We have had a stretch of glorious weather- in the low 70's, sunny- the kind of weather that makes even adults want to play hooky, especially when we're all glad to see the end of winter.
Shannon and I took Sadie and Dieter for a hike up Spanish Fork Canyon- not as picturesque as Provo Canyon, but closer to home. We got both dogs worn out pretty quickly- Sadie from chasing her ball, and Dieter from chasing Sadie. Since I had someone else to man the camera, here I am with the dogs for a change!
I couldn't resist taking a picture of this disintegrating sandstone- makes it very easy to see how it got its name. Lovely layers and texture--
Our view off to the side looking up the mountains was beautiful. The grass is starting to show, and some of the sage is greening up.
Off on the river side was a very old car graveyard. I didn't go exploring this time, but made a mental note in case I ever want to try rust dyeing- lots of rusty metal down there!
I've also been creating this weekend. I decided to get out my Caran d'Ache neocolor water soluble wax pastels. I want to create a flower quilt for my daughter-in-law, and at least one flower on it will be the bird of paradise. Don't have any easily accessible here to look at (although I have ordered one from a nursery), but I downloaded some pictures from the web, and used them as a basis for drawings. I chose two, and then did some cropped closeups as postcards. Here's the results of the first three:
I learned what gives the best results with the wax pastels, and was very happy with all the flowers. I'm not so happy with all the background quilting I did- the thread is too dark on one, and I think detracts from the flower. So, next time I'll use monofilament for the background. And, I think I'll try my Tsukineko inks to see how they compare with the wax pastels. I should be able to complete three more this week, so I'll have my April Art2Mail cards done before my eye surgery April 3. Not Lasix, but cataract surgery-
All in all, a nice weekend. Too bad it's supposed to snow here on Wednesday!!
2 comments:
These are lovely. At first, I thought I was looking as photos. I'm not familiar with wax pastels. I use Rembrandt's oil stick pastels in my work and would be interested in the difference. I like the strong colors of your flowers.
Thank you for your comment about my Lake series. I'm pleased to know that #6 speaks to you ... it's one of my favorites.
Nellie, the pastels I used look just like crayons. The magic happens after you've done the coloring, and you put a wet brush to the fabric- they act like watercolors. You can blend them wet or add dry color to wet. They are a lot more brilliant after you wet them. Holly Knott wrote about them in Quilting Arts in 2005. I'm assuming the Rembrandt oil pastels are a lot like the Shiva sticks? I've dabbled with those, but like the watercolor-y effects with the water soluble crayons. I got mine at Dick Blick online--
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