Here are the very newest painters of the Pacific!  Glowing!

The bird of paradise, orchids, hibiscus and plumeria  flowers are represented and shown here by the artists who designed and painted them. How cool is that!. They were a wonderful group who didn't know one another previously and now have new art buddies with  lots to share

 and learn from each other.  One kind lady offered to help with Hawaiian quilting to a woman that had recently arrived to the islands.That is so kind!!

 (trichoglottis bronchial)

  Most of us are attracted to color and fragrance and the flowers of Hawaii do not disappoint! This time of year i am blessed with an  amazing abundance of the black orchid shown above..(i still think it is more of a Merlot or Cab color...) For the class  i also I gathered leaves and flowers that i brought to the table to view, smell, see and enjoy, to sketch and paint.

 After the class is over, these very same flowers and leaves that inspired painters inspire me to make a sort of arrangement , much like the very first flowers and leaves 

i painted in the "80's to quilt up in a pillow form.

this is what remained after cloth painted dried on the freezer paper under it

one of the painters left her enhanced flower sketch behind

i mailed Sarah her post card fronts that she painted and left in my studio to dry!

 Mahalo to Sarah, Dorita, Jeannie and Cindy

for sharing a colorful day in the country!!

Be well, see well,
 Sonja

Recovery from a weekend art show consists of some relaxing with feet elevated.
A rope hammock is best and the shade helps especially when breezes are blowing through.



This is important even if you have 4 feet, that your feet get some air time!!
 Then  to repack after unpacking  the bins and boxes of colorful fabric and hand made treasures, followed  closely by more feet's up and ice tea in hand. Then there is always stuff to catchup on like emails, laundry, and sleep, glorious sleep. so i do a little of this and some of that, retreating to a cool  spot with comfy chair now and then. This takes a few days, these days, to recover.

 I have consistently designed,  made, shown and sold my hearts' fabric gifts since my early twenties, in Hawaii since 1971 and show I  no sign whatsoever of stopping, only slowing down. I make slow art slowly. This last decade I have been very selective  to where and when (time to crank it down again!) to go out to respect the vintage child i find i have become.  She is wiser, funnier, kinder, greyer, shorter,..okay wider and  more easily fatigued and still at first, somewhat annoyed by  rude cluelessness of some people, then i find the humor in it all!

 Mostly, i am amazed and delighted with people that gravitate to my art in its color and style,

my style and that is what helps to feed my soul. i continue to practice my art of art.

 Kurt Vonnegut has a few sensible and quotable words on that.



(this is one of my postcards of fabric and paint and stitch, one of my favorite practices!)

SO,

A huge thank you all who walked through my tent last week end and had taken the time to notice, ask questions, and to purchase gifts for friends and yourself,
and  to express  your wonder and give comments of respect.

I am a gypsy on a life journey of color and fabric and am happy our trails crossed.
Aloha , Sonja

 here is a shot of the backing using  some my splattered hand painted fabric, pieced

                                   back and  front squared off, showing quilting using variegated threads.

In  block closeup i use random stitching, what comes to mind for that area, quilted .
 No marking, just seat of the pants, on the spot choices.

You have seen this pile of color in other post if you are a reader,

 This is where i start with strips of color painted on cloth that have been trimmed and saved for just such an occasion. i use some batiks but about 90-95 percent are my hand paints.

The squares are trimmed up to 5 and a half inches here.

 i will add a long cabin strips on all  4 sides next

 Here the log cabin surround pairs strips have been added  to
front and back shot of the next quilt in the pipeline of my life.

 For my bindings i often like a fabric like this one, one that has been languishing on the shelf,
as an overall floral decorator type of fabric. i will add color to them.

Now painted in the  pinkish tones in the quilt body, now transformed,

now drying in the sun .

Here we are now watching paint dry....

So how does one answer such a question such as 

How long did that take you to make that?
I don't know how long.

It takes All the time!
I DO know my work takes many decisions and processes, many, many.

I  would prefer to tell you the Why, the story behind the ideas that propelled me to Here!

I don't know how long. I'm not sure it's finished Yet!!

Be well and enjoy  the journey!!

Sonja

I will make a composition book cover later.

Then i might do some quilting and hand stitching as well.

It all depends on mood and the materials at hand.

That is my theory.

if you don't take down that  little 3 foot tall pencil tree, that little Christmas tree in the corner, a little voice whispered to me the other day, you will have a grand  place to put your bracelets and cuffs and pins and watch upon so that the  dresser drawer does no longer hide them. While i am  mostly an earring wearing  person and feel glasses are quite enough jewerly already for me, i upon occasion i like to don an arty cuff or bracelet or i might need to keep tack of time and as find it was somewhat  fussy for me to haul out my cell phone when half the time the light outside is so bright i cannot even read it. i have a watch with a band of simple brown leather  

The  simple horse ornaments i made this last year speak of horses of our dreams
in colors not usually

 assigned to ponies and horses that we ride or groom or feed and love.

Blues and lavenders and aquas came off my brush and onto the basic muslin shapes of a flying  horse or one that has been freed from its rocker.They are about 6 inches in length, stuffed firmly. After the paint is dried, some ancient embroidery floss is stitched into show flowing manes and tails. a hackamore bridle and saddle blanket come last, that is how i rode in high school. lastly, i added a

hanging loop because i can always park my horse on a door  knob now. 

Today the clouds were amazing, tomorrow i must post them.

opposites challenge with arts in the cards was fun. i started with the impression of velvet to sandpaper, the musical styles of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan that as a teenager i was privileged to hear in the Hollywood Bowl. looking for used sandpaper disks left me empty handed so i went on with the theme.

Sandpaper /velvet

black/ white

gold/silver

wrong/right

burlap/lace

rough/smooth

early/late

finished/soothed.

 the train of words   got me through  without over thinking this trade.

 i am happy with the results. very simple .

trimmed burlap on coffee filter and card stock same size layered. machine stitched white lace with black threads. some gold and silver glitter paint in random area

 gave way to yet another pair .... dull/bright!

be well, Sonja