The Clothesline

Happy Valentines Day!!

2012-02-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

I had a fun day today with the kids. Nathan joined us a bit late but we still had fun. The girls and I set the table and got ready for our guests. We set out our finest tea party china, with our red tea pot of course. The plates were red and we filled them with strawberries and goodies for everyone.

The covered bowls were filled with surprise goodies that could only be opened after lunch. We made all the kids favorites today, mac and cheese, top ramen, strawberries. We enjoyed our lunch and then had some tea and Valentine cookies. The candy was saved until later.

The girls continued there project of making Valentines Cards for everyone. I think that 5$ box of heart stickers has paid for itself in spades. We ended up saving the best, most sparkliest heart stickers for our cheeks! All serious celebrators have sparkly stickers on their cheeks on Valentines Day!

From my family to yours, we hope you are all out there having a great Valentines Day!

Our Year started off a bit rocky but better now

2012-02-11T20:30:00.000-08:00

Fathers hold their children's hands for
just a little while...
And their hearts forever.

I am so sorry that I have not posted in some time. Life seems to get int the way sometimes and this time it seemed to take the wind out of my sails. Right after Christmas, my father in law suddenly passed away from pneumonia. He was such a strong man and healthy as a horse, he was also caring for my MIL who has Alzheimer's. It forced all of us to rally together to figure out what we needed to do for her and to fulfill my FIL wishes. He was so blessed to have lived the life he wanted, he never cared what anyone else thought of him or how he did things. He was a big personality in our family and will be greatly missed.
I seemed to have lost my way a bit, not only with his passing but with other things that are happening with my family and friends. It seems there is so much illness and just sadness right now and it is very close. It causes me to reflect and it made me retreat a bit, I think so I could regroup and just concentrate on those closest to me.

I am convinced that this is going to be the year of change for us, maybe a bit of bad but I am praying a whole bunch of good. I am starting to really get excited again. Looking forward to what tomorrow holds and now I need to start painting again, something I haven't done since Al died. This month I have so much planned with my sketch classes and a prayer flag class. Then there is the 9 day paint out with the Plein air group! I should get some painting done then, if I can remember how!
I have been tinkering with some artquilt designs as the deadlines are looming. I am also doing a show in May and need all new quilt patterns so I have been busy trying to design those. I submitted a small ornament for a Fons and Porter Ornament issue in the fall issue but havent painted anything. I need to just jump in again.
The girls remain a constant in my life right now, a nice diversion. We took them to the Pacific Aquarium recently and the Wild Animal Park, their excitement and curiosity is so wonderful. They are just little sponges soaking up information. I think they were more excited when the scuba diver was inside the tank cleaning the glass than they were about the fish. Some pictures of things that happened this month. Life is good.

Christmas!!

2011-12-25T07:02:00.001-08:00

It's very early on Christmas day and I have quietly made my way to the kitchen to have some quiet time before the craziness of the day begins. A time to give thanks for God's gift to us,His ultimate gift of salvation. In all the busy-ness of the season it is easy to lose sight of why we celebrate this day.

Today my house will be filled with family, gifts and good food. We will laugh a lot as we play games and visit. The noise level will never go below the roar of a low flying aircraft and the kids will be making messes in every corner. When all the festivities are over my house will resemble a battlefield of fun. I am so thankful for these crazy days of Christmas, knowing that each year we are all together should be cherished. I was trying to put together a video of Christmas's past to play throughout the day with our music. As i was going over all the photos it was a reminder as to how quickly everyone grows up! It also reminded me how much things change although they feel so "the same". Our family is forever changing, growing, multiplying, dividing, dying.
This year is hard for us as Randy's parents are not doing well, his mom with dementia and his dad with pneumonia. So many years a part of our Christmas day celebration, we now are running down early to see them before Christmas. My mom,still weak from surgery, unable to travel,so we will go to her after Christmas but they all will be missed so much this year at our table.
With the baking done,Blake's stocking finished, the decorations complete and before my day begins, I wanted taking a few minutes with you to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope and pray that your time together with friends and family is filled with love and laughter and many, many wonderful memories.

- Desiree

Christmas is only 5 days away!

2011-12-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

Where does the time go? I have to still decorate my tree and finish shopping but I managed to get the paintings of the 12 days of Christmas where they needed to go! Phew! Now to get to cleaning my house, do some shopping, plan Christmas dinner and wrapping. I am looking forward to a few nights of doing nothing but sitting by the fire and drinking tea and watching movies with Randy and Jenn. Here are a few of the finished pieces, I am showing some of the ones you didn't see, with their finished border.

I will be sewing some pillowcases for Nathan out of the 3D fabric I found him and then I will be making some prayer flags. The first two are already in my mind as I am praying for two dear friends as they each deal with a hard, long fight. One with breast cancer, one a brain tumor, their treatment doesn't stop for the holidays, for baking or shopping. Praying for a quick and complete recovery!

Less than 12 days til Christmas!

2011-12-17T08:51:00.001-08:00

I was asked to paint the 12 days of Christmas in the next few days, a rush job for a company overseas. They want bright and whimsical so I am having fun painting these small little characters before next week. I never realized how many birds are in the first part and how many people are in the second part. I also discovered that the Catholic church has religious meanings for all of the images. I am so blessed to be able to create and paint everyday as a passion and for a job! I am thinking that these will soon be quilt patterns too!

- Desiree

My blog is a book!

2011-12-16T14:20:00.001-08:00

No, no don't get excited! LOL it's not good enough for that but I did use the blog2print service and decided to have my blog printed from when I started it to the end of last year, 2006-2010. I got it the other day and I LOVE it! It's so much fun to go back and see all the things I wrote about,the old sketches, pictures, special occasions! It is far from perfect,typos and poor sentence structure I'm sure. There are also probably tons of run-on sentences because I am famous for those! But,it's mine all the good and the bad. If you are a blogger you might want to think of doing this every year or two. My book is 120 pages, cha-ching, but I love it!

- Desiree

Crepe Paper Poppies recreated!

2011-12-16T00:29:00.001-08:00

I received a box today, but with the holidays, it is a common thing to see on my front porch. Jennifer discovered eBay and we have been getting little packages lately. As I carried it in I noticed it was for me and couldn't wait to open it. Inside,surrounded by popcorn were three narrow boxes,as I pulled them out I could see the brightly colored tile inside the smaller box. I immediately recognized it as my poppy design. It is so much prettier than I thought it would be. It comes with hanging mounts on the back,art tiles. They are also bigger than I thought they would be,6"x16". I am going to order a bunch for special gifts. This design was done for an art quilt that won many awards and was featured in several publications. It was sold to a private collector who is now thinking of tiling something to match!

- Desiree

Latest Commission piece for Christmas

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

I finished a commission piece for my chiropractors wife for Christmas. She almost lost her dog this last year and he wanted to have the dog painted for her. I used pastels on suede mat board which is a wonderful surface for doing fur. Here is the progressive painting which is 16"x20"

Fons and Porters The Love of Quilting

2011-12-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

Fon's and Porter- For the Love of Quilting

Its been a busy week, full of surprises!. Yesterday I shared with you that my interview was posted and my quilt was auctioned off on ebay. Well today I received the new Love of Quilting magazine where my pincushions and I are featured. You get the pattern in the magazine, I hope you will check it out. It is on the shelves now, it is the January/February 2012 issue. Also Kelly Mueller from Wooden Bear has a huge spread. They are giving you one of her patterns also and they did a whole spread on her studio and then taped her for a new show they are doing on QNN called Quilt with the stars. It is a wonderful opportunity for her and she is such an amazing person! I happen to know her personally and she is so sweet and down to earth. I hope you will check it out and I have posted some of the links here for you! The first part of her interview is here, the rest will hopefully be up by the time the magazine hits the shelves. Also ask your local quilt shops to get her latest Christmas fabric line coming out for next year, you won't want to miss it!!!!! Her adorable artwork and great projects are perfect for all you quilters wanting a fun, holiday project. Enjoy

- Desiree

Busy month Decembers are!

2011-12-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

It is a time of decorations and lights, parties and food, performances and plays, family and fun. A time to remember its Christ's birthday we are celebrating before we get lost in the busyness of it all. I found that I waited too long to do some of the things I had wanted to do with my students and friends sadly. Next year I will work on starting earlier. My decorations are still coming together slowly, I need to finish those up too. Why is it that I am dragging with everything this year? I did manage to get my cards painted and printed, a family photo taken and included in the cards. I also managed to make some gingerbread cookie dough and spent yesterday baking cookies with the girls. I told them to add some raisins and red hots to make eyes and mouths but don't add too many. Not wanting to inhibit their creative flow I watched as they decorated the gingerbread men to death,I did end up limiting the decorations so we actually would taste the cookie which, by the way, looked and tasted delicious when all was said and done! Some of the small cookies didn't survive the finger assault that happened on the pan while being decorated. We ended up with many limbless cookies that we had to eat since they were too small to go into their cookie dishes.

