this morning.

This is me this morning. My husb and I walked a portion of the route that we walk several times a week. With the fires, and the soot, everyone was advised to wear masks.

the fires

I have referred to my morning walk many times on this blog. I walk about 3 miles through an area in Northeast Rancho Bernardo and Northwest Poway. Today, on only a portion of that walk, this is what we saw. Just one block east and one block north of our house, on the route of our walk, we saw 19 homes burned to the ground.

just one block north from our house

Another home gone. This area is called The Trails.

Looking east from Rancho Bernardo Trails area

We spoke (and hugged) two different families this morning as they stood in front of their burned out homes. One was very positive and spoke of rebuilding and being thankful they were all safe.

The front yard wasn't touched

This is the front yard of a man we spoke with this morning. He had just recently re-landscaped it, so beautifully. You can see his burned home in the center.

the fire

Here's another view of that home above..........He told us he came back today to try to find some cast iron frying pans that were one of the few mementos of a recently departed family member...nothing else was left.
He also told us that on Monday morning, 10/22/07, about 4am he awoke to the fire. Police sirens were blaring to evacuate, there were fire fighters in his back yard, telling him to get out.

Witch Creek Fire

The fire raged up from the valley below, burning many homes along its edge.

Day 4

Thanks so much for you kind comments of support and caring. It means a lot to me.
We are still at Virginia's with hopes of returning today to our home, which thankfully was spared. Thanks again to Virginia, for hosting us and to her cats Oobie and Rudy for sharing (though not voluntarily) their home and kitty litter.

San Diego Fires

As many of you may know, I live in San Diego, specifically the community of Rancho Bernardo. San Diego is in the midst of a nightmare of wild fires. My husband and I were awoken by the police department on Monday morning, 10/21/07 at 5am and told to evacuate our home. With just 5 minutes to 'pack' we gathered our two kitties, computer hard drive, our binder full of insurance papers. I grabbed just one other outfit, sweatpants, a sweatshirt and 2 right shoes.
We are staying at our friend Virginia's, about 20 miles south of home. We are 85% sure our house is okay, but can't go back untill the authorities say it's okay--tomorrow or the next day. We are very comfortable, and blessed to have the safe home of a good friend to stay with our kitties.
Keep everyone in San Diego in your thoughts. Over 1,000 homes have burned, 500,000 people evacuated, and more than 200,000 acres burned as of this moment.

PS my plainjanestudio.com website seems to have been hi-jacked or something. I'm hoping my dear website guy and friend, Fred, can get it back.

fabric book workshop

I taught a Fabric Book workshop yesterday at the Ink Spot, downtown San Diego. Six wonderful women and I spent the day playing with fabric. The location was really perfect, as you can see, we had lots of space. And, we were surrounded by my artwork on the walls, since I'm currently exhibiting there. Very nice day, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

fabric book workshop

pomegranate dream

Every year I organize my local artist friends to paint/collage or mosaic mirrors for the annual San Diego Brain Injury Foundation. The event is this Sunday, so I thought I'd better finish mine! It's collage and stamped, using techniques I learned at the Traci Bautista workshop. Obviously, I'm still deep into my pomegranate phase.

BeBop

BeBop likes to be right next to me as I work on my computer.
Check this out: Janey on the East Coast already did a drawing of BeBop!

pumpkins

I did these as demonstrations for the kids I teach at Mundo Lindo. Soft Pastels are waay fun! I did these on colored construction paper in about 10 minutes each.

and another pumpkin

and one more pumpkin

Ellen's

Two of my little demonstration watercolors from the workshop I taught on Saturday.
I'm now teaching a mixed media collage class through the La Jolla Athenaeum! Well, at least for the next 5 weeks. I'm filling in for a instructor that had to drop out. Ideally this means I'll be able to offer my own mixed media class in the spring of 2008, so that's a good thing.

Saturday workshop

I taught another workshop at California Center for Creative Renewal on Saturday. Ellen's gorgeous garden is the perfect setting for my "Painting your journal with Watercolor" workshop. We had 22 wonderful woman attend, and the experience was excellent. So excellent, that Ellen has asked me to teach two workshops a year. I'll be doing the next one on June 7, 2008.
This is the labyrinth, covered in a red succulent.

Demo

We started the workshop inside the studio, since it was an (unusual) rainy morning. Here's my demo.

