52 Figments, January completed

52 Figments: Week 4: You just won an Oscar! Knowing millions of people around the world are watching you, who would you want to thank? My answer is: "My family for their unwavering support."

52 Figments: Week 4: You are your own Superhero! Create a self-portrait of your most fabulous self.
Polar Bear fierceness and focus, sweetness of candy, superb scent and protection of roses, ability to fly, explosive power of volcano and ocean, a magic wand (of course!), and a silvery third eye that sees ALL.

Simple Still Life January

Watercolor pencil/crayon and blue pen, quick sketch, with a bit more interesting background color.






Simple Still Life for January.
We were to have items two alike, and three different.
I went with an all blue theme, two frosted glass eggs, a blue plastic cup, cd case and lightning ball.

52 Figments - 1st 3 Weeks

52 Figments, Week 1: What is your theme for 2006? My answer is obviously: GRATITUDE!

52 Figments: Week2: All expenses are paid and your safety is guaranteed...Where in the world do you want to go? Sicily Ireland New Zealand Australia Fiji Alaska Portugal Norway Bali Outer Hebrides Japan Scotland Tibet Isle of Man, Madagascar Malta Peru Chile

52 Figments: Week 3: Imagine having a conversation with yourself 20 years from now. What question would you want to ask?

If I were a cyborg

Cyborg Name Decoder which functions as a type of personality/horoscope too, thanks Croque-Choux

Tahoe Snow Fun

Some pictures of interesting stuff from this past weekend in South Lake Tahoe.


Backyard icicle!

The flowing river through Upper Truckee Marsh

Many tracks in the snow

Good reuse of old skis

Red tail lights on the way home , that traffic was baaaad!

Happy about Spam?!

I was feeling a little left out.
I hadn't received any spam asking to buy my artwork from Nigeria.
Finally, Mr. Andy Cole came through for me.
Funny how spam is somehow confirmation of one's status as an artist?! or maybe that is just how my crazybrain works?


Subject: artwork enquiry..
To: andy_me11@yahoo.co.uk

Hello,
Good day! I am Andy Cole. I am interested in purchasing some of the quilts artworks from your gallery and it will be ship to my new resident in Lagos,Nigeria. So please let me know if you can sell some of your quilts artwork for me to put to my new resident. Payment will be made out to you in form of a Cashiers Check or Money Order in us funds once we are able to reach a concrete agreement on the price. i do hope to hear back from you.thanks and hope to hear back from you soonest. have a lovely weekend...

brgds
Cole..

Daily Devotions Blog

Since I don't have nearly enough to do, I started another blog, just for my Daily Devotions art, and named it oh so creatively....High Fiber Content Daily Devotions.
I wanted to keep all this daily art in one place, so that at the end of the year, Bam!, it is ready for....action?!
It is all pictures.

Montage-a-Google And ImpeachPac

Here is an image I created in a fun new Google app, Montage-a-Google. You type in a few words, and it pulls together random images that match. Interesting, no?


A new political action committee has been formed, IMPEACHPAC.

Here is a message from founder Bob Fertik:

As you know, George Bush wants to know what you've been Googling.

He says he's just looking for porn searches. Why don't we believe him?

Maybe because he lies all the time, right to our faces - like when he
said this on April 20, 2004.

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government
talking about wiretap, it requires - a wiretap requires a court order.
Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down
terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-2.html

If Bush wants to use Google to find out what Americans are thinking,
let's tell him - LOUD AND CLEAR.

Please visit http://google.comright now and type this:

IMPEACHPAC

That's it, just IMPEACHPAC

When you get the Google search results, click on the very first link
for IMPEACHPAC.

Once you visit IMPEACHPAC, we hope you'll send a second message by
making a small donation to help us elect pro-impeachment candidates to
Congress. Our goal is $100,000, and we're over half-way there.

Small Designs

I recently took a class from Liz Berg through CQFA. It was all about design, and very well done. She had us do compositions with fabric scraps, glue stick and index cards.
Here are mine.

Quilt in a Day

So I made this quilt yesterday. Except for the binding I think it is done. I think. It is about 24 x 20"

It is for a color challenge for an online group I'm in. Can you guess what color I was assigned?

