htmli've been busy writing html code for the new bhs sailing team website. it's up and running at bhs sailing. i covered the CNN logo on a hat that was given to me at the state fair (because i answered so many political trivia questions correctly in a contest) with the bhs sailing burgee to wear to regattas this year. go team!

TOPYIPEE!!i've finished my japanese hankie quilt top! it's my biggest quilt so far. now i have to do the back then sandwich it all together with the batting and do the quilting (ugh)....i'll post the quilt in entirety when it is completely finished.it may be a while!

visual AIDSthis is my second annual contribution to visual AIDS postcards from the edge, a show, in new york city at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. on december 2nd + 3rd, that benefits visual artists living with AIDS. the preview party is on december 1st, world AIDS day. my submission is a continuation of my interest in the greenbelt movement in kenya, started by wangari maathai, and hints towards the goodness that this amazing woman contributes to the world amid a continent devistated by AIDS.
heal the world with trees6 x 4"mixed mediaavailable for purchase through visual AIDS

harvesthelianthus 'lemon queen'
blue sky and big happy flowers...that's what makes this time of the year glorious!
destined for the cuisinart today our tomatillos will become salsa verde
these 'sun gold' tomatoes are the closest natural food to pure refined sugar. hot off the plant, juicy sweet goodness.
it's hard to hold back from harvesting the cinderella pumpkins. they get redder and redder, but just looking at them i am tempted to make some pumpkin bread. look out the clippers are coming...while i was chopping up redwood branches from a pile that had been sitting in the garden a while i noticed that a half eaten apple was tucked under some branches. okay, someone is living under there, i thought. and sure enough as i lifted another branch off the pile a tiny little cotton ball of a grey mouse sat up and looked at me. now, i don't know why there is a stereotype of women gasping in fear from mice, but i thought this little guy was just adorable. i suppose if he were in my cupboard eating my morning cereal i would feel differently, but outside he was too cute. lucky our cat, near by and facing the other direction, didn't see the fellow or else he would have been a goner. our cat is quite the huntress! she likes to leave presents for me at the back door....voles, mice etc. i just hope the little mouse knows his place is outside and doesn't tempt fate by trying to come inside. our cat would be only too happy to catch him in her home.

the late summer gardenfrom two seed packets i have a vast area of orange, red and yellow marigolds. it's amazing how a tiny seed can produce such quantity of bloom in just a couple of months. gardening at its most elemental is so satisfying.
i have never had taller dahlias than this year. i can't even reach the tallest flowers. what an excellent growing season. last year all my tomatoes died from blight early in the season but this year they are gloriously vigorous with sweet as candy fruit.
my daughter + i save the seeds from our sunflowers each year and she plants and tends them. such happy faces of color to greet us as we look out the window. soon the crows will be delighted with the seeds they'll steal.

chickens continued...i just came across this drawing that i did in middle school from a long series of farmy imagery (all in india ink and watercolor). many of the others ended up as cards sent to relatives or saved by my mom, who always encouraged my artwork. thanks ma. there must be boxes full of drawings like this in my mom's garage. my middle school art teacher let my best friend and i go into her class before school, during lunch and sometimes after school to work on our little projects. one project coalesced into quite a large diarama of ceramic people and animals across a paper mache landscape. it was awesome and stayed in her classroom for two years until we left that school and divided our creatures between us. too bad we never took any photos of that piece. i still have some of the creatures.

combs + wattlesyes, i'm a bit stuck on fair thoughts these days...when i saw this chicken at the fair and others that had next to no combs or wattles i had to ask why some chickens have extraordinary adornments while others don't. a 4-H chicken dad told me that you can tell the origin of a chicken species by their combs. the larger the comb the more southerly environment it originated in. the combs are used to release excess heat from the bird so mediterranean birds would have huge ones but those that were developed in northern germany would have itty bitty ones. if a bird with a big comb were to live outdoors in a frigid climate the comb would get frost bite. yikes. it's fun to learn new things all the time. now i have a new appreciation for chicken appearance.

