Sunrise over Pearblossom, CA.

Sunrise over Pearblossom, CA

on the way north to the snowy mountains from the small town in southern California where i lived as a child was a place called Pearblossom. we usually arrived just about sunrise at a truck stop or ihop having left in the dark o early morning to

get a good start.

i love the name and when i read of a pear as a color trade with Artsinthecards, this is where my mind went. i painted bits of fabric the colors of fall pears. then i set up to paint some rosey sunrises also on cotton. next i cut hill shapes and layered them front of sun. simple stitch held them in place and some metallic thread made

the rays

reach out from the sun.

the circles under the cards are the used coffee filters colorful with paint from projects wiped and driped and used up on them. i use these papers to wrap up
my art cards like

a little burrito for traveling through the mail.
colorful papers to go.

Although i  admit to seeing far, far more sunsets,

i wish a happy sunrise to all!

Sonja

easy seeing green!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Wholly Cuckamonga Batman!

                         

 the cucumber trade
with artsinthecards 

as is summer,

is almost over with my entry .

i tend to take a bit longer than usual as i have a few ideas stewing already

or i don't sign up.

all the ideas looked good in my art part brain, pretty good.

i will attempt to descirbe what i was thinking ..about the cucumber as a color prompt.

Green was top of the list.
well, it was the list.

then there is "cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot peppers" a beasty boys lyric.

then Patty sent that frog card

and my imagination turned a corner.

My new mantra became

"Wholly Cucamonga Batman, it's easy seeing green!"

i just had a time of it getting my eye glasses the correct strength, but not too strong.

(my very first pair of prescription glasses
 came with red frames and i always loved them.)

i am seeing pretty good now with my new pairs of glasses.

while thinking just what my card might look like, i took a cucumber end slice, mixed some golden and navy ink and started stamping card stock for
 back of cards and envelopes.

(this round i used old stationary envelopes instead of a sewn up calendar pages.)

for the lens fabric i took more paint and finger painted circles on cotton then i sprinkled salt into center and let it dry.

i cut out the circles and placed them on background cloth and free motion sewed the lenses in place and doodled out the red frames.wabi sabi.

i added a bit of red paint and a bit of glitter paint to the frames and i was almost done. to get a bit of a shine to lenses, i painted a few coats of min wax over them.

i sewed backs to fronts after a little trimming to 2 1/2" by 3 1/2"
which is the standard size for ATCs artist trading cards
.

i hope you like my new cool shades of cucumber

 and the remains of your summer
.
what color are your glasses?

after the fair is over...

Everything here is mine, said Noodles.

after the fair is over is a grand time for a cat nap.
This quilt did not get finished because as you see, Noodles has occupied my work in progress.
cats do that.

A July evening sky

I brought my camera  along,  alas i never took it out at the fair.

we had a constant flow of trade winds and visitors and shoppers.
 endless conversations of art and color and laughter,
 always laughter!

 little bits of the shading acacia tree flowers floating  in looking like little eyelashes.
and music filled the air.
 Mahalo to all who stopped to say HI and all who shopped my art fabric booth.

i am resting up a bit this week from all that going on.
in a hammock
with a lemonade and a book

Mango stars quilt

Yesterday a customer came out to pick up a quilt she fell in love with last weekend. at HAF
 i  took a few pictures of it before it left .the quilt was all the colors i paint and sew and quilt and sew some more. i also made a little pillow case from some of my hand painted yardage  to put the quilt in as it is a gift for grand baby that is coming early next year.
Congrats to all!
 below
doing a grateful happy dance

happy summer!

Haleiwa Arts Festival

It's Almost  time  for The Hale'iwa Arts Festival!

Saturday, July 21, 10 am-6 pm ; Sunday, July 22, 10 am -5 pm

Celebrate the Arts and Rediscover
Your Inner Artist

Spend a special day with your family and friends at the Fifteenth Annual Hale'iwa Arts Festival Summer Art Fest, in Historic Hale'iwa Town, on Oahu's beautiful North Shore

Saturday, July 21, 10am-6pm & Sunday, July 22, 10am-5pm
at Hale'iwa Beach Park 

on the North Shore of Oahu.
Free Admission and
Free Entertainment.

The Arts Festival features 128 fine artists with original works, limited & open edition prints, traditional & contemporary, in oil, acrylic, watercolor, ceramic, sculpture, photography, fabric, jewelry and glass.

