A Few More

We took one day of our vacation to visit Greenport. I made the others go into a few galleries. This rug hooked piece was in one of them. There is something about wool rug hooked pieces that really appeal to me, although I don't own any. I thought this one was really nice. I forgot to record the artist's name.

We also took a visit to the black smith shop, which was open. I think it is a historic building. We watched a demonstration by the black smith. He make a hook and told us about some of the tools. Below is part of the manual drill press. I like the shape of the gears and old fashioned look of the words.

We also spent some time visiting some of the many wineries that are on the island. I like the lines that the vines create in the picture below.

Someone had created a beach sculpture from driftwood on one of the beaches we visited.

More Vacation Pix

One of my favorite things to do while at Mattituck is to go for a kayak ride early in the morning before too many people are out on the bay. Another favorite thing I like to do there is read books. I managed to read nine (on real paper, not on an e-reader) over the course of our vacation.

Frank and Ben did some fishing and caught some snapper. Frank cooked up a few for lunch, but the review was not overwhelmingly fantastic. Frank and Ben also managed to repair the row boat seat and set it on its maiden voyage for the year. Their snorkeling discovery was a puffer fish.


We all enjoyed sitting and chatting on the beach, swimming, floating, sailing, drag netting as well as several nights taking a walk down to the Magic Fountain ice cream shop.

They had many flavors, some of which were very unusual. Anna tried the lavender ice cream, as well as the sweet corn ice cream. I tried the kulfi ice cream which is based on an Indian dessert (as I was told) that has pistachio, cardamon and sweet cream (I think). I also tried a bite of the hazelnut biscotti, but didn't order any.

Vacation Pix

It's been just over a week now that we have been back from our vacation on Long Island. I'm glad we got back before the hurricanes decided to start rolling in. We enjoyed our time on the bay and with Frank's family.

Anna got to enjoy more time with her cousins.

Ben, Jessica, Anna and Alexandra

What Anna did not enjoy was her first experience of being stung by a jellyfish (note: remedy for jellyfish sting is distilled vinegar and baking soda). She said it was quite painful.

Alexandra attending Anna after jellyfish incident.

When we first arrived, there was a small Bobcat backhoe in the yard as a new bulkhead had just been put in (and now has been tested by the hurricane). Regulations require ten feet in from the bulkhead must be sand. So a big pile of sand was brought in, which the guys decided they would spread out instead of hiring someone else to do it.

Frank relaxing on his vacation.

The girls were busy doing something else while the hard labor was taking place.

Beach babes: Alexandra, Jessica, Anna

Getting What You Wish For

Yesterday I was asked to come to the museum for a meeting about Art in the Park and the construction zone that we will need to work around. We were in Julia Davis Park looking at bright orange construction fencing and other assorted materials. After the meeting as we were heading back inside, I looked at one of the artworks that is hanging on the outside of the museum building near the back and saw a plastic baggie attached to the face of the piece.

My first reaction, based on over fifteen years of helping install artwork and handling it, was "What the heck is that on that piece of art? It shouldn't be there."   As I got closer I could read some words written on the baggie, "Free Art".

I removed the bag from the museum artwork (no harm was brought to either artwork in the making of this transaction) and kept my new Free Art. In the past, I had read about artists leaving artwork around to be found by anybody paying attention to their surroundings. And I thought, "I wish I could find some artwork like that." Now, my wish has come true!

Below is my complimentary artwork, a pencil drawing on paper done by local artist, Ben Wilson (his blog). Written on the back is Frack Attack, which I'm guessing is the title.  I think it's going in my studio.


Thanks Ben!

Sneak Peek

Today I finished installing the Treasure Valley Artists' Alliance latest exhibition, Complements: Inspirations in Blue and Orange. It is not a Boise State or Bronco show. The exhibition committee chose the color scheme as a nod to our wonderful host, the Boise State Public Radio Offices.  This is our second show in their space.


The opening reception is tomorrow evening (Thursday, Aug. 25) from 5 - 8 p.m. The address is 220 E. Park Center Blvd. Come check out the show. If you can't make it, the show runs through Nov. 4 and you can visit during office hours 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Mon. - Fri.

Rachel Linquist's Red-Haired Cloth Doll with Glasses invites you to come to the exhibition.

Visiting

We are back from visiting family on Long Island for the last two weeks. It was a good trip with lots of time in the water. Anna enjoyed time with her cousins.  Now, it's time to jump right back into the swing of things such as school, volleyball practices, installing new shows and all the other work involved in returning home.

I hope to share more pictures of the trip with you this week.  It has already been a busy one.