I also have been working on some hand made gifts. I love gourds for some reason. No one, including my husband, can seem to figure out my fascination with gourds. I buy them, grow them, decorate them, burn them and save them! LOL These are pear gourds, and I love this simple covered dish I make by first cleaning the gourd and then drawing the upside down flower for the lid. Gourds are dried and when they are completely dry they dirty skin needs to be washed off. It leaves a wonderful mottled design on their hard surface that will accept stains and paints easily.

Not cleaned yet!

After they are cleaned with just some warm water and a scrubber sponge or steelwool I draw on my design. I then take my small jigsaw and cut out the flower designed lid. I have to make a small opening in the gourd to insert the blade, this can be dangerous if that knife slips so be careful! After cutting out the top I clean the inside out. It is filled with seeds and dried innards! I am allergic to the dust so I wear a mask and that seems to stop the lung irritation that happens when I saw or clean them.

I now burn the design into them, adding some shading and decorative elements. At this point, once I am happy with the whole design I will decide whether I like the stem or if I want to add a decorative hardware pull as the top to the gourd. On this one the stem was broken off so I drilled into the top and put on the hardware. I then us leather dyes to stain the inside of the gourd and let it dry. It dries rather quickly if its warm but it was cold so it took about an hour. I then use the same leather dyes to paint the outside of the gourd, the flower and leaves. You can either leave it natural or paint it, they both look great and its just personal preference. Once they are dry I spray them with a high gloss sealer, but leaving them natural is nice too! Its all about how I am feeling at that moment.

Just the top flower and inside is stained at this point

All done

another view

These make wonderful gifts and the top lifts off in the shape of the flower revealing a hidden place to store things. I love covered jars and this one is perfect. Let me know what you have been doing this Christmas season, also share any home made items you have done as gifts. I like those the best. It is easy to buy things, its so much more personal to make something unique.

Featured artist and my quilt is up for auction.

2011-12-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

So much is happening today. I woke up to find my interview for the sketchbook challenge blog was posted. They asked me some questions which made me have to really think about what and why I sketch. I hope you will comment on it. I would love to be asked to be a part of this group of artists.

Jamie Fingal also sent me word that my small quilt I did for the Alliance for American Quilts is up for auction,you can see it here.
It was a photo quilt I did for them but dedicated it to Jennifer and here work with the animals.
- Desiree

My Pistache tree

2011-12-02T05:48:00.001-08:00

My Pistache tree, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

My Pistache tree never colors up the way they are suppose to,beautiful reds and oranges but after Randy threatened to rip it out we got the most beautiful golden yellow,pinky color this year. It was as though it heard him and in an last ditch effort it gave us a golden display that seemed almost lite up when the sun hit it. Yesterday we had Santa Ana winds, my tree is now here but it went out in a blaze of glory,covering the back lawn in spun gold! The girls decided to lay in the leaves as they watched the last few hanging on the tree be blown off. It was raining these gold leaves for hours yesterday,amazing!

A block of hope for a dear friend

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

We were asked to make a block for a friend who just found out she has breast cancer. All the blocks will be gathered and made into a quilt for her,each block given as small letter of hope and love from so many people who love her. She has been such an inspiration to so many as well as being an example of a strong, successful women. I have so many people in my life right now that seem to be dealing with so many hard things. I think I am going to start making prayer flags. I found these on "The Prayer Flag Project" noticed many of my quilting friends were making them. The idea behind them is that you create one for every prayer you might have, some are doing one each day for 30 days, then you hang them outside. The wind is to blow the prayers to set them free. You leave them hanging in the yard and let the elements take them slowly, disappearing over time. I think I will add this to the wonderful thought behind these prayer flags, I already believe my prayers are set free as I say them. So my prayer flags will be there to remind me when I see them blowing to pray for those special people that I have made the flag for. I will share my flags soon, but for now this is my small block for her quilt of love and comfort during a hard road ahead. It is sent to you with much love and many prayers!

The guidelines were a cream background with fall colors and they have to have a heart in the block somewhere. Well I took the fall colors and made them into heart shaped leaves. Fall is the time when nature explodes into the warm wonderful colors of Autumn as it readies itself for the hard times winter brings. It is my prayer that during those dark days of winter she can wrap herself in this quilt and feel the warmth sent to her by so many as she waits for the spring in her life to bloom with that gift of hope and health again.

Thought for the day!

2011-11-30T09:29:00.000-08:00

I was asked to do some costal, beachy things and I am not having much luck since my head is full of Christmas! I did this little sketch and made it into this card, kind of how I am feeling about the assignment.

A new painting for the series-Pears

2011-11-26T20:56:00.001-08:00

I did this one to go with the others but need to move on, although this is such fun!

Thanksgiving Day 2011

2011-11-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

Sketch of our Turkey this year! LOL

This year we decided to cook a turkey although we have been vegan since March, we decided that no one would come for dinner unless we delivered meat!
We started our Thanksgiving celebration the night before with brining our turkey for 16 hours, Randy was anxious to get up and get the bird onto the rotisserie the next morning. I was ready since I was doing mostly fresh vegetables and potatoes. Even though we have been vegan since March we decided that no one would come for Thanksgiving if I didn't do a turkey so we decided to cook for the masses and make some things that would work for everyone. The morning came and Randy jumped out of bed to get the turkey out of the brining solution and get it on the spicket. We tied up the legs and the wings nice and tight so that it would turn without anything dangling and burning. Happy with our sewing job we got the bird onto the barbecue. Since it was so early, I asked him if he could help me do something that would only take a minute. He agreed and came inside. While inside, I guess the grease from the bird caught fire and when Randy looked outside our barbecue was on fire! He ran out to put out the fire and save his bird! Finally, with most of his arm hair now gone, the fire was out. The tile behind the barbecue was black, and there was a lot of smoke. When we opened up the lid of the barbecue we found a blackened, charcoaled turkey shaped briquette! Oh my gosh! He decided to take the bird inside to be cleaned up. He began to run water over the burn victim in hopes of saving it. Most of the skin had to be removed and he then decided to take it off of the spicket and put it in a pan on the barbecue grill to cook. The metal running through the bird was hot and burned his hands as he tried to removed the burnt bird. Finally, in the pan, covered in aluminum foil the bird was back on the barbecue cooking. He then decided that the turkey might taste burnt so he ran to the store and bought a fresh turkey and paid top dollar for it. I decided to take control of this bird and got it ready for cooking inside, in a real oven. No more man-turkeys. At the end of the day, both birds turned out perfect, and as far as being vegans we now had more turkey meat than anyone else on our street! We ended up sending a whole turkey home with my son! Randy is threatening to cook another turkey for Christmas but I am going to give the fire department a heads up this time! A fireproof apron and gloves sounds like the perfect Christmas gift for the hunter/slayer in my family!

Turkey after being cleaned!

So Thankful that everyone is safe, healthy and we could enjoy the day together.

International Postcard Exchange

2011-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

I belong to an amazing group of artists that live all over the world, the group is called sketchersize. The idea is that we are supposed to send sketches from our walks. We have been sending postcards to each other over the past year and I have collected a wonderful assortment of artwork depicting the everyday lives of people and locations I only dream about. The postcard I sent out last month was from my San Diego Zoo trip. The weather was so amazing, the big cats seemed to lay right up next to the fences, begging to be photographed or sketched. It was a great day to enjoy living in Southern California.

Strawberries

2011-11-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

I am working on a series of fruit and vegetable paintings. I did this layout and challenge originally on the DPW site with my persimmons. I really have enjoyed painting these, photographing at different stages. I am using watercolors so the first scan I do is while the paint is still translucent and softer. Since I like them looking older and more weathered I continue working the paint and applying layers to achieve the look I want. Here is my newest one, strawberries.

Playday with the girls

2011-11-18T06:16:00.001-08:00

After spending a few days in LA it was so nice to get home and have a day with the girls. They were so happy to see me,there is just no better feeling than being loved! The house turns into a cluttered mess with the whirlwind activities that seem to fill every moment while they are here. It makes me wonder how I ever kept a clean house when my kids were all so young and so close in age. Here is some of the fun,quick sketches I did. Can you recognize the crazy little sketch I did of Megans wacky haircut?! We are still trying to get it long enough to style.

- Desiree

Fall bush covering the hills in gold and oranges

2011-11-13T19:00:00.001-08:00

Fall bush covering the hills in gold and oranges, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I set out to paint with my plein air group. I waited in the car for the rain to stop but it just seemed to get stronger so I decided to paint while I waited. It went a bit like this,paint,turn on car,windshield wipers,defroster,heater,paint. This went on for sometime,my painting slow to dry,but still some magic happened as I do like the results. Tired and cold I left early,I think just about the time the sun came out and the rain stopped!

