IF-Wilderness

The "Illustration Friday" theme this week was finally an easy one! It was just a matter of which illustration I should use. "Up with the Sun" depicts ice climbing in the San Miguel Mountains- surrounded by mining towns like Telluride, Ouray and Silverton. Ouray has an ice park, where they have rigged water pipes to the side of the cliffs and can build ice walls- pretty wild!

And on the theme- check out the low cloud covering Mesa Verde National Park- I was watching yesterday morning- when the sun decided to come back to Colorado- it had been absent for a very long time and finally is pouring down on us again- Isn't God's creation amazing!!

Mesa Verde has disappeared, you can see only the very tip of Lookout Point, the clouds had socked down on the valley floor.

The cloud starts to come down like a curtain!

And walla! ( this is actually this morning- I forgot to take a last picture)

To Build a Fire

    I have been enjoying reading all the wonderful "artist" blogs across the pond- recording the unusual snow fall that the United Kingdom has been getting. Many have said their days are filled with the chores of taking care of their animals and bringing more wood in for their "log burners" and figuring out the knack of keeping a for going all night! Check out Jackie Morris' wonderful blog- Drawing a Line in Time.

     She inspired me to show our set up here near the Four Corners, in the USA- where we call them "wood stoves" instead of "log burners! And are dealing with......1 1/2 feet on the ground - though it has not snowed in a week!

Of course some here in the US pride themselves on a neat stack of wood, under some protection- uhhhhummmm we talk about doing that every fall- never seems to happen though- so it becomes a matter of burrowing down- to find the wood- where it was piled in the fall- which actually does stay rather dry and protected under the blanket of snow.

     

of course there is always an audience!

This is my attempt to stack- feeling sorry for my husband who was having a bad week- when he does the stacking he will block much of the window above, And of course on the porch for the rest of the winter, one can expect to trip over skis and snow shovels!

The wood stove is our main source of heat in the cabin- we do have a propane furance that is only used when we are away and don't want the pipes to freeze- which mean I have to vacumn out the vents for dust bunnies!

The Evil Snow Cornice

A "snow cornice" is a beautiful, but dangereous and even deadly thing- defined better than I could explain as "elegant, cantilevered snow structures formed by wind drifting snow onto the downwind side of an obstacle such as a ridgeline"- they give the appearence there is more solid earth beneath the snow but in reality- it is a weak overhang and the possible start of an avalanche when they break off.

Well I have a lovely snow and ice cornice hanging off the north side of my studio- and it is blocking the sun from coming in and well..... taunting me!

I love winter-alway have- but not this winter- and this chunk of ice is really getting irritating- you can see my studio is high up  in the loft of our log house-  the roof is propanel- metal- and as a steep pitch- the ice chunk goes across maybe twenty feet of the roof- so when it falls and it will, it is going to sound like a bomb went off-

Jon says we are suppose to get more snow tomorrow, so if the cornice doesn't fall today, it will just get bigger and bigger and block more sun from my studio!!

I pondered, taking off the window screen and whacking at it with a broom handle- but know better- The dogs seem to know to stay away  from under such things.

Usually I like to ponder some understanding about life inspired by such "gifts" from nature-

Got nothing! It is just irritating and  just want the sun to again pour into my studio and my life!

To be Featured in Fiberarts

I am featured in the Fiberarts Jan/Feb issue! They were kind enough to do a little "blip" on the 2010 NPR Calendar. Pick up Fiberarts or one of their other cool textile magazines at a local magazine shop and you can get the NPR Calendar at on their website~ npr.org

Interesting Note- Fiberarts is put out by Interweave Press- a leader in textile work publishing and is actually locatedin my hometown of Loveland Colorado, just a few blocks from the house I grew up in! Didn't plan that! And Group Publishing- a leader in Christian Publishing is also located in Loveland- It's a small world!

IF-"Renewal"

I usually love the winter,hiking in the crispness of the cold air, the snow and then the cozy times inside with family and friends by the fire- but not this year, this year I have longed for the sun and heat on my face. The holidays were mared by worry, which in the end was just me not trusting God, again, and in faithfulness He has again taken care of the things I had no power to change by worry. I am thankful for his hand on me, but I still wish for the warmth of the sun on my face.

In hopes of some warmth, we went over to the slick rock, which is above Moab Utah, in search of the sun, but even there the snow was deep and the winter had a great hold on the desert, usually there is just a dustingo of snow, if there is any.

It got me thinking about the Illustration Friday theme this week- "Renewal" and how in the dead of winter, when there is little life in the earth, the new year comes, though we have no control over our future, we make a declaration, a statment of faith really- a New Years Resolution. In the dead of Winter we see a chance to renew ourselves.

learning my lesson today- I do feel the beginnings of "renewal" in me and delcare my only "resolution" for 2010 is for me to trust God and be more faithful to Him!

and He will bring the warmth of the sun to my face once more!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE- !!!!!!!

now I am going to bed- at least put my P.J.s on!

Pictures from Christmas Night

Lights on the sheds

Cornices still haven't fallen

Cross at church in red garland

Christmas Eve service

Children tucked in bed and

gift out on Christmas night

Merry Christmas!!

A Holiday Train Ride~

The  POLAR EXPRESS.

( the award wining childen's book written by Chris Van Allsburg , published by Houghton Mifflin and designed by Susan Sherman, who taught two great workshops at the SCBWI conference this summer in LA)

comes alive in Durango Colorado every Christmas at the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Depot-

The Dancing Chefs are there to help you board...

And keep you in line while everyone sings Christmas Carols and has hot chocolate and cookies

waiting to arrive at the North Pole....

Where Santa boards the train...

And gives everyone a silver bell( can you still hear it ring?)

We return to the station in a Winter Wonderland.....

And of course walk the street of Durango....

Before heading home....

Merry Christmas!

IF-"Undone"

What makes me "Undone"?

On a clear winter night- looking up and being reminded that

there is a God and He created this wonderful world and

brought His son, as a baby to save it!

Merry Christmas!!

"Riding Yellow Jacket" honored!

Check out the online gallery of Creative Quarterly, where you will find "Riding Yellow Jacket" which was a runner up in the CQ17 competition!

Christmas in the West

Inspired by Karen Davis' description of her Christmas near Bath , UK- on her blog Moonlight and Hares and Tommie Depaola  Christmas preparations on the East Coast featured on his official blog, I wanted to show you a little of what Christmas look like in the Four Corners.

Snow cornices form on our propanel roof after snow storms and take their own sweet time to fall- so sometime soon there will sound like there a bomb hitting the ground, when the blocks of snow finally decide to slid down, watch out dogs and small children- who were trained to never be under them!

Went to the BRB last night

Was at the The Dolores River Brewery last night with friends- nice place to be on a wintery snowy night. We have had so much snow, the crews are making piles of it on the side streets and through the winter it can be an adventure to get into the brew pub.
But once in, it is a warm cheery place- I think in England, they call their pubs- their regular hangouts- their "local" and the DRB is definitely ours. Great pizza, salads, soups in the winter and of course micro beers- though I don't drink 'em- kind of a teatotaller- but Jon likes them- especially their speciality beers- think the one right now is called "Mammoth something" and they only will sell it in the small glasses- because it's proof-  can't see through it- it looks like slug to me.

Yak or Highland Cow?

A family bet is riding on this and I won't say which way I am commiting to- but can you comment on this blog and vote what you think these animals are- Yaks or Highland Cows?

They were spotted when we were going "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go" for Thanksgiving- the _______ were in a ranchers field near Mancos Colorado and the yellow circle on some of their behinds are sale barn stickers.

It should NOT influence you that near Alamosa Colorado there were the same looking animals and a spray painted sign selling YAK meat-  or that the one of the people on the other side of the bet, miss identified goslings for baby ducks at the feed store- thinking them to be "really healthy duck" awhile back and wouldn't believe anyone the long beaked fowl until they started to honk instead of quack!

Please note that there has been NO Photoshop or "Trickiery" going on in  Professional Photo Editing these are "virgin" images.

Luminarias @ Mesa Verde

Each Year, one night in December, the Mesa Verde Park Service light the paths around the Spruce Tree House Museum and Ruin with luminarias ( little candles pushed down in sand in paper bags) and invites the public to come up ( about a seventeen mile drive up to the Mesa and this year it was snowy) and walk down to the cliff dwellings and listen to local choirs and singing groups.

the path was cold and icy this year...

winding down on switch backs to get to the bottom of the canyon, but then you see the ruin, peeking through the trees...

The Rangers use lanterns hidden in the rooms to illuminate the ruins, it is very pretty but  you can't help but feel the "ghosts" that lived there before and wonder if they want to be disturbed by us "uninvited guests"

 or if they like the Christmas Carols, and did  they listen to their children sing, in the long winter nights?

 Thank you Mesa Verde Park Rangers for lighting our way and for the warm and yummy chili and cookies in the Snack Bar, when we had made it back up to the rim of the canyon!

Merry Christmas!!

"The Zen of Messy" Challenge

Inspired by the photos on the bog of  Richard Jesse Watson ( a wonderful author/illustrator and a very nice man) studio- in what he thinks is a messy state- I am posting the "after the storm" picture of my studio- i.e.- I just finished a big project and have not cleaned up- as much as any artist cleans up- but I do like to ceremonially straighten things up before starting my next project.

note the little scrappy on the floor, the stacks of fabric and the lack of usable space on the tables- yup- it is the end of a project! I am not even going to turn around and show you the other side- that would show cardboard boxes waiting for me to organize my family photos- yikes!!