Grapes, Grapes, Gourds and the Pelican Top is Done!

Well, I have been on blogcation but work hasn't ceased! Yesterday and today, I washed, destemmed and made grape juice from 10 gallons of grapes given to me by my lovely friend Marcia!! Warren is looking over my shoulder and actually helping me get ready to make jelly from the second batch! I found all my old canning supplies, dusty but intact, in the basement so I am managed to finish!

But above-mentioned friend has an even better harvest of ornamental gourds! I saw several when I was there the other day and they were just beautiful. You MUST look at her blog and see what they harvested today (http://www.decampstudio.blogspot.com/) It is beyond incredible!! And she is going to let me have some!! I can't wait to get my handy dandy camera over to her house so that I can take pictures of so many of the beautiful ones -- they are really nature's works of art!! I am so excited!

In the meantime, I actually got down to business and finished the pelican top last night and am anxious to get started on the quilting!! I have already started the next top and have several other drawings ready to go when I get that one done.

When I took the Ruth McDowell class, several of the students were using copyright free photos that they found on the net and some of them were really nice, but.... I can't seem to get around to using other people's photos (except for Lisa's of course) as they just don't feel like they are my images. I guess that is why I got into dyeing and painting fabrics as well as making my own patterns. It just didn't seem all mine unless it was all mine! Does anyone else have that problem?

I also went back and looked at one of the many design books I have for some more of that analytical thought process. It is my secret vice! I like some hints as to why things aren't working or are working in artwork so going back to the basic understandings of all the design terms does seem to help me a bit. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts in this process and the only way to really get it is to do it. But training my eyes to see beyond the obvious does seem to help! Looking at a painting that you like (and if in a museum like the Metropolitan obviously someone else thought it was worthy as well), breaking it down into what colors, where they are, what mood is the piece, where is the focal point, what are the unifying elements and what makes it interesting for me is a useful exercise if only to see which the "rules" are broken.