Nature's texture in my neighborhood

My last post for 2010 is about nature's texture in my neighborhood. During my daily dog walking I am trying to look for interesting textures, to see what has changed with time, with the changing seasons and the time of day. These are some shots from the last couple of weeks: Later they will serve as inspiration for art.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My Hang Up

Well, Michelle Ward did it again! She throws a challenge after challenge and I respond occasionally, like today: The challenge: show your own art as it hangs around your home or studio. This one is EASY and here is the proof. Thank you Michelle for keeping our creative juice flowing!

Announcements

First thing’s first:
The winner of the Tote Bag Giveaway is
VIKI!!
Please email me with your snail mail address so I can ship your prize to you!

Second: Please join me this Saturday at the annual BOOK ARTS JAM at Foothill College in Los Altos. I will have a table with lots of books and goodies to share and sell.  This is a big gathering of book artists and there is tons to see. Details are here.
And Lastly: Sunday October 24th,  I will be teaching a fabric book making class at A WORK OF HEART in Willow Glen. Here is the link for registration.

TOTE BAG GIVEAWAY!

As you can see in the latest (and first) Cloth Paper Scissors' GIFTS issue that just came out, the artist Jodi Kahn has created some fabulous tote bags without sewing one stitch! The fabrics she used were created by myself as well as Alisa Burke, Beryl Taylor and Mary Beth Volpini, each one with her own style. The tote is really sturdy, even without being stitched! If you get the magazine you can also make one yourself!

Since I got two bags I am giving one away to one of my followers! So if you would like to be included all you have to do is become a follower (instructions on the right side bar) and leave a comment with your email address. The winner will be announced by October 11.

A belated Happy New (Jewish) Year

If you celebrated the Jewish New Year last month you may be interested to see some vintage "Shana Tova" cards I found while visiting Israel. Before the internet age we used to send these to all our relatives and friends.

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While walking my dogs tonight I saw this amazing sky  made of sunset with some rain that didn't reach the ground. Fall always comes with great sunsets!

Colors of Israel 2010

Back from Israel with some new colorful scenes. I hope you enjoy.

FLEA MARKET FRIDAY

Kecia from Lemoncholy's Flight of Fancy has started "Flea Market Friday", where people blog about their fabulous finds in flea markets, garage sales and thrift stores.
Here is my contribution for this week:

These are some extra large 19th century portraits of a family. I left a pair of scissors in the picture to demonstrate the size of these beautiful photos. (They are 16"x20").. They are retouched with delicate paint and colored pencils. (When I was very young my father, who had a photography studio, used to do the same thing on photos he took of his customers, and he tried to teach me the technique as well. By the time I sort of mastered it it was no longer in use).

A buried treasure

Responding  to a challenge by Seth from "the altered page", I am re-posting a buried treasure: My favorite post from my own blog from past years. I am choosing the one that describes my studio since it shows everything that I love about mixed media: textures, colors, fibers, found objects and even dust...
This is the link

Enjoy!

My new addiction

my favorite blogs

When I need some down time I like to surf blogland. These are some of my favorites which I visit frequently:
Orly Avineri- for pure beauty in journal making and inspiring words.
Michelle Ward –for great inspiration and art challenges
Kelly kilmer - for a huge dose of color boost as well as very useful info about art tools, books and blogs.
Seth Apter – very cool assemblages and collage art..
Geninne’s art blog – beautiful illustrations
Mary Stanley – lovely fiber art
Mary Ann Moss – great photography and cool journals
Teesha Moore – no explanation needed.

busy busy two weeks

Here is what I have been up to:
Teaching two workshops in San Francisco (I am so lucky to live close to this city!).
Photos show some of the great books made by the participants.
Making funky journals (in my Etsy store)
printing on and dieing fabrics (this project will be published later)
playing with Michelle Ward's challenge of making grids (these are made with silk squares, pastel crayons, thread and stitching).
and as always - cleaning, sorting, clearing the never ending piles of stuff.