SAQA Conference: Spoiled at the Brown Palace

So I was here for the last four days, attending the Studio Art Quilt Association's (SAQA) National Conference.

It was downtown Denver, at the Brown Palace Hotel ...

where a valet took and brought me my car from Thursday to Saturday...

 and then Sunday at the Denver Art Museum, just kaddy corner from the State Capitol...

We got to have a private tour of the Textile Gallery with Dr. Alice Zrediec, its Curator,  and then I stood in front of a Monet...

a  Homer...

 and a Matisse.

Now I am back here. ..

Yesterday, driving back the 9 hours, through sleet, hail and rain to come home to a messy kitchen and a whole stack of pizza boxes on the dining room table. I read or heard one time that one should easy off from paradise slowly, so instead of diving in to straightening up the house right away when the kids headed off to school, I came in for my Pilate's class, thinking it would help resupply my energy and am now sitting at a coffee shop to post some of the highlights of my trip

Don't get me wrong, I love the Four Corners, if I could rewind my life I would pick the man and the place and the children I have spent my life with again in a heartbeat- my art is of sagebrush, far horizons and red dirt, not gilted gold staircases and fine china.

But oh man, the Brown Palace has the best Hot Chocolate and twisted pretzels you ever had for a pick me up in-between sessions- so I am sitting here today, in withdrawal and drinking a Hot Chocolate that is almost as good to easy off the luxury slowly.

So here is a bit of history of the Brown Palace- cause if you know me, you know that is what it is all about!

It was built in 1892, the second oldest hotel in Denver. It was designed by architect Frank Edbrooke and it is literally shaped like the pie wedges from a Trivia Pursuit game.

The center of the hotel is called the Atrium ...

and from there you can look up past the six floors, all open and ornate in perfect Victorian style...

to the massive stained glass ceiling that tops off the atrium.

The Brown Palace is the center of high society celebration in Downtown Denver and while we were there, ladies in their finest, young and old an even a assistence dog -hurried across the street,

 for the afternoon tea the Brown Palace is known for.

I even caught a glimpse of a bride and groom coming over for their wedding in the beautiful stone Trinity Church across the way for their reception.

A breezeway connects the Brown Palace's second floor from the Comfort Inn ballrooms across the street and there is where the SAQA general sessions were.

The first featured a Colorado Artists Panel on compiling a body of work, with Deidra Adams, Carol Watkins and Charlotte Ziebarth.

Another was on 3D art, still defined as a quilt, with three layers of material held together with stitching.

The breakout sessions were wonderful. I attended the one on managing your artist's life, often so sedentary with Monica A Dixon- yes you have to fuel your body and exercise if you want your creativity to flow!

Also got great tips from Gregory Case- Thank you Thank you - on how to photography my artwork better! Lighting for 3D surfaces needs to be at a 90 degree angle instead of 45- ahhhhh- good to know!

The Managing Editor of Quilter's Newsletter, gave great advise on how to start writing for the Quilt magazine- something I am considering. Each one has it's own flavor and it is important to study each one!

And the Self Promotion with Pizzazz was great- where Regina Benson encourged us to make up our own postcards with our name on them, instead of sending out the provided group show postcards.

  And the closing general session was given by Dr. Alice Zrediec...

the acting Curator of the Textile Gallery at the Denver Art Museum. (Another blog to follow on the tour we got to take through the DAM on Sunday.

Of course my head is swimming- and met so many wonderful giving ladies-

many with beautiful silver hair- I was one of the youngest- and I am now inspired to for- go what my grandmother would call being a "painted lady" and show off my salt and pepper hair- which I am pretty sure is under the color ! - wow- that would be a lot of $ to put towards lush fabrics!!

And speaking of fabric- I won both fabric giveaways at the Lunch on Friday- thank you Sykdyes! And then again at the dinner Satuday night and the dear ladies at my table above wouldn't let me excuse myself- so thank you to them and to Lunn Fabrics!

IF: Safari

Well that was easy enough! This is an old illustration- back when I still was trying to use felt as a backing instead of quilt batting and fabric. Still like it- it is one of those illustrations that really wasn't that complicated, but just worked. If memory served me right it came from some illustrations ideas for church we were attending at the time, for their Vacation Bible School or kids program somehow.

