Baby quilts

Some families begin with a dog. When the first baby comes, sometimes its nice to acknowledge the real "first baby." Here is a plan for a baby quilt based on images of the "dog baby". Of course, translated into fabric the quilt would look quite different.


This is an earlier quilt I made based on a different dog and pattern. This had a lot of applique and embroidery, and frankly I've learned my lesson. In any case, I would expect that the new pattern would also feature a colorful range of pups with a border to determined as the quilt progresses.

Jimmy filtered.

Overdue

After another semester of computer graphics, I have a few more images to show. This one is part of a project...a series of word types that combines a play on words with a photoshop type treatment. I volunteer at the local library, so I could hardly resist making a fake overdue stamp (knowing full well that it makes no sense to stamp a book overdue.)

Halloween

I began this blog hoping that it would spur productivity. Well, I guess that didn't work out as intended. It did add to my list of things I neglect. Happily I have continued taking art classes at the local community college and they continue to inspire me with possibilities.

For Halloween, here is a design I made last year to screen print on a t-shirt.

Alphabet Posters

I have been spending way too much time looking for the alphabet in places around town. I think this is a typical project for a graphics design class: compile a poster of images of the alphabet from everyday things/architecture etc. based on some theme. I chose the small town near me (Crozet) as my theme. My first collection of photos were rather dismal, but the collection got better over time. And the search did take me off the beaten path. When I was taking a picture of the B from the water spigot, a fellow at the construction site thought I was an employee of the developer collecting evidence that the construction crew had not put away the hose. "Ah no...just collecting letters."

I adjusted and edited the images in Photoshop and then used InDesign for the layout. I used the panorama feature of Photoshop for the header. And Crozet locals will recognize that the heading "Crozet A to Z" comes from a manipulation of the sign for our local pizza joint "Crozet Pizza" located across from the library. Sadly, I also found that I spent way too much time fixing peeling paint and removing globs of gum in the photos.


I couldn't decide between these two versions. During critique, it was suggested that the panorama was extraneous. But removing it takes away the most distinguishing feature and lure of Crozet. So I think ultimately I will use the cutout letters but put them in the Z-shaped layout that has the longest span of the panorama.

Jimmy's Rug

Here is the panda rug I made a few months ago. I used lime green chenille for the front and back, and appliqued the pieces for the panda on top. And to give the rug a bit more weight, I put batting in the middle. Everything is held together with machine topstitching that I used to apply the pieces, and with "quilting" that outlines the panda.


Here is Jimmy Cat taking over the panda rug as his own. This has become his regular spot. I guess this makes up for my having made a bunny rug for Tommy to use to lay in front of the kitchen sliding glass door.


And finally, here is some of the mountain laurel that is blooming throughout the woods. I bought a mountain laurel plant for my garden in Northern Virginia. I laughed when I first moved here and saw how much was growing here without any help from me.

Art Show Jimmy

Just as spring session ended, the local community college opened its annual student art show. The show is not juried. Students are allowed to submit two works from any art classes taken during the year. So I couldn't resist entering Monotype Jimmy (from my printmaking class) and Symbolic Jimmy (from my design class). Happily, the two pieces were hung side by side.


The plywood flowers were made by another student in my sculpture class. I have to show it here because I think it's just brilliant. Simple and brilliant...the best combination. The flower shapes are cut from plywood with a jigsaw and then attached to tree limbs. These are then held up with three cinder blocks. I like that everything was left natural, but have wondered about fashioning a colorized version.

Meanwhile, the sun came out and the turtle took off. And as I stepped onto the front porch yesterday I heard a hummingbird take off from the feeder. So at least one remains.

Peachy Keen

Apparently I have no self-motivation. Classes ended the first week of May and I have not made anything since. Now I am in a mild panic over the thought that classes begin again next Tuesday. This session I will be taking another computer graphics class and painting.

I have spent more time outside and have even managed to make a little vegetable plot. Typically I scatter a few plants around, but this year I decided to avoid the tough love approach with its low yield. Right now snow peas are the star of the garden. This is my second planting after some creature of feather or fur dug up the first batch. I will also be planting vines this year--pumpkin, watermelon, cucumbers and zucchini. It has been too cold to start these (with a possible frost tonight), so I will wait until next week.

As I was out this morning cutting logs, I spotted a faint bit of orange peeking out from a peach tree. And by golly, it was a baby peach. Fancy that. I have no expectations, however, given these were newly planted last year and barely stand four feet high. But the baby peach is blogworthy, if only for cuteness.


