Latch Hooked spine

The lower edge of the photo is a latch hooked spine I made for a journal cover. The colors match the distressed fabric that Linda created a lot better than is evident in the photo. For a tutorial about latch hooking go to:

http://tinyurl.com/25me4n

For some reason I had assumed that I'd done latch hooking a long time ago, but after struggling with the first few strands of yarn I decided that I'd never used the tool before. My daughter made a few small rugs from kits; nice to know that I hadn't completely forgotten how to do it!

The next step for the removable journal book cover using the kit from Linda is to make a pellon cover that the spine and distressed fabric will be adhered to. Remembering the covers for text books? In case you don't here is a tut:

http://tinyurl.com/2komhh

I've glued down the first fold to the size of the journal leaving the flap edge free so that the journal cover will slide into them. Next I'll glue the latch hook spine onto the center of the cover followed by a 1/3 of the distressed fabric. The back of the cover is yet to be created. (I'll photograph the steps later.) The remaining 2/3 of the fabric might become a wall hanging.

My comfort zone has been tampered with. I don't feel comfortable living here yet. Many days I feel like I'm struggling against the tide rather than flowing with it which causes stress, something I don't need more of.

I thought about tidying up the house before the AC repairman arrived today and then didn't. Wouldn't you know it he needed to go up into the attic; the hatch for the attic is in my master bedroom closet. No clothes in that closet; it's wall-to-wall storage for art supplies. I said that it was embarrassing to not be able to set up the ladder in there due to the overflow on the floor. "Let me say this," he said. "I've seen so many things over the years but to see such a large amount of art supplies rather than unnecessary shoes or expensive show-off clothes is something I never see. I would love to know what you do with all of it. To me it's the most interesting closet I've ever seen! And you're painting in the bathroom! Original! Usually, I see bottles of makeup etc. not tubes of paint! Never apologize for being you."

Nice guy who brightened my day!!! I can't seem to work in a tidy space. But I do have to have the kitchen and living room tidy. When the AC guy was leaving he said, "Besides, you've got very clean main rooms, who needs to know what you do in your bathroom or closet? Get back to creating!"

Painted Fabric

"T" sent me lots of fabulous fabric a few months ago. I don't know why but this print "wanted" some color on it. The red is courtesy of Golden's Fluid Acrylics; very tedious and even though I added textile medium to the paint it's a little on the stiff side. The green leaves, yellow and blue flowers are Marvy Fabric Markers. Easy, fast with fairly good coverage

Woke late, took an Advil sleeping aid, and assumed that the clock was wrong. The bedroom was still dark. When the shades were opened I was shocked to see heavy clouds had blanketed us. Hoping that the gloom also meant cooler temps I wandered outside to check on the garden. Oppressive heat slapped me in the face so hard that I wanted to scream. Its a good day to deep water the trees something I nearly gave up on while adjusting the drip. Just too hot too be outdoors going back and forth from the water faucet to the tree.

Our female cat decided that the newly painted fabric was the perfect place for a morning snooze. I tried to snap a photo of her lying on the fabric, but she's camera shy. She did however consent to adding shadows to the fabric by perching at the edge.

A spider decided that I was yummy; I'm now sporting 4 painful bites on my legs! We're in dire need of an exterminator! Too many crickets playing in the house at night, the gnat population has increased so much that yawning isn't advisable unless one enjoys a mouthful of them. and now spiders have entered the premises.

Stencils

Finally! Some new work! Stencils, as I feared, are difficult to cut out! Armed with a self-healing mat, a new craft knife, and hours of quiet all to myself (who says that insomnia isn't a good thing?!) I browsed through the clip art books until I came up with a few possibilities. Sleep eluded me until 3am.

The animal is supposed to be cougar; he ended up stenciled onto a journal page. The mono-printed flower stencil is more interesting to me than the stenciled version. Today, I woke up late and was immediately assaulted with, "I can't find anything! I was reading a book and when I came out of the bathroom it wasn't where I left it." This happens frequently with mom and I have absolutely no idea if she's finished the book and put it away or if she's put it in a "safe" place. She does put things in odd places for "safe-keeping" and I can only assume that she's done it again. I'm not in the mood to go on a hunting expedition so I said that I was positive it would show up. A few minutes later she came shuffling into my room again. "Now I can't the water glass! This is an awful day!" I have to agree!

Anyway, to squash today's frustration I worked on a postcard. Lots and lots of layers of stencils, rubber stamps, gesso covered foreign text and anything else I sitting around that I thought might look like mail art.

I have a huge urge to take flight and run away from home! This week has been full of stressful moments including receiving some alarming news about my health. The idea of being sent to a cardiologist wasn't something I expected to happen to me! Quote: Art is the only way to leave home without leaving home. Twyla Twarp

Later: A few additions to the postcard including a transparency from my personal collection. Yes, I've used the image before; it's obviously a favorite one. The placement of the transparency amused me. Notice the circle around the guys eye; it's from an earlier stamping of the number 8.

More Palm Trees!

