En Route to San Diego

I'm glad I opted to get up an hour before the expected cab this morning because he showed up twenty minutes early (4:40am)!  Breakfast was a Boardroom muffin and a cup of coffee (did I forget to drink the coffee?  I think so..). 

My creativity these last couple of weeks has been pretty low.  Distractions from the studio were significant and consisted of co-hosting a baby shower and advancement on a parallel goal of decluttering.  I also admit I'm in that place where I don't have a clear idea of what I want to create next.  Step one:  write this post and admit my blockage!.  Step two:  look at other art.  Being on my way to Quilt Visions opening of "The Sky's the Limit", I should have plenty of oh wow moments, I just hope I can turn them into a direction.  Maybe visiting a museum or two will help. 

While this trip is ultimately about taking Carol Soderlund's dye class back at ProChem, that activity will be very process oriented.  When blocked from an idea or vision of what I want to do, I still like the crafting (is 'making' the new word?) and developing skills so I expect to be all fired up for more dying when I get home from Carol's workshop and will have oodles of useful fabric for AQT.  Warm colors are speaking to me.  I should listen.

I made a promise...

An outcome of taking Jane Dunnewold's "Artist Strength Training" workshop (which I highly recommend) is a personal commitment to three actions:  Schedule time for working in my studio, create one piece a week, and communicate.  I will use this blog as my primary tool for communication and the content will be what I make/do each week.  From past failures I've learned that I need to start with small commitments so I'm simply going to publish something weekly!  Ideally it should be about my art and there should be an audience, but for the near term I'm happy just to work on building a habit of blogging.

So, what did I do this week?  Well, I already took self-kudos for making [achievable] commitments.  I did spend time in my studio but I focused on completion rather than creation with a mundane task of attaching sleeves to a piece going into an exhibit in November, and the rather laborious task of quilting and binding three quilts as gifts.  I still enjoy the craft of making a functional quilt now and then, and I consider my designs part of my art so I'll let these represent my work for the month. 

The first is one I made as a birthday gift for our oldest daughter.  I put it in the TV-watching-huddle-on-the-sofa category.  I started with a top I made years ago and backed it with a new top I designed to be more contemporary and in the colors she's chosen for her living room. 



Original top, now the back

New Design for the top

The next two quilts were the outcome of a self-challenge to deliberately work down my stash in order to free up even a teeny bit of space.  While more conventional in construction and using commercial fabrics, I am happy with the outcomes and these will go to the brothers of my god-daughter. 



Marshal's Quilt

Zan's Quilt

And so ends week one of Post-AST!

2012 Highlights

My poor little blog has sat idle too long.  The positive spin is that I have had a lot of fun time in the studio, we've had some fantastic travel experiences, and I just need to catch up with some sharing of such.  Here is a quick look at 2012.

 

Anchorage in January 2012

Winter of 2011/2012 turned out to be a record holder for the amount of snow.  We almost lost access to one of our garage bays.

  

Cattail Exploding

Got out on Potter's Marsh on a beautiful afternoon hunting for some good ice crystal photos.  Got those plus some unusual cattails.


















"Some" of the books on our dining table

I had hoped to sort out the 16 boxes of books I've been storing since we moved into our house.  Our dining table was a delightful (and obscure) library for a few weeks.  I did manage to recycle and donate some but wound up repacking most and still have nine boxes worth.  Oh well, another winter's project to complete.

May usually brings a cow moose to our yard with a calf or two.  Here are this year's twins in June.

Thumb Cove, Barge Hull

In early June we spend a long weekend in Thumb Cove. The photo doesn't show it but there was still quite a lot of snow around.  We had to shovel out the fire pit and chip the ice out of it but the sun was warm and we could rest our beer and wine glasses in the snow bank as we soaked in the rays.
















Lake Oswego

I had the good fortune to attend a workshop in Ann Johnston's studio in Lake Oswego.  Yes, Virginia, there is a lake in Lake Oswego. 

Meares Glacier, Unakwik Inlet

Friends (wonderful friends with a boat!) treated us to a weekend on Prince William Sound.  Here is a bit of Maeres Glacier.  We did catch some calving and as always, marvel at the sound of the ice both from the glacier and in the water.

Florence

Italy in September -- what more can be said?  (And it has been, but that's on another blog!)

Sitka Swans

And our last trip of the year, to round out some Alaska Airlines miles, was to Sitka.  We loved it!  And the fresh roasted coffee beans our B&B host made for us!



Our home for 11 days

My intent with this blog is just to augment the travel blog Mark and I share with more detail or of things I've experienced outside the our mutual orbit.  Also, I can post my less than stunning photos but maybe of quirkier interest (good scrabble word, that).

Check out Gateway Canyons if you are interested.



Must learn the history...

The Pallisades with locals