Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Bowie sleeping


Bowie sleeping, originally uploaded by kquilts.

This is my second attempt at drawing Bowie. He is a willing model most of the time. He likes to sleep, and that helps me, because he will be still for a fair bit of time. I am really liking this Auryn Ink drawing and painting app.

Merry Christmas!


Bowie cat sleeping.

I have just recently started playing with an Ipad app called Auryn Ink. It simulates painting with watercolor paints. I really was struggling with the process but then got a stylus to use. This made it much easier to draw. I didn't try filling in with solid color, just used thin strokes to show the texture of his fur.


Bowie cat, originally uploaded by kquilts.


















 This was the first try at drawing the cat.





Monday, November 26, 2012

Kumihimo bracelet


Kumihimo bracelet, originally uploaded by kquilts.

Another kumihimo bracelet made from a kit. The design and bead selection is by Sally Battis of Sally Bead Jewelry. She puts together some great kits.

I really need to get back to painting the little girl at Yosemite that I started. I have kind of gotten stuck on paint the details of her face. Most everything else is done. I may get back to it during this lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's about all here though for now.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Kumihimo bracelet


Kumihimo bracelet, originally uploaded by kquilts

 Last Month I had the pleasure of attending the Pacific International Quilt Show. It is one of the largest on the west coast and one I enjoy immensely. They have and incredible display of quilts from all over the globe and an unbelievable market for shoppers.

You will find patterns, fabric, and sewing machines. Of course embellishments too. That is where I came across the kumihimo disks. Kumihimo is a form of braiding normally done on a wooden loom type stand called a maru dai.   In order to make it more accessable for quilters not to need to buy expensive equipment an alternative has been devised.  It is a foam disk that performs similar to the wooden setup.  Of course I had to try it so I got one (mine is plexiglass though) and some fibers to work with.  I played with the fibers then moved on to beads.  This bracelet is my first beaded creation.  It was fun and easy to make.  I do think I will be making more as I enjoy the process and find it meditative.


Monday, June 18, 2012

A Trip to Lavender Hollow Farm

 

 Saturday morning a group of us "girls" took a road trip to the semi local lavender farm. A lovely place called Lavender Hollow Farm. There were 5 of us in all. Myself, my daughter and 3 friends. We had signed up for a class to make lavender wands. Oh what fun we had! What should have been easy proved to be more of a challenge than we expected!   We did have fun, though some of us had more success than others.

This particular farm is only open to the public 6 weekends of the year in the late spring.  The rest of the year it is simply someone's home.  They do have a mail order business selling lavender products.


We arrived early, which was good because it was one of those 100 plus degree days.  Class was held under a canopy.  Barbara staked out good seats for us while the rest of us procured supplies   She managed to get us seats with a fan directly pointing toward us.  For the next hour we worked diligently on our projects. 


This picture doesn't show all of us, only Elionora, Barbara and Lisa  I'm not in the picture and neither is my daughter Sarah.  There were probably 20 or so more people taking the class, but this photo was taken before it began.


This is what the wand looked like halfway through the process.  The lavender smelled so good!
And this is what the finished wand looks like.  I added another wider gossamer ribbon but don't have a picture of that.


When we were finished it was time for lunch.  We had a lavender themed box lunch where several of the items were flavored with culinary grade lavender.  It was quite tasty.  All of this was followed up with shopping at the gift shop.  I bought a teapot with a lavender motif on it.  I will be sketching it soon.  Sarah and I finished the day off with manicures and pedicures.

I arrived home in the late afternoon and found that my hubby had passed his "Extra" exam and had advanced to the top level on his amateur radio operators license.  This called for dinner out to celebrate.  We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant with good friends Elionora and David.  All in all it was a lovely day.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Monterey: View From a Bicycle Part 2

After placing the painting in a room where I see it a lot, I was troubled with the left hand side of the painting. The problem was glaring at me, and I wouldn't be satisfied without correcting it. It took maybe 15 minutes to correct the greenery behind those trees on the left, but I am much happier with the results. I ordered the frame for it. It is similar in tone and color to the larger tree trunk.

Saturday I am going on an excursion with my daughter and some friends to a local lavender farm. We are making lavender wands and having a special lunch featuring some of their lavender culinary products. I'll try to post some pictures here.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Summer Berries


, originally uploaded by kquilts.

The online group I belong to: Watercolour Pencil Buddies on yahoo has a card exchange program we do. It's completely voluntary, but each month we are assigned a theme and we paint a postcard using watercolor pencils and then we exchange with other members. This was the card I sent off to Dianne. The original drawing was designed by Marilyn Harris Mills. I have learned a lot by doing the exchanges and it's exciting to get art in the mail done by other artists.