Saturday's workshop

Thank goodness the rain cleared to a gorgeous day, because it would have been a little crowded in Ellen's studio.

painting the pink flower

Afternoon sunshine.

painting the landscape

Sketching and painting in the garden

Fabric Book Workshop

I'm teaching a Fabric Book Workshop next Saturday, and there's still openings. Here's the scoop. [Email me if you want to attend.]

Saturday, October 20 downtown San Diego
10am - 4pm (bring a sack lunch)
Sponsored by San Diego Book Arts
$65 SDBA & SDWI members/$85 nonmembers, plus $10 materials fee
Create a small fabric book containing your story or poem. As you create your book from your fabric, you’ll learn transfer techniques to get your words on to fabric, basic sewing and embroidery techniques, and hopefully the joy of creating with cloth. Jane will supply the stiff interfacing for the book pages, a few book designs to choose from, fabric scraps, threads, and buttons. You bring an assortment of small pieces of fabric (4 or 5 ‘fat quarters’ (a fat quarter is a piece of fabric18x22”) sold at craft or fabric stores would be enough) sewing needles, scissors, and most importantly, your short story or poem. (Optional: sewing and embroidery thread, ribbons, buttons, charms or anything that fits the theme of your text.)

Video Debut!

I made this video from my digital camera ages last year, but only now figured out how to put it on my blog. It's entitled "Buddy & the OfficeJet." I'm sure you'll be seeing it at the Sundance Film Festival very soon!

journal cover

One of the volunteer projects I do, is to create journals for caregivers for SCRC. Here's the cover. It's made from lime green dupioni silk and a vibrant purple thai silk. In fact the thai silk is from an old, beloved blouse of mine, and that's the blouse pocket on the front of the journal. It's hand and machine stitched.

painting with wine.

Lucinda saw an article in the newspaper about a woman who painted with wine (like, dipping her brush in wine) so we all had to try it last night. We painted with and consumed it...at our 10 North meeting.

Mundo Lindo

The newspaper article on my children's art program, Mundo Lindo, was reprinted today in the Union Tribune North County Inland section. You can read it here.

JanesVille

hmmm, do you suppose it's a suburb of JaneVille?
(Thanks Kat, for the pic!!)

A girl's gotta have fun!

Yesterday, we spent a gorgeous day with our dear friends Dick and Kitty. Then rented a sailboat and we sailed around San Diego Bay all day and into the evening. Dick taught my Husb to drive, and I was very proud of how well he did. Here's me and Husb, I'm pretending to drive.

sailing san diego bay

Our hosts and long time friends, Dick and Kitty. We had lunch while sailing. Wine, cheese, bread and fruit--what could be better!

sailing san diego bay

Husb, enjoying himself! It was a perfect day! 75-80 degrees most of the time.

sailing san diego bay

Life is good!

sailing san diego bay

We anchored and enjoyed dinner and the sunset.

sailing san diego bay

Here's the 36' brand new boat we were on. We got back to dock around 9:30pm. Dick and Kitty rented it for the day. Dick is a very experience sailor. We had a beautiful and amazing and glorious day. Yea, life is good.

A few of my watercolor journals

I've spent a good part of the day, creating proposals to teach at Art Unraveled, an annual retreat held in Phoenix, Arizona in August 2008 (in an air conditioned hotel.) I hope to be accepted to teach a couple of workshops. I'm proposing "Sketching & Watercolor in your Illustrated Journal" and two art quilt workshops. Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted.

Yellow Bird

More work on my Art Quilt Exploration class on joggles. Bird themes are week 4, and here are some bird line drawings, compliments of Martha Stewart.

Buddy in Pink and Orange

My online 6- week Art Quilt class started yesterday on joggles.com. Barb tells me I have over 30 students, but I haven't met them all yet. Here's a sneak peak at the project for lesson 3!

flowers from husb

Casual pencil sketch.
Hey, my Mundo Lindo kids art program was front page news in our local paper. Read the article here.

Me Today

This morning we had a reception for Session Two of Mundo Lindo. You can check out the rest of the photos here.
This is me, at 57. Did I mention today is my birthday?

9/29/50

September 29 is my 57th birthday. gosh, I'd love to have 57 comments on my blog!

JaneVille Gazette

Battling Moleskines: ProAm
Watch out Danny, I'm coming to your hood! October 10-12, 2008, I'll be doing a 3 day mixed media workshop at my friend Jan Phillips' place in Lake Bonaparte (90 miles north of Syracuse, NY). Needless to say it's in the planning stages, but at this moment, I'm thinking I'll do a mixed media thing with watercolor sketchbook/collage/cloth. I'll keep you posted!

