Bye For Now

My hollyhocks are lovely today. I thought I'd share.


I am leaving for Greece this morning.

I'll return on the 25th be prepared for many pictures!

Be well... and don't forget to dance!

Jacque

Fathers Day

It is a hot and sunny morning in Southern Illinois... I am busy making last preparations for my first trip out of the country. Packing light is the challenge of the day. I leave tomorrow and will fly into Greece where I will meet my daughter and 12 high school students from Montana and 4 parents who will participate in the chaperoning of the group. We will be in Greece 3 days and then take a boat to Serronto Italy from there to Rome for 5 days. I am taking my camera and sketch book and leaving all hand work at home. I will also take my i pod loaded with dancing music .... just in case!

My son and I ventured out for his first driving experience last night it was fun to observe his confidence grow as we drove round and round a parking lot. I think he will be a great driver with some practice .... that is easy to say from the safety of an empty parking lot. By the time I get home from my trip he will be driving the roads this is where the real fun begins.

My husband gave my daughter a wonderful birthday present he took her to a 3 day music festival. They took my van, an air mattress, and a huge amount of snacks. I look forward to hearing their stories this afternoon when they return. I did get to hear some BB King over the phone last night. This trip has earned him father of the year in my daughters eyes. I am quite proud of him as well as this trip was not without it's challenges. Today we celebrate Father's Day with Lasagna and chocolate cake!

Be well and have a great week!

If you get a chance to dance... shake a hip!

Jacque

The Jungle Season

The woods around our house are getting thick and will be creeping closer to our house as the days get longer. Yesterday I pushed back the edges of the woods with the mower the first time this year to do so. My son took over my mowing job this year and is still working out the details so doing the edges is not in his skill set... yet. I love to mow so it was with a heavy heart that I relinquished the tractor to him watching the learning curve is a challenge for me I have to be patient and accept some ragged grass here missed patches here and there. He is getting a lot better and I hope the experience will help him when he gets behind the wheel of a car for the first time in a couple of weeks. Yes... driver's training begins!

The woods are loud with all the bird activity there so many new baby birds I can hear their mothers calling out to them teaching them to fly and the sounds of hungry birds still in the nest. It is interesting how I am beginning to recognize the difference in the bird calls.

Yesterday when I mowed I had to stop and let a mother bird get her baby out of the way not once but twice ...same birds even after I avoided the area for a long while to give them a chance to practice. I do love watching these lessons. Baby birds are so vulnerable and very cute. I wonder if mother birds get frustrated.

This spring I have also observed the fierceness of birds as they chase away the hawks from their babies and have to marvel at their courage and determination. I tell my kids this is a great indicator of how mothers can love their children.... fiercely! In my perfect world all mothers would be this way.

We have AC just in time as someone turned up the heat outside ! The repairmen left Friday about 5pm and they worked hard all day. I ended up with some unexpected holes in my closet and bedroom ceiling they will come patch and paint them next week.

I am looking for some good fiction to take on my trip to Italy .... any suggestions out there?
I would love to hear some.

Last week I bought a big book titled Amber Forever a book I have seen many times but avoided because I didn't like the name and it looked like a romance novel but a clerk handed it to me and said this is a great and very long historical fiction perfect for a long flight... a bestseller in 16 countries as well .... so I bought it and will save it for the trip. I'll let you know !

My daughter left on her band trip early Saturday morning she arrives in Boston today it will be fun to hear her adventures along the way! So far it has been a lot of bus travel.

My oldest daughter called at 1 am last night to tell me that she just met Bill Clinton's at the Mo Club ( Missoula Club) a pub I used to hang out at almost 30 years ago... GREAT burgers! She was surprised to see him there campaigning for Hilary my brave girl put her hand on his back to talk to him... the secret service men told her not to touch him. He turned around they spoke a few minutes and he thanked her for her work as a teacher and reached out and shook her hand. She called to tell me thinking it would be a fun message to wake up to. My phone is rarely at my bedside table so she was surprised when I answered. What an odd phone call! I was groggy and said something like... " Okay .... well thanks for letting me know"... Funny! I look forward to hearing the rest of the story today. I do think it is interesting that Bill Clinton was at the Mo club at midnight.

