…that I have not posted in a while. A good observation and there is no excuse, really!
My last week continued to be packed with adventure, including a visit to Chatham Beach on Cape Cod, the Manomet Bird Banding Lab (a post will follow) near Plymouth, MA, and a visit to the Boston Museum of Fine Art to escape the rain (another post is in the making).
For now I am trying to find my bearings at home. The yard had been neglected over the past two months for various reasons, and I am fully immersed in getting ready for Art Quilt Campus.
Meanwhile I realize that the deadline to submit images for the August Contest is approaching fast. Remember this post? Announcing a Contest…
It is not too late! And after I received an email from Laurie B., who was in my Kantha class at QBL in July, I just have to share a paragraph from the email with you: “…just reading the contest announcement has made me even more aware of the artistry in my surroundings. really seeing the barbed-wire fence along an adjacent road; seeing the beautiful vein design in a three-foot-tall velvet leaf (weed whose latin name I don’t know, off-hand); seeing fields of soybeans (which I wish weren’t grown here!) moving likes waves in the wind (all of these things observed while walking my black lab, Rufus). I smiled when I read your post about the pheasant feathers. I’ve been aware of the beauty of bird feathers for a very long time, but appreciation grew when we got chickens – individual feathers, expanses of feathers – just gorgeous. I can’t believe the summer is almost over!”
Laurie’s email alone causes me to smile as I realize that it is as much about the seeing and recognizing lines in one’s surroundings as it is about “creating lines by making marks.” Thank you Laurie for sharing your experience!
On that note: While at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts I visited the book stores (yes, there are two!). The smaller of the gift and book stores was by far less intimidating and overwhelming. It was there that I picked up a couple of interesting books.
Here is the little book that reminded me of the online contest:
The back cover says it all:
I am sharing this little book with you today, not so much to make you rush out and buy a copy but to think about picking up a small unlined book and fill it with your line observations and small things to draw. You do not have to spend US $ 9.95 for a few blank pages… For that purpose grab some printer paper, cut them onto smaller sections and staple them together. Voila – you have your own little lines journal! The one I picked up measures 4.5 x 5.5″ and is about one inch thick.
Here are a couple of page examples:
OK, work is calling… I am still not completely unpacked, and to top it all off I received two parcels I sent to myself last week filled with fabric and a fabulous find, a Kantha throw found at Job Lot Atlantic… Better get busy!
For those of you interested in seeing some of the images I have captured during my week in Massachusetts, head on over to my travel blog.
Anna Hergert, Art & Design 