Another page in my Gardening Journal

I planted delphinium this year, it is one of my favorite flowers but I haven't always had great success with it. I don't know why I am constantly trying to grow things that I struggle with, must be the challenge. My mom planted a few last year and they did ok, but not great. This year , to my surprise they came back so I added more! They are beautiful!! I love the blue, there is no other blue like it, a true cobalt glazed pot blue! It doesn't look real. I debated whether to even paint them knowing I can't capture the blue correctly. I plan on planting more next year and hope that these will come back! I like the pacific giants best, they are bigger than the magic fountain variety.

Funky friends

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

While we were at therapy today I went to visit with the outdoor adventure group but sadly they were gone, probably outdoors! On the table outside the front door sat this, probably one of their latest projects. I loved them, they all looked like they were happy to see me. Being earthday, I thought that it was a perfect way to recycle old socks into cute new pots. Adding the buttons and faces made them even more special. I am sure it was a project for the kids, but I think I will be going home to dig through my husbands socks to make some new friends for my garden. I am thinking they would be so cute placed around my garden, planted with grass seeds, like hair. It seemed like they filled the socks with potting soil after sewing on the button faces and then tied the end shut. They then cut a small hole into the top of the socks to plant them. Most of them seemed to have some sprouts coming out of their heads! LOL They were sitting in a plastic, recycled container to help with the water not just pouring out all over. The ones in front, which you can't see very well, seem to be fish! LOL They are so cute, not pretty but clever. I love it when I am creatively surprised.

Sharing the process- a new upcoming workshop

I am often asked "How do I come up with my ideas?" or "How do you put it together?" when people see my artquilts. I know each one of us is unique and go about the process completely different but I am going to share with you my process with this last quilt I made, my signature quilt, that ended up growing as I assembled it. It became larger than I originally planned. 

First comes the inspiration, that can be from anywhere, books, nature, photos etc. In this case I was admiring and amazed by the month challenge on Wet Canvas in the floral/botanical area. They had posted photos of caladium and everyone interprets it their own way. I loved all the leaves and colors, then when everyone started posting their pieces, it was great. Wow, amazing. I was inspired also by Signchick or Beths acrylic painting where she used purple in the background and I was now filled with ideas to make a quilt. I needed to make a signature quilt for my quilting group. Every camp someone makes a quilt that everyone signs, then names go into a hat and one person is selected to win the quilt. The theme this camp was "Jungle". The leaves were a perfect fit for the theme and I was off and running. I started by drawing up my own interpretation of the caladium leaves. I then took this drawing and blew it up to the size I wanted the leaves to be.

I then took my drawing and painted it to give it color and life.

At this point I am thinking of different ways to transform this into fabric and how will I arrange the elements. I started making small thumbnail sketches of layout ideas and decided I liked the boxes of color in the background. I went through my stash of fabric and found a batik I just loved that had all the colors of my painting along with the purple I wanted to incorporate.

You can see here that I have leaves in bunches and some flowers, which I eliminated. I still like this design but as the quilt evolved I make different design choices and decisions as to placement etc.  Now I choose my fabrics. I choose the batik with all my colors and added some of the colors from that fabric like the green. I painted the pink and lime green fabric that i used for the caladium leaves. Then using my templates I cut out and fused the fabrics together to make the leaves. I even used the cut outs I had left over from cutting out the leaves as new leaves if you look at the quilt you will see that. The leaves without different colored edges are just the left over fabric from cutting out the ribs for some of the leaves. I sew all the blocks together after laying out how I want them to fall. This part of the design takes the longest, I have to square everything, figure out how how much to add to each piece to make it even sewable. I could have also fused all of the squares onto a base but I decided to piece since I need the practice. 

Here you can see the smaller black fabric on the top of the quilt, that was my original size and it is under this new quilt. I am beginning to place the leaves onto the base to see the composition etc. Once I am happy I can iron these elements into place and then add the other smaller elements such as the leaves, outlines.  I ended up taking out a few of the leaves and adding in the outlines of the leaves instead. I ended up simplifing as I went along.