Our First Retreat!

2011-11-06T12:14:00.001-08:00

Our First Retreat!, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Well I must admit our first retreat went great. Ann and I both got together and planned three days of techniques then followed up with a challenge. We did a spin off from iron chef and called it iron quilters, starting with a "basic ingredient bag" they had to design and make a 15"x15" quilt for our theme underwater. Then every 45 minutes or so we through in another ingredient that they had to be used in the quilt. They also had to make an accessory! Everyone did amazing work, here is my little quilt.

Art quilters Retreat!

2011-11-03T15:32:00.001-07:00

Art quilters Retreat!, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Our art quilt group, Sub Q, is about to embark on our first retreat. Ann and I have been busy organizing activities, awards, gifts and games in preparation for 3 days of fun! We will be doing demos and mini workshops in preparation for the big event Saturday afternoon. Hopefully I will be able to post from our location and share the fun with everyone! Here are some of the things I am packing to go tomorrow!

Christmas Cards 2011

2011-11-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well, its that time again, Christmas cards, and I am actually a bit late. I like to have them done in Oct but this year I am having a Christmas Card Class so I was trying to work it into that. I love designing my cards every year. It is more expensive, harder work but I feel as though I am sending a bit of a gift at the same time, not just a card. Every year the biggest struggle is figuring out what to paint, this year, after my workshop I had it all figured out! Berries and greenery will be the theme this year! I am working on several and will pick my favorite but need to work quickly so I can take advantage of a sale at Shutterfly. I love painting berries for some reason so I will love this chance to play around.

I took the girls to Oak Glen yesterday, fall seemed to fill the air and the trees had started to turn. The farms were all starting to close down for the season but we found a pumpkin patch with a few small pumpkins that no one wanted and the girls were happy. Oh such wonderful days with them! I am getting hundreds of pictures of our adventures. I am babysitting them two days a week while mom finishes school, the time is racing by and will be over too soon.

I took a workshop in Pasadena!

2011-11-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a workshop,it was just wonderful. Sometimes I get all wrapped up in teaching and creating and I lose touch with what's happening outside my little world. In my sketching class we have explored some negative painting and had a lot of fun. Brenda Swenson has taken it too a new level and I love how exciting and loose her paintings are. We began with a black and white value painting so we could get familiar with value changes before jumping into color. I found the students liked to get too dark too fast and lost some of their mid tones quickly. Because we had done many pieces already I knew where this was going. Everyone,including myself was anxious to jump into color but as I really got into my value study I found it hard to stop when the time was over. The next part of the class was taking a photo and doing a contour drawing, making sure to define the negative shapes. We then worked on triad paint combinations, using all Holbein watercolors and that was very exiting. I haven't used all their colors and found so many new colors I had to have! She also went over how to read the paint tubes which will be so helpful going forward in choosing watercolors in the future. Next year I am going to treat myself again,it was stress free and so relaxing. I hated having to leave before my piece was finished.

Taking classes is wonderful as long as they are a spring board from which to grow,learn and move forward. I listened to many of the students there saying they had taking 5+ classes during the show! Wow,that's a lot to take in and you only get better by taking what you learn home and applying it over and over . Practice is still the answer not millions of workshops. There are invaluable lessons we learn during that private time applying principles whether we are sucessful or not! Someone in class said that it takes 13,000 hours to master something. No one can afford that many workshops so i hope your all painting! I finished my piece when I got home although miserable from my sinus infection,tissues in one hand and a paper towel and brush in the other. Here are my two workshop paintings.

- Desiree

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T22:38:00.001-07:00

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween. We spent Saturday night with our Kids and grandkids at Vail Lake trick or treating with everyone. I have never seen so many people in one area scrambling in the dark. I am amazed no one got lost or worst in all the confusion.
I thought i would share my fabulous folded bag pattern, is a fun way to make cute candy bags for gifts during the holidays. So quick and easy and you only need fat quarters. Here are my pumpkin and Christmas designs, all the templates come in the pattern. Available on my website www.desireesdesigns.com

- Desiree

Some fun projects I have done this summer!

2011-10-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

I usually don't post other patterns on my site since there is a conflict of interest there...but.. I fell in love with this adorable hat pattern at the Long Beach show by Izzy & Ivy designs, its called Jack and Jill. I made the flower for the hat by using my scallop ruler tool I got from Janet at Quick points ruler. I have made two hats for my twin granddaughters and plan to make more! Is this cute or what!

We went to the beach, I removed the flower so we wouldn't loose it and Megan wore it all day! Last week we took them to the zoo, this is Rachel in her hat. Included in the pattern is a boys version of the hat that has no ruffle in the hat band. I am going to add fabric train tickets in the brim and make Blake a conductors hat for Christmas.
Then for their birthdays I made them Christmas Aprons to make cookies in during the holidays. I just love sewing for girls, I know, its not fair to the boys but I can't help it!

The Daily Paintworks challenge

2011-10-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

This week for the DPW challenge we were to select just one item and divide our paper or canvas into 4 small squares, about 3"x3", so thats what I did. Then we were to take our one item and set the timer for 10 minutes and paint our object in one of the squares. When the timer goes off stop and reset the timer and move to the next square. We were not supposed to get caught up in the details as you will not finish in time. Most of the painters on the site use oils so they don't have the drying issues I was having with watercolor. I might do this challenge again and use pastels this time but I appreciated the challenge. As you paint each new image you get better at judging the time and you are able to get more in quickly. I struggled as my paint bled and moved around too much to get much of any details. I also chose persimmons since I had bought them recently and love them! I ended up with what seemed to be nothing more than 4 yellow/orange blobs. I think another fruit might be better but maybe it was me. I continued to play and fiddle, I was done with the challenge, now I was having some fun. I added lines, pencils lines, white gouche, more layers of paint, anything I wanted. Here is my progression, I don't know if I am done yet and will revisit it all tomorrow. It is starting to remind me of tiles and I am liking it. I need to get some sleep! I am under so much stress right now with not much time for painting. I find it leaves me without an outlet to relax so tonight I took some time to paint. AHHH, now for an excedrine PM and bed!

Tortured Soul is going to be at Visions Art Gallery

2011-10-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

My quilt, Tortured soul will be one of only 37 quilts selected for the Interpertations show at Visions. I am so excited to have been choosen as one of the artist. I hope you will get a chance to see the show!

"Interpretations" - a juried member exhibition featuring the work of 37 artists - from Nov 4, 2011 to January 22, 2012;
Opening reception is Friday, Nov 4th from 5-8pm
Visions Art Museum, 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92106; Open Tues-Sun - 10am to 4pm

A Whisper Challenge

2011-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

I can't remember if I shared this or not so I am sharing it now. My amazing art quilting group, Sub-Q, did a challenge where we divided up into two groups. Unbeknown to us, the first person was given the same photo and asked to translate it into a quilt and send to the next person on the list. The next person would translate what she thought the first person telling her by way of her quilt and then she would make a quilt and pass her quilt to the next person and so on. Well, much like the game of telephone we used to play as kids, our quilt didn't resemble much of what the first photo looked like. I wish I had the photo, but it was of a bird house in a garden setting. I did like making this quilt, I enjoyed the more subtle colors and the felt and hand work I indulged myself in while designing it. I used some of my pistachio trees berries and twigs to help decorate the wool roving that became my crazy nest. I was depicting male birds trying to find the girl so they could nest! LOL I did crop this but my computer refuses to show the cropped version.

I met the old man of the Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-23T17:10:00.001-07:00

I met the old man of the Pumpkin Patch!, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I found this crazy pumpkin calling to me as I passed by the giant bins of pumpkins. Pssst, hey you, gotta date for Halloween? I looked around and didn't see anyone. Then I looked in the bin and looking back at me was this ole guys! I guess I was the one who eventually picked him up and brought him home. I don't usually like smokers but I am making a exception this time. I thought it might be nice to spend Halloween together then maybe invite him to be a part of our pumpkin pie tradition too!

It's my birthday!

2011-10-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, today is my birthday and I am getting to an age I only thought other people achieved. I can remember having conversations and referring to people of this age as old! OLD, wow,I don't feel old. The closer I got to this age the younger it seemed after all it's just a number,right. I have also noticed that I am slipping over to the bad side of statistics and life insurance rates. That jumping out of bed still happens but I land on sore feet and have stretch out my stiff back. It is a hard time as there are more wrinkles than not and my face is showing the signs of life,it's hard to watch our bodies giving way before we are ready! I find myself thinking of things like facelifts and hair removal where in years past it was just all about clothes,shoes and purses! Well, I guess it's still about those things and much more.

We are definitely the sandwich generation,in-between caring for our kids and our parents. It is a much different place than I dreamed it would be. Yet despite all the negative aspects of getting older there are some really wonderful things that happen as we get older. We find a way to carve out more time for ourselves. Finding time to do the things we want to do along with allowing ourselves the permission to do it! Most of us are now being surrounded by grandkids that always bring us joy without the resposibility.

