LETTING GO OF PRECIOUS

Doing artwork means learning to let go of something you made that becomes precious to you, and also, learning to know when to stop. This month I've challenged myself to do a small postcard-sized painting each day. I also continue with my watercolor class which is teaching me a structured practice to make precise contour drawings, to look at form carefully, to create soft and hard edges, and to mix colors on the paper, not on my palette. My postcard-sized paintings are emotional and fast, layering colors and torn paper, and finding shapes in the abstract. These two opposite ways of art have been a good exercise for me and free me after intense concentration to help me let go of "precious."

In my class, I just started a painting of an onion. When I stopped for the day, I really liked what I had done. This is the hard part, especially if you are new to painting, to let go of what you've painted to continue to progress. Once I put paint to paper again, I know that I will mess up somewhere and I will lose that precious bit of painting. I tell myself, "It is only practice." I take a photo and then pick up my paint brush.

With my small paintings, I must learn when to stop. They begin with splashes of color, layers of torn paper and other bits, a layer of gesso over that, sprays with acrylic ink or intense watercolor, gesso again, stenciling, acrylics, and calligraphy. Then maybe another wash of gesso. My intent is to find something within the painting to pull out and emphasize. Very often I find circular shapes that become the sun or moon and the rest of the painting becomes a landscape.

Or flowers.

Sometimes faces appear.

 Sometimes I just leave the paper to dry, use the painting as a background paper.  Again, sometimes these paintings don't work at all and they go into my pile that may be cut up for something else.


I love pieces of paper that I've used either as a paint palette or underneath another painting. They are spontaneous marks on the page. I often use them in the next painting. I think I'm going to have to do something about those two big blobs on the left side though. What do you think?

Mountain on Fire

SUMMER HEAT

What do you do to retreat from the heat?

With the temperatures hovering around 100 degrees in the West, we look for cool escapes.

A quick trip to Carmel helped. We went kayaking on Elkhorn Slough at sunset on Sunday. The water was calm, the light breeze kept us cool. We watched as otters frolicked with each other, cormorants tended their babies on nests on top of tall posts in the middle of the harbor, and pelicans swooped up and down across the breakers out on the beach. The fog rolled into Carmel the next day just before the mid-morning temperatures rose. We sat in the shade of a lovely garden filled with hydrangeas, fuchsias, and bumblebees. We walked the Carmel streets, took photos and painted what we saw from the inn's small patio. We stayed cool.

Now back home, I'm thinking of more ways to escape. I know that in our shady backyard the temperature drops by at least 5 degrees in the shade. We don't have humidity or bothersome bugs so we can sit outside for awhile. I think of portals I would seek as a child. trees and bushes create natural tunnels that provide respite from the heat. The ground in those tunnels stays cool and the air even cooler.

Take a walk on the cool side.

We have a favorite bookstore in Carmel where I restocked my supply of mysteries and memoirs. Several of you have recommended some good reads too.

Have fun reading and stay cool!

Linda:  Elizabeth Berg's The Pull of the Moon

Sue:  Ivan Doig, English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, & This House of Sky 
         Frederick Bachman novels
         Rick Bragg, Ava's Man
        Annie Proulx, That Old Ace in the Hole

Bill: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

Me:  Elizabeth Alexander, The Light of the World
         Edward de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes
         the Dr. Siri mysteries set in Laos by Colin Cotterill

Terrific Carmel bookstore:  http://www.riverhousebookscarmel.com

Check out Elkhorn Slough:  http://www.elkhornslough.org

Rent kayaks at Kayak Connection:  http://www.kayakconnection.com/elkhorn-slough/

Great place to stay in Carmel:  Carmel Cottage Inn  https://www.carmelcottageinn.com

TIME AWAY FROM THE NEWS

One morning on our deck as I was reading the paper with all its glum news, I felt something land on my shoulder. I reached up to brush it off. My hand briefly clutched a feather-weight clump of softness -- full of life and air beyond my normal expectation. It was one of the finches that populate our yard. Luckily, my touch didn't hurt it and it quickly flew away.

Looking beyond our deck, we have a brief show of flowers every year. They last just long enough for us to enjoy their bounty before the deer arrive to feast.

photo by Bill Slavin 

I'm not mad at the deer. They were here first, we get to savor our flowers long enough, and the deer, like the finch on my shoulder, bring us unexpected joy. Each year fawn scamper through the yard following their families. Their bright spots and funny antics as they chase each other up the hill and jump ridiculously high over our low wall bring us to laughter.

This year we have a new wild animal: a family of jackrabbits has made a burrow somewhere near us. The male jack has been a resident of our neighborhood for a couple of summers. I've watched him fly across neighbors' lawns and sit comfortably on our front grass in the shade. This year we watched a baby make its first moves away from the nest. It skittered out from a bush for a couple feet, doubled back, then came out a little further. In a couple of days, it too, found a spot on the front lawn to graze and sit. Now occasionally at dusk, we see the almost grown jackrabbit jump from behind a bush and scramble up the hill.

