Back in the saddle

I am trying hard to get back in the habit of sketching in my sketchbook. I joined The Sketchbook Challenge at the start of the year, and was doing great until my mother died in late January. But it is something I really want to do, so I will begin again! Here is a sketch I did today. One of my goals for next year is to do more pieces of fiber art based on my sketches, rather than my photographs. This one might be really fun to do!

I sketched this in pencil, then drew the black lines with a Micron pen, then watercolored it. October is my favorite month! Here is a poem about it that I love:

October’s Bright Blue Weather

    O Suns and skies and clouds of June,
        And flowers of June together,
    Ye cannot rival for one hour
        October's bright blue weather; 

    When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
        Belated, thriftless vagrant,
    And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
        And lanes with grapes are fragrant; 

    When Gentians roll their fringes tight
        To save them for the morning,
    And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
        Without a sound of warning; 

    When on the ground red apples lie
        In piles like jewels shining,
    And redder still on old stone walls
        Are leaves of woodbine twining; 

    When all the lovely wayside things
        Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
    And in the fields, still green and fair,
        Late aftermaths are growing; 

    When springs run low, and on the brooks,
        In idle golden freighting,
    Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
        Of woods, for winter waiting; 

    When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
        By twos and twos together,
    And count like misers, hour by hour,
        October's bright blue weather. 

    O suns and skies and flowers of June,
        Count all your boasts together,
    Love loveth best of all the year
        October's bright blue weather. 

– Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops

I’m really excited to announce that in December 2012, I’ll be teaching five days at the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, a unique art center in New York’s inspiring Hudson River Valley in the Catskill Mountains. Since 1982, fiber artist Kim LaPolla and her husband Mark (Chef de Cuisine and Chocolatier) have been holding art workshops in the gorgeous 1889 inn, The Greenville Arms. USA Today named their program “one of the ten best learning vacations.”

My workshop will take place Dec. 9-15, 2012. Treat yourself to an early holiday gift and join me! This five-day format will give me the opportunity to work with students on pieces based on their own photos, something there is simply not time for in a one-day class. I’ll cover fusible applique, wholecloth painting, thread sketching and free-motion quilting. Beyond the six hours of class time each day, I am sure we will be spending time in the studio in our pajamas, with lots of laughter and fun.

The lineup of teachers for 2012 is impressive: Pat Pauly, Gloria Loughman, Katie Pasquini Masopust, Sue Nickels, Melinda Bula, Paula Nadelstern, Carol Taylor, Laura Wasilowski, Esterita Austin, Susan Shie, Hollis Chatelain, Jane Sassaman, Kathyanne White, Valerie Goodwin, Charlotte Warr Anderson, Rosalie Dace, Jane Davila, Larkin Van Horn, and Sue Benner. You can see when and what they are teaching here. Information about my workshop is here.