Road Trip Maine - Just driving today 09-02-16

Not much to take pictures of - blue sky with little fluffy white clouds, trees both deciduous and coniferous, cars, trucks, construction zones, a few farms in the distance, three horses and a herd of dairy cows and some goats.   Much of this too fleeting to snap a shot.  I tried to pick up a bit of the first changing of the leaves, but again too fleeting as I drove past.  You may not be able to even see the difference in these images.   Just a hint of yellow, orange and red.  I only saw a few sumac turned the lovely red, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.   Tonight  I am in Erie, Pennsylvania, at another HIE.  It is attached to an indoor water park and is very noisy with children running around and hollering.  Glad I have my earplugs to help me sleep.

 

 

 

 

#   #   #

After a week of gorgeous weather in Maine, I received a dose of rain in Massachussets.  I had stopped at the New England Quilt Museum (my first visit) and came out to just a few drops.  By the  time I was in my car it was really coming down in buckets and barrels.  Everyone drove sensibly at about 30mph and we snaked along creating monsoons from the water on the pavement.  Finally we started to come out from under the very black clouds.  I drove on to Westfield, MA, just a few miles west of Chicopee where I stayed on my way out.   I'm writing this on the morning of the 2nd because I was just too tired to write last night.  I had lots of birthday calls and e-mails and feel well "birthdayed" - my 78th.  Thanks to all.

From the wide open road....

...to the busy streets of Lowell, MA, is a big shock to my driving sensibilities.  Too many cars in too little space.

 

Which gave me time to contemplate the repurposed old brick buildings.

 

I was surprised to turn onto Shattuck Street and discover that some of the streets in Lowell are still paved with cobblestones.  Bumpy, noisy ride.

I parked directly in front of the New England Quilt Museum - that is my car reflected in the window.

I don't know how often this quilt is on display, but my heart skipped a few beats when I saw it hanging.  It is one of my top ten favorites of all the quilts I have ever seen.  Inspired.

It was interesting to read this very brief history of the quilt.  Note the plaids used as architecture a la Ruth McDowell.  They were in the same critique group for decades. 

 

Here is another "Archipelago" made by Susan Willen who is one of the original members of the "Quilts on the Wall" group that meets in Los Alamitos, CA.  The main display is currently of quilts about the drought from California.

Susan's presence in the quilting world continues to increase. 

Meanwhile the rain was just beginning.

 

We left plenty of space between cars on a crowded Interstate 90.

 

Closer to the edge of the storm.

 

These look like tornado clouds to me.  Nearby in Concord a tornado touched down about this same time of day.  Too close again!

In the Westfield, MA, parking lot of HIE the sunset lit clouds were lovely.

 

Here are the famous HIE cinnamon rolls - I only had one for breakfast this morning.

 

Onward west on I-90 which will take me to Cleveland.

#   #   #

 

 

 

Road Trip Maine - Class work 08-31-16

The class is over and everyone is on their way home - to California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maine, Ireland, and England. What a great, talented, fun group of people.  Memories to treasure forever.

Here are pictures from the "show & tell" the last day of class.  We were to select three of our pieces we like the best and speak about them.  Not all are identified, by their choice.  I did not take pictures of my design wall - don't know why not, just eager to get on to the next one.    The paint used is Pro-Chem transparent and opaque, applied to 6oz canvas and black Trigger cloth.

Karen Crossland

Andrea Bacal

Helen Brown

Carol Fleischer

 Shira Singer

Mary Valerie Richter

Lory Newmyer

John Cardin

  Benedicte Caneill

Jeanne Surber

Elizabeth Busch - class demos

Elizabeth Busch

 

#   #   #



Road Trip Maine - Gorgeous day 08-29-16

I could not get my laptop to do much of anything last evening.  SLLLOOOOWWWW!  And finally had to give up and go to bed.  I think I need a whole day in bed, I am so tired by the end of the day.  Tonight is a lobster "bake", or whatever the name is here, and we will eat in an outside pavilion with a fire in the firepit and probably lots of mosquitoes looking for some blood.  Erg. 

I did do the pictures last evening, but there aren't very many.  Mostly I have just been working in class.

This is the only tree that I have seen in color here.

 I don't know if it is a native tree, but the leaves look a little like sycamore.

 

I am mystified by these half fallen trees.  I've seen them in a number of places and wonder if it could be caused by the wind.  There are no larger trees that could have pushed them down as they fell.

Here is another picture.

 I stopped at my favorite cell phone spot (few and far between) to make a call and saw that the sun was setting.

 

So, I drove over to Scoodic Point to get a better look.  The sunset is mostly behind this hill.

Then I saw this cruise ship coming out of Bar Harbor.  This is with a telephoto.

Here it is at normal focus.  Headed out to the North Atlantic.

 

Lunch with Gwen Hendrix, John Cardin, Shira Singer, Elizabeth Busch.

Lunch with Shandra Belknap, Gwen Hendrix and John Cardin.

Road Trip Maine General Views 08-27-16

This must be a good class because everyone works hard all day, very quietly, and we are all exhausted by 7pm when dinner is over.  I have been working on the newsletter from 7:30pm to 10pm and need to get to bed.  So, here are some general views taken over the last few days in Maine.

Maine is the "Granite State" which is certainly apparent here in Acadia Nat'l Park.  Even the street curbs are lengths of granite.

A view from the road out to the Schoodic point - a dead end road. The "beaches" are all rocks, no sand.

There are a few wild flowers, but the most common is goldenrod.

We went back to Corea for another lobster roll, after all they are supposed to be the very best in all of Maine.  I put my hand in so you can see the size.  Not very large for $14.95, but I think they are worth it.  Delicious.

On the left is the door to our studio.  One problem is getting the paint to dry, especially if we put it on with a heavy hand.  One solution is to duct tape the fabric to the outside of the building.

Or we can put it on the grass and weigh down the corners with stones. Some students brought hair dryers to speed the process along.

 

 

Some of the students in this class are very accomplished.

But they mostly don't want their names shown in my blog.  So, I won't identify anyone's work but my own.  We start with either light weight canvas which is beige or Trigger cloth which is black.  We can use transparent or opaque types of thickener, but use the same paint colors in either.  The opaque goes on white and then we paint over it with color, which we can color by going over it with the transparent paints. .

I was at Schoodic Point to see the sunset, but the clouds had their own idea.

 

#   #   #