Mele Kalikimaka!

Wishing all a 

                                                 Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year  2020!

Be well, Sonja 

wordless Wednesday

flowers

While i was away at the HAF this spindery orchid took to blooming. She has the slight fragrance of spice and has the most long spidery  petals i have seen on an orchid..

Lucy in the sky with blue eyes supervises from the latest flat box placed

 from an advantageous  spot for her. She spends about an hour in the morning galloping,  racing around and grabbing up throw rugs and giving the rugs a good thrashing, especially the rag rugs. She is a rescue of sorts as she spied on us the the hedges for awhile before strolling on to the deck. 

And in no times she took over as in ...everything here is mine.

. 

At the festival i have 3 tent poles and cables at which i place a bucket of tropical flowers and greens in a bucket. I wrap each bucket with a half yard of my my hand painted fabric so the edges of my area are.well, colorful . I brought my new Nikon along  but once again as the day unfolded, 

 as people walk in and i begin to talk about process and field questions of all kinds,  i did not get a chance to make shots of details . Lucky for me my helper Sherry took some just as i was starting the day. Thank you Sherry for helping me all weekend. you are an angel.

I bring  my Singer FW 221 along for display and for a useful prop. i can put bills under the presser foot whilst making change.( i do remove the needle and bobbin case at home  for safety.)

The sweet cat under the arm was Noodles, one of our rescue cats. If i were to put a title to this  this sweet  photo i would have to say,   Nothing purrs like a Feather Weight.

Yes it works, still used for straight seams and i get to tell the story of sewing a prom dress on this great machine back in the day.

This was a great fair the 20th time i have juried in and set up and get to  talk story with a lot of folks. Thanks to all that spent some time under the canopy and sharing and shopping.

I hope to see some of you again at next paint class,

Wishing a Happy Summertime to all!

Sonja

How long did it take to make?

Sometimes i take photos of various stages of making  a project . This is  probably due to my desire to see what i do from a distance and it helps when i am asked that most unanswerable question, the one most frequently asked  of " how long did it take?" straight  off i would have  say

 "i have no idea but i had a great time making this.". So if asked  i might  explain about the time before i begin , the lifetime of gathering information  to get to the place this  idea seed  popped up, and wool gathering , and  before i can get the concept what materials to gather to make this, the  redo when it goes arye, and how it changes as i work through the project

 and the problems i solve that i set in motion.... 

That might be too much info for folks. Thank you if you have read this far.

This week i am making some journal covers of paint, cloth and  thread. And imagination!!

i start with a plain vanilla cotton fabric, in this case a heavy cotton, and some fabric paints diluted slightly screen printing ink in squeeze bottles, oh and paint brushes.
after cloth is dry it is time to layer up a bat sandwich and

 

picking out threads i wish to use, takes a moment..

i call this free motion quilting  pattern 

"Pebbles in a stream, drifting"

after a song line in  "And this is my beloved" from Kismet

.

 after free motion  quilting  is done  and if i used different colors, 

i need to weave back the the tails of starts and stops, that is so much less fun than watching paint dry!

watching paint dry...........

inside of a journal, the lining 

Wa La!...probably could have googled  on

" How to make a journal cover to fit the composition book you just  bought."

instead of reinventing the wheel. 

So yes, stuff  takes time, Art takes longer.

From glimmer of  that idea seed to the time you can pick it up and turn it over in  your hand,

I still  think my best answer is

"It took all the time!"

 I'll be in my colorful booth # 88  near info tent
 at  

The Haleiwa Arts Festival

 July 13 and 14  10AM to 5PM  both days!

Be well, Sonja

HI HO come to the Fair ! HALEIWA ARTS FESTIVAL 2019, one more time

With less than  three weeks away, the Haleiwa Arts Festival

 is looming largely  on the   horizon .

I have several project in the partially made stage, a few more almost ready and a few that need the final touch.  As a curious maker of ideas with cloth and color  into something perhaps 

 tangible, touchable, shareable, i get even more ideas as i work .

                                                             some coaster drying in the sun
                                 painted mostly with  what i like to call the original paint brush... finger tips!

This orchid with freckles makes me smile as i make yet more dots

Photo of one of the ladies from Yokohama paint class of 2012, in action dotting away.

We poured small amounts of paint into small recycled  plastic lids and well, play with color!

I'll be maning  booth # 88 near the front of festival near community and info tent. 

 This memorial is at the front of the 

Haleiwa Beach park, front entrance to Haleiwa Arts Festival

wonder what i'll make today with this yummy  sherbert color fabric? 

Come see what can  happens in 3 weeks! 

AND there will be some "dotty"  things including 

some little notebooks available as well

.

dotty little notebooklettes

July 13/14 2019

Sat/Sun 10 am-5pm

Haleiwa beach Park=North Shore Oahu

110 Artists/Live Entertainment/ it's free

Hi Ho !

This is the 22nd  annual 

Haleiwa Arts Festival!!

paint class reunion 5/25/19

 Here we are again ! Three of the ladies from last summer's paint  class requested another session  so we  call this one the reunion  class. i always wish i had taken more photos and then  fill the day with samples and ideas and somehow i never pick  up my camera. I did manage to get some  photos from  Sarah of some  pieces as she took during the day and she painted a lot!

Sarah's gingers

i brought out a print of a painting i had of a butterfly ginger  by Ted Mundorf

 and we all sketched and painted a set each. i will  turn my samples into a set of pillows soon.

  

                          Sarah's idea of putting a  black applique of a tree  upon the painted fabric
                                                                         is quite stunning

                                                                   more backgrounds

                                      this  beautiful sunset was taken the same day as our gathering
                                 by a friend that lives down the  coast,,,,,   Ain't Nature grand!

                                     
                                                                   Be well and
                                                      art out loud in color whenever  you can!

                        

                               tip; leave some of you work started if possible in a place you can access it daily.


                                                     I love to make my arty fruit plate for our lunch break
.                                                                    And here it is ....  art you can eat!
                                                

                                                                                      aloha, sonja 

Happy Earth DAy and here is Lucy !

We have been adopted by this kitty that we call among other thing, Lucy.  She started hanging about in the yard in January but would dash off if we got too close. Much to  Mz Ruby's chagrin,  she now thinks she owns the place. Ruby has to hiss or punch  or chase  her  if she gets too close or crossed the invisible area around Ruby known only to her having been the only cat for 5 years.

Lucy in the skies with blue eyes. See her right ear u cut out? i hope that means she was fixed. if you are a cat person that knows catch /fix /release, 

 perhaps you can tell me if that is a female her right ear clipping indicating  fixed.
.

I finally got a new camera a Nikon  coolpix. My older Canon Powershot 540, that worked great for 12 years no longer worked but  would only take dark photos or overexposed ones no matter how many times i studied the manual and attempted to change settings. It also ate up AA batteries like crazy. i would take them out in between shooting even. 

 I  have not been posting as would like  as photos are a good que for me to start a post.
Happy Earth Day

hibiscus blooming this morning

Tahitian gardenia,   a heavenly fragrance 

"everything here is mine "......Lucy

Wordless Wednesday

                                                             ain't  nature Grand!