Sneaking in another one

Thought I should get at least two posts in during April!  The wind is blowing again.  Can't say I have missed it this past week.  Another system is moving north of us, carrying moisture into WY, NE, and parts east.  Typical weather pattern since last fall.

The flower garden needs to be rebuilt.  We cut the apple tree down and now there is plenty of sun.  The tulips are hanging in there despite the mess they have to live in this year.  For some reason, spring has come and I am not ready this year.

The plants in the greenhouse are growing.  The tomatoes have been transplanted twice and will need to be transplanted again next week.  The petunias are looking very nice and will go into the containers and hanging baskets in a couple of weeks, along with verbena, nemesia, alyssum, love in a mist, poppies, and a few other flowering plants.  Doesn't seem like it should be time to do all of this again, but it is. 

The cucumber will stay in the greenhouse throughout the summer or until bugs move in and take it over.  We are hoping the bugs stay out for at least another month, two would be even better.  The cukes are the English variety.  They seem to like the greenhouse better than the conditions outside in the garden.  Can't imagine why those huge leaves don't like the wind in this part of the country??!!!! 

April!!! Where did it go???

I can't believe we are completing the fourth month of the year 2011.  I thought I would have accomplished more by now, I am finding that to be the usual scenario around here. 

  The daffodils have bloomed and shriveled and last year's garden debris still surrounds them.  Half of the beds are cleaned, but that still leaves the other half.  The birds have had some wonderful nesting material though.  We did cut down the obnoxious apple tree that produced worthless apples.  I didn't like doing it as a number of birds liked it, but enough was enough.  I was also loosing the sun in the flower bed. 

 I had great plans to work on more mixed media projects, several friends and I were going to hold one another accountable to work on different techniques in dyeing and mixed media.  The only positive thing I can say about that is that they have found little time to do them as well.  I will say they get more done than I do though, just not our challenges, but it makes me feel a little better.   
 
I was going to draw as well.  I have done a little of that, but darned little.  I will travel to Oregon in a months time with another friend and undertake Drawing II in Hollis Masterclass series.  And yes, I will be in class # 7 next year in TX, but I do things a little backward most of the time.  Nothing new here!!! 

I started the Artful Journaling class with Laure Ferlita .  I have come to the conclusion that is where my watercolor endeavors are going to stay for awhile, journal pages.  Here again, I was taking classes that come after these basic classes.  Ah well.  This is the latest page I painted.  Have another one I did from the England class that hasn't been posted anywhere yet, not even in the class blog.

In catching up on my e-mail this morning, I read a note from Robert Genn's newsletter, about working on small projects, one after the other.  Learning what works, what doesn't, moving on, failing and learning.  And anyone who knows me, knows I start a lot of things and seldom finish them unless they really turn me on and I have dabbled in a number of things over the years.  It made sense to me, maybe I am on to something?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I had been thinking about changing the name of my blog.  I have come across a number of catchy names and thought "I Started..." was a little hum drum, but I think I will leave as is for now.  It still fits perfectly.   

Fence post quilt

Thought I would post a photo of a quilt I recently made.  It was an assignment from last year's Master Series class.  And yes, I did get it made before going to TX in February.


 Hollis had given us a photo and we had to make a piece representing our feelings when viewing the photo.  Not the best description of the assignment, but good enough.  


I have been taking photos of fence posts for several years as I find them very interesting.  Probably because they have always been a part of my life in some way or another.  


Some posts have a great deal of character, while others are rather humdrum.  I am guessing most people pay little, if any, attention to fence posts.  If one happens to be checking for broken posts or broken wires, they might give a post a second look. In our area there are fewer posts all the time as most of the land is farmed.  When a fence line borders farm land, it provides excellent pheasant habitat.    