Too Tired For Mother's Day!

Over 700 riders contragated below Mesa Verde National Park at Montezuma County Fairgrounds for this year's 12 Hours of Mesa Verde Mountain Bike Endurance Race.

The Fairgrounds just happens to be across the highway from Phil's Word- a labrinth of top notch single track trails.

The theme this year the Wild West, so I took a break from my fabric and thread  this last week and turned to sculpting with newspaper, cardboard, wire and masking tape...

making Vultures, Tombstones with Old West sayings like " Here Lies Bill Blake, We Hung Him By Mistake" and even pinned together two pairs of cowboy boots, old Wranglers, shirts and made "scarecrow" cowboys to stage for a shoot out.

On Friday, local High School Students and teachers joined me to decorate the Tunnel, an underpass between the fairgrounds and Phils, that is the start of the race course. The kids were very talented and the tunnel looked fantastic....

Racers were doing practice rides on Friday- so we had to keep an eye out and yell "Biker" to let everyone know to move to the side.

Race started at 7 o'clock in the morning on Saturday and I worked the time table with about twenty other volunteers. We kept track of all the racers times......

fed them......

and well since this was an endurance race and the solo winner this year did 8 laps, that is over 12 hours of pedaling- the volunteers also had to somewhat "Mother" the racers-

I even had to tell my husband, who was on a team, when he got a little cranky with me, that he needed to go "eat some salt" - these guys and gals sweat so much, the favored snack after all is done is actually a cold beer and Lays potatoes chips- cheap and salty.

It's all for a good cause, the proceeds- think last year we raised something like $30,000- all goes to support local charities!

So Happy Mother's Day- I feel like I have been mothering about 700 "beings" or so as of late- and today- I'm just tired. I'm sure my kiddos and hubby have something planned but to be honest the best day I could have is NOT to see a bike or have anyone talk about a bike ride for at least a day- thank goodness Jon and Daughter #1 are also tired and sore so maybe might get to the weekdays before the B word is mentioned!!

IF: Beginner

"He could only dream of being big enough to begin surfing the big waves."

IF: Bicycle

Of course we are gearing up ( pun intended) for the 12 Hour Mesa Verde ride where teams or singles ride the track out at Phil's in SW Colorado- continously for 12 hours and whoever rides the most times is the winner. Again this year both my husband and daughter #1 will be competing, so I will be at the Montezuma County fairgrounds all day- working the time table.
Last year there was 600 riders- expecting the same this year as well.

Happy Easter!

IF: Journey

The Earth journeys around the Sun and since we are along for the ride it seems be a good idea if it didn't break down anytime soon!

Sending postcards out this week to Art Directors. Doing double duty with Earth Day on Friday

and Easter Weekend following, so this image is early, post the Easter image later in the week. 

Printed them side by side on an 8.5 x11 sheet and cut in half. Sending them out today- selectedly

of course- picking which AD would like which one!

IF: Toy

Soon all the pool toys, sports equipment, bikes and other stuff will be dusted off and left out to enjoy a long spring and summer of Sun! One can only hope!! Well actually tomorrow we will be in Grand Junction for a regional track meet- so spring is here- just don't know if the weather knows it- I hope the sun shines and the wind does not blow!!

IF: Cultivate

This summer sunflowers will be cultivated along Hwy. 491 through such stops along the road as Yellowjacket, Cahone and Dovecreek, just a few miles from the Colorado/ Utah border. The dry land amongst the feed elevators dotting the highway for many years has produced beans, with no need of irrigation, but now the fields are blooming yellow with hopes of profits in products like sunflower oil and even biodiesel.  

IF: Stir

" Blue was stirred by the sound of the beating drums and watching

 the dancers twist and turn under the night sky. " 

IF: Swarm

A group of crows is not a "swarm" but called a "murder". Apparently I like illustrating crows because I also have them in another piece illustrating the parable of the 4 Seeds.

My husband and I were in Santa Fe, stopped at a park to hike and there were a dozen or so crows in amongst the cottonwoods, they were so interesting to watch and boy were they noisy. I wanted to stay and photograph them, but hubby doesn't like fluttery birds and wanted to head out of there- he thinks my interest in such a bird is kind of odd!

IF: "Layer"

I did this illustration for the Tomie dePaola Illustration Contest for the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York, end of Janruary. Alas it did not win- you can check out the winner on the SCBWI blog- here.

We had to illustrate the first few paragraphs of the classic story "Heidi" which describes her being taken up the mountain to stay with her crotchety grandfather- wearing "layers and layers" of her dresses in the summer sun.

This is NOT my favorite illustration- it isn't dynamic enough- the perspective is straight on, there isn't really anything exciting about it. I pulled back too far to get the village, the mountains, the flowers- I was so hooked on including all the "things" in the description, I forgot about the composition and the design.

Well..."lesson learned"!

The New Yorker illustration contest...

Every year The New Yorker magazine on their anniversary -celebrates their iconic character Eustice Tilley by sending out a call to illustrate him in a unique way. Winner will get their images on a bookbag.

Here is mine- Tilley vacationing in Telluride Colorado and here is a link to The New Yorker's blog where you can see it again and other illustrators interruption.

New Yorker Blog

Feeding the Spirit

Today, I am working here, in a coffee shop- still deep in winter the walls of the studio just felt like they were closing in the last couple of days and decided I needed to be looking at people instead of my dogs, cause I think I was talking to them a little bit too much!

My attention was brought to the counter when the owner was trying to hand out samples of a new rich velvet cake he was thinking of selling- and well everyone was turning it down- declaring they just couldn't. Now these slices consisted of about three bites, four if you took tiny ones, and I had to laugh, as I enjoyed my little sample- at the fact that everyone else in the room declared they just couldn't, as they ordered their skim milk lattes and wheat bagels with just a skim of butter were MEN!!

What have we come to here in the US- where people talk in terms of proteins, carb and glutens- instead of in well food!

Remember food- the bounty that we partake in with those we love or at least like sitting around us. Gifts from God for our "daily bread" with no clarification it is or is not gluten free. The bounty of fields, orchards and gardens, enjoying the sight, smell and taste of it with out guilt.

Now we can drink our fiber without eating fruit, pop a handful of pills to get our daily vitamins, and save time and get the one meal we do chew, instead of drink, out of a box or smashed together in a protein bar.

But what have we lost- I think a lot- I think that many souls are starving, that a little slice of Red Velvet Cake can help heal. That a little perfect chocolate fudge sundae, if eaten without guilt but savored might make one sleep better that night- instead of popping a sleeping pill, which seems to also be on the  rise.

That days spent working hard, should be rewarded with night spent in the company of friends enjoying delicious food- for a platter of hot goodness will feed more then our physical bodies.

There was a new article out on yahoo- this morning on that Carbs- slow starches are back- and should be 65% of your diet.

I know I could find an article saying the exact thing about protein.

I think about my mom and my grandma's cooking- where the plate consisted of starch- potatoes usually, good farm food, bread, vegetables, some over cooked and some pickled- and a little meat- you were considered rude to not fill your plate with mostly the starches- the meat was a condiment- but you know what sitting around the table together the food feed the soul- and the craving for more wasn't so strong.

Think how good you feel when you walk into somewhere were you can smell something good cooking, or wake up to the smell of breakfast - people usually physically react in joy to such smells- I just think protein bars and fiber powders and shot blocks will never feed the soul like Red Velvet Cake.

IF: "Dusty"

Moab, Utah is "dusty", covered in red dirt, ground from the red rocks that surround the Colorado River as it meanders down through twisting Canyon in the southeast part of the state.

Eventually the river opens up in a valley and there is where the little town is nestled, once the center of the great "Uranium" boom of the 50's and 60's.

