I’ve been immersed in making face masks for my family for a week or so and posting some of them on Facebook.
Here’s a pic of my DIL Melanie, who stepped in as a model when my grandkids were asleep…thanks Mel!
Mostly, I’ve been using some of my not too scrawny scrap stash and have watched the pieces grow smaller as I went along. I upped my game a smidgen this week, though, and began to make new swaths of fabric with these scraps using the crazyquilting method of piecing odd sizes and shapes of varied fabrics together to make the best use of the remnants of last week’s efforts. Perhaps some of you who have never crazyquilted before will give it a try and see how rewarding it can be on multiple levels! This particular piece was added to some more and cut up and added to more pieces until it grew enough in size to make a few more.
And these are from that fabric. Not too shabby, huh!?
It’s pretty amazing how many have stepped in and up to make these masks, from the likes of myself who have been making them mostly for family to those who are making them for all of those on the front lines in hospitals to grocery stores. I’m sharing a link here that is full of great info for all of us to read up on. Thanks Val Poitier for posting it!
Let’s all keep doing our part and making sure we do the social distancing we need to be practicing. I haven’t left my house since the 10th, except to deliver facemasks to neighbors while keeping myself outdoors.
While we’re at it, sing a little, sew a little, cook a little, pray a little, and most of all, keep the love going a whole lot more!
Got to Lowell on Saturday with Sue Colozzi who’s been so gracious to take me on as a passenger on various excursions – thank you Sue! We visited a number of galleries having great exhibitions. Today I’ll share some pics from the Fiber Fusions exhibition at The Whistler House. More to come.
A signature of excellence and originality by Sue Colozizi !Taormina. Lena Meszaros, France is the winner of the Viewer’s Choice Award . Congratulations Lena! I have to say that it was also my favorite! Detail of the exquisite artistry so well executed and so original of Taormina by Lena Meszaros. Growing Unseen by Bobbi Baugh won the Juror’s Award. Congratulations Bobbi! So well deserved!
Reunion, Nancy Turbitt
Betty Busby
Perpetual Motion, Marianne Williamson
I wish I could include them all but it was so well attended I couldn’t get a decent photo of many of them because there was always a group of people blocking the sightline.
The Artists – all among the best in the field
A fabulous day seeing such art and getting to see lots of good people!
Good summer morning my friends. Here on the East coast we’ve been in the midst of a scorcher and the only thing I’ve gone outdoors for is to water the gardens as needed.
Overall, it’s been a year of struggling to deal with my own health issues as well as Bill’s. Finally, I’ve decided to give myself a break from as much stress as possible and stop imposing unnecessary hurdles and deadlines on myself. As you’ve probably noticed, my blog posts have less frequent as usual and that will continue to be the case. I’ll post as I can and when there’s something of substance to share.
It’s been awhile now since I’ve even submitted any art for possible exhibitions and I expect that to continue as well for so many reasons. I am working on some new art, though. But I’m not going to fret about meeting submission deadlines. I’ve been finding these to be a barrier to producing the level of work that I want to be producing, and often a frustrating experience. Instead, I’ll work on a timeline that works for me and reduces my stress levels.
Just as an example of the kinds of things that add to my stress level, I’ll tell you about my most recent process of trying to submit something to be juried. For days I’ve worked on something to enter into the CCA 2019 OPEN PHOTO EXHIBIT. The deadline was at midnight last night, Aug.1. I spent a lot of time on my first one and when I finished it, I hated it so I just tossed it aside and figured, “Well, I got that out of my system!” and moved on.
Then I loved the second one I did and finished it in the nick of time and rushed to take some pics while there was still enough decent light; however, I had used my real camera, which I hadn’t used in a long time, and I could not upload the pics despite repeated efforts to do so. I tried everything I could think of but nothing worked. Meanwhile my sciatica kicked in and I was struggling to do this in increasing pain. I was also into a stint of being up for two days without sleep and was growing tired and cranky. So, I grabbed some ice and laid down hoping the pain would go away and I could get back to the computer to figure it out. That was about 5:30 PM and I woke up at 4 AM this morning. I did find the solution and uploaded my pics, just not on time to submit them.
It turns out that Windows 10 will not upload from this camera. I found this out after finding the original Nikon photo disk and uploading it. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. I had dropped my computer days ago and the CD disk was struck closed and after more time and effort, I couldn’t open it. Finally, I handed it over to Bill and he is the wizard fix-it man! I could insert a disk! It was after that that I opened up the newly installed program which told me that I had to take the card out of my camera and upload them from there.
Quiet Mind. 14 x 11″
Everything I do is like this – nothing is easy! Because I haven’t been able to submit anything for exhibition in months, I was disappointed. I’m swearing off chasing deadlines! I’ll share it with you, though. Because I’m very pleased with it and hope to enter it into something!
Although I do love it and it’s finished now, I’m always open to critique! It’s great to see the likes. And yes, it always feels good to hear that you love it, but critiques offer the benefit of what other eyes see and notice, always something to take into the next piece. I do believe that an artist should create from their own inner feelings and with their own personal aesthetics but we can all learn from other perspectives. So please, always feel free to give your feedback here on my blog! If you comment on Facebook, that’s fine, but it disappears; whereas if you comment here, I don’t lose what you have to say – it stays in this journal. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and share in my art journey!
