Bubble Prayers - Release

Bubble Prayers - Release by Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2013 - 16h x 20w

Artist Statement

Some deaths are immediate, some peaceful, others, as in the case of my friend, drawn out agonizing affairs. Especially for that last one, death brings a welcome release from this world's woes. Those looking on in emotional agony also find release. Our helplessness is at an end (though not our sorrow) and the bubble prayers we've been sending up have their answer.

Slivers of iridescent fabric catch the light bringing life to an otherwise lifeless design

Another difficult quilt to photograph, I discovered (lost a lot of the purple in the hand-dye and the sparkle off the bubbles) plus I was under a time crunch. This plus Bubble Prayers - Letting Go and Life's End were delivered today for hanging in this year's ArtWalk. I hadn't planned on participating since I will be exhibiting in July at another venue here in town, but that other exhibit will get little traffic, ArtWalk much more, and these pieces are important to me. So with one month's notice, I decided to push myself to get these quilts done for this better venue. I might have done some things differently on this had there been more time. On the other hand, I might have given up on it, certainly would have delayed trying what I did.

Bubbles over and under the hand

I haven't shared with you yet what the deal is with the second pair of hands. I know some are seeing it as a shadow, but it is not. I've always envisioned this quilt with the one pair of hands, similar to the first bubble quilt but with hands turned a different way expressing a slightly different message. It wasn't until I returned from my friend's Celebration of Life service that the imagery changed. I was meditating, thinking about how connected my friend & I had always been and how I wanted to maintain that connection somehow. I remembered seeing an eagle swoop across my path as I headed home after her service and thought it could be her spirit now protecting the Gorge she loved. I was thinking about this quilt and my friend's release from this world, visualizing the bubbles floating upward, the outstretched hands, the second pair of darker hands behind them...

Wait - a second pair of hands? Where did they come from? Well, they were obviously my friend's hands, mirroring the release of the earthbound hands, almost cradling them. I had my connection to my friend - where I had literally and figurative held her hand through her medical trials and tribulations, she now held mine as I grieved and struggled with these quilts. And now I had an addition to my original idea. Things started moving on this quilt after that.

I've shed so many tears while working on these three quilts. Life's End in particular nearly undid me to the point I couldn't look at it after it was done. They are helping me work through the grieving process for sure and I am so happy to have some place to show the three of them together. Opening reception for ArtWalk is Friday June 21 and the exhibit at Panhandle State Bank in Sandpoint, ID will run through September 9. I hope you'll drop by to see it if you're in the area.  

Click on any picture for a larger view. Once again, I've quilted in such a way that it is difficult to see, so here's the back of the quilt before squaring it up and adding a facing. I think I am done with bubbles for awhile.

Bubble Prayers - Letting Go

Bubble Prayers - Letting Go by Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2013

Artist Statement

I recently helped a friend through a grueling three months of medical testing and treatment far from our homes while her friends sent up "bubble prayers" with the help of a cheeky fish bubble maker. In times of hardship and despair, we send up petitions to whatever higher being we believe in once we realize we cannot control our fate. Sometimes we see signs our prayers have been answered. Other times it appears they have not. Yet we must keep letting the prayers rise, letting go of our need to control, trusting that whatever the outcome, our petitions have been answered.

 

I'm finding it hard to believe that this is my first art piece of the year. I have to remember that I battled a lot of recurring illness over the winter as well as getting used to the new residence and studio. The last month has had the feel of a slow convalescence, both physically and with my art - slow steps back to stamina and confidence. It may have taken longer to resolve this original design than one would normally expect, but I have to admit to being pleased with the results and  glad that I did not rush the work, force it along. A good beginning.

When last I gave an update on its progress, I had many questions about how I would attach those arms. I made a pattern out of freezer paper, ironed it to the right side of the fabric and marked around it with a white pencil. I knew I would not be doing needleturn applique so no need to add a seam allowance, just carefully cut on the white line.

I toyed with the idea of layering it over either a piece of felt or thin batting and quilting it off the quilt top, then attaching it to the quilt top with a zigzag stitch around the edges. I was worried that the quilting texture of the top would somehow show through in a bad way. I had a small quilting test piece though, so laid a piece of the hand-dyed cotton over it and tried out my quilting pattern. Absolutely no need to add a layer of anything under the arms so I pinned them into place.

