Archive for the ‘texture’ Category

Still lots of photos from Thursday’s trip to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Plus some cool art the kids at school have done, and lots of great images from a bookbinder’s convention here in Tucson. All in good time…….To recap, I was looking for texture, color, interesting combinations, trying some new things for framing beyond centering items, and playing with my exposure settings. No color touch-ups.

Pineapple rooted and growing – I will need to try this.

I love the orange against all that green.

This is one of the more successful pictures of this fountain I have gotten – you can see the water dripping.

I love the variety of greens as you head up to the sky, with the first pomegranates.

Interesting lines with the stones.

My zen garden – one of my favorite spots in the whole garden.

Another shot of the zen garden.

Great leaf, lots of greens – and so big!

I really like the composition of this one – I’d like the purple to be stronger.

I love the light and shadow in this one.

Great lines…..

Spider plants

These look so velvety.

More fence throughout the garden.

I want to take the gate and work with it some more in a collage.

Let me know what you think – ideas, suggestions, improvements……….

It is so good to be back doing some photography, some Photoshop, and just generally playing around. Hubby and I went for a two-hour stroll through the Tucson Botanical Gardens, since it now is mid-80’s, and you can be out and about and not feel like you’re burning up.

Took the camera and just looked at texture and framing. Color has not been adjusted at all. I did play around a bit with exposure…discovered that on the camera, so had to try it out.

It always amazes me that no matter how many times I go to the Botanical Gardens in Tucson, I always find something new.  Yes, it’s still comparatively green here in the desert, even in mid-October. Take a look, and let me know your favorites. What would you change, which ones do you like, what suggestions do you have for framing?

So what do you think?

Yesterday I wrote about what’s happening with the bamboo piece. Here’s a sneak piece of it in VERY rough form:

Now to today’s story – my piece for “My World in Black and White,” a show curated by Anne Copeland, like around 2003. This was a challenge issued on the QuiltArt list, and I decided to try something. Here’s the piece:

This was the first show where I realized I had to pay more attention to the theme. Mine was a more abstract look at black and white. We marbled a three-quarter-yard piece of unpolished white satin in blacks and whites. There was still a little orange left in the tray from a previous piece, so the name became “Black and White with a Hint.” I cut five strips and quilted them, following the marbled patterns. You can see the hints of orange.

At this point, I really didn’t know what form this was going to take. I decided to stagger each of the strips, but it was pretty boring with just the strips. That’s when the “hidden” architect in me took over. I marbled some ribbon, serged the edges of the ribbon to carry the serging motif through, and attached it to some strips of gray cotton. I did eight strips all together, some of them plain with just a meandering quilting line, and some with the ribbon, and then I wove them through the other strips.

I liked how it was shaping up, and now I had to deal with a hanging system, as well as finishing the bottom. I figured I wanted some beads to hang at the bottom. I went to the local bead store and found these teardrops – have NEVER seen anything like them since then.

If you look closely, you can see how each strip gets hand-stitched to the ones around and underneath it. I figured I would use a plexiglass rod for the hanging system. I marbled some thinner ribbon, and with careful measurements attached the various lengths at the top, with a bead embellishment.

I learned a lot, as I seem to do on every piece, and this is still one of my favorites – my first piece to travel (to Ontario, CA as well as the online exhibit), my first piece that was professionally appraised, my first piece that “hung” in a very different style, and my first ribbon (for entering, but none-the-less still special!).

I am really enjoying revisiting these pieces and their stories. I hope you enjoy as well.

So it’s been an interesting Saturday, with almost giving up at 1o this morning, thinking I would just submit one piece, rather than trying to show my overall style – which is certainly unique – any maybe too different…. My leaves are done, and my strips are done. I know how I’m going to make the grass and what stones I am going to use. But it’s the actual layout….

I want a stand of bamboo. My original idea, some eight years ago, was to have it free-hanging – strips of bamboo, with some type of hanging system at the very top. Well, I figured if I did the leaves all at the top, I could put a casing behind them for a rod. When I actually had it on the design wall this morning…didn’t really grab me.