Personally I thought that I would be doing more traveling at this age but with Jenn's crash our plans were forever altered yet I don't feel cheated. I am finding this time to be exciting,full,creative and so busy! We are survivors triumphant! Life can be hard but it is so good too, we learn along the way how to navigate the different seasons that our lives bring.

There are so many blessing, I know some amazing people,many of whom I call friends. I have a wonderful family that I love so much and that are healthy. I have a husband that adores me and supports me and is truly a best friend. I have a place to call home that house the things I love. I have my health and my God given gifts that allow me the ability to create! To create a way when there wasn't one,to create art, to create a home,to create memories and so much more. I could keep going but since it's my birthday today I choose to spend it painting and celebrating with my family. I have a
new drawing table that awaits it christening and I need to comply. I have some quilts to design and paintings to get ready for shows. I have orders to fill and clients to call,I have a life to live!
Happy Birthday to me and you!

Fall Card Exchange with Painting Friends

2011-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

One of the many online art groups I belong to love doing holiday card exchanges. I have posted in previous years many of the cards I have sent and received. This year we are doing a Fall card exchange and a Christmas card exchange. I painted this card based on a photo posted by Valri on WC. I loved the feel of the spiderweb, representing Halloween and the fall foliage showing the seasons. I cropped and painted this card for the exchange.

The days are getting shorter and the weather is going from chilly to hot weekly. I love the sun and will miss the long days, I almost feel depressed when the sun sets at 5:00pm. I will welcome the wonderful oranges and pinks that the fall sky lays over everything. Even the stucco on our house turns a wonderful warm shade of coral in the fall. We have begun the long process of pruning and cleaning up the debris. We have already started to plant some of the bulbs and flowers that will keep us happy through spring. We have also agreed to be on the garden show tour next year so we need to prepare now so that things are blooming in the yard during that tour. Last time we were on tour we got over 800 people through our yard in two days!

This last picture was a nest made by the "Bushtit" bird. It is a woven nest that they use to raise several batches of babies. This rose did not get pruned this year and if they return it will forgo its pruning again. Well this branch anyway! Thank goodness this rose is behind the outdoor kitchen area and is not really visible unless you seek it out. The birds knew right where to put this nest!

Another Rose Arbor

2011-10-03T16:35:00.001-07:00

Another Rose Arbor, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

With the cooler nights the roses are blooming again with vengeance. This trellis is cover with Sally Holmes, a climbing rose and one of my families favorite varieties. Whether its at my brothers house or my house or the Kids houses, you can see my mom in just about everything. She has created an amazing legacy of love for her family. She is generous to a fault and thrives on helping transform the drab into the most beautiful!

Altissimo rose

2011-10-01T07:09:00.001-07:00

Altissimo rose, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I found this rose variety one year at the Huntington Gardens and fell in love with it, my mom followed when she saw it at my house and has planted a few at both her house and my brothers house. It's a beautiful single rose with dark foliage that is still a show stopper after all these years. Growing on a this light stucco wall with this pineapple finial the rose stands out and makes everyone come closer for a better look.

Limelight Hydrandeas

2011-09-30T23:51:00.001-07:00

Limelight Hydrandeas, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

The property is filled with color and things are blooming all year long. Getting to the end of their blooming season these limelight hydrangeas are still so beautiful and last for weeks on arrangements. I also painted the billiant blue lace capped hydrangeas I will share tomorrow,my last day here!

Valley views

2011-09-30T11:42:00.001-07:00

Valley views, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Looking out of the window from moms living room I painted the view she wakes up to every morning. Many days the fog from the ocean creeps in and lays in the bottom of the valley floor.

Anemones

2011-09-30T00:04:00.001-07:00

Anemones, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

In one of the shady flowerbeds sits several different colored anemone flowers. Some are white, some pink but all are very invasive and tend to spread really fast. What once was treasured for the wonder flowers and color is now considered a bit of a nuisance. One day you're in, the next you're out!

Hidden Gardens

2011-09-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

Hidden Gardens, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

My moms property is nestled on some foothills next to the redwood forest in Mendicino county. She has some of her "garden rooms" tucked under stands of redwoods, this is where this Buddah sits. Watching over this area of the garden surrounded by hydrangeas and anemones she sits on her ivy covered redwood stump.

Rose arbor

2011-09-28T19:05:00.001-07:00

Rose arbor, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

My mom made this 75' rose arbor that ends at a gazebo in hopes of having weddings here, overlooking the valley. When blooming the cover the pathway with multicolored petals. Perfectly placed to make any bride feel special, wish it was around when I got married.

Angel wing begonia in Chinese pot

2011-09-28T04:38:00.001-07:00

Angel wing begonia in Chinese pot, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I am visiting my mom in wine country this week. Her 5 acre estate always amazes me. It will forever be a work in progress and filled with secret treasures. Always the interior/exterior designer her eye for beauty and detail has always allowed her to transform the worst into the best. Her deep love of gardening shows everywhere here, taking this overgrown piece of property and transforming it into a place to see in the Valley. At the base of her steps that lead up to the main floor sits this large antique pot that is filled with angel winged begonia.

September Sketching class

2011-09-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

I teach a sketching class once a month for a wonderful group of women. Every month we learn something new, technique, paint application etc. This month we worked on how to create a page that shows distance for those distant vistas we all love to photograph when we are on vacation. I took some of my photos that I had actually taken while in Italy of the country mountainsides and printing a bunch of them up. After my demo I mixed up the photos and then had them pick from the stack face side down. This way I wanted to avoid the students making selections based on how hard or easy they thought it might be. It was wonderful to see their faces as they drew their photo! They did an amazing job of capturing the scene, some did double page layouts some single page. I really enjoy seeing the end results and their sketchbooks are coming right along!

Plating with webbing

2011-09-19T09:32:00.001-07:00

Plating with webbing, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I bought some webbing and sprayed this piece of watercolor paper and then just thought it was too much. So instead of throwing it away or putting it away I grabbed one of my Italy pictures and started throwing on color. I kind of like it! So I will continue playing with it to create textures. If you want to play with me you can purchase the webbing spray at Micheals. If you apply to wet paper the webbing swells and you get bigger lines. This was done on dry paper.

Painting fabric with Copic markers

2011-09-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

I taught a class on copic markers and the students did some great pieces. This medium is tricky, like trying to control something uncontrollable. It produces watery, loose representative pieces that can be incorporated into quilts or pillows and are completely washable. It turned out to be a great day, experimenting with different techniques and visiting with friends!

Rocks at Scotty's Cove

2011-08-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

With the heat threatening to melt us at 109,we escaped to the ocean and ended up at Crystal Cove State beach. The weather was about 74 and perfect. I carried my art supplies and chairs ( or my hubby did) down the cliff side stairs and found the perfect place to camp out for the day. I ended up spending most of the day just enjoying the breeze, the people and the sound of the waves against the shoreline. I painted two paintings, this one is pastel, done of the rocks close to where we were sitting. The colors were amazing and they seemed to be arranged perfectly. There were tons of wonderfully colored umbrellas, lots of kids and we enjoyed every minute. I wondered why I haven't done this more often.

Rocks at Scotty's Cove

8"x10"

Pastel

The backyard is blooming!

2011-08-23T19:17:00.001-07:00

The backyard is blooming!, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.
These Helenium Autumnale or common sneezeweed is in full bloom. The days are long and hot and these beautiful yellow and orange flowers are like a bright light in a dark flowerbed. I love them, standing about 3' tall they are covered in blooms until the frost. This is such an exciting time in the garden, and in the yard. Things are blooming, the garden is producing and we are weeding and trimming like mad! It seems to be the year of the bugs though, I have been fighting things like spider mites, and tomatoe worms along with silverfish and bunnies this year. Gardening isn't for the faint of heart!

Negative Paintings

2011-08-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

For my last sketching class we talked about negative paintings. I love things that are painted by surrounding the positive by painting the negative. We worked on a negative painting technique with is both challenging and fun once your brain gets around it. You add layers of color underneath the previous layer and you can create some wonderful paintings. I am now turning these into quilts, excited to see how they translate to fabric.

My Fortune Cookie Quilt

2011-08-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

We were each given a fortune cookie and asked to make a small quilt to represent our fortune. My fortune was "Try a new hat for a change in looks. Be creative!" This is Nana's New Hat, I painted the whole quilt and then quilted it. I decided to paint all the hats I wear and make them all one hat! The problem was the size restrictions, I have a whole other top section I have to put on after the show. This exhibit will be traveling to a quilt show in Ohio in October! Fun, there were about 8 of us that will be showing in the exhibit.

More of my extended weekend!

