PIECES BANNER

I had a Quilt Shop in Renton, on Burnett Street.

I opened it in 1996 and sold it in 2000 and it moved to the Fred Meyer Center.

It closed this week.

I received the banner I had made back in 1996 in the mail today.  It was a pleasant, yet sad, surprise.  This banner was used in our booth when we would take the store to events, such as quilt shows.  It has seen it all and holds the memories of the store.  It represents my dream, the hard work  of a lot of people, many of them my family, and the good times and bad times.

Thank you to all who helped make the dreams come true and thank you to all who patronized the store over the years.


This banner is an odd shape, it's about 3' high and 7' long.  Not useful as a quilt or a wallhanging, and it's not great art.  But, I love it and want to keep it.  I want to turn it into a bone fide quilt, something I can use and maybe when I'm gone, something that someone else can appreciate and want to keep.


I told my sister Sue I was going to take it apart and slash it up and add to it and turn it into a quilt and she was sort of upset!  She thinks I should keep it just as is.  I told my sister Julie my plan, she didn't sound too upset, so I asked her what she thought.  She said, it was my quilt store, my dream, my banner and I should do what I wanted with it.  


I'm going to think about it for a while.


What do you think?

EAVESDROPPING AT LUNCH

While at lunch at Eats Cafe, I was fascinated by this guy's looks and mannerisms.  I had to sketch him.  This is more of a portrait, very little blind-contour.  I loved his cowboy-plaid shirt with the pearl snaps.  But, I couldn't really capture that with this little drawing.  He was talking about selling real estate - condos on Beach Drive.  So I titled this "Realtor".

YEAR OF THE RABBIT

This was the first time I used Darrell's new carving tool - is it cheating?  It wasn't as fun, but it is accurate.  Too much sawdust - I prefer chips.

ZIPPY'S BURGERS OLD PLACE

Had to get a sketch of the old Zippy Burgers before it moves to it's new digs.

The place is camp, crowded and frenetic!  You place your order, then stand around until it's ready because there are only two tables, and they are always filled.  Consider yourself lucky if there's even room to stand!  The staff is on the ball and going full bore.  So...I didn't have time to paint it in - maybe next time we'll be able to get a table.

Best burgers in town, too.

VALENTINE'S DAY FLOWERS

There's been a lot of discussion about Negative Space lately. So that's where I started with this year's Valentine's Day flowers from my husband.

I set aside two of the dozen, because....this is our 10th Anniversary together, and so I wanted to paint just ten roses.

I started with a pre-painted canvas.  I usually just scrub the paint that's left in my palette onto a canvas.  This canvas has been around awhile.  And then just to complicate things, I decided to use a palette knife (which I'm not very proficient with) instead of brushes.

First I painted the background around the composition with white:

Then the black:

I really liked it.


I went for a walk, went out to lunch with my husband, came back and lost my mind.  To heck with that palette knife - that was too difficult.  So I pulled out some small brushes and 'painted'. 


I hate it. 


I should have stopped while I was ahead!

I left it for the day.  Maybe I can fix it tomorrow.

OUR ANNIVERSARY

Darrell and I spent the day out for our 10th Anniversary.  [Congratulations to us!]  We had lunch at the Antique Sandwich Shop in Tacoma, near the Port Defiance Park.  We went later to Wild Wheat in Kent for dessert, but it was sooo good, I didn't sketch it!

But, they were so rich we couldn't finish them and took them home.

TODAY'S SKETCH

At our usual lunch place, I quickly sketched these guys.  The man was one of the fidgety-est  people I've ever tried to draw!

MIGHTY MO

Several years ago I participated in a printmaking project, Prints of the Periodic Table of Elements.  Organized by Jenn Schmitt of Massachusetts.
http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/

All of the prints are now on exhibit in Philadelphia at the Chemical Heritage Foundation: "Elemental Matters:  Artists Imagine Chemistry."

Wish I could go!
Here's a link to some photos she took of the exhibit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/azuregrackle/sets/72157625858725641

I requested and was granted element 42 Molybdenum.

Those of you who know me well will know why I picked this one.  It was irresistible to me for several reasons and I'm so pleased I was able to represent it.

This is a linoleum cut, hand tinted.  I only made a few and sent the best one to Jenn.