Busy week, computer issues, minor injuries

I have been busy this last week but computer issues and a minor injury to my left hand have kept me from posting. The injury occurred at the storage unit where I was trying to get to some art supplies that got buried on the bottom and at the back of the storage space. I managed to cut myself across the top of my knuckle and so needed a brace to keep my finger from bending and opening the wound, hence the emery board brace.

However, I was able to create 2 more bowls, both smaller than the first, and attempt a drawing of my cell phone before hurting myself. I also had time to fill a page of fun doodles and, last night, while feeling no pain I drew the source of my painlessness. :)

Finally home

I'm finally home from the trip to Tennessee, the laundry is done, and the husband is off to Tuscon. I managed to finish one of my moon phase socks, or sun and moon, I can't decide what to call them and started the toe of sock number 2. If I'm diligent it will be done in a couple of weeks. But that means I have to be diligent. :)

I worked on a journal page last night and today made a fabric bowl from bits left over from other projects.

Hotel art

Used a tombow pen to draw this task chair from my hotel room. Then took a water brush to the drawing.
Now I'm headed to downtown Nashville to see the sights.

On the road

I've been in Tennessee since Sunday and just getting around to posting. However I have been making art most of those days.

These images are from the road trip on the way. Beautiful sunset and ice on the rocks along the way. The trip made me realize how much I miss seeing mountains. It's also been an interesting couple of days with cold weather, then warm weather, tornado warnings and thunderstorms, and now back to freezing temps. Of course those of you in Washington are dealing with your own weather extremes right now.

These two sketches are of the same tree outside the hotel window that I did on consecutive days. You'll have to trust me that it's the same tree. :)

And,finally, today's snack

More Doodles

Since I hate to throw anything away I decided to use the remnants of the sheet used to make the cover for the telescope to try my hand at free-motion quilting. As with anything that takes eye/hand coordination I'm definitely going to have to practice. However, I got really jazzed at the potential.

Telescope Evening Wear

I'm not really sure if this qualifies as art but it certainly was creative. My husband presented me with a problem he had and this was my solution. I was more than happy to oblige since he is my patron and muse.

The problem - how to keep ambient light from interfering with his views of the skies when using his telescopes on our apartment balcony. My solution - an evening gown for his hand built Dob telescope. This particular gown was originally intended for the larger telescope that's on the right in this picture, but there was a miscalculation of the circumference of the tube. I'm glad he had a smaller one I could practice on.

Here are some of the views I've enjoyed while peering through his telescopes. Saturn, the moon, and the Orion Nebula.

Gray and rainy

The weather today reminds me of the Pacific Northwest.

I've been trying my hand at art journaling again because it looks like so much fun. Well, other journals look fun. Now I need to actually do some journaling.

Doodling...

...Tangling, or whatever you want to call it, I get to make marks on paper without really representing anything.

Outside my comfort zone

Really most of my art making these days is outside my comfort zone. Mostly I'm a fiber artist, spinning, dyeing, weaving, and knitting. Lately I've been compelled to branch out. To that end I did a bit of mixed media journaling with "mixed" success.

Quilting project done for January

Finished the last four blocks and tomorrow I'll move on to something else.

Jump start on next Christmas

Today was spent working on quilts for my grandkids (4 of them) for next Christmas. I'll be doing 2 different blocks per month, per quilt, so it should be a leisurely project. I have 6 done but might redo the last 2.

Hikes and a sketch

This last weekend saw very mild temps in my area so my husband and I took the opportunity to do some hiking and sight seeing. We visited the Raleigh Arboretum and I was amazed at the number of plants in bloom. Certainly different from Southern Oregon where I just moved from.



On New Year's Day we hiked at William B. Umstead State Park. It was an especially warm morning. This area is full of quartz which holds a great fascination for me. Must be its sparkly nature.


Yesterday I made a small sketch of some of my findings.