Well, the stooooooopid program put the pictures at the top instead of at the bottom after my text, which is maybe why I stopped using this.  Stupid fuck shit!

Well, I have been quilting like crazy.  I'm not sure how many quilts I've made since I last posted any pictures.  The series I have been working on lately is a variation on the Ventanas series.  But I may have run through enough of those for now, and I'm feeling ready to strike out in a new direction, or at least a related direction.

AND I have been getting accepted into shows.  I've been in 11 shows this year, one juried by Jason Pollen, whose works I've always liked.  I won an Honorable Mention at a show in Groton, NY, which we used to live near a long time ago when I was getting my PhD at Cornell.  We lived in West Groton, in an old Victorian farmhouse, not so far from Groton itself.  There was no town of West Groton. Maybe it had a post office at some point.  When we were there,  it was just a crossroads with a few houses, of which ours was the big one.

Right now I am having a group show in Maine.  It's called Work of the hand.  They have about a dozen of my quilts.  And in Feb., I will be having a solo show in Cary, NC, near Raleigh.  I have to go down there and give a talk for 30 mins.  What the blank will I talk about for 30 mins.!!!???

OK, here's a few of my latest quilts.

BLUE, 11-3/4" X 11"
@2007 Susanne Clawson
My very first quilt made by machine. It was inspired by an encaustic painting in intense blues.

This stoooopid site has prevented me from logging on for over 2 months ... saying non-existent email that I log onto EVERYDAY.. THAT SUCKS PEOPLE!!!

I have been very busy making quilts -- on the machine -- something new for me. So I am going to post a bunch of them here. They are called the Ventana Series -- Windows, for those of you who don't know Spanish. I have gone thru my fabric stash in all colors of the rainbow. Fun fun fun. BLUE was my very first one. I saw a picture on-line (where else?) of an encaustic painting in intense blues, and that was the inspiration for Blue. I had to get up the next morning and sew sew sew. And they all followed from that.

RED 1, 24-1/2" X 15"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

RED 2, 20" X 8"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

RED 3, 12" X17-1/2"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

RED 4, 11-1/2" X 15-1/4"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

RED X, 13" X 14"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

PINK 1, 10" X 15-1/2"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

PINK 2, 13-1/2" X 20"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

PINK 3, 6-1/2" X 18"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

GREEN 2, 10' x 21'
@2007, Susanne Clawson

ORANGE 1, 17" X 25"
@2007, Susanne Clawson

GREEN 1, 10-1/2" x 23-1/2"

@2007, Susanne Clawson

YELLOW, 13" X 15" quilt
@2007, Susanne Clawson

RED & BLUE FLOWER. This is part of my encrustation series. I have made a whole bunch of these in lots of colors. The earlier ones are only one or two layers of beads in the center. In these new ones, the beads really stick out. I guess it kind of shows up in the photo.
@ 2007, Susanne Clawosn

TRIANGLE. Another work that sat around for several months before I finished it. Fewer beads than more of my pieces. @ 2007, Susanne Clawson

NO-NECK RUNNER. Another piece I had started quite a while ago and finally decided to finish. The idea came from a picture of a doll I saw, but when I look at how the figure looked, I came up with the title. It has buttons for eyes. Well, I guess it's a he.

This is called BIG EYES, BIG LIPS, BIG HAIR. It was something I started quite a while ago and never finished. but last month (July), I dragged it out and finished it. I put a little metal charm for her hand.

