Texture Tuesday ... taking the back road

Chased some light 

down a narrow farmland road 

on what was an otherwise ordinary morning

in the Skagit valley.

I'd found god beams*

~ masses of them ~

so I said to the fluffy one riding in back,
it's time to pull over & pay homage.

*otherwise known as crepuscular rays

: : :

Photo recipe:

Shot with an iPhone in a ditch

Dynamic Light app

Resized & color effects added over at PicMonkey

Kim Klassen's texture,  aurora

Joining in with the gang over at today's Texture Tuesday  HERE

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Six weeks, ten boats, and Studio Room 222 ...

Traveling with good companions makes for a joyful time
along the road so when I decided on an impromptu road trip to Portland,
I included two very friendly books [seeing as how the Fluffy One could not come along, alas].

One book for inspiration ...

World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down ... 
which I first learned of  HERE  and proved perfect
for rest stops & ferry rides.   The other book was pure entertainment,

a downloadable Audio.  Where'd you go, Bernadette  did manage to keep me
thoroughly awake for many a driving hour
and I'm convinced this is a valuable way to [safely] travel solo.

I was looking forward to my first visit to the Oregon College of Art + Craft.

With a kindred name to my alma mater in CA, I suspected an environs lit up with

creativity and dedicated study, just like my old stomping grounds.

Although this time, I did have a very different purpose in mind.

Indigo-dyed shirt remnants

and

land-bound porcelain boats

were what I'd come to see ...

amongst other things.

My friend, India Flint, just completed a six-week Artist in Residence at OCAC

and decided to hold an *open house.*

Not wishing to pass up a possibly unreapeatable opportunity,

and knowing that soon she would be departing our western shores to head home

after three long months away, 

well ...  let's just say I can pack like a whirling dervish when needs demand.

In short,

there was no way I was not going to say "Three Cheers!" in person

and have a little look-see.

Here is what awaited in Studio Room 222 ...

~ dust coat left, wind songs [folded paper] right ~

India's poem, stellata, below

~ stitching detail, from dustcoat ~

~ blue angel, left ... hummingbird, right ~

I was quite taken with these magical frocks ... utterly sublime

and mysterious in their fragile way.

Completely stitched by hand, one could spend hours examining all the

folds and gathers.

These beauties [and others] are destined for an ancient castle high on a hill ...

opening on June 21st, 2014, The Nine Daughters of Eve, a duo exhibition

with Sally Stafford [painter, UK]

Evoramonte Castle, Portugal.

oh, to be a fly on those stone walls ...

~ detail, from blue angel dress ~

*** Side note:  should you wish to see more of India's dresses
there's a stunning array [and more] over at
Church Boutique  in Los Angeles ...
website page is HERE

~ sweet dreams ~

porcelain boats

Laid on a table, nine bisque-fired boats.  A fine story

must be developing here ...

~ detail, from sweet dreams ~

The studio being a bit small, filled as it was with all the lovelies,

India sat out in the hall, greeting visitors

and stitching on a lapful of indigo ...

I shall never tire of watching those hands work.

~ detail, notebook installation ~

~ notebook ~

~ unfinished blues ~

~ unfinished blues, alternate view ~

~ detail, from unfinished blues ~

~ detail, from unfinished blues ~

~ detail, from unfinished blues ~

: : :

The practicing artist is, by definition, someone who is able

to build a life around his or her own creative work.

Inevitably, such a person will have considered his or her

attitude to time.  What matters is not how much they actually have,

but how best to inhabit it and make it spacious:

how to allow room in which attention can take root.

Such choices are important for all of us, whatever we are

trying to create.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote of a "timeless region ...

lying beyond human clocks and calendars altogether."

It is a place that many of us have sought in vain, a place

of patience and apprenticeship, and, finally, of creativity,

a "small non-time space in the very heart of time."

~ from, World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down ~

by Christian McEwen

: : :

A mere six weeks and ten boats later, studio Room 222 was filled floor-to-ceiling

with new, inspired work ... all because textile artist, India Flint,

was given the gift of time.

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this moment

{  this moment  }

A single photo

~  no words ~

 capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~ SouleMama

: : :

*inspired by the Friday reflections at Amanda's

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... passage to America

More often than not, I choose to sit in my jeep for the watery commute "to America"

(an expression used by the islanders when we refer to traveling to the mainland).

Some might call me anti-social

and that's ok in my books.

