Watercolor at the Presidio

Yesterday, I visited the great watercolor show at the Presidio. It's there through May 24 and it's free, so do check it out if you have a chance. There is plenty of free parking and the views are fabulous. I enjoyed all the paintings and especially a display case full of sketchbooks. Next door is a small display of Andy Goldsworthy's work (on our way home, we drove past the Spire he designed that is installed nearby in the Presidio). He made a smaller version of the spire in a closet! I liked it better than the large, outdoor spire. In the morning, I met with the One Sock a Month Ravelry group--the knee socks were made by two different knitters who used almost the same color yarn and the same pattern.

Internet sleuthing, Part 1

Last weekend, my daughter and I found a nice digital camera in Golden Gate Park. I decided to take it home so I could look for the owner. I posted an ad in craigslist, but realized that if the owner is on vacation here, he might not see the ad. There was no ID in the camera case, of course.

So I looked at the photos on the memory card--there are more than 480, starting over a year ago with pictures of his baby boy being born! Lots more pics of family and friends and some shots of military planes in exotic places like Japan, so I figured this guy might be in the Air Force. (Turns out he is in the Air National Guard, based in Hawaii).

My clever husband figured out how to enlarge the photos on the camera's viewfinder and told me what the markings on some of the planes mean--did you know that "AW" stands for "Air Wing"? He also enlarged an embroidered patch on a shirt so we could read the name: Haki Logan. I found the address of the base for that plane, but was not positive I should send the camera there--perhaps the photo wasn't his plane?

Then my friend Pam, who is an Internet sleuthing whiz, found a Web site where Haki and his wife posted pictures of themselves and their older son. The site includes e-mail addresses for both parents. I sent messages telling them that I found the camera, and am waiting to hear where they want me to mail it. I hope the loss of the camera (and those precious baby pictures!) has not ruined their vacation. At least they will have good news when they finally check e-mail. I'll post what happens as soon as I hear from them...

Part 2: Finally got an email from the owner--he is on vacation here and just saw my note. I will mail the camera to a relative of his in California. So all's well that ends well!

Some brand new baby pictures of me

I just found some old pictures in a box in my studio--mostly they are baby pictures of me. Wasn't my mom gorgeous? That's my little brother Ralph with his finger in the air. There are also a couple of etchings of my two aunts, Marjorie and Jeanne (Jeanne was the artist). Enjoy!

Did I have a good time at Stitches?

"Persimmons and gourds" is finished

My new Stitches tote bag

For the big Stitches event coming up next week, I wanted a way to let other ravelers know it's me--so I printed my ravatar on a piece of plastic and sewed it to a tote bag. I tried to use Sheer Heaven paper to transfer the image to fabric, but failed miserably--I think my spray bottle has holes that are too large. The ink began to run almost as soon as I spritzed it with alcohol, as instructed. I also printed one sheet backwards, so that's the one I used on my tote bag--it is the actual Sheer Heaven plastic sheet, sewed directly onto an existing canvas bag. It should last awhile since the image is protected by the plastic. My talented daughter drew this fabulous avatar for me last Mother's Day.

Using up some old molas

Today is rainy, so I pieced together two molas that I purchased many years ago. A quick and simple project.

Persimmon progress

This painting was started in late December and today I made some more progress on it. It's quite large (about 16 x 20 inches) so it's going to take awhile.

Love is a Many Mitered Thing

Here I am, proudly wearing a major knitting project that is finally completed. I purchased the "Love Is a Many Mitered Thing" kit at Stitches West last year, started it in April, laid it aside most of the summer, then decided to see if I could finish it in time to wear it to Stitches West at the end of this month. As you can see, I succeeded. It was a very time-consuming project but worth it, I think.

The quilt bug bites again

Today, I suddenly wanted to make a quilt. These photos have been printed on fabric for about 8 months, waiting for me to use them. I decided combine them all into one large quilt, instead of making separate ones. The design is completely improvisational--I pinned the photos up onto the design wall, then started adding pieces of fabric to hold them together. There are a few wonky seams, but I think they will "quilt out." All of the photos were taken at the Getty Museum and Getty Villa in Los Angeles.

