Winter Getaway!

We came to Chico Hot Springs yesterday afternoon for our Winter Getaway. Natural mineral hot springs, wonderful dinner, quiet evening in a comfortable room. No distractions, no demands, just a lovely and relaxiing break from "real life". The photo was taken back in the Fall. Before I leave this afternoon, I'll take a few more and upload them tonight. This is the location for the Idea to Image Retreat coming up in October. This morning we met with our rep here and talked about some of the details. I'll be ready (finally!) to mail brochures late next week.
After the stresses of the past 10 weeks, we are beginning to find our way back to focus and clarity. I do have a new piece in process and am deciding how to mount and present it. I'm thinking it needs to be in space with light coming from behind... but am not certain.
more to come.

what i have been working on

nebula 3, the monster piece.




runoff
acrylic and water color pencil on Lutrador, stitched and quilted.

an incentive to post

the holidaze and family issues have been so intense, it seems there is nothing to talk openly about here on the blog...being tagged for the 4 things meme should help me get going again, eh? Thnaks Deb!
http://debrichardson.blogspot.com/

Four Jobs You've Had:
Crisis Worker: Domestic Violence Center
Custom Hat Maker
Greenhouse Manager
Technical Writer


*Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
Love, Actually
Blithe Spirit
Bringing Up Baby
Out of Africa

*Four Places You've Lived:
Athens, OH, when i was in grad school. can you imagine?
Tucson, discovered beads there [a lifetime ago]
Chincoteague, VA
Baltimore, city of neighborhoods


* Four TV Shows you love to Watch:
what's TV??? don't watch it, have no idea what is current.

* Four Places You've Been on Vacation:
define "vacation", grin.
loosely speaking: Alaska; Sand Creek, CO; Chico Hot Springs, Pray, MT; Montreal, Quebec, CA

* Four Websites You Visit Every Day:
APOD
Slate
AQ Webring
ArtsJournal on line


* Four Of Your Favorite Foods:
garden rasberries
Maryland Blue Crab
Guacamole
wild salmon


* Four Places You'd Rather Be:
near the Atlantic Ocean
any major East Coast City (museums! galleries! food!)
a deep tub of very hot water
the studio.

Four Albums You Can't Live Without:
Brandenberg Concertos: Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music
Malcom Dalgish, hammered dulcimer
Malcome Dalgish and Grey Larson: Thunderhead
Dire Straits


Four People You'll Pass This On To:
Cathy Arnett
Cathy Kleeman
Rayna
Sonji

december 9

After a week of brutal cold, it is warming up here finally! The sound you just heard was a huge sigh of relief. It is 23 above right now, heading toward 39. The wind is fierce so it seems colder, there are always trade offs, eh? Extreme cold wears me out, although being out with Sam the golden wonder pup is entertaining. He takes great joy in snow and all the games he can play with it, running digging, rolling - you name it. He loves cold weather. but then he's a golden retriever, they love almost everything. He will be ecsatic this afternoon when the Center of the Universe gets home. Michael has been away for several days, is returning today with his brother who will stay with us a while. It has not yet been determined whether my office or the living room will be converted to a part time guest room.The whole situation is problematic. Everyone is going to require a lot of private space and this is a small house.
I've been delaying even thinking about it, choosing instead to spend all my time this week in studio. (more on that in a bit).
Today i have to seriously consider space, furniture, arrangements and patience; which is why i am getting caught up on computer work, another form of procrastination? big grin here.
In the studio: a monster piece, another in the nebula series, almost finished but not ready for prime time. My intention was to push temperature in color and it was difficult, even my yellows are cool. It is on hiatus while i figure out a few things concerning structure and assembly.The break gives me the opportunity to explore some new materials. Actually went back to the whole cloth/painting/thread image idea using a non-woven surface. The surfaces and texture are interesting but detail is getting lost. Maybe i'll put some images up later this weekend.
At some point it will be time to consider the holidays. yikes. Lots to do. is anyone feeling organized and on top of things?

november 26

it's a gray day, not too cold and raining steadily. I've been cleaning, reorganizing in the studio as i consider what next in the new piece. My studio faces north with nice big windows looking out to the gardens. There's an ancient crab apple tree just off the patio. it's a great place for the bird feeders. Today we had two new visitors at the suet feeders: a white breasted nuthatch and a red squirrel. There aren't many squirrels in our neighborhood. This is the first time i've seen one in the yard.

