more slow stitching

I'm teaching a one day wet felting and embellishment (and a 2 day mixed media) at Idyllwild this summer. Here's the link to the website--both of my classes are in the mixed media section Registration starts February 1.

On a totally different topic, if you're a teacher or community organizer, here's a wonderful project to help Haiti. My Mundo Lindo kids will be making them next week.

orange bird and pods ~ detail

A bit of collage. paper on paper. (and machine stitch)

memories of the silk road~ detail

Now that I've rediscovered the macro lens in my digital camera (okay, stumbled up on it) I'm taking some closeups of older quilts. I made this "Memories of a Silk Road" in 2005. Here's the entire quilt. And more detail shots here and here. The quilt is 18.5 x 15 inches and I've always loved it. (That's probably why I still have it, cuz I won't lower the price $850) It's made from used Tibetan prayer flags, bits of silk, ribbon, and hand-dyed silk and beaded and stitched. You know, I lived in Asia in the mid 80s and traveled to India among other places.....This piece reminds me of the opulence of old India and China.

slow cloth~ the details

I like this close up quite a bit! I think I might print up some notecards with these slow cloth closeups.

slow cloth

I just photographed a bunch of details from this series. See them all here. Like much of my hand stitching, I create the base during the day in my studio, then stitch on them in the evening while watching TV (of course, only educational programs! ha!)

summer of love

Here's the finished piece. I'm calling it 'Summer of Love' as a reference to the sixties in San Francisco. The only other title that came to mind was Octopus Garden (you can see I'm stuck in the past here). I welcome a new title! (Flower Power is already taken.) You can see a close up here of the stitching. And here is the inspiration for the piece, a rug I've ordered because I feel in love with the pattern. Rug and quilt will reside in my kitchen.

a peak of a tiny quilt in progress

It's raining buckets in San Diego, and I'm working on a flower covered tiny quilt. Lots more embellishment to go. (This is a small cropped section of an 8x8" quilt.)

pink circle - details

I showed you the whole piece here. But now that I've remembered the macro setting on my camera, thought you'd like to see a close up.

pink circle--detail

Another detail show of Pink Circles. (I'm teaching this "Recycled Circles" at Art Unraveled in August.)

pom story

I told you I've been working with paper on cloth for some upcoming classes. Here's one that I 'finished' (if your definition of finished is raw edges with the batting showing) that's a combination of two different pieces, that I worked together. I love to cut and paste disparate elements together and make them work.

pom story--detail

Here's a detail shot. this one is all machine sewn, with my version of free motion stitching.

felted rock

Yup, the promised 'felted rock.' It's actually very small, and totally useless.

flower power

I wish I had a more creative title for this, but as a child of the sixties, it just screams Flower Power! You know, I'm teaching a workshop this Saturday, and when I started preparing for it, I thought it was 'Cloth on Paper" so I did this piece using, yup, fabric on paper and machine stitched. THEN, I realized the workshp was supposed to be "Paper on Cloth!" so I had to start on something else!

flower power--detail

Detail of "Flower Power." It's layered and machine stitched and I think there's some paint on there too.

Universal Yes --detail

Here's a detail of the piece I'm nearly finished with. Can you see the Beryl Taylor influence? I watched her DVD and was very inspired.

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!