Christmas cactus

this is a photo of my Christmas cactus in bloom last year. the color is almost indescribable so a photo really helps. my husband's mom gave me a cutting and that cutting has been shared with other gardeners. i went to a party at one of those green thumbers homes and hers had become much grander than any i have seen!

this last weekend i held my 12th annual home show featuring some of my fabric art finished (and some unfinished it turns out as i have painted fabric for folks to cut up and create with ), available as well as my ornaments and larger items. this show turned out to the best one attended and shopped, ever. it is a positive note to the makers and shares of art that the real handmade gift still gives !

also, each year i have a surprise drawing to sign up for that day and the surprise is i haven't a clue as to what it is as i haven't designed it yet so it will surprise me as well ! my muse always come through for me on this project as i unwind from the sales part of my work and go to the true gifting part of this holiday season. i am thankful that i can share my art! i am thankful daily for all the folks that support me with their enthusiasm and purchases through the years and that my hands and my eyes still work and that the muse dances with me . i am thankful and happy to meet new folks each year and make new connections with cloth and paint and imagination moments. those bright moments of what if , that sometime just around the corner is good and coming our way!

.

now to begin to go fill a few orders before i sleep, perchance to dream.

i know i am an elf because of this love of workshop and making something out of a thought or dream and paint and fabric, mostly, and because of the shape of my ears.....

thank you to all the came up Saturday (and in the past ) and shared with me!

Most happy holidays to all ! Sonja

arranging veggies

i have a very small garden in raised boxes. with a wire top on them to keep chickens out. i harvested a few herbs and veggies the other day and then rearranged them into a funny face. and look how cute those little Italian roasting peppers look, don't let them fool you...they are way hot and used sparingly. kale, Italian parsley, green onions, basil and eggplants made a great meal when combined with pasta and tomatoes and other things. we are fortunate to have 2 farmers markets in our area as well as farms!one market held on Saturday and another on Sunday. what a great way to eat real food, supplement your garden, support you local farmers , and socialize all at the same time.

cupcake painting

i have painted on fabric since the sixties .that is when i started with batik by melting down crayons in an electric fry pan from Goodwill , painting on muslin, and then over dying with Rit dyes. one set of curtains later i found out about procion dyes and paraffin and bee's wax and made art to wear in the form of sundresses.

i have also painted with food coloring mixed into frosting and made a batch of cup cakes for HD birthday again this year . i like to bring these kinds of treats to Easter brunches and potluck gatherings . using the lids of yogurt containers with dollops of icing in the middle , i added drops of food coloring to paint my waves and palms and suns. a slim brush and a flourish made for frothy waves.

they were a hit for dessert.

This is art  that you can eat!

fabric painting ladies

Painting in paradise daylight!
Four ladies here posing for a group shot!

Last month i had a group of ladies over for a painting class. We had all met at the Haleiwa Art Festival where they had expressed an interest in trying their hands at painting on fabric, which is one of my favorite things to do so i jumped up and said okay . on a sunny Saturday in August, Ann, Jan, Barb, and Mary came up armed with yards of muslin, sporting funky tee shirts as art is messy  good fun, and carrying in potluck lunches . What a great group of they are , brave enough for my unconventional teaching methods and good cookers, too! we spent the day outside with trade winds frisky enough that we needed small rocks to hold down paintings in progress and drying. Some of the finished paintings, dry now, are displayed here on the happy painters. we drew, painted , changed brushes, chased blowing away art materials and had a great time and even learned a few new things ! then near the end of the class i confessed to them i couldn't really paint very well sitting down so we set up a table tall enough to work together on at a standing height under a shady tree. With one yard of blank material and squirt bottles filled with colorful paints and water spray bottles we all made a wonderful yard of art together . colors swirled and blended and did amazing things. after it dried on the lawn, i ripped it into 4 fat quarters and each painter one got a piece.

art shared , much like a potluck lunch , is often much nicer than the sum of its parts! thank you ladies.                                                                             Aloha, Sonja

green and shedding

i went out to take photos of an orchid that only blooms in August when i spied this guy spying on me. he was making his way along the top of a fence back to the hedge. this must be a male Jackson , because of the 3 horns, that is wild and roams the hills and trees looking for juicy insects to eat. he is also shedding his last summer's skin. if you have ever seen one move it is quite a sight. they sorta sea sew back and forth to the next foot hold and what a grasp they have as all four feet have a sort of claw or opposable digit that won't let go this the next grasp is complete. more studies in green here . what a wonderful jungle we live in!

stars at sunset

The latest star quilt using my hand painted fabrics is finished now that i have sewn on the label. i like to paint my labels as well as document my work with dates and size . i also put a close up shot in here to see the free motion quilting i do by hand guiding my very, very mature Bernina 830 Record , a lovely old reconditioned machine i got last year to add to my stable of sewing machines. i used variegated and natural thread of the King Tut Superior brand and love them. the top was pieced on my 1959 Singer Featherweight that has been my workhorse for all these years and was given to me by my mom when i went off to Long Beach State College back in the day.these are wonderful gems of the sewing machine world and i am so lucky to have three! one is white in color and was made in the UK in the 60's found by my DH in a Goodwill store that he went into to get some old clothes to paint in . he saw this machine sitting there for only 25 bucks! a steal and it was only missing the bobbin case to make it a working machine. i think the bobbin case was around 50 bucks at the time but we are still talking being in the right palce at the right time. these are great machines to teach beginning sewing on and a few kids have worked with mine to get the basic skills.

now i am back to painting more fabric because i used up most of my yellow and mango hued cotton. i could have picked a better day as it is almost 100% humidity here today so it will take longer for the paint to dry than usual.

