Year of the Horse 2014

Happy Chinese New Year of the Horse !

Recently I found a photo of my very first horse, 
actually she was a Shetland pony 

Beauty
She was brought home from the local pony ride farm
in West Redding I think  
that I dragged my parents to many a  Sunday. I loved her even though she was old and shabby and threadbare, in some spots her hair was  very thin, especially around her withers. I recall she liked to escape from her pasture and was found out on the old Boston Post road more than once . But I was 6 and she was my first love.  

 and then forward 50 oddyears,
 my last horse, Lily who really was a beauty!
So not a bad span of many decades
of horse love..

Lily was my prairie home and ranch companion for 2 decades
Her Hawaiian name was Liokalani, horse from heaven in Hawaiian, but we mostly called her Lily. 
She now gallops in a part of my heart reserved for great unconditional love.
She was a real sweetie!
Speaking of sweeties,
here is one having a rocking good time!

2014 is the Chinese year of the wooden horse so in honor of this 
 i located an older photo of my youngest niece riding on a horse I designed and painted and my DH built and carved of wood . The rockers were made of beautiful Koa, a wood dear to the islands.The wood horse was painted in the colors of Lily as she was when i got her at age 5 when she still had lots a dapples.
 And now my niece's  little girls get the rides although the last time i saw this sweet wooden horse,
she was sans a tail. Perhaps that is yet another worn  and threadbare by love story!

It is almost February 14 Again,
so just  bring on the chocolate please! and  the hearts and flowers too!

here are some of the hearts painted 
and hand quilted recently by me 
 and finally sent out to my clients.
I do notice things take me longer to complete than usual
 and
even longer if I time them so i have to stop that, 
the timing!
and just enjoy the ride !!
i have  not posted in a while, not that i ran out of words, i have lots a those
  it is just that i had computer issues, 
mane ly with me!
be well, Sonja

Ruby's first Christmas, some flat angels and a winter sunset

 

 

What can  I do with strips of painted fabric and just a winkling  of AN IDEA

and A CHALLENGE?

why I can sew them together with joy! 

and cut out wedges

 

and make heads and wings and hair and

 call them flat angels and send them away to some of my art making pals

 

"Look, I found more fabric for you to paint upon!"

this is Ruby's first Christmas and it turns out she is very helpful in the studio!  

"later I can press it for you, while I sleep!"

said the kitty that snores.

peaceful dreams

 

Happy holidays to you and to all a good night!

painters of summer August 2013

Who knows where the times goes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNJmDuNOMxs

 Sandy Denny, who was in an English  group called Fairport Convention,  wrote decades ago a song with a lovely and haunting melody

and words to ponder that for me is  still without answer. Perhaps  because there is none, only thoughts and theories. Judy Collins also recorded this Timeless song.   if time allows, drift over for a listen.

 when painting or arting , time seems to evaporate into nows of a different color, many colors. last summer  we had yet another great paint class gathered with the interesting combo of 3 new  folk and 3 repeaters. an ideal blend in my estimation. we gathered on  a sunny  morning of late August to explore and experiment and make colors from a jar into inspiring  ideas and designs of our own minds.  I invite  painters to look at favored photos, flowers and leaves, oh the leaves! and to make sketches  and  expand their possibilities.  I also ask to them suspend doubt and any lack of skill thoughts that floats up.
 just for the day.
A good practice any time you start a new project,
revisit a challenge or  otherwise problem solve.

     

    two  leaves from the croton plant and one i painted,
 that I  could paint every day
 as they are so colorful and full o patterns. center one is my quick painting
 on a used coffee filter.

the painters

Mary, Stanka and Barb  are now  deep into paint and
the magic of waving paint brushes

now we are having Fun!

 

Mary deep into painting from a photo she took
and a sketch she made from her photo.
Lovely!

Michelle paints a grand  rooster.
welcome back M!
(the rocks and all the blue painters tape are useful
to keep painted  fabrics from escaping in a breeze)

Barb's red heliconia takes shape

Erin concentrates on color!

Norma  had great design ideas brewing

Erin  and Norma  are new ladies
to my paint sessions
and they take to painting with ease! 

Stanka takes on Anthurims  in a big and colorful way.

she is also  new to the paint class folk this year.

Mid day, after a painting session,

 we relax under a shade tree for a light  potluck lunch.

Here is a fruit salad palm tree plate  I made 

sprouting  from  sea o sweet strawberries.

.

after the painting day as I clean up class area, I collect discarded paint pallets and make a little color of my own upon fabric.

some will find their way into quilts and some into smaller projects like postcards.