Yes, that's right, WHITE.

I purchased a bunch of different fabrics that are "white", chenille, wool, silk, and WOW (white printed on white) way back in October at PIQF. Also bought a bunch of white embellishment type of things. Originally I was going to do another labyrinth quilt, with the embellishments on top making the labyrinth design on top of this. But when I completed the quilting last night, I put it up on the design wall and decided I didn't want to goop it up with "stuff".
This is probably one of the simplest things I've ever made, but I'm really pleased with it. I wish you could see it in person, the contrast between the different fabrics is so fascinating. This will be one of those quilts that gets touched a lot when it is shown, not too cool that it is white because it will show all the fingerprints, plus with the wool and silk on there, it isn't too terribly washable. Oh well, I'll have to retitle it if gets too terribly dirty.
So, the title is "White Hot Pain", which is unfortunately what I was experiencing yesterday.
Here it is before the quilting.

Bread of Champions?

I noticed this today when I was making lunch for Alex. "Official Bread Supplier of the U.S. Olympic Team".

Wow, the whole image/branding/identification with superior athletes goes all the way down to the level of bread now. Guess they need all the sponsorship they can get. Plus I bet they go through a lot of bread at the training camps!
Bank of America, Visa, visible on the main page of the team are sponsors, but the suppliers such as Orowheat are on a subpage, but they can plaster these words all over their products, look for Kleenex with the same kind of stuff too.

Material Evidence

Here I am at the recent opening of the California Fiber Artists' new show "Material Evidence" at The Art Museum of Los Gatos . The show is up until February 26th, go see it!

My son Zach took these pictures of me, both of my pieces are on either side of a window so the lighting is a bit strange. My smile is a bit strange too, I think I was probably about to tell him what to do, instead of concentrating on smiling nicely. He puts up with a lot this kid.
The first piece is called "Variegated Exit/Entrance", made with all cotton that I've dyed and discharged, plus minimal beading that you can't see except for on close inspection.
The second piece is "Meteor Meltdown", made completely out of recycled stuff. Discharged cotton/lycra, tyvek, wedding veil, thread scraps.

Message from the Far Future

Self Portrait Tuesday

For Self Portrait Tuesday
This is a picture of me on a very happy day. My dear husband Marc and I are telling my mom and dad that we are pregnant! This was at Easter in 1993. 13 years ago....
Boy do we ever look young. sigh. Look at how short my hair is. And I'm wearing my pearls. I never wear my pearls anymore! I think I was even wearing pantyhose too. Gawd, it has been ages since I've worn those torture devices.
So what has changed in thirteen years?

We've had two children.

We've sold and bought a house and moved once.

Marc has changed jobs 3 times.

I changed jobs 4 times including one layoff immediately after returning from maternity leave (grrrr.)

Lots of stuff in our lives has changed.

Are we the same?

No, thank goodness!

We had NO idea what becoming parents really meant.

I'm ever so glad that you don't need to know everything about parenting before becoming one, that you get to learn on the job.

Yet another new diversion

Thanks to arlee for yet another new diversion.

A new tarot deck and more from the past

I'm so excited that Arnell Ando's Transformational Tarot deck is getting published this spring. She's put up a great website with images and descriptions of the cards, plus you can pre-order straight from her.
Go check it out, just to see her cool collage style.

And for those who haven't seen it, you must go look at Lunaea Weatherstone's Full Moon Dreams Tarot deck. I've been using it for several months now and it has given me many surprisingly accurate readings. Plus there is a tarot spread from yours truly (me) in the instruction book (grin) .

Have you seen my tarot majors? I did them as part of a project with other artistjournals list members, where we created one per month and then got one from each person, ending up with 20 majors decks from 20 different artists, it was a long but very worthwhile project.
They are on my website here. Someday I'll do the rest of the deck, someday... The picture here is the King of Wands that I did for a collaborative tarot deck.

How about my tarot quilts, those are here. There is so much to the tarot, I could spend the rest of my art life making art having to do with the tarot, hey maybe I will. In a way all of life is covered in the tarot, at least the way I look at it, so that is true whether intentional or not!

