Happy Halloween

This will probably be my last post before I leave for Houston ~ so no tricks, just these treats for you before I go. All of my girls did make it to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and it was a glorious day. Just crisp enough to feel like Fall, but not so cold we could not enjoy ourselves. And enjoy we did. We headed to Butler's Orchard, the closest working farm in Montgomery County, MD. Mrs. Butler had agreed to give Sam a discount on 100 pumpkins that she was using for a fundraiser. Sam and her roommate started the Ophelia Club at Frostburg State University. The college student members work with local middle school girls to help them deal with self-confidence, identity and the social troubles that abound in middle school. I'm so proud of her! That's Sam (19), on the left, Kelly (12), Sara (27) and Kerry (17).

There were special BIG pumpkins for sale down at the shop but we passed on those this year. We sipped on apple cider, sampled pumpkin butter and loaded our arms with apples, fresh veggies and of course caramel apples, before heading home.I am really looking forward to the Quilt Festival. I'll be there the whole week, teaching, doing 2 Make and Takes on the show floor and hanging out at the Cloth Paper Scissors booth when I'm not shopping. Hope to see you there!

Ohh La La

I am dying to see Marie Antoinette For me, it's all about the fabrics, the wretched excess of brocades, silks and satins. I bought this issue of Vogue magazine just so I could salivate over the photo shoot they did (fabric lovers porn). I remember watching The Affair of the Necklace (same time period, Louis XIV, Versailles) a couple of years ago and it had the same effect on me. I was working on my second book and started making a little pile of fabrics that screamed "french" to me. In fact, the quilt I just finished is inspired by the very same things ~ rich, opulent fabrics, jewels, intrigue. Unfortunately I cannot show you because it is for a C&T book coming out next year, Innovative Fabric Imagery. It's all that and more...and I usually don't feel so boastful about my work, but I love it.

But getting back to reality...today I had a wonderful artist's date with Melissa Hackmann, a talented graphic artist and print maker. I decided to break out of my usual pattern and actually go downtown to see the National Portrait Competition show at the National Portrait Gallery. I must confess, and am ashamed to admit, that I hardly ever go downtown, much less take advantage of the museums and galleries here in DC. Yes, I know, it is a shame. And I publicly resolve right here and now that I will make going a habit instead of a rarity. I'm an artist ~ I need to do this, especially since I have the opportunity and the resources literally a 20 minute, $1.85 METRO ride away. This is the First Place painting, Sam and the Perfect World by David Lenz. There were many styles represented but the majority were realism, bordering on photo-realism. We got as close as we could to see all the details. More than one painting had hair strands so fine that you would need a one hair brush to paint them.

The wind is blowing, the sun is shining and fall is definitely here. Tomorrow is daughter-day with a trip to the pumpkin patch planned, hopefully with all four daughters. I'll be squeezing some art in tonite. After today, inspiration abounds! Here's a quote from the wall of the museum ~

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~ William Faulkner

A Whirlwind, I Tell Ya

I had this cognition yesterday. Art & Soul (and other events like it) are a whirlwind, like being on a merry-go-round. What happens after you come home is that dizzy feeling that you have after having been spun around for so long. That tickle in your tummy, but also that slightly woozy feeling, where the spinning continues long after you have gotten off that pony. This thought came yesterday, becaue I realized that I had stopped spinning and was truly back to normal. Well normal to me, which is feeling like I am always running a marathon...or riding a merry-go-round, come to think of it. I just completed a big overdue deadline that the organizers were kind enough to let me be late on, but there are several more waiting in line, impatiently stomping their feet and looking at their watches with the look of disdain on their faces. And I have to prepare for my 6 Houston Quilt Fesitval classes, but I am not frantic yet since I don not leave until next Sunday. Talk to me in a week and see how I feel!

Let's pause for another grandmother photo. I'm heading up to see her right after I get back from Houston. If I don't hurry, she'll be walking and talking and off to college.

Typically, I forgot to bring my camera to class until the last day. Deb Trotter, the Cowboy Sweetheart, really is a sweetheart. She took photos for me in my Story Fragment class. The work done in that class was AMAZING and I'll share it with you when the CD arrives from Deb. Here's a batch I took in my Cloth Paper Scissors class.

Saturday night was vendor night. With camera on hand, I snuck this candid portrait of Nina and Misty.

On Sunday night we escaped from the hotel to go to dinner with Joyce & ended the evening at the most enchanting place, the Rimsky-Korsakov Coffee House.We were seated at the "best table in the house", one I didn't want to sit at because it was so high and was more like a bar table. Well at some point, we all notice that it was slowly lowering, until it was literally in our laps....then up it went again, all so slowly that no movement was ever felt. I hear they have a spinning table and one that slides into the wall too. A must-see place if you're in the Portland area. No sign out front...but magic inside. Gotta run ~ more later.

Art & Soul

This is how one feels after Art & Soul ~ blissfully exhausted.

It takes a few days to absorb it all and to put emotion into words. Imagine a gathering of women, like-minded women, mind you, that come together to make art. In the process of sharing techniques, supplies, discoveries and truths with new-found and long-time friends, we discover more about ourselves. Everything falls into place. We are more truely ourselves than at any other time, free to express our thoughts and feelings through our art, our voice and our actions. Everyone there understands. We drink it all in, knowing that once we leave this magic, we must return to reality; where things like bills, shopping, cleaning and taking care of someone besides ourself creep in. If we are lucky, we can float on this high until the next big event, stealing time to sneak into our studio, even if it is only a studio of the mind. Remember the magic and carry it with you always.

I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it. ~ Henri Matisse

While I'm Gone...

I'm leaving for the airport in half an hour to fly to Portland, Oregon, for Art & Soul for 5 days of teaching, but I had to stop and blog because I just got the new newsletter from creativity coach, Sheri Gaynor. Why am I excited? Because she did a podcast interview with me and it's now ready for you to listen to. Click HERE to listen.

See you in a week!