Thank you to ALL my painters of last August

and in past decade,

for making  for a  wonderful and colorful day,

my favorite way to spend a day !

circle revisited

"Circle Heat"  33''x 33'' 

by Sonja Hagemann  2013

 

I started this quilt with circles of color in mind.

 a shape that I return to time and time again, especially as  just finished one

 that was composed of many many squares. 

 I painted up a batch, perhaps a dozen circles, from center outwards on pieces of

fabric about 10 inches square.

 

 

 then I  sliced the  circles in half and rearranged them

 in a manner that pleased me

 

 

I played around with placement until I got a harmonious combo before joining blocks together.  this above photo also shows possible boarders and binding  materials.

 I have a flannel covered stretch canvas so I can place quilt parts on it  

and step away to see if  I like arrangement.

sometimes walking back into a room,  at glance I can tell  that I need to

 move things about or away.

 

 

I painted circles on the fabric that was to become the back of this quilt.
(more circles !)
this shows the free motion quilting  done on my Bernina 830 Record.

 

(Ruby is inspecting the Bernina and a painted fabric .)

 

this

shows both sides now with back flipped over onto front.

 I have  often thought of my quilts as two sided and for decades have painted or joined up orphaned blocks or a combination of  to create a backing.

Why not have the fun of  surprise and choice!

 

 

  the completed "Circle Heat" quilt.

It has been hot this summer/fall and my colors and quilting repeat those

waves of warmth.

 I hope you enjoyed my short version of my journey of composing a circle quilt,

surely it is not the last.
 

be well, Sonja

I am linking  this post up to ninamarie's off the wall Friday
gathering of art bloggers .
 

 http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Happiness Runs...

  

"I paint on fabric while singing  a song

 and I can't go wrong.....

'cause if  you can't recall the words,

 make up some new ones 

as you hum along! "

Sonja   sept 17, 2013

 with music as theme for ATC this month in

heARTisttradngcards,

I  thought about a song I  have loved for a long time
 by Donovan

called Happiness Runs.

You may have heard it in commercials with breakfast cereal a while back

with kids in colorful inner tubes floating about in what appeared to be milk.

  Recently I heard it in a cat food commercial with a big red tabby like Morris.

It is one that gets in your head and plays there. again.

 Recently while conducting a painting class I looked up to see a boat on the water

 with red sails, Again.

I  am apt to say  "paint what you see " to myself as well as folks
 with paint and brushes and fabric before them.

and that is not the first year that boat has appeared  during class time.

we saw this a year or two back as well,
 those same deep reddish sails on a little boat
 upon the blue Pacific!

 the words from Donovan are here if you aren't familiar with them .

the short version goes;

"Happiness runs in a circular motion

Thought is like a little boat upon the sea

Everybody is a part of everything anyway

you can have everything if you let yourself be

Happiness runs  happiness runs. "
 If you have interest, 
Read more: Donovan - Happiness Runs Lyrics | MetroLyrics

if you are my age or older, you might also enjoy singing

" Red sails in the Sunset "!

 Bing Crosby (1935) was first to record it I think,
 and many artists  have covered this song, many !
So what is on your hit parade?
   

Happiness Runs!

here's Ruby enjoying boxes of fabric

Prayer flags of August

 

Here are some of my latest flags made this August that are a  part of an exchange

 with a trading group I belong to

 http://heartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/
 

I continue to paint and hand stitch on humble pieces of cloth

and make  these small bits of art and hope
 in little bits of time.

  When I make art my world is centered and calm.
Because every  moment  counts.

Wordless Wednesday

Sweet smelling Saturday

Saturday's  sweet smelling surprises

 

Often the white flowers are very fragrant and heady to make up for their lack of color or did I read that or dream that ?

or perhaps learned in Dr Horace Clay's Botany class in 1980 something?

 what about the white pluemria lei that was placed around my shoulders the first time I set foot in the Hawaiian Islands, the one that said welcome home

 in invisible words only I could hear.

 

Even the papaya blossom so fragrant and enticing to the bee

smells like heaven on earth to me.

 

Spider Lily 's  white flower with stamens of a pinkish hue gives off a perfume not yet possible in bottles.

 

White or butterfly ginger ( Hedychium coronarium)

 

 

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.
Georgia O'Keeffe

 

Butterfly or white ginger is another favored and fragile flower found in my yard

this time of year.

Each evening we pick a handful and fill the house with the most divine fragrance.

 

I am recovering from  last weekend showing at the

Hale'iwa Arts Festival

  taking  plenty of time to smell the flowers deeply.

Mahalo to all
new and returning folk, who came by to say HI

 and visit and to purchase  my fabric art!

Aloha, Sonja