Another Sunday post with a painting of a window.
This is from a card I found at Mom's. It is called, "A Summer Afternoon" and is by Helena Maguire (1860-1909). It is a very peaceful scene, and shows the upperclass Victorian world. I think her treatment of the sun hitting the lace curtains is especially nice. (I realize that I have had a cat in the window paintings for 3 Sundays in a row now...just happened!) When I was a girl of her age, I had a grandmother who told me that sewing on Sunday was not good. "If you sew on Sunday, you will take it out 'with your nose' on Monday". I assume that means painfully slow ripping out of the stitches.....(the frog stitch, "rip-it, rip-it").
This is another card relating to sewing. I think it is a very nice
photograph and reminds me of the things I have been sorting through at Mom's.....I came by my sewing addiction honestly!

[Up-dated on Sunday evening]....I'm home now and have scanned some of my
thread sketches.....the ones I mentioned in the text below.....


this one is "Pears and Pomegranate", and the next one is "Vintage Girl".

I stitched her hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, outlined her face and dress. I did not stitch her nose and mouth. I had added the collage of paper and fabric elements before I stitched. This is based on an old photo of my mom. The bird and the grapes were from some motifs she had sketched and saved for use in embroidery or other handwork.







I had a lovely "art day" yesterday trying the thread sketching technique fromKelli
Perkin's article (p.74) in the current (Sept-Oct) issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.



I don't have a scanner or camera....so these examples from Kelli are all I can use to illustrate this post. Black thread on watercolor paper....more later!

Warning....

Another "moon thing".......... this is "Jimson Weed" (looking beautifulhere in the painting by Georgia O'Keefe)...this plant is the same family as night blooming, "Moonflower".

Beautiful and deadly. We lost a teenage boy, part of our extended family, this week.

[We don't know why (17 year-old kids will do wild things) or how many seeds he consumed, but he suffered a long time in intensive care and did not make it!]

I'm only posting this so that you can warn your children if you feel it is appropriate.
Jimson weed is not uncommon. We even have a variety of it in our town square gardens, it is a lovely white to purple trumpet shaped flower.

I think the Carl Sandburg poem posted with the harvest moon photo (below) is a good one for this year!

Come to the ball......

UNDER THE HARVEST MOON
UNDER the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.
---Carl Sandburg

Elizabeth over at "Be...dream....play" is having a Ball on September 26th to celebrate the Harvest Moon!

[the full moon will come and go before I have access to a camera or a scanner.....so I will cut and paste images from the Internet to make my fantasy evening....]

For a really dreamy evening, this could be my ballgown. A colorwash of gold, peach and orange...just like a chrysanthemum!

This full moon is also called the Chrysanthemum Moon!

I'd be so glowing that the moon would have competition! (And after midnight, I'm already in a great color to match that "pumpkin" coach!)

Choosing shoes is something else.....

these are beautiful. Magic shoes! Just putting them on will make me into a wonderful dancer!

(Photo of Mr. and Mrs. Pear at our son's wedding last month)

Two good things happened this weekend. First, Mr. Pear drove down to help me with yard work at Mom's....we raked leaves and trimmed bushes. And we enjoyed watching the Arkansas-Kentucky football game on TV. (He watched more than I did, I was hand- quilting on a "St. Bridgid's Cross" ,quilted wall hanging...while the score went from "fine" to "really bad" for us (Arkansas)....so much for college football (I'm so glad I didn't have to drive up and attend the game in person...!!!!)

The other good thing is that M&M's now have a DARK

chocolate, peanut candy. Coupons are in local papers

today, and Walgreens has a special, 2/$3.00. I got the last 2 bags

on the shelf! this has to qualify as health food....right?

A mystery.....same painting, two artists given credit.

This Sunday's "window" painting is this flower-filled window, with a teal green chair. On the Internet the darker version is called "Sunset" and attributed to artist John Marin. The lighter version ."Sitting Pretty", which I like the best, is attributed to artist Dawna Barton.

I think it was painted by Dawna Barton.....the works I've seen of John Marin, look nothing like this! (How did they ever mix this up?...hmmmm, probably running their Internet poster/art business from a country such as China, where English is not the first language and our art history isn't taught in their schools...do ya think?)

John Marin (1870-1953) was well known as a regional painter, whose major work was related to the seascapes of Maine. He worked in both oil and watercolor, using nature as his inspiration.
This one is called "Landscape" (oil on board) and features his signature zig-zag brush strokes. He loved Maine, even had his own little island, called "Marin Island". He wrote..."The solemn restful beautiful firs....the border of the sea."





