Tripping with an Artist's Eye

Last week I went on vacation to Florida,

and here is what caught my eye in terms of artistic inspiration:

Aerial views of sinuous rivers and snowy fields

begging to be turned into quilt designs.

Strong lines:



Sunset colors

with bonus design lines:

Unusual view points:

Dave and me (with camera) reflected in glass of an outdoor aquarium.

African mask in hotel lobby:



This is one mask, 16 feet high and 240 pounds, and is worn by one dancer.


 

Here's the story behind the giant mask.

(Click for a bigger view.)



A smaller African mask.

Animals as life and as art,

in Disney's Animal Kingdom:

I hope you're inspired!

Time to Get Serious!

"Mom: Guardian of the House," by Sherrie Spangler, 2003

I will stop diddling around

and I will get back to the studio

and make art quilts.

But first, I'll make a few baskets ...

Maybe one more ...

These are so addictive ...

It's hard to stop with just one ...

Let's add one more color ...

Then I'll pack for this week's visit to Florida

and the Wonderful World of Disney.

THEN I'll get back to making art quilts.

Yes I will.
 

Have a colorful day!



Year of the Rabbitat-tat

Take me home and love me!

Me Too!

You know I'm a sucker for rabbits, and you should know that 2011 is The Year of the Rabbit, so I just have to share some photos I took this week when we visited family in Southern California. My brother -- The Irish Poet of an earlier post -- volunteers at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas, which shelters and adopts out dogs, cats, and RABBITS! They have this fabulous Rabbitat where the bunnies live in luxury:

The cats and dogs are pretty pampered, too, and there's also a dog park. The place is full of animal art, meandering outdoor walkways and spacious, colorful, clean environments for the animals.

The whole Encinitas area is conducive to blissed-outedness, if you can ignore the traffic. Not far from the bunny nirvana home, we strolled through the gardens of the golden lotus, which are free and open to the public:

Every plant was perfect, the koi were enormous and still, and the views were spectacular. Surely there is inspiration for endless art quilts here.

Side note: Joe Walsh ("Rocky Mountain Way" and The Eagles)
reportedly shares this view from his home in Encinitas.
... couldn't get much higher.

Have a colorful day!

Have a Cosmic Rabbit New Year!

It's the YEAR OF THE RABBIT!

... So of course I've honored Bunners by making rabbit quilts, but I can't show them yet because I entered them in Quilting Arts Magazine's Calendar Contest -- the theme is pets -- and you can't publish your entries. But I did overlay photographs of some of the fabric and test samples into a collage, above, that shows you the colors without revealing the design. My entries are called:

"The Cosmic Rabbit Sees All"

and

"The Cosmic Rabbit Chills Out"

Here is my little Muse,

 snuggling on this chilly

New Year's Eve Day:

It was sunny and cold (around freezing) here in Gig Harbor on the final day of the year, so I headed down to the harbor for a few photos:

(That's Mt. Rainier on the horizon.)

The next two are from our neighborhood:

And here is my birthday vignette, showing a little papercut card that Julia made with our tall evergreens and a heart. I love the gold and green of her gift bag, and the green goes great with the mauve mug. Color is everything!

Have a Very Colorful New Year!

Looking up in Victoria, B.C.

I found these four large banners -- collectively called

The Four Seasons Suite

-- displayed high on the walls of

Munro's Books in Victoria, B.C.

The "textile assemblages" are by

Canadian artist Carole Sabiston.

 

It's hard to get a sense from my photos of how immense these are. I had to tilt the camera (yes, with permission) way up to frame them, which makes them seem a lot smaller than they really are. I would love to see them up close, but at least they had a brochure giving some info about them. The brochure states that Carole's "textile assemblages employ hand and machine stitching using techniques which are unique and non-traditional."

The colors are beautiful.

 

Munro's Books is a neo-classical building that was designed for the Royal Bank in 1909. According to the store's brochure, the coffered 24-foot ceiling resembles the ceiling of the porch of the great library of Ephesus built by the Romans. In 1984, Jim Munro bought the building, which had been "tastelessly modernized" in the '50s, and had it restored and refubished -- all in eight weeks!

Here are some more things I found
when I looked up in Victoria:

Chandelier in downtown McDonald's lobby



Chandelier in our B&B hallway

Seagull on a mossy roof

Heads up!

Seattle Art Museum inspires

"Takpekpe" (means "Conference") by El Anatsui, 2006

This metal piece in the Seattle Art Museum stopped me in my tracks last week. It really shouts "art quilt" and yet it's one layer made of metal scraps. I was allowed to take photos without the flash, so here are a few shots, all of the same piece.

Here is the accompanying sign, which explains it better than I could:

Here are a few photos of the Ewe textiles exhibit mentioned in the sign:

More African pieces at the Seattle Art Museum

Spectacular metal suit by Nick Cave in the same gallery

My main reason for visiting the museum was to see the Picasso exhibit (which did not permit photos), but these other pieces really grabbed me. I'm drawn to the strong colors and lines of African art. Nick Cave is an artist from Chicago known for his outrageous "suits," but his pieces meshed perfectly with the African pieces.

Inspiration everywhere!

All is calm, all is bright

Seattle waterfront shines



Downtown Seattle sparkles



Merry Christmas

from the Pacific Northwest!