2011-08-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

I am going to post some pictures from my weekend in San Clemente, it was an amazing time on the beach, celebrating Dianna's birthday with peach pie and vintage candle holders, visiting Andy's beautiful home on the water and taking pictures with all her funky stuff! It makes me excited for next year and I already miss everyone!

Finished!!

2011-07-25T06:44:00.001-07:00

Finished!!, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

So nice to be finished although the weekend could have lasted forever! Lots of laughing and sharing this weekend I will post more photo later to share the fun with you!

Working on more sunflowers in San Clemente

2011-07-23T05:53:00.001-07:00

Working on more sunflowers in San Clemente, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Having an amazing time with my art buddies in SC taking Dianna's amazing class. Our yearly get together at Pattis is always so perfect. They are warm and welcoming and make us all feel like family! This is it so far, more to come.

Sketches from my walk

2011-07-20T09:41:00.001-07:00

Sketches from my walk, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

This morning I woke up and was out early, just Chloe and I making our way to the coffee shop when I saw this feather. I think it's from a Red Tailed Hawk. I think one of the best things about walking or running is that you notice so many wonderful things that would otherwise be lost if you were driving by. What oddities do you find on your walks?

Cosmos

2011-07-19T06:30:00.001-07:00

Cosmos, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Another watercolor aquaboard painting. The board does not allow the paint to run and blend on the surface very well so I am really having to work to get it to happen, some are working better than others

Buena Vista Bridge Commission

2011-07-09T18:06:00.001-07:00

Buena Vista Bridge Commission, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Here is new, looser version

Another aquabord sample,new colors

2011-07-06T09:58:00.001-07:00

Another aquabord sample,new colors, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I decided to paint again,reselecting my colors to achieve more clean color on the surface.

Testing aquabord

2011-07-04T21:31:00.001-07:00

Testing aquabord, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

I love the idea of a watercolor surface that accepts paint the same as paper but doesn't require blocking. It would be wonderful for plein aire although, as I found with the pasteboard, the larger sizes get very heavy. I wish it was on gatorboard instead. I seemed to fight the surface a bit but it was the first one so I think it's too early to vote. This would be nice for framing and at 6"x6" the size paints up quickly.

Apricots and Peaches Everywhere!!

2011-06-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well its that glorious time of year again, when the beautiful flowering fruit trees have put on their crop of fruit and the warmth of the sun has ripened it all at ONCE!! Ahhh. I love the thought of going out and picking a ripe apricot or peach from the tree on a hot day and enjoying it but it doesn't happen like that. It takes ladders and every bowl in my house to carry in the ripening and falling fruit. I try to pick the ripest first and spread the wealth over at least a week.

Sometimes it happens, sometimes not.

Normally I spend the early summer dreaming and pining over canning and preserving books I have collected over the years for some new, exciting recipes. This year I didn't do that. Then Marta called me to tell me she was canning strawberry margarita jam! Oh, I got all excited. Finally after canning by myself for so many years I have a few friends that have begun to can!! Its so exciting, exchanging recipes, canned goods etc. Dawn also then posted she had canned Ginger Lemon marmalade. Wow!! more goodies.

Well I better get busy here.

This year, like last, my apricot tree has had a disease. Don't panic, it isn't contagious, but it does affect the production of fruit. We lost the whole crop last year but this year Randy did get the tree sprayed once. It probably needed to be sprayed three times but being organic gardners it really pains us to treat things we are going to eat with anything. But the idea is to spray before the tree is setting blossoms and then the disease will be treated. Anyway (long,boring details), we got apricots, but they were small but plenty of them and they tasted good. So I picked the day before fathers day and set them out for the party goers the following day. After everyone had eaten their fill I still had plenty left over. Not wanting to tackle jam during our heat wave I got a great idea, Apricot BRANDY!! So simple but so much fun. I got on the internet, poured through all my books and found a recipe that seemed good. After I put the apricots in the liquor I had to put them into a brown paper bag in the closet, to keep it cool and dark. It has the feeling of being a closet drinker during prohibition days I must say! It felt weird to show Marta the concoction cooking away in the pantry! LOL Marta and I were dreaming over a chapter of decorated jam jars, already planning how we will prepare the Christmas gifts for my everyone!
Here is the process and I even took the time to journal it in my sketchbook!

Preparing the liquors, sugars

In go the apricots

One jar down, one to go

Working on some new art pieces for dishes!

2011-06-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am working on some artwork for dishes! They are looking for a salsa, Tex-mex theme. I have been painting and putting some things together hoping that the company will want the artwork for a set of dishes! I don't know about you but the thought of having my artwork on dishes is soooo exciting! I would just have to order every piece! The several pieces that I have done and were rejected have become images in my inventory for anyone else looking for that theme so it is time well spent. Here are are few of the pieces that weren't going to work for what they wanted, the last image is a new submission, waiting to hear.

Sub Q's newest meeting and challenge

2011-06-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

I belong to an art quilt group called Sub Q, Subterranean Quilters, meaning we had to go underground to do art quilts! LOL Our challenge last month was to interpret a fortune cookie that was handed out to each member. We had a month to do an 18"X24" quilt to bring to our June meeting. We had a wonderful time revealing each quilt and reading our fortunes. The actual fortune had to be somewhere on the quilt top. Then Ann, Debbie and Nancy shared a technique they had learned and we all worked on another small quilt at the meeting. Such a great time.

I decided to paint my quilt top after I drew some of the hats I wear.

Then Painted

Then attached my fortune

Then I quilted and made a new price tag for the fortune, that I also wrote; My Life, Priceless

Countryside Cottage Roof Raising

2011-06-11T18:51:00.001-07:00

Countryside Cottage Roof Raising, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Marianne had a roof building class at her beautiful home today! Cynthia led the class as she taught us how to build our moss roofs and then plant the tiny little succulents that will be covering the roofs. Marianne also provided custom wood houses to set our newly planted roofs onto! What a great class, fun day. I also have to mention Mariannes amazing gardens and yard, a treat for any garden lover. Here is my sketchbook entry for the day. I will be moving my little house around the yard until I find it the perfect place.

Supplies

Some of the mature succulents

Marianne had yummy snacks too! Rosemary sugar cookies and bear claws!

My adopted youngsters!

Unplanted....

Planted, da da!!

Pruners, sunscreen, gloves and my hat , going out to play in the yard

2011-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed these last few days of playing in the yard and getting things trimmed as well as planted. The yard is bursting with color right now with the roses in full bloom and other things getting ready. I love the spring, life bursting out at the seams everywhere. Its the time of year when all my past efforts are still paying off. Things that have sat quietly are now screaming for my attention with their colorful flowers. I am trying to capture as much of it as I can in my garden journal, taking the time to label and try and show both the close up as well as an more expansive view. The big fountain is filled with potted plants, flowers and they are trying to come back after the winter of neglect, I may need to replace.

After working outside all day I sauteed some garlic and asparagus, made black bean soup and sweet potatoes for dinner, strawberries for dessert. We all ate outside at the barbaque area, the weather perfect and the sun shining through my grape stain glass window we hung in one of the arches. Still managing to eat vegan, and enjoying it!

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-31T00:48:00.000-07:00

Today, in Riverside, there was a bike rally to the National Cemetery in honor of our Veterans. Over 7,000 motorcycles took part in this tribute as we lined the streets and cheered them on! It was a great way to start the day. The procession took over an hour to pass by and we were occasionally buzzed by Navy helicopters.

My International Postcards

2011-05-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that I am involved in an International postcard exchange where every month we have to send a sketched/painted postcard to one of 14 people from around the world. It is so exciting to go to the mailbox and be able to hold some of my favorite artists work up close. I am enjoying the process so much but realized I haven't been sharing the cards I am sending. The first postcard went to Katherine, I did post that the card was later made into notecards by the hospital that I had painted. The next card went to Liz, and then the last went to Martin. My next card is getting ready to mail but I wont post as I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. If you would like to see all the amazing postcards being sent from around the world click on the logo of the walking feet and it will take you to "Postcards from my walk" blog. Enjoy

I can't seem to find Liz's card, with more than one computer I can't remember where I put it, may have to add later!

The Rose Garden

2011-05-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Our rose garden is so amazing this year. We decided to not prune as severely as normal and then my husband, the closet rosearian, applied his secret fertilizer mixture. It been an explosion of color! The Sally Holmes is amazing, the clumps of roses look like huge ice cream cones covering our metal columns. It is eye candy and that is not even to mention the smell over there.

I am playing in the studio again!!

2011-05-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with Copic markers in the studio again. They are very interesting and artists are able to do some amazing things with them on paper. I however am playing with them on fabric. Its another place where I can get that watercolor feel I love, loosing the control I like to have and just letting the magic happen. I am trying different fabrics like silks and muslin along with different methods. I will be playing with a negative painting approach next time, using glue as my resist. The copic markers and even some other markers come alive once I apply this alcohol solution to them, their colors pop but they bleed everywhere. I am also playing with regular sharpies and getting similar results. I am trying to use brushes etc to control some of the bleed. Here is one of my projects.

