ArtWalk 2016

Opening receptions for Pend Oreille Arts Council's 2016 ArtWalk are this evening, June 17, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. My work is at the Columbia Bank building once again, number 2 on the map below. I have just the three small pieces this year, and you can find them on the second main floor. ArtWalk runs through September 8th, so if you can't make the reception, you have plenty of time to catch the exhibits throughout the summer.

Neighborhood Park

The doc said to take it easy this week (no heavy housework or even laundry - what a pity!) but it would be ok to try a short walk around the block. I gave it a go yesterday when the sun came out, a slow amble to relish the clean fresh air and warm rays on my back. I yearned to continue over to the small park that's been developing over the last couple of years, just to sit and enjoy the view, but that would have definitely been more than around the block and I could feel I didn't have it in me yet. But I'd taken pictures of the park a few weeks ago so what better time to share them with you than this?

I don't know who this McNearney is that the park and adjacent street are named after, but I do know that he donated the land that made it possible for the new animal shelter to be built. The rest of the block behind the shelter had gone undeveloped, just an uneven weedy swath waiting for something. I noted that the kids were riding their bikes at the end closest to the street where I walked, not sure if someone had officially turned this corner into a track or the kids had just taken advantage of the natural terrain.

The next bit of improvement I noticed was that the cross street that ended at the other end of this lot was extended out to McNearney Street, then paved and curbed. Looked all in the world to me like someone was about to develop the land with housing, except the curbing had no dips for driveways. A few months later, trees appeared along the street and I was still thinking this must be for more housing. Guess they'll have to rework those curbs...

Eventually, I noted areas that had been leveled, cleared and seeded, and a few things like this fencing popping up. Could this be a park? I could scarce believe it. Eventually I caught up with someone doing some work there who confirmed that yes, this land had been donated to the City of Ponderay for a park, and it was slowly coming together.

And it has been slow, the additions of landscaping and typical park amenities popping up one by one over last summer. So surprised by the blue bench and water fountain.

On the end opposite the bike pump track, this play area for the little kids slowly came into being. Picnic tables were recently added and I've seen families stopping by to eat their take-out and watch their little ones play. Build it and they will come.

There's a path that cuts along this end of the park, back along a line of cottonwood trees, eventually looping around another bike area and along the back side of the park.

As it loops back toward the play area, it skirts a practice area for kids just learning how to maneuver through a pump track.

There's this lovely stone area I suspect for parents to watch their kids as they work through the practice area. It almost looks like a small stage which makes me wonder if the designers of the park had that in mind.

From this angle I can get a good shot of the blue bench, this time with blue trash receptacle. I'm so intrigued by that blue! I want to sketch this but will have to do it standing or sitting on the ground - no seating available to capture this view.

Here's another view of that train engine in the play area. Kids can climb inside, through, over, while the dinosaur looks on. 

You may have noticed in an earlier picture that there is a rather high berm along the back of the park. Kids can ride their bikes up there too, with challenging ups and downs, no worry of adults shooing them away because they will ruin the hillside. No, this park was built for them.

Another recent and surprising addition (at least surprising to me), is this repair/service station. There's a pump for putting air in your tires and a collection of tools on a chain for tightening and adjusting and who knows what. More of that outstanding blue!

The park was officially dedicated earlier this year, and more and more signage has gone up, more landscaping put in place. Here's another view of the pump track.

And more of that wonderful old-fashioned zig-zag fencing. There's art inspiration there.

I've saved what I think is one of the best parts for last. This spring I noticed signs up at intervals along that path that loops along the back of the park. Encased in laminate, these are stories for young kids, but instead of sitting to read a book, the kids read a "page", answer questions posed at the bottom and follow instructions of how to proceed to the next "page". Even I found this fun to follow, and could just imagine how a group of young kids would respond, having at one point in my life been a library aide who read stories to groups of little ones. The stories change (I think about once a month or so) and there is a notebook at the end where you can record responses to the experience. Such a brilliant idea.

So what was once a weedy dirt heap is now blossoming into a beautiful little park that I look forward to looping through on my daily walks. Curious to know what other additions will pop up, and especially anxious for the trees to grow tall enough to start providing some shade.

On the Mend

Stamped page ready to tangle

Well, that was an interesting week. I think the virus has run its course, and I am mostly upright since the weekend, but still taking it easy as that really wiped me out. No sense rushing back into activity, not wanting to have a relapse, wanting to feel well enough to manage the ArtWalk opening reception on Friday (more on that later). There's plenty I can do sitting down and I did feel up to a little drawing yesterday afternoon. You may remember the small button booklet I've been working in on and off, where I stamped an image on each page and have been going back in to Zentangle around it. You're really not supposed to plan out your Zentangling in advance, but I at least need to be inspired and it took me a long time to come up with an idea to compliment that stamped leaf. But I had finally settled on something, before getting sick, and now I felt up to trying it out.

