more grapefruit

Gorgeous days in San Diego. Spring is everywhere.
Still eating our Borrego Springs grapefruit from last weekend's art show.
On my walk, I spied 3 trees all full of these bright yellow blooms. Haven't a clue what kind of tree it is, but I'll now watch it through the seasons for more info.
watercolor moleskine.

Borrego Grapefruit

I created this today for the Art Quilt class I teach--the next assignment is a food theme, using recycled stuff. This was made with fabric and the plastic bag the grapefruits came in!

Buddy in my studio

I went out of my studio for a moment and guess who claimed a seat.

the quilt in progress

Sewing through the fabric and plastic, making my grapefruit quilt. Notice the real grapefruit, for inspiration.

Batter-dipped deep fried oreo cookies

My weekend at the Borrego Springs art show was great fun. The crowds were less than in years past, so I didn't make much money. I did have a wonderful time with husb and pal Helen and her husb. Our booths were next to each other, so we chatted and drew all weekend. The weather was perfect!!

My booth was located about 50 yards from this food vendor. They made batter-dipped deep fried oreo cookies! Of course, in the interest of art research, I finally bought some on Sunday. Four for 2 dollars. They were surprisingly delicious! Just like a new orleans beignets, but with a soft oreo cookie inside. I only ate one, and shared the other three. We also ate wonderful breakfast burritos, but I ate mine instead of drawing it. As Helen said, it wasn't exactly a diet weekend.

palms

Lots of time to draw on saturday since customers were in short supply, I drew 3 pages in my moleskine.

art at the art show

From where I was sitting in my booth at the art show, I captured other artist's works, including my own. This was a very fun exercise.

olive tree

The highlight of the weekend was saturday night at was Carlee's. Keep in mind that the population of Borrego Springs is 3,000. It's a very small desert town...Saturday night is Karaoke night and all the locals make an evening of it. They were GREAT! We stayed till nearly midnight watching and singing along. Helen's husb even sang! (I did not!)

borrego spring

Small art quilt ~8x11" Can you tell the burlap is sand and that this is the desert in the spring? I'm going to the desert this weekend to do the Circle of Art art show, so I was inspired to do this. Wish me luck!

Demo at the Escondido Art Association last week

I told them my 'creative' life story, and they laughed in most of the right places. I showed them my quilts and my journals too.

ethnic tree of life (nearly finished)

My nearly finished watercolor mixed media. I showed the art association group the techniques I used to created this piece.

the throng

I did a watercolor/mixed media demonstration for a local art association on March 14th. I think there were about 60 people there. [No, it's not in some barn, the wall behind me is being remodeled.]

prang watercolor set

I gave these (Prang Watercolor Set) to all my students last week, at my "Illustrating your Journal in Watercolor" workshop and everyone was very pleased, and surprised, at what good paints they are. And very inexpensive. I suggest getting a better brush though--the Niji Waterbrush is my fave.

San Carlos Fire Station

I did this from a photo. It's where the memorial service for my stepfather will be held in April. He was a fireman for more than 20 years. I think my sister is going to put this in the program.
I grew up in San Carlos, California.

Ellen's Garden

This was one of my demos for the workshop I taught on Saturday.

almond blossoms

Abundance and Synchronicity

Sunday, March 17, I taught an all day workshop "Illustrating your journal with watercolor" at California Center for Creative Renewal. Twenty five people attended and it was a very fulfilling day. It was the first time I've taught something like this, and I believe I inspired the participants to start their own visual journals, if they hadn't already. Of course, I had many other books to inspire them, like Danny Gregory, Dan Price, and Kate Williamson. Thanks to Ellen, the workshop will be an annual event!

