Good-by 2016

Ah, yes, here we are at the end of 2016. I took some bookmarks discarded by my youngest granddaughter this summer and finished them.

A cheerful way to end my lettering journal and to end the year.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

Lettering Detour, 2

Lately, finding something to say while working on lettering leaves my mouth dry and my tongue stuck. Platitudes are beginning to bore me, too simple. So I recorded a few thoughts about taking care of myself.

Notice that the first time I got on my exercise bike, 

I could only hold up for three minutes of huffing and puffing.

One can only get better!

I'm rather pleased with my progress...

Lettering Detour, 1

 In an attempt to begin the New Year back on my own track, I'm working to finish my lettering detour. 

I'm experimenting with fonts and color, in this case, watercolors.

At the risk of putting another platitude out there, I do believe that this is generally true.

Anticipation

And so here we are, December 24th, the day when so many kids are in a state of wild excitement because of that wonderful and magical thing called "anticipation". 

May your holidays be magical! 

He Drives, I Draw--in December

When it comes to running errands, he drives and I draw. I only need my small sketchbook and a ballpoint pen--very convenient. 
Occasionally, I get bored with the subject of traffic. I've drawn so many cars and taxis from the rear end...but then again, a big truck with a worn out broom stuck into the back corner suddenly catches my attention. You never can tell.

I may add color later, often with colored pencils. 

Sitting in a restaurant is always interesting.

Once in awhile I'll just work in colored pencils--a nice change.





And to show that I've got the holiday spirit, some seasonal colors: The last bowl of pomegranates with clementines (a cousin to tangerines) and navel oranges. All home grown and organic.

May your holidays be filled with beautiful colors 

and delicious fruit!

Saturday Evening

My current organize-and-finish spree to end 2016 has brought me some clarity of thought and forced me to focus. I joined SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) finally (should have done that years ago) and I'm now prospecting for art galleries for a solo show. 
So last Saturday evening found Mr. M. and me at the lovely Galérie Saladin in Sidi-Bou-Saïd, run by Ridha Souabni. We attended the vernissage of a Tunisian painter, Ahmed Souabni.

Sketching in a museum or at an exhibition helps me remember the event and I always learn something about line, color, and subject matter. 

So I whipped out my small sketchbook and ball point pen and sat in front of "Quo Vadis" (shown above),  which has spectacular movement and a beautiful use of color laid down in wide swaths. At home, I did a color study with colored pencils to appreciate the work.







Mr. M. posed with "Le départ des pêcheurs" ("The 
Departure of the Fishermen").

All in all, a pleasant evening.

A Recycled Journal

Continuing my end-of-year organizing and finishing spree, I made covers for an old day planner (from a bank) that I used for Sketch Club. The title refers only to the fact that it was saved from the trash--the content is not off-color in anyway, just experimental.
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And so, I continue ruminating during this "digestive" period. Lots of things please me in this journal...like still lifes and the fruits-from-my-garden theme.



Playing with line and color (watercolors, usually) rank high on my list as well. 
Blind sketches are appealing to me. 

And sometimes, I like my "ordinary" drawings.

I've probably explored pomegranates enough for a lifetime considering I'm finally finishing the Pomegranate Tree Quilt after five years. 


Mostly the wilder stuff intrigues me. I can see some themes and ideas taking shape, some interesting possibilities. And that's the nice thing about starting a new year--there are so many possibilities....

Unplugged 2

Life has become simpler now that I've limited my use of the internet. I don't even turn on the computer until late afternoon and only check FB once every few days.

I use the computer as a music box--admittedly youtube has some wonderful music. Lately, I listen to piano jazz and jazz trios (Marion McPartland, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, etc.) and my favorite, Stephane Grappelli (jazz violinist). Easy on the ears, good background music.

If you haven't found the lists of the "Open Culture" site (here), it's a wonderful source of good books, music, and film in the public domain--the classics, with links to audio books, and so much more. I have trouble finding time to read as stitching is time-intensive work, however, the audio books solve this problem for me. Right now, I'm "reading" The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. Very enjoyable. 




In line with my "Finish It" and organize policies to end the year, I created book covers for old loose leaf sketches and pulled the whole mess together with Coptic Stitch bookbinding.  