And while we're up and about in the garden, here is a picture of a turtle who has parked himself out back. I think he is using the leaves as shelter until the cold spell passes. A few years back I stopped on the highway because a turtle was in the middle of the road and I wanted to move him before he was hit by a car. I had a small spade to move him with. However, it was a snapping turtle and when I went to scoop him up he came after me. Attacked by a turtle? Good grief. But he was truly feisty and quite uncooperative. Luckily a fellow with a shovel (with a nice long handle) stopped to help me out.

Meanwhile, I am wondering where the hummingbirds went. I usually have gazillions. Earlier this month I had three hummingbirds that came regularly to the feeders, but now there are none.

Fractured Cats

Our most recent assignment for my computer graphic class uses Adobe Illustrator to trace silhouettes and mix them with shapes. These images are then "fractured" and each shape is filled in. This reminds me of Katie Pasquini Masopust's "Ghost Layers and Color Washes" except without making templates of each shape, sorting fabric by hue and value, sewing and quilting. (About a gazillion times the amount of work.)

Using the same design, I developed four colorways. There is also a choice of whether or not to have outlines for the shape like stained glass. In the version shown here, the outlines were removed. And as always, the printed version is never as brilliant as the screen version.

Meanwhile on the home front, I saw my first hummingbird of the year this morning. I have had a feeder up since April 15, the earliest date anyone has seen a hummingbird in this area. I went out on the porch and heard the familiar buzz as the hummingbird shot past me. I put out a second feeder on the opposite side of the porch. The early birds tend to be more feisty. Later on in the season the mothers and babies will be more willing to sit and share the same feeder. And at that point I will have five feeders that I will be refilling daily.

Learning Illustrator

I went to class on Monday and took pictures of the printer that I turned into a tree planter for a sculpture project. I had wondered if absence would make my heart grow fonder toward it. Nope. Seeing it again confirmed that it was awful. It looks like crafting with a glue gun gone wrong. I realize that not everything works out. And I have plenty of evidence of that. But this is so bad I am not going to show it here. Moving on...

Meanwhile, I am continuing to learn Adobe Illustrator. Our assignment is to take a picture of an animal and recreate it using fonts...basically learning the type tools. You start by placing a picture as a bottom layer and then lay areas and paths of text on top. At a certain point, the font animal takes on a life of its own and the photograph is no longer relevant. In fact, you really have to let go of the original and respond to the new design that is created by the letters. It's like coming up with a really good sentence. You might hold on to it longer than you should and then by a very late draft realize that you just have to let the sentence go because it no longer fits. The version shown here was rasterized--meaning put into a bitmap in Photoshop elements--so I could put it in a format that Blogger would appreciate. And yes, I did think of completing the assignment using the infamous photo of Jimmy. And I'm still thinking about it.

Prelude to Spring

I was hoping that a blog would spur productivity, but instead I have found that I am just as adept at procrastination of a blog post as anything else. Currently, my sculpture class has been keeping me on the move. The class has been an onslaught of different materials, so although my mind has had to bend around different construction dilemmas, I haven't made much that I really like.

A project I finished a couple of weeks ago was the "Waiting for Forsythia" kinetic sculpture. These are hanging to the side of the front entrance to the art building. I spent most of the time trying to develop stands to hold them, and when this failed I had to hope that I could devise a way to hang them. As you can see from the picture, the hanging part was a success. And using fishing lure "barrel swivels," the pieces twirl very nicely with the slightest breeze. Now I only wish I had had more time to work on the forms.


The kinetic sculptures are irrigation piping covered in colorful duct tape. I had thought initially only in terms of circles--specifically the circles within circles. It was the night before the day of installation that I thought to try other configurations. And it was only by accident that a circle collapsed and turned into a wonderful leaf form. So there is much more potential to these materials than I was able to fully exploit. Ah well.

For our last project we were to take an object and negate its function by covering it with "tiling." Originally, the teacher had conceived of the project in terms of ceramic mosaics, but opened up the covering to anything. For my piece, I took a dead printer and covered it with pine cones and bark and planted a tree to grow out of it. So for the last couple of weeks I have been fighting a glue gun as I stuck pine cones and bark to hard plastic. I took it to class on Thursday thoroughly disgusted with it and miserable from the experience. All of the "sculptures" were put on display in the front display area of the art building, so I'll see what I think about it when I see it all again on Monday.

Read the Instructions

This week is spring break so I have no classes to attend. I do, however, have some projects due when I return. First, in the computer graphics class we are taking a photo and changing six things. We will then make a poster with the two photos that becomes a game--find the six changes to the photo.