Here is a piece of my hand painted fabric that I didn't cut up, I love this piece and may want to make it into commercial fabric for one of my next fabric lines. So here is the final quilt.

The colors arent great here, I need to photograph it during the day, the incandesent lights make it yellow at night! Uhhgg.  I finished it off by satin stitching the caladium leaves down, I wanted a thicker black outline around them, then I just freemotion quilted the leaves and additional lines, I did a minimum of quilting on this quilt due to my machine acting up, since its an artquilt and will be hanging I will be fine.  I plan on teaching a workshop where we will first do our sketches and then translate into a quilt design. Look for that in the next few months.

Last day of garden tour

I meant to post my final sketch from Sunday. We enjoyed getting to meet some online friends in person, so they are no longer just virtual friends now! Pat, from sketchersize, came up and sketched with me, we had a great time but filled with interuptions from people asking questions. I loved it, its so wonderful to share the yard with fellow gardeners that notice everything and have questions. I dont usually get that, often guests never even notice the yard let alone a specific plant.  Randy got to be home and soak up some of the comments from the guys, that was fun for him too. We had so many people feeling the lawn, they couldn't believe it was real. LOL. Here is my sketch from Sunday, another in my 2010 garden sketchbook. Under the window, standing about 30" tall are some angel wing begonias that Randy saved from the clearance rack at Lowes. They are so thankful that they haven never stopped blooming. 

New Signature Quilt for Quilt retreat WIP

I am working on a new quilt for the quilters group I belong to. We have two retreats per year and we do a signature quilt, that everyone signs. This camp I am doing the quilt, I will be adding some lettering and the idea is to have them write in the leaves since the theme was jungle.  I started with a painting I did for a challenge on Wet Canvas. I liked the leaves so well that I translated it to fabric. I mixed my hand painted fabrics with commercial fabrics and did geometric shapes along with the organic shapes of the caladium leaves. I hope you like it, I will post a finished picture in a few days.  What is everyone else up too?

The first day of the garden tour

Well we survived the first day of the garden tour. It turned out being so much more fun than I could have imagined. I at first thought of hiding in the house, letting them explore the yard without the owner lurking about.  But then decided I needed to be a part of the whole experience, be out painting and talking to fellow gardeners about the yard and plants. It isn't often I get to share my garden with fellow gardeners so this was me big chance. It turned out so amazing, groups of people around me asking me questions and sharing their stories of plants and gardens. I loved that so many people had to come in and feel the lawn, not believing it was real. I had wished Randy could have been home to see that since he worked so hard on having it look so perfect. I ended up only sketching one quick sketch but did manage to get sunburned! I will have to apply more sunscreen today. With a storm approaching I was worried that it would have been raining today but now they are saying tonight which should give us one more day of sunshine!!! I also met fellow artists, quilters as well as gardeners, it was a great day.

Beautiful April Fools Day at the beach

Beautiful April Fools Day at the beach
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I took two pastel paintings into Manhattan Beach yesterday for a pastel show. What a glorious day, a bit chilly, but that didn't stop everyone from enjoying the day. It was a mix of clothing from jackets to tank tops. On the pier the wind kept it cool as only a handful of fishermen were actually fishing. The little sidewalk cafe that sells ice creams and waters at the end of the pier was almost empty. Behind the cafe they had a classroom with all the aquariums full of eels and fish, they were teaching the kids about the dangers of littering in the water and taking care of the oceans. We walked along the boardwalk and admired all the houses and little flower gardens that lined the streets. It is hard not to notice the weathering all those beach front houses take, it looks like that salt water even eats the cement away. Cute little shops line the main streets with cafes and boutiques and as we walked by the smells of food cooking enveloped us. A wonderful day in Los Angeles.

The guardian of the vegetable garden

I have always had a vegetable garden. I love growing my own food, organically. Being able to go out and pick things right from the yard and then prepare them for dinner just feels right. I remember when the kids were little they loved to go into the garden and pick the strawberries or sweet peas and eat them right off the plant. I am glad that we never had to deal with pesticides. I have grown some pretty different things, trying to keep the kids interested in the garden. I have grown gourds, blue potatoes, peanuts, jicima, pumpkins, loffa sponges and more. Now my garden is so small compared to years back. It is just about the right size for the three of us. I could use one more bed but I spill over into the yard a bit and I think it is working. This year I bought a scarecrow and two crows just for fun. I thought the grandkids would like them. I put them into the garden box and now they are almost covered by the brocolli and cauliflower. Here is my sketch of my little vegetable garden and the new guardian of the food!

