Last Side of Side-by-side Lake Panel

I've decided that each panel for this larger project will depict the lake at different times of the same day.
This last side on the far right is late afternoon of a warm sunny summer day.

Lake #42 - 17"x 14"

Here it is before the free-motion quilting was done. The change of its appearance made by the quilting still amazes me.

Now, what kind of day should I make the next panel of four pieces?

Goodies In The Mail

YIPPEE!!! Goodies from two cyber friends arrived in the mail this week. First came a postcard, "Turtle Soup II", from Dianna in Maui.
This was in exchange for a mini-lake series postcard from me. Essentially we traded "orts" (scraps).

Yesterday these threads and fabrics came from Beverly.
To see the fabrics these threads unraveled from go to Beverly's September 3rd, 2007 posting. Sorry I can't provide a direct link to her post.

FUN! FUN! FUN!

MORE Side by Side Lake Pieces

Finally, I've gotten back to the "side by side" larger lake pieces.

Lake #41 - 17"x 14"

Now to decide where it fits with the first two. I constructed it in relationship to the others on the far left.
However, the new piece looks more like the lake at noontime. Usually the winds get calm in the middle of day. Plus, the lake is brighter and more blue with a high sun. Also, the rising sun hits the crests of the waves and the beach in the morning as in the center piece. Consequently, the new one found its place between the first two I made.
I do believe in "listening" to the work "talk"... from its telling when it is finished to this situation of where it belongs in relation to others. I wish there were words to pass onto to you how that works, but it's just a feeling ... an intuition ... a voice in my head that suddenly says "that's enough" or "that's right".

Playing with Ed

Judy and I were working in the studio and my husband, Lee, was engaged in a tennis match on this particular morning. Cousin, Ed, was at loose ends. He paints canvases with acrylics and had expressed interest in how my lake pieces are created. So, I prepared a foundation and gave him a bag of scraps to play with while he watched a golf tournament.

 Here's his charming creation after I had machine quilted it.

I was working on this piece that morning.Lake #40

Here it is under construction.

I enjoy working along-side creative people. Recently, I was catching up with Robert Genn's Artist's Newsletters ... along with a lot of blogs. This one, "The Buddy System", struck home with me ... especially this bit of sage advice:

• Don't comment unless asked.
• Give the gift of joyous approval.
• Accept all comers for what they wish to become.
• Understand and grant other styles and approaches.
• Realize the sun doesn't rise and set on academics.
• Feature others rather than yourself.
• Bask in the sunshine of others' success.
• Treasure the miracle of friendship.

Playing with Judy

Lee's cousin, Ed, and his wife, Judy, visited the cottage this past week. She brought the sunflowers that had been constructed in a workshop with Phil Beaver * to make a wall hanging as her project in my studio. Usually we "play" one day a year at the cabin we rent in Colorado while our husbands go off into the mountains. What a treat to get to play together for days.
Judy had previously hand-painted the fabrics and glued the petals together to form the flower heads. Here they're pinned in place over the background fabric on the design wall.
The sunflowers were adhered to the fabric with a spray adhesive. Judy machine quilted the raw-edged appliques. Then decided where the stems should be placed between the flowers and the vase (fabric painted by Phil Beaver). You can see that vase in the next photo.
I happened to have the perfect hand-painted green fabric for her stems and she learned my technique for couching yarns on the them. (It, along with a number of other hand-painted pieces, had just been gifted to me by my friend and neighbor, Mary.) Note the sunflowers that we got at the farmer's market as a physical reference ... as well as a decorative bouquet. There are "pumpkin peppers" growing on one huge stem among them.

Judy got quite a bit done this week. I'm sure she would've finished if we hadn't had to leave the studio to play with our husbands now and then ... and to make meals or dine out.

50"x24"

Here both of us are quilting. I'm working on Lake #39
*Click to see Phil's homepage listing his workshops as well as pieces made by students.