Summer of "Changes"

Okay, this may only be funny to me. As some know, each year I participate in a traveling exhibition with a great bunch of artists. We are now prepping for the Season of Summer. "Spring" is presently touring across the country ending tour the end of this calendar year while Summer will begin touring in January 2010 at Road To California. Those that have seen Spring Break know that for traveling exhibits, I love to just have fun... poke fun, show fun, or the like.

Spring Break 2009



This "Summer" Season is planned to reflect how men change. A planned stare and compare of the Summer of 1941 ( when my hubby was a mere baby ).... and well ....this summer..... I'm sure you will notice how much things have changed!

Summer of '41:




This Summer:



Now to quilt when I get back to the states! :-)

Close To Done

Grandkids arriving so the inks/paints will go away for a bit... but my little lost girl from Ecuador is about painted. Theres alot to know about the children of Ecuador. So many young children abandoned, either by mothers too young to be mothers.. sometimes having been unwilling sexual partners as well, or very very poor parents cannot support them, sometimes slight or even major disfigurements (cleft palate, etc) prompt their abandonment. There is no punishment for abandoning children in the country UNLESS they are abandoned in an unsafe place. The orphanages we visited there and worked at are 100% privately funded, largely by loving Americans. American Doctors/Surgeons go to Ecuador quarterly to do corrective surgeries without cost. Impressive!!! So many Americans doing good work. We worked with "For His Children", a wonderful residential ministry founded and managed by Clark and Melinda Vaughn from the U.S.

Here's my little gal we found in the open market in Quito, Ecuador, the capital. It will get quilted and fine tuned at home.

Happy Hour with 2 "Tickets To Fly" =s One Long Siesta

Okay.. I have now had my quota of slushy fruity drinks that knock you out. I ordered my favorite meal... Fresh Ceviche (white sea bass with papaya relish)and tapas (chips) plus a happy/fresh drink called a Ticket to Fly. I was sooooo relaxed, I immediately returned to my room for a nap.


At least I have started on a portrait... Remember the 2 week back blog photo of the little girl in the open market in Quito, Ecuador! I am compelled to turn this photo into an art piece. The drawing lies under the cloth.. so early on in a painting, especially when ink is wet, one can sometimes see my drawing through the fabric. I think this will be a meaningful piece for me as I so clearly remember the mood and feeling of the marketplace filled with so many people struggling in poverty.


Just beginning...

At Home in Cabo

Finally, July has arrived am I am in my annual summer love affair with Cabo San Lucas. How beautiful is this place??!!!!! I know this looks like a postcard... but I shot this from my room. Muy bonita! Click on any photo for enlarged image.



I am here for 3 weeks.... one week alone to paint (I have a wonderful hubby.. he gets it!), and family including hubby, daughter, grandaughter/grandson arrive for 2 more weeks. So, I have great expectations of myself... I brought 6 ready to go, right sized drawings. I'll get at least 3 smaller ones painted this week... the rest, hopefully across the next 2 weeks. I brought all my inks in a plastic case, and fantastix in a plastic bag.. pretty simple stuff! So the inks are ready... the stix laid out in numerical order but for often used non color colors (black,white,gray) shown in a margarita glass, and metallics which I rarely use.


I'll post more later. By the way... Registration for Road to California in January 2010 is on line as of the 7th. 2 of my 4 classes are already filled. Check out the faculty and classes at www.road2ca.com. Now to the Palapa Bar where happy hour begins and I get 2 "Tickets to Fly" for the price of one. Probably my first and last drinks of the week.... but they are seemingly all fruit juice. Right!

Home and at Play

Home from Ecuador at 3am Saturday, up at 6am and straight to an experimental effort with 6 fiber artists and an exceptionally talented book author working with several of us to produce a book for mixed media quilters. Using multi media, some painted fabric (that would be me), some stamped, some silk-screened.... etc etc. There are new to the market acrylics that so far appear to work pretty well on fabrics. It will be a while before this product takes form and is published, but it looks quite promising. And such FUN!

Here, friend Sharla Hicks is 'constructing' a silk screen design.

Screen done, paints added, 1 print made, extra medium added to move paints nicely in preparation for a second screen printing.



The second print looks pretty sweet.




Before I left for home yesterday, I had to snap a photo from the inside of an orange silk umbrella sitting in the sun. Very cool.

Last Days in Ecuador

Such a humbling and rich experience in this country high up in the Andes. The group loved our downtime at the equator.

A little known and much appreciated fact. Shall I move to Ecuador?


Hard to leave. My final hour with sweet Aieesha.




Is she not an angel?

Maybe next year, I can return but til then I have learned I can sponsor a specific child. Choosing one will be hard. They are all so sweet

Latacunga and a visit to the ecuator

What an incredible time in this truly beautiful country high in the Andes mountains. We spent 4 days at the Latacunga Orphanage run by "For His Children" Part time painting te new building.


Part Time caring for the children. No time to put on makeup here.

Oh we all fell in love with little Clarita.


Later to the Ecuator where Ginny and John balanced a raw egg on the head of a nail. Es posible!!!!. Phenomenal. More about this later.