I quilted crescents up the arms and fingers using the same invisible thread I'd used in the borders. This worked very well and there was very little fraying along the raw edge. So nice not to use fusible web.

I'm not a big fan of edge finishing with facing but this piece dictated that I do just that. I squared up the quilt and cut a piece of the same fabric used for the backing a fraction smaller than the quilt itself. If this had been a larger quilt or if I'd been short on fabric, I would have cut strips for the facing. Instead, I marked a line all the way around 2 inches from the edge as a guide and pinned it right sides together with the top. Then it was just a careful trip around the outside edge, sewing facing and quilt together with a quarter inch seam. I stopped one or two stitches short of each corner and stitched diagonally across rather than pivoting at the exact corner. This makes poking those corners out a bit easier.

Usually facings are handsewn to the back of the quilt, but I didn't want to do that hand sewing. So this is a little experiment to see if I could get away with fusing the raw edge instead. Here I've positioned half-inch strips of Steam a Seam fusible along my pencil line and did a quick fuse.

Lifting the facing away from the quilt top, I made a small snip and carefully rough cut near the fusible to remove the excess facing fabric. I came to regret my choice of Steam a Seam as the paper released during the next step and the tacky fusible stuck where it shouldn't. Wonder Under or even Misty Fuse would have been a better choice of fusible.

Not everyone recommends understitching before pulling the facing to the back, but most do. You can never get into the corners and in this case I couldn't get closer than about an inch and a half. To understitch, you pull the facing out over the seam allowance and stitch very close to the seam on the facing side. A tried and true seamstress trick, it supposedly helps everything roll to the back, but with the thickness of batting in the mix, I'm not sure it helps enough to be worth the extra step. Anyone out there have an opinion on that?

Before turning the facing to the back, I slipped a small cutting mat between it and the quilt top so I could use a ruler and rotary cutter to trim the raw edge even with the fusible. Now it is like doing a pillowturn backing; you need to trim the corners to remove bulk and I have found rounding like this rather than making a diagonal cut works best. Then poke out those corners as you pull the facing to the back. I had to steam and iron the edge quite vigorously to get that bulky seam allowance towards the back. Then it was quite simple to fuse the raw edges of the facing as I smoothed it toward the center with enough tension to be sure it held the turn in place. Since my facing and backing fabric are the same and a print, you cannot see where facing ends and backing begins. I'd definitely do the fused edge again, but maybe place it so the finished facing would be narrower.

I should note that I've had a dickens of a time getting accurate color representation with my camera. The picture of the finished quilt as been tweaked somewhat, but I still get the sense that it is reading more blue than green. I was anxious to get this up on the blog so have not tried an outdoor shot yet. However, this piece has been like a chameleon, changing color repeatedly depending on the light source. Has been driving me crazy - one minute the teal background looking like it doesn't go with the batik border one bit, the next change in lighting showing it a perfect match. 

Can't Stop Thinking About This

I thought I knew exactly which quilt idea I'd be working on next, but apparently something else wants top priority right now. You no doubt remember that I worked up two different hand options for the last bubble prayers quilt. Knowing me and my inability to toss anything, I knew the unused set of hands would find another home eventually. In the process of auditioning and rejecting this pair of hands, they shuffled into a random arrangement that intrigued me and spoke of something having nothing to do with bubbles. I pinned them to my design wall so the idea wouldn't disappear on me and I could think about what to use as background.

My mind was off on a totally different tangent regarding that background when I came across this batik when straightening up the studio last week. It was one I'd considered and rejected for the original bubble prayers quilt. Now it seemed to be saying, I belong with those hands. Ok, I'll put you up there with them, and yes, I think I agree. But you'll have to wait until I make that next quilt using circles. (Yes, I talk to my fabric and quilts all the time.)

But seriously, why wait? The idea is so strong in my head, and I really can't stop thinking about working on it. I can still work with circles because I've also had it in my head that whatever background I chose, I wanted to try a new filler design I found on Diane Gaudynski's blog. I've already delayed experimenting with that one since March. Ok, it's called "Celtic Bubbles" so I guess those hands will have something to do with bubbles after all. I think it's time to heed the call of disparate parts coming together to create a beautiful whole.