At John Muir Law's lecture about drawing mammals, he showed us fluoroscopic images of rabbits in motion. Their spines are far more flexible than ours. Just by looking at the curled-up skeleton, you can see how easy it is for them to jump.

Jackrabbit Skeleton

As I finish typing this post, I am watching a deer cross our front lawn -- in pursuit of the last daisies, I'm sure. I thought how lucky I am to be able to spend the day watching wildlife rather than obsessing over every piece of glum news in the paper.

I hope you have a chance to find some joy outside this weekend. 

photo by Bill Slavin

Now that it is almost summer do you have your summer reading picked out?  Several friends recommend Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow. Another good read:  Jenny Forrester's memoir, Narrow River, Wide Sky.

Check out Amy Hamilton's website for some beautiful wildlife illustrations:  https://amyhamilton.ca

PIECING FRIENDSHIP TOGETHER

The first time I began to understand the power of a women's group, I was sitting in a classroom taking a quilting class. We were all working on our own squares, piecing together our own patterns. I listened to the conversation rise and fall, surprised by the lack of competitiveness and of ego. I was young and that moment opened my eyes to an experience that I seek often. I've joined women's reading groups, political action groups, writing and craft groups. Within those groups, I discovered how a group can encourage and support each member to be more than themselves.

Quilters have a long tradition of quilting with others or for others. I remember the power of the AID/HIV Memorial Quilt Project with many quilts stretched across the public spaces of Washington, D.C. I think of the Gee's Bend quilts and the other quilters who will piece together t-shirts and other clothing items to make a memory quilt.

My aunt Ella Mae produced many quilts and belonged to a group who shared fabric and challenged each other with different themes. My friend Mary has a studio in her home that she devotes to quilting. She makes beautiful quilts for friends, family and as auction items each year.

A section of the quilt that Mary made for me.

Appliqued pieces around the edges of the quilt

When the tragic events occurred in Orlando a couple of years ago, Jill, another quilting friend, created a quilt using squares made by my craft group. When the quilt was finished, there were several leftover squares, which another friend, Marcia, and I sewed to make another quilt. This quilt, when finished, will go to one of the charities that sends quilts to a person in need.

Craft Day quilt completed

Second quilt from Craft Day pieces

Teresa, another prodigious quilter, explained how she put together this beautiful blue and white quilt.

Finished quilt in a blue bedroom

"The blue and white quilt that I made was actually created by a 'modern' quilting bee, one of many that exist internationally between people who may never have met. Each woman in the group of 10 is assigned a month. In her month, she can make the distribution as flexible or specific as she likes. She can mail fabric or just give guidelines and let people chose their own fabrics. The blocks are returned to her within that month (hopefully!) and she assembles them into a quilt adding whatever else she needs.

"For the blue and white quilt, I gave each person two white triangles, many strips of different-colored blues, and a foundation paper pattern. They sewed the blues together in the order that they chose onto the foundation paper. (Foundation paper is thin and gets ripped off once the block is complete.) This technique is called foundation piecing and ensures that the blue strip, while sewn in wonky seams, ended up the right size. Then they added the white triangles. I made these oversized and squared up each block myself after the pieces were returned.

One square from Teresa's 'many hands' quilt

"After getting the blues-only blocks back, I decided the quilt needed a little 'zing' color. The blocks with green (and all but 10 of the blue ones) were made by me. I asked each person to sign her block, too. It's a nice memory. Most of the women used a permanent fabric marker. One woman embroidered her name."

Quilting is one way to connect with other people, sometimes across the globe. What begins as a small effort can touch all parts of our world. The quilts are made with love and friendship, with many hands touching the fabric, and end up wrapping someone else in love.

Read more about inspiring quilts and places to donate quilts:


http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

http://www.aidsquilt.org

http://blog.missouriquiltco.com/quiltingforacause/

FISHING AT THE CLUB

We live next to a country club with golf courses, which have man-made ponds at some of the greens. The largest pond is on the 18th hole. Any golfer coming in to finish a round must hit the ball across the pond onto a small island. Many of the balls land in the pond instead.

With all the national turmoil in the news, especially in the last few weeks, I needed a good laugh. I opened an email yesterday to find:

A Message from the Country Club:

"Reminder to all Residents -- Fishing in the Club's lakes is not allowed and can be very hazardous. Many times, golfers are still playing the course and people are fishing in the lakes, this is a significant safety issue. We ask that you respect the rights of the Club and their property."

Just think if your fishing hook caught a golf ball. Do you throw it back?

How did the fish get into the ponds in the first place? There are no natural inlets to let fish swim into the ponds. Did bird or animals drop them into the water in hopes of a ready supply of food? Or more likely, one of the people who like to fish dumped a bucket of fish in the pond?

These drawings of fish are not representative of what you could catch if you fished the Country Club ponds. I drew these because I'm part of John Muir Laws' Nature Journaling group and fish were one of his exercises. He demonstrates sketching animals and birds at various locations in the Bay Area, but not at the Country Club's ponds.