PR Squared
Other news, I'm now on the board of directors of the San Diego Watercolor Society (SDWS), as the Communications Director. (It's a volunteer position in charge of PR, with an all volunteer non-profit.) SDWS has over 750 members, and is one of the most respected watermedia organizations in the country. Among other things, they offer great workshops in gorgeous San Diego! I'll let you know when they post the 2008 workshop schedule, for you out of towners. So, join already!

Rona Barret Junior
And, I'm way busy creating top-secret artwork for a project for Elin Waterston & Jane Davila, but that's all I can say!

"JaneVille Gazette" is a VERY subtle tribute to one of my fave's Mistress of Longears. Email her and tell she needs a blog too!

Olives and fundraisers

I picked up the olives on my walk this morning. Spent the day working on my online art quilt class, as you can see by the quilt sketches.

Husb and I want to invite you all to the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation fundraiser on Sunday, October 21 from 1:30-4:30 in La Jolla, California. You find out more details, buy tickets, or make a contribution. Husb will have 3 of his paintings there for sale, as they are showcasing brain injury survivor's artwork. Tickets are $50 each. Thanks.

Danny's back!

Danny Gregory has been on a l-o-n-g summer vacation and he just posted after nearly 2 months. AND, he mentions me in his blog. Well, I know he's talking about me, because I'm one of the fifty artists he invited to be in his new book (to be published Fall 2008) entitled “An Illustrated Life: Drawing inspiration from the private sketchbooks of artists, illustrators and designers.” I can't even describe how meaningful this is to me. He even interviewed me. WOW.
Plus I did nearly 108 Surya Namaskar C's today at the yoga autumnal exquinox thingy. What a day.

pumpkin from pamela

I was all set to paint this in my moleskine watercolor journal, and I had no more pages left---so I did it in my moleskine sketchbook, using water soluable crayons. I even drew across the crack.

10 North

Oh, and I did create a new blog (and this postcard) for the art group I'm in!
10north.blogspot.com

I promise, a sketch tomorrow!

I've had a busy week. I've been invited to participate in a book to be published by interweave press/quilting arts/cloth paper scissors. I'm creating a top secret project and will write a how-to article.
Also, I'm working on my shoe for the joggles challenge. You can do one too.
Plus preparing for my online art quilt class, two workshops next month and I'm a board member now for San Diego Watercolor Society.
And, Pamela gave me a pumpkin that she grew herself, and I haven't had a chance to sketch it yet!
All good busy though.

Mundo Lindo

I've just got to post this from my Mundo Lindo classes. That's her puppet, "Super Gal" and she's painting a portrait of it. See Mundo Lindo for the completed paintings. And, the kids did a puppet show too.

my bracelet

Art reception last night, so I had time to sketch my bracelet and 2 peanut m&ms. And look, I'm a hand model too!

Today

I spoke today, at the Escondido Arts Partnership. The subject was "marketing for artists." I spoke about an hour and there were about 30 people there. Of course, I told them about this blog. I wonder if they'll see themselves in this photo and comment!

Super Hero Puppets

Sometimes I can't resist posting something from the Mundo Lindo kids. Here are the super hero puppets they created yesterday. See their written descriptions here on my Mundo Lindo blog.

My childhood home 2007!

My childhood friend, Karen, sent me this photo of what my house on Greenwood looks like today. Wow! thank you Karen! My brother recalls that my mom bought this house for $11,000 in 1952ish. Maybe my sister, the real estate agent, can tell me what this house would sell for today.

A Day in the Park: Yoga & Art

September 1, Ileen (yoga) and I (art) taught a lovely all day workshop "A Day in the Park: Yoga & Art." Here's the group.
(That's me, front row, far left in my new tie-dye pants by Judy.)

Thank you everyone! It was a wonderful day!!

A Day in the Park: Yoga & Art

We really spread all over, with our yoga and our sketching activities. Even though it was Labor Day weekend, the park wasn't crowded at all.

A Day in the Park: Yoga & Art

Kat drawing.
Among other gems of fantastical intellectual insight, I told the class about my sketchbag and where they could order it. Also, my fave travel brush. And, my upcoming workshop at California Center for Creative Renewal "Painting Your Journal" on October 13.

A Day in the Park: Yoga & Art

Inland it was very hot, like 102, but we were just a block from the Pacific Ocean, so it was perfect. (Bella the dog, served as model and companion.)