Unfortunately my studio access has come to a screeching halt as i discovered a leak in a window frame. This means there's a leak in the roof. Not a good thing. M will have to take the trim off the window to begin tracing the leak. Until he's done with all that goes with this mission, i can't work out there. Frustration, annoyance and dismay are the prevailing moods. if the issue is not eaily resolved, i will move a work wall and my machine into the dining room. Meanwhile i can catch up on computer work and maybe even clean the office. ugh. It's adisaster. This room collects all sorts of overflow.
onward.

a month later

It is cold here today, 14 degrees this morning when i ventured out for my haircut appointment, not much warmer at noon when i took a meal down to a neighbor's house. Well, it is mid-November and this is Montana, so no surprises here. The good thing about this time of year is being in studio. Over the years it seems to me that i get most productive as Fall draws to a close, the days get shorter and temperatures colder.
Right now i have two works in process: large pieces, based on the nebulas i've been playing with for the last while. I'm using a lot of Helene Davis's fabrics and working with the idea of "temperature" in color. Am trying to push myself toward hotter colors. It is amusing to see that even the hottest colors i choose are actually very cool tones. When i came home from Houston my intention had been to work whole cloth, using only the stitch to develop the imagery. Well, that bit the dust pretty fast. Maybe next piece.

october 14?

and it has been nearly two months since my last post. What a busy time! The joys of late Summer with camping and gardening, some travel, the catastrophes of the Gulf Coast storms (still going on of course) and all the usual studio challenges. Work shipped out to various shows; Phase 1 of the fundraiser for Hurricane Relief is almost done (still a few pieces to ship); I had my first Canadian Thanksgiving and a wonderful wekend in N. VA.
Right now i am in a hotel room, heading North in a bit for a weekend retreat. Am looking forward to seeing a new landscape and meeting new people. Next week i leave for Houston for ten days. Then i am HOME for a good long while and most of my external committments for the year will be in the past. Perhaps i can get caught up with the blog, with uploading images of new work and sharing the bits and pieces of news.

august 16

two small pieces, ready to ship out tomorrow. they are monoprints on cotton with stitching, and other media. even though my camera angle is crooked, the pieces are not, and they are moounted on stretched canvas...
it is amazing how long the details take: selecting, documenting and presenting work that is to go out into the world. it is all part of the "job" of course, but wouldn't it benice if the elves showed up to handle these things?

august 10

updates
from the office: it's been busy and hectic and at times, overwhelming. sounds like real life, doesn't it? The computer has been recalcitrant. Apparently the anti-virus program ate something it didn't like and created some issues. That's all resolved now. The only casualty seems to be that i have lost access to the "Classic" operating system (this is a Mac) and along with that went my bookkeeping records from May 04 through today. Why that set of dates? it may have something to do with the "back-up folders". best case scenario: i take the machine back to the Tech, who may be able to recover the missing system stuff. Worst case: I re-enter all my numbers - an arduous bt not impossible task. [yes i have back-up but it's on paper, not inthe system and i really like being able to compare and project]

from the garden: now that the weather is cooling off a little, the plants are perking up. we still have raspberries and strawberries, are harvesting beans, carrots and cukes, the first red tomato came along earlier this week. There's nothing quite like the tastes of summer.
My perennials are doing well and the hibiscus will flower soon, as will the datura. There will be more color in another few weeks, once we are out of the real heat of summer and once the deadheaded plants get their next fush of bloom.

in the studio: both nebula II and shell game have been accepted to the Houston show and i have a few small pieces to ship off for consideration in NH. I have been focusing on digging out, reorganizing space, re-equipping myself and fiishing up odds and ends. It won't be long before I am ready to start a new piece.
i'm happy to be home for another 6 weeks or so and look forward to getting my hands in the stuff.

