Pink Circles

I'm teaching this class, Recycled Circles, based on the Cloth Paper Scissors article I wrote, at Art Unraveled in August. I'm also teaching Sketching and Watercolor Journal Style: Flowers and Plants and Duet: Watercolor Flower and Hand Carved Stamps. All three workshops at Art Unraveled. Registration has already started!

laundry room door

This is the door to our laundry room. Yes, that's a cat-shaped hole in the door, so our kitties can access their litter box. (Sorry I couldn't get the cats to show the door in action. I'll keep the camera at the ready.)

I drew the silhouette on the door, a friend cut out the shape with a jig-saw, sprayed insulation foam into the hollow door and let that dry. Then I covered the cut edge in papier mache, primed and painted it. (I have the same sort of hole our bedroom door.) I like to think of our house as an artist's house---not a cluttered, eclectric, collector's home--ya know?

I updated my website with the classes and workshops I'm teaching next year...(Sorry, no papier mache door coverings included.)

Happy New Year!

Mundo Lindo, the free after school program I created and taught for 2 years lives on! (This is the logo I created for Mundo Lindo, when it first started in May 2007.)

Thanks so very very much to the generous anonymous donors of the $5,000 challenge grant, and to the Current Wisdom Foundation and to the individuals (noted below) Mundo Lindo has raised $10,000 and will start up again on Thursday, January 14th! The free two hour class runs 3-5pm every Thursday, and pre-registered 4th & 5th grade students, from the Escondido School District will begin a year long art adventure.

BIG thanks to : Cheryl Gaston, Rick Keating, Jim Kelly, Andrea Cassilas Hein, Virginia Sumner, Gary Carpenter, 10 North, Gillian Moss, Linda Shaw, Helen Shafer Garcia, Rachel Kopel, Nancy Lemke, Elizabeth Chiment, Seema Sueko, Ellen Speert, Wendee Lee, Lori Mitchell, Susan Avery Clark, Maureen Griffin, Rachel Grant, Kent and Erma, and Jo Ann Bryan.

Thank you--from me and most especially all the kids!

Through out the year, California Center for the Arts, Escondido Education Department will continue to fundraise for the year 2011.

cocktail napkins

Hope I don't hurt my arm patting my self on the back for my cleverness......I made these cocktail napkins from my Spoonflower fabric! and then printed a tag with the watercolor journal page I used to create the fabric......Here's a view of the napkins. Cute, huh? They will be Christmas gift.
(Actually, it was Mistress of Longears who made cocktail napkins first, and I was inspired by her.)

more green

Uh oh. I feel it coming on. Another series of hand stitched pieces. This is the 3rd of the green series, and there are more on the way. This is about 7x11" and machine needle-felted first (broke 3 needles of 7! ayk!) and then seriously hand-stitched. And if you follow my blog, you recall my 'quiltlets,' which are numbering about 21, and are still unattached. No problem, I tell myself. Im an artist! It's the process! Seriously, I am thinking about laying all the quiltlets out on the dining room table and starting to assemble them into one big piece. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I'll be stitchin' on my green series.

I have room for a few more students in my Wet-Felting workshop, on January 9 in Escondido, CA.

red cups

Husb and I have been taking a hand building clay class for the last couple of weeks (just 3 hours a week). I picked up my red cups from the kiln today. I love them! They are pretty tiny--they shrink more than you think they will--but they can be bud vases or drinking glases, or shot glasses!. (Behind is part of a mosaic I did above our fireplace.)

celedon bowl

Another of my hand build pieces from our class. (It's a bowl.)

3 hour workshop in Escondido

"Mixed Media, paper on cloth"
Sat. January 23rd - Jane LaFazio
Noon-3pm
Workshop fee: $65 for EAP members/$75 for non members

Escondido Arts Partnership Municipal Gallery, 262 E. Grand Ave. Escondido, CA92025
760-480-4101

We'll cut and glue and paint, with cloth as our base and paper as our collage medium. Learn fun, loose, easy techniques to create a small art piece of your own design.

Register today. Space is limited
Material fee: (included in price)
Workshop size: 3-10. Space is limited
Pre-registration: You must pre-register by Jan. 20th. To register online click here. or call the gallery at 760 480-4101

MY tamales

I made these tamales with my very own hands! Husb and I took a tamale making class today, and brought home about 2 dozen of our own creation. It was fun, but hours of work--we needed chips and salsa to fortify us. (The class was organized by his retiree club.)

Needle felting

I've had a needle felting machine for about a year. Every time I use it, I break needles like crazy! This piece is about 8x8 and I broke 4 needles (out of 7) making it. And, the needles are not cheap! So, this afternoon, I'm taking a lesson at the where I bought the machine. I really hope I can learn how to not break needles!
I hand stitched on this, after the needle felting, and I think it's going to grow up to be part of a larger piece. I so love hand stitching, or what Melly calls, 'slow sewing.'

And, I'm teaching a new class online on joggles. It doesn't start till March, but you can check it out and register now. And, don't forget Art Unraveled will filling classes at the end of December--and I'm teaching 3 classes, so sign up!

No, my studio is not in this magazine

As a totally loyal subscriber and fan of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissor, of course I buy their Studios magazine too. Mary Fisher's amazing studio is pictured on the front and in the magazine. Imagine my surprise, when on page 23, Mary Fisher mentions me!! And I quote "...watercolor(now that I've learned it from Jane LaFazio)." Can you believe how incredibly kind it was of her to mention me!! Really, I'm very moved by this. I met Mary just once, at Art Unraveled last year, when she took my "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style."

And while I'm thanking generous women, I must mention the powerhouse Pokey Bolton! She has published me in her magazines numerous times, included me on her TV show, and at Make It University at the Quilt Festivals and I consider her a good friend, which thrills me no end.

And that leads to Lesley Riley, who introduced me to Pokey by writing an artist spotlight article about my quilt "Ralph's Letters." Cloth Paper Scissors Jan/Feb 2007. It's thanks to Lesley I've been on this wild ride of being published.

So huge thanks to the many generous women in my life! Pokey, Lesley and Mary and many more.

preparing for Orvieto!

I think this is the book for me! My trip to Orvieto is a go, so I'm really getting excited!! We've got 7 with room for just 3 more! Here's the Registration form and final payment is due February 10. If you've got an logistical questions, please email Bill and Kristi our most wonderful hosts.

art making and bloody marys

Oh my, we had just too much fun at Barbara and Nancy's yesterday! Linda came too, and we ate, drank and laughed our way through the day, making art and altering christmas cards. Great time!

Night Flight

A collage made from Cyanotype leftovers and stencils and stamps and then of course hand-sewing. It needs a title. Any suggestions?

12/9/09: Thanks for the title suggestions! Denise and Mary (on facebook) both suggested "Night Flight" and that one spoke to me. thanks everyone!

moonlit lily

I'd posted this one before, but without the lace in the left corner. Now it's finished. Cyanotype (AKA sunprint) then painted.

lily in the sky sans diamonds

The third in the series of Lily cyanotypes.....

aloe at ellens

I painted this yesterday, as I taught a workshop in Encinitas. The garden was full of these blooming aloes, and it would have been fun to do a series. I added the chop (in Chinese means Plain Jane) once I got home.

Saturday workshop location

It was cloudy but not too cold at the workshop yesterday. The garden was glorious as usual!