More Rust

I am still not sure that I have enough on these two pieces of muslin, I may put them back to rust some more. I like the top piece (at least the right half of it) and I like the left half of the other piece.

This is some white on white fabric that I found. The print is VERY small bubbles, but you can see them in person. I probably need to make something out of these rusty pieces before I get too much fabric (too much, what am I saying!!)

At last I am home alone (except for BC and FB!)

Left to right, Kay, Marsha (hidden behind the aluminum foil), Donna, Allene, Floye and Tim.

Another busy weekend. I took sick on Friday (just too much stress, and I had a light day... What can I say??). Mother had stomach trouble, so we did not know if we were ready to take off for a three hour drive with very few bathroom opportunities, but by noon she was feeling better. I went to get my oil changed and found out I had to replace my brakes ($300 instead of $30!) They had been making a strange sound...

Anyway, we took off Friday afternoon and got home in time to have some great meatloaf made by my sister. Mother was most relieved to be home!

My uncle left Friday morning via ambulance to the nursing home that my cousin works in. He will be there for 2-3 weeks for rehab. I know that branch of the family was glad to be home also!

Saturday, we got hit by the remants of Hurricane Dolly, so I beat a hasty retreat to Albuquerque in front of the storm. They got about 4 inches of rain, which is almost a year's worth of precip in the dry desert! I got caught in an absolute downpour and lost traction, so I slowed down after that!

I came home and enjoyed the peace and quiet of just me and the cats.

Last night I started some more tannin/rust, but came out mostly tannin and very little rust. I am drying them now and will post tomorrow!

Busy, Busy, Busy Part Deux!

I just thought that I had been busy in my last post.
My 86 year old uncle fell and broke his hip. They flew him to Albuquerque to the VA Hospital.
He came up alone, and I went over to see him and stayed with him all day Friday until my Aunt and cousins could come up to Albuquerque.
My mom also came up, so we had a mini family reunion and looked at old family pictures.
They operated on Sunday and the hip replacement went well.
I am very impressed with the VA Hospital. I know that they have had some bad press in the last few months, but the staff are kind, gentle, understanding and seem really interested in the patients (and family). They are engaged and interested, even when the patients are rambling!
Could not ask for better care than what he is getting.

I have been chauffer, nurse, therapist, and friend all weekend, and will continue as my Aunt (77) and my Mother (85) will stay until my uncle is released and able to go home.

So art is off the table for now, but will return!

No art today

I am under a lot of stress at work due to a Human Resources issue (not for me, but about a co-worker). Did not sleep well last night, and so I will try to work on some art tonight, but I have been reading, relaxing and playing video games! Oh, well.... maybe some art tomorrow

The Story of Stuff

I watched this video after I made my earlier post, and feel like I really need to let everyone know about this issue. It is a 20 minute video, but please watch and send the URL to your friends. The Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Busy Busy again

One of my more successful rust attempts. I think that this piece reminds me of a fresco wall

This was a test piece of postcard fabric which came out very nice.

This is my "dypepot" an old inexpensive cake pan that rusts most satisfactorily. It sits outside on the balcony amid my plants. This is how much rain we got last night, which is very unusual for Albuquerque.

Today after church we went to the Lavender festival in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. It is a very green, lush almost rural area with lots of vineyards. Very interesting and they have lavender in almost anything! It is an annual festival, and next year we are going VERY early on Saturday morning.

My Political Rant for the week

It is only July, and today I saw two McCain and two Obama ads (and I do not watch that much commercial TV). I discovered this website http://www.recapturetheflag.com/. This is a site asking for pledges from politicans that they will stop torture, etc. Check it out, I signed up and when I got an email today from NM Senator Binghaman, I asked him if he had taken the pledge. I think it is time for all politicians to take the pledge.
Art resumes over the weekend.

Another WIP finished

This is a long-time WIP (work in process) that only needed a little quilting and the binding applied. It is now finished! Hooray!

Lins Cats

I am using this wall hanging from my friend Lin to practice my machine quilting. I just did outlines, and it came out OK. Note that Baby Cakes is giving it the once over

Very colorful quilt, and I will give it back to her at our meeting of The Thrusday's Women this week. (Note that Baby Cakes got scooted off the middle of the quilt, but is still hanging around the edges!)

FINALLY!! Art

I felt like Saturday was a bonus day, as Friday seemed like Saturday.

I started on some altered tags and a box on Sunday,

This is the first coat of paint in a great color called Indigo Jacquard Lumiere paint.

I also did some rust dyeing over the weekend- that bonus day again. I think that this looks botanical, perhaps a tree? Sorry for the shadows, but the flash gave too bright a picture.

These small pieces are white on muslin, and I really like how they came out. I will have to root around and find some more WOW (or WOM as the case may be) to experiment on.

This was the only disappointing piece, and it may go back into the rust. I have some jacquard weave upholstery fabric brewing now, and we will see how those came out.

BTW, the rust was inspired by the latest Bonnie McCaffrey video!

Time Flies

Wow, it has been three weeks since I posted last. My life has been very busy lately...

I have had a nasty bladder infection and have just not felt up to par for some time, so have not felt like doing much art.

We also had SAS70 auditors at work for two weeks, and managed to pass with flying colors (or my department did at least!) Lots of stress involved in that, and after the wrap-up meeting, my boss walked in my office and had the most horrible look on his face! Then he broke into a smile and gave me the good news!

Anyway, the stress is off and I am finally feeling better (but I did wait to go to the Dr. until it was very bad!).

I have a show for Rainbow Artists in September that I am working on. At church two weeks ago we had a favorite band called Celtic Coyotes perform the Solstice service. One of the members of the band Stephen Miller, wrote a song called Brigid on the Rio Grande. It was so perfect (the art show is "La Vida Rio") that I asked if I could use his song as my inspiration for the show. Of course, being the gentleman that he is, he gladly consented.

So now I am working on photos of the Rio Grande, and looking for images of St. Brigid. Should make a striking piece.

On my way to our traditional 4th of July viewing party in Rio Rancho, I stopped and took some pictures of the Rio Grande. Can't decide which one I like the best, but I will probably go with one of the shots that has all the elements, river, trees, mountains, clouds and sky.

But only time will tell.

Which one do you like best?

This is the first shot that I took (all of these are raw, uncropped images)

This one is a definite contender

The white spot in this one is somone's roof! So probably will not be using it without some manipulation

This one is not bad, but not much "rio" is showing

This is the last shot that I took (notice the ornamental brigde work in the lower right corner-I did not even see it until I got the digitals uploaded) I like the balance of rio, trees mountain, sky and cloud in this one, and will probalby put the Brigid image on the left portion of it.

More to follow!