More Palm Trees! Date Palms are everywhere! The white bags hanging from them, take my word for it there are bags hanging from them, indicate that harvesting will be soon. This is the second time since moving here that I've seen either white cotton bags or brown paper wrapped around the clusters of dates. Click on the photos to get a better idea . . .

The lower right photo was shot through the windshield, thus the blue cast of the sky. On my return trip to the dialysis clinic to pick up Stacy and mom I grabbed my camera so that I could get this shot. I turn left at the intersection, barely visible, and about a mile down Jackson St. is the view on the lower left. The clouds have been sensational this week! I still can't get over how barren the mountains are! Not a green speck on them.



I'm running on empty again! Energy deficit tries my patience! A close friend, Linda, sent me an Art Fiber Kit to experiment with and I'm itching to make a journal cover! Maybe tomorrow! Linda created a yummy piece of distressed fabric that is the highlight of the kit. I'm finding it difficult to cut and embellish the organic textural fabric. Why is it that one-of-a-kinds are so wrought with anxiety? Nothing should be so precious that we don't use it; saving something for later is nonsensical.

Check out Linda's blog!
http://texturedturtle.blogspot.com/

Monsoonal!

I've never heard of the term "Monsoonal" until I moved here! I always assumed that monsoons were tropical with torrential rain and hurricane-like-winds. Apparently I'm wrong; monsoonal seems to mean high humidity, clouds, rain in the mountains (but not on the desert floor) and perhaps thunderstorms. Who knew?

The top photo is of our fast-growing Tipu that is magnificent against the sky! The vine in the bottom photo is a Madagascar vine that has
sweet-smelling white flowers on it. At the foot of the vine are a couple of pots of cacti I brought with me from Pacific Grove including the Barrel Cactus that I've had for 24 years or so. It loves it here!
I haven't done anything creative in 7 days! Call me "cranky." My SO as "he" has decided he'd prefer to be called online, arrived via car last Friday. He flew out of Palm Springs this morning and will be gone until August 6Th. We visited lots of nurseries until I had to put an end to that; heat exhaustion! Way too many plants haven't survived the intense heat, so the search was on for something that would. What did we end up with? A fragile vine and a tree Gardenia! Not my idea of easy-to-grow!

The humidity earlier this week was staggering. I guess that it's true, dry heat is easier to live in.

Desert Sunset

Is there anything more glorious than a sunset? We were treated to a cloudy sky most of the day; when the sun started to set I grabbed the camera and stood out in the front yard with bugs buzzing me. The heat hadn't abated, 109 today, but when nature provides such a glorious painted sky I want to be there to see it! As far as I can tell I was the only one on the block who enjoyed the showy sunset.

Not Yet!

The bloom hasn't opened yet, but it's getting closer! I can't remember a time when I didn't love the look of ink drawings; now I can create them the easy way with PSE.

Mom was sick yesterday with some sort of stomach problem that I didn't know about until I had to literally rush around getting organized so that I could sit with Stacy at the dialysis clinic. In her Alzheimer's state mom couldn't figure out why she could stay home in bed; after all, she's the one who sits with Stacy. She did however go back to bed when she finally realized that I could do the sitting. Confusion is an awful thing to deal with and my patience are often tried beyond my limits. I want to scream at the top of lungs, "I want my mom back!" This person who has invaded mom's body isn't the one that I know.

Mom is okay today, though, when she came staggering into the house a little while ago carrying her laundry basket because she noted that Stacy and I are doing the laundry today she said, "I can hardly stand it in my room." For the millionth time I asked, "Do you have the AC on?" She always looks perplexed when I ask that. It was 96 in her room when Stacy and I got home from the clinic. Mom was in her bed with a robe on under the blanket and comforter! "I did think that it was hot in here," she said when I turned on the AC, "but couldn't figure out what to do." Sheesh! 91 degrees in the casita today and she couldn't remember how to turn on the AC. She's staggering around today looking like she might fall over any second! I can't convince her to stop coming into the house to check on her laundry. It's only towels and underwear, nothing she needs to worry about. But I know she won't settle down until everything is put away; only then will she be able to stop holding onto the thought that she must remember to get her laundry out of the dryer.

I grabbed a stack of old magazines as I was racing out the door yesterday. I find that sitting for 3 hours at the clinic is a great time to go through old mags and cut out inspiring articles, quotes, and ideas. I had forgotten about Katherine Chang Liu's art until I rediscovered it in a Watercolor magazine. From the article: Liu explained that although the style of her painting had evolved from representational to abstract over the course of her career, she had always been interested in patterns, textures, and forms that capture her response to a place and an experience.

Sounds a little like me and I imagine a lot of others as well!

I googled her and found this: http://tinyurl.com/2oz88u

and this: http://tinyurl.com/2lvhqp and: http://tinyurl.com/2v7uyj

In another issue of Watercolor magazine: "Though challenges may slow us down a little, perseverance makes us stronger," Linda L. Moyer, painter.