For this project I scanned my favorite Swiss Alps picture from over ten years ago when I went on a wonderful yuppie Swiss Alps hiking trip. I then made six changes...
Admittedly, some of the changes are quite obvious. I took out my fellow hikers. I added two swiss cows from a different part of the adventure. And most obviously, I added a picture of Tomba the cat from a postcard. Legend has it that this historical Swiss cat followed some mountaineers to the top of some mountain. Less obviously, I added a sky ride and the Matterhorn (which lives in an entirely different part of Switzerland). And the least obvious change was that I took a modest peak from the left side of the picture, flipped it over, and made it a peak on the right side of the picture.

Then I read the directions. I'm supposed to just use the elements within the first photograph and move two things, remove two things and duplicate two things. This makes for a much more boring photo...


The only changes I could keep were removing the hikers and duplicating the peak in the middle left hand side to make the right hand side peak. Then I took out the power line that was in the original photo, but barely noticeable anyway. Then I moved a bunch of flowers from the foreground to the left hand corner, and duplicated them and put them in the middle lower section. Yawn. This left another move...and the fussiest change...I moved the rocky ledge where the hikers were heading and shifted it down the ledge. I then filled that area with the digital equivalent of astroturf.

While these changes meet the assignment's requirements, the photo is neither interesting or funny. So now that I know the rules, I'll go find another photo where I can make the necessary changes and end up with something interesting and/or funny.

Tommy Posterized

I am continuing to learn Photoshop and can see that a whole lifetime could vanish into that software. I had planned to postpone going digital until I became more proficient at drawing and hands-on artistry. But the lure of Spoonflower and designing fabric was too great. Of course, my attention has been diverted. And one diversion was making an image of Tommy after the Shepard Fairey poster of Obama. This version obviously doesn't have the same amount of thought going into it. All I did for this was run a photo of Tommy through a filter that breaks the image into a few relative values. I then used roughly the same palette of colors as the Obama poster.

There is currently a lawsuit about transforming the 2006 Garcia (AP) photo of Obama into the iconic poster. I thought a lot of the poster's power was in the use of color...not quite red, white and blue. But the experiment with Tommy suggests that a lot of it has to do with the original lighting in the photograph. And although I like how the lighting falls in the original photo of Tommy, it doesn't really work in the posterized image. So now I think the power of the poster was in the choice of photo for this technique. Which makes the lawsuit all the more interesting because the power in the choice of photo comes into play only in hindsight.

More Photoshop

For a sculpture assignment, I needed a box for teabags. I started with my favorite...Trader Joe's Pomegranate White Tea for my template. Then after a bit of tweaking with Photoshop, we have a new brand: Global Warming Green Tea. I printed all the panels on a cream cardstock and then constructed the box. I may never have to live in reality again.

Meanwhile, the quilt of valor, described in any earlier post, finally arrived yesterday at its destination of Fort Richardson Alaska. It took a while to receive a location to send the quilt. Apparently, a group of quilters are given the same location to send their quilts. I don't know how the quilts eventually get matched to individuals.

No Class Today

Here is another Photoshop project based on The Z Was Zapped. This is the F was Flocked by Flamingos. I used the same concept for a similar project in my drawing class last year. In the colored pencil drawing I had four flamingos in the audience as well as on the stage, and instead of a wood floor, the stage was black and white checkered linoleum.

Today my computer graphics class was canceled because of the snow. We only got a few inches of snow, but the forecast was for much more than that. The wind was also a hassle so right after the snow plows went by, the wind would cover the streets with snow again. So instead of working on Photoshop, I went out and shoveled the paved driveway before the snow could melt.

Meanwhile, Tommy the Cat is mending nicely. As I am writing this post, he is staring intently at the office wall. Since he is the cat with mouse radar, this undoubtedly means that mice are having a party in the walls. And it's not so much that Tommy is staring intently, but rather that he is listening intently.

Winter Wonderland

I woke up to a winter wonderland. Okay, more of a snow head fake. First, by 10AM I could already hear snow melting. Also, the snow didn't stick on the gravel road or the walkway to the house. Very civilized.


When I first moved to Wash DC in the early 90s, we would get some nice snowfalls each year. The year the government closed was the most memorable because the day the government was supposed to open, we got something like a foot of snow...the largest snowfall I had seen since moving to the east coast. That was the year my next door neighbor taught me how to cross country ski--in the street. So I ran out and bought my own skis...and we never had more that 4 inches after that.

When I first moved out to rural Virginia (in the foothills of the Blue Ridge), we had a couple of deep snowfalls of more than 6 inches. I did break out the skis, but in my rush, forgot some of the basics like gloves and how to release the boots from the skis after a fall. Oops. Since that first winter here, we haven't gotten that much again. Now, we're all about the ice.