Celebrity Face Off

I couldn't resist and had to see what celebrity face mine most closely matches from the MyHeritage site, found this through TrollBaby.
According to their face scanning software I am a 60% match for:

Benita Ferrero-Waldner (born 5 September 1948) is the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and an Austrian diplomat and politician. She is a member of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).

How about that?
I do see the physical resemblance, but I have to wonder if I'll end up that wacko conservative by the time I'm 60 something??? I suppose it is possible, never say never and all that.

United in Pink

I'm SO not a knitter at all, but I happened to notice a blurb in the paper about a cool project supporting breast cancer research for those who DO knit.

It is called United in Pink and the project goal is to knit the world's longest scarf by this spring.
Fifty miles or longer in pink yarn. That is kinda hard to visualize! And I am tempted to ask someone to try one more time to teach me how to knit just so I can participate...
The local store that has info and is sponsoring this project is the Golden Fleece in Santa Cruz. (I love that store name!)

So those of you reading this that happen to frequent knitting blogs, could you please pass this on to them so even more people will participate? Thanks!

Notice from the management

Thanks to That Logan Chick, for linking to the Warning Label Generator, how fun!

You know you need to go make one...

New Year Goals

Here is a good way to write some goals down for the year ahead which I had only been vaguely contemplating, thanks Jen at Bayou Quilts for the easy, yet still very useful list that prodded me to write those goals down.

Remember, write it down, make it happen, make it real.

In the new year...

1. List one person you've lost touch with that you will look up.

Cheryl.

2. List two places you want to go.

Yosemite, Arizona

3. List three habits you want to change or to develop.

Develop the habit of Daily artmaking: no matter how small.
Develop the habit of Daily exercise: walking, weight-lifting,stretching,ChiGong, whatever.
Change habit of neglecting my housework responsibilities.

4. List four things you hope to learn.

Implementing new ideas in designing quilts
EQ5
Flash animation
Html/website design

5. List five goals you would like to achieve

Document all artwork produced this year promptly, photo,slide,cd, and website.
Organize artwork documention and deadlines on either Quilting Pro or Art Pro.
Construction begun and completed on our house addition.
Document Avalon trip website, physical photo album.
Complete writing projects that I have committed to.

There, that wasn't so bad was it? Harder than I thought though.

No Surprise Quiz Result

Which literature classic are you?

J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings. You are entertaining and imaginative, creating whole new worlds around yourself. Well loved, you have a whole league of imitators, none of which is quite as profound as you are. Stories and songs give a spark of joy in the middle of your eternal battle with the forces of evil.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla
Join

Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code

Thanks to DebR for this quiz. I'm happy to see that we match (once again!).

Muses Oversee the LOC

I was reading Carol Logan Newbill's blog "Elephant's Child" and followed a link to the Library of Congress catalog. And I was captured by the two small illustrations on the main page. SO I copied them and post them here for your viewing pleasure. And luckily they had this blurb explaining what the heck they are:

From the Library of Congress website: "Information about the images: Two pendentive paintings by Edward J. Holslag are displayed from the Librarian's Room (Librarian's Ceremonial Office) located in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. On the left, "Efficiunt clarum studio" (Study, the watchword of fame); on the right, "Dulce ante omnia musae" (The Muses, above all things, delightful). "
I had to look up the word pen·den·tive (pn-dntv)n.
A triangular section of vaulting between the rim of a dome and each adjacent pair of the arches that support it.

Aha! So the muses preside over the Library of Congress. Somehow that just tickles my fancy.
Now you know how I proceeded to waste a lovely 20minutes....oh my, how much time this blog reading can take, well worth it to stay inspired and in touch with interesting, creative people.

Simple Still Life: December's:Capture the Light Results

This is my original picture that I worked with.
I love the dimensions shown in this, don't you just want to fall into this tunnel...
I like the contrast in the sky/tree background.
I love the criss-cross movement and the really yellowy intersections.
I think this one really "captures the light" well.

Simple Still Life: December's:Capture the Light

Is it Un-decorating Time yet?