I know this quote to be true even though I often fight and curse the challenges that have occurred I have ended up through perseverance become stronger than I ever thought possible; deep inside I'm a wimp! I also persevere to find time to create and when there are long stretches between time in my studio/work space and care-giving I'm the crankiest person anyone can imagine! On that note I'm off to set up the sewing machine. I put away two weeks ago before R. visited.

Art soothes the crankiest beast.

Plumeria

Plumeria! Who knew that I'd try a Hawaiian flower? I'm impatiently waiting for these two to open. They're right outside of my bedroom window under the pergola. I have a feeling that the intense desert sun might be too much for them even though the info. on them is that they like up to 6 hours of bright sunlight. The newly planted flowering plum tree is now enshrouded in burlap to keep it from getting anymore sunburned! The leaves started to crisp on the edges; what wouldn't get crispy in this heat!?

What can be more luxurious than sleeping in until 10:30 in a new soft bed? The decade old bed had been purchased for its hard mattress in the belief that I needed lots of support for my back and hips. But lately that belief wasn't living up to itself so the full size bed was traded in for a queen size one with a pillow top. Oh my gosh! The luxury is almost too much and I find it very difficult to get up in the morning. The old sheets had so many holes in them that my toes would get caught in them. I splurged and got a high cotton count and will never ever again buy cheap sheets! After all, one's bed needs to be a comfortable haven!

I stayed up until 2am this morning, so I deserved to sleep in, cutting out patterns and paint and rust dyeing the muslin pieces. My hands are blue tinged today, when will I remember to wear gloves! I cut out a shirt and a long skirt. I picked up a new pattern on Tuesday at JoAnn's for pants and skirts. I think that the last time I wore a skirt was in the 80's! I didn't even wear a dress to my daughter's wedding, but I remember how nice it is to wear a long skirt on hot evenings. The pattern has an elastic waist, deep pockets and a back split; should be fairly easy to make. I have a feeling though, that I should have chosen to cut out the larger size out rather than the smaller one. When did patterns start having 3 sizes to choose from!? The cut out pieces are rust dyeing. The shirt pieces were Dyna-flow paint dyed. I wet fabric and sponged on Turquoise paint, scrunched the fabric until the paint was fairly evenly blended. The fabric was then scrunched up into tight balls and left to dry. This morning there were crackled blotches of deeper Turquoise in random areas. Nice pattern. The only thing that was wrong was that the front pieces weren't dyed as dark as the sleeves, back or yoke was! I doubt that I can get the color right but after they dried I redid them a little bit darker. So naturally, they'll have more crackled blotches on them. The fabric is after all hand-dyed!

I've mentioned the heat; probably too much! But it's painful when it reaches 121 which it did last week, I don't think though that I've mentioned the bugs! I nearly packed my bags and left this morning when a cricket the size of a mouse joined me in the bathroom! We've had numerous crickets in the house but this one was by far the largest one I've ever seen! I stood there swearing at it hoping it would die of fright, but no such luck. Of course I was bare-foot so I ordered the darn thing to stay put until I could find the flip-flops. Amazingly enough it didn't move! They usually jump off to a safe place before I can find something to smash them with; I'm all for getting rid of bugs that invade my territory. If they leave me alone I leave them alone, but when one that large makes its presence known one of us is going down!
Stacy later told me that there is a "monster" cricket in the house somewhere and she was so scared by it that she went back to bed this morning! No wonder she didn't come in to wake me up. She's relieved to know that it's no longer wandering around the house.

The gnats are the other bug that is driving me nuts! Who knew that they would multiply and take over the entire house!? I must have inhaled hundreds of them by now. They end up in our glasses of water, in the food, in our noses and eyes until we're nearly driven mad! Guess it's time to call an exterminator!

Yesterday was one of those days-from-hell that strike without warning! Had to deal with more health oriented issues than I had patience for! The Ins. keeps changing about what meds are covered leaving me scrambling for samples from the doctors until I can order the meds online from Canada! One of Stacy's meds always needs a prior authorization before its filled and the staff in the doctor's office always has a million reasons why its taken over a week to get to the paperwork. Then there was the post office line that was ridiculous (my friend needed his cell phone that he forgot to pack on Tuesday when he left after a week-long visit), the paving being done in the pharmacy parking lot; smelling tar in 105 degree heat walking further than I have energy for wasn't pleasant! Then there was the mistake in billing for the meds that were ready at the pharmacy, then there was the road construction, then the computers were down in the dialysis clinic causing glitches and delays getting on and off the dialysis machine, then . . . by the time I got home I needed to be alone! Mom couldn't figure out where the bread was or how to make a sandwich, again! and one of the cats had thrown up! "Don't I have wine with my lunch?" mom asked. Since when? Of course she couldn't get the cork out of the wine bottle or find the wine glasses. Sheesh! Today I found the lunch meat in the freezer along with the mayo! I forgot to check the freezer after she'd made lunch for Stacy and herself; she puts too many items into the freezer that should go back into the refrigerator; mayo doesn't freeze very well, good thing I had a new jar in the pantry!
And to top things off the nurse from Dr. D's office, mom's doctor, phoned at 2pm to say that the bone density test had come back and that the doctor needs to see mom to give her the results! "We can't have them over the phone," I asked. "He'd like for her to come in next week." Now what?!

