Time

Where does time go ? It seems like I just returned from Florida.

I have been busy preparing for my show that opens May 16th at the Governor French Academy
Gallery in downtown Belleville. I will have 3 new works to hang there.

Last I went to Paducah for the quilt show with my friend Nancy who was doing a book signing. She is included in the book ...Sawtooth New Quilts from an old Favorite...she was a finalist. Her quilt is on page 42. It was fun to be her driver and roadie. My other friend Pam was taking her appraisal test and we had fun sharing some meals and stress with her!

I returned from Paducah and helped my daughter get ready for the prom I went to Rend Lake for an artists reception and met 2 very wonderful artists. Sue Spurlock and Karen Linduska we talked a t length about pricing work and what makes art... art.
I enjoyed meeting them and it is good to know they live just an hour away.

This Sunday I'll drive back to Harrisburg for an artists reception and then I'll take my current show down.

I had a root canal and went to a Cardinal game... they won!

That's my busy life... I did dance every day! for at least 15 minutes. I think it helps.

So if you get a chance dance.

Be well!

Jacque

more pictures

Teacher of the Year nominee Pamela Allen discusses art with Debbie Jones ... Pamela has a wonderful sense of humor.
Linda and Mary....... isn't this a wonderful picture I had to repost it as blogger ate my notebook.

Focus on fiber 2008 more pictures

We are nearly 2 weeks home from ACA and I am still missing my SOC's.

Deb Jones shows her exuberance ! Her work is really intricate and beautiful. I really enjoyed watching her process. She sold me the most lovely set of scissors. I love using them they feel great in my hand.

I am contemplating using them to hack up the piece I started at the retreat. One of those days ...time to set it aside for a bit.

I won't today... but I might tomorrow!



I love this picture of Heidi she was in a rush to get to work... maybe. I'll never tell! Heidi and I had some great conversations about life, art, and marriage.

Her work is bright and colorful and really resonates with me. After sharing some long life stories it became clear where some of our influences came from.

Today was a beautiful day in the woods. I spent it outside painting some scarves and caught up with a friend I hadn't spoken to in a couple years we had one of our good long conversations and I loved hearing her big wonderful laugh... Thanks Lynster!

This morning I danced to my new Gabrielle Roth music Zone Unknown it is a a wonderful bit of music joyful fun! I am tempted to dance outside the weather is so lovely. Now wouldn't that be something !

Be well and if you get a chance... dance ! You'll be glad you did!

Jacque

Focus on Fiber 2008

I am home from my trip to Florida the grounds are home to lots of these little guys. This one posed for me. Another one tried to spend the night in my room and I have to say it was a lot of fun catching him after a couple glasses of wine.

The grounds were beautiful and I did not get enough ( any ) pictures of them if you want to see what the center looks like you can go to the website.
http://www.atlanticcenterforthearts.org/

I am waiting for next years date so I can reserve my place.

There are so many benefits to creating in an environment designed for artists the studios were well lit and roomy. I spent some time in an outdoor studio dyeing some fabric with tissue paper I'll take some pictures and post them soon. I also worked on a very time consuming fused piece.... UGH! I won't do that again! Next year I will plan something totally different.

Our meals were cooked for us by a lovely lady named Sue attempts were made to get a picture but she is a little camera shy. The food was excellent and I managed to lose a few pounds in spite of the food, dessert, and wine. Perhaps the daily yoga and dancing helped.

Mary announced to the group our first night that I would be teaching dance every day !! This was news to me... shy me... self conscious about dancing in front of my dog me...ME! We danced outside in the amphitheater ... outside where anyone could watch. The first few minutes of the first day were pretty stressful for me and I could only guess what those who were dancing for their first time in the middle of the afternoon ... sober.. were experiencing. We all survived and really enjoyed it... every day people became more relaxed and free in their movements it was really fun ! I am no longer afraid to dance in front of others a bonus for me... thank you Mary!
I am not posting any dancing pictures I have some and I know there are others out there but ladies please... let's not go there! What happens at ACA stays at ACA!
I did take some pictures and will send more in the next few days.

Here is Linda's pretty face and on the other end her broken toe ...this injury did not occur at the retreat she was stepped on by a horse... OUCH!
Linda danced and did yoga with this toe. That is
very brave.
















