I prefer blooms

Dear Family and Friends,
This morning I came across the term doomscrolling, and I think I do it -- obsessively reading the bad news. I'm not sure I can stop. Maybe I don't even want to. I've been addicted to news since I was a kid, but I don't think it ever affected my mental state so long and deep as now. Maybe I shouldn't read online news sites for two hours each morning. (Yes! I do that!)

... on the other side of my brain, I paint.

Have you been doomscrolling?

Love,
k

Bright thoughts

8" x 8"

acrylic 

Signs of life

What's growing around us? 

Here, this week:

May 13, 2020
Never heard of Nigellas
They made my Full Belly Farm bouquet
I buy flowers every other week
Different from Trader Joe's generic lovelies

May 22, 2020
Zing! and I strolled in Oak Park
carrying chocolate croissants from Faria Bakery
You stand on the sidewalk,  say your number
and wait to be served

May 23, 2020
If I draw them will they grow?
Mint is on my north-facing balcony
oregano wants more sun

x 

No sad sunflowers, please!

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today Zing! and I went hunting for sunflowers, and we found them on a quiet road outside Winters, CA. Yes, there is a sunflower field across from Pedrick’s nut store, but those flowers looked sad. You do not celebrate in a field of sad sunflowers. So Zing! and I drove a little farther. We were looking for a field where we felt safe to stop. We found one buzzing with bees.

Love,

k

Those white boxes are full of bees

For the love of pink and blue

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Here are some flowers I’m painting. Looks like I’m favoring pink and blue!

Love,
k

11" x 14"
acrylic on canvas

16" x 20"

acrylic on canvas

9" x 12"

acrylic on canvas board

Stupendous poppies

Dear Friends,

These flowers are stupendous. I encountered them a week ago when Zing! and I were walking through Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park, and I just had to go back to see them again. Sunday, when I finally got to draw them, people gathered around — not to see my work, but to see the flowers.  Everybody started talking. I learned they are called Matilija poppy and are named after an Indian chief. They come from southern California. They shed their flowers and turn into sticks after summertime. And their nickname is the fried egg poppy.

… and when I checked the web, I learned Matilija poppy is native to chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitats, primarily from Santa Barbara County, and that it was a candidate for state flower, but  was beat out by the California poppy. Below my drawing is a photo I took yesterday. 

Love,

k

Flower season

Dear Friends,
Flowers abound here and I'm aiming to draw one a day.

Love,
k

Dogwood on 7th Street

Loose-blooming orchid

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I made this pencil and watercolor drawing of the orchid in the living room. It’s looser because I’m using a pencil, not black pen, and bigger sketchbook. I hope flowers are blooming for you too! 

Love,

k

There's a wedding today

Dear Friends,

There’s a wedding today  (Keith and Judy!), and these flowers suit the mood.

Love,

k

Flowers

Acrylic on board

12" x 12" 

Flowers for now

There's a wedding coming up (my step-son Keith and Judy), and these flowers suit the mood.

Flowers
acrylic on board
12" x 12" 

Stop and smell the (almond) flowers

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

I went to an almond orchard just to smell the air. My friend Mary Kaye recommends it; she grew up with almond trees all around, and the smell takes her back. Somewhat skeptical, Zing and I drove to Yolo County, where in the summer the sunflowers grew. Those fields are flat now, but across the narrow road is a line of almond trees in pale pink bloom. Rosa’s windows were down and we smelled it — honey on the air, like a beeswax candle burning. Eventually we found a place to stop, and took a walk at the edge of the orchard, just smelling the flowers. 

Love,

k

Tulips today

Dear Friends,
Tulips today make the gloomy rain OK.
Love,
k

Just flowers

Dear Friends,

Here are flowers I drew and the pitcher of lilies, etc., that inspired them.

Love,

k

Bringing flowers home

Written last night:

Dear Family,

I painted a lot today. At the bottom it says, “Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home.” It’s a line from the poem Under One Small Star by Wislawa Szymborska. 

Love,

k

Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home (Wislawaa Szymborska)

Acrylic on board

16" x 20"

Below, before pink

Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home (Wislawaa Szymborska)

Acrylic on board

16" x 20"

Picasso did not make applesauce

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

It was a rather uneventful day: I meant to draw all day long. I have this idea that I can devote one day to drawing, one to reading, one to drawing, one to reading, and the rest to fun and chores. That’s not the way it works, of course. I still read the NYTimes every morning, and that can take an hour if I let it. I’ve been exercising at home instead of with a group, as I did in Tallahassee, but it still takes 20-30 minutes. OK, OK, I know that’s not much! Walking Zing is a pleasure of relaxation and discovery that takes maybe an hour a day. I could make the walks shorter, but I don’t want to. Today we saw flowers growing out of the walls of the new Golden One Arena, and then heard little musical splashing pings as the watering system dripped into their soil. It’s really neat to have blossoms growing out of the giant wall and natural water music playing as you walk by.

Sometimes I talk to friends and family and I don’t count the time. I cook at least a little each day (Today I made applesauce and homemade chicken-noodle soup.) And there’s the delightful chore of watching finances, which will someday get easier. 

Those of you who work a full day will say to me YOU ARE LUCKY, and I know I am. And someday soon I will draw all day long. Picasso did, but he didn’t make applesauce.

Love,

k

These photos are at the Golden One Arena a couple of blocks from where I live

Flowers speak to me

We've had flowers in the kitchen or living room almost all the time since Clark died. 

I feel like they're a gift from him to me. These are in the big window overlooking N Street.