But yesterday ended on a high note when a package of goodies arrived from C! I have the "bestest" friends; people I've never met in person, but who I feel close to anyway. Yummy fibers, fabric, books, beads, game pieces, the tiniest journal in the world, journal cards by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts(I'm a fan of her work!) texture plates . . . oh my gosh! I'm so thankful and blessed to have special people in my life who take the time to send me goodies! T, D, and L have also sent my packages when I seem to need them the most.

114 One-hundred-fourteen!

No matter how it's written it's hot!!! That's one very large number. In fact the hydrangea on the June 7th post is burnt to a crisp! I feel like I had a hand its death; maybe if I hadn't brought it home with me someone else would have taken it home to a safer place. I moved it to a shady spot, but that didn't help it to survive. Roses are also crispy along with a few vines and some annuals are fainting from heat stroke.

The background on the digital piece, obviously seeing how it's definitely not hand-done, is a piece of cross stitch fabric that was rusted, the dark blotchy areas, and then painted with Dy-na Flow fabric paints. I plan to do some creative embroidery next. "Creative" being the operative word. My stitches never seem to look anything like the examples I try to emulate. The newspaper clipping is from the front page of today's newspaper. I love how they word it, "Good Morning! Today's Valley high, low 114 76." The 76 is wishful thinking seeing how the nights haven't been below 90 in a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow marks our 9th month of living in the desert, which I've decided is the hottest place in the country! The joke going around it that if you want to cool off you go a little north to Death Valley. I'm starting to feel a little more at home here and while the traffic isn't as "light" as I was led to believe, it isn't as bad as even Monterey was becoming. That it itself is a good thing. I don't do well with a lot of noise or in crowded situations; too much sensory stimulation has an effect on my health. When I was in school I had a difficult time sitting in classrooms and often felt the urge to get up and run. Maybe it was a form of panic attacks, but I now know it to be a part of the FM/CFS. Most of us who have one or both of the chronic illness tend to lead quiet lives. The tolerance level for having too much activity isn't good. So, when two weeks are jammed packed with errands, doctor appointments and having medical tests done I'm left exhausted and unbalanced along with a flu-like flareup that sends me to bed, but wait! I can't go to bed to recuperate because I have daily calamities to deal with, not mine, but mom's and Stacy's. Mom has "conveniently" forgotten about my health issues and looks at me like I'm nuts when I say that I need to wait awhile before tending to her latest crisis. A mini-blind falling off of the window isn't going anywhere, but confusion over remote controls and not being able to turn TV channels gets immediate attention.

This is the second time a mini blind has broken in her room and the 3rd one that has needed to be replaced. I'm fed up with Home Depot's cheap brand so we're having an estimate done Tuesday afternoon for some Hunter Douglas ones. After coughing up $4,500 for the few in the living room along with drapes in the Casita I know I'm not ready to hear the estimate. The only good thing is that if the cord breaks someone comes out to repair it!! And hopefully it will be years before that happens and not a mere few months. That was yesterday's calamity. I'm still waiting for today's . . .

Friday night's crisis involved trying to use remotes for the VCR or the CD to turn on the TV. "I haven't been able to watch TV since we arrived in this God forsaken place! I can't turn the channels and the picture is fuzzy. I need a new TV!" Seeing how I got her a new TV and VCR a little over a year ago (and now realize that they probably weren't broken, she probably couldn't figure out how to use them) I decided that there must be an easy explanation. There was. She had turned the VCR on making the picture on the screen fuzzy and was trying to turn the channels with the remote control for the CD player. The TV remote was conveniently sitting on her nightstand but it didn't look familiar. Once I got everything figured out and bit my tongue to keep from saying that she has watched TV (I'd seen it on while I was watering a few nights before) she said. "Well aren't you something! Is there anything you can't do? I always feel so stupid," in a tone of voice that wasn't pleasant, I left her alone. I guess she figured that she'd annoyed me because it wasn't until yesterday morning that I learned that the cord had broken on the blinds. She's taped them to the window with packing tape. Packing tape on glass isn't something one should do! There is now a residue left all over the window! "Oh well, you'll just have to figure out how to clean it off," I was told. Somehow she'd bundled up the blinds and taped them to the window with about a roll of tape! This isn't something she would have done a few years ago, but she no longer has reasoning skills and does the strangest things.

I did have something grand happen this week. I went to Home Depot to pick up some shade cloth that will hopefully prevent the death of a few vines and spotted a couple leaving the nursery with My Tree! I'd had the pleasure of watching a flowering plum grow for 21 years in Pacific Grove and have been yearning for something to replace it with since I started planning the backyard garden. The tree is deciduous, which I love because every Spring the entire tree gets new leaves. The leaves seem to be great food for a variety of insects so by Fall the tree ends up looking raggedy. Every Spring I looked forward to a couple of weeks of white and pink flowers. I was putting the tree into the cart when a nurseryman told me that because I'm planting the tree in hot July I might not get blossoms the first year, just the beautiful purple black leaves. Right now I don't care! The tree has provided the yard with something that was missing; colorful leaves!!! The tree is small and once it's in the ground all 5 feet 8 inches of me will either be at eye level with the few branches or tower above it! The photo on the upper right is of the tree I left behind.

Mail Art!

Does anyone not love receiving mail art?! The postcard below is from Darlene. The mailing deadline for the A2Z/favorite quote postcard exchange is on Monday; today is Saturday! I of course waited until the last minute to put the finishing touches on mine. Darlene's work never fails to amaze me and this one is no exception; it's elegant in its simplicity and I'm thrilled that it's now in my collection!

The page on the left is from a foreign text book, Italian, that I dampened and placed over the rust sludge in the bottom of a plastic container. A couple of hours later I was treated to a beautiful stained paper! The container is dedicated to rusting fabric in and I imagine will continue to create wondrous amounts of sludge for dyeing paper in.

Quote on the postcard: Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.

Albert Szent Gyorgi

Sun Damaged Red Pepper

I absolutely couldn't resist photographing the red pepper, but what to put the 3 inch marvel on?

I discovered a chunk of rusted paper towel in the garage today that instantly became a paper towel rock! No one in the world has this rock formation! Or, for that matter the red pepper that dropped off of the plant late last night (most likely from heat stroke!) or the rusted tissue paper either! One-of-a-kinds! Oh how I love them!

The image on the right is an example from a fabric wrapped bottle that was rusted in bits of steel wool and then dunked in white vinegar. The fabric, a polyester/cotton white sheet, was wrapped around the bottle for at least 5 days before the unveiling. The organic markings are little vignettes spread out randomly over the fabric. Lovely!

Rusty nails

I'm blown away by this one! Nothing happened for hours and suddenly magic happened. I think that the nails are from a nail gun,. I picked them up months ago while taking a walk around the block and tossed them onto a heap of stuff; I like the way they're attached and lined up. They rusted all by themselves and were waiting for me to rediscover them. The fabric is an old sheet.

Rust Dyeing

Rust dyeing or staining? I think that these pieces fall under the staining category.

The tissue paper was stained when I dried the rusted felt piece on it, the lutradur which is the bottom right odd shaped piece was definitely stained from a baking sheet and the wrapped chenille stem was made from dryer sheets that were also stained from a baking sheet. Or dyed!

I wrapped a couple of dryer sheets around the chenille stem and then blasted it with a heat gun. I've never heard or read of anyone doing this before, but I imagine someone has! Anyway, when the dryer sheets were blasted with the heat gun they melted and grabbed onto the chenille stem making a permanent bond. Cool fusing technique! I've been working on a mandala for a couple of weeks now; it's giving me problems. I think that the wrapped chenille stem is the answer to how to define a troublesome area on the mandala.

Rust Dyeing

Steel wool pad wrapped inside of distressed acrylic felt and rusted in white vinegar with some salt tossed in.

The first time I rinsed the felt to get the rust flakes off of the piece the rust dyeing also went down the sink! Why? Could it be that I didn't pre-treat the felt, or that the dyeing process wasn't done yet? Back to the soaking vat for 2 more days; this time the piece completely dyed rather than random areas. I allowed the felt to dry first and then semi-rinsed it fearing that the rust dye would again go down the drain. It didn't. To dry it the second time I sandwiched the felt between tissue paper and wax paper and allowed it to dry flat. The tissue paper is visible behind the distressed felt. Okay, so if the felt dyed the tissue paper maybe the felt still isn't rinsed enough? A little forethought; this may be the only time the felt will look this way so I photographed it before heading into the 100 degree garage to rinse it.

Later: I rinsed and rinsed the felt and the problem seems to be that the rust settled into the distressed areas with a very tight grip and might continue to flake off! The torn muslin piece I rusted at the same time was vastly improved after rinsing it; the color that is left is lovely. The felt now looks more coffee stained than rust dyed. Interesting.

I could absolutely kick myself but who knew that two cast iron skillets, muffin tins and a divided sourdough bread pan would have been nice to rust fabric in?!! Seeing how I've rusted tins and washers I should have known not to toss the rusty items during the hectic packing for the move! I think that I may have even donated a skillet during the unpacking! At least I had the sense to bring the baking sheets, horse shoes, and rusted bars with me. Old Teflon baking sheets rust well once they've been scratched and I have quite a few of them!

I picked up a tarp at the dollar store last week to put down on the garage floor. There is something about having a brand new house that almost keeps me from making messes! Before I got the tarp I did manage to splatter the floor with spray paint and some of the rust. The tarp is the perfect size for the area I work in so I'll need to stock up on them!

The rust dyed pieces are now drying on the wood clothes rack that I've had for so long that I don't remember not having it! I think the only thing holding it together is the layers of paint from paper painting sessions. I was planning to look for a large enough plastic container for the rusty rods but decided that if the one I have isn't in use why wait! I have a tendency to buy containers on sale and when I return for more I never find them again. Talk about a bunch of mismatched containers! It's a Virgo thing . . .