Doug Visiting

Doug is visiting from Cali. He had an interview in Baltimore Monday with Catholic Social Services, same group Jacqui interviewed with last year and that she turned down because they expect 80+ hours of work per week. Doug says if he goes, he will work 9 to 5, period. Good for him. Well, I hope he gets an offer and decides to take it. It would be great to have them living nearby. Kind of funny coincidence in a way, since I've been spending so much time recently looking at Tracy Helgeson's work and her blog. Well, I wanted to add an image of heres here but can't figure out how to do it. Sigh.
Anyway, she lives somewhere in upstate NY, which means only Not New York City... they're so city-centric, those people... I found her through a gallery In Groton and thought she might live near there, but it's somewhere else, really up-state, I think, not side-state like Ithaca. Anyway, here is Doug and we all used to share a house in WEST Groton, not too far away. I remember being over in Groton one day and coming back to our big Victorian farmhouse in West Groton, and I could see that there was a blizzard coming, literally, and that it was going to be a total white-out situation. I barely made it home.
I ran around yesterday doing all kinds of stuff --- dropping off slides for duplicates and CD, plus getting the new little quilt photographed there at UPhoto, going to College Park tennis to see if anyone had turned in the turq. sweatshirt I stupidly left behind the other night.... NO, someone has stolen it ... which is too bad, 1) because I liked it, great turq. color, 2) it had been Steve's father's. So I feel esp. bad about that. Then I got the car washed -- covered with pollen, which will just repeat repeat for the next couple of weeks. Then to the post office to mail in an application for a show.. but no, I had to go to the bathroom, and there would be no bathroom at the post office, so where to go? Have lunch, but where in downtown Silver Spring? I was coming around Spring Strret to Georgia on my way to the PO and decided just go to the Woodside Deli. So that's what I did. Had a falafel, where they cleverly cut the pita into 4 pieces and let me assemble it myself instead of stuffing everything in a whole pita and it being too big to get into one's mouth. Plus a choc. malted. Sigh.
Then after that to the art supply store to get some oil sticks. I really want to try painting but am not ready for the whole oil preparation thing that seems to go on with oil painting. The colors were pretty limited, but I can give it a try.
Then I wanted to check out Pyramid Atlantic, that I had been told by a lady at the ArtDC show to definitely check out. And there it was, almost across the street from the art store, where I've NEVER noticed it. But it looked so ratty, hardly any cars in the parking lot, and I was feeling really tired, so I didn't stop.
Went home and yes, Doug called and he was in Columbia, only about 20mins. away, so so much for a nap, though I did lie down on the couch. We went off to a movie, after much reading of the little blurbs in the paper, and picked one in Bethesda, The Namesake, about an Indian family who come to the US. We all liked it a lot. And there was this one scene with a fabulous painting on the wall that I WANTED. Huge. Gold yellow background, rough painted leaves, with big rough painted parrots all over it. Afterwards, we went to Jaleo for dinner... lovely evening, and everything we had was yummy, along with Sangria, which I haven't had in ages, AND paella, which I've been having a craving for for weeks, but the paella was only so-so.
Then we went to Barnes & Noble and I spent a ton on books. Sigh. Have to get reading. Plus a crossword puzzle book, which already seems like it will be too easy --just filling in the blanks, which gets boring. It said Challenging!

4/30/07
Yesterday I drove up to Clarksville, which is just on the southern edge of Columbia (Doug from Cali, Columbia visiting yesterday also), to attend a meeting of art quilters who want to start a critique group. What pretty countryside, rolling hills, cherry trees and dogwoods and lilacs and wisteria still in bloom. I want to go back and explore and just wander around and get lost.
Anyway, the meeting was held at one of women's house... big house, pool, looking over maybe 5 acres of land, rolling hills. Plus she had a studio, lined with bins of fabric and other things, all organized, and a big huge worktable in the middle. Sigh.
There were maybe 25 women there, quite an impressive turnout. We introduced ourselves and then went around and showed what work we had brought along. The organizer, Carole Shaw, I think -- I am SO bad with names -- had asked us to bring a couple of things along. I was surprised when one of the women picked me to show my work almost right off the bat. Maybe because I was all dressed in greens and turquoise, like Robin Hood?? Anyway, so I brought out my 2 little quilts, Porcupine and the latest encrustation, blue on pink, and passed them around. I got a lot of positive feedback on them.
Later one we started having a very interesting discussion about how we could do critique and what it meant and how it was not saying that you liked this or that; it was more about what were you trying to accomplish and did you succeed at it or not. The meeting had already been going on for 3 hours then and it was time to break up and go home, but I hope that the next meeting, maybe in June, we can pick up there and continue where we left off.
Today I an planning on going to the ArtDC show, last day at the Conv. Center downtown, a show of something like 80 galleries in the area. Carole Shaw had been, said she was somewhat disappointed in it in that there were only maybe 3 places with any kind of fiber, but that it was instructive in learning what we maybe have to do to get ourselves out there and into the gallery/art world and not be ghettoized as "quilters." It's too bad so many women call themselves "crafters" (at whatever they do) and also that so many don't put any real value on their work. I looked at Etsy yesterday and saw a woman selling her quite large quilts for $200. She doesn't do herself any favors, nor anyone else either. At the meeting, one of the first women to show her work started saying something deprecating about her work, and other women just jumped on her for doing that and said, Be positive, be great, think you're wonderful and your work is wonderul. Good for them!
Then I went to play tennis (match) with Susan and we kicked butt! 6-0, 6-0. Those other women were outclassed, I'm afraid.