Quote of the Day

"Freed from the pressure of haste. . . I found myself looking more closely at what went on around me."

-Colin Fletcher

More Background Stitching

On this plant-a-day drawing, I just did some echo quilting in the background because I really liked the shapes of the leaves.

More Background Stitching

Here is another plant-a-day drawing with the background stitching. It might be hard to see but it is a light color thread in a zig-zag stitch similar to what is on the main parts of the plant.

Plant-a-day Revisited

Do you remember my plant-a-day stitch drawings from earlier in the year? I got out a few to finish off. I did some stitching in the background and will put a very small black binding on the edges. I think they look better with the background stitching.

Above is one of them with the stitching. It has been a long time since I have done any stippling (meandering stitching). I like the variegated thread in this one.

More Color Fields

I don't think I ever showed you Color Fields #11. As I look at this piece, for some reason I feel like it needs to be stretched on canvas stretcher bars. For now, it is staying the way it is. I think that it isn't quite how I first envisioned it. So maybe I will do another version.

Color Fields #11
hand dyed fabrics,
machine pieced and quilted
34" x 37-1/4"
© 2011 Lisa Flowers Ross

Camping Pictures

Here are some inspirational pictures (at least to me) from our camping weekend.

Craters of the Moon

I really like the lines in this one.

Miscalculations

Yesterday, I dropped off my traffic box piece to the place that will scan/photograph it and turn it into the vinyl that will go around the box.  After showing the person my diptych (each piece approx. 2' x 3'), she said it looked a little long.  She measured and entered numbers in the computer and said, in total, it is about 10" too long.

That was a big bummer for me since I had spent so much time trying to get the lines to match on the edges on both sides.  Now I'm not so sure they will match up on any side.

She asked if I had gone by the measurements.  Yes, I had the numbers that were printed on the sheet I was given.  We were told we could make two pieces up to 2' x 3'.  I did the math to scale it up proportionally (and I'm pretty good at math).  But then she asked if I had taken into account the little dotted lines on the drawing that represented their "bleed" (wiggle room).

No, I didn't because there were no numbers for that and I'm not sure it was mentioned in our overall meeting. Well, it will just be what it is because I cannot redo the piece.  Live and learn.  Unfortunately, this is learning the hard way.  I just hope it looks o.k. when they are done with it.  They have to make the vinyl into four pieces for the box.

I didn't take a photo of the piece before I dropped it off.  But I will post it sometime- maybe the before picture of the actual piece and the after picture of it on the traffic box.

Sports Break

We are already a few days into August and autumn is just around the corner. Today I saw the Boise State football team outside practicing as I drove by a practice field. There is already talk in the newspaper of the BCS rankings.

My nephew, Ben, is a big sports fan. So while they were here, I suggested Frank take them to see the Boise State blue turf. Frank was able to take some time off and he did a good job as activities director (as I was trying to finish up some pieces for a deadline). One day they did go to BSU.

On campus, they were able to go onto the practice field. Ben threw a ball to see how far he could throw. I hear it was close to 50 yards. Pretty good for a pitcher, but I don't think the catcher would like it.

They checked out some nice trophies,

saw the blue turf,
and went to the bookstore. Good thing Ben was wearing the appropriate colored shirt.

Peoples Visit

My sister-in-law and her family came from Florida to visit us this past week. We did lots of activities. One we decided to do was to take our niece and nephew on their first camping trip (their parents came, too).

We drove to the Sawtooth Mountains and set up camp outside of Stanley. We were lucky to find a spot.

The Peoples in Idaho: Mary, Jessica, Allen and Ben.

After setting up camp we went to Redfish lake to try some fishing. Didn't catch anything.

Back at camp we cooked dinner, played in the river, had s'mores and sat in the cars and watched it rain and hail. After that, the fire was out and we got ready for bed, just in time to get in our tents and watch (and hear) major lightening, thunder and rain, for quite a long time.

Since it was a bit wet in the morning, we decided to pack up the gear and get breakfast in Stanley. After a nice big, dry breakfast, we headed over to Craters of the Moon, where it began raining as we started our exploration of the area. It continued raining quite heavily while we ate our muffins (our not-well-planned lunch) at the visitors center. It continued to rain and the ranger said that was the forecast for the next four days. We decided to head home.

It has been years since I have been to Craters of the Moon. The area was very cool and I did manage to take some pictures during our brief visit. We drove back to Boise were it was sunny and 97 degrees. I think we provided the full camping experience for our visitors.  But I don't think they believe us when we tell them we don't get much rain here.