My Create Art Applique class in Costa Mesa

2011-05-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

I met some amazing women and sadly only got to visit with each of them for a few hours. I love the opportunity to teach in these venues and meet lots of creative, artsy people. Being an artist almost forces you into a bit of a hermit like existence. Locked away in my studio or on location I get into a zone, my own little place where I create. I find that I often even talk myself, sometimes good, sometimes bad depending on how things are turning out. We did my colored pencil technique on pre-quilted blocks. It is a lot of fun and can be very relaxing if it hadn't been for the pounding of metal in the next room. Seems as though we were placed next door to the metal embossing class and they banged on their bracelets and charms all class long. We laughed about it as we were often trying to talk over the noise coming from that room, good thing I wasn't trying to play music! So much for their Zen experience. Here are some pictures of my class working on the project.

The pictures turned out a bit yellow due to the lighting in the room. I also was filmed by Jen Mason from Cloth Paper Scissors for a snippet on their website! Hope all of you had a great day today!

If any of you would like to order a pre-quilted block just email me and I will send you pricing, I have these larger blocks and then smaller 6"x6" blocks!

Back from Market and on to my CREATE Class!!!

2011-05-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing time at Spring Market in Salt Lake City. The city is beautiful and I enjoyed taking photos and painting while we were there. My newest quilts were a hit and I loved seeing all the art quilts at the show. It left me very inspired and motivated to get busy.

my newest patterns were received very well by everyone and I have lots of orders to get out, I just finished shipping today. The art quilts in the show were beautiful, lots of new methods that always peek everyones curiosity. Then we were on to Zion, wow, another beautiful spot and the weather held until we left and the rain started coming down.

I now am excited to be getting ready to teach at the CREATE weekend retreat in Costa Mesa. I have been getting my blocks ready and I made my students name tags today, fun fun! All ready, even had time to play with my new copic markers and created a new quilt!!! Marianne inspired me with her beautiful sweet peas she brought over at our last sketching meeting. We started a sketching blog for the sketch group, I am calling us the Sketchy 5150's, or crazy sketchers! Come over and visit our new blog.

Salt Lake City

2011-05-15T07:42:00.001-07:00

Salt Lake City, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Our view quickly sketched and painted this morning before the show.

Spring Market

2011-05-13T19:33:00.001-07:00

We are having an amazing show! Lots of interest and we are making lots of new friends and seeing lots of old friends. The drive into Utah was some of the most breath taking views I have ever seen. Huge, snow covered mountains and clay foothills lined the drive into Salt Lake. Once there we were delighted to see hundreds of tulips blooming everywhere we looked! Its a beautiful city and we are having a great time. Jenn and Kylie even went to watch the Mormon tabernacle choir rehearse!

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to be the first to wish everyone a Happy Mothers Day!! I know I am early but with my crazy schedule it is the best time for me to post. Before I forget! I hope that all the moms get to do something special for themselves. I booked Happy Feet appt's for me and my favorite moms, my girls! My mom is to far away to join us but will be thinking of her and missing her as I do everyday. Enjoy

A day at the Wild Animal Park

2011-05-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

We took three of our grandchildren to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego today. The park was overflowing with baby animals, nesting birds and a special butterfly exhibit! It was perfect weather and the kids had a great time. I took tons of pictures and brought along my trustee sketchbook. I took everything home and painted a few things. I was inspired by all the wildlife, and I do mean animals not grandkids, to paint. Here is one of the Lorikeets that the kids fed while there.

Watercolor 5"x7"

Another 6" pastel- Paris Street Scenes

2011-04-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

I also have this posted on my other blog, Desiree's Designs, but wanted to also share here. I took so many great photos in Paris and want to paint them all, this is one and I did it in pastels and only 6"!

Tomorrow I meet with the people for the commission piece, keep your fingers crossed!

A series for the next 6" show

2011-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Randy Higbee's Gallery had their 6" show, it was amazing. I missed the deadline by a day and was just sick over it. This time I will be ready. They are supposed to have another around fall sometime. I am working on a series of small paintings that will also be available for sale on my other blog, desiree's designs , so keep you eyes open as I will be offering new pieces all the time. Here is my latest series called Vineyard Gold. Pastel 6"x6". The photo is a bit blurry, my phones photo quality seems to be slipping!!

From postcard to notecards!

2011-04-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I am doing a postcard exchange with some very talented artists all over the world! I found it nerve racking when I started painting my postcards though, I didn't know if the rest would send their actual postcards or do more of a completed painting. It has turned out to be a mixed bag, some staying relaxed and confident enough to send great sketched cards, while others are taking more time and producing a more finished piece. I was just confused as to what to paint, the first card I did was painted at the rehab hospital where Jennifer has therapy. Its a beautiful, Mediterranean building with beautiful grounds. I painted it and sent it to Katherine in London. I guess the hospital has a Google alert set up and when Katherine put it on the "Postcard Blog" Casa Colina was notified and I got an email asking me if they could use the painting for note cards for the hospital!! I was happy to be able to give back to a place that has given us so much, so here are the finished note cards which have my contact info on the back.

The funny thing about this story is that I am there twice a week, for the past ten years and I have painted and sketched the area many times. It took one postcard traveling to London to get them to see my blog! If you haven't checked out the blog on our postcard exchange scroll down a little ways and on the right side you will see the cute walking postcard graphic that will take you to the blog!

High Tea

2011-04-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

High Tea, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Dawn, Marta and I had High Tea Friday at the Mission Inn. Although the event was disappointing the visiting with friends was worth every cent. We had a great time after getting our spa treatments and sitting in the spa. Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect day!

Chicken Feathers

2011-04-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

Don't you just seem to have days like this!? I know I have gotten up and this has been my reflection in the mirror! This was the daily painting challenge and it is a 8"x10" pastel on suede mat board.
Bid on this now! I have restarted my other blog to post paintings only. I hope you will visit and sign up to follow!! I hope to post paintings almost daily that are available for sale.

Desiree's Designs Daily Painting Blog

My sketchbook journaling class

2011-04-09T13:04:00.001-07:00

My sketchbook journaling class, a photo by ddhabicht on Flickr.

Today was the first in a series of ongoing sketching classes. Today we discussed the different kinds of journals, styles, text, and layout. Everyone got their brushes wet as we tackled strawberries! We ate our props at the end, well some of us couldn't wait!
I finished my painting and cropped it

Some of my new patterns for Spring market

2011-04-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Working on some small quiltlets for the spring market in Salt Lake. I wont have a new fabric line at this show and I need to introduce some new quilts so I will be busy with that until May12th. I seem to start off behind! LOL These are 12"X12" and designed to hang on a decorative wire hanger or as a wall hanging. This is my Seasonal Scarecrow Series. More to come

Pastel Show 2011

2011-04-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Our Pastel society, the Pastel Society of Southern California, held their annual members show. It was a juried show and Sally Strands was the juror. I was thrilled to have both of my pieces accepted into the show! On March 26th we had the opening reception which had a wonderful turn out. Members and guest were able to vote on their favorite paintings and I heard that there were over 400 votes. Lots of great food, conversation and then prizes. I was honored to have won in the still life catagory for my painting of Patti's kitchen counter called " Hotel Herdell". Here are some of the pictures from that night. I am looking forward to painting some of the people examining the artwork!

My sketch to quilt class projects!

2011-03-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Friday and Saturday I taught a fun class called "Sketch to Quilt". I give the students a few basic drawing tips and some simple instructions and then I turn them loose to sketch some simple still lifes I have set up. I am always amazed how well they all seem to do with a few sketching secrets. After they have sketched a bunch of quick drawing they can combine them or just use the one they like best and they transfer it to watercolor paper. At that time I gave a painting and collage demo and then they were off painting up a storm and adding empherma! The original paintings turn out fabulous but then I take them home and transfer to fabric via my computer. The next day they add more color, text and even do some discharging. What they end up with is an amazing little quilt block that they can add to and make larger or they can make a small wall artquilt. Here are some of my students amazing little paintings and fabric transfered pieces, can you tell which is which?

I had a few students that managed to sneak out before I could photograph them. I hop they will send me their finished photos. Congratulations to my talented students for creating such amazing pieces of artwork!

Fun day tie dying!