Back To My Comfort Zone

First, thanks to all of you that weighed in on my design dilemmas regarding the current bubble prayers piece. It really helped and as Wil suggested, I decided a blue would probably be best for the hands, cut from the sketched hand pattern. My art group agreed I was on the right track and offered additional insights. However, I've set it aside for the moment, both to let all this info simmer and also to await a care package with some additional options for the bubbles. Instead, I am forging ahead with my Sunset piece.

I decided that perhaps the fabric I'd auditioned for the background was not too dark after all if I just found a different spot in the yardage. This is actually two sections that I've overlapped and fused together where sky and land meet. The sky and ground have lighter areas plus it is a much bigger background to work with. That other piece was cramping my idea. And I love it when the fabric does so much of the work for me - instant landscape!

I also decided that the triangle cut-offs needed fusible on the back. Normally I would consider Steam-a-Seam Lite, but I am hoarding what I have for the bubble quilt and another idea using circles. There seems to be a shortage of it at the moment and I didn't want to get caught without on those pieces where I really needed it. Instead, I decided to use up some Misty Fuse, which frankly I don't care for very much. I only bought it based on the extreme raving over it when it hit the market, but have only struggled with it myself.  For this I laid the Misty Fuse on a sheet of parchment, arranged my triangles on it, topped it with more parchment paper and hit it with an iron.

I just like my Steam-a-Seam much better - easier to work with plus it has that tackiness that lets you move pieces around on the design wall without using pins. To make the Misty Fuse work the same, I sprayed a little 505 basting spray on the back after fusing, then separated the pieces and trimmed the tiniest sliver off of each triangle edge.

And then the arranging began. Those orange triangles really aren't that bright but you get the idea. This is not the final arrangement but getting close. Need to remove some of those print triangles I think. This project is much more in my comfort zone, a good break from the more challenging bubble design.

Three Things To Stop Doing and One To Do

While you're waiting for me to make some showable progress, do take the time to watch this short video from a gal who has quickly become a favorite of mine - how Angela Walters has such sage advice at this young age and in such a warm inviting way is beyond me! I particularly like her story about her quilting grandfather which reminded me a bit of my good friend LeAnn and her father back in Wisconsin. Enjoy! 

Three Things Machine Quilters Should Stop Doing

One of the reasons I don't have anything new to show is because I've spent the last few days pulling together what I needed to enter a couple of quilts in this year's Sacred Threads show. That included setting up properly to retake photos that were initially shot quickly in not the best lighting resulting in less than true colors.

I've wanted to have a quilt in this exhibit since its inception, but never quite coordinated a suitable quilt with the call for entries timeline. But with the making of Bubble Prayers - Release and Life's End, I've been waiting patiently for the next call, feeling strongly that I wanted to share these quilts in this venue.

I haven't felt the need to enter any kind of exhibit, juried or not, requiring hefty entry fees, really good photographs and shipping to faraway places since moving to Sandpoint, where I've found ample exhibiting opportunities through my local arts council. But this is different, this is a very special exhibit, and these are special quilts about a very special person. Crossing fingers one or both will make the cut.

Sunday Musings

I've been sitting on this link for quite awhile, trying to decide what I think about it. Perhaps it caught my eye because it came shortly after I finished a pretty intense meditation class, one that had me stopping to consider my real motivation, or intention, before continuing with an action. It's kin to learning to recognizing the difference between reacting and responding. Before reading this conversation (Work In Progress website), I hadn't stopped to think how this might relate to the art I might produce. Author Ethan Nichtern makes this observation:

“What am I putting out there and why? Does it contribute something, or am I just celebrating confusion?” You start to question what the appropriate expression is and what the compassionate expression is. Not that you can’t be dirty or ironic, or express really intense life situations, but we have to ask, “What is the purpose of putting this out there?” When you are a practitioner, it’s not that your emotions get deadened, but your intention becomes more important.

 

"Practitioner" refers back to earlier in the interview - those who regularly meditate and I believe, Buddhists in particular (disclaimer - I am not a Buddhist but I see value in some of the thought processes and viewpoints). Because I have never believed that artists must be going through some terrible angst to produce great art, it was encouraging to have this conversation agree. The interviewer noted that "I had this idea that if I became more at peace with myself, and especially my emotions, my creative work would suffer." Nichtern responded:

"I know a huge number of highly successful creative people who are dedicated practitioners. Luckily what you find out when you actually practice for a long time is that your emotions are not going anywhere...[instead} there is this growing sense of clarity and recognition."

