Gardendoc`s Art

Oh my Word!

2009-08-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Summer has just flowen by. It has certainly been an eventful one for us. My son was married in San Diego in July to a wonderful girl named Bethany Anastasio. The whole wedding was just beautiful - her family was wonderful. Much of my family was able to fly out from the east coast and we had a mini-family reunion. And just last week my daughter and her three children (and cat) moved from Georgia to live with us for a while. It has been great to have my grandkids here - they are Devon who just turned 13yo and Aamyia who is 7yo and RJ who is 2yo and they are smart and well behaved and while my household has been turned upside down and certainly my poor cats are not happy about the kids or Jack the cat I am certain we are all up for the adventure. So needless to say I have not had much time to sew. Missed all but the last day of Quilting by the Lake and then only was able to view the quilt show and spend a few dollars at the vendors. I did finish "At the Beach". My husband says it is good enough to show - I am not so sure. But over all I am happy with it.

And I have have started another one I think I am going to call "In the Garden".
The bird house and butterfly were handpainted using Setacolor paints and the back ground fabric with Tsukineko inks. This is very different kind of quilt for me. Rather "cute" but so far I am happy with it.

Is it spring yet?

2009-04-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it is April 21st already. It has been raining and cold the last 2 days, but the sun is out now. I worked 64+ hours last week and attended one day of a two day conference in Saratogo Springs on "Winning Rural Campaigns". My husband and I are political junkies - he ran the campaign for the democratic candidate for our Congressional District last fall. He lost but then we live in a very republican district. Anyway...I missed the speeches by Patterson and Cuomo Friday nite because I did not get out of the ER until after 11pm. But did attend two of the seminars on Saturday which were very informative. After lunch and more speeches we went to a great garden shop in Saratogo Springs called Hidden Gardens Extraordinary Floral Designs that was just filled with concrete statues of angel, frogs, rabbits, and beautiful rusted objects such as wirley gigs and urns. I wish had had the forethought to take a picture. I bought a frog and a rabbit and an ?orb. I did clean up two of my garden beds and sifted a pile of compost. Needless to say, I have not done much sewing, although I did finish an "altered sweatshirt" - I just needed to finish the binding around the bottom and the sleeves. The sweatshirt is an XL - so way to big for me, so I will put it up for sale on Artfire.

And I am still fussing over the Nic quilt - I decided to put a center block in and now cannot decide if I want to add pictures of people from my trip printed on fabric or to add abstract designs/embellishments.

I am leaving for an Internal Medicine conference tomorrow, so I hope to get a chance to go to a few fabric stores and I will worry about this quilt when I get back.

Happy Spring!

Janet

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Buddha

The secrets of blogging.

2009-04-07T18:33:00.001-07:00

I am not going to complain that it snowed all day and the temperature is only 30 degrees. I therefore had no excuse - not to clean house (a little) and then I spent the last 2 hours reconfiguring my blogpage - I wanted 3 columns and after trying to just modify the original template, I found a website that was very easy to use and has a host of information: http://webtalks.blogspot.com/. They even had the same basic template, Dots, and except for not being able to figure out how to copy my "widgets" into the new template, I think it looks fine. And I didn't have that much added yet, so it wasn't that hard to just find my pictures and the other add-ons. I even found the widget to add my favorite Bloggers. Now if I can just fiqure out how to add a categories list....

I started a canvas book - see http://judyperez.blogspot.com/. I will photograph these and add them. The trick will be to add them in-line with the blogposts.

Ha! I did it!

Next I will fiqure out how to enlarge when someone - points and clicks on the image. Regarding the collages - I was pretty satisfied - again felt a little scattered but over all I was pleased with these. Just have to bind them in some reasonable order. These two are my favorites. I even made my own pear and chicakdee stamps. Much fun.

That is all for now. Stay warm!

Janet

PS - Oh my goodness... if you add a image to the middle of the blog, it automatically enlarges if you point and click. I like this so much better than trying to maintain a webpage.

It is better to travel well than to arrive. Buddha

2009-04-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

There are just not enough hours in the day - especially when I am working nights. I work 8 pm to 8am, theoretically - but this morning I did not get home until after 10:30 and then slept until 5, fixed myself supper - Charles was at Kiwanis and then checked email - watched a bit of the news and CSI and now it is after midnight. My mind is sort of mush and it is really too late to get into a project. Although, while I was browsing I stopped at http://judyperez.blogspot.com/ and she has a great tutorial to make a copper and canvas book - it looks like a good project to do a page a day when I am really busy. (Her art is amazing and I don't know where she finds the time - she has little kids. My are all grown and have flown the coop.) Anyway - I did take the time to fine some clip art of frogs and insects and some black and white pics that I printed on fabric and tomorrow I will try to do a page or two. It looks like it is going to rain most of the day so I won't feel too guilty about not cleaning up my flower beds.