I saved an old sheet that I'm cutting down so that I can continue experimenting with rust dyeing. I have a piece of lutradur soaking right now. Definitely addictive!

Even Later: the rust dyed felt dried in about 3 hours, what wouldn't in a boiling hot garage?! The felt isn't as rich as it was, pooh, but I'm wondering what would happen if I bleached out some areas. At least it appears that the felt has stopped flaking. I have 3 pieces soaking in vinegar and the one with steel wool bits spread out over the fabric and then rolled around a bottle is already rusting!

h is for hydrangea

A digital postcard for the exchange on EV? I'm not sure yet. (Kinda yucky colors!) I started with photos of a hydrangea and added 8 layers of brushes that were either included with PSE 4 or that I created from postmarks. I love it when the result looks more intricate than it is.

I've never had a hydrangea plant before; I've had a life-long dislike of the plant. I have no idea why, but perhaps it's because they were so abundant when I was growing up. I nearly killed this one when I put it out directly into the hot sun! The leaves burnt around the edges which sent me scrambling for the gardening book. They seem to like some shade and a touch of sun. Why in the world was this plant sitting in the sun at the nursery and why sell something so fragile out here in the desert?? My guess is that there is always a sucker who will come along and buy anything! I photographed the huge flower blossom just in case the plant never blooms again. What I saw through the viewfinder was more exciting than I thought the hydrangea ever could be!

Garden Art

I was literally pulled into Home Goods today by these pieces! Once in awhile I follow my intuition just to find out what happens; usually I fight against that inner voice, after all "I know best." It all started with a garden show on TV and a sleepless night. The episode that I taped was focused on garden art and even though I already have a few pieces that I brought with me from Pacific Grove there is always room for more, especially now that it's too hot to plant anything that might survive the brutal heat! I have no idea why but I've always been drawn to horses; I have a few horse sculptures in the house but none in the garden. For some reason I "felt" that Home Goods would have a metal horse of some kind that I could hang on the brick wall. I was barely inside of the store when the weather vane almost jumped into my cart. Always optimistic I immediately decided that it would be out of my price range. Wrong! It was below what I would have paid for it. Off to the clearance section where I found the metal piece that I had envisioned needing for a bare spot in the garden that is in need of something tall. It was only $8.00; the top ornament is missing. It was the shape that I wanted anyway. Next to it was a $5.00 resin faux stone pig that was begging to go home with me; Stacy collects pigs. But it was the cat figurine that quietly made her presence known. I was on my way to the check-stand when I caught a glimpse of her. Only her face was visible behind some rather bland pieces that were of no interest to me. I kept going but she whispered to me that she'd been waiting for me to show up. When I moved the pieces that were in front of her I knew that I'd found a treasure! Her Highness Cloe is now contentedly sitting near the water fountain where she can observe the yard and make sure that the house furkids don't wander out into the yard.
(do click on the photos to enlarge them.)

I'll hang the metal horse once that area has been finished. The retaining wall bricks are baking in the sun and gravel is piled against the brick wall. I don't have the stamina in this heat to rake the gravel away from the wall much less finish the retaining wall and fill the area with soil. Hopefully someone will come along to finish the job.

The last weekend in May!!

The last weekend of May?! I remain completely disoriented; the dilemma started last Oct. when we arrived here. Seasons? As far as I can determine there is only one season here; hot!! Plants that were struck by a week-long bout of frost in January have recovered better than I imagined they would. I don't remember the frost as being anything more than something that attacked many of the plants in the area including the bougainvillea and citrus; I simply don't remember being cold.

The latest fiber piece, Purple Passion, begged for soldering iron distressing. By the time I got the piece distressed I was in a state of distress! The temperature in the garage, even with the side door open, must have been over 100. I had a fan blowing on me to not only keep the fumes away from me but to dry the sweat pouring off of me, or is it glow? There are days when I can't fathom why we moved here! And then I remember: my youngest daughter lives a little over two hours away rather than eight long hours, my grandsons have "sleep-overs," I have a new house, mom is only a few feet away, (she fainted last Sunday when her BP crashed due to a side effect from a trial med. Happily, I didn't need to drive to her house to take care of her!) I don't live where mildew and mold are prevalent enough to cause the FM symptoms to worsen, and the sky is mostly blue rather than steel grey from thick fog. But, there isn't enough green, no ocean, no cool temps, the hospital is old without private rooms, the doctors are practically all from foreign countries which creates communication problems, and I miss my best friend! Yep, having a moment of self-pity!

A good Internet friend, what would I do without the Internet?!?!, and I decided to try a challenge. I tossed out an idea of felting or creating a fiber piece on a metal hoop. I know how to attach a warp to a hoop having created numerous mandala woven pieces but couldn't figure out how to attach either felt or ludtradur. I've now encased a 12 inch hoop inside of lutradur, my secret, and while I was waiting for some glue (a hint) to dry I worked on a piece I had put aside over a week ago. The piece is nearly done with the exclusion of mounting it onto a textured mat board and then framing it.

