Nancyʻs Blog

More Doggies

2011-02-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

"Maka" is my friend Judy's Labradoodle. Not only is he Judy's pride and joy, he is the best-mannered dog I have ever known. And he's a sweetie too. He volunteers as a canine visiting companion for hospital patients, and as a "spokes-dog" for the Hawaiian Humane Society. I was hesitant to attempt to sculpt him, because I wasn't sure how to handle the long-hair. I ended up felting his core with solid sheep wool, and then tacking on an outer layer of Angora Goat Mohair for his curly locks. It worked out well. I gave this to Judy as a Thank-You gift for letting us stay in her guest studio in Hawai`i for a couple of days last week. She loved it, but I think Maka loved it even more. He thought it was a new toy! It is stored high out of his reach!

"Maka"

A few pictures of the real Maka:

Oh, and here's a corgi I made for my daughter, who's bananas about Corgis. I made him last year sometime, and he keeps her company at college.

Doggie Dogs

2011-01-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone who knows me knows I love dogs, but the household is currently ruled by cats, so I can only enjoy the dogs of others. Last month I had two commissions for dogs. I was a little nervous, because I hadn't done any dogs, but both people sent really cute adorable photos to work from.

The first one was for my niece as a Christmas present to her husband. They had recently lost their 4-year-old black pug, Pal, and wanted to memorialize him with a sculpture. I suggested the idea of doing only his head in a frame that could be mounted on the wall.

The other dog was named "Spatz" and was a load of fun to do. Spatz's owner sent lots of great photos, and I was delighted to see that he has one blue eye and one brown eye. He came out as sort of a caracature - which was perfect because his owner is a Disney buff.

Barn Owl

2010-08-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to make a barn owl. Coincidentally, Molly the Barn Owl webcam was all over the evening news this week!

Crow

2010-08-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

In one day, 3 different people asked me if I ever do crows. I really resisted, because #1, it had to be lifesized, or else it's just a black bird, and #2, being all black, I thought was kind of boring. But he came out kinda cute, I guess. He's down at Graton Gallery.

New Work

2010-08-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

I like to keep this blog as something of a visual diary. I haven't been very good at updating it lately - I blame Facebook for that! Since my time is dominated by felting, here are a few pictures of what I've been working on the last couple of months:

Barbara Walters, 14" H.

I made this with no intention at all. I just felt compelled to see if I could make a sculpture of her, because I admire her so much. Barbara just turned 80, and had heart valve replacement surgery. To make the details of her face, I wore a headband with magnifying lenses and a spotlight. Every fiber makes a difference, and it was the only way I could see that level of detail. After it was finished, I decided I would try to give it to her. I've not had any luck contacting her publicist or producer, and am reluctant to just stick it in the mail.

Scarlett-Collared Tanager, Cedar Waxwing, and Eastern Bluebird

I saw these striking Crimson-Collared Tanagers in Costa Rica last year. Dave spotted a small flock of Cedar Waxwings in our front yard this year. I've never seen a Bluebird, but figured I needed to add another colorful bird to the flock at Graton Gallery.

My first Egret, 16" H

Sally Baker got this one.

My 2nd Egret, 21" H.

Cherrywood stand. At Graton Gallery.

Honey Bee on Flower Hair clip

Made for my friend Haunani, who moved to New Zealand.

Cedar Waxwing

Hummingbird in Nest

This little bird lifts out of the nest, revealing 3 tic-tac sized eggs.

Burrowing Owl

"Mr. and Mrs. Speckleton"

Steampunk, Anyone?

Toucan Earrings

Made for a certain art student who did a 2d animated film featuring a Toucan.

And the bride wore Orange

2010-05-24T19:36:00.001-07:00

My friend asked me to make a felt sculpture of her daughter and her finance to be used as a wedding-cake topper. I started it last December, using photos of the couple (I'd met the bride, but have never seen the groom.) I was also given a photo of the wedding dress, and was asked to have the groom in shorts, Sandals and Hawaiian-style shirt. The wedding is next month, and I have just finished it - the bride and groom know nothing about this, and will not see it until the cake comes out. I hope they like it!

Under the Big Top (a lesson learned)

2010-05-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a little commission I enjoyed making last month. It was for a fundraiser auction for Camellia Waldorf School in Sacramento. Their yearly auction was to be called "Camellia Palooza -Under the Big Top."
I really enjoyed making it, and sort of went beyond what they asked for. It triggered my desire to do a vintage circus series of sculptures.
Here's a photo of the final piece, along with my little concept sketch.

One disappointing note, although they paid me my deposit on time, I am STILL waiting for final payment, even though I shipped it to them over one month ago! Lesson learned. On commission pieces, ask for 50% down, send photo of finished piece, wait for final payment to arrive, THEN ship it out. I have no doubt that these folks will pay me, but it's annoying, and bad on me for not having proper written policies.

"It's For The Birds"

2010-03-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'm super-excited to have been asked to be a guest artist in next month's show at the Graton Gallery! The show is Sally Baker's, and it is called "It's for the Birds." I am one of 4 artists in the show. Sally Baker will have watercolors depicting her collection of Japanese Bird salt & pepper shakers. Sally's work is extremely detailed, and I honestly can't imagine how she gets such realism using watercolor. Lynda Nugent will have multimedia paintings inspired by nature, and Carla Marie Bratt will have incredible handcrafted gourds - with a birdie theme, of course. I feel very lucky to be included in this group of artists, and I can't think of a gallery I'd rather be in!
The show runs for a month - April 13th - May 23, 2010, with an artists' reception on Saturday, April 17, 3-6pm.

Here are a few of my needle-felted bird sculptures that will be in the show:

Graton is a charming little 2-block-long town with restaurants, a tea room, antiques, art studios and galleries. It is located in-between Occidental and Sebastopol in Western Sonoma County.

http://www.gratongallery.com/

The Moment

2010-02-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

I just happened to be near the henhouse this morning with my camera. I saw Ginger on the nest, walked in and witnessed the moment. I almost don't want to eat this egg!

Labor...

The Moment!

Hello Baby!

Thank you, Sweet Ginger.

Slipper Orchid

2010-02-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

I bought this little guy at Trader Joe's for $7 to have something interesting to draw, since not much is happening in the garden lately. The bud was closed, but I could tell I was going to get something special. What a treat to watch him open up! I don't know anything about Orchids; I just copied the name off the stake that was in the plant.

More Botancals

2010-01-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

A couple more drawings from my class with Nina Antze. One of the things I love most about this class is how it forces me to really look at things - to see and appreciate little details that are usually overlooked, or just blurred into the whole. When you are drawing something, you must focus on it's angle, form, color, and with plants, botany. I'm trying to use the Botanical names now. The first drawing is a Walnut leaf, and the second one is a large citrus I bought at the SR farmers' market. The farmer called it a "Chinese Grapefruit."

A vault of Needle-Felt Artists

2010-01-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a website I recently joined up with that lists a bunch of needle-felt artists. It's kind of fun to see the wide range of things people create with those little barbed needles.

Needlefelters.com

Some of my favorites are Amber Rose Creations, Dog Face Girls, and Barby303.

Walt Disney Family Museum

2010-01-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

The Walt Disney Family Museum

It's always nice to go to the city and park right in front of where you're going for free! How often does that happen? We went to the Walt Disney Family Museum today in the Presidio. It's fantastic! A treasure trove of information and memorabilia on everything Walt! We were in there 3 1/2 hrs, and didn't even see everything. I love the display case of Oscars - the Oscar for Snow White has 7 mini oscars on it, too! He was quite the businessman - amazing what he accomplished in his life. And how he never thought he'd have a chance at breaking into the animation business. I'd say the museum is more geared for the older Disney aficionados than for little ones - there's a lot to read, and I saw a lot of antsy kids. But then, I overheard a lot of interesting questions from kids, too, so guess it depends on the kid. Our two 21-yr-old film students soaked it up like sponges. They have Walt's personal train, a lot of interesting family photos & treasures, letters, film clips, and a gigantic multi-plane animation camera. And, of course a lot of original artwork, models, cameras and interactive exhibits. A large spiral staircase snakes around an original Disneyland model. It's really well-done, and far exceeded my expectations!

When we came home we watched "Song of the South".We'd never seen it. Zippity-do-dah!

