some sampler ideas...

Learning that, I'm not so good at the whole Group Project thing

So after 15 years or so now of sincerely trying to be the good team player in the workplace and all, I've come to realize that there are aspects of the "working together" that I'm really not that good at.

I must say that my team mates were even two of my favorite classmates. My classmates are all amazing in their own right, and I say how remarkably diverse and cool they all are. These two in particular are patient and articulate, have a good sense of composition are colour, and during our brainstorming session spoke thoughtfully of ecology, western consumerism and assimilation. We had roughly five hours to transform limited supplies into our installed work. At the end of the day, I was more exhausted than usual. (My classmates had similar looks on their faces.) I realized how little I like to comprimise, how impatient I am when others are not as "ready to move on" as I am, and how generally how much more I'd rather to work alone.

Evidently, I need more of these projects.

Some Dyeing

The Finished Product.

Winding it from skein to ball.

The other side of the equation.

The turquoise being cooked.

The all important chopstick stir!

Or not too much stirring, for that irregular colour thing going on, that I'm partial to.

My Container Project at the half way point

One of the photos I transferred of me and my dad. That's me in the backpack.

Several weeks ago, in my surface design class, we were asked to create a "container".

I chose to create a study on DNA as they "contain" the blueprints of us!

To illustrate the DNA, I painstakingly crafted the 23 pairs of chromosomes (glass beads on wire) into somewhat of a karyotype layout.

I photo transferred several family photos onto silk using various techniques, and then

tucked questions and anecdotal comments into the pockets that the photos were sewn onto.

One of the interesting turns my project took, was the evening I showed it to a dear friend who is also an artist. She gave me some feedback and then we called her husband to come check it out. Being a physician, he asked me a few questions for clarification and then kindly and but decidedly, asked if I'd like to borrow one of his first year biology texts. It seemed that my chromosome construction, while visually quite lovely, was not so accurate. I accepted the advice and the textbook.

I really enjoyed doing this project, and would like to revisit the subject sometime in the future. During the working on it, I was taken with the intricate design going on in us, that we rarely consider. yeah...billions of miracles going on beneath the surface of our skin, and in each cell of our skin. Yep.

Reverse Applique Portrait

hand dyed fabrics (various)

9 x 12"

This process is a little like the childhood trick of colouring on a page with different colours and then colouring over the whole thing with black crayon. When the black is scraped (or in this case carefully cut) it reveals an image based on your cutting. This was an "okay" result. This project was during the rib fiasco. So I just felt pleased that there was a resemblance.

really randomly ordered pics of matt's visit out

On the Saturday morning Matthew made his famous maple cream cheese french toasts for Milissa, Andrea and I. We missed Jay but the our sorrow was eased by extra round of toasts.
Matthew came to school with me. Our dye samples hang in the backround. Some of my classmates Caroline and Emmily get a little weaving done.
Oh okay...skip to the next night. (Someone will have to show me the trick of putting pics in order...) So after the chorale concert, I was delighted to introduce Matt to Lindsay and Nathaniel. We stepped out for gourmet comfort food at Feenies. The Iron Chef himself prepared our close to midnight supper.
So back to Milissa's. She was telling us that during her pregnancy she's
developed a keen interest in kitchen gadgets, such as the pineapple core-er, she demo'd for us.
It turned the pineapple into a nice slinky type item.

Ah, and Pippa, the littlest Ewing, for a very limited time.

Miliss supervised the breakfast making while keeping Pippa from supervising the bacon Andrea was cooking up.

Later on, we stopped for tea and good treats with Paula and Andrew.

Before Christmas I put these sticks in a jar of water and voila, they are beginning to have some new baby leaves. I like this colour harmony...so just holding on to this image to reference down the road.

My baby bro and I in the middle of the road in Deep Cove, after happily gulping down a Honey's donut. One of the lovliest things about Matthew is how much he misses Krista when he is away. In his hand are a couple of pressies for her. Everywhere we went he would browse for something fun that she would appreciate. Good husband missing dearly his sweet wife.
Matt back at school, in my drawing class. It was memorable.

