Art Blog - Jessica

I finally made it back to the park to walk, look, and to enjoy the stillness… Continue reading… 0 comments

A while back (quite a while back), I posted about my early exploration of Bartlett Park aka "Hidden Valley." I've continued to visit the edges of the park from time to time, and to wonder about its status. It is, apparently, part of Orange County's Flood Control system and thus the park services visits are tightly regulated (though walkers and bikers can come and go as they wish). Sadly, many of the twisted trees that made the park so interesting have been taken out recently, but the recent rains have resulted in some truly spectacular weeds. More of the story and a few more pictures are in my other blog, here… Continue reading… 0 comments

I love dying Easter eggs. I don't do anything fancy to them; I just drop them into the dye and watch with delight as the hues get more and more intense. The brighter the egg, the more unnaturally it fluoresces, the happier I am. This year, though, I tried something new--tie dye eggs. The dye is a much thicker, more intense, more permanent gel that one drops onto the egg with somewhat flimsy eye-droppers and then rubs it in using a specially provided plastic bag… Continue reading… 0 comments

Wednesday. It's pouring rain. A little girl of around three is standing next to the chocolate shop. Her curly red hair is plastered to her head. She is dripping wet. In each hand she holds a chocolate covered strawberry almost as big as her hand. On her face is a look of pure joy… Continue reading… 0 comments

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. I've learned a lot in the last year, including a few things that don't make it in the manual, probably because they are so obvious no one really thinks they need saying. Well, looking at an earlier post, I think I've learned and relearned some of them! 1) Hand-sewing quilting thread is just that. Do not put it in the machine. It will not thank you. 2) Ironing is important; very important (Actually, one or two people probably told me this; I just had to learn it the hard way--my last bag is a bit rumpled because I skimped). 3) If you get cross; stop. If you do not stop, Bad Things Will Happen. (Ok, I know this one, too, but I'm a slow learner). 4) Straight Lines Happen… Continue reading… 0 comments

Yesterday's long walk on the beach was supposed to be a photography walk. It didn't quite work out the way I planned because I failed to take the tides into account: I'm currently focusing on found-item pictures and sand patterns, both of which are best done at low tide, after the ocean has had its chance to give up its treasures… Continue reading… 0 comments

This art stuff is hard. I mean, it's definitely a good idea to do a little of whatever it is you do every day. One has to break into the habit of seeing for photography, and as for collage, well, there is a knack to paper cutting and arranging that is only partly head-knowledge. The rest, near as I can tell, is practice (I'm still new at this!). And there is a trick to pulling embroidery thread taut but not to tight, one I'm still learning but will only ever master if I keep at it , only I haven't, and the list goes on. Writing, also, takes time and effort, and any time I let a few days go by between work it's that much harder to face the blank page, to start hearing character voices again, to start writing again… Continue reading… 2 comments

One reason that there have been fewer updates of late is that I am still exploring paste paper, collage, and book making. It takes time--and makes messes! Above is a picture of what happens when I take over the kitchen table to work on pages for When The Party Starts… Continue reading… 0 comments

I've added some more images to the Found Objects Gallery .. It is, as I mentioned earlier, a gallery of play; I don't know what I'm looking for, I don't know what I'll find, and I'm not sure what I'll do with it when I do find it, but it's been fun looking for the small beauties. Sometimes, the beauties are unexpected--bits of plastic bead and string that combine with something else to make a picture. Sometimes, they are simply small--a tiny segment of seaweed washed ashore, a small, smooth bit of beach glass. They are always surprising, and always a joy when discovered. The image above combines both the work in Found Objects and the Patterns in the Sand series I had up a while back… Continue reading… 0 comments

The latest gallery of images is a gallery of play. I went for a walk on the beach, and very shortly after setting out, I found a stone heart. I photographed it, of course. After that, I started to look for other interesting objects, photographing them together and apart, so that both relationships and objects are found. The stone heart is at the center of this gallery… Continue reading… 0 comments

So. It's always hard to pick up on abandoned writing: Do you start where you left off and cover everything in between? Or just sort of pick up where you are now and run, hoping no one will notice? Me, I'm going for a summary of several entries I thought about writing: In the past few weeks, I've discovered that vinyl makes some people sick, and that I am one of those people: A new (and very pretty) vinyl floor in the kitchen had me heading out of the house as soon as possible and staying out for as long as possible. That cut down on blogging for a while, because, really, who wants to blog about fumes? I'm happy to say they are gone now, by the way, and have been for a while. Other Stuff (of a generally nicer nature) happened as well… Continue reading… 0 comments