Then I tried one of the jungle background fabrics, figuring I could make a background and attach the bamboo on top of it. Well…I ironed, pinned to the wall, added the strips, and then added leaves at the top….and…it was better, but certainly not a grabber. I tried shortening the strips – after all, they were at least 50 inches – nice, tall bamboo. Somewhat better.

I played around with a different leaf arrangement. Nope. Tried more strips beyond the five. Nope. While I like 8 because it’s a Fibonacci number, there was too much bamboo.

Last Sunday I went to my local quilt shop, Quilter’s Market (the BEST store, except for G Street….) with strips in hand to look at some other potential background fabric. I found one that was fairly “jungle-y” and worked with the browns and the greens. I pulled that out, ironed it, and cut it in half – top and bottom. I pinned the strips back on…this time I had them straight, but I had the top angled into the forest….five strips kind of angled downward from left to right….added the leaves in some different arrangements, and voila – I LIKE it! Now it’s more what I had in my mind. I needed to shorten the strips and angle them – while bamboo grows straight, it ain’t perfect.

I need to go buy about another third of a yard for binding. (They were almost at the end of the bolt last week…hmmm…) I’ve been going back and forth about a frame or not. I am thinking a simple binding, as I don’t want to constrain the bamboo with a frame around the jungle, especially as I plan to have leaves out and about the edging. There is a possibility I will need to make more leaves – I have most of what I need, but they are pretty time-consuming. At this point I can see myself making the deadline, especially with another whole weekend available. And I’m pleased…so we’ll see about progress tomorrow. I promise a small picture when it’s a little more together.

This whole process is extremely interesting. I find myself making more and more complex decisions as I learn new techniques and expand what my sewing workhorse (Bernina 1080) and serger (Bernette) will do – or what I will make them do. I will say my serger wasn’t totally happy with my choice of threads (some really fancy light-weight ones) for the edging…but except for re-threading the needle, I was in pretty good shape. I just need to remember to put the serger back into its original sewing condition for hubby to serge the new fabric for the Labor marbling…he’s not real thrilled with having to thread the machine….

Carol Taylor

I managed to finish up the two small quilts based on the work of Carol Taylor and her “arc-i-texture” style. The DVD is from Interweave, and they have some scrumptious ones to choose from. I learned a few things, particularly about couching, and I finally got my satin stitch to work. I do want to try one with printed fabrics, but I really like the pay of light on the silk pieces.

Here’s the first finished one, in greens for Shelby, one of the twin girls I have know for a long time.

The edges were finished by adding a facing all the way around. I also showed you last week the beginnings of the quilt for Brianne, the other twin.

It’s pretty darn bland at this point, and I was worried about how it would finish. I next did my satin stitch to couch down the pieces of silk.

Definitely looking better. I do like the effect of the satin stitch, with a King Tut variegated from Superior Threads. From here I started the couching. I found some fuzzy blue yarns to try, one of which I liked, and one of which I ripped out.

Once I got the hang of how to use the couching foot, I really liked adding the circles. I learned to trust the machine and the foot and not to pull.

Finally the finished product:

Still not totally pleased with it. It’s missing that certain spark, definitely in the picture. It looks better in person – you can’t see the rumpled silk. I used a regular binding on this one, because I felt the blues helped accent the main part of the design. But this is all part of The Process Pledge…writing about what I am doing and learning, and I did learn a lot. And I know the twins will love them.

This pic is a current shot of the bamboo leaves in progress. I started with those about three weeks ago, sandwiching the thread between sheets of Dissolve to create thread fabric. I started doing the free motion on the top, using a variety of different threads. Still have no idea how this is going to turn out. Hopefully I will have the completed piece next week – or at least the leaves, as I start back to school next Wednesday. We’ll have to see…

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Gaia 2: Beginnings. Photography Steven DeVol

I love this piece, absolutely my favorite so far of everything I’ve ever done. I really had no idea going in to this just what would emerge…everything was trial and error, but thankfully, very little error.