Cheered by a crowd

Written last night:

Dear Friends,
Tonight is calm; today was not. I thought the hard part was done when I finished some early financial details. Then I almost -- maybe actually-- lost all my emails. And my firewall was compromised so my Mac is beyond useless for now.  Everything will get worse or better -- I'm hoping better -- but in the meantime I'm in tech limbo. Which means I'm using my dear iPad. (*As of Sunday, all seems OK. Waiting for tech help call.)

About noon I was tooth- grindingly frustrated. To clear our heads, Zing and I joined the crowd in the Women's March that was going up the Mall to the Capitol building. We had a ticket. We met so many cheering people of all ages, genders, nationalities. I didn't get many photos because I was soon carrying Zing, who didn't know how to handle the excitement. Zing introduced me to many friendly people. We left when the music and speeches began. As we got back to our high-rise, the last of the parade was passing by N Street on the way to the Capitol, 5 or 6 blocks away. These were the slow marchers -- a limping man, a woman with a walker, and several others.  They were dogged. 

Then this evening I cooked beef burgundy, trying to make one so delicious that my great-grandmother rises from the dead to taste it. 

Love, 
k

Marchers, January 21, 20017, Sacramento
About those daisies in the foreground:
I saw a marcher by the Capitol with daisies on her sign and I told her it was  the best sign of all.
She gave me a piece of her bouquet.

Bed time at last!

Written last night:
Yes, I have slept on stones (On Washington Island, WI, where we sailed -- they call the smooth stones on their beaches Lake Superior Sapphires).  And I have considered getting a tatami mat instead of a bed. But right now I am ecstatic that my conventional new bed frame arrived this afternoon. It’s sturdy and stylish. It will not collapse. Believe me, I checked the supporting slats!  

Today Zing and I embarked on life with his meds. For starters, we tried the lowest doses. That strong one did make Zing sleepy! The relaxer may very well have relaxed him a bit too. It’s hard to judge what’s working on the first day. 

I talked to a friend who is life-and-death sick. Life is winning.

Love,

k

Farmers Market Flowers

Flower series 5: Happy heart

Happy heart
32" x 36"
paint and stitch

I love Happy Heart!

Of course, there was a moment when I wanted to throw her away (her??) That happens.

I like how my original small flowered heart transforms dramatically when enlarged. I copied the original onto a transparency and enlarged it. using the overhead projector that Maureen so kindly insisted I keep. (Sure does come in handy, Maureen! Thank you!)

I drew the lines in pencil on white Kona cotton, lightly so the pencil wouldn't show on the finished piece.

Then I sewed over the lines with black thread, using free-motion stitching. It was miserable! Even if I blasted light on the piece, I could barely see the lines. Then I used Mark-B-Gone, with trepidation. It's as blue as this quilt! It's hard to believe the color will wash out with cold water. I tested it first. Still I worried my piece would be ruined by blue. Probably everyone who uses the stuff feels the same way at first.
Before quilt-drawing I layered the Kona with felt and white duck. (Yes, purists, I confess I used spray adhesive. I love it!) The thing is, that felt is wool. I love wool felt.

After  the design was all stitched in black -- my machine was like a drawing tool -- I held my breath and ran cold water over the piece. I held it over the bathtub, and in a flash the blue ran down the drain. I sighed big time! 

Alas, too soon! 

Did you know that wool felt shrinks in a second?? 

My quilt was all scrunched up. Lots of people do this on purpose, but I did it by accident. Suddenly my quilt was very QUILTY. The design was bumpy, thanks to shrinkage. I was sad. 

Then I was happy. I love it the texture!

After that, painting.

This, too, was a delight. I expected to be bored to death, coloring within the lines of my flowers. But it was peaceful and fun.

It helped that I had made a dozen preliminary drawings, mixing paint and then trying out this and that combination. 

It still needs at least stitching around the edges. Maybe a simple facing. 

But I have a happy heart.

** Series note: You are right, Ellen! veering from guidelines is the definition of art. My series is far from what I'd envisioned. It turns out I'm exploring paint-related quilting techniques, doing what's fun rather than following the rules I'd set for myself. It's still about flowers, quilting, and color, with Beatriz Milhazes as my distant teacher. A series, it turns out, can be exploration. Boundaries are for leaping.

detail
Happy Heart

Series 4: veering from plan

Seduced by paint,  I have detoured from my plan to make a series of quilts. A couple of months ago, dazzled by my own sense of organization, I outlined what I wanted to make (Yes, I did want to!), then created a few flower paintings to warm up for the floral quilts. And never quit. There's paint on my pants and on my hands, and dripped on the floor too.

I haven't abandoned flowers. I thought they'd get to be a bore, but instead found that forever isn't long enough to absorb floral color and variety and life.

Flowers are in. Color is in. I've stuck to that much of my series plan. Stripes and mandalas are on hold. I'm spending lots of time painting (The colors, when I mix them, turn into other colors!) I'm making a glorious mess.

Thanks to Google and a visit last month to the Quilt National exhibit in Athens, Ohio, I have been able to observe how others combine paint with quilting. I'm now "drawing" on fabric using black thread and free-motion quilting, then painting inside the designs: flowers, for now.

This may be a series of sorts, based on the gorgeousness of flowers and fabric. And paint.

Flower series 3: Artists who mix paint and stitch

Talk about inspiration!  Paint and stitch go together many ways.

Artists who mix paint and stitch:

Maya Schonenberger

Sati Zech

Shelley Brenner Baird

Betty Busby

Cas Holmes

Barbara Takenaga

Katie Pasquini Masopust