I have finished the background of the Nic quilt and have added some elements with handmade rubber stamps and a couple other elements - I think it looks chaotic. Probably because there was no real plan just a broad idea to represent Nicaragua where I went on a medical mission in January. The colors are more subtle in person - but taking the pictures does help to alter my perspective. Hopefully as I add a few more elements and begin to quilt I can bring some cohesiveness. This piece is influenced by Rosalie Dace - I think she is fearless. I don't want to copy her style but would love to be able to express my ideas in a piece that is as abstract as hers are. It is hard for me to just "go with it" and let my in insincts guide me, I very much over think every move. This is the "scientist" side of me. I recently took a couple of online surveys or tests that measure creativity as much as this can be measured and in reality what is being measured is whether or not one is right or left brain dominant and whether one relies on visual or auditory cures in order to process the world. Interestingly I scored on both of these almost right in the middle - that is I am about 53% right brain dominant and about 54% more likely to use visual cues to process the world I experience. Which if these tests are correct - no wonder I am so scattered when it comes to creating. I am very comfortable at work making decisions almost constantly often without all of the facts being available. I know I process most of those medical decisions intuitively back-up by 8+ years of training and 15 years of experience. I believe most physicians problem solve much more logically - they gather the facts - the history, the exam the lab data and develop a very systematic lists of differential diagnoses and then they one by one rule in or out the final diagnosis. I don't think that way - I read a patients chart, I speak to the patient and examined them and usually by the time I leave the bedside, I have a very good idea of what their problem is and what the treatment should be. I am not always correct but most of the time and maybe that is why I am comfortable in the ER, where you often don't have all of the facts before you have to make a decision. And, now that I think about it most of the physicians that I relate best to are also some how creative or artistic, they paint or sing or play an instrument. Anyway...now how did I get here. I was talking about my Nic quilt. If you are interested in these tests the two I thought were most interesting were: Download Brain.exe and http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm .
I will post pics of the Nic quilt and I am going to have to fiqure out how to add "pages" to this blog. Maybe tomorrow.

Fiberart For a Cause

2009-03-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

The Preview for Fiberart for a Cause Reverse Auction starts today.
Fiberart For A Cause raises funds thru two auctions the Reverse Auction which runs from March 24- 26. and then Collage Mania 2009 starts on May 5th - Gold Donor Day and then Regualr Collage Mania runs from May 6 - 7. Check it out at Fiberart For A Cause. All of the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society. The fifth Invitational Reverse Auction features artists: Natalya Aikens, Gerrie Congdon, Marjorie DeQuincy, Rayna Gillman, Carol Larson, Linda Teddlie Minton, Susie Monday, Judy Coates Perez, Leandra Spangler and Roxane Stoner who have all donated their artwork. All artwork will begin at a fixed minimum donation. This minimum donation is reduced by a fixed (and very generous) percentage of the original minimum donation each day until the artwork is chosen by a generous patron. So once again check it out! And there is still time to enter a collage - the deadline is April 1.

Collage Mania & A Rant

2009-03-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Hi to Everyone on this beautiful spring day! It is already mid-afternoon and I feel like I still have a hundred things to do. I submtted two collages to the Collage Mania 2009 thru Fiber Arts for a Cause (just click on the banner on the left and you can check it out). I submitted the Blue-Green Collage and Adirondack Nite and they were both accepted. I have never submitted anything like this before so it is kind of exciting. Spent a few dollars at the local quilt shop - Cottons, Etc., really more than a few but I really needed some more blue, blue-green material for the quilt, "Nicaraqua". I try to post a few pictures of the 'quilt in progress' as well as the other which has no name but has a sea-life theme and I am stuck at the moment on how to procede. I like it but it seems to literal - if you know what I mean.

