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When I was almost finished with this post Blogger gave me an error message. Everything looks okay, but if the pictures don't show, please let me know. Del
My last night in this lovely little retreat - it has been a memory maker, I hope I come back someday.
Walking from the parking area up to the front door of Cottage #2. (sorry, I forgot to crop out my shadow).
Just before the front door are two rockers with a blooming planter on the table.
Inside looking at the front door. The kitchen area is on the right with microwave and under counter frig. I sit at my laptop with my back to the kitchen, enjoying my stems of lilac.
When I was unloading my car on Sunday I kept hearing little harp sounds and wondered if I had driven so long that my hearing was off kilter. I finally realized this is hanging on the inside of the front door - good idea because anyone entering would announce themselves.
To the right of the kitchen is the bathroom with a capacious corner shower.
The pedestal sink is charming, but there is no counter on which to put anything. My overnight bag is sitting on my little cooler in the lower left of this picture. Lots of white towels, great over the sink lighting, and plenty of towel hanging space.
This is the only closet and a third of it is taken up with ironing board and iron. Since I carry most of my shirts/pants on hangers it has been a tight fit. Fortunately, there are two suitcase racks - one for my suitcase and one to hold the bed spread - topped by my hats. The corner of the queen bed is at the lower left.
A very comfortable bed and eight pillows! One of the perks of driving is being able to have my own quilt on the bed. This one is large enough that I can fold in crosswise and have a double layer of quilt. Under it is a cotton comforter (China) all white with big stitch quilting in vertical rows. The light on the left is from the sliding glass doors to the deck.
On the other side of the bed is a gas heater, which I have used in the mornings, and a wicker settee. Good bedside reading lamps.
There are close neighbors - this is a raccoon footprint on the front porch. But I have not seen or heard them.
From the front door I can see the owners home and Montessori school. A great Douglas Fir in the background and my car in the parking area. The trees on the right are in a city park - the Sound is beyond them.
In the morning I can see trees from my bed - heaven. The moisture collects between the double window panes.
I have enjoyed sitting on the deck, watching the birds and making good connections on my cell phone.
The rhododendrons are mostly just starting to bloom. When I checked in on Sunday there was a flower head of this one in a bowl on the table - lovely touch. The host has also provided orange juice, milk, cookies and a small loaf of banana bread. Nice touches that I appreciated. If you are looking for a place to stay in Coupeville - not far from the Art Center - check out Garden Isle Cottages. www.gardenislecottages.com
Today was the last day of the Joan Schulze workshop and it has been a good experience for me. As usual these days, I am tired and need to get more sleep. I have not worked on the photos from the workshop, but I am showing you the plants and landscape and two fans that I have "in progress". Blogger is giving me grief with the pictures, so if you can't see them let me know.
The view from my back deck with a large walnut (?) tree. The little house on the right is derelict with missing windows, an exhausted sag and a thick coat of moss. Betwixt my deck and the old house is a playground for the children attending the Montessori school run by the family that rents out the cottages.
The state flower of Oregon - "Oregon Grape". I've always thought it the ugliest of all the state flowers, but it is native to the state and has lovely purple berries in the fall. Before opening the buds have a red tint.
But when they open they are mostly bright yellow.
Right now the most common flower seems to be the dandelion. They are huge - so much so that I thought they might be tragopogon (salsify), but they are true dandelions.
This fan is made of fabric applied to paper with PVA glue which dries clear and hard. I had too much glue on it so the surface was still tacky the next day. Joan advised covering the material with silk organza applied with Steam-A-Seam Lite. Worked great and the color is not notably diminished. We were encouraged to find unusual things to use for handles - this is a silver plate butter spreader from an antique shop. I have some additional work to do on this fan, maybe an edging all the way around.
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Fans need to be attractive from both sides and this is the back of the one above. The butter spreader is glued on with PVA and the spreader part will be covered with more of the bright pink fabric.
This process is laser printing on cotton fabric. I didn't bring much plain fabric, but had some shirting fabrics and used those for my backgrounds. Maybe not the best, but using what I had. First the false bamboo was laser printed on a sheet of transparency. Then laser printed on cotton fabric which had been fused to freezer paper so it would go through the printer. I placed the transparency on the copying surface and then placed a sheet of Japanese/Chinese calligraphy on top of it. After the copy is made the freezer paper is removed and discarded. The fabric is pressed with a hot iron and the image is permanent on the fabric. I need a better/sharper cutter to clean up the edge.
The back is covered with a Japanese fabric (or a look-alike) and the handle is a slat from a disassembled black-dyed bamboo mat. I have wrapped it a bit with red cord. Sorry for the masking tape, but I think I need some gorilla glue to hold the handle on securely
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After the class ended I walked along the waterfront street with little shops and restaurants and this great view across the Sound to the snow covered mountains on the mainland. It was another gorgeous SPRING day with even more flowers open and leaves popping out on trees. I think these Washingtonians just tell us it rains all the time so Californians won't move up here permanently!