These three created some beautiful cloth it was very interesting to watch them at work.

Dancing with them was so much fun!

Kathie has some experience belly dancing and really dances beautifully.



Kathie, Mary Kay, and Patricia


Rosemary was the first person Debbie and I saw when we arrived after a long day of travel she was beaming and didn't stop the whole week.


It was great to meet Rosemary she is a lovely lady! Such a generous and tender heart!

She does wonderful work and I loved seeing her process.

She is also a great dancer!



Rosemary Claus- Gray



Linda is such a spirited lady! I love her! We feel like old friends meeting after a long separation and I am so glad to know her!
P. S. I keep your XO where I can see them.

Life back home has been full of surprises we had more flooding this derailed my trip to Chicago for IQF. I bailed water and reorganized my studio this was long overdue and it is nice to work in. I cleaned out the dust!

Our furnace decided to retire permanently so we are in the market for another one. It has been cold but today it was warmer outside than in so perhaps spring is really on the way.

Now if we could get our mower working I could do my favorite thing... mow!

I am busy preparing for my show at the Governor French Academy Art Center Gallery. I am putting the finishing touches some new pieces to hang there.

So as you see lots to keep me busy!

I'll keep posting pictures of the retreat as I get a chance. You'll have to excuse my lack of skill in posting them I'll figure it out with practice.

Be well and if you get the chance... dance!

Walker Sister Cabin

Some of you have requested Walker sister cabin pictures.

Isn't that a great front porch?

This is the view as you approach the cabin.

This is the end of a log at the corner of the cabin. Isn't it a marvelous pattern. You don't even want to know how many pictures of log ends I took. I have big plans for them ! They are in keeping with my current work... see the circular pattern moving toward the center? It brings to mind my recent quilt titled Black Hole which was made before this trip and reminds me that the brain never forgets a lovely pattern!

It is interesting to me that several years after Lynn and I first had a picnic at this cabin Brad and I bought a square cut log cabin with big porches. I must of liked it. Perhaps I am kin to the Walker sisters. It didn't occur to me until I went back this trip that it bears some similarities to my current home.

I love the peaceful energy of this place and the history of the Walker sisters who endured some hardships and appeared to have thrived as best you could during the time they were alive. They grew and sold herbs to locals and tourists. The stories about them fascinate me and I'll have to read them again.

I wonder if they danced in the moonlight ! I hope they did it was a lovely place for it.

Be well... enjoy the weekend... and dance if you get the chance !

Stormy Day

Happy Rainy Day! The thunder and lightning is lovely. Charlie and I are sitting in a coffee shop in Downtown Belleville watching the weather roll in.

We have been waiting for a good rain so we can find the source of our basement leaks... yes I said leaks ... as in more than one.

I have been busy between the flooding and a visit from my daughter Charlie I have had limited studio time the past 2 weeks.

In my mind I am packing for my trip...I leave for Florida for a week to enjoy the Focus on Fiber Retreat. I am looking forward to some time with other artists. I even have one who will be joining me for some dance... Hello Rosemary! This will be fun and a challenge to my dancing shyness. It will be good for me.

I have been dancing sporadically the past week. I hurt my back during the wet basement days but have been to the chiropractor twice and my back feels great. Somehow I twisted my knee overnight so I took today off as well. I really miss it on the days I don't dance. My knee will be okay with a day off and tomorrow I'll have a great dance morning.


Be well do a little dance.

Thirsty Ducks

Evidently the ducks in Tennessee drink Coca Cola.

We found these guys hanging out at the mall.

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

This picture was a happy accident. I stumbled on the sheet of metal and seeing my shadow was such a wonderful surprise. Then I read the writing on the metal and it was perfection!


This research is being done at the Walker sister cabin where we had our picnic lunch.

Rain Dance

Good morning! The trip to Tennessee was wonderful! Spending alone time with my friend Lynn is always such a treat!

It rained our first day there so we stayed in most of the day reading Jodi Picoult's new book ...Change of Heart....it is a compelling read and the subject is the complexities of the death penalty and the character's struggles with faith and forgiveness. Reading the same book at the same time is fun..... monitoring each others sighs and gasps and wondering what the heck is happening. I always seemed to be a few pages behind Lynn so it was usually me saying ....WHAT??? or ....Stop that!!! It had been a long time since either of us had spent most of a day reading...what a treat!