This piece started as a result of finishing a commission that was done on red unpolished satin. Six half-yard pieces were marbled, with my using a total of four of the finished pieces. My idea was to create a piece that would represent the volcanic origins of the earth and the goddess Pele. For the longest time this piece was known simply as “Pele.” I used a different marbling pattern on each of the half-yards, as I wanted interest within the piece.

Ever since my first teaching job on Maui, I have been fascinated with the stories of Pele, the Fire Goddess, and I was always on the lookout for the Lady in White when I drove home over the Pali at night. I didn’t realize it then, but Pele and fire have woven their ways through much of my work.

I really had no idea how these were going to weave together. I experimented and ended up with this weaving, starting with a tighter bottom and then “exploding,” much like magma does as it reaches the surface and becomes lava. The only problem with this shape came as I realized I had to figure out a way to anchor everything together. The strips are heavily hand-stitched together on the back – twice, as I discovered I had to make it much tighter to hold the weight of the piece.

A free-form pattern makes up the bottom four strips. The next four strips are the “wave” pattern, and the last four strips are what we call the ”fountain” pattern. A fourth pattern of a very small feather was ultimately not used in the weaving.

Each piece was sandwiched and serged with a variegated thread before any quilting was done. I liked the effect from the variegated thread, and I use that technique a lot now. But I have since changed how I put the individual strips together, with serging only one side or none at all, leaving another design element for later. The free-form strips were quilted using a variegated Sulky thread to accent the pattern. The four “wave” strips were quilted by following an initial curved line throughout each of the pieces and then coming back with a different metallic thread to accent the marbled pattern. The four “fountain” pieces were quilted in a distinctly different shade of thread to accent the eruption of lava.

Gaia 2: Beginnings. Photography Steven DeVol

Now, you have to understand I hadn’t done a whole lot of machine quilting to this point, beyond stitch-in-the-ditch. This was brand new territory for me! But ultimately I was hooked….I quilt most of my marbled fabrics now, and the patterns can be very zen-like to quilt. Here’s another close-up:

Close-up of Quilting

I truly love this piece, and I know I’ll never get another one just like it. It’s a little bold for any of our walls where we are living now, but one day, when I retire and the place is a little bigger, it will hang again!

For those of you who haven’t subscribed to our newsletter, we are doing a drawing again from all our subscribers for a FREE Sampler Package 1. You can visit our website to see this. Be sure to sign up – the form is at the top on the right.

And…tell me the story of one of your favorite pieces. I’ll include stories in a future “Sunday Stories” post.

My thread arrived yesterday!! Lots of new greens, so I want to start in on the bamboo leaves tomorrow. Expect an update next Wednesday – and maybe even finished….

I wrote a while ago about using some dvd’s for professional instruction and how much I am enjoying this new manner of learning. One of the dvds was by Carol Taylor, about design. She called her method “arc-i-texture,” and by the time the video was done, I wanted to try it out. A long-time friend has twin girls whom we got reacquainted with in Vermont, so I am making them housewarming presents. Shelby likes greens, and Brianne likes blues. This started because Shelby gave me lots of small pieces of various silks to try and marble. For whatever reason (I think too much sizing) they didn’t marble well, so I decided to use them for this project.

While I finished Shelby’s, except for the facing, here’s Brianne’s to show you how I started out.

All I did was arrange some rectangles into a fairly pleasing design. At this point, ho hum – doesn’t look like anything. The next step will be to anchor each of the pieces, which I will do using a satin stitch on each of the edges. That will provide another layer of interest. Once that is done, I will couch down a variety of threads for a third layer of interest. What I found with this project is that as I attacked each new layer, the piece not only became more and more complex, but also more interesting. Here’s Shelby’s, so you can see what the final piece will look like:

Way more interesting! While I have a couching foot, I haven’t used it before this, and I do like how it works. I learned to give the yarns some play and let the machine and the foot do the work. Next piece shouldn’t have the drawing up of the fabric from my pulling the yarns. I will say for the blue one I tried a whole bunch of stores trying to find some interesting yarns and trims.

