Free Form Crochet and the Coral Reef Project

A couple of years ago, Robin Olsen taught me how to free-form crochet. It's funky, uses up a variety left over yarn, creates wonderful color and texture.
Here's a information about the Coral Reef Project from the Institute for Figuring. Click on Coral Reef and enter another world. Exhibits are listed for NYC, Chicago and other locations. The larger than life "Coral Garden" created by an Australian artist, Helen Lancaster, really stands out. Locally, Gossamer supports this project to get the word out about the rapid destruction of world coral reefs through global warming. Can you believe these are crocheted? Get out your crochet hook and make coral reefs.
More sketches for this week-

Spring Hiking and Sketching

Hiking local parks and trails is one of the joys of living in the Northwest. Last weekend, the sun shone and we explored Lacamas Lake Park. The park is located north of Camas, WA.
On the other side of the dam, the river plunges down hill. With all of the melted snow, it flows fast and cold.

The wild iris and roses bloom- two of my favorite flowers.
Tuesday, it rained in the morning and we sketched at Abundant Yarn in Sellwood. Inside the Busy Bee Cafe is the perfect place for knitters and sketchers to gather and share their creativity. The sketch below starts my newly made sketchbook.
My sketchbooks are made with old books from the Goodwill or Salvation Army. I remove the signature block, recover the book board with decorative papers, fabric and ribbon. New watercolor paper signatures are sewn into the spine and decorative buttons tie off the waxed linen thread ends. Make one and fill it with your daily discoveries, impressions and ideas.

Wildflowers Bloom in The Gorge

The wildflowers bloom at lower elevations in the Columbia River Gorge. The balsamroot and lupine cover the hillsides. It gave me a chance to try out my new mini-travel, digital camera.
A view of Tom McCall Nature Reserve and Mayer State Park from Mameloose Outlook trail.

One of my favorite Gorge wildflowers is the chocolate lily. Where are the fairies?

and I didn't expect to see bright red paintbrush next to yellow parsley. What treasures we have in our own backyard.

Friday, Nancy at Scattered Pictures on 138th and NE Sandy showed me how to make this multi-folded book made with a variety of gorgeous papers. We enjoyed talking about our trips to Japan and the new products she has in her store. She has the best collection of decorative papers.

Chinese Garden in the Spring

The Chinese Garden blooms with spring flowers. The next couple of weekends the garden celebrates the peony. It's worth a visit. The haiku reads: Clouds like thrown fire-
magnolia flowers by asuka nomiyama

Here's a photo of a surprise gift from my neighbor- a Blacky fuchsia. I'm so fortunate to have a wonderful neighbor and beautiful flowers to enjoy.

Visit to M Graham and a Watercolor Palette

A visit to M Graham factory reconfirmed our commitment to their watercolor paints. Eight employees work in a converted chicken coop, cinder block building. They mix one or two batches of paint a day and fill about 600 tubes. They make acrylics, oils, gouaches and watercolors as close to 18th and 19th Century paints as possible with natural materials. The use of honey, which they purchase locally, in the watercolors keeps them from drying out and caking. The "Biggies" use corn syrup. Tests show that M Graham colors contain more pigment. They don't have a large marketing budget and have very little overhead. All employees receive health insurance, other benefits and have purchased their own homes. Their philosophy is to make the highest quality paints. They showed us research techniques and color comparisons to other manufactures' paints. It would be incredible to see more small businesses like this one in the US. They sure impressed us.

You can purchase a mini-travel palette from I've Been Framed that is Altoid-size, already has six pans for paints on each side for $9.95. Cynthia Mooney told me in her Art Journal Sketchbook classes about this palette and the M Graham watercolors which work very well in a travel art kit.

Last week, our sketch group met downtown at Powell's Books. I wanted to practice gesture drawing of people. I can see that more practice is in order here.

Persepolis, flower exchange & new sketch

I highly recommend reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis I & II her memoir about her childhood in Iran during the revolution and toppling of the Shah's regime, her adolecsence in Vienna, her return to Iran and her life of oppression under a fundamentalist government. She combines her written words with graphic illustrations in a comic strip format with a wonderful sense of humor. Then go see the movie, Persepolis. Her images create a powerful, visual experience. She reminds us about the importance of individual stories and the impact they have to combat stereotypes placed on nations and peoples. It's an incredible human rights story.


On a lighter note, I want to share with you our Camp Runamuckus ArtFest flower bouquet. Our individual creative imaginations never cease to amaze me. Thanks Nikki, Tammy, Suz, Sheba, Stephanie and Enchy for a great swap! Check out Andrew Boloz's blog which details his Puget Sound Adventures and ArtFest experience.
This week, we sketched at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. I enjoyed sketching Christy N. Pagal's oil on cotton fruit paintings and a knitted leaf banner. The yarn and roving color selections boggle the mind. Plus, the barista makes a great latte and a foot soaking tub eases those weary feet. I discovered Edina Tien's knitting blog. She shares patterns and ideas to use all that yarn

Mark Your Calendar for Fairy Festival May 3rd

Mark your calendar for the 4th Annual Portland Fairy Festival at Alpenrose Dairy May 3rd. It's a fun, noncommercial event for the whole family.
Yesterday, volunteers made fairy tiaras to wear during the magical festival. It's a time for play, imagination, dress up and whimsy. Stop and see us making flower crowns. If you want to help, we need more volunteers to make little fairy dreams come true.