2011-03-16T00:15:00.001-07:00

Friday my artquilt group had a playday at my house. We had seen a piece of fabric that someone had dyed using a method in the Quilting arts magazine and loved it so we decided to try it ourselves. It calls for 5-6 mens silk ties and a aluminum pot and some vinegar. The article went through the whole wrapping and dying process and we decided it would make a fun playday, so we all began to gather ties from our local thrift stores and met last Friday. Kay brought some wonderful extra pieces of silk and we ended up all sharing pieces of our ties. The fabric turned out amazing, I even liked the muslin that we wrapped our silk in so much I am keeping that too. The day turned out perfect, the weather, the food, the friends all were perfect. I love this group of women, they are all so talented and supportive to each other! Here are some of the pictures from our day together. We wrapped up our silk fabric and ties into long sausage like bundles and stuck them into a pot of water, then boiled it with vinegar for about 20 minutes. We then rinsed them and let them cool to touch, just enough so we could open up the bundles to see what awaited us inside! Picture #3 is just the pile of ties and silks we used to dye our silk fabric.

One of my dyed pieces, I added some details with a pen, see the houses and the cars and the fish?

My crazy life

2011-03-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

I find that life seems to come in waves of my time verses everyone elses time. As moms and wives and working women it seems as though our lives are a constant wave of juggling. We put our needs on the backburner as we attempt to make sure everyone elses needs are met. Right now, I find that I am pulled in so many different directions that I have lost my ability to do it all! Its amazing how we have this juggling act going on to get it all done and when a new, often unexpected event happens it causes all the spinning plates to fall to the ground. Trying to regroup and start the plates again but need a day without interuption! Is there such a thing??? I am not complaining mind you, I am just sad when I am unable to do all the things I have promised to do. Can I hear an AMEN!

Plain air paint out reception

2011-03-04T21:11:00.001-08:00

Tonight was the opening reception and award ceremony. I only had one painting in the show but it managed to get an honorable mention! I was so surprised considering how many wonderful paintings were there! Thank you judges! I guess I will have to keep practicing! I won cash and a gift certificate for frames! Awesome

Plein Air Paint Out -Day 7

2011-02-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today we were at Fairmont park, its a beautiful park with lakes and wonderful trails covered by mature trees. The weather has taken a turn for the COLDER! Brrr, we have a storm coming in and the temps are supposed to drop into the 40's again for the daytime high! We all made a good college try at a painting but once the drizzle started most packed it up. I worked in watercolor too but it wasn't drying to well concidering. Jennifer and Chloe came with me today, even with her little pink sweater, Chloe never did stop shivering.

Tomorrow is the Quick draw and a crique of some of the painting we have produced this week. Should be fun, most have decided to paint in their cars since we are expecting a few inches of rain. I can't wait to see what we produce in our cars!

Plein Air Paint Out- Day 6

2011-02-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten to mention that at Jurupa park I ended up with a fan, he happened to be Canadian goose that followed me around the lake all day. Then someone actually fell into the lake trying to get to close. Plein air is not for the faint of heart! We went to the Oak Quarry Golf Course again. It turned out to be a beautiful day to paint. We started early and then stopped to have lunch in the club house. In the afternoon the sun came out and created beautiful light. The golfers are amazed to see so many people painting the golf course instead of playing on it. We have had a lot of buzz about the paint out. CBS news was out doing a story on plein air artists and then the local paper was out taking photos. The group is wonderful, so many amazing artists and everyone is warm and fuzzy!

Plein Air Paint Out- Day 5

2011-02-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Jurupa Regional Park

I am posting these all on one day as I have been feeling defeated and tired when I get home. The sun, the pressure and the concentration are making me feel like giving up. Everyone keeps telling me how horrible their first paintings were when they started painting Plein air and not to give up, so I am telling myself everyday is a new day. Really!? Why does it feel like everyday is worse than the one before! LOL Today we went to Jurupa Regional Park which is also a camping site. They have beautiful lakes for fishing and more bike trails and you can have dogs so Chloe came along for the ride. I decided to paint smaller, bite sized paintings since one of the hardest parts of Plein air is editing what to paint. It becomes a sensory overload as you take in the surroundings and then have to choose what to paint. I find that the biggest problem is trying to capture too much information on your canvas, dah, thats for sure. I have been analyzing myself and I have also started talking to myself! This could be a bad sign. During one of these episodes I told myself if I painted smaller canvases it would be more like my sketchbook. Therefore forcing me to crop and edit what I would paint. WRONG! I crammed 3 palm trees, background trees, midground brush, shoreline, lake and reflections on a 5"x7" LOL I am hopeless! It was a better day though since I did have to leave off the gazebo and the fallen log. I managed to get three smaller pieces done. Today was also cloudy and cold, we heard that a new storm is coming our way. Tomorrow we are back at the Oak Quarry in our down jackets and I hope to make myself settle in and get something painted!

Day 3&4 - Plein Air Paint Out

2011-02-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Day 3 and 4 were harder days that left me frustrated and tired. Martha McLean Park was nice and I started a pastel of the train bridge going over the water. I didn't finish it and my finger was so sore from sanding off all my fingerprints from blending the pastels on that sanded paper. We took Chloe and as we were on our way home the painting slid off the back seat and onto Chloe's bed which smeared all the pastels. Sorry no post for that day unless I get it fixed inbetween. The Oak Quarry Golf course was beautiful but I just had a hard time settling in. We were all scattered across dirt hills and on the deck of the country club restaurant. It was empty when I arrived and I started painting and was fighting with my set up and paints etc when I turned around to see a restaurant full of people watching us paint. AHHHH I just wasn't ready for that, I decided to move again and then just left. Thursday will be another day there so hopefully it will go better. I got my new Pentel Pocket pen and decided to play a bit, here is my poor excuse of a painting or sketch. I am sharing everything, good and bad, mosty bad at this point. Plein air is challenging!

Day 2- Plein Air Paint out

2011-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today I was a bit later than yesterday, about 9:00, the continental breakfast was over and they were all on there way out to grab their sites for the day. My little support group and I drove around looking for an area to paint and I decided on the Coffee Depot. It was a part of the original train station that was built in 1904. It closed in 1971 and remained closed about 30 years until Geof Gaines purchased it and renovated it for the Coffee Depot. It was much more than just a coffee house, as it was also a theater, concert venue, etc. Read more by following the links provided. Anyway, I love this building and when it closed on Dec. 26, 2010 it saddened the community. It still sits vacant and I decided to ignore the giant "For Lease" sign, the Coffee Depot truck and painted it.

I spent a few hours on this and I realize I need lots of practice painting plein aire. It was a beautiful day but when that wind blew it was so cold. It is supposed to be warming up and the rain is gone, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Jennifer managed to get a sunburn with her sunglasses on, she looks like a racoon now!

Day 1- Plein Air Paint Out

2011-02-19T21:42:00.001-08:00

En Plein air is the french expression that means "in the open air" and is used to discribe painting outdoors. Today was the first of 9 days in which the Plein air artists of Riverside, or PAAR, will paint at different locations around our city. I am the newest member of the group and I am hoping to learn more about painting plein air and not just sketching plein air. Last week the weather was perfect, this week rain storms are expected. The weather paused today long enough for the opening ceremony and for us to paint. Today we are painting the Mission Inn, tomorrow we will paint the area around the Inn. I managed to get this one painted before I got too cold and the rain started. Tomorrow may prove to be more challenging. It is nerve racking and exciting all at the same time. Although very chilly, people had come out for the Farmers Market so there was a lot of interest in what we were doing. More tomorrow, I am looking for some fingerless gloves!
Since I haven't done a lot of plein air painting I am a bit nervous on how much painting I will actually be able to do on site. I can't even decide if I want to paint in pastel or watercolor. There are some wonderful artists in our local plein air group so the pressure is on to perform, but all self imposed. Plein air painting also required me to figure out what I will wear in an attempt to stay warm enough to paint. I must admit the weather was constantly changing the lighting and the temperature, much different than studio painting. But there is something exhilarating about standing out in weather and painting. You become part of the street activity as well as an observer and recorder. It is wonderful to see artists in the streets painting, it reminded me of Paris and all the wonderful artists that filled the streets, selling and painting. We don't see that very often here in the states, sadly. But today I was comforting to see others out painting, filling the sidewalks and courtyards with easels and umbrellas. Randy was kind enough to cover me with the umbrella when the rains started and helped me shuffle supplies and equipment to and from the car. I am not accustomed to hauling art supplies around town so I look like an amateur. Jennifer stayed with me too, only leaving to shop the farmers market, my own little support team.

Finishing up my SAQA Auction Quilt for 2011

2011-02-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Every year the SAQA, Society of Art Quilters Association, holds an amazing auction. It is filled with hundreds of mini quilts from famous and well known art quilters. They begin with an amount which continues to drop over the week if the quilt does not sell. Read more on their blog, the auction is in Sept. I find that most of the quilts go very quickly. I love the whole auction process, the excitement of seeing if my bid has won. I hope you will mark your calendars. This little mini quilt is done with bleach discharging, pen, hand painted silk and threads. Does the butterfly look like its floating about the wood?

I have so many projects on my work table I can't see straight. I am trying to finish them up so I can get back to doing some artwork for my portfolio. I love the whole process of being creative, what are you working on today?

Saturday is the first day of a nine day plein air paint out and its supposed to be pouring rain. Should be interesting and I think I need to rethink my materials and medium. Randy has offered to be my umbrella holder! LOL

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Friday my Art Quilters Group, Sub Q, met for our monthly meeting. Being so close to Valentines day we each brought a valentines gift or card we had made, sealed in a brown bag. After a musical chairs type pass around the bags ended up at their final destination and we each took turns opening our gifts. I made a bookmark out of the cut off edge of a quilt I just sent to SAQA's " this is a quilt". I had micro stipled the background of my painted, inked fabric and added some embroidery and beading for detail. After trimming it to the proper size I had some wonderful scraps left over. I satin stitched around all the edges and then around a few flowers for detail.I cut out around the top flower and I even took my new white fabric marker and added some highlights here and there. Here is the bookmark that Nancy recieved on Friday from me. I received a beautiful little quiltlet/card from Ann T, thanks Ann I love it! Remember to tell those you love how special they are to you and make the time to appreciate your family. Happy Valentines day!

The Postcard from my walk

2011-02-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

I belong to an amazing group of artist that enjoy painting plein aire and exersizing so they combine it in a group called "sketchersize". We have decided to do a postcard exchange as I mentioned in a privious post. There are 13 of us and from all over the world, it should be such fun recieving a postcard each month from a different country. Mine was posted today, you should come over and see the amazing artwork that has been put up so far. Its exciting to be a part of such a talented group of people. My postcard went to Katherine in London, hers came to me but I wont be able to share until the 20th. Check back then to see her amazing work.

Descanso gardens

2011-02-05T20:37:00.001-08:00

Descanso gardens
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

We had a photo Meetup at Descanso Gardens today. It started off a bit chilly but turned into a perfect day for the gardens. Most of the camelias are in full bloom right now making the gardens a must see if you are in the area.
Randy decided about a year ago, to join a photo meet up group in an attempt to learn more about photography and meet some like minded people. One of the things I enjoy about belonging to the group is exploring some of the amazing areas that I never knew exsisted! Some of these areas are right under my nose! Its so true that we often will travel for days to go sight seeing when we haven't even visited the sites closest to our own homes! These day trips are perfect for us as we can include Jennifer who loves to explore. Although we have been to the Decanso many times but it was fun to explore with a camera and a paint brush. You begin to see things you have never seen or noticed before. You begin to pay special attention to lighting and shadows when you are painting or photographing.

Today at the gardens was "fairy day" and all the little girls were dressed up as fairies, it was just too cute! I am posting my sketches now but I will add some photos of these little pixies in the next day or two.

After the gardens we were invited to have lunch at a very dear friend's home who lived close by. After a perfect lunch and some great conversation we headed home! What a perfect Saturday excursion! What did you do today?

Pool mural

2011-02-03T15:40:00.001-08:00

Pool mural
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I am working on the pattern for the custom tile guys. This is going to be a 26'x3' mural for the back of a pool. It will be done in blues, oranges, yellows etc. They will use this pattern for the wax resist and then all the glazes will be hand painted.

Rainy Day Project

2011-01-30T15:39:00.001-08:00

Rainy Day Project
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I have SAQA deadline tomorrow so I am finishing this up to send. Acrylic paint, fabric paint, inks, markers, thread, now I am beading and embroidering a bit. It's a perfect rainy day project.

UCR Botanical Gardens

2011-01-28T19:59:00.001-08:00

UCR Botanical Gardens
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Today our plein aire painting group was invited to paint the botanical gardens. They have been closed since Christmas due to flooding and they are going to reopen next weekend. There is 46 acres of gardens from succulents to tropicals, roses to herbs. Everything is starting to bloom. This hillside was in the South African garden. This is one of my sketches.

Postcards from our walks- Sharing Art Globally

2011-01-27T07:11:00.000-08:00

I belong to an amazing group of international artists who live in wonderful, dreamy places around the world. The group is called "Sketchersize", started by a renowned artist and blogger, Katherine Tyrrell. You might have seen Katherines Tyrrell's post on her well traveled site "Making the Mark" about the group and our newest venture. It is called "Postcards from my Walk" featuring the postcards we will be sending each other over the next year, there are 14 of us participating. We exercise by walking or hiking and somehow manage to sketch along the way. It is so exciting to see all the wonderful places that these cards will be traveling from. Currently, on the blog, each of us are introducing ourselves, a different person each day. Everyone sharing a glimpse of an artists life in different parts of the world. Get to know more about these extrodinary artists, each so different and talented by visiting daily. Cathy Gatland was kind enough to design our "logo" and its perfect. I will add it to the sidebar with a link to the site. A special thanks to Ronell Van Wyk for her hard work in organizing the group and getting us going! I hope you will follow the journey of our art around the world!

Vasquez Rocks- photo meetup group

2011-01-25T00:06:00.000-08:00

We went with the photo meetup group to Vasquez Rocks. These rocks seem to jet out of the earth at these sharp angles and can reach up to 150 feet tall. Made of sandstone the rocks are barren and void of most vegetation, it was like being on a different planet, a moonscape. The area has been featured in many movies, advertisements and music videos. I ended up painting two watercolors and did one small 5x7 pastel. These were all done with no prior drawing and sitting with Jennifer on a picnic table while Randy hiked up the mountains to get some vista view photos. I was glad that the weather is still cold enough that I think most of the snakes are hybernating since we ended up walking around the mountains to find another plein aire paint group that was there. The weather was perfect and afterwards we all went to lunch and then to another site were oil was discovered in Calif back in the 1800's

The suns out, and we are out for our walk

2011-01-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

With the weather being so wonderful I couldn't stay inside with Blake so we all decided to go for a long walk. We ventured over to the local coffee shop where we had coffee and I sketched a bit. We then stopped by Sprouts on the way home and got fresh veggies for dinner and our juicer. Little Blake was fast asleep by the time we arrived back at the house. Here is my quick sketch of the seating area outside the coffee shop, it has a silly pot with a sad orange tree trying to survive a very unfriendly environment for anything green in this sea of cement! On the way home I noticed that the Red Oak trees were starting to drop there leaves, finally. They had long turned from their beautiful mahogany color to a muddy brown color but the shapes, each unique captivate me. I can't resist them. I seem to gather a few everytime we walk by, when they are new, when they have turned colors and when they are dry!

Lino Block carving Workshop-A fun day in the sun

2011-01-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday I had a linoleum block carving workshop. It was such an amazing day, the weather was perfect and we ended up working outside where we also had our lunch. Here are some of the photos and beautiful prints that we achieved. I want to share the process so you can also try this yourself. Some of the women felt it was almost Zen as it was so relaxing, a perfect destresser!

I took some of my photos of a fountain, of some of my paintings and I even used a sketch. I scanned them into photoshop where I used the stamp filter to change to a simple cut out design. You can decide how smooth or how cut your stamp will be, by sliding the adjustment bar right or left. For a more complex look you can also make multiple stamps for different layers of color by using the cutout filter. In some cases changing the photo to grayscale helps but often just letting the computer assign colors works for easier transfer to linoblocks. This will require you to seperate out each color and cut a lino block for each color. It also requires you to have a stabilizer and alignment method so each block will line up correctly for the layers of stamping you will do. If you decide to use the easier approach which is the stamp filter you will be able to print up a black and white copy on your inkjet printer which can then be burnished onto the lino block. Also remember if you want to use text make sure you mirror it first and then carve so that your stamp will produce the text correctly. If you use speedball printing inks for printing your stamps they will bleed if you decide to paint over your block prints.

Each student recieved a packet of 5 different images from which they could choose. Some brought their own image and we ended up with all unique blocks as a result!

We tested the standard Linoleum blocks which are already mounted on wood verses the softer carving material that is also available. Most prefered the linoblocks as they seemed to cut cleaner, producing a much cleaner edge.

I used a photo of Randy that I love from our trip to Italy.

Desiree

Here are some of the results. These block prints can be printed and painted, printed on fabric. We are thinking of using them for stamping our artquilts using fabric paints. So many ways to use them and they last for a very long time. Once you have created one of these unique stamps you can print multiple copies for cards, for selling etc. Make sure when you get a good print that you sign below and number. A limited number of prints keeps the artwork valued. You can also display your blocks on a shelf as a piece of art, Enjoy!

Kay

Marilyn

Marta

Nancy

Berry trees

2011-01-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry the photo isn't great, another quick shot from my phone in my studio. Its funny how much Christmas stuff I need to paint and it seems like after Christmas I just want to be done with it for awhile. I thought while I still was feeling it I better stick with the Christmas energy and keep painting. I have been working on these berry trees, these are two of a series of four. I am hoping to see them as cards and also want to transfer them to fabric and some applique patterns. Done with tissue paper and watercolors. I have added text to them using Photoshop and I like the results. I need to post from a different computer to share the end product.