Materials: grey acrylic felt, fun fibers, raw wool that was blended by carding three colors and textures together, tufts of mohair and dyed fabric.

And now on to the mandala!

Quote: Happiness cannot be found. It can only be.
Sally Huss

A2Z postcards

A few examples of A2Z themed postcards. I'm disgusted though, I used some amazing unmounted stencil rubber stamps on the bottom one (which is posted upside down!) and when I tossed them into the sink to wash off the ink three of them went down the drain! Have you ever tried to grab something back that has completely disappeared? It's not a good feeling; something akin to wanting to grab back mom's disappearing memory. It's futile and there is a sense of loss almost too great to bear.

Felted ATC

I can't remember the last time I made an ATC. This piece started out life as the one of my first needle felted experiments; it's one of the purple examples a few posts back. I did some more work on then then embellished it with a distressed dryer sheet and embossed metal.

There is a new residential community opening soon on the west side of Merv Griffin's Ranch not far from where I live. The ad reads: May 26th, Griffin Ranch will reveal eleven extraordinary model homes, each architecturally superb and furnished to exquisite perfection.

You are enthusiastially invited to attend.

Don't miss this much-anticipated event in the desert's new, world-class equestrian/residential community. The gates will open promptly at 11 am. Mark your calendar.

From the looks of the elegant wall and walking path surrounding the community I can only guess what the price of the homes might be. Is there such a word as enthusiastically? Spell check doesn't seem to think so.

White and Ivory

Well I finally did it! I tortured a piece of felt! I'm extremely cautious with materials that might bother my sensitive immune system so I had never melted plastic or felt. But now that I have a ventilated garage to work in I've started working on pieces to experiment on. Armed with a heat gun and wood burning tool I literally attacked the 8x10 inch felted piece. I really like how the edges of the felt burnt and curled. But then I'm very fond of the distressed/aged look. There is one thing I want to change, minor, but it bothers me and I'm positive that it's noticeable.

I seem to be a monochromatic mood lately. I wonder what that's all about?

We're on the second day of "triple digit" heat. The temp is holding at 103. At least the sky is clear and the winds have died down. I've been spending about an hour every evening working in the garden. I only stop when the light has gone from the sky. I do my best work by moonlight.

Quote: The only rule in art is what works.

Lee Fleming

Flower smashing

When I spotted the bright red oleander flowers that seem to have sprouted overnight I couldn't wait to try smashing them! A lot of the flowers in my garden are too precious to try smashing or they aren't pulpy/juicy/pigmented enough. Having stepped on a few red oleander flowers in the past I knew that they'd be perfect to experiment with on paper towels. The traditional way of smashing (or pounding) flowers is done on fabric. Paper usually doesn't hold up to a hammer or mallet enough; splitting or tearing occurs. But a strong paper towel works beautifully. I liked the results of smashing the flowers enough on white paper towels to start experimenting on painted ones. Additional work will be done on the two pieces above.

Quote: Without effort there is no growth.
Effort is everything.
Sally Huss

Make an effort today to do something for yourself!

Prepped Journal pages

One of a few conditions I had before even considering a move to the desert was that there had to be a Trader Joe's very close by! Most of the meals we have have a food in them from TJ's. They have the sort of food I like, healthy but not so ridiculous as to have no flavor or too heavy that one is aware of eating healthy. Plus, the prices are outstanding! Speciality items abound like the lemon dill sauce that is drizzled over every bite of fish. The local TJ's was only a few months old when we started looking into the move! Why do I bring this up? The pages below are created from tearing out images from paper bags from TJ's! They encourage recycling bags by offering a ticket for every bag you take in to reuse. None of my tickets have been drawn from the monthly drawing, but I'm hopeful. This bag, however, ended up on the pages in my journal. All of these images are from one bag. The bottom right is my favorite. The middle one reminds of Dr. Seuss drawings, especially the fish. (Click on the pages to see an enlargement.) I got a bit messy with the top one, but what the heck; if one can't have fun in a journal what's the point?

I can't remember that last time I watched the Kentucky Derby, but there I was this afternoon glued to the set! Every intention I had upon rising this morning was to create a fabric piece or finish one, but there I was watching the horse race! I do seem to have a thing for horses. I rented "Flicka" for Stacy last week so she could watch it on her portable DVD player during her dialysis treatment. I thought that "Flicka" might be a little on the saccharine side for me, but I enjoyed it. Tim McGraw did an okay job playing the father. It was the horses that caught my attention though. Absolutely beautiful shots of them.

Journal pages

A friend recently asked if I write pages in my journal first or paint them. I do both. This spread now has journaling on it; you know the private drivel kind of stuff that I don't share with anyone. I remembered to scan these examples first. Watercolor crayons, Neocolor II, are great to use on blank pages or over waterproof ink. I found some foam rubber stamps at Lowe's a few weeks ago in the decorator paint section and decided to give them a try. The Fleur-De-Lys motif is one of three in the set. Very cool! The pages certainly aren't anything grand but they're fun to write on.

Happy May!