Here's Ryan Wugalter. It's hard not to say both the first and last names together. It's tradition I guess. We met down at his bookstore, and hung out enjoying some exciting artwork for sale there.

Nathaniel and Lindsay back at Feenies.

The Women's Retreat

One of the littlest women in the midst.

Keira May sports one of my little toques.

Mira's Matthew selected this one for Keira.

Keira and her mom Akiko.

Ashley's mama flew out to have some time with her favorite daughter. Fairly sleep-deprived but still keeping everyone smiling. Ashley comes by her quick wit and energy honestly!

A random shot of me.

The new Mrs. Klobucar! but Nikki B. to me...forever

One of my oldest and dearest chilliwackian friends got married in an intimate little ceremony a few weeks ago and jetted of to the Dominican with her new hubby Marc. Her mom hosted a sweet wedding shower for her upon her return. While she was quite adverse to the usual hideous tissue fashion creations, she did permit this lovely veil and headpiece. Nikki and I like to pretend that we're tennis superstars. We're not very good and in fact our performances have prompted strangers to initiate contact offering impromptu lessons but we enjoy getting all geared up with the headbands and whatnot, so this look seemed about right for her.

A long and beautiful marriage to you Nikki!

john mann + josh ritter and the vecc

aaron, jay + i on one of our attempts to go get drinks
the sweet beckums
miliss and i chillin' prelim...this was close to the end of my weird dislocated ribs episode, and so the robaxacet looks like it's just setting in. ;) milissa is lovely in her 7th month of pregnancy. i have a feeling ewing children will be stepping out to the good concert scene with their folks, in not so many years to come.
a bit of a tricky blurry sitch...but ah...what a glorious venue.

surface design

presently working on a project for surface design involving

karyotyping, dna, traits.

colour

in our colour theory class, we were told a while ago

that this years colours will be "raspberry" and later on in the year

"water"...hopefully not coal harbour colour...but more carribean colour.

(fyi: last years colours were turquoise and "electric mud") we like to snicker at the names.

this was a shot i covertly took at the urban barn.

this was one of the products of a design class downtown.

really random...still in process.

ashley's birthday, with gabe, andrew + tony
beach sky at dundarave

The last of my many awesome birthday wonder-twins.

One of my favorite things about birthdays is

decadent breakfasts...and so this morning

birthday girl Lindsay and I stepped out for some

apple pancakes and banana bread oatmeal at a little

tea shop up in Kerrisdale. The very same spot where

my friend Judy's etchings are being exhibited, actually.

Vancouver is starting to feel like a small town more and more everyday.

Saturday afternoon, I got to visit with some dear friends
in Bellingham. We had a beautiful lunch followed by some very
tasty homemade birthday cake made by Jude and Elise.
Elise's birthday and my birthday are just a couple of days apart.
After all the good treats, we spent some time painting + knitting +
browsing through some of Elise's current cool projects.
Esme supervised enthusiastically.

Birthday Party Pics

Here are a few pics from my party this year.

It was a fun evening.

The Girls and Lars

Last Sunday, I guided six girls and one german shepard (Lars) through the basics of knitting.

It was a fantastic afternoon workshop.

i found this pic the other day from one of my lazy days

this summer. my sweet nephew kolby celebrated his 3rd birthday last week.

my mom looks so happy. i like this image alot.

my first tapestry sampler

8" x 8"
SAMPLER #1
linen warp/wool weft
woven on copper hand loom
december 2006

Samplers serve as an example of technical skill.

I'm at the very beginning and so this demonstrates

the important "kindergarten-like" acheivements of weaving.

The great weavers throughout the ages agree that tapestry should:

1. have an absence of linear perspective

2. contain a limited colour palette

3. contain techniques representative of tapesty and not other mediums

description: the kf demonstrates angles and curves, the vertical stripes a couple of different interlocking techniques; above the stripes are some line gradation with dots and and vertical lines; the upper left square shows floating shape building and then some hatchure techniques for shading.

8" x 10"

Sketches in felt

cashmere on merino

hand made felt / design added using dryfelting technique

december 2006

(potentially a pocket patch on a corduroy messenger style bag)