The Snow White Oscar

Mary & Amelia, Bestest Fwends

Botanicals

2009-12-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

I am taking a nature drawing class through Sebastopol Center for the Arts. The instructor is Nina Antze, and she is wonderful. I knew I had stumbled upon a great teacher when I saw the level of work of the other students. I have a long way to go! Nina is fun, has a dry sense of humor, and always knows just what to say to help me past my stumbling blocks. I love technical drawing, and creating the shape is easy for me, but working with blending colors is something I have little experience with. Here are my first drawings.

Fuyu Persimmon

Pear

Persimon Leaf

Blackberry leaf 1

Blackberry leaf 2

Blackberry leaf 3

Just Peachy

2009-11-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

I made this as a baby gift -- I'm almost certain the recipient does not read this blog... but if they do, oh well, they'll see it early. This is a needle-felted Peach. Embedded inside the pit is a dingly-jingley bell. Not just a regular jingle bell, but one of those resonant ones. I felted it forever, so it's really solid. The felt actually muffles the sound, but I think it'll be just right for baby's delicate ears.

.

Oahu

2009-10-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time saying which is my favorite Hawaiian island, but after this trip, I'm thinkin' Oahu. There's just so much there that I'm interested in. I traveled with my hula sister Sibyl, to visit with our other hula friend Judy. Judy graciously let us stay in her Kailua studio for the first part of the trip. For the second part, we found a package deal that included 6 nights at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I have been studying hula for 16 years now, and this was a custom opportunity to soak up the places and culture related to our study. When you are a hula student, you are also a student of the Hawaiian language, music, chant, history, mythology, crafts, food, people, spirit, and of course places. We jointly made our long list of things we wanted to see, and hit the ground running. We were able to do almost all of the things we intended, and a lot, lot more.

The day we arrived, we drove straight up to Kamehameha School (after a quick stop for leis in Chinatown), and were able to watch our long-time friends Led Kaapana and Dennis Kamakahi be inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame. The other inductees that day, including Kumu Hula Maiki Aiu Lake, are, unfortunately deceased. We were honored to be witness to this prestigious event, and we were very happy for Led & Dennis.

We were able to get in 4 great hikes, go to the Bishop Museum, attend a lecture by a photographer at the Hawaii State Art museum who has been doing portraits of kumu hula for 30 years, saw turtles, rode the waves of Waikiki on a canoe, ate shave ice, laulau, spam musubi and malasadas! Always, we saved time at the end of the day for music. It was like a dream come true to see legends Eddie Kamae, Led Kaapana, Mike Kaawa, Bobby Ingano, Weldon Kekauoha, Analu Aina, Paul Kim, Ocean Kaowile, Dennis Kamakahi, Na Palapalai ... just to name a few. You can see musicians of this caliper any day of the week on Oahu - for free; less parking and whatever you drop in the tip jar. We were like kids in a candy store. Although I never got up the nerve to get up and dance, we were lucky enough to attend two hula classes taught by Nalani Keale, and learned the hula "Ku`u Milimili". We also learned a chant from one of Mapuana Da Silva's students. It is called "Oli Mahalo" and speaks of gratefulness and thanks.

Even though this was a very fulfilling trip, there is so much more to Oahu that I have yet to experience, and I can't wait to be able to go back.

Here are a few photos of some of the highlights of the trip - if you care to see more, I have an album up here

A walk down memory lane

2009-10-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dave & I went down to Marin for our annual meeting with our Fidelity guy. Since I had my camera with me, I thought it might be fun to drive around and take photos of all the places I used to live.

2 Chestnut St., Ross

Hard to believe I actually lived in this magnificent house. I was 10, Linda 14, and Glen 3 when we moved in here with my mom when my parents first divorced. Moving from Lake County to here was quite the culture shock. People in this town have money. Lots of old money. We were probably the only renters in Ross. My mom sub-rented out the bottom floor to two female college students. Our bedrooms were on the 3rd floor. Glen called it the "upstairs/downstairs house" for obvious reasons. In fact, he took a bad spill down those stone steps one time. I remember the livingroom had dark red carpet and a white fireplace, and it had a stone shower downstairs. Living in Ross was a treasure. We had lots of mossy forests to explore.

The little one-car garage is torn out and being rebuilt

830 Meadowsweet Dr., Corte Madera

This is the property that holds the most family memories of my childhood. This was my grandparents' house - my mom's parents'. On the property was their house, and a number of one-story apartments - 6, I think - that my grandparents rented out. It was during a time when my parents were divorced that my mom and my brother lived in one of the little apartments, and my sister and I, both in our teens, were each given a bedroom in my grandparents' house, a couple hundred yards away from Mom's. So not only do we have the memories of living there, but over the years, almost all of our family Thanksgivings and Christmases were there. This is where I got to know my cousins, my aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc etc. This is where my grandmother taught me to cook, to paint, and to polish silver. And where, at the dining table, my grandfather scolded us for eating peas with a spoon, and taught us to use bread as a "pusher." Most impressionable years indeed. The memories are still flooding in.

Remarkably, just as I started to shoot a picture of the front of the house, the garage door opens up, and in pulls a white BMW. It's Kathy, of Kathy & Kurt - the couple who bought the property from my grandparents, over 30 years ago! Although I don't recognize her, she recognizes me, and most graciously insists we come in. As I walk in the front door, I am overwhelmed with memories. I try to hold it together as Kathy cheerfully shows us all they have done to the house. What used to be the deck is now an additional room, the knotty pine bedrooms are painted and wallpapered, there's a new bathroom in the space between the kitchen and my grandparents' bedroom. Things are remodeled, and gone is the mid-century decor; replaced by busy victorian/wine country chic. But the house is still the same. The refrigerator, stove and sink are still in the same place. You still hear the freeway. The fireplace is still there, and I almost cried when I saw that the original bathroom still has the red and pink tile. At least for now. Kathy tells us they plan to redo that bathroom, too. I walk past my old bedroom and remember my first earthquake. It was at night, and when I felt it, I thought someone was under my bed.

I don't know how to describe the feeling of being there again, but seeing the house again was a little like seeing my parents again - like re-winding time. It was hard to see all the changes, but somehow soothing to know that at least it is still here; that it's not going away. And made me miss my parents, my grandparents, my aunt, and my uncle, and all the other family members who used to be there for family gatherings.

It was really very nice to be welcomed in by Kathy and Kurt, and share some memories with them, since they knew my family before they bought the property.

The house is now visible from the street, as the enormous Blue Spruce is gone, and the tall hedge has been replaced by a fence.

That's the kitchen window on the left. The little side porch is gone. There's one of Grampy's sheds in the background. I don't remember it having windows. It looks so cute with the flower boxes & curtains on it.

The front door
From the driveway
Some of the apartments; my mom's in the back
They added a balcony outside Linda's room - see the entrance to the basement? Kathy says she never goes down there! We were down there all the time! (It was a little scary)

This is the livingroom. Where the big tables were set up for all those Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. Quite different decor now!

The kitchen has been remodeled, but the sink, fridge and stove are all in the same place.

Another shot of the apartments. Mr. Keeny's place on the left. Palm tree still there!

This is mom's apartment, which was 4 doors down from my grandparents' house.

Here's the apartment Linda had when she was older. So cute! Didn't get to go inside.

Here's Kathy & Kurt, the owners. It was nice talking to them, because they knew my family so well. Guess what Kurt was doing? Painting! We were ALWAYS painting those apartments!

San Anselmo

This is my great-grandmother's house on Mariposa Ave. in San Anselmo. Nana was my dad's grandmother. She's the one who gave us the player piano. I lived here for a couple of months.

Henrietta gets a Legband

2009-09-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

I struggle with how to sign my name to my felt sculptures. Since I'm about to send Henrietta off to the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, I knew I had to have my name on her somewhere. She's not permanently attached to her base, so simply woodburning my name on the base wouldn't work. So I finally came up with the idea of a legband. I figured out how to run muslin fabric through my printer, and voila! She's banded with "Property of Nancy Lorenz."

BANG!

2009-09-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished this for Mary, a.k.a. our "other daughter" for part of her Halloween Costume. She's going to be "Harly Quinn," a character from Batman comics - I never heard of her, but supposedly she's an accomplice of the Joker, and carries a large pop gun.
This is the most unusual thing I've ever needle-felted! I hope she likes it.

Mary gave me these images to work from. As you can see, there were several renditions of the gun...

New Mailbox

2009-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Dave & I found a brand-new spanking clean white mailbox at a garage sale last Spring for $3. We knew immediately what had to happen. Thank you, Amelia for giving us the coolest mailbox around!!