So what's next? i am teaching a fabric and flower painting class this Saturday so i need to get art materials organized for that . AND i am dreaming of pumpkin colored quilt blocks.

and sunsets. what are you dreaming about ?

quilt top

so this is the 25 star quilt top i am working on... still. i hope to post the finished quilt next. i can always hope. it did not get to the Haleiwa Arts Festival finished as planned but traveled back and forth in a tote bag needing only half the hand binding and a label to be added before hanging. this top it is composed of my hand paints in the lovely colors of life, assorted muslins and pieced into a saw tooth star block that seems to be my favorite as i use it again and again. each block has 4 points of yellow to mango colored fabric and the rest random. i hung it on the clothes line to take the photo .the stained glass effect my fabrics radiates makes me happy on this rainy morning. it is oh so close now to being finished as i unpack and unwind from the gypsy art fair world of last week end. it was truly Christmas in July in so many ways. it was filled with new and old friends and acquaintances and customers and sights and sounds, ( bag pipers even!) and foods from local farms and creative cookers . my tent was not too far from the main stage and when i could take a brake i would listen to Celtic, Hawaiian, jazz, big band , and rock music and watch dancers as well. if you get a chance to go to a festival in your area you will be renewed and energized by the spirit of such as temporary art city and all its citizens ! now the tents are down and the trampled grass can once again grow up to the light and green up . my tent was partially under a huge monkey pod tree which gave off a light exotic fragrance from the pink blossoms when the winds blew a certain direction. and we had some big wind ,too. i brought a box of rocks to hold my fabric and angels down on the displays thought some angels did fly about the booth and into my neighbors ..... and some flew to other countries and many to the mainland in hand painted bags, quilted and otherwise....
now that's another story .

This weekend is the Haleiwa Art Festival where i show my arts and talk story and show and tell how my art starts as an idea and then speak of some of the process to get to the finished product. i have shown in this juried show for ten years and i look forward to it again this years. so many children come through the tent during this great summer weekend and they are so full of life and ideas . they totally "get" using household items , reusing scraps , upcycling humble items , and found treasures of nature and man to make art . they are so much more aware of their environment then we were at the young age .

the yellow and pink hibiscus pillows above are one of my original designs using my painted fabric and yardage .     
            i will have fabric, patterns, and finished art
                 to sell at Haleiwa Arts festival.

http://www.haleiwaartsfestival.org/

stop by and say hi!

while green is still on my mind , i took these photos of a neighbors wall . it is painterly in the color sense of the plantings now that they have grown in . The Ti plants are reddish with lots shading but what started this photo session was the growing stuff on the cement walls. i believe it to be a creeping ivy , Fig? and the patterns it makes are most lovely. depending on time of day and year , the light plays off the plants and wall and color shifts. To me that is the amazing thing about color. subtle shifts depending on what is next to what and the light. ain't nature grand? you bet!

green is my favorite color , closely followed by all the others so in this photo of a chameleon on leaves one can see the many shades of sunlit green. so yummy! he's shopping for bugs in the garden while keeping his revolving eyes out for my cats as well.what is in your garden?

summertime

summer to me means golden shades of buttery flowers , so the day lily that blooms near our front door the" Stella de Oro" is definitely one of them. this morning the 3 states of a flower captured my attention as i went to feed my chickens , this is what saw.

yesterdays faded blossom,

today glorious bloom ,

and the promise of tomorrows bud....

whats blooming in the garden near you?

growing a pineapple

growing a pineapple from the top of a purchased one is a slow but sweet process. i can't remember how long this one took but it was a tiny, the size of my hand when it began to turn that golden color at base. and when i sliced it up i had the sweetest pineapple ever. one serving and i ate it very slowly!

amusing grace

Saturday makes me silly.

 light headed. a carry over from childhood no doubt when the week end loomed ahead. today i posted postcards to a group that trades postcard arts,

 among other projects.

 That is how we started.  We have all learned and shared a great deal with each other and from all over the globe, too! Amazing! today i sent out my muses, and a quote i reworded to fit my amusing state of mind. the grace comes from the trust and art and sharing that comes along with a few years of making art and putting a stamp on it and dropping in in a mailbox. and grace is felt again when a card comes to me from across the ocean and is nestled in my mailbox with bills and magazines .it is the first thing i read and turn over in my hand.

  Perhaps grace has arrived because it is already here!

 

be well, Sonja

 i have joined the folks with blogs at long last . i have read many that have inspired me to share my art and insites on creating.

Sonja