Wardrobe work!

Hello everyone.  My bathrobe has needed help for quite a while.  First I thought Replacement...but I'm so fond of it.  Then I asked myself what is its worst feature and could I fix it.  The answer...sleeves! and yes...
So...here are the sleeve ends which I cut off:

And here is the improved version:

To do this I deconstructed an old nightie that also needed help...the rest of it is going to become a summer skirt eventually, maybe soon!  Jude's classes have definitely helped me become braver about this sort of thing; my classmates have all been inspirational, particularly Deb and Grace. Thank you!

Next, sigh.  The little hummingbird from my last post has gone away...she was sitting on her beautiful little nest, but the neighborhood crow ended that happy story.  Not that there is just one crow...there are many, many.  This happened last year also...the squirrels and the crows are very dominant here.

Here is another trivet/prayer mat,  "bee star":

It's one of several prayers for the underdog, for example, that the hummingbird might evolve to not so easily attract the crow.  I just finished reading River of Doubt by Candice Millard, about Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing adventures in the Amazonian type jungle, and how life in the jungle there evolved.  So, it's easy to see how a crow can find a hummingbird nest...I wish mother nature could assist the hummingbird a little more here.  Seems like I should be able to help. 

That's all for now!

Hidden treasure

Hello everyone.  I've been a bit absent lately.  Not sure why. Just because, I guess.  Here, but not here.  Anyway, I've missed you and I want to show you a discovery from my last train trip which took me through Grand Junction, Colorado.  There is a beautiful old station there that has been partially renovated, but the work seems to have stopped...this is a view of it from the upper level of the train:

Walk around back and look through a grimy old window...(this is a reflection of me doing that):

See the little arch above the camera? That is this:

You can't see this from the outside, for some reason.  It's one of the windows in the top photo.  If only someone would buy this building and finish restoring it.  Another nice thing about Grand Junction is there is a little store there that sells interesting items.  They used to have produce, but that stopped.  One of my wishes is that Amtrak let local craft people and farmers sell good things at the stations.

Here is a backyard visitor!

and Voila!... something I've been working on...the bluebird of happiness taking a night flight...

There is an opportunity to sell things coming up, so I've been making a little collection, to see what will happen.

That's all for now!

Closer to home

Hello everyone.  I'm slowly making my way home after visiting my dear family.  I hopped off the train this morning to visit Denver for a day and will hop on the next one tomorrow to continue on.  Denver is a wonderful place for walking.  The sun was out and the temperature was perfect.  A new travel center is being built and I think it will be quite something...a real hub for buses and trains.  So here are a few impressions...the old grand station which is being renovated:

A pattern where the sidewalk crosses the tracks:

Some coal cars waiting to go somewhere:

Crocheted flowers on the fence separating the sidewalk from the construction.  This is just a tiny portion of the display. 

Here is the sleeve of my old jacket that I "boro-ed"  a la Jude:

Some New Jersey azalea blossoms, just beginning to assert themselves.  It was cold and rainy almost the entire visit, but then Easter was a beautiful day, maybe even a little too suddenly warm, but how glad we were for the sunshine.

That's all for now.  Time for bed.

How it was, and Is.

Hello everyone.  The show opening went well!  It is easier to talk about my work in my imagination than it is in reality, but this was an opportunity to practice.  There were many artists in the show and each one brought 2 food items, so there was interesting delicious food and a lovely band.  My friend Marge graciously took these photos, as I was so occupied with talking.  Here are the 4 pictures I contributed:

This one is called "Too Much Phone":

More on the subject of this series can be found at www.steadfastcowpony.com  

Lately I've been sitting outside on my back porch at sunset time, listening to the birds and maybe working...this is the tree behind my studio at this time...someone told me this light is called 'alpenglow'...I love that word, even though I am nowhere near the Alps...

And then this...a minute later:

And lastly, here is Zoe, in her basket...she is visiting for a short while.  She's 15 and very sprightly, although you wouldn't necessarily know it from this picture:

That's all for now...may tax-time tax you lightly...xoxo...

Marching into April

Hello fellow dear inhabitants of Planet Earth...locally, spring is behind schedule because of all the rain.  One (of the many) advantages of blogging is a new form of daily ordering of events.  Last year on March 23, I took this photo of the wisteria:

Here is the wisteria on March 29, this year:

I've been working on more felted squares, which I've decided to call Prayer Mats.  First a green horse, which isn't quite done:

This is a prayer for order:

And this is a prayer for Containment, for all the leaks our planet has been experiencing...in the Gulf of Mexico, in the nuclear power plant in Japan, the wiki-leaks, and also for the levees in California, which hopefully will hold during the spring melt:

View CC License

That's all for now...

Strange timing

The day after little Agnes died, I learned that 4 of my art pieces had been accepted in a local Cartoon and Humorous Art show.  One featured her as a character in a painting.  It was impossible to be very happy at that point, but I was grateful to have the work to do to ready the pictures for the show.  I had the pictures, which I'd painted using Photoshop, printed on silk, and then I mounted them on white needle felted wool, so that the effect would be soft.  Yesterday, I delivered them to the gallery, but took this picture first...you can see her little face, and the carved rock which the veterinary hospital sent to me, as well as the Keep Calm Carry On water bottle my son sent.  Once the show opens I'll post a photo of the pictures...at least I think I will...I am a big worrier about how they will look in public.  Anyway, all this has been therapeutic and a month has gone by, which is astonishing. 

That's all for now...

Newts, hail and full moon

Hello everyone.  Four of my pictures have been accepted in a local show!  So I've been preparing them...this involves printing on silk, fringing the silk and then sewing it onto a felted background.  I decided to wait until the show actually happens (early in April), to make a posting of the actual images.  So until then, here is the sign from the park where the road is closed for newts:

We have been having a great deal of rain.  Friday evening there was a loud, flashy thunderstorm that must have been right over head...it was quite noisy.  Later I looked out to check on the doves and lo and behold the ground was white...not with snow, but HAIL! 

It was still on the ground the next afternoon:

and here, completing my report of mysterious events,  is the very nearly full moon: