Cay Denise

Some really neat work is being done quickly and quite effectively with this application!

Using Angel card with word 'Peace' on it as inspiration: Waxing moon whispering stem blowing stories of a flower's blooming fired by seed and sun green phoenix rising in a a dance of orbs.

In the New York Times today, there is an article with 15 rules for theater etiquette. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the author! You can find the article by clicking on this post's title. In this day and age, when common courtesy seems to be a rarity and our once-known and -observed respectful actions seem to have all but disappeared, this list would return theaters (including movie theaters) to environments where you could go for good entertainment feeling like the play, concert or movie was just playing to you (since you wouldn't be distracted by your audience neighbor). Let's get back to some sanity and self-control!

Interesting article today in 'The Dispatch' about how arts/culture groups are using social networking sites to entice people to see shows, exhibit and buy tickets. To read the article, click on the title of this post.

The magazines listed below are available for trade. If interested in exchanging embellishments for one or more of the following, please contact me at caydenise@pobox.com and note in the subject line 'Interested in Trade'. Machine Quilting Unlimited - Winter 2008 Quilting Arts - April/May 2009 Belle Armoire - May/June 2009 Gifts to Make - 2008 by CraftStylish Marie - April 2009 FiberArts - April/May 2009 Irish Quilting - Vol I, Issue 2

I've had very little creative time lately! But I have managed to finish 1/7th of a large wall quilt that is all curves and is being hand-pieced. This is a major accomplishment!

Preview this upcoming album release NPR by clicking on this post's title. It reminds me of a Beatles release of decades ago but a bit more blues-y!

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This will be a tablerunner for an upcoming Mother's Day brunch I'll be preparing. Its pinned and ready for quilting and then binding which I hope to complete by mid-day tomorrow. It should add a bit of fun and cheery ambiance to the table that will also be topped by a vase of colorful flowers!

I found these pairs of earrings at a local consignment store yesterday for $5 each. The metal ones were very tarnished and looked pretty poor. But I polished them up and they look great! The metal ones are going to be fun once I finish adding some beading to them through the pre-existing holes.

I've just finished watching the Series 100 DVDs. The segments that were most interesting to me were those with Beryl Taylor. The interviews with her can be found on DVDs #1 and #4 of the series. I also enjoyed seeing Pokey Bolton's work and watching the studio segment she personally does at the beginning of each show.

Neat video that shows how artist goes from sketch to image!

As a memento from a recent trip, a friend brought me a wonderful series of cards called "The Major Arcana" that show the textile work of Silke currently on exhibition at the National Museum of Decorative Art in Buenos Aires , Argentina. My friend loved the exhibit! The images of the work are stunning and evocative. There is great texture in the pieces. While one might think the work is made of silk (because of the exhibit name), I'm not so sure they are. If any of you have seen this exhibition and/or know of the artist and her work, I'd love to hear more about her! To link to Silke's website, just click on this post's title.

In Bonnie McCaffery's latest vidcast, she interviews Maggie Grey. Maggie has developed a website with short workshops, authored by herself and others, downloadable via Adobe PDF files. Maggie doesn't consider herself a quilter because of her interest in using a broad range of unusual materials. One of the teaser workshops is Maggie writing about using alcohol inks. In one of the current quarter's workshops, she writes about the uses of grungeboard. All workshop materials include photos. For information, there are new workshops available every quarter. There is a reasonable fee (in British sterling) for accessing the workshops. You subscribe for the current year and have the option to request access to a previous quarter's workshops for a per quarter fee. After paying the fee, the subscriber is sent a password in order to access the password-protected and downloadable workshop documentation. I'm tickled to have found the site! Click on the title of this post to be ta...

After 30+ hours of stippling (micro-level), my 29.5" x 41.25" piece is finished! You can't see the stippling from the front (because its black on black), but you can from the back and here is what a part of the back looks like: I used two types of batting in the sandwich one which is high loft and the other cotton. I'm glad I did because the overall piece feels strong, like canvas, rather than wimpy.

My 'Metamorphosis' challenge piece is backed with a bright colored fabric in which the stitching from the front can show through. Of course, now that means that the problems with stippling are showing through as well. They are even more obvious because I'm using a black top thread and orange bobbin thread. I've had a very difficult time breathing while trying to do the stippling tonight...not good! Its time to stop, then try again tomorrow. Postscript: The problem was that the top thread was heavier than the bobbin thread. I've since changed the top black thread to a different weight black thread which is the same weight as the thread in the bobbin. The resulting quilting has not shown the kind of thread blobs as seen in the above photo.

I took an all-day photography class yesterday. Each of the 17 students received a critique of their work based on a portfolio of up to 30 images everyone had been invited to bring. The instructor has suggested that I do an exhibition of my photographs . Wow...how validating! My photos are non-traditional (just like my 'quilt' work) as well as dramatic. The question would be whether the photography and quilt work could be mixed in a show, or if it would be better to keep the two art forms separate. (The instructor does not know I do quilt work.) Since there are different markets for the two types of art work, it may make more sense to keep them separate. I should mention that my husband's work was also critiqued in yesterday's class, and he was told he is also ready for a show, and that we could do a joint one if we wanted. We were the only students in the class that the suggestion of a show was made to. Now I have a new door to think about stepping through with a willi...

The street artist having done the artwork of now President Obama, for his campaign, has filed a lawsuit asking the judge to declare the artist protected under the fair-use exceptions to copyright law which provide for limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment. This is a pre-emptive suit that you can read more about at the link provided (click on this blog post's header).

I just learned how to use a cool new-to-me tool in Photoshop . Its the 'move' tool followed by working with layers. This image is based on a photo I took earlier today. First, in Photohsop , I intensified the original photo's color, and then did a 'filter-distort' and 'twirl' function on the image. Following that, I created a new page in Photoshop . Next, I moved one image to the new page, and then flipped the image on the original page and once done...moved that one to the new page as well. This was done until a total of 4 images had been moved to the new page. Then I worked with layers to arrange/center them. This is so cool (and pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it...and I thank my dear husband for the tutoring on that score)!!!

I just heard a radio show host talk about business being the conversations. Blogs (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress) and social networking sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) are important to this activity, he says. Marketing your products (whatever they may be) involves sharing with people who you really are. I've tried to limit my blog posts to the purpose of this blog which is sharing my art and musings about artsy things. So, on the occasions when I've had difficult days at work, or been concerned about things going on in my life...I haven't posted those things. The question is whether I'm missing connecting with more of you by not blogging more about life in general. What are your thoughts? Please consider leaving a post about what you'd like to see more/less of.

Over the weekend, I helped assemble goody bags for visiting Chinese artists. One of my contributions were buttons made of painted/dyed Model Magic (MM). MM is a great product...it is lightweight and air dries! I made about 150 buttons by painting the MM disks with acrylics, Adirondack dyes, glitter and glitter glue. I sealed them with a light varnish so that the glitter would remain. Are these fun or what?

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.