Our neighbor is a fireman.

What is Needle-felting?

2009-08-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

I often get asked how my needle-felted pieces are made. It's very hard to explain without demonstrating the process; and hard to envision because it is like nothing else. You don't use a needle & thread; you don't use scissors; you don't use knitting or crochet needles. You use something called a felting needle, which most people have never heard of. I made this display piece to go alongside my work at the Graton Gallery.

It's a bit of a 3d display, as I actually stuck a real felting needle through the paper where the illustration is, and glued some fiber and felt into the boxes on the right side.

Click for larger view:

Russell

2009-08-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen "Up" yet, see it! My favorite Pixar film so far. There are lots of endearing characters in the movie, but Russell is the most adorable. I was compelled to make this needle-felted sculpture of Russell. He's about 8" tall and made completely out of wool fiber. For his base, I felted over a tree branch, leaving some areas of the wood exposed so the felt would look like moss.

Spike Attacks!

2009-07-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

I would be remiss if I did not do a post about Spike. He's not our cat, but we are in love with him. This juvenile cat belongs to a neighbor a couple of houses down. He has the best personality of any cat ever, and he's always hanging out in our yard. He usually makes his appearance by sneaking up and flopping his body down on your feet, and rolling over on his back to stare up at you. I never see him coming. He has this confidence about him; as if he's totally oblivious to the fact that he might not be welcome. All the neighbors love him. Even our cats like him. So this morning, he decided to attack this dead plant in the planter. I wish I'd had video, but grabbed my camera anyway.

Led

2009-07-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

We're pretty excited around these parts -- Led Kaapana is coming to Sebastopol to do an intimate concert at the new Blue Sky Center - the electric vehicle place in the old Ford Dealership. It's coming up pretty quick - July 31, so I'm helping my friend Ross with some publicity. Hope to see you there!

Mimosa

2009-07-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

Our Mimosa tree is in full bloom right now. I'm fascinated with the blossoms. My Dad planted this tree from a seed.

Audubon Ranch, Bolinas

2009-07-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

There's something I love about going somewhere I've never been before; especially if it's right here in our own backyard. With that in mind, Sibyl and I have decided to make a concerted effort to get out and hike or bike a new place at least once per month. We keep a list of ideas, and figure with all the beautiful parks here in the North Bay, we'll never ever run out of places to try. Today we went to the Audubon Ranch at Bolinas Lagoon to see the baby egrets. They hatched in April, and have been nesting - all 100 or so of them - in some tall trees on the property all this time. They are now as large as the adult birds, but have not yet learned to fly. They are practicing, though! They fly up and come right back down into the tops of the trees. The moms & dads fly in with gullets full of fish, frogs, etc. that the babies fish out of their throats. There is a trail that climbs the side of the canyon, with a large wooden viewing platform up above the level of the nests. Docents are stationed there, with extra binoculars and spyglasses mounted to the ledge aimed at all the action. It was quite an amazing and beautiful experience.

Sketchcrawl 23 San Francisco

2009-07-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the 23rd Worldwide Sketchcrawl. It was at the Presidio in SF, which was an amazing location. I'm guessing about 40-50 people showed up at 11am, then everyone dispersed to sketch for the day; some staying in groups, some solo. Sib and I took advantage of the opportunity to get in a little exercise,and hiked up to "Inspiration Point." We were treated to not only a great view of the bay, overlooking the Palace of Fine Arts & Alcatraz, but also an Andy Goldworthy installation, "The Spire". The trails were so beautiful and almost deserted; you could hardly tell you were in the city. The day flew by, and everyone seemed to have a good time. At the end of the day, we met up at the Starbucks in the Letterman Digital Arts Center. Man, what a gorgeous campus.

Mary and Amelia

Andy Goldworthy's "Spire"

Inspiration Point

My drawings for the day

The gathering at the end of the day. Happy group!

Feltfarm Sign

2009-07-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

I needed a sign for my shop. OK, so I don't really have a shop, but whatever. So I made this. I'll use it for craft fairs and farmers markets or wherever I happen to be selling my stuff. I photographed it in our sunflower "forest" we have sprouting out in the front yard.

Here it is closer up

While I was out there, I noticed this pumpkin blossom. The pumpkin plant has snaked itself into the warm, humid, shady area in the sunflower forest, and is wrapping its tendrils around the sunflowers. I had to nip that one in the bud before some sunflowers got hurt.

Yesterday I saw an ad on Craigslist for old apple boxes from a farm here in Sebastopol. Dave & I drove over there with the idea that maybe we could re-purpose them into a shelving unit for our bedroom. That didn't pan out, because they were a little too rough. But we bought one anyway, because the chickens need more nesting room. Ginger took to it right away.

Henrietta Fancy-Pants

2009-07-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished Henrietta. I started her on our road trip to Utah. (needlefelting is the BEST travel activity for long, boring stretches) I got quite a bit of her basic shape done by the time we'd crossed Nevada, and worked on her here & there almost every day of the trip after that. Working on the finishing touches has taken me till now. She is life-sized, and solid wool felt. She is extremely firmly felted, and weighs 13 ounces. 13oz is a LOT of wool. I changed her color 3 times; finally settling in on this beautiful gray Navajo Churro wool I found in Moab. I think I'll put her in the Harvest Fair.

Feltfarm's going to the Market!

2009-06-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try something new - selling at a Farmers Market. I go to farmers markets all the time - it's one of my favorite things to do whether here locally or while traveling. Nothing gives a sense of place better than being amidst fresh flowers, fruit and veggies that came out of the ground mere hours before. Not to mention locally made cheese, tea, chocolate, eggs, fish and more. Then there's the people-watching. Occidental has the best. It's not just the Occidental Farmers Market, it's the Occidental Bohemian Farmers Market. Yeah, that's right.
So I'm going to try my hand at having a booth this Friday, July 3rd to sell my needlefelting. This is a first for me, and I don't know how it's going to work - will I be well-received? Will people be nice to me? Will I be bored, or overwhelmed?
If you are local and are reading this, I would truly love to see some friendly faces pop in - Gerard will be there making his awesome Paella, and there will be wood-fired pizza, crepes, Indian curry and samosas and more, so come eat dinner! 4pm till dusk.

Utah Pictures

2009-06-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to uploading the vacation photos. They're at http://gallery.me.com/nancylorenz/100081 Grab a cup of coffee; there's a bunch!

Home Sweet Sebastopol Home

2009-06-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

After 14 days, 4 states and some 2800 miles it is nice to be back home. What a fabulous trip we had to Utah. If I had to describe in in one word, it would be "Rock". I have never seen so much magnificent rock in my life. I'm still not a desert person - I'll take tropical rainforest, rain, vines and fragrant flowers any day, but I have to admit this was amazing. It was great to have 14 days with the biggest decision to make being what to do and where to go. Lots of hikes and bike rides in-between driving through some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in my life. The trip was bookended with family visits at both ends; my sister Linda at the start, at her home in Grantsville, Utah, and my Uncle Doug's 70th Birthday party in Folsom on the last day.

It'll take awhile to go through all our pictures and edit them down for a photo album, but in the meantime, here are a few of my favorite images from the trip.

This has to be one of my favorite photos. My little birdie on her nest. Taken in-between Capitol Reef and Escalante on beautiful Hwy 12. Elevation here about 9500'. Click to zoom in.

Pine Tree Arch in Arches National Park. To get a sense of the size, the following picture shows the same Arch with Amelia sitting in it.

It's irresistable - you can't *not* throw a rock off Dead Horse Point!

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park. There's something really serene about peering through an arch...

Just another gigantic Rock wall - from our campsite in Capitol Reef National Park.

From our campground at Red Canyon, outside Bryce. I did not alter the color!

Dave got some good Mountain Bike riding in - at Moab, he did the Slick Rock trail, and here at Red Canyon, he did the Thunder Mountain trail.

I'm convinced Disneyland's "Thunder Mountain Railroad" was modeled after this place.

Bryce Canyon. Technically not a canyon, as we learned from our Geologist Ranger friend. Pictures of Bryce don't even come close to the grandness of standing there viewing it in person. It's almost hard to believe you are standing on planet earth. I specifically included people in the picture to try to give it some scale. They're way down there at the bottom of the picture.

We three at Zion's Weeping Walls.

The guy who's afraid of heights sure likes to push his comfort level.

Stumbled upon this State Park in Nevada - North of Vegas; not even on the map. It's called "Valley of Fire". We did a hike which included prehistoric petroglyphs. Lots of them.

Merced River in Yosemite. Best I could do without a tripod.

Utah

2009-06-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

Southern Utah is gorgeous!

Taken from our BLM campsite on the Colorado River.

Yo Dave: That's a 2,000 ft. drop.

Fun with the updraft at Deadhorse Point State Park

Sign in Green River, Utah

Herman Munster

2009-05-28T22:19:00.001-07:00

I don't know if I have it in me to finish him, but it was fun doing his head.

New in the Feltfarm

2009-05-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Just finished these & added them to the Feltfarm:

Boxiefishies:

Pufferfishies

Ginger

2009-05-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

eeva

2009-05-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

Healdsburg Ridge Hike

2009-05-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Playing tourist in my own backyard again, I finally got up to Healdsburg ridge today. Being the first non-rainy day in quite awhile, everything was clean and fresh. And I was the only one up there. I managed to stumble and do a face plant at one point, but thankfully the ground was still soft. There are two beautiful ponds up there. "Fox Pond" was rimmed with wild yellow irises. It had blooming lillies on the water and bright blue dragonflies flying around; many in tandem. It was just too bright and sunny to get decent pictures of it, but I did get some other pictures that I liked:

Ain't nobody here but me & the lizard

I don't know what these are called, but I always think "cornflower blue" when I see them.

The second pond I came upon was less in the direct sun, and I was mesmerized by some of the reflections.

From atop the ridge, you can see the Russian river over on the right, and Mt. St. Helena on the left.

Poppies!

2009-05-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

You really can't tell by my pictures, but there is a spectacular display of red poppies at DeLoach Vineyards at the corner of Gurneville Rd. and Vine Hill Rd. Maybe I'll get out to shoot them again when it's not so sunny. They're not going to last long, though.

I am not a gardener

2009-05-01T20:46:00.001-07:00

I am the daughter of an Arborist and a Rosarian. My Dad studied Ag at UC Davis and owned acres of walnuts and pears. He would get up in the middle of the night to set out smudge pots to keep his trees warm if it frosted. He knew how to graft a red delicious apple onto a golden delicious tree. My mom could grow anything, and was an award-winning floral arranger. Both parents were skilled at Bonsai. I could go on and on - it seems plants were the main focus of their passions, and there were few plants and trees they couldn't identify. I, however, did not get the gardener gene. It went to my sister, while my brother and I ended up with the "make stuff" gene. I do not like touching dirt, and I don't like taking care of houseplants. It was a big deal for me to plant a handful of irises last fall.

That said, I absolutely love plants and flowers. I love them in the house, as long as they look good, but when they start to turn brown and wilt, I can't wait to get rid of them. I am fortunate that mom left us some beautiful roses for our yard that, thankfully are hardy enough to withstand my inattention. I am also lucky and thankful for my friend Sib, who gifted me a little baggie of wildflower seeds early this year, which has turned into this little fairytale patch of cheerfulness in the front yard.

So right now, our front yard is blooming like crazy, and I'm loving it! My mom used to tell me that some day I would begin to enjoy gardening. Well, maybe a little. But I'll still never be a gardener.

Mom's "Regansberg" Rose

And my first iris opened today!

Bill Tapia

2009-04-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here's Bill Tapia last Monday night at a workshop in Berkeley. I wasn't there, but saw him earlier this month at Freight & Salvage. He's 101. The last song he played was "When you're young at heart"

Seagull Secret Stash Jar

2009-04-28T17:27:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I made a Seagull before I made a Chicken... I need to make a chicken.

What's on the inside:

Custom Needlefelted Character Dolls

2009-04-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

One of the things I really wanted to do with my etsy shop was make custom needlefelted dolls from photos or sketches provided by the customer. I haven't received any custom doll orders at all, and realized today that I'm not marketing that idea very well. So I've added a listing on my shop with some examples.

If you know of anyone who would like to honor a special someone or a special occasion such as a wedding, graduation, new baby, anniversary, a move, birthday, promotion, or other significant achievement, maybe you could help me out by spreading the word! My shop is at feltfarm.etsy.com

M A H A L O NUI LOA!

Nancy

More Flowers

2009-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last month I was in undersea world - couldn't stop making sponges, anemones and fishies - now I'm in flower-power mode. I guess it's Spring. I'm working on an order of my "Secret Stash Jars" for Straus Creamery. I use their small milk bottles as a base. The removeable "corks" are needle-felted. My intention for them is to be used as a desktop accessory to stash m&m's, sunflower seeds, mad money, tips, etc., etc., etc.! I love making them, and have a lot of ideas for different tops besides flowers.

Ze inspiration:

Daisy:

Daffodil:

Marigold:

Pink blossom (With the ever-lovely Ginger modeling):

Crocus:

New leaf:

Tree:

Plumeria:

and a Volcano:

Group photo:

Gigantic Apple Blossoms!

2009-04-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

My ex-boss Dennis gave me the idea to make felted apple blossoms. And since it's apple blossom time here, I couldn't resist the challenge. And what a challenge it was. Thanks for the idea, Dennis!
(Dennis has a personal plate I wish I would've thought of - APLBLSM)

One of these is a gift to a friend, and the other will be on my etsy shop once I figure out the fastener part.

Sonoma Valley Regional Park

2009-04-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

Playing tourist in my own back yard again. I've been to Sonoma Valley Regional Park quite a few times, but only on the paved trail, and never up to the lake! This time Sibyl and I rode up the dirt trails to the lake. I was really stunned to see how much I'd been missing. When we got to the lake, the only person around was a woman playing fetch with her dog. She was talking and talking to that dog like it was another person - it was so cute. It was a water dog, too, cause she was throwing the stick into the lake. After we came down from the lake, we took another side trail that we hadn't noticed before which headed out of the park, and ended up in downtown Glen Ellen.

I have never seen so many wildflowers.

Nice little trail

Sibi
This lake is pretty big! I think it's a reservoir for the Sonoma Developmental Center, but not sure.

I finally delved into the old html skills and figured out how to make my pictures all the same width. What a pain - why don't they make that easier for those of us who don't like to think? Except that they still look pixelated. I'm still doing something wrong...

High Five, Amelia!

2009-04-07T14:28:00.001-07:00

This is super cool! Amelia's bass teacher, Gio Benedetti, was just interviewed on EMG TV. The guy doing the interview is Bobby Vega, funk bass player for Tower of Power, Sly Stone, Booker T, and many more. Right up at the front of the interview, Amelia gets a shout out, because Bobby remembered her playing with Gio at a gig at Zone music. How dang cool is that?

Congratulations, Amelia!

see it here:
http://www.emgpickups.com/pages/emgtv

Jack London State Park

2009-03-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

The shame of it! I had never been to Jack London State Park until today. Now I know what I have been missing, and how much more of that place I have yet to discover. I'm already anxious to go back.

After a nice visit with Velva, we headed out to Jack London with Sandra and Keith. Jo was working in the museum. Boy did she have a busy day - lots of visitors today in this beautiful weather.

What a gorgeous place. There is so much to see - absolutely endless things to photograph. We saw lots of people just lounging around with their noses in books. Jack London books, no doubt. I want to go back in early morning light, and again in late afternoon light. I want to go back with my bike, and sketchbook and watercolors. I want to see the Lake and the Pig Palace. The park is gigantic, and in the three hours we were there, we only saw a tiny portion of it. Amelia & I have vowed to go back and stay the whole day sometime.

I think we hit it at the prime time of year - everything is green, the wildflowers are blooming, and the weather was sunny and invitingly warm. I can imagine it gets mighty hot up there in the summer.

This evening, I enjoyed re-living the day by sorting through my photos.

Spring Break

2009-03-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today we picked Amelia up from the airport - yay! We get to enjoy her company for a whole 5 days before she heads back to school. We stopped for lunch at Cafe Gratitude, and then headed home via the scenic coastal route. After braking for cookies in Pt. Reyes Station (Bovine Bakery Gingerbread - wow) we headed up along Tomales Bay, and were lucky enough to spot another nesting Osprey.

At the moment, I can hear pages flipping, which means she is busy working on her animation... can't wait to see this.

Here are a few pictures of our day.

Wine Country 'Ukulele Fest Design Contest

2009-03-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is what I was working on a couple of weeks ago - The folks putting on the Napa Valley 'Ukulele Fest this year are having a contest for the event poster & t shirt design. This is what I came up with. The prize is a $380 Ohana Koa Soprano 'ukulele.

Fingers crossed... I won't know till late April.

Sunday drive

2009-03-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Feeling a litte restless today, we decided to take a drive. We ended up going over to Calistoga, up to Angwin, then on to Pope Valley, Lake Berryessa, Lake Hennesey, and back through St. Helena. I'd been working on a poster design for an event in the Napa Valley all week, and feeling a yearning to go there - knowing the mustard is in bloom. I still feel rooted to that valley; it's one of my "comfort" places in this world.

We got super lucky when we stopped for a potty break and heard an unusual bird call coming from virtually right overhead. Check out the Osprey nest:

I swear, we wouldn't have even seen her if she had kept quiet. I would guess there were eggs in that nest, and that she was upset with us for being around. Or he?

Looks like a dangerous place for a nest, but Dave noticed that somebody had put insulation over some of the wires, so hopefully she's safe.

Check out the talons. That was a big birdie.

The sun was peeking through the overcast to illuminate this island in Lake Berryessa:

THEN! As if the Osprey weren't exciting enough, we were lucky enough to happen upon this beautiful red-tailed hawk. Again, we were practically right underneath him.

Yip Yip Aliens

2009-03-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

**edit** These Yip Yips are not for sale

I have finished my pair of Yip Yip Alien puppets! They took a long time to make, as they are completely hand-made out of wool fiber by wet- and needle-felting. I'm pretty sure I could whip out a couple of these with my sewing machine from crushed velour, ping-pong balls, and a sharpie in a few hours. But I wouldn't want to.

Other hand-felted items can be found on my shop:
www.feltfarm.etsy.com

Oh, and if you have never heard of the Yip Yip Aliens, they were a pair of puppets on the Muppet Show, introduced in 1971. Here they are on You Tube discovering a telephone:

Couture Felt

2009-03-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

"Roots"

"Blossom"

"Avocado"

Now this is what I want to see on the red carpet next year at the Oscars! Come on, people! This designer, Hort, is in Akron, Ohio. Check out his website for more. http://www.horstcouture.com/welcome.htm

A description of his process is here: http://dept.kent.edu/museum/exhibit/horst/process.htm

Anemones

2009-02-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

I just had to put this on my blog because I love it. In the process I discovered I've been misspelling and mispronouncing it all my life.

Oh, my, here's another one. One of these guys is gonna end up in felt, I can feel it...

Both of these are from the 1903 Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Seen in downtown Graton today

2009-02-28T17:42:00.001-08:00

I had to go up and look at what somebody had written on this heart -- it says "Hope." Sign of the times. I don't think most people realize the value of a local newspaper anymore, sadly.

Yip

2009-02-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hello.

Eva

2009-02-25T11:52:00.001-08:00

We have three chickens, but Eva is my favorite. She's extremely curious, and always has her face in everything I'm doing when I'm out there. I call her "fuzzy face" because she has these tufts of feathers on her cheeks, like a goofy little mustache. She's an Ameraucauna, and lays beautiful, large green eggs.

Here's one of her masterpieces:

That's Eva in the background

Ginger and Penny don't do too bad, either.

For Australia

2009-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

I belong to a wonderful online forum on Felting. There are members from all around the world who participate in discussion and sharing of the art of felting. A number of people on the forum are from Australia, where devastating wildfires have been burning for the last two weeks. Last I heard, 1800 people have lost their homes, and entire towns have been wiped out. One of the Australian members of the forum decided to organize an art sale to raise money for the people there. I made this piece last weekend, and will be sending it off to Australia this week. It is a Strauss Dairy milk bottle which I wet-felted to encase it with white. I then needle-felted a "cork" which is removeable. To me, it represents new life emerging, as is my hope for the area of Australia which has been destroyed. It can be used as a tip jar, a "mad money" jar, or a candy jar or whatever. I'll send it off with a few coins inside to get started.

For more info: http://feltingforumnews.blogspot.com/

Felt Farm!

2009-02-12T15:07:00.001-08:00

www.feltfarm.etsy.com

Finally... I have launched my own Etsy shop! I have been working for quite some time at amassing a bit of inventory for it, and I now have 15 items for sale.

All of the work on my shop - which I have named "Felt Farm" is handcrafted out of wool fiber. I absolutely love sculpting objects out of wool, and never seem to run out of ideas.

These Redwing Blackbird earrings are the original catalyst for the idea of starting up a shop - everywhere Amelia wears hers, she gets comments.

Check it out if you have time, and keep checking back as I add new items and enhance the shop!

Random things about me

2009-02-07T01:20:00.000-08:00

My sister-in law (Hi Suzi!) tagged me on facebook and asked me to write 25 random things about myself. Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to send it to 25 people. Since blogging is more my thing than facebook, I thought I'd just share my things here. I guess I got carried away, because by the time I stopped I had 63 "things."

I really enjoyed reading Suzi's 25 Random things about herself. If you are reading this blog, I would LOVE to hear 25 random things about you! Or 61! or 100! or 5!

Here are some random things about me:

I am creative and constantly see inspiration everywhere.
I'm always making something.
I can't keep up with my ideas, and sometimes feel overwhelmed by them.
I don't care for fiction reading.
I buy too many books on technology and art.
I never feel educated enough or smart enough, and therefore am a perpetual student.
I've been laid off 4 times, have never been fired, and have only quit one job.
My favorite food is milk. Whole milk, cream, and half & half. But I only drink non-fat milk. I do feel deprived.
I can no longer cut apart a whole chicken, but I can eat it.
I rarely eat packaged, processed foods with long lists of ingredients.
I secretly wish to be a baker in an artisan bakery. Or a cheese maker.
I love animals.
I love to shop at Thrift Stores.
I never get bored, and never have enough time in the day.
I prefer to buy local.
I love the town that I live in. I love my street. I have great neighbors.
I have a motorcycle license, but am too afraid to ride where there is traffic.
I'm certified for scuba, and have dove to 110'.
I wish I could sketch better. I wish I would sketch more so I could get better.
I am happily married, and lucky to be in this partnership.
I am not very verbally articulate, but I can write, and can spell.
I am very proud that we were able to allow Amelia to go to school in the same school district her whole life.
I attended 7 different elementary and High Schools.
My parents divorced and re-married and divorced again.
I worry about the health and well-being of my sister.
My brother and my Dad share the same Birthday.
I genuinely appreciate having a hot shower every day, clean drinking water, warm shelter and food.
I have danced hula regularly for 15 1/2 years.
I have recently begun doing Zumba and Hoopdance.
Even though I'm messy and disorganized, I luxuriate in a clean, tidy house. It makes me feel relaxed and calm.
I love everything about my chickens and hanging out with them makes me happy.
I love mid-century design.
I am about to launch my own Etsy shop with my felted things.
The thing I am most proud of is my daughter.
The thing I worry about most is auto accidents, ever since having that job at the newspaper where I had to map fatals.
I assume I will live only as long as my mom, which gives me 18 more years.
I am worried about finding full-time employment.
I started feeling old at 49.
I honor the Aloha Spirit, and admire the way the Hawaiian community respects and cares for their elders.
I appreciate time alone, and am grateful to have a lot of it.
My favorite films are documentaries.
On TV I like "Survivor," and "The View"
I was a producer and engineer for a live radio show for 3 1/2 years.
I love animals.
I play with wool. A lot.
I want to go whale-watching some day.
If money were no object, I would travel. I want to go everywhere.
My two favorite spots on Earth are Gualala and Upcountry Maui.
I wish I could sing; especially harmony.
I regret not listening to my parents and grandparents more when they told stories of family history.
I have taken flute, piano, organ, violin, `ukulele and saxophone lessons. `Ukulele is the only one that has stuck.
I have never played a guitar.
I am overly cautious of potentially dangerous situations.
I could never be a teacher or a manager.
I am not a leader.
I love teamwork.
I drive too slow.
I have been to the top of the South tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I want to learn to speak French.
Seeing hot lava flow from the earth was one of the most mesmerizing and awe-inspiring things I have ever witnessed.
I want to learn other forms of dance; particularly Latin.
I love Cuban Jazz and Hawaiian Falsetto.
I am a wanna-be surfer.

A piece I did a while back..

2009-02-01T23:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a little piece I did of a friend's impossibly-cute baby. I say impossibly cute, because I found it impossible to replicate her adorableness.

