TEXTiles.

Paper and Fabric. Two of my favorite things! I just learned that the word “text”, usually associated with the written word, is actually from a Latin word that means fabric.




I can’t wait to visit the exhibit of Isabelle de Borchgrave’s paper fashions at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. She has recreated clothing that she has seen in paintings, only out of paper, instead of fabric.




Nothing like a pair of pink paper shoes to make me want to do some paper mache.

 Another costume related exhibit I’d love to visit….



This one is at the L A County Museum of Art. It is a collection of European clothing from 1700 to 1915.
Lots of embroidery! Another activity I would love to spend more time on.

Over the river and through the cacti.

One of the interior designers that I work for lives in Chular, 10 miles south of Salinas. It’s a beautiful drive to her house, so I enjoy making the trip once in a while. I always see scenes out her way that I think would be fun to paint, but usually forget to take my camera. Last time I didn’t forget and got some great photos. This little prickly pear patch is around the corner from her house.
I enjoyed working on this painting and am looking forward to carving out some more painting time.
The husband and I are in an informal book club with a few other couples and we just read Sweet Thursday, a follow up book to Cannery Row by Steinbeck. It was really fun to read the stories and colorful descriptions of the places so close to home. It feels more and more like I am driving through a painted landscape when I travel through the area.

From workshop to hilltop.

I just delivered these fun slipcovered chairs, and matching covers for 4 more chairs to an amazing house on top of a hill. (The picture was taken at my house.) When I saw all the nice built-in storage and a big roomy, airy kitchen with tons of cupboards, a huge island and a corner window seat, I said “Did you design your house?” and the answer was “yes”. All the beautiful, personal features gave it away.
I like the mixture of fabrics she chose. When the bolts first arrived, I wasn’t so sure, but I think they turned out really nice and fit with her house and décor really well. I have been seeing a lot of ikat lately. Anthropology has a lot of fun stuff in the “home” section right now. After doing some reading, I found out that it is made by tying and dyeing the threads before they are woven. I found a good blog post about the process here. As it says, most of the ikat we see is more likely a print made to look like ikat and not the real thing. Either way it makes a house feel homey, like there might be sheep grazing in the backyard, and homemade bread in the oven.