The truth is - I am too tired to post much tonight. Here are pictures of some of the three-layer, articulated fans we have made. The ladies didn't want to put their names on them, so I am showing them as "anonymous". Not something I like to do. I will admit that mine is the one with the yellow tassel.
These are all made from scrap paper, old postcards, magazine pictures and such. Joan's critique so far is that we haven't used enough contrast - too much the same values in each fan.
Blogger is acting weird tonight - let me know if the pictures don't open. Del
The four day class with Joan Schulze started today, there are seven students so we have lots of individual space and help. The class is "Fanning Creativity", which I had thought was an expression like "fanning the fire", but it is more literal and the subject is indeed fans - of all kinds. We are learning many different techniques which can be used to create fans, but also to create a lot of other things. There are no rules - only creative thinking. As usual I have flunked "GLUE", but at least this time I didn't get it all over myself. I don't know why it is such a struggle - I failed GLUE in kindergarten and have never improved.
Joan's website: http://www.joan-of-arts.com/
School website: http://www.pacificnorthwestartschool.org/all/fiber-arts-workshops/schulze-joan-fanning-creativity-apr-22-25-2013
Tonight I am posting a bunch of photos taken on the trip here - trees, flowers, landscape.
Several years ago I drove up here about this time of year and felt I was following Spring. Starting in Pacific Grove where everything was blooming, I moved through trees with lots of leaves and arrived in Portland where many trees were just leafing out. A little later this year and the drought has depressed the blooming and leafing out, but fascinating to see the differences the further north I came. When I took this picture I thought especially of Gerrie Congdon who loves the bright acid greens. I'll bet she LOVES this time of year.
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Even with the gloomy sky the wild mustard still glows.
Whatever state one lives in during their primary education they learn the local history. This was part of my history growing up. I didn't realize until an advanced age how deficient I am in local history anywhere else in the country. This sign is one of four different "history lessons" at a viewpoint on I-205 which splits from I-5 and curves northeast around the downtown and over the Columbia River before rejoining I-5 above Vancouver, WA.
The falls and the locks are below and Oregon City is on the opposite bank.
Here is my favorite Douglas Fir tree which is rooted on the hillside below and towers several hundred feet in the air. Dogwood grows below it down to the river.
Pacific Dogwood
Lichen and moss are abundant in the Pacific Northwest.
Unfurling leaves - sycamore? maple? As my brain goes old and sluggish I have forgotten things I once knew so well - like the names of trees, flowers, birds, ... and my friends!
This crow was determined to sit on his branch and let me get closer and closer. Just after I snapped the picture he hopped down into the foliage.
I noticed how colorful the woods and waysides are with new leaves in many shades of red, rust, orange, yellow, and acid green.
A closer view of the tree above.
And an even closer view! I was parked when I took these pictures.
This group of several trees was quite beautiful. They were across I-5, hence the speeding cars.
Seattle skyline and the arena (Kingdome?) I almost never take pictures of cities. Hard to negotiate speeding traffic and take good pictures. These trees moved in the way at the last minute.
North of Seattle I took the ferry from Mukilteo to Whidby Island - a 20 minute "sail". There are two ferries that go back and forth, passing in the middle of the route.
Lots of these blossoming trees in Coupeville. The houses behind are new - the one on the left seems to be a primary residence and the one on the right is perhaps a rental unit.
I believe this is a cherry tree. But, again, my memory is poor.
I have arrived in Coupeville, WA, on Whidby Island. I didn't keep track of the driving time, but the mileage was 1377 miles - almost all of it on I-5. I did have to get off to get gas, food, ladies rooms, and motels. Today started about 8:30am and ended around 5pm, but that included some waiting time for the ferry and the 20 minute ferry ride followed by 45minutes driving north on the island to Coupeville.
Class setup tomorrow starts at 8:30am, so I HAVE to go to bed. Here are a few pictures taken today.
Trees, wonderful trees, they raise my spirits and comfort me. The dark trees in the background are Douglas Firs - so tall, so shaggy, so much a part of "home" after a childhood in Oregon. I took this image as I was leaving the motel parking lot in Eugene.
Right down the street I almost stopped right in the roadway when I saw these gorgeous blue rhododendrons as part of Carl's Jr.'s landscape. They have been "invented" since I was a child and I always find them startling. The white rhodies in the back ground really set them off, as do the yellow pansies right next to the walk.
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It doesn't seem like a color Nature would invent - just gorgeous.
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For years California farmers along I-5 have hung signs on the fences identifying what is growing in the fields and orchards - rice, peaches, almonds, etc.. But this is the first time I have noticed them in other states.
"Perennial Ryegrass"
I cannot read the sign in the image, but this must be rapeseed.
Here is the sign where I am staying in my own little cottage (I'll take pictures). Several people have told me to go over to the mainland to see the flowers fields which they claim are in full flower.
The cottage on the left is "Beachcomber Cottage II" - my own little "hideaway.
There was a lot of this today, big baggy grey/black clouds. There was rain periodically, but the automatic wipers just start and stop as needed, so I don't even know how many periods of rain there were. Maybe 10, but none very heavy.
