Butterfly House

As I am busy decorating I thought I would take a minute to pop over to the Alliance for American Quilts and check out the auction fundraiser when I noticed my little butterfly house quilt is up for auction! I hope you will take a moment to check out all the amazing quilts being auctioned off for a good cause!

This little quilt was inspired by our butterfly house last spring where Jennifer, the twins and I raised some little caterpillars to adult butterflies.watching them grow and change became a wonderful teach opportunity as well as being an beautiful way to view nature. The girls fed them sugar water and when they were full they watched them fly off.

The quilt is hand painted and beaded then quilted by me. It is also signed and is an original Desiree design! I hope you have a minute to check it out!
-Desiree

So Beautiful!

When Randy and I went outside this morning to have breakfast I was amazed at how beautiful it was! I thought how many places in the country can you eat breakfast outside and it's 75 degrees the day after Thanksgiving!? I took some time to sketch my side yard where the lemon tree is growing. This tiny tree has struggled since I bought it as it was sick with something called leaf miners. For years we tried everything to kill them off but nothing seemed to work. Last year we heard of an organic spray called captain jacks and it worked! The tree started putting on new growth and setting little lemons! I was so excited since I had only gotten one or two prior to that. Well, it kept setting and setting and now it is practically laying on the ground with the fruit it produced this year! Wow, as everything else is preparing for winter this little tree is still ripening fruit! I will be buying ice trays so I can freeze the juice I cannot possible use fast enough this winter! Lemon aid, lemon tarts, lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, I will also be making lots of lemon things!



-Desiree

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone many blessings today as you spend time with friends and family. We will miss you dad! I pray that you have a wonderful day eating all those calorie free foods!



- Desiree

I was just minding my own business when....

This morning I was in one of those moods where you have so much on your mind its hard to get focused. I laid with my iPad and answered emails and thought about what I needed to buy for Thanksgiving, the food that needed to be prepared. I also thought about all the Christmas decorations that will be making there way out right after Thursday! I thought about my Christmas party and all the wonderful friends that will be coming to spend a few hours together, celebrating the season and each other before all the craziness begins. As I checked my mail and was going to start working on the portrait I got an email from my dear friend Ann Turley. She congratulated me on my quilt making the SAQA Journal! Wow, I didn't even know, I wasn't notified and it was still sitting all wrapped in plastic waiting for me to read! What an awesome surprise, thanks Ann, I don't know when I would have noticed if you hadn't emailed me! I sent that in so many months ago I had almost forgot. The little quilt was done with ties and boiling vinegar water and muslin. We had a play day where our art quilt group boiled ties. Check out the post! It was tons of fun and this little quilt was a result. It looked like houses and cars and there were big areas that looked like cracks. I called it Urban Sprawl. I grabbed my coffee, sat down and took a few minutes to enjoy the SAQA Journal this morning, have you read yours yet?

What a great way to start my day! What fun, I then went into my studio and FINISHED my commissioned portrait!! YEAH!! I am so glad it is finished early so they have time to get it framed before the holidays. The lighting isn't good for the photo but you get the picture!

Then, the fabric company called to say that they needed my next full line of fabric in two weeks!! Wow, really?! Sleep? I don't think that will be happening but I am so thankful that they decided on something they liked enough for me to develop. And then lastly, tonight, my husband came in to announce that my persimmon tree had 4 persimmons on it! I thought they had burnt in the heat in August and shriveled up and dropped off. Now with all the leaves gone the little orange ornaments show up on the sticks that are left. Such a tiny tree, only two years old, and to carry such a burden. Their limbs bent with the weight all the way out on the tips. I thought I would never get a persimmon, thinking the tree didn't like where I planted it, but look, four! Well, three because part of two are damaged but fruit anyway! Yippie, a good life day today for sure, so much to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving week! 

You can see the sunburnt area that looks bad but I have a knife!

Damaged but edible, expect some sketches soon!  I need to journal about this for sure!

November Sketch Class

We had a great class, mixing colors on our paper, learning how to make beautiful colors without making mud. We even made some beautiful grays for toning. We then took some beautiful fall leaves that Randy picked for us and painted a fall page using what we learned, letting the paint do its magic on the paper. They took lots of notes in their journals which will give them something to refer back to in the future. I will be working on a new video which will be available soon.

Fun and Funky Friday!

