My time in Moab...

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We were up in Moab, Utah this past weekend, most doing this...

I did a little bit of hiking, but with others to entertain my "mountain goat" family, I took the opportunity to get some serious sketching in...

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This, about half way up the trail to the Corona Arch, which I had sketched before... 

It was a real fun weekend, with old friends from college, their and our kids, not that much younger then when we first became friends, in the Campus Crusade group. Now we are the old ones and our kids are in college and getting married, yikes, but time doesn't stand still, though one old friend we haven't seen in over a decade, told our daughters we hadn't changed at all, while we were arguing about how to cook dinner in the campfire.

Of course we ended the weekend, grabbing really good food at Milt's, the parking lot full of like minded adventures- mountain bikes and Tulle carriers on top of SUVs and those waiting in line looking a little bit wind swept...

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Adding to my Bug Collection....in the March SPIDER MAGAZINE...

Have I told you I am bad at this self promotion thing? Well, it is almost the middle of March and I totally forgot to post that my above illustration is in the March issue of SPIDER MAGAZINE...

This is my third illustrations for the "Bug" magazines, but all with the wonderful Art Director Suzanne Beck. This project was to illustrate a recipe, a Welsh scone recipe and I had a lot of fun researching all things Welsh, like their amazing textile patterns...

 And their Gaudy pottery...

I'm not insulting the Welsh, it actually is called that.

I really wanted to find a way to get these gals, with their traditional top hats above lacy bonnets in, wondering...

how did that tradition evolve exactly?

Then it was a weekend of sketching...

and brainstorming on paper, moving things around in Photoshop and sending ideas to New York on a Sunday, when apparently me, in the Four Corners, Sue and her editor had nothing better to do then to email back and forth. Have I said how much I love the internet and what it does for me! 

 Really loved that pottery, though the poem is about having a picnic...

Oh, how many antique lunch boxes did I pin on pinterest.com?

Kept trying to get a spider, a bug or a mushroom in there, just wasn't working. Then Sue pulled me from my fixations and suggested the rainbow and the jam. Uhhh, don't even want to think how long it would have been before I thought of jam, my brain was still on getting old women with top hats in...

When everyone was happy with the sketch, I went to appliqueing and stitching and ta.....da....

The Guady pottey had to go, but I kept the Gaudy pattern for the tea towel in the pail. The design on the picnic cloth is from the textile above and was X stitched on actual X stitched fabric, though I did four X's per square. The jar was done with a sheer tulle type fabric and the jam on the scones are french knots. 

It was another fun and challenging project, did something better this time and of course still could point out things I will do differently next time. Let's see, I've collected a BABYBUG, a  LADYBUG and a SPIDER. But still need a CRICKET. 

Stitch Therapy....

I stitched this weekend, well yesterday, on my bed, all afternoon long. I needed it. Since the beginning of the year, and since cutting back on teaching, I have been trying to adhere to a schedule, to treat my illustrating and writing like a real job. Monday, Tuesday and Fridays...writing all morning, do art in afternoon. Wednesdays....write social media-blogs and twitter and go to yoga. Afternoon....teach Art to kiddos. Thursday mornings...I cook for a soup kitchen and afternoon.....do art, take a nap.
I read others blogs and interact with Twitter in the morning. Problem is I get up 5 o'clock mountain time and the only illustrators up at that time are in the UK. But wow, have I found some wonderful artist and illustrators over there and have really enjoyed following them.
 I made a pact with myself not to work on my manuscript on the weekends, but to work on blog post, peruse Twitter and do art. Saturday, I didn't listen to myself.
Spent most of the day, here, in my office, the kitchen table and outlined a prequel to my work in progress that is in revisions. The idea sparked by my work on Friday basically building a family tree for the characters, to keep track of all their names. But in the process, a story started to come out and excited, I devoted my Saturday to getting it down.
I should have stuck to my pact because now everything is off kilter and  am writing this in the am on Monday and should be starting to work on my manuscript.
But stitching yesterday helped get things back in line. Too much grandiose thoughts can come when you are creating a world that does not exist and the brain hurts too much. I have to actively push words out of myself and onto the paper, with many fits and starts.
On the other hand, when all the design decisions are made, stitching is effortless, feeling the drag of the thread through the fabric I also can feel the release my tension with it and a balance to world. I stitch on my bed, while listening to a movie or the whole season of a television show I have seen before, so I don't have to look up at the screen so much to know what is going on.
One series I love and should  buy to watch when it  is no longer airing is PBS's CRAFTS IN AMERICA...

I could go on and on how wonderful this series is. I won't know, cause I am thirteen minutes late for work, which working on that manuscript is, but I will leave you with the words for the title song, an old Shaker hymn that I want sung at my funeral, I love it so much, to see the YouTube video go HERE...

"Simple Gifts" written by Elder Joseph

(From Wikipedia page... "while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848)

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right

from the Enfield Historical Society Webpage