You know it is finally time to put the holiday decorations away when the pets start wearing them.
Even they are tired of the Christmas tree/Chanukah Bush/Solstice greens taking up all the room in the house.

Self Portrait Tuesday - Personal History Week Two

Since today is Tuesday, that means it is time for SPT (Self Portrait Tuesday), this month we are exploring self portraits which show your personal history.
Part of my history of course involves high school. ahem. So here I am as a sophomore, a proud new member of the Tall Flags. (yes there were short flags too two @1.5' vs. our one @6'). We performed along with the marching band, short flags, and dance squad. I had given up performing in marching band to join Tall Flags. It was ever so much cooler to be a flag versus just a band member. And I was soooo tired of lugging my saxophone case to the bus stop.

So here I am just after giving up five years of happy saxophone playing and musical competence for the chance to wear a velveteen vest and matching short skirt instead of itchy band uniform and 2' high fuzzy red band hat. We got to wear cute uniforms to school on game days, and do stuff with the real cheerleaders and football players. Kind of a coolness by association. But really, not so much cool. Membership in an official group though, which was important to me. I was part of a group in band of course, but the band hat killed my hair, and I got too sweaty in that wool uniform. I loved being in flags at the time, it was something very different than band, and I felt good when we would win at competitions.

But now as a 41 year old, I really wish I had chosen to keep playing saxophone also. I was getting good at the time, getting solos in jazz band and so on. I think the idea of individual success wasn't ok for me yet, group success yes no problem, but I was struck by teenage uncertainty and a few years away still from self-confidence. If I knew then, what I know now, I'd tell myself to keep playing in the concert band, and do the flags, that I was plenty smart enough to manage my time, and I could still get good grades.

Four, For, Fore Quatro

Well, I was resisting doing the four MeMe, but then KC tagged me, so, sigh, ok here goes (grin)

Four Jobs I've had:
1. Easter Bunny (at the mall posing for pictures with frightened boggled kids who insisted the Easter Bunny absolutely could NOT be a GIRL!)
2. Financial Analyst/Accountant
3. Amazing Alfredeaux (age/weight/month of birth guesser) at Marriott's Great America (Now owned by Paramount boo)
4. Gift Wrapper at the mall during the holiday season

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1. LOTR trilogy
2. Matrix trilogy
3. Serenity
4. Monty Python Holy Grail
I know, I know that is really 8 movies, but I really really like watching movies.

Four Places You've Lived:
1. Saratoga, CA
2. Santa Cruz, CA
3. Berkeley, CA
4. Cupertino, CA
3rd generation California girl, born and raised.

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:
1. Simpsons
2. The Daily Show
3. My Name is Earl
4. Medium

Four Places You've Been on Vacation:
1. England
2. Hawaii
3. Europe (France, Spain, Italy,Germany, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Netherlands, Lichtenstein)
4. Jamaica

Four Websites You Visit Everyday
1. Google
2. dailykos.com
3. salon.com
4. yahoo

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Chocolate
2. Calzone
3. Prosciutto and melon
4. Sourdough bread

Four Places You'd Rather Be:
1. Reading with my cat on my lap
2. Making Something
3. Gardening
4. At the beach

Four Albums You Can't Live Without
1. American Idiot- Green Day
2. Everyday - Dave Matthews Band
3. San Francisco Days- Chris Isaak
4. Moulin Rouge soundtrack

Four People You'll Pass This On To
1. Marion
2.Jaye
3. Dara
4. Elle

Wasting Time on Saturday

Bold what is true about you:

APPEARANCE

I am shorter than 5'4.
I am taller than 5'11".
I have many scars.
I tan easily.
I don't shave my legs.
I wish my hair was a different color.

I have a tattoo, or more.
I am self-conscious about my appearance.
I have/had braces.
I wear glasses just to read.
I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.
I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger.
I have/had more than 2 piercings.
I have/had piercings in places besides my ears.

I have freckles.



FAMILY/HOME LIFE

I've sworn at my parents.
I've run away from home.
I've been kicked out of the house.
My biological parents are together.
I have a sibling less than one year old.
I want to have kids someday.
I have children.
I've lost a child.