This is a John Marin watercolor which I love!
It has a wonderful looseness and light-filled feeling. He was an expressionist and one of the first modern American painters, usually his work was based on nature.

So having reached the conclusion that John Marin did not paint the "window" painting which I am featuring today, I never-the-less enjoyed learning more about him and his work!!!!! and reading that Dawna Barton, a grandmother, has done a virtual "painting a day". I think John Marin became famous because of the right connections to the European and New York art scene, and Dawna has done well because her art appeals to people who like the romantic, realistic approach. (That is art to decorate with, tee hee!) Each artist has a distinct style (do you prefer one artist to the other?...tell me in a comment, please!) and has painted profusely to develop their art! ( That is what I need to do....but there are so many quilts to make too! Sigh!)

One more thing...if I wasn't addicted to posting and blogging, I would have more time to paint...but where would my audience be? You all have encouraged me SO MUCH!

Strange images....?



The first is a quilt called
"Indigo-a-Go-go" by Karen Stone, a well-known quilt artist.
The next image is a wood-carved "green-man" image. We have a similar image on a small wooden upholstered love seat which belonged to my grandfather. (I'm at mom's without a camera or scanner so I'm using other images for the posts! )

Now the odd thing is, that when you see these images together, you can see that both the flowers and the greenman have a raggedy, pointy edge. We could almost transpose him onto one of the blocks and he would fit right in!

A few days ago, I visited Harmony .She posted this test on her blog.

It relates to the Myers-Briggs Personality Profile. Harmony is an INFP. I am too!

(even Harmony's name fits with her personality type..."you strive for harmony...")

Libras are also supposed to be those who seek harmony....while knowing that things tend to always be a bit out of balance!

I'm trying to get "blogger" to bring the test up closer....but you may have to scroll down!

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. In love, you tend to have high (and often unrealistic) standards. You are very sensitive. You tend to have intense feelings. At work, you need to do something that expresses your personal values. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist. How you see yourself: Unselfish, empathetic, and spiritual When other people don't get you, they see you as: Unrealistic, naive, and weak

What's" Your Personality Type?

"Indigo Pears" is one year old !
Logo from Indigo asian pear company

Pear and indigo images from the web..... Pears and Quail egg by Jeanie Chadwick.com


pears on indigo design on oilcloth

Pears and hydrangea

Crocheted afghan by Annie of "Little Rock Daily Photo"

Indigo Harmony by Horatio Gomez Revello

Pears on a wooden paddle


And SURPRISE,

indigo comes in pink too!

So today, the autumn equinox, the first day of fall and my blog's birthday are all something for me to celebrate.....

I was watching "Good Morning America", where the winner of a new Haagen-dazs ice cream flavor based on a pear tart was announced.....along with a proclamation proclaiming NEW YORK city as "The Big Pear" for today....so much sychronicity!

(BTW, I am not crazy about pears as food...I like apples better! But pears are great models for us as we paint!)

"Anniversary Flowers" [aren't they gorgeous!? see the butterfly?] by Canadian watercolor artist, Pat Cleme.

I started this blog on September 21st last year!

I had been reading Daisy Lupin's blog, and decided I needed to make a comment...Blogger seemed to want me to start a blog before it would let me comment (probably meant to be! LOL!)

I'll be back tomorrow with my anniversary post.....

I'm spending this week at my mother's house, cleaning it and finding people to install a hand rail on the front steps and rails in the shower among other things!

Here is something about my quilting career that I came across while sorting things here!

My friend Macrina sent me an e-mail yesterday with a wonderful poem. It makes me realize how I have grown wiser with age and experience (I hope!)

I especially love the line, "My book is an open life." I hope I am learning to be more "open" and compassionate and less controlling!

Photo taken in the backyard this morning....by me!

BTW, more looking back a few years, I have just posted a "collage in process" called "The Last Time I Saw Paris" on my, Arty Collages and Dolls blog.

It was a wonderfully cool morning this morning....so I felt that using the oven was a good idea!

First, I made popovers for our breakfast....just found a recipe on-line (there are many) and stirred them up.

While they were baking, I mixed up this Upside Down Berry Cornmeal Cake, from the August 2007, Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I had been wanting to try this recipe and substituted frozen mixed berries for the fresh in the cake itself. The batter recipe also called for finely snipped basil...so I sent Mr. Pear out to harvest some basil from the flower/herb bed. (I wasn't sure this basil was a good idea, but it really was delicious!)

As soon as the popovers were done, into the oven went the cake!

It turned out great and is not too sweet! I shared it with 4 friends (of course, I saved some for Mr. Pear!) over coffee this afternoon...and it tasted even better with their company!