 

Now I must admit that my own meditation practice is rather sporadic. But I have had this experience of clarity and recognition, when an answer involving a particularly emotional piece has arisen during meditation (case in point - "Bubble Prayers: Release" - read the story here). It's that thing you hear so often these days about all the answers being within you. I'm just skeptical enough to hedge at saying ALL the answers are within, but I'm learning to trust that I have more answers available than I once thought.

 

I've really worked backwards through this interview, now wanting to share with you something that was near the beginning. Nichtern is talking about the traditional Buddhism analogies about a path when so much of Buddhism is about stillness.

 

"The word for basically all our cycles of destructive behavior, samsara, literally means wandering around; “the commuter” comes from the Tibetan word for a confused sentient being, which means something like “always on the go” or “goer.” So I thought about the unsettling feeling of not ever being at home where you are—that we are always trying to get somewhere else—and realized it’s the basic definition of confusion."

 

That last line, that we are always trying to get somewhere else, really does describe so many of us, me included. To call that confusion hit home just a little bit. I'm still mulling all this over, especially how it may relate to my creative journey. But I think there are key things in this conversation to consider, especially that part about intention. What do you think?

 

 

 

Published!

Now now, don't get too excited. I'm referring to the beautiful book Sacred Threads has published which includes all the quilts in this year's exhibit. Still, this is the first time I've been included, or rather my quilts, in any kind of book. And I do know artists who choose exhibits to enter based on whether or not they publish an exhibit catalog. It's something they want to be able to put on their resume. Me - not so much. But it's still a thrill.

And I couldn't be more pleased. Look! There's Bubble Prayers featured on the leading page to the section on Grief.

And my quilts are the first one's in that section. It takes away some of my disappointment in not being included in the traveling exhibit. The layout is pleasing and the photos I supplied printed true to color and in focus. I was really sweating that.  It tells me I can trust I'm seeing the rest of the quilts in this book just as they were in the exhibit. And at over 300 pages, I have hours of enjoyment ahead of me as I take in the variety of expressions and read their accompanying stories. If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, just follow this link.

I also sprung for a thumbdrive of the audio tour - why not? I'd recorded a little extra myself and am curious to hear the other artists' voices and the additional things they wanted to share. However, I was really puzzled when I pulled what looked like a credit or gift card from the box. Wondering if my lack of smart phone would mean I'd have no way to play it. I certainly couldn't think of anything I had on hand that might work.

It took me forever to realize that the little black rectangle on the back actually rotates out to be inserted into an SD card drive. Whew! I'm not as technically out of it as I thought.

Thank you letter & picture of antique quilt on my repro version

Although this is my first time to be published in a book, I have been published in a magazine a long time ago. This was back when I was making traditional and repro quilts and collecting antique ones. I was commissioned to make a copy of an antique Forbidden Fruit Tree quilt for an historic building in Wisconsin. Their budget only covered materials; good cause or not, I was not willing to donate all of my time for such a labor-intensive project. It was with great reluctance that the owner of the quilt with whom I was negotiating agreed to let me have the antique quilt as partial payment. Its value was not equal to my labor costs but it meant a great deal to me to add it to my collection. And my name and info about the reproduction got posted along with the quilt.

This really was a major undertaking, figuring out how the original quilt was constructed and making my own pattern sized to their specifications. The block itself is a complicated one and it was a challenge to convert the hand quilted design to machine quilting. I wanted to share all this so I submitted pictures and my story to Traditional Quiltworks magazine, thinking it might make it into the Letters from Readers section. Instead, they wanted to feature it and me along with a pattern. I'm still pretty pleased and proud about that. Look! The antique quilt made it on the cover.

And look again! Both antique and reproduction are shown with the pattern (you better believe it's a three thimble difficulty rating) and a small photo of me! My 15 minutes of fame... Click on the pic and any others for a larger view.

