Paper and Threads

Getting ready for Christmas and celebrating with friends and family meant that I had almost no time to do a Santa painting for 2018 in my sketchbook.  One morning my 10 year old grand daughter and I, when she was the only one here with me, painted.  Some of our grandchildren love to draw and paint and head for the art supply drawer as soon as they arrive at our apartment.  After discussion with the 4 youngest, we decided to upgrade their art supplies for their Christmas present from us. I put everything in an ArtBin carrier from Dick Blick to keep everything together and they loved it.

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All of our family were here for dinner Christmas Eve. and each time our grandchildren are all together we try to get one reasonable photo.  This year we didn't have our usual beach weekend because the USOpen crowds made the trip difficult to impossible.  So this was important to me.  They are squirmy, they like to make crazy faces, and they easily lose focus.  William, who just turned 7 one week before, sometimes decides he doesn't want to be in the group picture and I'm adding his photo from the Hippo Park Playground the following Day.  I have lots of other photos of him from their visit, it is just the group antics that he chose to miss!   

William and the Hippo

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy 2019.  Last year was challenging for me with my Colles Wrist Fracture of my dominant hand.  We are getting older and now I know what it is like to have a broken bone.  My new mantra as I walk around NYC is "SLOW DOWN."  

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Merry Christmas from our house to yours.  This year we have all of our children and their families here for Christmas, and we enjoy seeing all 8 of our grandchildren (ages 6-15) enjoying the holiday together.  We will have everyone together in our apartment for Christmas Eve dinner and will continue to enjoy our DC grandchildren for a few more days.

Let us all hope that 2019 is filled with good health, joy, and a more stable government and world.   

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In March 2015, during Asia Week in NYC, I discovered Modern Indian paintings at Sothebys and the first painting I copied was by M.F. Husain.  Since then I have seen many more paintings by the "modern" artists at Sotheby's and Christies.  Last week I saw a wonderful, big, historical exhibit at the Asia Society here in Manhattan - The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India. From the exhibit "On August 15, 1947 India threw off the shackles of British rule and in the ensuing period of transition, turmoil, and hope, six young firebrands came together in Bombay, now known as Mumbai."  Their group was called the Progressive Artists Group and they became known as the Moderns.  M.F. Husain (1918-2011) was one of those six artists.  Here is my copy from the exhibit, inspired by M.F. Husain's Village Woman (1954).  

Brochure from the Asia Society: Exhibit through Jan 20, 2019.  See website for hours, including periods when entry is free. 

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My blog is called Paper and Threads because I used to spend more time sewing, quilting, and dying fabric, than drawing and painting.  I occasionally add a blog post about "threads"  and you can click on the "threads" category at the bottom of the blog archives to see those entries.

I have been making Christmas Tree ornaments for family and friends since 1976, and some years I made 20-24 of the same ornament.  Now I make them for my sons and daughter, and for each of our grandchildren.  I blocked out last Saturday and Sunday and did nothing but create and sew ornaments.  I scanned a fabric dye painting of Alice, resized it, and then printed it out on fabric for each of our 8 grandchildren.  Here are all of them, and in the next photo Alice is hanging next to Axel on our tree.  I made the Axel ornament in 2015, the year that I created this character as part of an art assignment.

Alice and Axel

Most years I make a new ornament as a sample for consideration.  This year I made this pieced tree as a sample. I may redo the design in the future,

My good friend Paula Nadelstern is a quilter and fabric designer.  One of her new fabrics has multiple 4inch printed medallions and I selected one, made a 4 inch "little quilt," and then machine stitched around several of the concentric circles with gold metallic thread. 

Our youngest grandchild, a 6 year old, asked me if I could make him a Peacock ornament. I regularly get requests from our grandchildren, so I made him a peacock, and he will still get Alice.  The fabrics for the peacock are fused onto the purple fabric and then machine stitched with shiny metallic blue thread.  That was the final ornament, #15, for the weekend.

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