Universal Yes

The piece is only 8 x 8" so I'm thinking I may add a border to it. It's machine and hand stitched and beaded, and made from paper on cloth. (I'm preparing for a workshop I'm teaching this Saturday in Escondido. I'll also include this in my upcoming Athenaeum class, starting February 1 for 8 weeks.)

my kitchen window

My new stained glass mosaic. I just bought it from my friend Virginia. I love it and love how it looks in our kitchen window.

western tanager

I did these inside the Buena Vista Nature Center today, on our Sketchcrawl. No, they weren't flying through, they were part of the display (real, but stuffed.)

oriole

Another from the Nature Center display. I wanted to challenge myself with this view.....and I did.

sketchcrawl today!

Here's one of my many reasons I'm thankful I live in San Diego! This was our sketchcrawl group today, at Buena Vista Nature Center in Oceanside. Gorgeous day, fabulous group. Here we are eating lunch and sharing our journals.

Mundo Lindo!

Mundo Lindo, the free afterschool art program I created and teach has started up again, thanks to generous donors and California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Nineteen kids in class today, all 4th and 5th graders.

preparing for Orvieto

My book on learning Italian arrived. And, at the same time, this email from Kristi Steiner arrived, telling about the shopping available in Orvieto, during my "Bella Italia: Orvieto Sketchbook" trip May 23-29:

"Oh my! Of course....the shopping! It is fabulous. It's a perfect case of "so much shopping, so little time!" Orvieto has always been known for its high level of craftsmanship, all the way back to Etruscan times. This legacy continues with small ceramic studios dotting the main street, Corso Cavour, as it winds through town. There's even an entire "alley" devoted to crafts with a fine leather shop, amazing woodworking, beautiful linens, and a textile gallery with irresistible woven treasures. I hope we'll have time to prowl around two yummy shops offering classic handmade Italian journals, calligraphy pens, sealing wax, and papers. And I'll show you my favorite office supply store where I stock up terrific Coccoina glue sticks and pens. I'll take you by an import shop that has lots of scarves...the perfect gift to take back to friends or to wear like the Italians do. But don't forget shopping for chocolate, olive oil, and local dried porcini mushrooms. Oh my! If we are lucky, there might be an impromptu crafts fair set up in several of the streets, and every so often we luck into an antique market. Never fear though, Market Day is filled with all kinds of offerings and we'll definitely all shop for picnic supplies to share around our huge table in the courtyard. This is what we love about our trips to Orvieto, the delicious combination of art combined with the surprises of Orvieto. enjoy! Kristi "

Only two spots left!

Amigos de Allende (except for Helen)

One more photo from Sunday's Artist Panel. Back row: Andrea Cassillas Hein, Virginia Sumner, Josie Rodriguez. Front row: Don Strom (aka Husb), me (Jane LaFazio) Jill Hall.

Artist Panel Discussion

Yesterday, my Amigos de Allende group held an artist panel discussion in downtown San Diego at The Ink Spot. About 30 people attended, and we all agreed it was a fun and informative event. Husb, Andrea Hein Cassillas, Virginia Sumner, Josie Rodriguez, Jill Hall and me were on the panel (Helen Shafer Garcia couldn't be there) and Patrick McMahon was the moderator. You can see a few more photos here.

green olives

Here's my wet-felted piece from the workshop I taught today. I'll stitch and embellish and it may be a pillow on my sofa (that's the sofa fabric in the background)

january 9th workshop

I taught a wet-felting workshop today. I had 13 students but forgot to get photos of all the pieces. These are about each 15x15" It's such a great workshop, because everyone comes away successful with a piece of handmade felt. So easy (except for the labor part) and low tech and so satisfying. I'm teaching this in Idyllwild this summer on July 6th, a full day, where we'll make the felt in the morning and embellish it in the afternoon. Waay fun. (The Idyllwild Summer Arts catalog comes out in February. You can request a catalog here.)

felted soap in dish

I've really been enjoying wet-felted and have learned a lot from the book Uniquely Felt by Christine White. But, it was seeing this post by Judy Coates Perez that inspired this project. This soap is functional (gasp) so of course, now I'm off to felt some rocks and sticks to be purely decorative.

goin' green

This is number 7 of 13 of these! You can see the first 7 here. I'll photo the rest (and hopefully do a better job of photographing.) They are needlefelted first (with roving, silk, thread, dyed batting...whatever is handy and goes with green) and then hand-stitched like crazy. They're about 9x11" or so. Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy hand stitching?

my cocktail napkins

Now I have my own set of cocktail napkins made from my watercolors. Spoonflower, of course.

hibiscus

I feel like I haven't been drawing very much in my journal and I miss it. I did this last week while teaching a one-on-one to Maureen (who just happens to be going on the Orvieto Italy trip in May! Only 2 spots left, by the way.) We had a lovely couple of hours drawing and painting at the winery. I just can't resist the hibiscus, they're still blooming, huge and gorgeous in January--well, yes, this is San Diego.

crocus

I made this wet-felted piece yesterday. It's about 17x17" As you can tell, I'm still hung up on circles....Just gotta work through it, I guess. Anyway, I'll probably cut this piece up, as I'm not thrilled with the design. The chartreuse green (at the top) would have been better as an accent on the two shades of purple, so I'll do that next time.
I'm prepping for the wet-felting workshop I'm teaching on Saturday in Escondido. (Email me, there's still a few spaces)

And Happy 2010!! I'm not sure if I'll make resolutions/affirmations yet...well, other than the 'lose 5 lbs' usual mantra. How about you? Goals/plans/creative challenges for the new year?

crocus (in progress)

Here's the wet-felting piece, while it's still dry. It's made of about 6 layers of merino wool roving, and the circles are roving, yarn and prefelts.