The background is a painted paper towel. Huge surprise! I was wandering around Home Depot yesterday after putting 16 bricks into my cart and these lovelies shouted at me, "Take us home!" What could I do? They have the oddest petals I've seen on a daisy-like plant. The purple section of my garden only has some pitiful looking Lavender plants growing in it so along with the daisies 2 Pincushion plants jumped into the cart. The Pincushion blossoms won't hold up on the scanner; the daisies barely did. A few petals twisted and a few fell off.

This is the first day I haven't felt the need to turn on the AC in 3 weeks. Nice to have the windows open and only the ceiling fans whirling around creating a breeze. I have a feeling that the furkiddies would prefer that the AC was cooling them off.

I find that when I choose a plant it's often with a few things in mind. It needs to be drought and heat tolerant and easy to grow but more importantly the plant needs to have some sort visual appeal for my artwork. If I can photograph the foliage or blossoms I'm happy, but if I can also scan or dry them I'm thrilled. To be considered for my garden the plant needs to "shout at me."

Paper towel

Another collage-in-progress using a palette of black, white, brown and beige. I got to this stage and then ran into a major block. Often it's taken years before I understand a piece enough to finish it, I hope this isn't the case.

Quote: There is a difference between invention and what comes from inside of a painter.

Edward Hopper

Paper Towels

While picking up an outdoor ceiling fan, on sale at Home Depot, I purchased a roll of embossed Scott towels. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the textured towels.

I used Viva towels for the abstracts on the right. Both were created from a single towel that was painted with turquoise and two shades red. The top one is an experiment with paint scraping; only black and white were added. On the bottom one there is a combination of paint splatters, gold dots, stamped circles and random shapes torn from painted towels.

I'm in love with the versatility of paper towels! The paper, of course, will require sealing of some kind.

Paper Towel Play

It all started with blending colors on Viva paper towels! Once the paint dried each 4x6 piece took on a life of its own. Some wanted netting adhered to them while others wanted fusible web and some begged for both. All them shouted, "Drip and pour paint on us!" And thus some abstracts were created.

I spent an hour painting paper towels last night and plan to experiment creating abstracts with them; starting with the basics of using simple shapes and a rather monochromatic palette.

Quote to memorize!
Remember to forget all those unpleasant things that are so easy to remember.
Sally Huss

Kangaroo Paw

There are three Kangaroo Paw plants in the garden and while the red blooms are wonderful I almost prefer them when they start to die and begin to look even more other-worldly than they normally do. Without the spiky red blooms the plant isn't very exciting. I tried growing them up north; all I got for my effort was one tiny spike that lasted about 3 days. These have been in bloom for two weeks; they seem to thrive in the warm weather.

After an hour of playing with various shots I opted for the black-and-white version. This image reminds me of a vintage photograph. The background is painted paper towel. I've been slapping paint onto paper towels in an attempt to come up with something abstract to use for a postcard exchange. I couldn't understand the current hoopla about painting paper towels but I'm beginning to understand it. In fact, painting paper towels can be quite addictive.

Library Card

Some things are too cool for words! Create your own library card or notes at: http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/
What are the numbers? My birthday and the year Stacy was born!

Some days are worth getting out of bed for and this is one of them. The desert is at her best when the sky is clear and the mountains aren't enshrouded in haze. The brown barren mountains can be lovely with shadows on them either early in the morning or late in the day. Yesterday's windstorm and light rain cleaned up the atmosphere and gifted us with an above average day; rare as of late. I have all of the windows open to air out the stuffy house after days of running the AC.

I'd given up growing roses during my 30 years on the Monterey Peninsula so you can imagine my delight when I wandered around the newly planted garden early this morning and discovered that there were 3 blooms; one yellow and two red. I brought home a succulent today that the checker didn't want to handle. She thought it had a spider web on it and must be frightened of spiders. "Would you mind putting it in the bag?" she asked. I smiled. "The name is Cobweb, so what you're seeing is part of the plant." She shook her head and handed me a bag. I hope that I can get some close-ups of it; it is a visually exciting plant. I love photographing things in my garden so even though I'm still suffering the effects of putting in the yard I'm thrilled to be surrounded by plant life again. I can't imagine not having a garden and I finally have a private one. The house in Pacific Grove only had a front yard which at times drove me nuts. I would have enjoyed sitting outdoors more but it was too public. Happily, the front yard is taken care of by the HOA.

Quote: Life is not meant to be easy--wonderful yes,
but not easy.
Sally Huss

Nasturtiums

My cousin gave me some metal pieces she was no longer using; for the life of me I can't figure out why she'd give them away! I was thrilled to be on the receiving end of the sculptural pieces that are now residing in the backyard. This particular piece used to hold a glass vase that I immediately discarded. I cut down a coconut plant receptacle and slid it into the vacated vase space (try saying that fast!) and planted nasturtium seeds in some of the organic top soil left over from the flower bed. After a week a few leaves finally popped up.

We're having another epic windstorm; the second one in two weeks, and I'm sitting here biting my fingernails hoping that the plants and trees survive!

Quote: The only thing better than the nearness of flowers

is the closeness of friends.

Sally Huss