SCHOOL/WORK
I'm in school.
I have a job.
I've fallen asleep at work/school.
I almost always do my homework.
I've missed a week or more of school.
I've been on the Honor Roll within the last 2 years (of school)
I failed more than 1 class last year.
I've stolen something from my job.
I've been fired.
I've skipped school.


EMBARRASSMENT

I've slipped out a "lol" in a spoken conversation.
Disney movies still make me cry.
I've peed from laughing.
I've snorted while laughing.
I've laughed so hard I've cried.
I've glued my hand to something.
I've laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
I've had my pants rip in public.


HEALTH

I was born with a disease/impairment.
I've gotten stitches.
I've broken a bone.
I've had my tonsils removed.
I've sat in a doctor's office with a friend.
I've had my wisdom teeth removed.
I've had serious surgery.
I've had chicken pox.
My vision is better than 20/20.


TRAVELING

I've driven over 200 miles in one day.
I've been on a plane.
I've been to Canada.
I've been to Mexico.
I've been to Niagara Falls.
I've been to Japan
I've been down under.
I've Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
I've been to Europe.
I've been to Africa.
I've been to Hell.


EXPERIENCES

I've gotten lost in my city.
I've seen a shooting star.
I've wished on a shooting star.
I've seen a meteor shower.
I've gone out in public in my pajamas.
I've pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
I've kicked a guy where it hurts.
I've been to a casino.
I've been skydiving.
I've gone skinny dipping.
I've played spin the bottle.
I've drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.
I've crashed a car.

I've been skiing.
I've been in a play.
I've met someone in person from the internet.
I've caught a snowflake on my tongue.
I've seen the Northern Lights.
I've sat on a roof top at night.
I've played chicken.
I've played a prank on someone.
I've ridden in a taxi.
I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I've eaten Sushi.
I've been snowboarding.


SEXUALITY

I've had a crush on more than one person.
I've had a crush on someone of the same sex.
I've kissed someone of the same sex.
I've had a crush on a teacher.
I am a cuddler.
I love to flirt.
I've been kissed in the rain.
I've hugged a stranger.
I've kissed a stranger.


HONESTY/CRIME

I am a terrible liar.
I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't.
I've done something I promised myself I wouldn't.
I've snuck out of my house.
I have lied to my parents about where I am.
I am keeping a secret from the world.
I've cheated while playing a game.
I've cheated on a test.
I've run a red light.
I've been suspended from school.

I've been in a fist fight

I've witnessed a crime

I've been arrested

I've shoplifted

DEATH & DYING

I'm afraid of dying.
I've fantasized about my own death.
I hate funerals.
I've seen someone dying.
Someone close to me has attempted suicide.
Someone close to me has commited suicide.
I've planned my own suicide.--In the past--Don't worry, I'm not suicidal now.
I've written a eulogy for myself.


MATERIALISM

I own over 5 rap CDs.
I own an iPod or MP3 player.
I have an unhealthy obsession with anime/manga.
I own multiple designer purses, costing over $100 a piece.

I own something from Hot Topic.
I own something from Pac Sun.
I collect comic books.
I own something from The Gap.
I own something I got on e-bay.
I own something from Abercrombie.


POLITICAL/SOCIAL ATTITUDES

In general, I don't like people.
I'm a feminist.
I'm very outgoing.
I listen to political music
I'm Democratic
I'm Republican.
I'm liberal.
I don't like Bush because he is dumb.
I don't like Bush with my own reasons to back it up.
I am for Bush.
I'm religious.
I dress fairly modestly. (but I wouldn't if I had a better body image)
My attitude is, "If you've got it, flaunt it."


RANDOM

I can sing well.
I've stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant.
I open up to others easily. (if I trust them)
I watch the news.
I don't kill bugs.
I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for the sake of being able to rhyme.
I curse regularly.
I sing in the shower.
I am a morning person.
I paid for my cell phone ring tone.
I'm a snob about grammar.
I am a sports fanatic.
I twirl my hair.
I have "x"s in my screen name.
I love being neat.
I've had Spam.
I've copied more than 30 CDs in a day.
I bake well.
My favorite color is blue.
I would wear pajamas to school.
I like Martha Stewart.
I know how to shoot a gun.
I am in love with love.
I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
I laugh at my own jokes.
I eat fast food weekly.
I am online 24/7, even as an away message.
I've not turned anything in and still got an A in a certain class.