The Art Festival also includes performance arts featuring original music and dance, with audience participation encouraged.( I love the Bagpippers on Saturday morning!) Also included are cultural history trolley tours of Hale`iwa town, art demonstrations and displays, and a host of "hands-on" children's activities

Be sure to pick a program guide at  Information Event HQ tent,

this will have a map and help you navigate your way around.

this is a wonderful event for all ages, locals and visitors.

I'll be in my booth #111  near  main entrance, first aid, and

Information Event Headquarters .

stop by and say hi.  Aloha, Sonja

A Painting class from Japan

My first painting class this summer came all the way from Yokohama Japan!

they have visited my booth at quilt shows for many years

 and this was the year they wanted lessons.

fortunately art is a lot like laughing to me .

 we all do it in the same language, mostly.

they wanted to paint flowers and fabric and so we did.

 for two days.

 each day they took the bus out from Waikiki and we painted up a storm.

 i did allot of demos instead of words and they did a great job, as you can see.

 now these ladies have fabric that they painted to use in their own quilt designs.

they also now have good brushes, little pots of paint, and many, many ideas to play with.

these  sessions  are  my  most  favorite  kind  of  days!

  

                                

nice palette!

Which one is yours?

Color in many forms

                                                       finger painting fabric dots


   

Aloha ! Sonja

prayer flag for June

Mahalo
is a word for ThankYou.
it is a one word prayer
of being grateful and aware of all beauty around you.

I took one of my prayer flags that had the word stitched on and collaged it with some of the pieces of fabric that i am thankful to find in a box,

colorful bits waiting to be useful.

after i decided upon an arrangement i free motion tacked them down , overlapping.

after a freemotion quilting session, i painted some parts
that wanted more color.

the addiiton of buttons and ties complete this project.

 

this is held up to the morning sunrise.

 

i have left the edges raw on purpose.

perhaps they shall join up at a later date.
As for now they are free.
Mahalo, Sonja

leftovers or art?

         empty paint jar get new life.

 So, what did i do with the those tiny strips and selvages of my painted fabric today,

the ones stuffed in a bag? 

i adhered them in random order of pulling them out of the bag and covered a used up paint jar that was housing some of my paint brushes.

this morning the idea came along with a cup of coffee.

 i orderd more paint today and sent a photo along to Dharma Trading
 to show another way
 i love their stuff.
Perhaps i shall ad fabric to top of jar, later.

 something  to do while paint dries.

Yes, that is a moma hen in the background with little ones.

Happy Wednesday

Plumeria

what a wonderful fragrance the Plumeria gives off .

 So clean and light and welcoming.

  

Here is a painting of plumerias in my hand.

later i painted a smaller verson,

 quilted it, and shared  with some of my art pals.

oh happy day of flowers

have a great memorial weekend.

Turquoise scarab

Turquoise Scarab

The theme for May's exchange is Turquoise

 for the artsinthecards  art group

here is my offering

isn't he cute?

below are some of the materials i  used after idea light bulb came on ;

my paper sketch, painted coffee filters backs, paint, brushes, threads, sharp tools.
 i was given a carved bead of a scarab to make into a knotted necklace many decades ago
that was part of inspiration memory recall.

what photos do not show is the iridesent painted over color

Three scarab beetles 

Here they are in all their glory
 quilted on my favorite  Bernina 830 Record machine .

be well, sonja

Acid Rain

 Rain

 was the latest word prompt for Arts in the Cards trade.

 what that word looks, feels, sounds like to you at the time is what was made visable

 and reduced to a small card and sent out to other artists.

this blue bubble photo is not one of them.

it is a eyeglass cleaner cloth borrowed from my DH from his last pair of glasses.

 and as good as any place to start as i am visual.

 also a good reminder that i get my eyes checked this week for sharper vision glasses!   

i started out with water/rain drops and the  idea that i see  colors in drops, which i do .

water running down a windsheld or window takes on shapes as did the paint i put on several pieces of cloth that i left out in the rain to make them dilute and as they dried on a slope,

the colors ran downhill.

of the 4 pieces i picked 3 that i quilted to repeat that rolling down effect  of drops.

 i used some metallic thread that broke (even with the metallic needle)  often .

 i was glad these were small pieces.

rain drops keep fallin' on my head.....

was the most sung  old song  as  worked  along  on  this challege.
what does rain inspire you in your imagination?

 

  

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