A Scorching July

Despite scorching temperatures in July, interesting things happened. I continued with Joanne Sharpe's online class, which resulted in cheerful mantra pages.

I managed to keep track of time.

For a cultural evening, I attended Verdi's Aïda at the Roman theater in Carthage. So I did blind sketches in the dark. 








Unfortunately, it was a poor performance.



We left at the intermission (first time I've ever done that!).



I went South to Djerba for a week with family members. 
Despite the heat (50° C.= 122°F.), it was an enjoyable vacation. Nice hotel, beautiful beach with a warm Mediterranean.



I enjoyed sketching the well-kept, beautiful camels and horses for tourists on the beach.

Camels fascinate me--they're so full of personality and have such interesting faces.


















Thanks to the heat, I managed to do some stitching in my fabric journal as well. Basically, I was glued to the AC while just moving my fingers...

Still Here...

Yes, I'm still here despite bumps in the road--like a 9-day severe heat wave (if only the temperature would drop to 90°!). In addition, the internet has been down for over a week, so I had to find a temporary solution. Amazing how attached we become to that magic box...

However, over all it has been an excellent summer. The Little People (who can now look me in the eye, not so little anymore) have come and gone, leaving an empty house. I have been cleaning up my studio, trying to keep up with my "Circus in D.C." journal. It would seem that those people don't believe in vacations.


I was thinking of doing a small sketch on fabric when I ran across my standing calendar. The rules I set for myself were simple--Be fast: no stitching, only glue, fabric and maybe pen or Inktense pencils.

I sketched several trees seen from my window, after gluing on fabrics. The calendar has a spot in my living room.








Gee, that was fast and fun!

Hope you've had a creative and exciting summer, too! 

Coming up for Air...

...after being submerged by orchard work. Gasp, gasp...I did get help from Blanche. She is apparently a Turkish Angora (so soft and silky) who showed up one day at my doorstep, a starving and confused kitten, which was aggravated by the fact that she seems mostly deaf. Now that the other cats have adopted her, she's content. I still wonder how such a lovely cat got into my dusty corner of the world...it's a mystery...


Now, I'm getting back into my artistic practice.
<--I stitched on my textile "book"... 
and enjoyed Spring's blossoms. The apple tree went wild...


<--and the apricot tree looked lovely.

New leaves on the pomegranate trees are looking pinky red just before the red blooms come out. (Background done first with ballpoint pen. Drawing done with Prismacolor pencils)

I drew my sketching buddy's doll at Sketch Club. 

Yup, I'm just an ol' Spring Chicken!

Book of Etudes, 1

Ahhhh, do not despair--stitching still takes up most of my time. I stitched my way through April and May; in fact, I did much more stitching than sketching. I'm "writing" a "Book of Etudes" ("Studies"--memories of violin practice books from 40 years ago), a sort of textile sketchbook. 

I needed easily portable stitching to go to Paris and this project has been tugging at me for awhile. Yeah, I know, I know, I have a rule in place that says I have to finish things, not start new projects...but this was the call of the wild--high adventure.

The rules were simple: only hand work with an emphasis on abstracted, fairly simple needle-turn appliqué motifs and embroidery. I have wanted to explore the mixture of appliqué and stitching for a long time. 

So I cut 5 black, or black and white, fabrics 8" x 12", put two temporary safety pins down the middle to hold them all together in a book, thus having pages of 8" x 6". And I left raw edges...which I may or may not regret. I chose some fabrics and threads that sang to me and carried the whole mess around with me in a small plastic sack in my purse.


I first stitched in place small rectangular pieces of fabric onto the background, then added larger pieces to appliqué.











The back side is equally interesting, a sort of shadow page that echoes the appliqué motif and stitching on the other side.

The pages can be read in any direction.




Did I say simple shapes? Admittedly, I have a tendency towards complexity.


Each page in the book requires more work and ruminating--so many possibilities. And despite the constricting circumstances of April and May, I was able to fly high thanks to my Book of Etudes.