Tuesday, August 16, 2016

What a Beautiful World!

As promised here is a wrap-up from my vacation last week.

The purpose of the trip was that my friend had signed up to take a workshop from Susan Else who is a soft sculpture artist. We started our trip by going to a needlework exhibit at the Filoli Estate. This estate is part of the national trust and has been used in movies and TV shows. A great place to add to your itinerary if you visit this area.

The glass balls and flames are part of a sculptural exhibit
This is a reproduction of the front of the estate done
using an embroidery technique called Blackwork

A needlepoint reproduction of gardens at Filoli

The ballerina's tutu is done using a
technique called Stumpwork

I love the light that the artist
has captured in this needlepoint

After a lovely lunch we drove on to Mendocino which is about 3 hours north on the coast. The town looks like it is in Cape Cod and was used in Murder She Wrote as well as many other TV shows and movies. We were blessed with fabulous weather. Usually it is cold and foggy on the California coast until September but we mostly had blue skies and warm temps.



While my friend was in her workshop I tromped around Mendocino and Fort Bragg which is about 15 minutes north. I went to Glass Beach which has loads of beach glass washed in from the old practice of dumping garbage into the ocean.

The white, brown and green are glass which
you can find anywhere on Glass Beach

And I went to the Botanical Gardens. There were so many beautiful gardens that I have to restrain myself here.

Part of the Heather Garden 

The dahlias were in bloom and I had to include
the sign keeping people out of the dahlia beds
This sign was on the railing of a bridge over one of
the creeks. Somebody has a sense of humor!

I couldn't resist including these two pictures:

What's an artists' colony without an art car?

And this because of my love affair with trees


I also spent some time working on a few art projects that I brought with me. I had this fabulous old desk to work on in our hotel suite (the house was built in 1878).



I decided I wanted to develop a piece I did in my journal a while back. So I drew a version on tracing paper and then transferred the design to paper so I could cut out patterns and make a felt appliqued version. I really enjoyed the process.




Last but not least, this week's Diva Challenge was to use the Rio Olympics as inspiration for a tile. I used a picture of Rio and Sugar Loaf as the string for my tile and I used tangles starting with the letters R, I, and O.

Tangles Used: Raindotty, IndyRella, Insydout, and Ojo

10 comments:

  1. Omigosh! so many lovely pics. Thank you for sharing your adventure. That felted applique piece is so beautiful. I just love the muted colors. I really like your Diva piece.

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  2. What a wonderful trip! I would have filled up my entire telephone memory with photos of all the places you visited. I love your felt applique. Of course, I'm completely unfamiliar with the technique. So many crafts, so little time. :) Nice job with the Diva challenge---a stylized landscape using alphabet tangles.

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  3. Such an enjoyable blog post, Dorita! Your trip sounds delightful and I enjoyed the photos you shared (especially that beautiful tree). Your challenge piece is unique and lovely.

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  4. A very nice and original Diva's tile. I love to see your beautiful pics,made during your hollidays. I didn't know that something like Glassbeach exist but I'm really impressed.
    The pic of the car is funny but I like that, and I love your Molygon applique piece!!!

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  5. Loved seeing your photos, and was especially inspired by Glass Beach and your felt applique!

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  6. I enjoyed seeing the photos from your trip and love your applique. I used Rio tangles too! Nice work.

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  7. Thank you for sharing all those photo's. Your Rio tile is lovely.

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  8. What a wonderful trip, love your pictures. The felted piece is Amazing!

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  9. The trip sounded fabulous and the embroidery is wonderful. I've done stumpwork in the past and it is not easy, but the results can be great. I like your molygon applique, which looks simple but isn't and I like the Challenge tile too. I enjoyed reading about both your trip and the artwork.

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  10. What wonderful series of photos! Your challenge tile is very lovely as well!

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