I knew all that cardboard that I've been collecting would be useful for hard book covers eventually.










While organizing, I am also going through a "digestive" period--trying to absorb all the material I've collected in sketchbooks in order to consider fabric interpretations.

Subjects for rumination from the old sketches:
landscapes,


or animals,









or still lifes.

Or is that "still lives"?

Unplugged, 1

Incidents like this happen elsewhere, but, this seems typical of Tunisia lately. A couple of weeks ago our internet service just stopped. Mr. M. mustered up all the patience he had and called the company. The lines were jammed, it was a long wait.

When he finally got through, he was told that we had to bring in our Wifi box to get a new one because they were upgrading the technology and increasing our gigabytes--no advance notice.

Several days later we got the new box. Still no internet and Mr. M. spent hours on the telephone over the next few days while the company worked out the kinks. 

Consequently, we spent nearly a week unplugged-- and I remembered how it was before all the technology. Without the chatter from the internet I felt more like myself.

The internet is back again, however, I am scaling back its use. The fact that we seem to be trying to make time go faster, with everything having to happen immediately (Instagram comes to mind) disturbs me. Additionally, I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of images. The interference from all the internet chatter messes with my mind and gets in the way of my own visual vocabulary.

So I will continue to blog here at Multicoloredpieces because I enjoy blogs (that mix of image and text) and the people I have met in blogland. However, I will stop Multicoloredsnippets. Multicoloredpieces will become a mix of the two. My email has changed so that I have only one email account. I'll stay on Facebook (Nadia Mamelouk), however, I'm cutting out Flickr and Pinterest and whatever else I've gotten myself into inadvertently.
 

In the meantime, I am wrapping up my detour into lettering, for which I made a coptic stitch book. I deeply appreciated Joanne Sharpe's classes as they helped me get through a tough year creatively, however, my own work calls now.





The back is equally colorful. 

I hope you may wrap things up for 2016 

in order to begin the new year with energy and purpose.

Wishing all a Happy Holiday Season! 

Jeans Mama, 2

The hole in Mr. M's old jeans got stitched down and the white threads were couched.





It was quite a tangle for awhile





Then, the repair just kept growing up.
<--







              
                     




    








                  And down.-->

Until it was finished.

I asked Mr. M if he would like to model his jeans for the photo shoot. He scoffed. Fine with me. I had no intention of letting him wear them anyway.





















So I got out my long denim coat from Istanbul and "posed" in the garden.

The jasmine is going crazy.



The pomegranate trees are turning a bright yellow.

And a final closeup.

I had a good time on this adventure. 

I was dazzled.

Ah, yes, there is much to be thankful for. 

Jeans Mama

Until I went to college I suffered from the rule that only boys could wear jeans to school. How fair was that? Why did boys get all the good stuff--like taking shop rather than home ec? (Well, if you understand basic feminist ideas, you can answer that question yourself.)

The inevitable happened: the day I went to college I donned the uniform of the 1970s--jeans. In addition, working with fabric has given me a deep respect for denim, especially old denim. None of those new-fangled stretchy jeans for me.

Consequently, I can't bear to toss out old jeans. I have a nice collection on my studio shelves, besides stacks of jeans that are still wearable in the closets. 









I've used up a little bit of my collection in purses. 














The last few days have been errand days...groceries, waiting rooms, eating out and socializing. 






Yesterday, I felt kind of uninspired to create (a rare occurrence) and empty... couldn't even pick up a needle. 


The Pomegranate Tree wasn't speaking to me, even though I have been working diligently around the edges. 

This morning I ran across a pair of Mr. M's old jeans that needed a repair. I tried them on...they were oh, so soft. They spoke to me. 

Then I remembered a young woman I had seen a couple days ago in a restaurant. Very stylish, wearing jeans that were thoroughly ripped on the front and only held together by the back! Hmmf--scandal! Think of all the possible, beautiful repairs one could do...

Which brings me back to Mr. M's jeans. I asked him if he wanted them repaired in the standard, discreet way. He said I could have them...ahhhh, the possibilities. I went digging in my fabrics.

Here's what's sitting on my sewing machine table right this minute...and I feel so energized! 

I'll be able to get back to the Pomegranate Tree tonight with a light heart and hand...once I get started mending that hole!

Linked to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday."