Concrete Quilt Inspiration

   Lately I have become quite hooked on taking the bus downtown.  It saves me money on gas and parking and I get to notice so many things that driving neglects to reveal.  It is not unusual for me to snap photos of broken pavement, but yesterday I was especially smitten by the wonderful compositions of the cracks in the sidewalk within a quarter mile of my house.  The cracked sidewalks with clusters of grass and debris invite lots of embellishments. Deep inside of my artist self is a series of art quilts that may or may not consist of these kinds of designs, but I think I'm getting there.

  

A Trip to the City

   Today I took a trip downtown on the Metro to meet my great friend so we could drop off a certain something to a certain office for a certain event coming up in November (it's a secret, for now).  Before we met I waltzed into the Public Library just to see what's going on.  Visited the gift shop, which has a ton of great used books for sale for cheap.  Some are library discards while some are donated.  All are in pretty great shape.  I purchased two massively successful inspirational books (easy to read on a bus or in public), a paper-piecing book and two movies.  Thank Baby Jesus I didn't ditch my VCR before the last one rolled off the assembly line...you can get movies CHEAP.  Anyway, I then went to the 3rd floor where the art department is and piled on more books, so my messenger bag was overstuffed and quite heavy. 

(If you need a creative pick-me-up, I highly recommend the book in red, Fiberarts Design Book 7.)

   There is an exhibit on the ground floor about the history of Cincinnati's public transportation.  Lots of historical photos and ephemera in Lucite boxes on pedestals.  The article below was under glass in a HUGE bound book of some kind that contained mainly vintage ads.  I did not look to see what the year was but there was also an article about when the last 100 streetcars were being sold off.  You can probably find that info out on the inter-web. 

Lastly, here are two photos I took on my walk to the bus stop.  After a couple of days of rain, the lichen are very happy.  The mushrooms have been there for a few days so they are in varying stages of their life cycle.  I can see both of these being inspiration for fiber art pieces.  The moss would be great needle-punched.  The mushrooms would be great as applique' with lots of embroidered grass.  Why don't I just make simple stuff?

Time to get busy on art!

   Sooo, lots of changes happening this year..this is usually the kind of thing that prompts me to write.  I moved, got married and now am working hard to devote as much time to my art as possible.  The art studio is settled and is a fabulous cave of creative energy.  Makes me wonder if anyone has ever used it as an art studio before.  Clearly an artists' sanctuary is not a room one needs to dress up to show the world, so here are some candid shots of how it looks this morning.  If work surfaces are empty and there aren't piles of something somewhere, then it's not being properly used, right?

Excellent south-facing view of the sky.

Messy!  No, not messy, just busy!

This hutch is absolutely full of beads.

  The UFO box has been opened and is being attacked hard and heavy.  There are some half-finished parts of things that finally NOW have a new use.  Partially made components are coming to life.  It's a wonderful feeling to relieve myself of the backup of ideas that I thought would be lost.

  I'm also fortunate to become part of the team at the Cincinnati Nature Center.  My part-time weekend job in the gift shop will allow me to be around like-minded nature nuts and be smack in the middle of one of the most beautiful landscapes in southwestern Ohio.  It's an endless source of artistic inspiration.  My newest piece is directly inspired by this beautiful plant :

 
  You can see the work in progress on my Facebook artist page.
  Thanks for hanging out this morning.  I plan on being more active here now that I have the time.