I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room.
I am really ticklish.
I love white chocolate.
I bite my nails.
I play video games.
I'm good at remembering faces.
I'm good at remembering names.
I'm good at remembering dates.
I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.
My answers are totally honest.

Thanks to suburban treehugger for a fun wasting time kinda thing for a Saturday morning.

My new favorite road sign

Go make yer own! Thanks to croque-choux for the link.

Self Portrait Tuesday - History

This month, the assignment for Self-Portrait Tuesday, is to show Personal History.

Here I am on my great-grandma's lap, I'm about 7 or 8, so that would be 1971, it is Easter, I am wearing my trademark blue stretchy comfy headband and my all-time favorite dress which was brown and purple flowered calico, with a lace up purple velvet waistband and the smocked/embroidered white puffy sleeves. I swear I would wear that dress right now if there was one in my size. Look at how glossy my hair is, and how genuinely happy I look (I really was).

Great grandma is holding me and her glass of wine and we are sitting in my grandmother's chair in her corner of the grand living room of my grandparent's house on Mountain Boulevard in Oakland. I still have dreams about this house, it was huge and so nice, there were so many rooms to explore, and most of all the garden was magical to me. I don't remember her as well as the house, not sure why that is, visits with great-grandma were rare, at least in my memory. And to be honest, I'm not sure if this is Great-grandma Briggs or Stark. Oops. I wish I had a picture of Grandma Stark holding me on her lap, since she was the one I really remember, but she was always cooking in the kitchen when there was a big family gathering at her house. It was much more fun to visit with just my immediate family and get the grandparents more to myself.

This photo shows the corner where the fabric and yarn basket were, and the paper dolls that I liked cut out of McCall's magazine (was it Betsy something?). I used to hang out here while Grandma would be sewing in her chair and listening to the A's on the radio. She had to explain a lot of baseball to me before I could follow it well enough. I do believe I formed a lot of my artistic self in this very spot. I would lie on the carpet and soak in all the beautiful colors and textures in that room and feel very safe and loved and lucky. I felt lucky because I was at that time becoming aware of the many other children in the world who weren't. I remember looking at the newspapers and trying to make sense of the war pictures, and asking about it, and getting very unsatisfactory answers.

Blame it on the Rainbow

Here is my recently completed quilt "Blame it on the Rainbow", for the "Why is the Sky Blue?" quiltart challenge. It is 32.5"h x 15.5"w.
I looked up the scientific explanation, because I was a little fuzzy on the details. And I love all those words, like frequency, argon, light waves and vapor. So I quilted them all in there.

Resolutions - Schmesolutions!

Your New Year's Resolutions

1) Get a pet skunk 2) Eat more chocolate syrup 3) Travel to France 4) Study human sexuality 5) Get in shape with street fighting

What Should Your New Year's Resoluton Be?

1)Well, skunks are awfully cute, and I know you can get them de-stinkified, and we surely have enough around her to chose a nice full tailed one. But wouldn't my black and white cat be jealous?

2) Eat MORE chocolate syrup. How funny, since I just right now before I did this quiz was making coffee and my son was making chocolate milk (with chocolate syrup), and I almost asked him to shoot some in my coffee. So, ok, I'll do it!

3) Travel to France. Do I have to? I'd really rather go to Spain or Italy or New Zealand. Oh, oh, France, dramatic sigh.

4) Um, ok. Any books to recommend, or do I have to go out and do field research. Not sure my husband would be too keen on that!

5) Street Fighting? Who am I supposed to be fighting? The many herds of deer rambling up and down my street? No thanks, I did actually fight a mama deer once, and lost quite badly. How about if I just watch the movie Street Fighter, there must be one, right?

I can't think of a better way to start out the New Year with.....
a QUIZ! Thanks to DebR for this one.

Oh, hey and go check out my friend Marion's new blog:
ArtMixter.