Arbutus- 2010 Garden Moleskine Sketchbook

I decided to finally paint in the big Moleskine sketchbook I bought some time ago. I had been saving it for something special but I wasnt sure what that was. This year I decided to make it my garden sketchbook. Our yard is finally just about done, and we love spending time out there. For most of our marriage we have loved working outside, there is something about turned soil, growing things to eat and seeing the reward for all of your hard work that continues to call us back. This yard has been by far the most involved, combining elements of design, function, disability access and beauty. I thought it would be great to paint it through out this year, at different stages. The poppies were my first post, this is my second, the Arbutus or strawberry tree

Nap time

In my painting group online called Painting Friends we do a weekly challenge called "Friday Foto". We have to paint or draw the photo and post. I haven't had much of an opportunity to participate due to time constraints but today I made it a point to paint one of the challenges. Stephie, a wonderful artist and amazing photographer posted this weeks picture she took at the zoo. Here is my kitty picture, thanks Steph.

Painted Paper towel quiltlet

This is my SAQA auction quilt this year, its very springy. I love to save the used paper towels from my students when they take one of my painting classes. These paper towels often turn out better than some of the painted fabrics. The are usually used to wipe up an assortment of colors and turn out beautiful, they are wonderful for collage pieces. I painted the fabric background and then used the paper towels to create the flowers. The leaves are first painted loosely onto the wet fabric then I added dyed silk fabric for the leaves. Some thread work and beads to help give it some texture finish it off. I hope you like, it will be available for bid coming soon. 

Walk with the Animals

Every year the Humane society has a walk to raise money for the shelter, even after all these years we are still involved. Jennifer was the manager before her accident and she still loves the animals and what she did so we enjoy supporting them through different events. The walk this year was amazing. I can't believe how big its gotten, hundreds of people and their dogs showed up around 8ish to have a pancake breakfast and then go on the walk around the lake. The weather was wonderful and everyone seemed to have a great time.We took Chloe and Pee wee who enjoyed all the other dogs and treats they were handing out. There was agility demonstrations and freesby dogs too.  Here are a few sketches and pictures

This last picture is a friend that Pee wee found and he loved her. He keeps trying to talk her into coming onto his lap, but Pee wee would not oblige, she allowed him to love on her on her terms only, LOL. Such a girl.

Quilted card

Quilted card
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I often experiment with new and different techniques on small pieces of fabric. I end up with lots of quiltlets, small pieces of art that have no purpose other that being a happy quiltet. Today I made a card by taking my little piece of fabric and putting onto a stabilizer, then I did some outlining in black thread with my free motion foot. Once I was happy with that I switched over to a zig zag stitch and added some ribbon and metalic threads and stitched it all down to the card base at the same time. I left about 3" of ribbon hanging off of the end so I could tie a bow. I think it makes a great card for someone special, its also a great way to use those left over quilt blocks. You can purchase card stock with envelopes at a craft store or art store. Enjoy

Finally I can reveal the whole quilt- Tortured Soul

I know that I only posted a small cropped image of this quilt since we were all sworn to silence prior to the judging. I am sharing all of it now, yesterday I was informed that the piece was selected to hang in the show that will be at Long Beach, CA this year. I will be posting more information on the right side soon. It was an invitational juried exhibit so I was not only honored to be asked again this year but so excited when we were emailed the list of accepted quilts. Our group that did the fractured quilt in Sallys honor were all asked to submit quilts this year and I am proud to say the three of us were excepted this year! Yeahhhhh, way to go everyone.  The theme was "Beneath the surface" and my quilt depicts the things that haunt us or torment us that we keep hidden or buried beneath the surface. I did this sketch in life drawing class and even as I drew her she looked haunted and I wondered what she was thinking or worrying about. The sketch has always been one of my favorites since it really showed worry. When I decided to try and translate it into fabric I was worried it would lose the haunting look she had. I am happy with it. It is done with machine applique, paint, micro stippling and thread work, I have also hidden about 8 words within the background, you have to search them out to find them. Its another message of caring enough about each other to look past the surface and to share the true persons issues. It is the hope that we not let our relationships be so shallow but we reach deeper and care for each other.

