Cay Denise

Over the holidays, I viewed this show at San Diego's Visions Gallery. What a great exhibition theme! All quilts were a unified size, and all unique. The project involved an artist being paired with a specific card from a deck of cards, and then interpreting that card in her/his own way in fabric. All 52 cards were represented! The neat thing is that the exhibit is owned by a couple who purchased it to ensure the pieces would remain together...just like a deck of cards! The 'King of Hearts' on the cover of the book about the exhibit (above) is one of my favorites in addition to the 4, 8 and 10 of Clubs and the 8 of Hearts! After San Diego, I don't know where the exhibit has gone, but it is worth seeing if you get the chance. Its just fun!

I'm working on a challenge piece which is to use a vintage quilt/block as inspiration. The instructions are to think deeply about what the quilt/block says to you and use this as inspiration to reinterpret the vintage quilt pattern or block into a vision for today. I decided to use this log cabin block as my inspiration: What does this block design say to me? The block's motion goes around and around and around. This led me to think about spirals, which then led to thinking about galaxies and red dwarf stars. What if I did a spiral out of different size and overlapping squares? What if it had raised red reverse applique circles to represent red dwarfs and smaller white ones to represent white dwarfs? What if I mirrored my fabric representation of a spiral galaxy? This morning, the work began. I started by making a fabric weave. Then I cut out my abstract impression of a spiral galaxy with its mirror image from that weave. This is where I am so far. It is now tacked to my design...

I love taking photos that are difficult, if not impossible, to figure out what the subject is. Its so amazing to 'see' real things that don't make sense! They're out there, it just takes practice in the noticing of them. Do you take the time to really look and notice fully what is around you? Feeling pinched for time makes true looking difficult, because it is in the calmness of being present to your surroundings when you can more fully see...and there are such marvels just awaiting your notice!

Graffiti can be destructive as well as constructive. How many times have we passed rail cars, an overcrossing, signs, etc. that have been painted over with the intention to vandalize? On the other hand, in blighted neighborhoods, graffiti can be used to coat a building with new life through color and contribute to improving the perceived quality of that neighborhood. In recent excursions, I've had fun discovering some delightful art graffiti on buildings in unexpected places. Here are some photos of some of those places:

The Christmas Tree has now been taken down and its memory only a shadow. Even dark things can hold beauty!

This CBS News video is unfortunately no longer available for viewing.

It is a new year...a time for beginnings. Its an opportunity to refresh, reframe or remake ourselves, our attitudes, behaviors and/or choices. So, what will we sow/sew in this new year and what will we reap? Well, I plan to be busy! Art Goals : *Work on improving my quilting skills by quilting one muslin sandwich every two weeks *Finish a memory quilt in progress *Complete a series of art quilts (series minimum: 3 pieces) *Have my work (quilting and photography) published in appropriate magazine venues *Enter 4 quilt competitions with new work made this year *Sell 3 pieces *Read 4 quilting books *Go to the International Quilt Festival in October *Become a member of IQA *Watch my Quilting Art Workshop videos (7 of them) and use at least two techniques/ideas in a project this year *Pre-wash my entire stash of cotton fabric *Have my website layout updated Hopefully, these are reasonable and achievable. There is no sense to create goals that are overwhelming. It can be difficult to get a s...

Even though much of my time off wasn't scheduled beforehand, the calendar filled up quickly with abundant activity. Some of the highlights from the last two weeks include: *Visited Lick Observatory and experienced the snow, slush and cold of it's elevation (photo above is looking out from the observatory high atop the Diablo Mountain Range) *Saw Itchiku Kubota's Kimono exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art and Timken Museum *Saw Art Quilts: Playing with a Full Deck at Quilt Visions in San Diego *Saw 'Phantom of the Opera' in San Francisco *Purged 2/3 of my book collection and organized my office/studio space *Watched the entire Season 2 of 'Lost' *Watched 'Wall-E' *Completed and sent in my Rock On! Art Quilt Challenge to Quilting Arts Magazine *Played pool *Bought a great floor lamp for my office which adds so much needed light! I hope your holidays were joyous in whatever way you celebrated and your gifts...sweet treats to your soul!