Beware the Blue Owl

2009-01-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

If you see this peering into your house ... Do not open the door !

Aloha, Mr. President

2009-01-20T08:30:00.001-08:00

Happy 90th Birthday Velva!!!

2009-01-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

Velva turns 90 on Monday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best Mother-In-Law a girl could ask for!

Doesn't she look great? That hair is all natural!!!!

Welcome 2009

2009-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

As winter break comes to a close, time to say goodbye to Amelia again. It's been a fun, relaxing time with her. We've had a lot of time to do things like lay around by the fire, watch movies, cook, eat, shop, visit our favorite cafes, go scootering, biking, sketching, and visit with relatives and friends. We even took a couple of day trips - to the city and to Gualala. I think she's enjoyed this relaxing time at home, and we sure have enjoyed having her around. It's pretty safe to say she's caught up on her sleep. :)

Here's a photo from our trip to Gualala.

These are some things I am thinking about focusing on for 2009:

Find a new job! Numero uno on my priority list.
Start up an Etsy shop, and be more productive with my felting.
Organize. Donate things no longer used and organize my things.
Learn. Continue to develop and improve skills. Strain the brain. Remember, use it or lose it. Specifically: Illustrator, Photoshop, 'ukulele, sketching, hula.
Excercise. For losing weight, endurance, strength, balance, mental clarity, all that. Keep up the biking and get better so that I can do more; maybe try Zumba! Hike more.
Eat right. I don't have to learn this; I already know how; just do it.
Stay connected with family and friends.

Rayne's Embroidered Mexican Blouses

2008-12-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

Rayne Wolfe is another buddy from the Press Democrat - a really talented reporter, and super fun gal. She's the one with the laugh you can hear across the office. She's an incredible jewelry designer, and has recently found a niche doing embroidery on a basic Mexican blouse pattern. She & I share a passion for poultry. And vintage stuff.

http://collectingjourneys.wordpress.com/

Loren Doppenberg

2008-12-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

My friend Loren, with whom I worked at The Press Democrat, has just published his online portfolio. Loren was laid off last month after a long career in the Newspaper business. Loren was the last remaining Graphic Artist in the Newsroom. Occasionally I still see maps and charts, so they have somebody there who can crank those out, but gone are the days of this level of illustration, at least done in-house. I'm proud to know an artist of such caliper. (He's also a fantastic guitar player!)

Check it out:

http://web.me.com/doppenberg

Dave

2008-12-19T15:37:00.001-08:00

Here's Dave, playing his bass in the garden:

And onstage: "Bass Solo!"

A Nice Review of The Venice Chronicles

2008-12-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

I like this review of "The Venice Chronicles" because she did a great job of capturing the feel of the book. And she included some of my favorite watercolors out of the book.

http://www.comicrelated.com/display.php?item=318

Wet-felted Mittens

2008-12-12T00:25:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to try wet-felting mittens for awhile now. Here's my first try. I over-did it and made these too thick. (Dave says they look like oven mitts, and he's right) Plus, it took me 5 hours!

Somebody likes Christmas

2008-12-11T23:51:00.003-08:00

Mushrooms

2008-12-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today Sib & I rode our bikes up to Luther Burbank's Experiment Farm. Sib & Ross had discovered an incredible outcropping of amanita muscaria mushrooms - the big, orange/red ones with white spores on top. It was so beautiful - for whatever reason, they loved growing under this one particular tree - a Chestnut. We walked all over the property looking for more, and found several other varieties, but no more of the amanita muscarias. I can see how people can get into mushroom huntin'. It's kind of addicting - like looking for pretty pebbles on the beach. I had to be very careful not to step on any of them.

Amanita Muscaria

I've never seen so many mushrooms.

Sibi

Breaking Ground, literally.

Dust Bathing in the Sun

2008-12-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Looks like a Chicken.

....Penny?

Dust bath!

Oh, yeah ...

Don't Disturb Me.

All Done!

And looking fine.

My Bass Girl

2008-11-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

I seriously doubt she misses her bass as much as I miss hearing it around the house!

Laid off again...

2008-11-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

I've been laid off before, but it's never come as a shock to me.

"Nancy, the company is announcing layoffs today, and your job is one of them." The words of my boss last Friday. Completely out of the blue - I had no idea they were even talking of layoffs. This company just does not communicate with its employees. In the 6 months I was there, I never received ONE company-wide office e-mail. Which was a blessing in a way, but kind of weird. I would overhear things that indicated they were ok, like, the machine shop's running 20 hours a day, they've added x number of machines, the fin shop is working Saturdays to keep up with orders, etc. And they had hired a bunch of people earlier this year... Now, I'm told, due to order slowdown at the boat builders, they decide to lay off 14 of us - that's about 10% of the company. And besides coming as a shock, I had to pack up my stuff and leave immediately, which was really bizarre. I drove home at 11am and just drifted around the house, mindlessly doing stuff like cleaning out the fridge, not really knowing what to think. I'm still waking up in the middle of the night, going "what the ... did that really happen?" "Aren't I supposed to be getting ready for work?"

Such a bummer; I was really hoping that I could hang with this job for the next few years - So now it's apply for unemployment, update my portfolio, hope that something opens up...

November 4, 2008

2008-11-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Main St. Sebastopol by Kathy Goetzel

2008-11-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Another talented Graphic Designer I worked with at HP was Kathy Goetzel. Kathy is an amazing painter, and has returned to her art in the last few years. She has painted many of the animals at Safari West, as well as botanically-correct local flora - you can see notecards of her work all over Sonoma County. She also illustrated the amazing book, "Miss Hallberg's Butterfly Garden." I love Kathy's work, because it always represents the things I love about living here in Sonoma County. This one is my absolute favorite! It depicts Main St. Sebastopol - the same intersection I photographed with the Buggs Bunny! I love it because of it's whimsical style, and cool perspective. I imagine myself in an old-fashioned hot-air balloon floating above Main St. I also love that she snuck a dachshund dog in, and because it shows "Earthchild" toy store, where Amelia worked for several years.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Two Art Exhibits of Note

2008-11-03T00:19:00.002-08:00

For many years, I sat next to Pat Haley at Hewlett-Packard. Pat was the corporate photographer. He was my photography mentor. As I was taking photography classes at the JC, he would invite me into the photo studio and let me use all his equipment. I even got to fill in as his replacement while he was on vacation. This was in the days of film - using large-format and medium-format cameras I got to shoot a lot of products for HP. I learned a whole lot from Pat, and am forever grateful to him for his mentorship.

Pat is retired now, and lives part-time near Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. He has been able to get back to his painting, and has a studio in Santa Rosa. He has a show going on currently called "Impresiones de Mexico" at Uribe Studio on Sebastopol Ave. The show is open from 11-6 Fridays thru Sundays until Nov.25. His paintings are large-scale and depict life of the locals in Mexico. I especially loved his Folklorico paintings.

And, "Innovations in Fiber Art IV" is now going on at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. My "Popeye Gang" felt sculpture is in the show. Dave & I went to the opening on Thursday, and the show is super-impressive. Mine is definitely the least-Innovative piece, but it is the only felt sculpture. There are quilts made of hand-dyed tea bags, coats made of hog casings, weavings of wire, pine needles and more. The Gallery is open daily - M-F 11-5 and Sat & Sun 1-4. The show runs through Dec. 7th.

I Love Sebastopol

2008-11-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is the main intersection of Sebastopol. One day, driving to work, I happened to notice something atop this building...

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-29T19:20:00.001-07:00

The Venice Chronicles is here!

2008-10-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Today I received 2 copies of Enrico Casarosa's brand-new book!(Yes, Amelia, one copy is on its way to you!)

Isn't it cute?
"The Venice Chronicles" is Enrico's watercolor/sketch journal of a visit to Italy with his girlfriend Marit and her parents. It is an endearing love story - with amazing watercolor artwork, and laugh-out-loud humor. I can't wait to share this book with everyone who crosses my path - so watch out! And here's the amazing part -- Enrico included, at the end of the book, a photo of my Enrico and Marit felt dolls that I gave to them last Spring. I'm so incredibly honored!

This little book will charm the socks off anybody - Especially anybody who loves watercolor, love stories, Italy, and humor... and who would that not include? If you are interested in getting a copy, (I guarantee you'll LOVE IT!!) it's available at Amazon, or at Enrico's website.