Well after another night of being up all night I decided to get up and paint, it was around 3am. Its so funny how you think that painting is a quiet activity yet I seem to make so much noise as I get water, my paints etc. I find myself trying to be extra quiet but always seem to stub my toe or turn on the wrong light switch. It was late, or early, and I decided to take some of the background paintings that the twins have done and repurpose them. I love how uninhibited kids are with their art, full of adventure and a no-fear attitude. These new, recycled paintings will all go into a Recycled ARt category on my website and maybe blog, for sale. The idea behind the repurposing is to reuse watercolor paper or other papers,even painted fabric that were not successful and repaint on them. I love the idea of using items that would otherwise be thrown away. Its Affordable Recycled ARt! They will be small watercolor, mixed-media, gouache,fiber or acrylics that will be affordable for anyone looking to collect some of my artwork at reasonable prices. They will range in styles depending on the mood I am in or the time of day or night I ended up producing the little master piece! I hope you will take time to check them out and if you feel inclined to purchase one or two for your holiday shopping list. I guarantee that you will be happy with them or you can return them. Here are the two I did in the wee hours of the morning, a fun, funky beginning to my Friday! Enjoy.

Girl in Blue
4.5x6" watercolor/gouache $20

Blue Tabby
4"x5"watercolor/gouache $20

The Iris Garden

I did a 26' mural for a custom pool which I then turned into patterns for my art quilting group. Anyone that was interested could choose a section to work on. The only two rules was that they had to use two same fabrics and add a personal element to the quilt. They were encouraged to not work together but as individuals, making their piece uniquely their own. Each section is 36"x42" and they all meet and hang as one big unit. It was so exciting to finally see all the pieces hanging together, it was amazing. Everyones piece was so beautiful and was a true labor of love. We are also honored to have been accepted to hang at "Road to California" this January. Look for our quilt and see if you can see each unique element in each section of the quilt. These women worked so hard to make this happen, they appliquéd, painted, fused, embellished, quilted, designed some worked from other states. All in hopes that they would finish in time to submit it for the Road, congratulations to all of you!!

1. Nancy Williams

2. Ann Turley

3. Kay Davis

4. Desiree Habicht

5. Christa Elsee

6. Marilyn Fromherz

7. Phyllis Campbell

8. Anne Sonner  

9. Nancy Mastroianni

Working on a Christmas Portrait

Although I am not a portrait artist I am often honored by people who are willing to trust me enough to paint their loved ones. It is stressful process as I am so nervous about capturing their likeness as well as making everyone happy. I am not very far along but enjoying the process so far. Its so interesting as to how easily it is to miss the mark when doing a portrait. One eye shape off, a missed mouth expression often play into why the portrait doesn't work out. Keeping my fingers crossed as I continue on! And now I have booked another portrait commission, with four kids in the painting, OH NO!

Gathering seeds and Fall Cleanup

I love to get ready for winter by doing a good Fall Garden Clean up! It is nice to get all the old dead or drying leaves, stems and stuff cleaned out of the yard. We prune everything back knowing that by early next year everything will be already coming back out. As I take out the old spend flowers I make my last bouquets and collect seed heads for next years plantings. I end up with many little baggies full of seeds that I label with a permanent marker. Some I send to my mom, others I share with friends there is always enough to go around!

Its a great time to journal about your collected treasures too. I have a special gardening journal where I can make notes, document problems I am having as well as successes I have. My garden, like my artwork, is often a test or experiment to see if I can grow it or not.

I find I am always inspired by nature, taking the time to stop and enjoy all it offers in every season.

The Nasturtiums are just about done too, few blooms are left but lots of leaves still. I started with many colors but seem to only have the yellow/orangeish ones left? I am also pulling out my summer garden getting ready to plant my leafy winter one.

 I also picked the last of my apples and made Susan Branches Apple Crisp, yummy. So nice that the weather has cooled enough for me to want to cook again!

Waiting for Breakfast

I think that anything is worth painting because they all are lessons that teach us something. We happened to be running through McDonalds for coffee and i saw the line for breakfast on Sunday morning. what intrigued me was the shadows from the morning sun. Waiting for breakfast has really changed over the past few years. Before it was grabbing a piece of toast or an apple but today it often means sitting in line at a fast food restaurant. I wonder what memories the kids today will have about breakfast, egg McMuffins in the back seat!?

6x6 watercolor
-Desiree

FALL!! It's HERE!!

Before I begin my post I want to say how heartbroken I am to see the devastation that Hurricane Sandy caused over the last few days. My thoughts and prayers are with those on the east coast. I will be donating art to Daily Paintworks for their fundraiser auction. Please think of someway that you might be able to help those who are dealing with so much right now.

November is here!! Yeah, I love the cooler weather, down blankets, fires and homemade soup! Holiday decorations, parties and the smell of cinnamon and ginger. Yummy. I am already making soup. I have been sketching and painting ideas for Christmas cards and I am still undecided as to what will make the final selection for my cards. I did this little bird and thought something simple might be nice.

But still undecided. I was outside looking a subject matter for another Christmas card idea. I have a strawberry tree that has fruit that is turning wonderful colors and I might do that. I also collected seeds from my Rubeckia and Red Zinnias for next spring. I am also excited to start planting my garden and putting out pansies for winter color in the yard. I picked all my apples and made Susan Branch's Cranberry Apple Crisp which was delicious! I will be making that all holiday season I am sure! 