We are having the perfect weather celebrated in this painting by Pierre Bonnard, entitled "Open Window"!

I have always loved his paintings! This one shows a summery scene with green trees and you can almost see the lace curtain fluttering in the softly moving air, as the woman naps with her (black) cat nearby.

[Mr. Pear and I have a black cat, too,"Shadow",.... or rather she "has" us!]

Bonnard's use of color makes us feel the warmth of the room and the coolness of the window and outside air! The dark indigo and black of the "sheer" shade or awning, cuts through the bright summer light....and the black cat picks up that black accent again!

The pinky mauve "cloud" around the trees adds atmosphere and a sense of simmering heat, and that color is repeated in the lampshade and rug of the interior. Bonnard belonged to a group called "Les Nabis" who wanted to paint symbolically to depict spiritual themes.

I have a friend who also loves windows....you can visit her at Macrina's Window! She would love for you to stop by!

At my mom's I found this April 1965 issue of Woman's Day (15 cents!). Mom had saved it because of an article about American Quilts......I was drawn to the watercolors of flowers featured inside. They are by Ian Woodner, an architect, art collector and artist. [ He died in 1990 and his art collection, one of the foremost ever assembled, was given to the National Gallery of Art and to MOMA..the Museum of Modern Art.]



Seeing his paintings inspired me to do this one.

It is watercolor done in a watercolor sketchbook. I think I have gotten the "loose" element down in my floral paintings!

This last scanned image is a watercolor sketch from an old photo, trying to make a "stylized, iconic face" rather than just copy the photograph. I'm starting to explore this "icon" idea, to use in paintings and collages later...[One of my favorite artists, Marc Chagall, used what I call "icon" images or symbols in his paintings...horses, brides(based on his wife), roosters, fiddlers...]

Vase of Iris

This is a watercolor which is framed. It is under glass, so I scanned it, not wanting a reflection to interfere....

I like this looseness and freshness of the iris and glass vase contrasted with the more solid chair. The chair also adds a "stripe" design element while the iris are rather soft and fuzzy!

I painted this about 4 years ago. Now that I am going to be temporarily unemployed (by choice), I hope to do more watercolors! I am taking my watercolors and sketchbook down to Mom's this week...to be ready if the painting muse shows up!

I found this test on Janet's blog.

YOU ARE SUNRISE

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary.You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts.All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

By the way, I am not much of an early riser!
I used to stay up late, (after the kids were asleep, my "real" life began)...now I can't stay awake that late...last night I fell asleep, reading Anthoy De Mello' s "Awarness" (ha!), about 9:00 p m!....but I was up this morning before the sun....Maybe I am changing? Life is lovely at both ends of the day!

Today's window painting is by Santa Fe artist, Evelyne Boren. She calls it the "Land of Lavender".

I spent today with a friend from my high school and college days. We visited the garden which her son had worked this summer....no there were no rows of lavender in bloom, but the sunny yellow and blue of this painting are perfect for my feelings in visiting with her and gathering tomatoes in her son's garden!

It is a rare and wonderful thing to have friends who travel with you through life!

They share experiences and memories.....we knew each other's parents, and though both of our fathers are now gone, we can compare notes on how our mothers are doing and look back at dreams we once had..some fulfilled and some not yet realized!

Now to prepare a wonderful supper of fresh greenbeens, tomatoes and eggplant!

Here are some of my current projects....

The first pitcher with pompom zinnias from my garden is posing for the 5X5 acrylic painting I am doing of them!

This is for a donation to a local art center's fundraising auction in November.

Just back from the framer's, the big watercolor above (sorry about the "flash" reflection) is ready for another art show in November. I think it is fun, thought provoking and very different from my usual work! I call this one "Fallen Angel".

The last photo shows the dolls I received in out ART DOLL SWAP, as well as a couple of others which I collected over the years.....this hangs at the entrance to my art studio! (note: the "little Green" woodland sprtie doll from Lisa Oceandreamer isn't hanging...she sits on her own log!)

My biggest news is that I have given notice at my part -time job. This will free me to do other things which need to be done, as well as giving me more creative time!

Color, a natural history of the palette.

This is one of the books I am reading now....I just love it...(armchair)traveling throughout history and the world learning where pigments and traditions (i.e.why are pencils usually yellow?) originate! Lots of blood, sweat and tears involved and many unappealing but effective sources for dyes...insects from Mexico for a wonderful red...lapis lazuli for royal blue....

I will eventually reach the chapter on "INDIGO".... I'll keep you posted!

I just took at test on Janet's blog and learned that I am a purple crayon!

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors.You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful.People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you.And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?