Carol mentions in her video that she’s made something like 400-plus of these, and I can see getting addicted. I like the sheen and play of the silk, especially since the “nap” is going in different directions and takes the light differently, but I want to play with some lights, mediums, and darks from my stash for the next couple.

I want to know what videos and dvds you’ve watched for instruction and inspiration!

I have been thinking about the leaves for the bamboo piece. As I mentioned last Wednesday, I think the silk leaves would be too plain, and I didn’t like how they marbled, and I think thread leaves would be too fragile for such a sturdy plant. Then it occurred to me to do what I do in the classroom – it’s not an either/or, so why not combine the two.

I started by cutting a piece of Dissolve from Superior Threads and taped it to an old cutting mat – that stuff is slippery. Then I started layering some of the old yucky threads I have.

Leaves in Progress 1

Leaves in Progress 2

At this point it occurred to me that I could layer the silk leaves across this base of thread, after I pulled off the wire from the backing.

Leaves in Progress 3

I turned some of them wrong side up, figuring I would be stitching on both sides of the sandwich, so I would get some additional effects front and back.

Leaves in Progress 4

I am pleased to say it occurred to me earlier not to run the overhead fan in the studio while I was working on this….At this point I am ready to layer more thread on the top of this. Keep in mind I have no idea if this is going to work….

Leaves in Progress 5

Now at this point I need to cut another piece of Dissolve to go over the top of this.

Leaves in Progress 6

Leaves in Progress 7

Now it is ready for stitching. I need to order some thread – Razzle Dazzle to use in the bobbin, and some green Lava for top and bottom. I figure I can order this week and while I’m waiting, I can finish up the bamboo strips. Once I cut everything apart, all the little slivers will become part of the base where the strips are mounted. I don’t know if I will need more leaves. I am counting on the leaves at the top to hide the hanging system. I do have plenty of silk leaves – I would need to get some more cheap thread if I need to do more thread work.

Any of you try anything like this? Suggestions? Ideas? Pitfalls? Inquiring minds and all that….

(Think Horschak) Oooh, Oooh, Oooh……I have some great tree agate I have been collecting from the gem shows….they would add some interest and weight to the bottom of the piece…I knew there was a reason I was collecting them……

I love reading blogs about the stories behind the art we create. It occurred to me I could document (primarily for myself) the process and story behind some of our pieces in our gallery on the website. There is a page on the site with some very early quilts, including an original design for a math program I participated in.

This is the PRIME quilt – the name of the program was Promoting Reform in Mathematics Education, and it was a total of 6 weeks over three summers at the University of Arizona. We gave this quilt to our professors at the end of the third summer, and it still resides in the math department.

The center is the program itself, with the first few prime numbers. Each triangle attached to it is the name of one of the professors, with a little graphic representing each one; Fred, for example, had the calculator. The four corners are the teacher assistants we had, and each of the blocks is made with marbled fabric and a PRIME number of pieces. Let me tell you, the block with 37 pieces was a doozy to do.

We all signed the back of the quilt and presented it with the message that a puzzle was built into the quilt. Five 9 years later I filled in two of the professors as to what the puzzle was – the prime number of pieces. This was a fun quilt to design.

The quilt that started me on my present journey with marbled fabric is Gaia 1: Interdependence.

Gaia 1: Interdependence

This is kind of a cross between a traditional stone pattern, some basic combing of paint, and some chevron pattern. When the fabric came out of the tray, I liked the interplay of the turquoise with the earthy colors. The turquoise reminded me of the gifts from the earth. I don’t know why I started to cut into strips – maybe just because I wanted to try weaving something. I really don’t remember.