Now if you are not in to politics you might just want to skip the rest of this post.
Now I want to rant briefly about politics and the media. This financial situation that this country is just that a HUGE mess.Trying to keep the particulars all straight and trying to fiqure out who really knows how to get us out of this mess - is a huge undertaking. But I try. I watch various news shows (not FOX) and I listen on the radio to people I trust - like Thom Hartmann and I read as much as I can. Now I don't believe anyone really has "the answer" to this crisis but it does not help anyone especially the general public if the media continues to slant the news, speak half-truths or complete lies. Commentors often just let their guests ramble on spouting nonsense and way too often do not challenge them when they have obviously lied or twisted the facts. The current news item that has me infuriated is who is to blame for the AIG bonus mess -- and right now the right-wing smear machine is trying to pin this on Geithner and Senator Dodd. Dodd actually tried to add an amendment to the original stimulus bill that would limit the bonuses of the banks and other companies we are bailing out - but it was changed or eliminated in the conference committee. But now Fox and Friends and Rush, et al are stating that it was Chris Dodd who gave them a loophole to GET the bonuses. This is a LIE. It is not a half truth - it is not an interpretation - it is a LIE. You can go to Media Matters, http://mediamatters.org/ to get a better picture of what is happening. Regarding Geithner - he has not has his position long for anyone to judge if he can help guide the country out of this crisis. He has a reputation of being smart and I feel we need to give him and this administration some time to come to grips with this recession/depression. After all it took the Repubs 8 years (or even 20 years if you want to go back to Reagan) to tear down our financial system. I just know that all the Republicans have is to continue to smear and lie and deny their culpabilty in this mess because they have nothing...nothing....no plan to get out out of this mess, no reasonable alternatives to the current healthcare crisis or the environment or anything of the problems that are currently facing this country.

Janet

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Spring and Art Fire

2009-03-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Monday. it is beautiful outside - about 55 degrees and I should probably be out there cleaning out flower beds etc. Which I will get to in a couple of days. Although, I think it is too early to uncover the beds that I mulched. It is only the middle of March and I am sure we have at least few frosts and probably a snow storm in out future before May. I do have a few crocus and daffodils starting to show. I really wish I had the room and time and energy to set-up a grow room in the basement like I had a few years ago. It was the size of a closet with glass doors. I lined the walls with a mylar material - built selves and added lights and a fan and heater. It was great and I had more starter plants than I knew what to do with. Maybe next year.
I have made another small collage, I will scan and post later. And I have placed some of my jewelry on Art Fire. This apparently is a new site for selling handmade goods. I think I can add a link to my "storefront". They have 2 accounts - one is free and the other is $7/month. I have a website thru Homestead which is about $20/month, but get so little traffic it is not worth the costs. So hopefuly I can sell a few pieces thru Art Fire. And I have signed on with AdSense thru Google which supposedly can make some money. Not that I really need to make money from the jewelry - but I would like to sell a few things to make room for the new things I am currently working on.
Have a beautiful day!
Janet

The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings.The Buddha

2009-03-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a first for me. I have never "blogged", I have never been able to keep a journal, my life is way to ordinary and have never imagined anyone would really be interested in my "musings". I've started this blog, as a way to display my current obsession which is making art quilts, and altered clothes and collages, really anything that involves fabric. I have always been a crafter. I cross-stitched baby blankets for my babies who are now 33 and 27 years old. I've macrame'd (?) and painted whiteware... ceramic peices that you just painted with acrylics and sealed with a clear acrylic spray (this was thirty years ago). I was for a few years a beader and jewelry maker and while I sold a few peices to friends, trying to sell on the internet is a hassle and not really very fruitful. I have had peices on Esty and have never sold a peice thru them. Oh well...will post pictures of these peices somewhere here and we'll see what happens. About a year or so ago, I started making dolls - which I really enjoy and this has led to a huge stash of fabric and now I am hooked. I do not have the patience for the classic quilt - I am way too OCDC to deal with matching corners and points, etc although I have made small crib quilts for my grandbabies. I have no background in art, do not really draw well, but think I have a good eye for design. My biggest challenged is to stay focused. I am virtually schizophrenic when it comes to the things I am interested in: art, art quilts, collage, pottery (wish my husband would finished the basement so I could set up my kiln), glass fusing, (haven't tried stain glass), beading, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And then once spring finally gets here my second passion is gardening. I live in Upstate New York, so our seasons are rather short - I grew up in the south, so it took a while to adjust to having only a 4-5 month growing season. So from May to September, I live outdoors and most of the crafting gets put aside until the fall comes. But that is what is so great about out seasons - because I can devote days to a project or 2 or 3.
My other interests include politics, (local and national), traveling and medicine. I am an ER physician - I work 3 twelve hour shifts a week (days and nites). Just spent eight days in Nicaragua on a medical mission and last but certainly not least, there is my family. My husband who has given up on his career in Medical Finance and now is self-employeed and works part-time doing taxes and running political campaigns and he cooks and does the grocery shopping, etc.. I have 2 grown children, my daughter, Christina, who has 3 beautiful children and they live outside Savannah, Georgia. My son, Micheal, lives in San Diego, he is a marine pilot and is getting married in July to a beautiful, smart young lady, Bethany. Will try to fiqure out how to post some pictures soon.
Oh, and I am trying to learn Spanish...
So, that is for now. We will see if I can keep up with this.

Janet

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace." Buddha