Finished tangle, colors truer than top photo

I enjoy developing little vignettes with the tangling, and although that wasn't where I thought I'd go with this, it became more fun when I realized I was creating a little landscape of sorts. Some parts are more successful than others, but it was an enjoyable way to spend an hour and get those creative juices flowing again. The most delightful part was how well the fountain pen worked on this paper. I had struggled with it on the official Zentangle tile and feared the ink looked more black than brown. However, on this paper the pen flowed effortlessly without skipping and the color of the ink matched the pad ink used to stamp the leaf on the page. A little thrilled by this.

Thanks to everyone who left messages of concern and get better quick wishes. They truly buoyed me up and gave me something to smile about when I was feeling so very rotten. Love you all . . . 

Sick Leave

Just as well I didn't have the extra week for ArtWalk prep - so far I've spent it mostly in bed with a high fever. Doc thinks it's viral so nothing to do but let it run its course. Explains a lot about how I felt last week and over the weekend. At any rate, it's been lots of sleep, tea and toast, and catching up on recorded tv shows when I've been up to being a bit more upright. Feeling a little better today but the fever persists, so it's back to bed for me.

In the meantime since I won't be having anything interesting to say or show for at least a few more days, go check out this blog post by Elizabeth Barton. It's an interesting read, or so it seemed to my fevered brain this morning. . .

Focusing

I could feel myself on the verge of spin cycle over getting my ArtWalk stuff together over the weekend. I should do this first, no this. Maybe start on that 4th piece. No, take care of this. Then I realized, just start with the easy stuff first. That would be printing out the contract and inventory sheet. POAC used to send out hardcopies through the mail, and I must admit to mixed feelings about the move to digital files attached to e-mails. I understand it is a cost-cutting measure, and POAC does have a very tight budget. But I do resent just a teeny bit having to use my own ink and paper.

Rift by Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2016 11 x 14

Next, get Rift into its frame, since it was already mounted in a mat. I bought these Nielson Artcare metal frames because they have UV glass and archival mat board and mount board. I'm not using their mat, but I did think the mount board liner made sense. Of course, I had to clean numerous times to get the last of the dust specs off the inside of the glass. But I really like the way this looks.

Rift and Family (©2014) by Sheila Mahanke Barnes

Then it was time to dust off the piece from 2014 and make a few changes. I don't think I've ever done this before, but I was never comfortable with the name I gave the piece on the right. Something about it always said "family" to me but my lack of confidence convinced me that name would only make people scratch their heads. Rolling Along was what I ended up calling it and it has never felt right. It's been sitting in my living room for months now, long enough for me to hear it begging me to change its name. So I did. Took off the backing, blacked out the name and wrote"Family" in its place. I think these two pair nicely.

That was enough for Friday. Saturday I tackled getting the fountain sample into a frame. I'd bought some black foam core board not long ago specifically for this, to replace the very poor and flimsy piece of cardboard backing that came with the frame. And now I couldn't find it. Seriously, how can one misplace a 20 x 30 piece of black board? Ah - by placing it on the door side of the closet rather than the back wall of it. Clever me. I usually struggle with cutting foam core (it really shouldn't be that hard - I even bought an Exacto cutter specifically for this task) but this time it cut with ease. I forgot to get a picture of the back before mounting on the board, but generally what I do is lightly glue in a few places the piece to watercolor paper for support, running a long stitch around the outside. I write all the label info on this paper backing before putting it into the frame and adding the frame back. 

In this case I'd used some vellum drawing paper, because I didn't have to cut it to size. Later I realized it didn't have the same stiffness so I pinned it to the foamcore board in a few places. That's a sequin pin. This bit of security should keep the piece from sagging from the weight of the fountain. There's no glass in this frame.

This is how I deal with the requirement to put more personal information than I normally would on the back of my art when it goes into a POAC exhibit. I simply attach a business card and write the name and price of the piece on it.

I decided to add rings and wire which turned out to be the hardest part. The wood in this frame is very dense and hard and I had a heck of a time getting the screws in. But having a wire rather than one of the sawtooth hangers will please the people hanging the exhibit.

Eisenberg Fountain - Retreat by Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2016 11 x 14

So pleased with how this looks! And now my three pieces are exhibit ready!

I had planned to work on a 4th piece yesterday - but I didn't feel well at all and was running a fever. To be honest, I hadn't felt well all week and it must have caught up with me over the weekend. So no 4th piece for ArtWalk. And I am fine with that. Today I filled out that paperwork and will deliver it all tomorrow.

  

It's a Mess!