I took a lot of great pictures which you will be seeing over the next few weeks. I will try to get some posted when I get a chance but things are bit hectic here at the present.

The rain stopped our second day so we hiked to the Walker sister's cabin... our favorite place to picnic we ate lunch and enjoyed a great bottle of wine. The sun came out midway through our meal .... this was lovely! Tennessee is just starting to green up and there were some blooming trees. In 2 weeks it will be spectacular.

The trip was full of laughter and it is one of my favorite things about my friendship with Lynn our ability to laugh together.... that wild uncontrollable laughter that hurts your stomach. I love that!

It was wonderful and I came home feeling rested and enjoyed a great dance yesterday morning a quiet mind and lots of energy! Good thing it helped prepare me for things to come!

Since I've been home the rain keeps coming down... here is the IRONY.... it is also coming in.... it is still not FILLING OUR WELL but has started filling our BASEMENT. So far we are keeping the worst of the water contained to my daughters room. We are running a shop vac around the clock and dumping water every 20 minutes...this is great fun! I slept for 4 hours and took over while Brad sleeps so he can go to work today.

Savannah will be getting new paint and carpeting she is pretty happy about that... I think that makes up for the wreck her room will be for a while.

I am supposed to get my tooth prepared for a crown this morning and will most likely cancel to mind the incoming water. It's not leaving my 15 and 16 year old home alone to manage the water for a couple hours that worries me it is the rest of the day doing water patrol with an aching jaw that I would rather not do.

I never in a million years thought I'd hear myself say.... "I'd rather be getting my tooth ground down to a nub". I am hoping my dentist will laugh when I cancel since yesterday I showed up for my appointment a day early.... so instead of a tooth prep I enjoyed lunch with my husband and danced a bit with the waitress Nelda who I caught dancing when I walked in the restaurant... I was the first customer of the day and caught her in an unguarded moment. I loved this... what a nice surprise.

Plans interrupted...... that's okay there are worse things than this and many in my area are having far worse flooding challenges.

My plans for studio reorganizing and cleaning will have to wait. We had planned to have our annual Spring Solstice bonfire this weekend but the rain is supposed to keep coming so we'll have to see how the week unfolds. We might have a few friends in and I'll make jambalaya instead. We can't let the solstice arrive without celebration! Of course it will have to be friends who don't mind a crazy messy house and the smell of DAMP!

My daughter Charlie comes in on the train Sunday night for a weeks visit so it will be couch sleeping for her and Savannah!

So this is a perfect opportunity to grow some patience and perspective. My friend Kemahu once said.... " Patience is a virtue that does not grow in everyones garden".
This must be how it gets fertilized!

Todays dance will be with the shop vac.

Be well ....remember a sense of humor is a real treasure.

Life is good no matter how it unfolds!

Work and Play

Today has been a busy day I did an hour of dance this morning... very noisy inside my head today!

I had a big list of things to get done and managed to finish most of them.







I worked on the piece from the Painting From your Soul class. I used the embellisher to attach the pieces to the background.

I am really pleased with this new machine.

I plan to make some changes before I begin to quilt it. The colors are much brighter than they appear in this photograph.

The hand- dyed fabrics really give a lot of richness to the waves... I think the embellisher adds some interesting texture to them as well.

We had a lovely spring day yesterday so I went out to take some pictures.


I am stalking an owl ... trying to get a picture. The owl is taunting me by hanging out in his usual spot pretty regularly. It always manages to take flight before I can get a picture taken.

Instead I took this lovely sunset picture.





Tomorrow my friend Lynn and I head to Pigeon Forge for a long overdue girls weekend. It has been a couple years since our last solo trip to the cabin. We'll take along books, journals , food ,and wine. There is a lovely porch at the cabin overlooking the mountains where we will have coffee in the morning and wine in the evening.


We will hike on Saturday then we'll stop by A Mountain QuiltFest to look at the quilt show and see how my quilt "Taking Flight " looks hanging in the show. Sunday afternoon I'll pick it up to bring home.


I'll take some dancing music along to do a little dancing in the mornings. Maybe Lynn will join me if she gets tempted by the drumbeat.

It is spring in Tennessee so it will be green and blooming in places. I'll be sure to take some pictures.


Be well and enjoy the weekend !