This weekend we will be doing fall yard clean up and getting ready for winter, which doesn't really mean much in comparison to what some of you deal with. I have lots of trees and bushes that need their annual haircut and then my hubby hauls it all to the dump. I am not allowed to go with him anymore since I always find things at the dump that I want to bring home! Go figure that he wouldn't like that!

I will be at the Riverside Art Museum tonight for the Artwalk and the reveal the Orange Aid Oranges, please come by and say Hi! there are over 100 Oranges painted by local artists to be auctioned off or sold to sponsors to raise money for the museum. Hope to see you there. 

A Fun Halloween Play day at Lauretta's

It is always so nice to be able to get out of my studio and visit someone else's design space. My friend, Lauretta, has a wonderful studio space and she invited me for a fun play day. We shared projects we have been working on, things we plan on starting and then we started to play. She set me up on her long arm quilting machine so I could work on some free motion quilting and then I set her up with my gel plate and we did some mono printing. We had lunch and laughed and had so much fun all day. She has decorated her house with such wonderfully themed vignettes of her spooky Halloween collections. I wanted to share them with you, go here to add some music for the tour first. I took some liberty and added a dead frog in one or two of her containers with Photoshop to add more eewww to her already creepy set up. Thanks for a great play day!!

By adding filters in Photoshop you can take any photo and turn it into a great graphic Halloween card or party invitation!

I added a filter to this photo to get this creepy picture, what a cool Halloween card!

 Then here is some of our mono prints we did, just playing on fabric with paint.

I hope everyone has a fun, safe Halloween! 

BOO!!

Working on some Christmas card ideas

It's that time of year again, time to paint my Christmas cards. I love doing it and I love watching my students paint their own cards. I am just playing with some ideas and photos I found, doing some small paintings to see if I like them enough for my cards. While i was in Vegas this week i saw the most amazing candied apples and the strong lighting in the hotel made them so shiny, they almost look glass! I think with some fun lettering and maybe some bows and tags added they would make a nice card. For me, the hardest part is deciding what I want on my Christmas cards every year!

Are you painting your cards this year?

I think I am going to do some birds next!







I am not happy with the puppies, they're off and I won't paint them again since its not what I want for my cards.
- Desiree

October Sketch Class

I had seven women in my sketch class today, what a wonderful day it was too! The weather was perfect for sketching on-site at the Canyon Crest Center. We parked next to a lunch place  called Jam n Bread and we could smell fresh bread cooking the whole time we painted. The tables outside the deli are set up next to a stream and Koi pond with rocks and reeds and even a bridge. There was so much information to take in and we discussed how to edit that information and put in what tells the scene the best. Watercolor takes some thought ahead of time to assure a good outcome. This was a big jump off point for my new students but they rose to the challenge and painted some great pieces. Here is my little sketch done as a demo. We then ordered our lunches and sat together at the bar and shared our paintings, discussing all the artwork that was painted today. Great Job Ladies!!

Chloe is certified!!

Well Jennifer finally fulfilled a long time dream of hers, to have a service dog. She was insistent she didn't want to have a Lab or Golden since she works so long at a shelter and prefers mixed breeds. The funny part to this story is that we ended up getting her sisters dog at 8 months old and she is a purebred Boston Terrier. The breed is known for its energetic enthusiasm for life. They can be hard to calm but are very loving and attentive.  Jennifer decided that she would be a good service dog and started training her to do things like pick things up, retrieve things for Jenn etc.

We went through all the tests, applications and received our service dog license last week! We are legal! Jennifer is also taking some advanced training classes with Teryn, and amazing dog trainer! We want Chloe to alert someone if Jennifer is hurt or needs us. I am so proud of both of them, they are amazing. Here are some photos from class today and I the sketch I did of her for the International Postcard Exchange can be viewed by clicking the link on the right, Postcards from my walk.

My new art boxes are done!!

Today I finished up and shipped my art boxes for release November 1st! I am so excited about this new collection of work. We still have a few original boxes left so drop by the ArtBox and check them out. The first group is whimsical song birds done on painted fabric and quilted. I had started another collection of old keys which I also love but it was all collaged and I think I want this group to stay as a fiber group. The fabric is painted, gessoed, stamped, and distressed before the birds are placed on and painted. I then shadowed and highlighted before quilting.

 This next group are my vintage women, each sporting a hat with a lot of meaning. Each painting also has a saying; Friendship goes best with Tea and Cookies, Baking feeds my soul etc. This series has more women and collection pieces that go along with them. If you are interested in a custom piece please feel free to contact me!