You can't see it in these photos, but looking at this diagram from the magazine pattern instructions, I am reminded of one of the things that made me want to own this quilt and that made reproducing it a challenge: as the magazine states "an extraordinary setting." I'm so happy that this antique quilt also got its 15 minutes of fame. Wonder how many quilters actually gave this a go or at least made a single block as those brave enough to sign up for my class did? It makes a lovely pillow cover - one I still get out each Christmas.

Thanks for suffering through my sharing of my several experiences of 15 minutes of fame. How about you? What brief rise to prominence have you had in you quilting career that makes you beam with pride?

Catching up on drawing lessons

At the rate I am not posting here, one might think not much is going on in the creative journey, but that would not be entirely correct. I've done more quilting on Bubble Prayers, started assembling the mystery quilt blocks into rows, met with my art group and started a linoprint class, among other things. I'll be blogging about these soon, but for now, I'll share a couple of new Zentangles. I've got the book back, but have missed a few days, so have been doubling up on the "daily" Zentangle®* lessons. I share this one because it includes Pepper tangleation, which is a pattern that so amuses me - it is just plain happy and fun. The stripes remind me of the rolling farmland of the Palouse. That thing in the upper right corner didn't work out as planned, plus I messed up the direction of the strokes in one section. Ah well, all a learning process.

Most exciting is that I've come to the section of the book where we can now add color to "Zentangle Inspired Art" or ZIA. This was a quick little draw so I could try that out with my colored pencils. I do like that. It's good to be back drawing on a somewhat regular basis. It does my head good, can feel it strengthening my eye and design skills.

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*The Zentangle® art form and method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is copyrighted. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Sucked In Again

Someone should create an app that blocks all e-mails and websites offering free things, at least things related to art and crafts. I was going to make more trinket bowls but the free Year of Light Taster sessions I'd signed up for a few weeks ago out of curiosity suddenly started, and there I was, committing myself to nine days of art videos that would then disappear. I checked out how things were set up and found it very much like the Sketchbook Revival I participated in twice: A host artist (who I was familiar with from her videos on Sketchbook Revival) and 4 different artists a day presenting their classes in videos lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. At least with Sketchbook School we knew we'd have a week or so following the last presentations to catch up or rewatch videos, but this taster kept stressing that all would disappear after the last day of videos. Not to worry though, the host said, just purchase the year-long "Year of Light" and you would have lifetime access to these videos plus all the other videos that would be shown during the year. I didn't check out the price of that but you can believe it is hefty, and hefty enough that the host was offering a 25% discount and payment plan. Wow . . .

Well, I got to watching. Techniques taught were predominantly watercolor with a few using acrylic paint or pastels, and a few teaching drawing skills with pencil. There was a little collage and mixed media that I found interesting, and my fave Laly Mille showed a transfer technique unlike what I'd seen before (and am anxious to try). The quality of presentations varied widely, some very fussy and having you sit through slow application of paint and layer after layer to reach the desired result, something I had no patience for, some I skipped because I'd been exposed to them in Sketchbook Revival, some good but could have been edited down, and some very well done and informative. I fast forwarded through a lot of them, and the ones of interest I watched clear through, taking notes on the printouts provided. Unlike during Sketchbook Revivals where I watched and did almost every lesson over the two weeks, I had no time to actually do any of these lessons, but would like to try the ones I took notes on eventually, hoping I can remember and make sense of the notes since I won't be able to re-watch any videos.

My brain was reacting differently from other times I've watched videos like this, it seemed. When I'd run across videos either too lengthy or not well done, I'd question if this was a good use of my time. Even on ones that interested me, I caught myself thinking how much easier some of the effects could be done using fabric. In fact, one session painting a night sky with moon and bare branches stretching across and over the moon, I HAVE done in fabric, more than once. And one showing how to paint bubbles with acrylic paint reminded me of the bubble prayers quilt I made using sheers and metallic thread for the bubbles. Feeling confused, I started to question why I was even interested in wielding a paint brush, except that I have all the supplies and it's a newish, unmastered technique I have dabbled in.

And all the while, I felt the pressure of time, knowing these videos would be going away, and feeling a certain anger at something presented as a fun, get a "taste" of the real thing which was simply a marketing ploy. Whenever someone shared that they'd been sick or busy with work or other life intervening things and "behind" or even not having been able to watch a single video, the chirpie Host would say, don't worry, just buy the year long class and you'll have lifetime access to all, or to those saying how overwhelmed they felt, you don't have to do every lesson, just pick a few. Nope, you certainly don't have an understanding of the people who would sign up for this sort of thing. We would want to take full advantage of such an opportunity for free classes. 