When we go to Moab to bike, hike and camp, only about two hours from where we are in Colorado- the only choice  is to accept the red dust. So does everyone else, everyone stained with it on their shoes, clothes, merchants actually sell tshirt, dyed in the red dust of the area. Every one walking into City Market, has red tinted unruly  hair  because of the wind and the dust.  Moab is not a place for those who desire to be prefectly coiffed- the land is to wild and strong to not be under its authority- literally it will kill you if you are not.

Not really a New Year

Now for two days, I've been thinking I should post a "Happy New Year" something on my blog- but was at a loss or just wasn't in the mood. after a month of Christmas cheer- Christmas movies, lights, carols, gifts and good food. I came to the conclusion this Holiday Season that we have almost taken all resemblance of God out of what should be the mostly Godly of season and are actually quite happy with what I will call the "residual leftover of his power and love. We like that "feeling of good cheer" without any of the responsibility.

No more arrogant  than this day, when we declare with any authority what 2011 will bring to us. 2011 will bring what God choose to bring to us and sometime joy is poured down on the wicked and the blessed and sometime grief is poured down on the wicked and the blessed.

I was finally inpsired looking out from my bedroom windows in the loft of our cabin at the  pinon trees surrounding our house- two to three hundred year old pinon trees, according to an arborist who came out to access their health, an arborist who by his excitement, hadn't seen many pinons older or taller than these, dwarfing the power poles in our front drive. Pinon trees older then this country, older then any record keeping and from a time when we humans had a little bit more respect for the power of God and his creation because we didn't think we knew as much as we think we know now!

This view give me hope because God's creation reminds me of his everlasting love and comfort, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Many animals have found shelter and substance under the protection of these great pinons this holiday season, right before Christmas a herd of lose wandering horses and donkeys found our yard a nice place to graze, our stack of hay bales too inviting.

Yesterday, a herd of deer also sought shelter and went to nibbling.

What a powerful thing God's creation is, it goes by no calendar or resets itself every January 1st- but  the reminiscing of years past good or bad held inside the great pinon's tree rings of years of drought, years of rain and it's bark holding the scares of lightning strikes and wire fencing.

Seasons come and go, but the pinons just stand as sentries over the passing of time never losing their leaves like other evergreens, another symbol of God's everlasting love for his people. Since bad times come to both the wicked and the blessed, all we can do is be wise like the animals who this winter sheltered under the old pinons in my yard,  and abide in God's protection because storm and sunshine are going to come in 2011.

IF: "Winter"

Winter has come to the East Coast and to Europe it seems, but not to Colorado! For the first time  in three years we did not have a White Christmas- instead a wet, brown one, the horses and pastures soggy and on Christmas Day, to make more room for feasting we headed down McElmo to Sand Canyon to do a littel hiking with the dogs.

                     hope you are warm and cozy with the ones you love- no matter where you are!

IF: "Mail"

I just got done mailing off 100 of these postcards to magazine, children's and general  book publishers and AD agencies art directors- wishing them a very Merry Christmas-

and

Merry Christmas to my blog followers- may you have a wonderful, snowy (just enough) holiday season surrounded by the ones you love and the time to remember the Reason for the Season- that a babe was born unto us to become a king that died on the cross to save this world!!

IF:"Phenomenon"

Outside of Salt Lake City,Utah traveling west on Interstate 80 you drive through "Phenomenon"  of the Salt Flats.

Where in July it looks like it there is snow on the ground. But then as you stare out the window-( when someone else is driving) you start to think that little piles of the salt are actually floating in the air- but they are not- there is just a few inches of water covering most of the flats and the sun reflects the mountain range in the distance  and the sky on the puddles of water and where the salt is mounded by the wind- it looks like it is floating above. The whole valley is just weird- and makes one feel like they are in another world. But it inspired this illustration for a sample Young Adult novel about a girl on some kind of a journey.

I had to show a close up of the girl- which is my oldest daughter- I had fun with all the embroidery on the purse and virtual tattoo- yes I virtually tattooed my daughter- and the bead work for her bracelet- this detail demand a huge canvas- think it was like 22 inches wide- but it is necessary to get any likeness in the face or be able to add rich embellishment.

I'm pretty happy with it- the illustration is set for a mailing for AD of chapter and YA books to try and get some cover work- all to go out after the holiday!