 My process was to first draw out the girls, this is where I refine the drawing and make sure I am happy with everything before transferring it to fabric. I then choose the fabric background I wanted them to have and then I transferred them to the fabric.

 I then began to paint the face and continued until everything was painted, shadowed and detailed.

 As I was painting the figure I was using some of the dots and splashes in the background fabric to turn into flowers, bees etc.

As I paint I wipe off some of the paint so that some of the background shows through in some areas.

 As the painting progressed I continued to add details and shadowing with a charcoal pencil and some liquid pencil to give it a vintage look.

 When I was happy with the way everything turned out I collaged on some text at the bottom of the piece that says "Gardening Grows my Heart" and Garden Girl is born. I then took her to my sewing machine and quilted her, being careful to not ruin her expression. I hope you enjoyed the process!
All of these art boxes and more from some of the top fabric artist will be available at the artboxcsa on November 1st, just in time for your Christmas Shopping! See some other links below to see some of the other artists amazing work!

More artists showing their work for the ArtBoxcsa! 

Jamie Fingal

Sue Bleisweiss

Deborah Boschert
Tracie Lyn Huskamp
Leslie Tucker Jenison
Lyric Kinard
Kelli Nina Perkins
Judy Coates Perez
Kathy York

Movie stars, UCLA, museums and princess skirts,all in one week!!

We had a whirlwind week with Jennifer going in to UCLA for a minor surgical procedure. The night before we went to have dinner and found ourselves in the middle of a Premier for the movie "Seven Psychopaths" with all the movie stars lined up for photos.  We couldn't get close enough to see them but we could hear the screaming for Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken and others. It was so exciting as we sit outside on the patio of the restaurant directly across the street from all the commotion. It was a true Hollywood moment that, and although I grew up in California, have never seen one before. Lots of police, fans, photographers, security and then us commoners.

The next morning Jenn was checked in for surgery and we stayed with her until all was well and she was sleeping off the sedatives. She did great and we are good to go for another year!! Yeah!!

Every year it seems she has to go through this and we try to make it a bit fun for her and us. This time, as she was sleeping, we slipped over to the Hammer Museum, which we have never seen before. They were having several interesting exhibits and they have an amazing permanent collection of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir,Toulouse-Lautrec etc.

One of the most unsettling exhibits, but thought provoking, was an exhibit by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu , their first US exhibit. So we walked up to the door and looked inside and there wasn't anything in there, I said to Randy, they must have taken it down already but the person at the door said, No, go in, its inside. We walked into a large white room with nothing on the walls at all. On the far wall was a small hole with dust on the floor but we barely noticed as we felt like the room was empty and whatever had been there was now gone. Off on the right side of the hole was a opening, a doorway that lead to a hall. We proceeded through the doorway and were startled by a large figure, peeking through the hole with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. Dressed in Middle eastern tribal dress and American style combat boots he was very scary. The piece has many meanings and is a reminder of how one individual can cause chaos and fear. I am still thinking of it, and we found ourselves walking around him, a wax-life like figure for sometime. I thought to myself how safe and unaware of any danger I felt as I first entered the room and how quickly that changed. I had to go around to the empty room and peek through the hole in the wall, a big eye peered back at me, chilling! The exhibit is called "I am here". I would highly recommend a visit to the Hammer Museum if you have never been, well worth your time and students are free.

The following day we took Jennifer home and I began a project I had hoped to have done for the twins birthday on Friday. The problem was it was now Wednesday and I only see them on Thursday so I needed to finish sewing them now! I sewed until I couldn't keep my eyes open and then I had to go to bed. 

Thursday came and I wasn't finished but as they napped I sewed and sewed....

Tulle, tulle everywhere and then the glittered tulle, it covered every surface with sparkle.

Today is Friday, it is the girls birthday today, they are four. It is an age where they want everything they see on TV, the store and in books and magazines. It is so easy to buy them things, knowing they will love it all. But I know that although you can buy them, I need to be the one to sew them some princess skirts. I debated whether or not to sew a complete princess dress but knowing them they need to be able to shed the fluff at a moments notice and getting out of a fluffy dress isn't easy. I decided to make the skirts with lots of ruffles and plain tulle underneath the glittery tulle. I went with Marianne to several fabric stores in OC to pick out the perfect tulle. I found the most glittery tulle at M&L Fabrics, the woman cutting the fabric had to stop to dust herself off and clean the counter before she could proceed. I knew it was going to make a mess but I had to get it. My husband swears we just got the glitter cleaned up from Christmas and now its back. My sewing room, ironing board, floors are all sparkling. I only saw the skirts on the girls for a moment as they ran to moms car to go home Thursday night. Today I received a few pictures of them on their way to show off the skirts to their friends at school! There is nothing better than tulle and glitter for girls and princesses!

Well, its Friday night, that was my week, what did you guys do this week???