Most folks leave the car decks and head upstairs to the passenger area

to gab, or read ... maybe knit, work on the communal jigsaw puzzles, chug some coffee ...

I'm the weirdo who stays behind making photos on her phone.

I can't help myself.

Perhaps I'm an app-aholic?

good grief.

Where was I going with this post ... oh yes, to America ...

where I spied some scintillating rust at the shipyard

big pieces of steel marking the passage of time.

[ this one is for all my rust-nut friends ... you know who you are ]

We're all marking time ...
it's a big news night here in America.

These periodic supply runs off-island are nothing
if not exhausting, so what could be better fortification

than hot n' spicy organic soup ...

which again, I ate in my jeep ...

surely this comes as no surprise  [ grin ]?

These are only simple things, really ...

in comparison to decisions being made in the States this day, they are fluff.  As I write
it is early evening here on the west coast & we have
hours to go before we know.

I wonder where this country is going next?

At the toll booth the way was clear:  an arrow for  *go* and an X for *stop* ...

if only it were that easy.

See you on the other side, my friends ...
in the meantime, it may be time for another simple thing ~ a stiff brandy.



: : :


All photos were processed with Jazz

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Beaded bezels and oh, so much more!

If you think you might have trouble being taught some beading skills

by a fella ...

or if you have any sort of allergic reaction to  C O L O R 

then do not and I repeat, DO NOT

take a beading workshop with Thom Atkins ...

for a fella he certainly is, and he is most definitely

not afraid of color.

Not one little bit.

Every year the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum, WA,  holds a fantabulous Quilt Festival,
a week-long event that includes special workshops by visiting textile & embellishment artists.
Thom was part of this year's talented contingent ~
and so was his very talented and beadiful sister, Robin Atkins!
You may like to revisit my January post where I wrote about them during Thom's one-person exhibit,
"Ten Year's of Beaded Quilts" to see more examples of his work.

For our "Beaded Bezels & Borders" workshop we were given
design kits filled with fun fabric by Laurel Burch and multiple baggies
filled with coordinating beads ...
I enjoyed this approach a great deal for it pushes you away from your comfy spot
and tweaks your thinking into a whole new realm.
It's always good to visit new & unexplored places.

Here's a couple examples from my yet-to-be-finished sampler ...

a "fence" with a lacy edge and a

peyote stitched bezel around a flat-backed cabochon.

Here's my shisha mirror *loudmouth* bezel ...
I can see myself there on occasion.

Thom is looking very serious, but in actuality our workshop was filled with loads of laughter.
Here he's clarifying one of his methods,

patiently answering the dozens of questions we fired at him.

The demo table was covered with examples of his own samplers ....
be prepared to swoon.

Shisha mirror cab at the top, flat-backed cab on the bottom.

We learned how to stitch the rope edging as well ...

This detail was from his cat piece ... 

I loved the flouncy effect of all those beads around that cab.

Fearless with color, that's how I'd describe Thom's work.

And this is the sampler that almost disappeared  into the bottom of my bag.

Isn't she a BEAUT?!

If you ever have the opportunity to learn firsthand from Thom,

oh, I do hope you'll take it.

In the meantime, his bountifully beautiful new book has just hit the streets,

"Beading Artistry for Quilts: Basic Stitches & Embellishments Add Texture & Drama."

Check it out.  Many more samples of Thom's work are viewable online.

And then there's this ...

included in his bio, a most interesting excerpt:

"Some 30 years ago, his sister, Robin Atkins, taught him the basics of bead embroidery

on fabrics.  He's been fascinated with beads ever since, but sewing beads onto fabric and

making stained glass didn't produce a decent living.  He was also tired of the fragility of glass,

so he went back to college, where he learned about welding, forging, silversmithing, and

bronze casting.  Bronze casting gave him back the tactile surfaces and the subtleties of

three-dimensional curves and negative space.

A car accident terminated his career in sculpting in bronze.

While recovering from the surgery to repair his wrists and thumbs, 

he thought about sewing beads onto cloth in such a way

that the beads and the fabric both had a say in the design.

He's been working with the delicate balance between beads and fabric in his designs ever since."

Making the most of our human condition.

Isn't that the best of what we can all hope for?

: : :

Thank you for visiting today ... I hope you have enjoyed all the 

C O L O R

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Desperately seeking flowers...

Found some.

{{{  big grin about the size of Texas  }}}

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