I had five strips and nothing was working. Then I decided to just weave it back and forth and see what would happen. I liked where it was going and cut the strips in half so I would have more to work with. I used a thin batting (which I since use exclusively) and backed it with a fossil fern fabric. Then I started to quilt, just by following the lines of the fabric. I went for three hours without stopping because I was loving how it was working.

I didn’t want bindings. I thought it would detract from the message of interdependence of all the elements on earth. Then I hit on serging the edges. Now this was before I really understood what a serger can do. I still hadn’t figured out rolled edges. But I knew I wanted some type of variegated thread, so I just experimented.

Then came trying to hold it together. I used a LOT of pins and very carefully pulled the weaving off the design wall onto the quilting table upside-down and started to stitch all the strips together. Let me tell you, that took forever….

Well, the problems weren’t over. A basic sleeve wasn’t going to work for hanging, so I spent a few weeks trying to figure that out. I ended up buying a set of napkin rings with an earthy feel to them and looked for a piece of bamboo. The big problem was anchoring the napkin rings to the strips – with a lot of delicate sewing….but the piece has hung for five years in an office in Tucson with not a single problem.

I knew when this was finished I was on to something. The bamboo I am currently working on will be the fourth in the Gaia series of weavings. I do want to do more…the images I saw of rice paddies in southern China would make another interesting weaving…..

Like so many of you, I am a regular reader of Robert Genn’s Twice Weekly Letter. This latest one looked at the traditional master-apprentice role in the arts, and I was particularly taken with some of the thoughts, especially since marbling has always followed this road. Apprentices worked with masters for years, learning and absorbing every trick and skills through watching – and later on by doing.

This made me think of how we get our own art educations, a topic near and dear for so many of us. I’m self-taught in virtually everything I have done artistically. I would hazard a guess that this is true for most of us baby boomer women. We were encouraged to go into paths that would support us or provide for families, with little thought as to what would make our hearts sing. As we’ve gotten older we have become more expressive.

Self taught. It seems to be fine in so many fields to say you are self-taught – tutored in life. But not in art. At least for me, I still feel intimidated when I see in a CV of someone in an art show all their schooling and formal coursework in the arts. My own art education early on consisted of a few art projects in elementary school and then a “class” as an elective in high school where we churned out particular projects. But nothing in creativity. Which ties in to a recent article in Newsweek on the dearth of creativity in modern classrooms and education.

I’m rambling, I know. But I’ve had to learn how to be creative, to break through the “OMG, what will it look like?” phase of making art. Would working with a master have helped this? I don’t know, but it probably wouldn’t have hurt any.

Who are our masters in the arts today? From whom do we study and learn? Enter the Internet, the cheap equalizer to getting an art education. The joke in our family always was that if my dad wanted to learn how to do something new, he would read a book. Well, I got that gene. I read everything I can get my hands on if it’s something I am really interested in. But that can get to be expensive, although still cheaper than a formal education or coursework.

The internet has opened up huge resources for us. I started on TV with Sewing with Nancy and Eleanor Burns and Kaye Woods. I picked up all kinds of hints – and reasons why something I was already doing (through guesswork) wasn’t working. Like many of us, I have taken workshops when I can afford it. Jennie Rayment and her muslin creations still stick in my mind – such possibilities for texture!

Just one of Jennie Rayment's books

The first professional workshop on marbling was with Galen Berry (over a year ago) and it was wonderful – lots of questions answered, problems solved, and energy renewed. We started to zoom ahead in our skills.

Galen Berry

Then I went to the School of Threadology with Superior Threads. Yes, I know I rave about their threads, but the professional education I received over the three days with Bob and Heather Purcell was priceless. My work has taken a dramatic turn for the better – and I don’t break thread anymore….

School Of Threadology

Now I’ve discovered Interweave and their dvds on quilting and other artistic endeavors. Better than a book because I can see things actually being done.

Interweave

I watched a leaf tutorial by Heidi Lund and already picked up a bunch of hints to try something totally new for my bamboo piece. Carol Taylor’s video on her Arc-i-Texture techniques had me making a new quilt last night to try out the ideas…and I must say I’m loving it! And Susan Brubaker Knapp’s video on machine quilting corrected a whole bunch of errors I have puzzled over.

