyone a Wonderfulicious Wednesday.

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

 Two of my favorite visitors to the garden. The hummingbird is perched on a branch of

the grape-less vine. No grapes this year.

The Yellow Oriole prefers

the Hummingbird feeder. In this shot

he's waiting his turn.

 Two feather sun prints.Umber and black paint on the print above.

Turquoise and brass paint on the one below.

 Five years ago in Positano. Straight shot above.

Love the reflection. 

Waterlogue app below.

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

A few ideas I'm kicking around for maybe a fabric piece with 

images of feathers. 

 Feather scanned on illustration setting merged with photo of rust fabric.

Another version below.

Scan of photo on rust fabric scan.

Feather scan set on illustration setting on black and white acrylic painting.

Sun print scanned on illustration setting.

Sunday Sun Prints

Yesterday, I played around with printing more than one print on fabric. Lots of bleeding

 happening,  which could be creatively used.

On the print above there is room in the middle for an addition. 

 This is what the panel looks like.

The tree is coffee dyed. The other two

prints are the result of Dye-na-flow paint.

 I'm not usually a fan of purchased things like stencils, 

but I'm liking this one right now.

Panel top. I love the pattern of these leaves from a plant that is prolific

here in the desert. Mexican Bird of Paradise is the popular name of it.

Saturday Sun Printing

A dear friend got me started researching sun printing which is dangerous; I can spend hours

looking at blogs etc. Anyway, I finally tried one, which didn't quite work.
 Printing on yellow might not be a good idea. Plus, I don't think that the leaves had made
 good enough contact with the fabric. Round two was much better. I painted Cerulean Blue
 over the yellow. There is a ghost print, the turquoise,

from the first printing. No stem though.

 I assumed that if I squished the leaves with a small pane of glass the print would be crisp and maybe 

stems would print. The flattened leaves resulted in both of these prints. Lots of interesting

paint texture, blotchy and some leaf imprints. I might do this again. The previously dyed fabric 

is from a batch that could benefit from over-dyeing, or this case, sun printed on.

Two imprints on a scrap of fabric that was previously dyed.

This image doesn't do the fabric justice. I have a few yards of pastel dyed fabric 

that had been set aside to over-dye. Light blue, yellow, and a red. The light blue
 shows through where

the leave imprint is and some of the other colors gave the coffee dyed sun print
 more of an organic look.

There is something satisfying about a stack of prints on a work table.