Recipe for a Good Saturday

Spring is here in it's green glory! I could hardly wait to come home Friday afternoon and weed. It's been cold and rainy this spring, so this was my first time out in our yard. It felt good to be doing something outside.

Saturday morning, I biked to our library's monthly used book sale. Look what I got for a quarter each:

When I came home, I cast on for Helen Stewart's Spindrift Shawl.  It's a really relaxing knit, perfect for listening to audiobooks or streaming your favorite show or movie.

I came home and started working on a new embroidery project. Naji is enjoying our screened porch as much as I am.

After lunch, I went out for coffee with my mom, and later I had dinner at a friend's house. Her husband loves to cook and he made this huge and amazingly delicious pavlova:

All-in-all a perfect day!

What did you do this weekend?

My Art Opening

Last night the Jewish Artists Lab had the opening for our art show. A member who is a poet started it off with a spoken word performance, and then people milled around and looked at the works. We got a nice turnout, so it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Here are my works:

I don't know if you can tell on a screen that they are embroidered figures of Jewish immigrants on cloth printed with ship manifests from around 1900. They are a Jewish interpretation of Plains Indians' ledger paintings, like this one:

Native Americans from the Plains began painting on ledger paper after buffalo became rare and then extinct. So, I replaced the ledger paper with the ship manifest and the Native American drawings with Jewish themes.

People seemed to like them, so that made me happy, too!

Finally ... Brioche!

I have wanted to learn brioche knitting for a long time. I took a class last spring, but it just didn't take. Yesterday I took a class at the Knit Circus Retreat with master teacher Amy Detjen and I think I finally understand it

I'm very happy with the way this is coming out -- but then how could it fail to be fabulous with that yarn? I know I sound like a broken record, but do check out the Knit Circus web site; Jaala Spiro has an amazing color sense.

As a teacher myself, I couldn't help but analyze Amy's teaching style yesterday. She doesn't just teach you a serious of steps; she teaches you how the stitch works. As a result, you understand what you are supposed to do and why. I actually frogged the above because I decided I wanted a tighter gauge. The fact that I was able to restart it all by myself speaks volumes for Amy's teaching.

It's been a great weekend. On Friday evening, Keith and I drove my parents to Rockford, where my dad's cousin, Phyllis Bramson, has a 30-year retrospective show at the art museum. I love Phyllis's work, and this show just blew me away. Here is sample of her painting/collage work:

She gave a gallery walk that was fascinating. She talked about how "desire" is one of her main themes and recalled the "girlie" calendars her dad brought home from work. (Her grandfather opened the first auto parts store in Madison, and her father ran it for many years. My grandfather started his career at that store, but then opened his own 50 miles away in Beloit, where I grew up.) She talked about her process and how she's always on the lookout for bits and pieces to incorporate in her work. She even pokes around at Joanne Fabrics on occasion!

I realized that I have never asked her about any of this, which may seem odd since I am so interested in art and creating. The fact is that I have always been in awe of her.

Phyllis is a "real artist." She has made her living as an artist. She has sold works to top museums around the world. She has won a Guggenheim Grant and been a Fullbright Scholar. She has taught at the University of Illinois in Chicago and the Chicago Art Institute.

Despite all this, she is a warm and friendly person. Outspoken, intellectual, funny. Who wouldn't be a bit in awe?

And for those of you who live in Chicagoland, this exhibit will open at the Chicago Cultural Center in Summer 2016.

Because of the Packer game...

...foot traffic is way down this afternoon at my art fair!

The place was pretty crowded this morning but things slowed down quite a bit about an hour before kick-off.

I don't mind just hanging out. A lot of people I haven't seen in ages show up. A few minutes ago, a former student happened by, which is always fun. Plus I have been working on this:

Last year I did very well at this show. This year I'm just glad that I am not losing money!

SOFA Is Not a Couch!

My friend Tsela and I headed to Chicago last weekend to attend SOFA, the Sculpture Objects and Functional Art + Design, held on the Windy City's Navy Pier. It's the kind of place where "real" artists show and sell their works -- and the kind of event that attracts the truly rich. The cheapest thing we saw was a simple metal ring for $495! All in all, it's a fascinating event.

This piece is woven from pages of magazines and comics:

Would anyone ever drink out of these hand-painted coffee cups?

 

And there were lots of "dolls" -- none of which you would want a young child to play with!

It was a typical November day: cold, windy and gray. Still, I love the skyline under any circumstances!

With school starting this week, I haven't done a whole lot of knitting. But I haven't yet shared with you this great painting I saw in an art museum in Copenhagen:

The painting, titled "Anna Seekamp," depicts the artist's sister, knitting in her hand! Bertha Wegman, a Dane, of course, painted it in 1882. It was so much fun to stumble on this little masterpiece at the Statens Museum for Kunst -- the National Gallery of Denmark.

Do Europeans know how lucky they are to be surrounded by so much beautiful art and architecture?

In Progress

This is not an FO Friday, but I do have projects in the works, including:

Any guesses on what this is going to be? It won't be used as a flat picture.

I am not going to share my sketch from yesterday. I went out sketching with Marsha and Tsela again, and my drawing was absolutely awful! In the future, though, I should try to get copies of their pictures. They are both really talented.

I started the decrease half of my Garland Shawl. I'm looking forward to having it go faster as the rows get shorter!

Today thunder and lightening fill the sky, so I'm glad I went sketching yesterday:

We had a great time, just talking and drawing and painting, and we agreed we need to do this agai. I'm going to hold them to that!

Urban Sketching

I made it to Draw Madison yesterday and I actually like my sketch -- though I have to give the credit to a fellow sketcher, Elsie, who helped me save a a disastrous drawing.

If you have ever wanted to draw, you should see if there is an Urban Sketchers group near you. There are groups all over the world, linked by a web site and a manifesto. It began as an online flickr group in 2007 and morphed into a nonprofit dedicated to drawing on location.

The manifesto holds, among other things, that sketchers draw indoors or out, depicting what they actually see. Sketchers can use any media and are encouraged to draw together and share drawings online. I love the 8th item on the manifesto: "We show the world, one drawing at a time."

That makes it sound so do-able, doesn't it?

Rejected

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I have to say that I am enjoying having a three-day weekend, seeing as today is a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. At the same time, as a teacher, it seems to me like we could honor the man better if we had school and learned about him and the Civil Rights Movement. Oh, well. No one ever asks me.

The high temperature today is forecast to be 7 degrees F, so one of my goals is to spend the entire day in my house. I'm planning to mostly cook and knit.

As for the title and photo: I submitted this 4-by-4 inch canvas to a Reader Challenge from one of the great craft magazines out there, Cloth Paper Scissors. My work wasn't chosen for publication. Sigh. However, I do have a major spread coming out in another magazine. I'll let you know when it hits the newsstands!