Carol Taylor

Susan Brubaker Knapp

Heidi Lund

And of course we can’t forget YouTube. I have been devouring and studying very closely the wealth of marbling videos on line.

So my question to you is: What’s the best professional development you’ve ever attended – the one that has changed how you do your art? I want to know!

PS – all of these recommendations are unsolicited – they’re just stuff I have learned from and appreciate – nothing comes to me as a result of you checking these out! (OK, FCC – happy?)

I have to say, I have been busy. I originally was thinking nothing was going to happen art-wise in July because of so much work on the business. I was wrong…the last week has been incredibly productive. Last Wednesday I wrote about my lava piece just telling me it really wasn’t finished. Here’s last week:

And here it is now, since it told me it was “finished:”

Midnight Lava Flow

Turns out it needed actual lava – those little round pieces are actual chunks of lava I collected over a couple of visits to the Tucson Gem Show each February. I also added more lava flows, and nothing really interferes with the quote on the back. This is going to go up in the newly-developing Etsy store.

My “purse” didn’t make it as a purse…I loved the play of the fabrics together, but I couldn’t get handles to work the way I wanted them to…so now it’s a nice new basket for collecting fabric scraps.

If you were reading on Sunday, you saw the finished “Desert Heat” quilt, now on the wall in our bedroom.

Now I am working on my “bamboo” quilt, started about 5 years ago with a piece of marbled fabric in the chevron pattern. One of the things I like about this quilting is that it is very zen-like, in that you can just follow the lines of the patterns. You can see the original piece of fabric here. You’ll see what I mean about the lines of the pattern.

As I was quilting yesterday, it occurred to me to take pictures of the process, and then that led me to think about putting together a tutorial on quilting marbled fabric. There is an interesting story behind the quilting. Years ago I pretty much just put marbled fabrics with blacks, as I wasn’t sure at all about my color sense. I did slowly branch out, but it was Quilt artist Ellen Kohen who took a piece of fabric and quilted it. I knew there was more I could do with the fabric, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it. Once I saw what Ellen had done, I was hooked, but it took confidence to start the free motion needed to accent these patterns. Starting this Sunday, I’m going to introduce “Sunday Stories,” and I’ll take a look at the story behind each of the pieces in my gallery on the website.

For today, here’s a close-up look at one of the bamboo strips (which I am aiming to finish by mid-August, as I want to enter it into an art quilt show with my “Ocean’s Bounty.”) You can easily see all the “lines” in the pattern and how I have followed the lines with a variety of different colored threads. The problem you might run into (as I have) is when to stop with the lines – you can get easily sucked in to quilting everything.

Chevron pattern

Serged edge

You can see the serged edge in this piece – which is how I usually finish these weaving pieces. I’ve learned over the years not to serge until I am finished with the machine quilting.

Walking foot

This is with my walking foot, but I’m not totally happy with the control with this foot. Because there are slight curves to these lines, I use my regular foot and am quite happy with it. I think this is probably a personal preference. I tried the free motion foot on this, but I didn’t have the control and even stitches I wanted for this design.

I have four and a half “strands” of bamboo finished at this point. I can quilt for a couple of hours, listening to some John Denver and just kinda zone…as I mentioned earlier this week, I am amazed at just how much I get done when I think a project will take forever. Now what probably will take forever will be the leaves. I’ve tried marbling some silk leaves – not happy with them. I am thinking some thread leaves, but they may not seem “sturdy” enough for this hardy plant. I do know thread leaves would be a great use of all my lousy threads I have hanging around. I haven’t broken any threads with some 6 hours of quilting – have I told you how much I love my Superior Threads?

If you would be interested in a tutorial on quilting marbled fabric, please leave me a comment and let me know. If you’ve got pictures of some marbled fabric that you have quilted, I would LOVE to see it.