july 15

It's Friday night. Sarah and Bob are at rehearsal. Tomorrow is day two of the workshop, so I am having a quiet evening in, with the grandkitties. Today went very well. This group is great fun. Wonderful humor, good color sense, adventurous and responsive. And gift of all gifts: everyone knows their machines, every machine in class is well cared for and therefore, I get to do what I am there to do. Believe me, this makes a difference! Going into tomorrow (when we will be doing free motion work) I can be pretty confident that any technical problems can be easily addressed. I do have my new camera with me. If i remember I'll ask permission to photograph the work and post it here. [i do not usually think of documenting a class while in the middle of it, and will not post pix of students work without permission. so, two things to think about and remember]
Sarah , Bob and I are having a quiet and relaxed family visit in spare moments here and there. I'm here for almost a week and we all three have work to do, so there's not so much pressure to fit things into a tiny amount of time. After tomorrow's class session I'll be free to go to the rehearsals, will help with costume construction and alterations, some set building and general backstage support stuff. Tech theatre is not my forte' but I take instruction well and can follow directions, grin. Unfortunately I will not be here for the performances, but will see the show develop.
and now, a book, and an early bed time.
I've cruised through the ring and enjoyed catching up a little with people's blogs, have cruised through QA and avoided commenting on the current threads of "why blog" and "the list has changed".

july 12

...and flying South tomorrow. It will be in the triple digits here, not quite so hot where i am headed. The difference? Here, almost no humidity. South: "pea soup in a zip loc bag", as my daughter says. grin.
i am looking forward to seeing her and her sweetie. We'll have almost a week. I will do a two day workshop while there, help Sarah take down a show at the art center, watch multiple rehearsals for "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and just relax. Tuesday is Sarah's birthday, Bob's is a week later.
yes, I am packed and almost ready. Leaving home is always difficult though. I really do not like to fly any more. The Bose noise cancellation headphones help a lot! but still.....

What is new here? not much. Have been working on UFOs, finding some satisfaction in picking up unfinished, unresolved work and doing something with it.

The gardens are maintaining; it's that hot in-between phase of the Summer;.
The paperwork has won and i am not quite, but almost ready to declare it the victor.

When i get back i begin another round of Hyalgan/Synvisc for the knee and really need to look at when i can fit in the next surgery. I don't want to!!! Down time is NOT on my list of things to do any time soon. This one will be lengthy.

onward. y'all be good. i'll check in from points South.

format issues

Blogger has added a photo option. This saves a step but i do not have the formatting figured out yet. So, the text looks squeezed.
maybe i'll get better at this if i practice?

July 9

The last few days Michael has been out of town and Sam has stayed home with me, poor guy. (I'm boring. he has much more interesting adventures with Michael, the center of the Universe. I do take the dog to the river as early as possible. This morning we were out at 6. A light breeze kept the mosqitoes at bay. We saw deer on the far shore, pelikans upriver, herons and eagles scouting their breakfast.
The milkweed is blooming now, a feast for butterflies.

Since I'm not walking much these days we stayed at water's edge and worked on retrieves.

Someone has been rearranging the rocks.
I like the curve.

catching up

two weeks ago I drove down to Cody, WY for a benefit party. A woman in our extended circle had a serious head injury (she fell from a horse); the benefit was to raise money for her aftercare. She has no health insurance and needs constant care as she goes through a long rehabilitation. My friend, Mz. Vic, lives out on the South Fork about 22 miles from town and we stayed with her that night. Here are some views from Vic's house.



Mz. Vic has a passive solar house and a wonderful little garden. Since they put up a 6 foot fence to block the wind and keep the deer out, things are growing well. Here's a shot of Vic and Sam.
Later that evening we drove into town for the dance party. About 700 tickets were sold for the party; there were perhaps 300 people there when I left (9 ish, I turn into a pumpkin if I stay out too late ) It was a lot of fun and a major success. Great music, dancing, a benefit auction. Over $50,000 was raised for the cause. All the food, beverages and music were donated and folks were very generous with their donations and their purchases. The ability of community to come together to help is amazing.

nebula

nebula
Originally uploaded by lauracw.

this was last seen"under the needle" a few months ago. it too is ready for the photographer tomorrow. There are a few other pieces to shoot as well, but i'm having trouble with my brain. I've been up since the wee dark hours (well, not really. 4:30 a.m., it's getting light here now.,) but i am tired and done for the day. perhaps tomorrow afternoon i'll get the other digitals uploaded.

riverrock

riverrock
Originally uploaded by lauracw.

the final version. it's ready for the slide shoot tomorrow.

still the 18th

amazing, two posts in one day.
first, apologies? acknowledgements? to those readers who have posted comments here. I don't always respond. please forgive.
your interest is noted and appreciated.
my time is -shall we say, limited?- anyway, there are not enough hours in the day to keep up everywhere. YOU ARE GREAT!
thank you.