Yesterday I finished my piece for Tomme Fent's grab bag challenge.... well mostly finished ....I'll sew on the sleeve and label today during the baseball game. .. Go Cards! All the participants put together a bag of fabrics and other embellishments they wanted to see someone use in an art quilt. We sent the bags to Tomme who redistributed them to us. We had to design and then create a 20 x 20 art quilt for someone without knowing who they were. I look forward to seeing what someone did with the fabrics and embellishments I selected for my bag. This was fun and challenging! I really enjoyed not knowing who I was making a quilt for. After the quilts get distributed I will post a picture of the piece I made so you can see it but I can't do it before the new owner receives it.

Happy Sunday !

Be well and dance if you get a chance!

Trials of Living in a Damp House

I couldn't write a new post without a picture. Here is a picture of what dry looks like this is eastern Montana in late summer. My daughter took this picture and I made a piece for her for a fund raiser from it. So I would like to have something between Eastern Montana dry and Southern Illinois humid especially in my house.


The new Air Conditioner is getting installed today and the timing couldn't be better it has been really humid the past few days and my bed is very damp from the humidity.

Two nice men are hard at it already sawing and banging hammers. My big dog Gracie is quite put out because she hears them but doesn't know who they are or what they are doing. She is watching the floor with great concentration and tipping her head from side to side in listening posture. Funny dog!

I know this... damp sheets like to twist and it feels like I am sleeping in lotion which might be good for the skin but frankly I haven't noticed a big improvement.

The house smells like the poop side of a barn. I have a sensitive nose so humidity is pretty stinky especially with 2 dogs and 2 teenagers in the house.

My work doesn't glide on the surface of my sewing table in fact it sticks... A LOT!

Dancing is a lot harder when it's humid... very hard to breathe. Then my legs like to stick together and it is hard to sweat. UGH!

On the positive side cold beer tastes very good!

More storms are headed our way and the heat has arrived so it will be good to be able to turn on the AC. If all goes well tonight the house will be a lot drier.

Enjoy the day!

If you get the chance dance!

Sunday in May

Good morning we are having a lovely spring morning in the woods. This is the view from my front porch. The birds are very busy this morning .... so loud!

We have a lot of baby squirrels and one bold mom brings them up on our back porch to eat out of the bird feeder. They are pretty cute so I let them eat their fill. Last week the mom bird of 4 babies was competing with this squirrel for bird seed. She was flying from feeder to nest all week but launched her babies into the world on Thursday. I missed their leaving the nest and felt a bit sad when I realized they were gone and I had missed their first flight.

I have been busy trying to catch up in all the areas of my life that were put on hold while I prepared for "Forces of Nature ". I am not making much progress either. I did go outside and cut back the jungle a bit that was fun. I hadn't done any outside work all spring so it felt good to be out in the sun.

The holiday has been fun and I have done more relaxing than work. We watched a late Cardinal game last night with friends whose company we really enjoy we sat outside at a street table in our little downtown and watched the people go by. We did get to help guide a beautiful young girl into her parking spot. She claimed she lived in the country and NEVER had to parallel park. We came home at 1am.... very late for me.

Today I am getting together with friends to dye fabric or sew we have not decided yet so I'll just load up the van with different things to play with and we will decide when we all get there. We will listen to the Cardinal game no matter what we end up doing.

The new new heater/ AC arrives this coming Friday. We have not needed heat or cooling this past month. It is pretty amazing to see how low our power bill is with no furnace running.

We signed a contract for our basement leak repairs but they will not be able to the work until August 1 so it looks like this house will continue to be tore up well into fall. I am trying to be patient.

I danced 5 days this week and it felt really good and helped me move through my after the show blahs. I am really enjoying Gabrielle Roth and The Mirrors Zone Unknown it is just plain fun to dance to.

Happy Memorial Day ... be safe and dance if you get a chance!

Forces of Nature

Here are some pictures from my show with Sharon Spillar a wonderful abstract painter and very nice lady. Paul Seibert the gallery director is really a remarkable person his warm and generous personality really make the gallery a superb place to exhibit. He was brilliant in his idea to exhibit our work together the pieces really flowed together.

Many dear friends came by to say hello and I made some new ones as well. I am happy to report I have a much wider audience after this weekend. It will be fun to see the results after the show has hung a month.

The gallery is really beautiful and well lit. Paul worked overtime to adjust the lights and the view from the street at night is really great.

All in all a splendid weekend.

Be well!

Dance if you get the chance.

Jacque

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!