Golden Gate Park Sketchcrawl

Back in November, I mentioned that I met Enrico Casarosa at APE. He is a wonderful artist who also organizes sketchcrawls in San Francisco. This past weekend, my daughter and I participated in one and had a blast. The meeting point at the end of the day was the de Young museum, so we spent the entire day in Golden Gate Park.

We saw the wonderful garden railway with San Francisco landmark buildings made of recycled materials at the Conservatory of Flowers, wandered around in the Japanese Tea Garden, and ate lunch at the Academy of Sciences cafe (very good food but it was packed with people). I have a membership to the Academy, but non-members must pay admission to get to the cafe, unlike the de Young where you can enter the cafe without paying admission.

The pics show the four pages I painted in my new watercolor moleskine sketchbook given to me by my daughter for Christmas, and a picture of a neat cartoon done by Chip Sullivan for the Garden Railway. There is a whole series of his cartoons on display inside the exhibit.

At the end of the day, we met about 200(?) or so other sketchers at the de Young cafe and shared our work. And this post sets a personal record for the highest number of links to other sites!

Persimmons and gourds

The top shot was taken yesterday from the vantage point of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco--we went to see the latest da Vinci and Berlin Museum shows. You still have time to catch them, as they'll be there for another week or two. Today, I started a new painting (last shot), a centerpiece of persimmons and gourds that was on my table for Thanksgiving. The other pics show my daughter's paintings, done for her still-life class (temporarily perched in my bookcases) and her sketchbooks with recent pen and ink drawings.

New watercolor: Reflections of San Diego

I took a photo of reflections in the water lily pond on San Diego's Balboa Park this summer--this painting is the result. It is about 16" x 20" and took several painting sessions to complete. I can think of better ways to tackle the reflections on the water, but the finished painting does a fairly good imitation of how the flowers and wooden railings looked when mirrored in the pond.

Quilts at Yerba Buena Nursery

These quilts were all on display in the building where we had the marvelous Yerba Buena Christmas Tea. I don't know who made the quilts but they are lovely. This nursery specializes in native plants and is deep down in a wooded ravine off Skyline Boulevard in Woodside, CA.

Kathie's fabulous cake

I have a bunch of photos to share from this weekend, which was very busy. But the first one is the cake my friend Kathie made last night. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and ALSO praline frosting on top of that. AHHHH...how decadent can it get?

The second cake is from the Yerba Buena Christmas Tea, which I attended on Saturday with a group of wonderful women. It is actually not cake, it is solid chocolate fudge! This came after a lunch of chicken, potatoes, salad and wonderful spiced tea. The Yerba Buena Nursery holds a few of these teas around the holidays. They also do less lavish teas during the summer. Check their web site for details.

see the squid

My daughter's friend just designed and made this cute crocheted squid, using yarn I gave her. She still has to buy some eyes to sew onto it. I think it is so cute! Her sketch is next to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got a 20-lb turkey for $7 at Safeway (it's in the oven now). Last night, I made this lovely pumpkin spice castle cake in my new bundt pan -- we will eat it for dessert today. We're also having stuffing, salad, and yams. That should put us all into a coma for awhile.

Fall Wreath painting is finished

Here you go--I finished the Fall Wreath painting yesterday.

I'm also considering selling prints or jpegs of my paintings for $5 each. If you see one you like, contact me about it. I just ordered Christmas cards from Snapfish using a Nutcracker painting I did last year. If you'd like to do the same, I can email you a jpeg and then you can order the cards yourself. The understanding is that I retain copyright and you will use the jpegs only for your personal cards, not to make cards to sell. Here are four Christmas paintings I did last year that you might want to use.

I started a new painting today

It isn't quite finished, so here's the photo that I used for inspiration. As soon as the painting is done, I'll post it too, so you can compare it to the photo. The weather is very dry and hot today, this really affects watercolors -- the paint was drying almost as fast as I painted.

Win a gorgeous silk quilt!