More Enrico Goodies:
Animated Birthday wishes for Marit
Sketchcrawl
Movie of one of Enrico's paintings for the Totoro Forest Project (the look on the little boy's face says it all)

Paint by Numbers

2008-10-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

I came across a woman at the Petaluma Antique Fair a couple of weeks ago that had a bunch of Paint-by-Numbers paintings. I couldn't stop looking at them - it brought me right back to my childhood. My guess is that most those paintings done way back then no longer exist. In my mind, at least, they didn't seem very worthy at that time. Now I'm all sentimental about them. I bought this one.

Whoever did it never got around to painting the number 1 - white.

What is Hip?

2008-10-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Lucky me. I got the nicest Birthday greetings today! Thank you!

I love music. And fortunately, most of my favorite musicians perform regularly, so I get to see them. There is one artist, however, who stands above all the rest - always has and always will be my favorite, and that is Ry Cooder. This sounds dramatic, but I would count some of Ry's concerts as way up there on a list of highlights of my life. Ry doesn't perform anymore - doesn't have to - doesn't want to. I've seen him perform several times years ago, but the last time I saw him was in 1992. He lives in Santa Monica and makes a record every few years. I've been reminiscing about those old concerts a lot lately for some reason, and lamenting about how much I would love to see him again, and that it'll never happen. I even scoped out YouTube a few weeks back and posted a clip from one of those old Ry concerts on this blog. There's nobody I'd rather see, and that'll never change. There's just something about Ry.

Thanks to a heads-up from Michele, I found out that Ry had agreed to play two nights at Great American Music Hall as a benefit, on Oct. 3rd & 4th. We were able to go to last night's show. We traveled with Doug and Barrett Jayne, who made the evening even more fun. Doug's the only person I know who's into Ry as much as I am; to the point of naming his son Ry! To make it even sweeter, the show was called "Guitar-Bass-Drums" and it was with Jim Keltner and Nick Lowe - It was an amazing evening. One that I will probably have to cherish as the last time I'll ever see Ry, and perhaps Nick Lowe too. We've all changed a lot in 16 years, and although Ry looks pretty good, Nick looked really old. But I think if he'd shedded his "Mr. Rogers" sweater, he could have looked 10 years younger! Word has it there were lots of "stars" in the audience, many in town for Hardly Strickly Bluegrass, including Robert Plant and Allison Krause. Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris were there Thursday night. Elvis Costello was there both nights, and perfomed both nights, too. The songs were mostly Nick Lowe songs, which were great songs, but I would have loved to hear more of Ry's pieces. They all sounded great, and needless to say, I was in heaven. Sarah Palin, that thing that seems to be on everybody's mind these days, crept her way into the lyrics of Ry's "How can a Poor Man Stand Such Times as These?
Some of the other pieces they did were: What is Hip, Pretty Baby?, The Beast in Me, Without Love, What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?, The Best that You Can, Take It From a Fool Who Knows, Gai Gin Man, Fool For A Cigarette, One of these Days, Never Bring My Baby Back To Me, Half a Boy and Half a Man.

Joel Selvin of the Chron wrote a full review of Thursday's concert at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/10/04/DDGR13B0SR.DTL
(sorry; can't get this link to work, but you can copy & paste if you want to read it.)

Then today, Dave & I went over to the Sonoma Valley to another benefit concert at BR Cohn winery. An entirely different experience, but very enjoyable. The lineup was The Turtles, Todd Rundgren, Kris Kristopherson and the Doobie Brothers. The Turtles were surprisingly FUN - we loved them, and Todd was fantastic. Kris was a bit boring, and we left shortly after the Doobies started, because we just weren't quite into them. Although we thought Todd rocked, I don't really think he fits in very well with the Doobie crowd. But it was a really fun day of laying around in the hot sun and the warm rain, drinking beer and munching on yummy food and listening to music.

We are going to the Harvest Fair

2008-09-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should call this photo "How I spent my summer!" I started this "family" back in May, inspired by the early Popeye Cartoon drawings by Elzie Crisler Segar.

On Monday, I yam goingz to takes them to the Harvisk Faire! If ya goes, be sures to stopsk by an sees them!

rear:

and a close-up of Alice:

Cornsnake

2008-09-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

I think Cornsnakes are beautiful. Of course I do; they're orange. So I made this one out of wool. Her body is basically wet-felted, and her pattern is needle-felted on top. My friends Ron & Carol have a real one, but I'm not that brave. Today she got to go outside and play in the grass, the redwoods, the cactus and the apple tree.

Our Town

2008-09-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Once a year, Graton closes down the street, opens its doors and throws a party. There's a creative, bohemian spirit to this little town. The highlight of the day is the parade, dominated by dogs and Burning Man vehicles.

Alice The Goon & Swee'pea

2008-09-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Alice the Goon appeared in the Popeye cartoon in 1934. As slave of the Sea Hag, Popeye's eternal enemy, the idea was that the horrible beast would eventually battle it out with Popeye and be disposed of. The nude character with hairy legs and arms struck fear into the readers. She spoke in oscilloscope language, proving that she was not of earthly origin. Newspapers received so many letters of protest - that she was frightening small children, that a stop order was received from the syndicate to drop Alice. This was a blow to Segar, Popeye's creator. After a respectable length of time, Alice was brought back clothed in a polka-dot blouse and skirt with a red hat and perky flower. She became attached to Swee'pea, and became the family baby sitter.
It is because of this character that the word "Goon" is in our language.

Wow! Totoro Auction raises $201,236!!!!

2008-09-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

This is a correction to my earlier post -- I had read some incorrect information, and just now found out that the Totoro Auction raised well over $200,000!

I first heard of this on June 21, at a Sketchcrawl, when Enrico Casarosa asked Amelia & I if we might be interested in contributing something. We worked furiously hard to meet the deadline (we were definitely afterthoughts) and turned in our pieces on July 15th.

Enrico, Ronnie, Dice and Yukino (and hundreds of others) have worked long and hard on this project all year. Can you imagine? Herding over 200 artists, and then organizing all the logistics and collateral material and resources to create an auction? There must have been over 500 people there last night. Lots & lots of volunteers working the floor - serving food, monitoring the bids, doing the sound, checking i.d.'s, etc. All their hard work sure showed. What an amazing feat to pull this together -- and they all have full-time jobs to boot! I hope they all slept in today!

It was like a night amongst the stars of the art world. The caliper of art was amazing. I wish Amelia would have been able to be there, because she knows who these people are. Me, I was just wandering around oblivious to who's-who, because most people didn't have name tags. But I knew for sure I was in the company of greats based on the art on display. Of course, I recognized John Lasseter, Mark Andrews,Pete Doctor, Ronnie, Enrico, Dice, and a few other artists I'm familiar with. Mostly I recognized names on the art -- and had no idea which face matched the name.

The food and drinks were amazing; from smoked duck pizza to seared sesame halibut with white miso aioli, green tea macaroons, white peach cheesecake lollypops, sake, etc etc etc. It was a beautiful, casual evening, with wonderful company, and we were treated like kings. They know how to throw a party!

The art was mostly silent-auctioned, with certain pieces set aside for live-auction. A select few hot-moving silent auction items were then moved into the live auction. It would really get interesting when a certain section of the silent auction would get near closing. Mark Andrews and Derek Thompson would wander around with wireless mics describing the art and pumping up the crowd. They'd give a 5-minute warning, and then do a 30 second countdown before closing.

The silent auction was amazing. There were 18 pieces - the cream of the crop, and most went for $2- $3,000.00 Some went for over $4,000. It was fun watching Lasseter bidding - he ended up the winner of quite a few pieces last night. Ronnie's was one of the silent-auction pieces. Although he obviously has nothing to worry about, he told me later his heart was pounding. Can you imagine? That's really putting yourself out there - to be up in front of your co-workers, peers, executives of your company --- hoping that somebody will bid a worthwhile price on your art! Of course, his painting of "Nina" went for over $2500. I can't imagine doing that. I was so happy to wander around being an unknown nobody, and if nobody bid on my piece, nobody would know it was mine! Something to be said for anonymity!