crochet oo la latake a metal stick with a bent end and some string and what can you come up with? a tiny bowl for paper clips. crochet has to be one of the oldest of the needle arts. such simplicity. this baby, my own design, like it's so complicated, was made while i waited for activities to start at the county fair and has a 2" diameter

the fun stuffmade this for my neice's new baby for bath time fun. maybe i should skip the art thing and just make washcloths for a while?! i am oh so looking forward to school starting again so i can have a breather from sibling conflict and make time for a return to oil painting. wait, yeh, i can't really skip the art thing. it's what keeps me going every day. my newish big easle has been vacant for too long. i am longing to dive into some abstract work + leave accuracy in the dust. but my hankie quilt, almost finished but neglected for quite some time, is calling me to complete it too.

poopedafter spending a solid week at the county fair (as assistant superintendant of 4-h needle arts + "adventures in family living") with my 4-h daughter i am ready to take a long nap! i love walking around the various animal barns, between competitions, especially the chicken and llama barns. too bad we have dopey covenants where we live because i would love to have chickens and alpacas. one thing that i found out at the fair that never would have occurred to me before was that sheep and goat farmers protect their herds with llamas. what? yep, it's true. the llamas are such curious animals that if a coyote is on the prowl the llama will run up to it to check it out and since it is so big it scares the coyote away. one llama at the fair was wining in its stall constantly and i wondered why. the owner told me that it missed its herd at home. they are very social animals.
the delightful variety of gorgeous chickens at the fair always fascinates me. i love them all.... the huge ones and the itty bitty guys. i always dreamed of having a farm when i was little. will it ever happen? some day i have to have some chickens.
it was tough to keep my garden alive while i was at the fair all week. we were there some 12 hour days in the midst of high temperatures so it was a stretch to have any time to water, and boy did the garden need it in that heat. the heat was tough on the bunnies at fair. our guy was pretty beat and i think glad to finally come home. he did enjoy all the exciting smells of does around him. he always manages to start his molt right before fair time so he looks his worst when he is supposed to look his best. this year he looked like a poodle with his molt circling around his back end like a skirt. it was pretty funny looking.
state fair is around the corner and the whole thing is repeated on an even bigger scale. yikes.... maybe at the end of september i will catch up on some sleep.

detail from forestwow...only one more day, saturday aug. 26th, to see my latest stuff at gallery fraga. this month has gone quickly!

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please come visit bainbridge the beautiful, a group show at gallery fraga where five of my latest assemblages will be on display.these pieces are combinations of tiny gouache paintings and fiberworks with some sculptural elements all housed in wood.hope to see you there!this show will run through the month of augustyipee! they're finished! i wasn't sure if i'd finish in time.

breaking news:my green belt tribute to wangari maathai won the eco-art contest for the eco-lit/art edition of the literary arts journal KNOCK that will be published in the fall of 2006.

come visit the kitsap county fair where my very talented 4-h needle arts members have some lovely creations on display this week and WON some great prizes for their needlework! yippee! great job girls!

geekie:i just figured out how to make a collage in photoshop and had to post my first try at it. i can see all sorts of possibilities with this new toy!

dog days of summer:what better way to spend the waning days of summer than to make flower leis? mine aren't nearly as fragrant as those from far away tropical isles but they are rather colorful and delightful to wear. i have been wanting to make leis for quite some time and finally got around to doing it. i have a lei needle somewhere hiding in the recesses of my tools and equipment, that i bought as a teenager in hawaii, but where oh where is it now that i want to use it? so i just used a chenille needle with quilting thread and gathered up lots of dahlias.this is how one of my leis looks after drying for a few days. that 85 degree heat helped the process along quite a bit.