what i did today:
framed and packed two pieces to ship on Monday to a gallery far from here. After almost two years away from working with showing and galleries and juried shows etc. it is time to jump back in, i think. This invitation came out of the blue... we'll see how it goes.
In support of the above: found framing, assembled same, did the paperwork, purchased new mouse as the old one was being recalcitrant, tried the new camera.
blocked the new piece but have not bound it. need to do that tomorrow for slides Monday.
the day is GONE. and really, i do not feel there is much to show for it. sigh. everything takes such a long time to do. whine. moan. okay, back to work now.
more later.

June 18

detail
Originally uploaded by lauracw.

Here's a detail of the work on the wall. today this piece wil be finished, it has to be. Monday is the slide shoot and then i'll be able to post a photo of the whole piece - i have trouble with keystoning when i take shots of large work.

June 16

Well it happened again. i wrote a long post and did not save the thing before reviewing it. Where did it go? Can i get it back?
rhetorical questions.
The Rooted in Tradition Art Quilt Symposium sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum was incredible. I am pleased and honored to have participated and to have a piece in the collection. The weekend was great. A lot of organizations and many people worked together to create an event which ran smoothly and provided much food for thought. My brain is still tired. It will be a while before I process some of the provocative and interesting ideas.
Hospitality couldn't have been better (my hosts were wonderful and their other house guest was a person I had long admired.) Event details seemed carefully considered, from the shuttles between events and sites to the info and reminders about caring for oneself at high elevations. The primary speakers and panel discussions were well considered and very interesting. [the only drawback in my opinion was that there were concurrent sessions, making it necessary to choose. That's always a sacrifice of sorts.)
There were several wonderful exhibits on view in adition to the New RMQM Permanent Collection of Art Quilts (installed at at the Foothills Art Center). Lots of interesting work to see and think about. The RMQM exhibit is fantastic. It will travel, there are five venues booked already. The catalogue is beautifully designed, with good color, excellent writing and wonderful coverage of the art. [It is available through the RMQM. I'll try to remember to post details later.)
All in all, a fantastic time even though I stayed up too late, had too much fun, too many interesting conversations and am still trying to sort it all out. Meanwhile the paperwork is piling up (it multiplies when left alone), the studio is a wreck (work is getting done there= a good sign), the gardens are shaping up (i weed, deadhead and thin when a studio break is needed).
onward. enjoy the day.

June 1

Ft. Collins, Colorado.
today was a driving day, quiet, uneventful, totally alone. It felt so luxurious to pack my own pillow, extra shoes and things i know i won't need. Generally when i travel, i am so limited in what i can pack and must give precedence to workshop and lecture materials. not this time! I have extra stuff! and my own pillow! and lots of handwork and books! such indulgence.

I left home at 9 am, and arrived here at 5:15. two stops on the way in friendly but windy Wyoming towns. The country is as lush as it ever gets with lovely greens, especially in the northern part of the state. Watching the land unfold is such drama. There's new snow in the Bighorn Mountains,the stark white is in high contrast to the cerulean blue skies and deep green grasses. shadowed areas are almost black. Lots of antelope out and about, a few deer. Too many dead racoons. The animals don't deal well with the highway.
Ft. Collins is home to Colorado State University, and even though classes are out, the university presence is distinct. i ate supper in Old Town, (it was close to 80 degrees! summer weather) sat outside and watched people for an hour. mostly 40 something couples, hand in hand, lots of student age folks, some young families. Now i'm in my hotel room for the night, have correspondence to catch up with, some hand work to do, or escapist reading now, there's a thought. Tomorrow i have a leisurely morning, then down to the Boulder area where i am spending the weekend in conjunction with the Art Quilt Symposium at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

One notable aspect of the drive: When i got close to Casper WY, i was able to pick up NPR again, and that station had BBC news. Now, those of you living in metropolitan areas are accustomed to this perhaps, but i do not get BBC in my local NPR programming (at least, not in the hours when i listen.) It was so refreshing to hear IN DEPTH discussion of newsworthjy events instead of just bits and bites. And also today, the end of an era for those of us of a certain age: "Deep Throat" is no longer anonymous, Who would have thought...