In three hours spent sewing: 1) If you set the stitch length at 0 for a satin stitch, the feed dogs won't advance the cloth, you'll have to pull on it, and the thread will snap. 2) If you use a regular foot while trying to satin stitch, the channel will be too narrow, the cloth won't advance, and the thread will snap. 3) If you use the wrong needle with denim, the thread will snap. 4) If you use a thread that is too heavy for the needle, the needle will snap. 5) When the manual says bobbin tension doesn't need adjusting, the authors are using what is known as boundless optimism. See also groundless optimism . 6) If the bobbin tension is too high, the thread will snarl up, and the needle will snap… Continue reading… 0 comments

I took this picture at another of my favorite places, the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. It's a small area of wetlands, restored and preserved near an oil field. I love it because it is a place where I can go and be still. The only way even to see sting rays, sea slugs, or busy little fish swimming is to stand very still and watch, letting ones eyes unfocus ever so slightly so as to see under the water. I love it because during the late spring and summer the air is full of terns, circling, wheeling, yammering, and yelling at one another but very little troubled by the humans. I love it because it is within sight of a major highway and is still dotted with oil wells and is fully alive and set apart in its own space… Continue reading… 0 comments

The current batch of pictures up in my gallery were all taken in the Huntington Beach Central Park, one of my favorite places. For one thing, one of the two best libraries in the world (in my own humble opinion, and based on an admittedly limited selection) is there. Libraries are always nice--after all, they have BOOKS in them--but this one adds plenty of plants, fountains, large windows, and a downstairs coffee shop to the list of admirable qualities. The other reason is the park itself. It is large, big enough that it takes a long time to walk around even the one half, the half with the library in it. It is peaceful, too, and extremely well landscaped… Continue reading… 0 comments

Things my sewing machine manual tells me: 1) How to thread the needle. 2) How to wind the bobbin. 3) How to plug the machine in. 4) How to call an expert if I cannot plug the machine in. 5) Never to use the machine under water. Things my sewing machine manual does not tell me: 1) What to do if the thread gets into a really humongous snarl all of the sudden and nothing will move and the needle is in the down position so there is no way to just pull the cloth out and start all over again. 2) What to do if there are no stitches at all, just a needle full of thread moving up and down to no effect whatsoever. *Yes, it still is the Best Christmas Present Ever… Continue reading… 1 comment

I have had the Patterns in the Sand Gallery in place for some time now and am in the process of shifting it over to A Walk in the Park. Over the next few days I will be uploading images from the nearby park, Huntington Beach Central Park, images that reflect my continuing interest in capturing the unique quality of trees and often also my fascination with water. For a short time, the two galleries will overlap… Continue reading… 0 comments

I've been busy this season making presents for everyone. It's been a happy time, but hectic, and I've gotten so focused on getting things done that I have forgotten to go outside and look. A couple of days ago, though, I had to leave the house for a while while some work was done. I ended up going to the park and walking around with no particular destination or hurry, marveling again at the beauty of everything. I'm only posting the one image because our net is slow and because, well, I still do have one last gift to finish before Christmas. I hope it gives you some sense of the peace there… Continue reading… 2 comments

Yesterday I was browsing through the craft section of the bookstore & read a bit about layering fabric in a book on doll making. The author had made some really incredible doll clothes this way. The trouble is, he more or less assumed that the reader already knew the technique & so made only some vague references to top stitching… Continue reading… 0 comments

I posted earlier about drying seaweed so that Flotsam could tell her tale. It took a while to dry--we had misty weather almost immediately after I hung it up--but in the end it did finish, quite nicely, and Flotsam got to tell her tale! I went back and forth for sometime on the issue of words--you may remember that the original slideshow included text--and in the end decided not to. Instead, I opted for a post-card like look, a series of images Flotsam might have mailed home to friends and relatives. The format leaves people open to tell their own version of her tale. Ultimately, I also chose somewhat different pictures from those used in the slideshow. They were taken the same day but had different orientations or focuses that worked better for the book… Continue reading… 0 comments

I finished the scanned-printed-and-bound version, the one that is not thirteen feet long and that can be held in your hands. I think it turned out well. I was afraid that the texture would be lost in the transition and, while it is true you can no longer touch it, it is still there. I'm made even happier by the fact that this copy was made-to-order copy and will go to its new home on Tuesday. So, sometime after that, some more kids will be enjoying the rhyme I wrote and illustrated, and the book will fill its primary function: It will be *read… Continue reading… 0 comments