the abundant gardenafter gorging on raspberries, currants and blueberries it is now apple time. the gravensteins are dropping faster than i can pick them. they are really beautiful this year. not much damage from scab since it has been quite dry during the growing season. i've got to get a ladder out to reach the lovelies way up high. that has to be the happiest tree! near the manure pile, it has a steady flow of nutrients throughout the year to make for incredibly vigorous growth. can't wait to make my favorite ginger apple crisp recipe!i love how the poppy pods mature to mauves and buff colors. they are nearly ready to harvest for cooking needsthis is consistently one of my favorite dahlias, "david howard", year after year. it has purple leaves and such delightful flowers. with many more dahlias planted this year the bees are kept mighty busy. i need to try to take some pics of the hummers that are so profuse this year. they relish my fuschias.

the reluctant modelthe beaderoil on canvas9 x 12"i had to paint quickly as the models had other things to do

coppicing:there's a gardening practice called coppicing that i employ for a variety of reasons. the ancient practice entails cutting back the plant each year to a stump. basket makers use this method to make straight rods for their craft. i do this to my eucalyptus, some of my willows, and a big leaf maple. why? on the euc it encourages the juvenile foliage to grow, which are primarily used for flower arrangements. euc foliage matures to a very different shape than the new young foliage as the tree grows. i like to keep a pussy willow in bounds and encourage straight new annual branches for cutting when the pussies are blooming by coppicing. i chop back the maple to encourage heafty straight branches for garden structures and art projects (as seen on my latest works on display this month). see this web site to learn how to coppice.

detail from three graces of the strawberry field, unfinishedlast night was the opening to the latest showing of my work and it's always nice to hear pleasant remarks about my stuff, but what really intrigues me at these events are the unexpected sort of comments that make me pause and think about the impact my work has had on someone. one such comment followed a description of the intent of one of my pieces called three graces of the strawberry field. i mentioned how in greek and roman mythology the three graces were an allegory for joy, beauty and fertility and that these qualities embodied a life on bainbridge. the response was that with all that is going on in the world that it was interesting that i could delve into a side of life that often is overshadowed by current events, and how nice that was for her to hear at that moment. now i am an active progressive participant and yet i have to set that part of me aside sometimes so i don't get overwhelmed by the enormity of that passion. i think that much of my work is a reaction to ills in the world by trying to still find the interstices of pleasure + simplicity. anyway i thank viewers for sharing their insights with me to remind me of what art is all about.


today's fashion show:dahlia chilson's pride
artichoke petals
a new echinacea

green belt
if you are visiting via a posting in the B.I. ArtsNews please go to the queen anne tree walk website for images of my green belt fiber art project, a tribute to nobel peace prize laureate wangari maathai.

dahlias delight:just a quick post of some of the dahlias in the garden. man they grow quickly!


harvest from the garden:




berryliscious:it's a battle between me and the robins to see whom will take more! they're ripening faster than i can pick them. there a just gazillions of them out there! i think this is the first time in years that i have been home to enjoy them. i have put away bag after bag in the freezer to save for winter muffin making. i should make jam if i have time. the bunnies delight in their raspberry treats. it's just too cute to watch them eat these ruby morsels. ....yum


garden treasures of late:these skyscrapers are 9' tall. i thought for sure they would topple in the strong winds yesterday but these stalwarts didn't budge. the scent is heaven sent.those strong winds sent these campanula lactiflora horizontal. i like how a different orientation from the usual upright makes them look fringie.i'll have to save the seeds for poppy seed cake!this is a bee magnet. there can be four bees in a flower at the same time. i was buzzed quite a bit while trying to take the photos. i thought for sure i'd get stung, but didn't. they know i love them.


new applique +this one is about the history of strawberry farming on the island
ichigo kaku-dako

yosemiteit has probably been twenty five years since i last visited yosemite until last week. we were supposed to stay in the high country, at white wolf, but the road was still closed because of deep snow so we had to stay in the valley. as soon as i stepped out of the car in the valley mosquitos amased from all directions to zero in on my tastey flesh. i quickly learned that even in the heat i was going to be dressed like a victorian lady, covered from neck to toe, in order to prevent further attacks.
on the way up to glacier point wildflowers of all colors spoke to me from every switchback. i was hoping hoping hoping that the meadow i had remembered from long ago would be blooming with shooting stars on this trip. and it revealed itself resplendent in brilliant pink and cobalt blue (cammas lilies) at the height of bloom. it was perfect timing. i was in heaven. perfection. alpine wildflowers in profusion. life just doesn't get any better than teeming wildflowers in the sunshine.