Granted, Sketchbook Revival is a bit of a marketing tool as well, but it is giving the opportunity to artists to showcase what they have to offer should one decide they'd like to pay for a class from them, but the main thrust is to get people using their sketchbooks again and giving them ideas of how to do that. This taster didn't feel that way to me at all; no, this was buy my pricey class, gains for you secondary.

By the last day which was yesterday, I have to say I was pretty burned out, watching or skipping through all those videos for nine days straight, and losing interest in the last set, asking myself the important question of how would I use what I might learn here and am I even interested in learning how to draw or paint the object shown? (No, I do not want to paint a fox. No, I do not want to sketch a bird.) I did watch two more but was glad I was done. Also getting overloaded with so many people posting their renditions of the lessons in the Facebook group even though some were quite good. In fact, I had to chuckle that a few came out better than the teacher's. In the end, the host relented to the cries of give us a few more days and did tack on 5 more days of access to the videos. Good on her. But I've seen all I need to see I think. Back to trinket bowls . . .

I'm In!

It's been a long time since I've had a quilt juried into an exhibition, longer still since I even tried. It was becoming a hassle, what with rising entry fees and shipping costs and getting that excellent photo to send along. But Sacred Threads is an exhibit I've wanted to be a part of since its inception. I just never had the right quilt ready at the right time to give it a go. That is, until this year. When the call for entries went out earlier this year, I sucked it up and did what I needed to do, because in my mind, I now had the two perfect quilts for this exhibit: Life's End and Bubble Prayers - Release.

Acceptance e-mails went out yesterday, and to my utter relief and pleasure, both of my quilts made the cut. To see a complete list of Artists and Artwork accepted plus info about the exhibit itself, go to Sacred Threads website here.

To say I'm excited is an understatement!

 

Checking on the Installation

It's been a long time since I have not been responsible for installing my work for an exhibit, so when I dropped off my quilts at the ArtWalk venue earlier this week, it felt very odd to hand them over and walk away. I know the people doing the work, know they have installed countless such multimedia exhibits, but still...after all the angst over the making of these quilts, the care in getting them square and hanging flat and just so, it was difficult to let go. But let go I did, knowing I could go back the next day and check up on them. There were bits of lint to pick off the center one and the two Bubble Prayers quilts' signage was reversed, but other than that, see how perfect they look! It's always questionable hanging near the wall sconces, but in this case, that light is doing my quilts a favor (click on the picture for a larger view...you can see the quilting!). Oh, and I obviously was using the wrong camera to take my shots at home. This was taken with my less fancy one which read the teal green and the purple/blue perfectly. The center one is pretty close too.

I am so pleased with the spot these are hung. Visible as one reaches the second floor by stairs...

And visible from several spots along the third floor. Pleased, pleased, pleased! 

Back to the Hands

And back to more decision making - I've returned to the second bubble prayers quilt. Because the hand fabric is relatively thin allowing too much shadowing through, I decided to fuse the hands onto white fabric. That also facilitates the stitching I want to do while the hands are off the quilt. As always, it's a question of what color thread to use.

I've also gone back through my sheers and am auditioning some here for the second set of hands. They will be partially behind the other hands, more of a shadow than anything. The blue silk chiffon is looking good for this.

I've had so much trouble visualizing how the fabrics will read that I cut hands out of two steps from this gradation. I'm pretty sure the darker of the two is too dark so it became my practice piece for trying out threads and lines. I tried stitching around the outside of the hand and then stitching in the lines across where fingers bend and along the palm but it looked really bad. Thread painting wasn't my intention, but thread painting is what I ended up doing, in this case with the light teal Oliver Twist hand-dyed thread, and am surprised at how much I like it. Since this is done with the feed dogs up and fusible to help stabilize it, there was little distortion.

So on to the lighter set of hands and none of my threads were quite what I wanted. This King Tut was the best but I wish it didn't variegate so dark. I went ahead anyway since the other threads I tried were worse, convincing myself I could find a way to modify the thread color after the fact. But, I don't know, I maybe like this after all. Click on any picture for a larger view.