eggs

one of my favorite ways to color eggs
 at Easter is to wrap them in onion skins and hard boil them.
i will often tuck in a fern or herb sprig in as a resist. i like red onions but other skins colors work. i bundle the eggs covered with skin in a coffee filter ( i have small eggs from some of my hens) or i cut a square of fabric that is then lightly bound at the gatherng point.i used 8 inch squares here.
 a little vinegar and i let them cook and color at the same time.

this is the simple process in photos to get organic Easters eggs in beautiful colors of gold, greens, and rust that look like they might have been hatched by some exotic wood fowl with no toxic dyes.
  start to collect onions skins ahead of time or make friends
with the produce manager at your local market.
the more skins you wrap the deeper the tones get.

gather the eggs, skins, herbs, coth wrapper square, and don't foreget a pair of scissors to snip the

wrapping string.

                                                         

these are bundles are ready for the pot

    boil as you would for hard boiled eggs.

              i also put a few uncovered eggs in as i ran out of skins.

these turned a warm golden brown but without the marbling/motling of skins wrapped ones.

these are unwrapped while still  quite warm as i cannot wait to see what happened .

                                                   i made a nest of fabric sevlages and strips.

                                                        hard to watch boiling eggs so
                                                                 

while i was waiting for the onion skin eggs,
 i finger painted some already boiled  eggs with food coloring the result of which
 i got more on my fingers than the egg
.

lovely  blue/green egg, scrap cloth, and my camera strap got some more color as well!

Happy Easter  to All!

Sonja

pumpkin carols anyone?

October is almost gone and i am still having pumpkin dreams.

i love these colors and i have a challenge to finish with 3 other artist ladies , postcards of thankfulness and i am still in the  painting stage. they will not dry.... it is raining here so things will not dry. i blew out the hair dryer that was on its last leg and now in the trash  so i am  re-learning patience, again.

 even my feet stick to the hardwood floor with this much humidity in the air.

"frost is on the pumpkin,

 salt is in the air,

pumpkin headed angels 

are flying throught the air"

this little ditty came to me a decade ago while making some folk-arty figures for my Christmas Tree and i feel naked with out one around the studio the rest of the year. i painted a pumpkin on its gown and wrote out the words as well. this little dude tells a  tale of signs of winter? winter in Hawaii  as the waves build and send salt molecules into the air . he has quilted wings to lift him above the salty brine which swirls up seveal hundred feet and covers your windows and everything else .

have a great pumpkin day however you do it and God bless Charlie Brown.

what i did this summer so far

                                

Here they are below, the  very latest painters of fabrics and flowers and ferns and yardage- all together on a glorious summer day  and they came  my way via quilt shows and art festivals ! we had a great time discovering that we all have a colorful and playful side and agreed this was a good time to let it  loose.  I provided the paints and atmosphere of playfulness along with odd and common materials and tools i use  most everyday when  i  paint.

Taking the time to do so is the hardest part according to my vast research  .

                                

Here some of their pieces are drying pinned to a cork board

and  belo , taking a Kodak moment in front of  their wonderful and newly made art fabrics are

   Sharon, Elaine, Carolyn, and Barbara,my newest painter in the pacific!

 .

                                 

                                                     and then in the afternoon,

 we took to the  shaded lawn with dampened  fabric spread out  and weighted  down on the  corners with small rocks and pinned to the grass with clothespins....  we painted some more this time with more than brushes.  as  the paint came squirting out of ketchup or is it cat sup ? containers thinned with water, (the paint not the condiment),  we make color appear on cloth with our hands and the whole body , bending over to fold  and smush the cloth  around, moving the paint  about and making a point that  i feel is for my self at least mostly  true, that we don't just paint with our hands or arm  or the brush in our hand  but with  the whole body, our whole self . that is most likely why i can't paint sitting down .

And that's another reason why i love the Hokey Pokey ...

'cause i can put my whole self in !!

after our  one yard pieces dried enough, i invite them to  pick one they could part with and rip them up into fat quarters and  we exchanged  with each other  our colorful fabrics.

and so went yet another  beautiful summer day 

 of art play

in the shade of a friendly tree  .

Hale'iwa Art Festival, 2010. the  short report

 i have only have one photo of the Haleiwa Arts Festival this year so far  as i forgot my camera  the first day and was so busy the second i did not take photos. i found one on creative grammie site that she took.  It looks like i am in the process of releasing  one of my gardening/guardian angels 

into the world .

  One  of the interesting  things that  did happened that weekend was that the staff of the Festival did a booth contest thing and out of 120 booths i landed in the top 10 i was told  by Saturday late afternoon. best designed booth was the criteria or decorated and i maintain all of my stuff and fabrics arts  are for sale with the exception of  some props, like the vintage Featherweight,  and containers and display things. Well, i must say i did sleep well  and didn't  think too much of it as i usually bring all this stuff to shows , much to my DH dismay . I brought a set of chairs to sit or wait in as in "husband waiting chair"... and a table and a vintage table covering and I use vintage bark cloth and chenille spreads on my display tables because i like them .I  put arrangements of flowers on  the 3 corner posts of the tent.  Did i mention this was outside ? and windy? we call them Trade Winds and they do cool things off. In my case i  also bring a box of small rocks and clothespins to somewhat anchor things down.

Sunday  morning i get the word that i was a top  contender tho  i had not won the contest even tho i had several folks that were cheering and debating for me to be the one who would have a large blue ribbon  pinned to their booth, blowing in the brisky winds. oh well, it would have been nice to have next years booth paid in advance but i was happy enough  to be in the running  doing what it is i do with fabrics anyway. Thank you creative grammie for taking  the photo below .

thanks to the HAF staffers that  boosted my spirits !

AND what a BIG surprise i had when Kathy Lukens and Jill flew in from the Big Island and brought me lunch!

you guys rock!!

i had a great weekend !

be well,Sonja