birdie totefrustrated with the limited selection and high price of fabrics here on the island i went over to the hardware store, bought a couple of tea towels (nice heavy weight cotton canvas) cut 'em up and made a new tote bag. the cut outs made pockets for the inside. the handles actually go straight up unlike how it looks in the photo.


slip castthe light pouring into the bathroom this morning was so crisp and clean that it made this bowl sparkle. can you guess how the bowl was made? i took a sugar pumpkin, yes it was home grown (i like to make pies, bread + soup from them), cast it in plaster, then poured slip into the mold and voila (after firing + glazing) an assymetrical organically shaped bowl.


latest from the gardenin order of appearance: campanula percifolia (along the front walkway), carpenteria californica (one of my favorite shrubs), deutzia 'goodsall pink' (a gift from my friend sarah, who started the smith + hawken nursery in mill valley, when my son was born...it's travelled from garden to garden and still thrives), oenothera (from my grandmother's garden...wow that one has been quite the traveler...to my mom's garden then to my various gardens...it has the happiest-best-shade-of-yellow flowers ever)


birdieoodle
you might wonder why this blog is called "birdieoodle". when i was entitling paintings for my "circular needles" show last summer one painting jumped out as the encapsulation of everything that i love, aside from my family. there were wildflowers, birds (red breasted nuthatches...oh i love the noises they make), knitting needles + tools in an obvious nod to the joyous active nature of william morris textiles. that oil painting was called "birdieoodle". birdie has always been an endearing nickname given to my pets, as well as the usual greeting, "hi birdie", to visitors at the bird feeder. -oodle, with various consonants at the start, has been the middle name for many pets since i was little. i guess birdieoodle is me in a nutshell, or nutcase as my sisters would say. so here's the painting that named the blog.18 x 18"oil on canvassold

ahhh bloedelevery year before school ends and everyone is home for the summer i grab my fleeting moments of solitude and take a walk through the bloedel. i feel so lucky to have such a magical place so close by that is different every time i visit. it is the perfect place to stroll, although i always walk fast, and just appreciate the subtle beauty of verdure in peace + quiet. to peer into the blackness of the duck pond and get lost in the reflections, drawn into that space, nearly transforms into a state of vertigo. but that is the bliss of solitude, to allow one's self to be uninterupted, just for a moment, before it becomes a rarity for a long while.

ichigo kaku-dakohere's the model and a hint of the paintinggouache on awagami

kimonosince my latest project has japanesque influences i searched for and found my old japanese architecture sketchbook from college. i just found out from my latest issue of selvedge magazine that the plural of kimono is kimono. that is the greatest magazine for fiber devotees.

just a peek at what's to come in augusti'm just packing my sketchbook with ideas but frustrated that i won't be able to accomplish a fraction of them in time. this is such an amazingly busy time of year, and it just gets more complicated when summer activities start soon. i don't sleep because i'm thinking about what i want to make and how to fabricate it. everything requires it's own uncharted pattern that starts with a blank page. i love the process and materials that conspire to form the product. i look at the array of materials before me and swoon in rapture, hoping to honor their beauty with competent construction. we'll see.
more floriciousness...can a tree pack more blossoms onto a branch than styrax japonica (japanese snowbell)? and for an extra whammy of admiration this tree permeates the air with the most intoxicating perfume. i started this tree from a seed and now it's 25 feet tall i would guess. when i used to hang birdie basket feeders in this tree the racoons would regularly smash the baskets to the ground and break the branches with their avoirdupois, the porkers, and they gouged chasms into the trunk with their beastly talons. you can guess what i think of those critters!?#!and now to the simple delicacy of rosa glauca. sweet.

ahhhhh june!it just doesn't get any better that petal profusion and perfumed air!