The San Francisco Quilters Guild is selling opportunity tickets on this lovely silk quilt. You can check out their web site to buy tickets: $1 each or 6 for $5.

It is called "Gypsy Shimmer" and is 8 feet square. Designed by Sue Fox and made by many members of the quilt. The proceeds will support the various activities of our guild, including approximately 500 quilts that we make and give to hospitals and other charities every year.

Japanese Cats are finally quilted!

This weekend, I finally quilted the Japanese Cats quilt that I started over a year ago (or was it two?) Anyway, it's done and I'm very happy with it. I used Mountain Mist fusible batting which worked very well--I didn't have to do any basting. The cat pattern, designed by Susan Hill, is available here. It shows the cats on a white background, but I think they look cuter on the dark Japanese woven fabric. I keep trying to use up my collection of Japanese fabrics, but the pile grows faster than I can make quilts.

Alternative Press Expo in SF

This year, my daughter Jemma and her friend Katie shared a booth at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. Katie is on the left, waving, Jemma is in the middle of the picture, wearing a black and white shirt. Her brother Isaac is on the right side of the picture, giving a thumb's up. Jemma created a comic, "Unicorn Life Cycle" just for APE, it is very funny. Katie was selling two of her comics, "The Queen's Knight" and "The Lives of Seamonkeys" which are also very funny.

I bought three books by Enrico Casarosa: "Sketch Crawling, watercolors and comics of varying degrees of silliness" "Fragments" and "The Venice Chronicles". He told me to check the web site sketchcrawl.com to find out when sketch crawls are being organized around the world--sounds like fun! Looks like I just missed one in October in SF, but they are planning another one for January.

By following a link on Enrico's site, I discovered that one of my favorite writer/illustrators, Danny Gregory, has two new books for sale at blurb.com, "Bad to the bone" and "Me Time." Check them out!

I'm selling stuff on ebay!

To clear out some space and also make some cash, I am selling stuff on ebay. The "zine" in this photo is one that my daughter made two years ago and I paid to get 50 copies printed. Now she doesn't want to sell them alongside her newer work, so I put 25 copies on ebay. I also am selling some Rowan knitting magazines and three "vintage" Hawaiian shirts. I bought them at various times when I lived in LA, they are the real authentic rayon shirts and very soft. My user name on ebay is msalume, check out my auctions and bid on something while you're at it :-)

New paintings!

Yesterday, I completed a small watercolor from a photo I took at SFMOMA of my daughter and her friend (it's the third picture). The other two paintings are acrylics done by my daughter in her painting class at the Academy of Art University in SF. They are studying reflections and also creating a color palette. Aren't they fabulous?

Is it Halloween yet?

Before I went to Atlanta, I ordered a kit to make a gingerbread Halloween house and brought it with me so I could make it with my DIL. She had some great ornaments to add to it since the kit decor was a bit sparse, but we didn't have to bake or cut the gingerbread so the kit did save a lot of time and it turned out very cute. I got the Wilton kit from Joann.com. (I searched but don't see it on the site right now, it's probably sold out until next year).

My trip to Comic Con and San Diego

The brochure for Comic Con arrived today, with lots of pictures from this year's show, which I attended with my family. Imagine my surprise to find my picture in it! I am standing in line to get my copy of Lynda Barry's new book, "What it is", signed by her. I'm the shortest one in line, second from the right). If you have not seen this book, run out and get a copy right now, it is a fantastic book about the creative process, totally funny yet totally true, and every page is a work of art. It was my major souvenir of the trip.

Georgia on my mind

I just got back from a week in Atlanta. My son Brett and I, shown here, did lots of sightseeing--the Aquarium, High Museum, etc. For fiber-related things, I was able to spend a day at the Georgia Quilt Show with my DIL, Jennifer. We also visited three knitting shops: Main Street Yarns in a lovely red barn in Watkinsville, Knitting Emporium in an old white house in Kennesaw, and The Whole Nine Yarns, in a new strip mall (no picture). I confined my yarn purchases to just one or two skeins from each shop, so there is plenty of yarn left for you. On the way home, I noticed two art quilts by Jane Burch Cochran in the Dallas airport.