Inflatable Giraffe

Here's the inflated giraffe standing with the assistance of a string attached to its head and the railing of the balcony on the third floor of the building. I added a gusset to its belly to give it a better three-dimensional appearance, but made it a rather portly giraffe in the process. The 3 Mil plastic and packing tape is quite forgiving. I screwed up the front leg and had to amputate and reattach it. I then shortened the other front leg to match.

I like that this class is constantly making me confront new materials and figure out how to accomplish my goals with them. In quiltmaking, I learned the traditional techniques and choose the quilt to make in terms of those techniques. That is, the goal is defined by the techniques. So I think the real switch for me will come when the goal comes first, then the techniques are developed to accomplish the goal.

On the other hand, Jimmy sees a pile of fabric and sees a couch. He looks at me and thinks the same thing. In his case, he makes everything into a couch regardless of the materials.

Last but by no means least, Tommy's biopsy results showed that the lump was benign. So the mast cell cancer he had last year has not returned after all. This was great news for me. Tommy, however, reminds me that he still has a gash down his back and needs constant nurturing and attention.

Peace Interrupted

Admittedly, the household is not as peaceful as in Tommy and Jimmy's younger years. However, everyone was getting along and I was starting to relax again. Then Mr. Beige Cat decides to lounge in the sun on our back deck. This enrages Tommy so he starts yowling and this in turn brings Jimmy downstairs. Jimmy blows up like a Macy's parade balloon and so Tommy diverts his attention from Mr. Beige Cat (who has now run away) and starts to go after Jimmy. (Yes, yes, displaced aggression.) So I herd puffed-up Jimmy upstairs and the cats are separated again until the dust settles.


Now all of this would seem quite normal except I live in a wooded area that I sometimes share with the likes of Dimitry and Mr. Bear. My closest human neighbors are a quarter and a half mile away respectively and none of them have cats. So Mr. Beige Cat must be coming from a distance and/or is likely feral. He may be attracted to the smell of fat indoor cats that is sent out into the woods when I wash Tommy and Jimmy's bedding, or my clothes for that matter. And as for Mr. Beige Cat lounging in the sun...this was with the temperature well below freezing. Of course, Tommy and Jimmy probably create such a fuss to prevent me from adding more freeloaders into the household.

Together At Last

Okay, so maybe this is turning into more of a cat blog than an art blog. Supposedly it takes only six heated exchanges on the Internet until someone invokes a comparison to Hitler. I wonder if there is another metric that shows how long it takes for a blog on any given subject to transition to a cat blog. I guess I would skew the metric to the short side.

In any case, Tommy and Jimmy are sharing the full the run of the house. They decided it was time to end the separation, not me. I don't think they missed each other that much. They just hated that feeling of not getting to be in the part of the house they preferred--the one they weren't in currently. So late yesterday they were both on either side of a screen barrier, ignoring each other, but each yeowing to be let over to the other side.

A little while later Tommy, with clipped claws and Frankenstein stitches on his back, asserted that he was still the top cat. And later still they started to play together. Okay, at this point I got too nervous and distracted them to play individually with toys. This way Jimmy could enjoy his wind sprints around the house, and Tommy could invent new ways to play mouse without sharp claws to grab the mouse.

Meanwhile, for my sculpture class I am working on an inflatable giraffe. The assignment is to make an inflatable object out of 3 Mil plastic and packaging tape. Then in class (outside really if the weather is nice) we will inflate them all with fans.

I'm also working out a design of dangling circles made out of PVC irrigation pipe. At first I was thinking of making a structure out of hula hoops. Then I found a tutorial on the web that explains how to make hula hoops out of PVC irrigation pipe. Well, once you go there, you really don't need to limit yourself to hula hoops.

Tommy Trouble

Last Friday Tommy had surgery to remove a rather large lump. A year ago he had a cancerous lump (mast cell) removed from his back, but it was quite tiny in comparison. Last year's lump was hard and felt like a scab under his fur. This new lump was completely different, and I don't know the results of the biopsy yet.


Tommy is still on pain medications, but he is slowly getting into his old groove...on watch for trespassing cats in the yard, testing me to make sure I remember all of his commands, and dispensing head butts.

Meanwhile I'm keeping the cats separated and this is the most trying part. Each cat wants to be in the part of the house that is closed off to them. They don't seem to be missing each other, although they keep track of each other's whereabouts as I switch them from room to room. Right now everything is relatively calm with Jimmy confined to the upstairs with me, while Tommy is downstairs.