Does this look like a work space where one could layer and baste a quilt? Yeah, I've got some cleaning up and putting away to do before I can get Sea and Sand ready to quilt. But instead, I've started cutting out rectangles for the next baby quilt - I'm on a roll! You can see the fabric for it, laid out at the end opposite the camera, where I've been doing all my cutting lately. It's hand-dyed sateen, but not mine. My mother-in-law was childhood friends with quilt teacher Lois Smith, who gave her a packet of her sateen hand-dyes and some velvets too when the mil decided to give quilting a go after her husband died and she settle in Indiana. She decided it wasn't for her and sent me her small stash including these. I thought the shimmer and softness of sateens would work well in the quilt I have planned and the colors were right too. Thank goodness I had the foresight to test for colorfastness. They ran like crazy, as did some early hand-dyes of my own I'm using to fill in the color gaps. All got treated with Retayne this week, and I have just a few more colors to cut out. THEN I'll clean off the table and get to basting the other quilt.

SCREECH (ing to a halt)!!! Oh no I won't! I'll be using that space where the cutting mat is to frame up my ArtWalk entries. I'm so used to the exhibits going up towards the end of June that I was sure I had two more weeks to procrastinate, I mean, work on putting Rift into the frame I ordered and properly mounting the fountain sample into the frame on hand. I've identified an older piece that was in ArtWalk 2 years ago (different location) that should look good with these two, and then was sure I could get something done with that leaf cluster stamp. Have been waiting waiting waiting for notification of my location placement, and it arrived by e-mail yesterday, along with the jarring news that I need to drop off my art next Tuesday. So yeah, the next four days will NOT be spent on baby quilts, but on getting my art gallery ready and filling out paperwork and perhaps making one more piece. My fault for letting time get away from me and not double checking the schedule I have hanging in the studio. Ah, the life of an artist!

With that bit of panic hanging over me, I decided I best get this rhubarb pie made. I try to make one every year - it's one of my favorites and brings back wonderful childhood memories. I need to sketch it in my Comforts sketchbook, I realize. The rhubarb has been in the fridge since last weekend, the holiday where I cooked or bought "traditional" memorial day fare and really had way too much food for a single lady. The pie felt a bridge too far (no pun intended). I've been a bit tired this week and each day I'd sigh at the effort it would take to make the pie crust (my mother's recipe as best as she could quantify ingredients that she just put together until "it feels right"), and was seriously considering waiting until Friday when I could pick a pre-made one up at the grocery store. But I rallied last night, dividing the task into two parts: cutting up the rhubarb and mixing it with the sugar and flour after lunch, and making and rolling out the pie crust after dinner. (Amazing how hard it is to think this way in order to pace myself).

Letting the rhubarb/sugar mixture sit extra long turned out to be a good thing, the natural juices drawing out and mingling with the sugar unlike when I've followed the recipe's 15 minute directions. The pie came out of the oven late, but not too late to have a small test piece. Mmmmm - oh my yes! Pretty much like mom used to make. And that's canned milk poured over it. Please don't cringe. This is another thing I grew up on, and mom always used canned milk over cobblers and pies. As an adult who has increasingly upped the sophistication level of her palate, I assumed that now I would prefer half-and-half or cream on my rhubarb pie, or even icecream. But no, whenever I did that, it didn't taste right. So last night, it was back to good ol' canned milk, and my palate said, ah - now THERE'S the taste I remember! 

Hard and Soft . . .

. . . at the end of my block. It was the wild roses that caught my eye and sent me for my camera. They cascade down the embankment where the privacy fence separates the last townhouse from a marshy area and the parking lot of an office building. As so often happens, the camera failed to capture what my eye was so perfectly relaying to my brain - the lovely pink flowers are barely visible.

Change of angle and moving in closer helps.

Still not as impressive as they were to the naked eye. So here's a close-up. Wild roses have been blooming in the area for several weeks now, sending out their sweet scent surprisingly far from where it originates. My mother loved wild roses.

If the roses were illusive, the cattails were not. So soft and fuzzy at the moment.

Groups showed different stages in growth.

Some had delicate tendrils picked up by the breeze.

Some started looking like Tolkienesque creatures, old wizened faces giving challenge through the viewfinder. It spooked me just a little.

But I kept on zooming in on groups, trying to shake the feeling these cattails were starting to disapprove.

 

Endless source of fascination. No idea if any of these images will spawn an idea for a textile.

The parking lot adjacent has a fairly wide landscaped strip acting as buffer between parking spaces and the drop-off to the marsh. Gravel, trees, and inexplicably, two large stones plopped at the end near the street. I've always meant to photograph them and finally I had camera in hand. They are a lovely rust with hints of teal.

Layers in rocks have always fascinated me.

Cracks too. These had the added interest of a pile of small rocks from the gravel below - how did they get on top of this rock? And a very tiny one actually wedged in the crack.

Look closely, the crack near the bottom veers off for some reason while the upper one stays firm to the vertical drop. But they don't quite meet up.

I'm also fascinated with the way the narrow layers run in several directions. There's inspiration here, but I don't know how to incorporate it yet.

And that's the hard and soft at the end of my block.