A blustry day on Cedar Ridge.

Snowy all day. Looks like a Christmas card.

 This bird house will be vacant until spring.

What bird would want to hang out in  this weather

The girls were visiting at the feeder. Filling up on food to stay warm.

 My words for the year is to create daily.
 I first worked on my homework for ceramic class.
I found this small watercolor for inspiration.
Using the colors I painted  my pattern in glazes
on the plaster of paris bat.
Than I will build a rim of clay around it and pour slip in.
The end result will be a larger version of the small disc  in the center.

Than I could not stay away from the fabric any longer.
I pulled out my red scrapes and started
making some crazy quilt squares.
I need a little practice with this. Photographs  tell all.
Spent another hour cutting strips & 10 inch squares
out of my Kaffe Fassett orange & Yellows.
I have been wanting to do this all week.

Found  the second quilt I made in a drawer 

 while looking for my supplies.

This is a fused quilt with a paint rag background.

 Quite a variety today I even finished one of my small paintings.
 For a snowy Saturday I was quite busy.

Working towards May.

This is those rejects with a new coat paint.

I decided to attached 4 together on the back and treat it as one canvas.

 The new and improved version called Shadows of Fall # 1.
I take photographs of tree skeleton's during fall and winter
they make a perfect reference for my paintings.

The last 4 I made into 2 canvas panels to make  # 2 and # 3 of this series.
I really like the details on the last one. Check back later to see whats new.
Friday is a day off of painting  and a day on of texture & surface on clay.
Back to school at 67 years young. At class I forget the age difference
and have a blast. Young people are really interesting to say the least.

Painting again.

Finally I got myself to sit down and paint. Remember the small canvas's

I blogged about after Christmas that were so awful that

I was going to give them to the nursing home for bingo prizes.

I decided to give them another coat of paint.

To warm myself  up to paint I did a landscape.

Not anything special but it got my brain switched to paint.

Than I covered the rest of the canvas's with some layers of paint to

cover the yucky past and now I have a yummy surface to work on.

I may just put them all together and work a painting from the whole.

I could also do 9 small landscapes.

The colors are luscious and will make  good back grounds.

Today is another day of painting.

Lets see what I decide to do. 

Wordless Wednesday

All set ready to create.

     My day started off with doing my homework for my pottery class on Friday
      We had to make impressions to use to add texture to wheel thrown pots.
       This class is all about texture.

This is my new signature which I will use in class to sign my work. Note the M V in the fish.

 I organized my frames, canvas's and completed work into categories.
Setting throughout are blanks to fill with art.
What ever possessed me to stretch such a big canvas- not just one but two.
This morning at 5 am I was sketching what I will attempt to paint on these monsters.
They will be the anchor for the theme Walk Through The Woods With Me

This wall is for paintings I  still have a few to finish.

 
I sorted empty frames  first so I can use what I have on hand first .
These will have collages, watercolors or art quilts in them.

 I am sure glad I got the smaller gallery. This wall shows some colleges, art quilts and watercolor.
I have 7 more finished to hang here. My wall space at home is 1/2 of what I need to fill at the gallery.

 I love these frames. I will do the one on the left to coordinate with the wooded scene.

 
 I got my paint cart and my table all set to paint.
I love sitting by the window to paint.
 I will start to paint Wednesday.

That is if I can stay away from the fabric and the sewing machine.

Love the color of these fabrics.

 

Working on my 2011 Solo show

I first organize what I have finished into categories.

I have paintings, photographs, collages,art quilts and some mixed media.

Today I sorted and ordered 21 photographs from  Mpix.com.

Today I am showing you some of the panoramic photos I will use.

My theme Walk Through the Woods with me

 has sunsets, sunrises, rivers fields and snow scenes.

      Sunset over the west pasture.

  Fall in the west pasture

 The barn on the way to the river.

 The beautiful Kankakee River runs through the woods.

Winter in the west pasture.
I am excited  and full of ideas . Wood and trees can be interpreted into so many  art ideas.
Watch as I progress through the next 3 months. I also started a pottery & wheel throwing class at the local collage.  The class will give me the ceramic pieces I need for the show.

Golden Hills Series Art Quilts

This is a new series of 5 mini art quilts.

They are stylized landscapes of the wooded hills in fall.

The fabrics in this series are silks & Tapestries.
I find these unusual fabrics at Lemon Creek Fabrics
 in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
 She gets them from New York each season.
I find the really unique fabrics inspire my quilts.