etsy treasuries...

when i have the time, i love curating treasuries on etsy. it's so much fun to look through all the shops and pieces i have  as "favorites" and choose sixteen items that somehow work together. it occurred to me this evening, that the process is very similar to what i go through when i make my quilt each day, and that the end result is very much like a traditional patchwork. maybe that's why i like the exercise so much.

here's the treasury i curated a few hours ago:

if you want to go to the real thing and check out the items in more detail, click here. 

enjoy!

cheers,
karen anne

thank you, punahou...

years ago i was lucky enough to attend an incredible private school in hawaii. started by missionaries, punahou is also where president barrack obama went. while he graduated, i was only there for my freshman and sophomore years, but those two years had a profound effect on me. i learned more about being an artist and writer in those two years than in four years of college.

and now, here i am, working regularly in my studio, and absolutely loving writing a short narrative/poem to accompany the small art quilts i make each day.  yesterday's and today's are two of my favorites.

yesterday's:

they lived in japan then. the ship had left that morning, taking with it the man she loved. their baby was sleeping soundly upstairs... she sat in the dark house, sipping cabernet from a crystal goblet, listening to chopin, and staring at the rain running in rivulets down the narrow street...

today's:

if she sat very still in the garden just as the sun rose, she could sometimes hear her roses singing. "usually it sounds like a cross between a lullaby and a madrigal, " she said, "but at other times there's definitely a bit of bosa nova going on..."

i loved the creative writing class i took in summer school at punahou between my freshman and sophomore years. we were challenged to edit our writing to just the essence of what we were trying to express. what an incredible class. it ruined me for writing the long papers required in college, but now it helps me each day when i reflect on the new little quilt in front of me and listen to its story...

cheers,
karen anne

today's doodle...

out of sorts, grumpy and itchy after breaking out in hives last night. but i did managed to get to the studio in spite of my mood and bumps and make my small quilt and a little something extra:

collage of painted paper, machine stitching, embroidery, perforations. 5" x 4.25". 2012

i'm still out of sorts, grumpy, and itchy. glad it's friday and a martini is only two hours away!

here's to martinis and friday nights!

cheers,
karen anne

for the love of color...

what joy there is in color!

necklace of glass, ceramic, metal, coral beads on leather cord. 2012

and how wonderful to get to wrap it around one's neck and head out into the day!

cheers,

karen anne

just because...

i've been getting the urge to do some new jewelry pieces since i have bits of quilted scrapes lying about and so many lovely beads tempting me from across the studio...

i gave in the other day and completed a necklace:

it's even reversible! 

cheers,

karen anne

variation...

tried another little gouache today - well, really a mix of acrylic and gouache. when i did the stitching on it i had the presser foot up since having it down made marks on the previous pieces. and this time i mounted it on a backing (of the same paper stock) with cross-stitching.

i'm wondering about the painting and the way the brush marks show. i kind of like it this way but wonder if prospective collectors might want the color fields to read as really solid. what do you think?

cheers,
karen anne

small compositions...

there are many things i love about my daily art quilt practice, but one part i really enjoy is snapping the detail shots of the quilts. they've inspired me to do some small (3" and less) gouache paintings with machine sewn lines:

cheers,

karen anne

pure giddiness...

wasn't feeling so well this morning, so, after making my little quilt, i decided to wander the local antique shops to distract me from the vague yuckiness i felt.

it worked! i felt better immediately when i saw this and brought it home. this wonderful afghan was a mere $15, really large at 5'x7', and without a doubt the best example of pure giddiness in design and execution that i've ever seen:

isn't it wonderful???

i'm in love!

cheers,
karen anne

what to wear...

being female i just can't wear just anything to the gallery reception tonight. no black t-shirt and black jeans for this artist! heck no. when you have fiber works in the show ( and when you're me) you sort of feel an obligation to make something special to wear, ya know? so i made a sash with the same colors/feel as the vintage zuni squash blossom necklace (my grandmother's) that i'll be wearing, too - along with a long white linen skirt and black jersey top.

here 'tis

i put a pocket on the back so i can have my lipgloss, a tissue, and maybe a few business cards handy without having to carry a purse. pretty smart, 'eh?

looking fun to seeing friends and having a fun evening. it's raining right now, but hopefully folks will come out anyway. fingers crossed...

cheers,

karen anne

what a mess...

thank heavens they've finished. problem is, now i have to figure out how to clean all the dust left from blowing in insulation in the ceiling space above my studio. and from cutting an access into the plaster ceiling. lord what a mess...

i had the forethought to remove my printer, computer, and sewing machine and cover the big horizontal surfaces with sheets, but i didn't anticipate that the dust would cover my books and things vertical...and somehow i forgot to remove the tv and it didn't even get covered...stupid, stupid, stupid.

i had plugged up the door to my fabric closet and to the little back bedroom, so, fortunately, those are in good shape, and we closed doors on the second floor so there's very little dust that traveled to those spaces.

i have a really good dust mask and i think just starting at the stairs leading up to the third floor will be the best idea...with a bucket of water and a supply of old rags and just start wiping everything. alternatively, i could hit the studio first with the door closed and kind of back my way out and then down the stairs, finishing there. maybe that would be better.

egads.

maybe a trip to run errands is in order first. i think best about these things when i'm out and about.

i'm happy to entertain any ideas from personal experience you might have. please send 'em in!

cheers, (alas, not so enthusiastically written today)
karen anne

p.s. on the bright side, and where i'm trying to focus: this is IT. once the cleaning is done the studio will be a warm in winter, cool in summer, filled with light all year 'round wonderfully workmen free space that is all MINE!!!

let there be light!

the skylight ( a 14" vellux solar tunnel) that i've been wanting for so long, was finally installed in the ceiling of my studio yesterday! oh, my, what glorious light i have now! tomorrow they'll be back to blow insulation into the space between the ceiling and the roof. our home was built in 1831 and there has never been insulation there... so it's been cold in the winter and hot in the summer. i had used a window ac unit until this spring when we had the small space pac air conditioning ducting run for the second and third floors. that's been wonderful except for the studio where, without insulation, it hasn't had much of a chance to cool the space... anyway, all this HOT summer i've been trying to work up there without even the window unit. pretty miserable. and, oh yeah, DARK. the one east facing window lets in light in the morning, but the other two are low, face south, and don't let much light in at all. (which is why i went ahead and put the furniture where i did...)

anyway, the studio is still all a mess with things moved out of the way of the workmen, and it's wrapped with sheets to try and save some surfaces from plaster dust, but i thought i'd post the pictures anyway because i'm just so excited!

now you can be excited with me!

cheers,
karen anne