My recent fascination with having some pictures of cherry trees and other spring going on around here now (DC area) is because I have become fascinated by the work of Tracy Helgeson. She is an artist who paints in oils and does these absolutely luminous landscapes in wonderful colors. They remind me of Wolf Kahn's work -- and it turns out that he is sort of one of her mentors -- but I have decided that I like her work better than Kahn's. Maybe last year there was an exhibit of Kahn's work at a small gallery down in Georgetown. I am so glad I took the trouble (I am so lazy about getting out and going to art shows) to go see it because I have admired his work for a long time, and this was the first time I had been able to see it in person. And of course, the real thing is so much better than any picture. His work also just glows. I would love to have one, but I think the best I could ever do is a poster. But maybe I could save up and buy one of Tracy's.

For some reason, this picture didn't come up with the previous post.

These are a couple of our azaleas which have just now come into full bloom. Also blooming now are the new red bud, which has masses of teeny little blossoms on it, our new cherry tree from last year, the white dogwood and the pink one. I love spring here. And I think I have talked our neighbors into getting a crabapple tree to plant along the back fence. We don't really have any room for one, though I would like to figure out a place for a lilac.
I have to get used to the new little digital camera. The focus is a little off. I suppose one day I will have to invest in a digital camera where I can do my own focusing and not rely on the point-&-shoot kind, esp. for shooting artwork.

These are more pictures at the same spot on the East-West Hiway.

April 27, 2007

I went out yesterday to take these pictures of cherry trees at a spot on the East-West Hiway where Beach comes in. They were in full bloom and gorgeous, and I knew they wouldn't last too much longer, even if the weather has been chilly and rainy, and is again today. Yesterday was also the day I went to have a carotid doppler (?), which turns out to be a sonogram of the arteries in your neck. This was because I have been having weird little dizzy spells. Even at the doctor's, lying on their table, the ceiling of the room was spinning around just a little when I lay down. Fortunately, it went away pretty soon.
When I was out photographing these cherry trees, there was a big boom of thunder overhead. I was already heading back to the car, and just when I got inside, Whoosh, came the rain, just pouring. Lucky me. I drove up a little side street right there, lined with nice houses and tons of cherry trees. Gorgeous. It was pouring rain and snowing cherry blossoms all over. I loved it. Today at the supermarket, we saw a car that was just plastered in cherry blossoms, literally. It looked like confetti had been thrown all over it and stuck.

April 2007
A whole year has gone by, and I've been obsessed with making "pot holders." My latest ones are called Encrustations because I just loaded them up with beads. They're not here yet. Being photographed tomorrow. Also made a paper piece, Rain, which came out pretty good. I had to struggle to glue those papers down how I wanted them. It's off at a show right now, in Missouri maybe? So here are some new little quilts, if I can figure out how to upload the images.

Blue-Footed Booby. Their feet really are this big.

Small quilts: Tall Mask, based on a African mask I saw. And Yellow Teapot.

Two more small quilts: Give Me More Arms, for people like me for need more hands and arms because we're always dropping things. And Blue Teapot.

The images below are Cat Grump, Tuff Guy, and Angel. All are very small quilts, using batiks, beads, and hand stitching.

Detail of Rain.

OK, here's Rain. It's made of vellum. I made diagonal marks on the papers with Caran d'Ache wax oil crayons -- lots of different greens -- and then painted over the marks with water colors -- also lots of greens. The crayons marks make a wonderful resist.
Then I had to figure out how to get the spiky effect I wanted. I folded the vellum like you fold paper for cutting out paper dolls and cut the sharp angle, so I was able to use all of the sheet of paper. Gluing was tricky. But I like it. I started some other papers in other colors but haven't finished those yet.

April 2007
A whole year has gone by, and I've been obsessed with making "pot holders." My latest ones are called Encrustations because I just loaded them up with beads. They're not here yet. Being photographed tomorrow. Also made a paper piece, Rain, which came out pretty good. I had to struggle to glue those papers down how I wanted them. It's off at a show right now, in Missouri maybe? So here are some new little quilts, if I can figure out how to upload the images.