In the past 2 weeks, I've bought four pieces of art. A fabric masterpiece from Sara, a watercolor cat from Janey, a commission of BeBop & Buddy's portraits from Marna and a landscape from Whitney. I am an artist who loves art and buys art, always have. Somehow I feel that my support of these artists has come back to me. Yesterday, I received an abundance of money! Payments from teaching my classes and workshops and a tax refund (the first in many years!) It feels great to earn substantial (to me anyway) money for doing what I love. Thanks everyone!

from march 2006

A year ago, a group of us met up with Danny Gregory in Los Angeles for a sketchcrawl. Here's the photo with Danny on the left. I'm next to him, in back, with my eyes closed. Also in the pic are Hashi, Wendee, Jill, Robin, Shelley, Karen and of course Andy. Since then, I've filled 8 or 9 moleskines...Thanks Danny!

rock, river, trees

Remember that sketch I did in my sketchbook. And then I created a quilt from the sketch. Well I made monoprint from the sketch onto fabric and stitched it. Stitched a ridiculous amount. I should scan the back of this, but it's so messy. I'm planning on adding a frame/border, but not until I teach the lesson to my art quilt class next week. This is 8.5x11"

La Jolla Sketchcrawl

The san diego sketchcrawl group met at the coast to sketch. It was gorgeous day, about 75 degrees on the beach. There were 10 of us at the crawl, with 4 new members. It was great to spend the day outside! (No, the beach was not empty of people, I just left them out of my drawing!)

La Jolla gardens

After lunch in a small park, we strolled over to another beautiful garden. Set up our chairs on the sidewalk, chatted and sketched in the sunlight.

The winery

When I got home from the sketchcrawl, husb wanted to go the the free jazz concert at the winery. A lovely way to end a full day of sketching.

rock, water, trees

Small journal size quilt. Here is the drawing. I'm working on the sllyabus for upcoming Art Quilt class. I usually never plan quilts, but wanted to challenge myself. The prompt is "What view would you like to see out your window?" Mine would be a rock-filled stream, surrounded by tall trees. My fave part of this quilt is the rocks, they are make from tibetan prayer flags.

Tulips

The potted tulips are fading, but outside, the cherry blossoms are blooming. Yesterday I saw and heard a mockingbird singing all the songs he knew! This Sunday is a san diego sketchcrawl. We're meeting in front of the LaJolla Contemporary Art Museum at 10am. Bring your sketchbook and join us.

The desk in my studio

This photo was taken in October 2006, but it's worth blogging! This is little BeBop, supervising my watercolor moleskine.

Red Tulips

One of our sunday brunch guests bought this lovely pot of red tulips. It has grass planted around the edge. And Buddy loves to eat the grass and then leave little recycled clumps of it around the house....
watercolor moleskine

My favorite imaginary view

Plans for a small quilt, I think. Watersoluable crayons in my sketchbook moleskine. I usually never pre-plan quilts, I just start working with the fabric. I'm thinking this idea of "your favorite view out the window" will be lesson one in my upcoming Art Quilt class, that starts March 16 at Oceanside Museum of Art.

Sunday Brunch

We had company for brunch this morning. Hashbrown quiche, norwegian waffles, asparagus wrapped in bacon, blue cheese deviled eggs, fruit salad and almond champagne. I shouldn't eat for a week!
watercolor moleskine.

Doodling and the brain

A 3-day doodle featuring fruitstickers in my sketchbook moleskine. Last week I went to hear Dr. Betty Edwards lecture from her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." First published in 1979, it is an excellent book to help one learn to see and to draw. Her thoughts on the left side/right side traits of the brain were groundbreaking at the time and continue to amaze me. Speaking the the brain, I hope everyone has seen Bob Woodruff speaking on TV about his brain injury and miraculous recovery. I've just ordered the book In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing written by him and his wife....You see, my husband has a brain injury. He had a brain aneurysm in 1992 and still cannot read, write, or speak well enough to work. He's on permanent disability. He was 46 years old when his brain injury occured. So to see Bob Woodruff in those early days, right after it happened and he couldn't write and sometimes spoke in made-up words...and how in just 8 months he was working on his TV special. It's a miracle. My husband did not recover his communication skills in all these 15 years. But don't be sad me for us. The first couple of years after he was hurt were very very hard, but now we have a wonderful, happy, productive life, full of love.