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!

tis the season

Our first decoration of the impending holiday season. This year it's my turn to write the holiday letter/recap and husb's turn to illustrate the card. We alternate, and have been creating our own Christmas cards for...at least 15 years. I use to make cards that could hang on the recipient's Christmas tree, but as our own tree got tinier, I just make cards now. Scan, write and print out at home, then mail. So, I guess I'd better start writing!

tree silhouette

Inspired by the current exhibition, Stephen Curry: Next to Nothing, at the Athenaeum in LaJolla. I've been taking photos of the trees to the sky and then do minor tweaking in Photoshop (I really know very little about photoshop). Not sure how these will influence or work into my art, but I like 'em.

the view

And here's the view from Ramona Dam, looking towards the Pacific Ocean.......

Day after thanksgiving

Husb and I joined a docent and a small group for a hike in Blue Sky Reserve. We hiked up to Ramona Dam, that would be 5 miles RT with an 800' altitude gain! Great hike and we hope a wonderful new tradition for the day after thanksgiving.

a peek at a work in progress

You know, I teach on joggles.com but I also take their online workshops too. Here's a small portion of a piece I'm working on in Janet Lasher's joggles class. It's layered and hand-stitched (hello carpel tunnel!) and it's going to be a little portfolio. If you click to enlarge, you'll see it's made of photocopies of my cyanotype/sunprints. And my black wing bird stamp makes several appearances on this.

And happy thanksgiving dear blog readers! I'm thankful for you, for my creativity, for my strong hands (particularly after stitching on this project all day) and my dearest husb.

winery hibiscus

My one-on-one classes have been well received. I taught my 13th student yesterday, with 2 more scheduled next week. We meet at a nearby winery, and I show them how I do my journal pages as in "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style." This week, I had two blog readers, one from Portland and one from Northern California. They were visiting San Diego, and emailed me in advance. We spent 3 hours, drawing and painting and talking. It's terribly pleasant, and I think all the students have learned a bit. I've had some very good artists and some brand new beginners...All in all, a win-win for both of us. ($75 for 3 hours per person.)

Upcoming: December 5 in Encinitas at the gorgeous California Center for Creative Renewal, Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style. Register through Ellen at ellen@artretreats.com or phone 760-436-3310. 9-5.
Collage 101 on December 12, 1-4 pm, at Bravo Workshops Register: 619-223-0058 or workshops@BravoSchoolOfArt.com $44 plus $5 materials.

winery leaves

We have autumn in California. You just have to look for it.

winery succulent

Another page from my morning at the winery.

Sketching at the Mingei Museum

I mentioned our sketchcrawl group went to the museums to draw. I chose to draw straight to ink, with a more or less continous line. I got lots of pages drawn this way, it's quick and fun to do in a museum, where they won't allow watercolors. I filled in a little color later at home. A Dia de los Muertos altar at the Mingei Museum.

Sketching at Mingei

The exhibits at the Mingei Museum are always fabulous but the works, story and presentation of Sonabai was especially moving. These little birds are by an artist from her village, in her style of working. The patterns are those wonderful wire stamps make for block printing fabric in India.

I did this in a quick, straight to ink continuous line.

pods at the winery

I taught a one-on-one "sketching & watercolor: journal style" today at the winery to Cynthia from Portland. We spent a lovely morning at the winery drawing and painting. First we did continuous line drawings to warm up, and here's mine of the pods. I can see this as a texture stamp, or maybe sewn lines on a quilt.

winery pods

I do like pods...

november sketchcrawl 2009

We had a wonderful sketchcrawl yesterday! Eight of us met in Balboa Park sketched the morning at the fabulous Mingei Museum, my favorite museum in San Diego, then met for lunch and sharing our journals (photo) then a few of us went to the San Diego Museum of Art to sketch for a few more hours. Just a terrific day.

Hey, Art Unraveled website is up and you can register right now and they'll begin filling the workshops on December 15 for the August event! See registration details on the AU site.

crow dreams

I do like birds quite a bit, can you tell? This is about 10x10" and mixed media on paper. I've recently found that a can of spray gesso and a piece of lace is an excellent addition to any piece of art.....

black wing bird

I drew a page of very quick continuous line drawings of some little artificial birds, they turned out so cool and funky, that I carved this stamp from one of them.