Poppies are bloomin'

I am always drawn to flowers, it doesn't matter if its in a yard, or on a hillside they captivate me and draw me in. I love them so much that every year I fill my yard with them, all different varieties and colors. I do have my favorites though, the ones that seem to revisit my much loved gardens every year. In the spring I love the faces of pansy's and rannaculas and those poppies. Their single petals, long, slender stems swaying in the wind as the sun lights them up is worth waiting for. They burst open every morning, waiting for me to come and soak it all in. We attempted to plant and prune in a timely manner this year, trying to ensure tons of blooms for the garden tour. We were selected, along with 5 other homes, to be on the local tour. I am hoping that the yard will wake up in time to be in full bloom but with all the rain, and the cold I don't know if the yard will cooperate this year.Here is my painting from this morning, sitting on the grass, soaking in the sun as I painted poppies.  

New Textured Fruit

Playing with textures and colored pencils on fabric here are some pears. I also used watercolors in the background before applying the colored pencils.

Another Sneak Peek of a WIP

This is a piece I am working on, trying to finish for a deadline fastly approaching. With all the
interuptions this week I am praying I will finish. Just another sneak peek at a
different project that is 36" x 48"

Peek at my new project

Peek at my new project
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Playing with some watercolor techniques, in inbetween sewing my latest art quilt. Sorry its blurry, taken with my phone. I started with a picture printed on my printer onto regular paper, you use vodka to transfer to paper, then enhance and add more paints, at the same time I incorporated tape layers to give it depth. At the end I pulled paint off using a stencil and a scrub brush.

March 3, Blakes Birthday

In the middle of headline disasters, busy schedules, family deaths comes a breathe of fresh air, a new life. It brings with it so much more than itself, it brings hope and renewal. A promise of a tomorrow full of dreams and aspirations. Is it just a baby?, yes, that too. A cute, fat, healthy baby boy, Blake weighing in at 9 lbs. 6 oz. at 11:11. We spent the last 12 hours watching our latest miracle happen, our family grew again, we are now 15. Happy Birthday Blake

Randy's birthday weekend and Houses for Haiti

Nothing warms my heart like having family around. We had two of our grandchildren this weekend and I had lots of things planned. The clouds rolled in on Saturday and it poured most of the day, it was a perfect day to stay inside, in our pj's and work on crafts. I always have an art project when they come to stay. I love that I am the "artist" Nana, the one that shares their creative side. I shared the Houses for Haiti project with them and they were excited to become a part of trying to help other kids. We had such fun making eggplant sandwiches (I got menu requests via email prior to their visit) and making houses on Saturday. They are amazing young people, with sweet, loving spirits and so much fun. Here we are, working on our houses, which totaled 59 that we are selling to raise money to send to Haiti relief. They chose Doctors without Borders as the charity to send their money.

On Sunday night everyone came to the house to celebrate Randy's birthday. I made spaghetti, salad and garlic toast and we ate and talked and played with the twins as they ran back and forth through the kitchen. Melissa laid in the recliner, having small contractions and hopes that her first baby will soon arrive. At one point that night, in the middle of all the activity, I looked around and listened. I thanked God for this crazy bunch of people I call my family, with all of their imperfections, perfections, quirks, personalities we love them so much. I listened to the loud roar of the conversation, the TV, the kids screaming and laughing, the noisy toys and for a minute I just let myself absorb the glory of it all. How lonely it would be without them, how thankful I am for each of them. After dinner the games began, all the kids included and then pie instead of cake. Here is our weekend celebration and our Haiti houses we are selling. It was a weekend the house was full of the sounds of laughter, kids giggling in their beds instead of sleeping, little feet running up and down the halls, video games and laughter, did I mention laughter!

Wow, now to clean up the mess!

A new mini quilt exploring textures

We are working with textures and rubbings and this month we are concentrating on fruits and veggies. This is my first one, I am working on another. Avocados, done with collage, puffy paint, gesso, inks, paint.

Almost done with the dishes!

I have been working on this pastel for awhile and I thought I was done but then I photographed it. Sometimes when you get back, take some time or look at the painting from a different viewpoint you will see the areas that are weak or missing. I have a few areas that need some work so I will be spending some time finalizing my painting! I will be glad to not have to look at silverware for awhile! Randy has agreed to unload the dishwasher for a few months!

Custom Collage and mix media workshop- March

I have decided to do workshops here at my studio due to the requests from my amazingly wonderful students. I find that trying to do these types of workshops and classes where so much "stuff" is required makes me almost have to disassemble my studio and try to transport it. I find I always forget something that would have worked too! I am planning on doing a different workshop each month and based on the response I will add classes or adjust the schedule. This first class/ workshop will be on creating your story. To read more about the workshop and sign up visit my website;
www.desireesdesigns.com . To assure my students have adequate room to work and all they need to be successful I am limiting the size of the workshops so we can be in a more intimate environment and learn to focus and get into the "zone". I hope to see you in March! Watch for more workshops signup soon.

A gift from me to Karin

Karin Jurik's blog has been inspiring and amazing since I first found it. Different strokes for different folks has never failed to inspire me to try different things. Not only did I except many of the challenges that were outside my comfort zone but I was always awed by the variety of styles and techniques that other artist used to translate their own interpretation of the challenge photo. Due to her busy schedule and an upcoming artshow she had to call it quits. One of the artists in the group,Jill put together a thank you project. She asked each of the artists that participated in the portrait challenge if we would paint a portrait of Karin from a photo she had, we were all more than happy to participate. 118 artist send our jpgs to Jill who compiled all the images into a book and sent them to Karin as a thank you. She just received the book and, well, I think she loved it! Here is my "thank you" portrait to Karin for all of her hard work and efforts to keep us inspired and seeking to paint our own voice! pastel 8"x 10"

WDE for Wet Canvas

I enjoy the weekly challenges of the weekend drawing event. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to participate for weeks. Every Friday I will venture in to the site to see the photos that the weekly host has posted. I usually can't resist and have to save one in hopes of painting it that weekend. This week the photos were amazing and

WDE for Wet Canvas
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

I loved the grape picture along with several others I saved in hopes of painting
at a later date. I find that there are never enough hours in my day to do all the things I want to do! Tonight, with Randy gone for a sleep test, I stayed up and painted the grapes.Watercolor 9"x12"

Temecula Winery

We had so much fun down at the Ponte Winery in Temecula, having lunch in celebration of Aimee's birthday. We shopped, tasted wine, had lunch and visited for hours.

The weather was amazingly beautiful and our party of 11 joined the hundreds of other people that felt the same way. Randy brought his camera and continued to practice his photography, a great day all around. Here are some pictures from our day. The dog was a photo I took on our way down, everyone seems to be enjoying the warm weather.

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photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by ddhabicht

Our Italy trip was a dream come true for Randy and I. It was the trip we were planning for our twentieth anniversary, the year Jennifer was hit by the drunk driver. That trip never happened, nor did any traveling after that horrible day. We feared that traveling for us might be only a dream until last year. My latest piece , a memory and journal quilt of Italy. I saved pieces of ephemera while we were on vacation in Italy and Paris last May. I had plans and hopes of using them somehow to remind us of special parts of our trip. We took tons of photos and I journaled also but putting it all together here was such fun. Each piece of saved paper brought back wonderful memories. The piece of paper off of the candy that our landlord in Italy placed in our room, or the tickets to the Borghese Museum where we spent the day enjoying the treasures inside and out. I incorporated pieces of wrapping paper, some ticket stubs transferred to fabric, sketches from my journal, and a posterized picture of us to create this collage of our Italy trip. I still may add the Colosseum sketch to the back ground. This may be one of a few then it will be on to Paris.