Amelia's watercolor -- I'm so proud -- sold for $200.00! My felt piece scored the lowest bid of the evening at $65.00! Which is completely appropriate, based on the caliper of the other artwork. I'm just glad somebody bid on it -- thank you very much. I would have hated to have to bid on my own piece, or worse yet, have no bids at all! I really felt, and still do -- that I had no business being involved in this thing. Enrico just has a heart of gold to invite us. I enjoyed the process, the anticipation of the event, the online gallery and bidding action, and the event itself. It has given me a huge boost of enthusiasm for creating my art, and with Amelia being gone, this is a great time to dive into something and give it my all. I feel more motivated than I have in a long time.

Pixar does not allow cameras, so I can't post photos like I usually do... boo-hoo! But there were plenty of professional photographers wandering around, so I'm sure there will be photos up on the web soon.

All the art is still online at http://totoroforestproject.org/

Saying Goodbye

2008-09-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Whoo - what a weekend. It had to happen someday! Is it easier if you have more than one kid? In the realm of potential heartbreaks between parent and child, I guess this is a relatively easy one. After all, she's off to the College of her dreams. She's dreamt of this day since the CSSSA summer of '06. She had to be there. She's hungry to learn. And I feel confident that she's amongst enthusiastic, like-minded sponges like herself. I think she'll be happy at Cal Arts. And, after this weekend, I feel confident that she'll be safe.

But the house felt empty this morning. It wasn't easy waking up realizing that, not only is she not here, but she won't be here till Thanksgiving. I don't know yet whether that will get harder or easier to accept as time goes on... we'll see. We'll sure miss her, that's for sure.

We went out to La Vera on Sunday night for a farewell dinner with Mary, our "other daughter."

A couple of Sonoma Cownty Girls:

Monday morning, we took off for the long drive down I-5. Amelia drove the whole way.

Here's the dorm -- can you tell she's in Southern California?

One of our biggest anxieties was ... the roommate. What if she got stuck with a lunatic? What a relief it was to meet Tahnee! She's a total sweetheart. Cal Arts did a great job of pairing them up, I think. We hit it off immediately with her parents, and found that we all have a whole lot in common. Both girls are only children, both musicians, and both in the Character Animation program. We loved the two girls next door, too - who are also practically roommates, since the two rooms share a bathroom! Here's Amelia, Tahnee, Adeline and Sabrina: (All four in Character Animation) "Go Girls!"

And if it gets too hot, there's always the pool.

Dave & I took a tour of the campus. We discovered so much that we hadn't seen before! It was soooo cool. We wish we could turn back time and go to school there ourselves!

Here's Dave in the Shop. Yeah - she chose the right school.

Check out this way-cool shop floor: (Wood ends!)

This is a "Cube". Each character animation student is assigned one of these (although I think freshmen may get more of a "group-cube." This is where they practically live while working on their film projects. This one is empty. Apparently students get pretty creative decorating their cubes. Amelia already has a rug for hers. Probably so she can sleep on the floor.

This is Cal Arts' new Amphitheater; named "The Wild Beast"

and back at home ... Somebody's missing you, Amelia.

Brutus

2008-08-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

next: Alice the Goon!

Buddy

2008-08-03T20:33:00.001-07:00

Buddy found my stash

J. Wellington Wimpy

2008-07-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

8" tall, and weighing in at 1.5oz!
Next up: Brutus; aka Bluto

Har de har har

2008-07-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

My work in a museum!

OK, I have to admit I got totally hooked on this timewaster. It's just so goofy. What the hey - Try it yourself at: www.dumpr.net/museumr.php

"Sprout"

2008-07-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

Amelia and I were both asked to submit pieces for an upcoming Art Auction, "The Totoro Forest Project," an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved movie "My Neighbor Totoro.” From what I gather, protecting this forest has been a pet project of Miyazaki's since 1990, and since Pixar people hold Miyazaki in the utmost highest esteem, they decided to do something to help out by organizing this art auction.

This is such an honor; I still can't even believe it. I don't feel worthy of being in the same company of the artists involved in this project. But just the fact that I was invited is just about the biggest compliment I've ever had.

I was asked to do a felt sculpture. Anyone who's been around me for the last two weeks knows how stressed I've been about my piece. We were invited sort of late in the game, and therefore had very little time. My biggest problem was narrowing my focus to one good idea. My brain was exploding with ideas - I went down numerous dead-end paths; everything I did ended up looking over-worked. I finally decided to tame the wild ideas, back up, slow down, and focus on simplicity.

In the movie, the Totoro hands a gift to Mae and Satsuki. It is wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied with a "dragon's whisker." When they get home and open it, it is full of acorns and seeds. My piece represents an acorn from the gift which has dropped onto the forest floor. Resting on a decaying leaf, it eventually sprouts, bringing new life to the forest.

"Sprout," Needle-felted wool

And here's what Amelia submitted: an amazing watercolor of the Camphor Tree from the movie, with it's garland of paper tied around the trunk. I love the way she captured the knarly wood, the billowy Miazaki-esque clouds, and the perspective looking up into the tree and off in the distance to the valley below. The hat at the base of the tree belongs to Mae, one of the little girls in the movie. This movie was originally released in 1988, the same year Amelia was born. Amelia's middle name is May. And you already know this, but Amelia likes hats.

The auction will be held on Sept. 6th at Pixar Animation Studios. There is a website with more information, and a gallery of the artwork at http://totoroforestproject.org/

Wimpy is Waiting ...

2008-07-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

Poor Wimpy. I didn't get time to finish him before getting waylayed on another project. Here he is with his necktie unfinished, no arms, hands or shoes, and NO HAMBURGER! Poor guy! Every time I walk by him, I feel bad. He looks like he is patiently waiting. I promise to get right back to you, Wimpy, as soon as I can!

Photos from a great weekend

2008-07-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

Food, friends, an 'ukulele jam - who could ask for anything more?

Friday night, Doni and Michelle arrived and we went to see Amelia play at the Occidental Farmer's Market L-R: Pat, Amelia, Eva

Simmering vats of Paella!

Doni, Dave & I had the Seafood Paella. mmmmmmmmm

Oh, man, it was so good to get together with Michelle & Doni again.

The next day Doni & Michelle joined in on our 'ukulele workshop. Not shown are Dave & Amelia, who also accompanied us on bass. Brian came by, we had a great pot-luck, and then more 'ukulele jam; complete with a bit of hula. How lucky we are to have such great friends. L-R: Sibyl, Ross, me, Michelle, Doni, Ron, and Carol in front.

Sketchcrawl #19

2008-06-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

I love Sketchcrawls! It's such a gift to allow yourself the whole day to just draw. Fort Point was the location this time, right under the bridge. About 40 people showed up. The weather was beautiful, as always. This was Amelia's last crawl before heading off to College.
We were merely the San Francisco contingent of the Worldwide Sketchcrawl. If you would like to see the results of what people sketched all over the world on Sunday, you can see as people post their work at www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/. Just go to 19th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, and then click on the city/country RESULTS post. I think it's fascinating. I'll put mine up eventually. Sweden posted some great photos along with the art. I want to go to Sweden. I loved Australia's. And I want to learn to sketch like Gabi Campanario in Seattle. That'll never happen!

I'm so HAPPY that Sib, Ross, Diane, Ruth and Ernie came down!!! I've always wanted them to come! Yay!

The North Bay/East Bay gang: L-R front row: Jeff, Amelia, Ronnie, Gerin, Ruth, Sibyl. Back row: Ernie, Ross, Nancy, Diane

That bridge is breathtaking from any angle...

Concentrating...

Summer in SF and no fog! Diane and Sib upon our arrival:

Amelia and "the man" Enrico Casarosa. Dig the blue hat.

I don't know where the time went. The day FLEW by, and I only did these two sketches!!

Afterwards, we went to Presidio Social Club for dinner, and then to the Ethnic Dance Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts. What a great day.

felted Popeye and Olive

2008-06-16T20:21:00.001-07:00

I'm working on Wimpy now. I want to do Swee'pea, Eugene the Jeep, Brutus and Alice the Goon, too. They take a long time, though, so we'll see...

Robin's Nest Update

2008-06-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

This is the same nest I posted a week or so ago. I was really surprised to see 4 eggs in it! Momma and Daddy Robin are not at all happy with us being anywhere near it, so I haven't peeked in since last time. The nest is only about 6' up in a tree; right outside the chicken coop. I can't quite reach my camera high enough to focus correctly.

(as Ry would say) "Good God Almighty!"

2008-06-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you Youtube!Whew!
Ry Cooder, Santa Cruz, 1987. On vocals:
Terry Evans(in blue), Willie Green Jr., Arnold McCullen and Bobby King.