An Afternoon Out

One of the things on my "to do" list this week was to view some art after getting my hair cut on Thursday. My salon is downtown and a short walk from the artist cooperative, Artworks Gallery. There's such a wonderful variety of mediums represented there, and this month they were featuring a new artist which gave me an excuse to stop by. I couldn't pass up this wool/mohair yarn which is such a luscious color and has such an interesting twist. What will I do with it? Oh, who knows! Probably not enough to knit anything useful. I would want to use a rather loose stitch I think to show off that texture. On the other hand, I could knit or crochet something small that could be added to a textile piece. Or, I could try my hand at weaving. I suppose I could even try placing strands of it between Sulky Solvy and stitching with decorative threads to make a scarf or something to add to a textile piece. But for now, I'll just be enjoying how beautiful it looks all wound up in its little ball.

I thought I might also find a greeting card for a friend there. Many of the photographers and painters who have full size pieces displayed also have some of their original designs represented on notecards. I found a lovely "Birch Grove" one by Dorothy Modafferi of Hope, ID. As luck would have it, she happened to be working the register so we got a chance to chat about our love of these trees. Read more about Dorothy here.

I continued down the street to Wine Sellers on the Lake which had advertised an exhibit of local art running through March. I'd not been in this store yet, housed in one of the old brick buildings. It's high ceilings gave plenty of room to hang paintings, etchings, prints and photographs above the merchandise. I was even offered a free glass of wine to sip while I enjoyed the art. Nothing was really catching my eye much until I got to the end of the room and spotted a grouping of mixed media work looking very much like it could be textiles. After closer examination, I decided it was probably acrylic paints applied in thick "strings" with beads and chips of stones or gems glued to the surface. It was very effective and I liked the geometric designs coupled with the texture created with the various elements. Sorry - no name to direct you to.

There's one more exhibit downtown that I didn't have time for, but it runs until the middle of April. It features student and teacher art from 3 or 4 area high schools. I've often marveled at the work seen in exhibits like this. Young raw uninhibited expression sometimes trumps experience!