This has been a great week for goodies on the web. Great eye candy and inspiration.

* I subscribe to Dumb Little Man, and every now and then they have something that really resonates. This week it was “How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude.” The article is based off this quote from Tecumseh: When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself. ~Tecumseh You can read the article here. Great words to live by.

Bien Mur

* Speaking of Native Americans, I picked up a great book at Bien Mur, the art gallery at the Sandia Pueblo in Albuquerque called “Native Wisdom for White Minds.” This is full of wisdom from indigenous people around the world, set up as a saying a day, so you have inspiration throughout the year. The book is available from Amazon – search on the left (disclaimer – I’m an affiliate, so if you order, I get a few pennies.).

From today, July 13 – “Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred.” ~Audrey Shenendoah, Onandagan writer

Jane Dunnewold

* “What’s Trite, What’s Not” from Existential Neighborhood by Jane Dunnewold. Jane is an amazing fiber artist and I was licky enough last year to follow along on her daily photo inspirations. Is life trite? Here’s a provoking thought: “And there’s the paradox. The activities that keep me centered, authentic, and real could easily be dismissed as trite. It’s all phrasing and context. How much outside influence have you bought into lately?”

* Making Mondays – and Your Week – More Productive. Well, who doesn’t want to! There are seven questions to help guide you to more productivity – all of them worth thinking about.

iStock

* Self-Inflicted Time Management from Time Management Ninja (great name!). If you have issues with any of the following, read this post!

• Missed Deadlines
• Late Fees
• More Work Due to Undone Tasks
• Lateness
• Disorganization

Productivity501

* The Myth of Multi-tasking from Productivity 501. I thought it was just because I was getting older – I really thought I could multi-task well. Age has shown me I can’t… “It turns out that humans are amazingly horrible at multi-tasking. Many people feel like they are improving their focus by multitasking when they are really doing the opposite.”This is a good read.

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John Pugh

We were down on the Embarcadero, where the ship used in Master and Commander was anchored. Walked all over it, and I was left with the thought that making those voyages across the seas was quite fearsome and heroic.

Two cruise ships were in, both unloading at the same time. The traffic was pretty intense – seems like you may want to go first class, but you are still left with facing the crowds getting on and off the ship.

Walked the top only of the Soviet sub – now that’s a serious case of claustrophobia!


Loads of African Aloe – looks like it’s ready to eat the next passerby. This stuff really is amazing. We used to have some in our yard, and it was great to break off a piece and use the liquid to sooth a sunburn.

Lots more texture –






I just want to draw faces on all those gnarly knots!

The “dream rooms” as part of the perspective project have gone really well. I have learned so much from this assignment in how to kick my right brain into gear to break down art tasks into elements the kids can follow. Ironic, isn’t it, that since I am nearly done with art class I am figuring out how to actually teach it!

The use of the math vocabulary has been so extensive – I really had no idea just how much you use the vocabulary of math in art. If these kids don’t know “parallel” by now, they never will! It has been so interesting to see how parallel lines play such an important part in creating perspective drawings. I showed a few of the dream rooms to my eighth graders, and they really kicked the assignment into gear. I have found it also helps if I work at a table with a few of the kids, on my own drawing, and then answer questions and give suggestions.

This was really funny Thursday with some of my eighth grade boys. We had a great time – we were working on rooms together, and the “hard-core” guys were asking me to add stuff – like a Playboy Bunny logo on their full-ceiling plasma TV (hey, these are dream rooms) – so I sketched the logo – very lightly so that they would have to go over it and make it their own. You should have seen their eyes bug out when they realized I knew how to do that!

Next week I should be able to get pictures of rough drafts and their final copies – quite impressive, for a teacher who doesn’t have a clue!

That said, we started working with texture Friday. Again, thanks to a great website,
Intro to Art I had a good way to get the kids started. I worked up a PowerPoint on tonal, crosshatch, and linear textures, and made a worksheet with guidelines for them to follow. Then I had them repeat that exercise using charcoal…and that’s another story….