Something About Nothing

At the beginning of July my cat, Keiko, knocked my water bottle on to my laptop keyboard. I wiped up the water immediately but lost use of the "u" and "7" on my keyboard. Then a week later I came in to the studio to find she had thrown up on my closed computer. Some of the throw up managed to get in to the plug. After cleaning it up, the computer would start up but nothing showed on the screen. I chatted online with a very nice Apple tech, but nothing helped. I suppose after 7 years, or maybe 8, she has lived a good life and deserves to be retired. Thank goodness I have an iPad with a keyboard that will get me through until a good sale comes up on a new lap or desk top. I use the iPad for traveling so perhaps a desktop is best. They are cheaper too! Unfortunately I won't be able to do everything on the iPad I can do on my laptop, but things could be so much worse! UPDATE: I purchased a desktop in August and it is fabulous. A few months later I decided to s...

Dragon Blood tree (day 75) is named such because it has dark red resin! I really like attempting to draw twisted trunks on trees from my head. (Day76) For day 77 I decided to take the tree from top to root! Day 78 I would rather not talk about. It's not my favorite. Mostly because my cliff was so steep that it left nothing to draw on a third of the page! I suppose I could change that. But sometimes it's just better to move on.  Day 79 is a carved stamp of a Northern Pin Oak leaf. Day 80 is a carved stamp of a Blue Gum Eucalyptus. Day 81 is a leaning lemon tree. A repeating carved olive branch brings around day 82, and day 83, is just a simple tree from my imagination.  "Old Tjikko" is a Norwegian Spruce and thought to be the oldest living tree - or at least the roots are. Click on the link to learn more about this old tree.  Day 85 is a Shagbark Hickory. Such interesting bark. Day 86 is a crazy doodle. A Cedar of Lebanon  brings us up to d...

Over the past 10 years (maybe more) our guild has been having a dye party every July. Batik artist, Anne Munoz, started out as our leader in this endeavor and then somehow or another I got put in charge. hahaha I love it. It's a great party. Each year we will have a few newbies, but for the most part everyone knows what they are doing and they go at it. Andrea trying to decide on a color. This is always the hardest part. Paula creating fabulous designs. Wendy trying her hand at abstract dye painting. Shaving cream marble printing is always fun. Someone added a second piece of fabric to see if the dyes were still good after marbling. Gorgeous! I found these drops of dye from the ice dyeing beautiful. Everyone has come up with interesting containers for their ice dyeing over the years. Ruth protecting herself while shaking on some dyes for ice dyeing. Jill creating a Shibori piece to dye. Someone sprinkled some Urea over a beau...

Because of my obsession with layered mandalas,  I decided to give a layered, painted process a try with a tree for Day 66. Not my favorite.  Not sure if I will be trying that again.  Next was a copse of trees, and then a stamp of a crooked evergreen.  Both were inspired by photos I took in a cemetery.  Day 69 is several stamps inspired by leaves from a Dwarf Chestnut tree. Day 70 is a stamp as well. Just a creepy, twisty old tree, which I really love. I broke out the Pentel pigment brush pen again for day 71's Baobab tree . A redwood for day 72. An American Chestnut for day 73. Most of these beautiful trees were virtually destroyed by a blight about a century ago. The trees are what is called functionally extinct because the blight does not wipe out the roots, allowing the tree to send up new trees which are eventually wiped out down to the roots again by the blight. Day 74 is a Mangrove tree. If you have any interest in trees ...

One of the biggest parts of teaching a class is the preparation. As I teach I come up with little short cuts here and there - like making a list of everything needed, which is kept in a notebook as well as on my computer. Before I prepped for my latest dye party, I had to use up the dyes from the last dye party. I experimented with the old dyes in a gradation.   And I can't seem to dye without getting it all over me! Once the old dyes were used, and the bottles were washed it was time to mix new dyes. I like to do as much in advance as possible. Of course, it's not very helpful when I use cheap gloves!  As I mix the dyes I make a color chart. Makes it easier for everyone to know what the color will look like. If you do this, it's best to paint soda ash over the color after you paint the chart, rather than using a dry piece of soda soaked fabric. Why? You ask? Because the soda ash will attract color in the wash and you might end up with ...

As I create my tree drawings for the 100 day project I have been using an app called Prisma which applies artistic styled filters to the photos of my drawings. It creates some very fun art. I uploaded the art to Shutterfly and had cards printed. I love how they turned out! My art printed as blank greeting cards.  I received a commission for some stamps. My friend needed a house and hospital her daughter could stamp on her calendar to let her know when her Dad would be at home, or working at the hospital. Since the weather was beautiful, AND it's almost time for the Quilter's Holladay Dye Party, I decided to organize my dye materials. This seven drawer rolling cart is perfect for all my dyes. I even have a drawer to keep Quilter's Holladay's dyes separate from my own. Looking at this cart and ALL my dyes together, reminded me I have a LOT of dyes, and I really should dye more fabric! It also kept me from going totally crazy and buying a bunch of Natural...