Check out John Muir Law's blog:

https://johnmuirlaws.com

RED, RED, RED

"Fearless Flowers," the watercolor class with Birgit O'Connor, offered me the chance to step out of my comfort zone with color. I tend to use three colors in my artwork: Burnt Sienna, Cerulean blue, and yellow ochre. During the class, we followed the traditional art class practice of copying the instructor's work so we could learn Birgit's techniques with large washes of color.

When I took a botanical illustration class several years ago, the instructor claimed that white was the hardest color to paint. Not to me, white was easy compared to red. Red can overwhelm or get muddy easily.

I inwardly cringed when Birgit showed us her painting of red lilies. But after working all day with loose washes, here is my result: my still unfinished version of her painting. Maybe red isn't so hard after all. Now, purple is another story.

Since the class, I've been looking for red. 

Join me in this challenge:  RED, RED, RED. 

Show me your photos or paintings with red, not just flowers, as the dominant color.

Take a look at these reds that my Kuretake watercolor set produce. Dense and rich.

Check out Birgit O'Connor's website:
https://www.birgitoconnor.com  You'll be glad you did.

Click on Kuretake's website to see their watercolor sets:
https://kuretakezig.us/watercolors/gansai-tambi/

PIECING IT TOGETHER

Quilt-making is intensive, often community-building, and a labor of love. Quilts can be complicated like this quilt made by the moms at Nishimachi International School in Japan or simple. Each one is made to provide a hug and warmth. Joan Stevenson, a fellow Wednesday Writer, contributed this quilt-making story today. I hope you enjoy her tale.

Piecing It Together
by Joan Stevenson

More than fifty years ago, I accepted a month-long position in a dental office with the intent that the paycheck I received would be enough to purchase the sewing machine in the window at the mall that I had my eye on. I cashed the check right after work and went directly to the mall, cash in hand. The store had closed early and there was a metal gate across the opening. Not to be deterred, I rattled the bars like a prisoner until I had the manager's attention. My tears moved him to re-open the store and sell me the Singer sewing machine in the window.

It was a workhorse, completing little girls' outfits and mine, hems, curtains, coats, Christmas gifts, and more than a few outfits for weddings. When I went back to work full time, the machine sat idle for many years. Recently, I had a new project in mind and took the machine in for a tune-up.

At the repair shop, I was told that Singer doesn't make replacement parts for this model anymore. I walked out the door with a new sewing machine. I brought it home, delighted that it was very light to carry. I practiced threading and filling the bobbin. I quickly learned that thread should have a "used-by-date" because my decades-old thread shredded. I purchased all new thread and I was ready to begin my new project.

My plan involved being a participant in our church quilt project. Each year I have looked forward to "Quilt Sunday" at Our Savior's Lutheran Church. The sanctuary overflows with a riot of color. Every pew, altar, lectern, organ, and piano is covered with a quilt -- 162 of them. I wanted to be a part of the creation. The quilts begin with the scraps of fabric that are contributed from the tailings of a Halloween costume, the end of a Christmas project, a discontinued dress or simply cloth that caught someone's eye but never went on to a life of its own. Scraps. Nothing but scraps.

The process of making the quilt is divided into steps. The first team cuts the fabric into twelve-inch squares. That task, cutting the squares, is critical. The cuts must be accurate in order for the corners to come together. Let's see,, that is 7,776 squares cut by hand.

The next team lays out the design for each row. The rows are numbered, pinned together and placed in bags. As one of the sewers, I was the next step in the process. I picked up my first bag from the cupboard at church with the contents to make two quilt covers. I opened my bag and found red, pink and blue fabrics pinned together.  My new machine hummed along with Row 1. I was careful to make the seams the prescribed 3/8 inch. The afternoon flew by and I beamed when I realized I had completed six rows. Now I had the challenge of sewing the long rows together and to make sure that my corners came together cleanly.

With both of my covers finished, I returned them to the bag they came in and placed the bag back in the church cupboard ready for the next set of hands to attach the batting and backing to the quilt. Now the final touch, the ties in each corner of each square. Here a few seasoned men added their efforts to the team. The quilt, once tied, is then ready for show time: Quilt Sunday.

As I came into the church, I felt an air of closeness in the room and a sense of purpose. Each quilt has a small white envelope pinned on it to fund the cost of mailing. For a donation of $2.25, each quilt is sent to Lutheran Social Services.We shared a tender moment when we placed our hands on the quilts and prayed them on their way.

The quilts are distributed to first responders and to people in need. They provide a hug in times of crisis and shield someone against the cold and rain. Their versatility makes these quilts useful as simple tents, bedding, floor coverings, or as a wrap to hold a baby on a mother's back. In addition, each graduating senior in our church family receives a quilt with their name embroidered on it.

One more volunteer carts the rolled, packed quilts to the post office. I wondered who would receive them and where they would go -- Africa or Oakland? I can't quite let go of the kinship I felt for my quilt covers. Will a baby be cuddled in the soft pink one? Might the red one be the ground cover for a woman selling her wares at market? Or perhaps one of them will cover an old woman at a shelter. I hope they will know that my stitches come with love and hope.