I made the post in layers, did some stitching on parts of the post before putting the layers together and quilting it.  I drew barbed wire, placed that drawing on the copier, fused the brown fabric to steam a seam and then ran the fabric through the printer.  It printed the image of the barbed wire on to the fabric.  After cutting out the barbed wire pieces I then fused them onto the quilt.  I stitched all of the grass before quilting, but went back over some of the grass when I quilted it to anchor that area.  

Back to watercolors

I finally got back to sketching and painting today.  I am currently taking a class from Laure Ferlita of Imaginery Trips.  Great class, only problem is that Luare posted lesson # 4 yesterday and I didn't paint until today.  I won't even discuss the Visit to the Beach class I am taking from here as well.  I have painted a few things in that one, but not very happy with them and they probably won't appear anywhere.  I can tell it has been awhile since I last painted. 

So long story short, I am not really in England, one just pretends to be there while taking the class and sketching and painting the assignments.  Thought Laure's approach was interesting to this process.  Hopefully things will improve, must stay on top of it though.  As with anything, practice, practice, practice. 

I still haven't unpacked the suitcase full of fabric that went to TX last month.  There is another thing that needs some work.   

Back from Montana

Arrived back home from Montana last night.  It is a beautiful state, but it is was a little cold.  -14 degrees when we landed on Friday.  Had to buy some warm boots as I didn't take heed of the info friends kept sending me. 

 We did drive around the Bozeman area Friday afternoon and I took a few photos.  The first one is of the Gallatin River and those are chunks of ice floating in it.  The second one is looking some direction toward the mountains.  I never knew what direction I was going the entire weekend.

We were there for our nephew's wedding, which was very nice.  Enjoyed seeing a number of people we don't see very often and this was a happy occasion this time. 

The other nice thing about the visit to Bozeman was meeting one of my Dyehard sisters, Sandra. We had a great visit, wish it could have been longer, but we did get a lot discussed in 2 1/2 hours. 

I would enjoy going back there in the summer, but drive this time instead of fly.  Hard to tell what everything really looks like from the airplane.  It was interesting from that angle though.  Wyoming had a lot of snow on the ground!!!   

 A friend wrote that we missed the heat wave today as it hit 41 degrees, but they were headed back into single digits starting tonight.  Stay warm MT friends. 

Back from Texas!!

I have been home from New Braunfels, Texas for a couple of days, getting unpacked, things put back where they belong and figuring out what day it is.  That last part will take longer than anything else.

I did get a chance to paint on the flight down and a quick sketch and painting the last morning we were there of the doors on maybe the east (?) side of building where our classroom is located.  I don't know what direction is what down there as I can't see the horizon. 

I was there for two classes taught by Hollis Chatelain.  A one day class on quilting and the annual 5 day class I am taking in her Master Series.  This is year 6, Color Challenge II.  It was great to see everyone again and catch up.  The class was excellent, many things came together and make a lot more sense now.  Need to practice and continue working on the lessons we had throughout the year.  Novel idea.  

Not sure I am crazy about the second painting of the windows.  It is loose to say the least, but that is what we are to do.  Quick capture and painting.  And I did leave some white. 

Need to get the class notes typed up.  Never a dull moment. 

   

It is COLD!!!

I have friends who grew up in Canada and who live in Canada and some from MN and ND.  They don't have a problem with this weather we are currently having, but I do!!  -12F and -40F with the wind chill factored in is too darned cold for me!!  I am a wimp and proud of it.  Come on, when exposed skin can freeze in 5 to 10 minutes!!! 

 
I did go out yesterday and I did get a perm and do my assignment for Jane's class.  We were to go out, sketch and paint in public at a coffee shop.  So I did.  I did the background and writing at home.  I even penciled in the writing before inking and I still couldn't follow the lines and messed up the 'chill' because I was 'chilled'.  The experience of sketching and painting in public wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and it is true, people just ignore you.

The studio froze up through all of this lovely weather.  Thought I had left the water dripping, but apparently not.  Hope the it will thaw out without any major hassles.