pamgarrison

hiya! and a little bragging

WOW! I am seriously impressed with the work coming out of my Painting Petals online class. Obviously, the students are very talented, and I'm thrilled that some are sharing their work on our class instagram hashtag, #PGspaintingpetalsclass. (click on that link on left to see the gallery large) I have taught a lot of live classes and have seen the result of playing along with me in person, but with the online course, I'm not sure who is really participating making art right now until they share it, and it really is exciting to see; so much good art making going on! 

Very fun to see all the different takes on the lessons, and hear about whether it's easy or difficult for them to adjust their thinking, or if it's new and different to what they normally do, etc. I just had to brag a little on their behalf, I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed too:

Left to right, starting at top: me :) pamgarrison, minniecarr, brannonlawson, robinsears, linwoodavenue, lucyedson, jubileeflea, me, minniecarr

Left to right starting at top: jentingting, jubileeflea, jubileeflea, chynasgarden, brannanlawson, cynelin, jubileeflea, jentingting, jentingting, brannanlawson, brannanlawson, lucyedson, 

Left to right starting at top: 

blairs, christineadolphdesign, cynelin, mama_finch_, minniecar, jentingting, my flowers again, brannanlawson, brannanlawson, blossomrising, j.knot,  lucyedson

Left to right starting at top: lucyedson, brannanlawson, tonyadoughty, tonyadoughty, tonyadoughty, minniecar, minniecar, ksueb, ksueb, tonyadoughty, jentingting, jentingting

Left to right starting at top: jentingting, chynasgarden, brannanlawson, blossomrising, brannanlawson, nullsie, finnabair reposted christineadolfdesign, minniecar, tstirling8, christineadolphdesign, mama_finch_, minniecar

 

Left to right starting at top: nullsie, brannanlawson, brannanlawson, blairs, me, brannanlawson, blossomrising, aunt_peaches, tonyadoughty, tonyadoughty, linwoodavenue, linwoodavenue

Left to right starting at top: linwoodavenue, blossomrising, robinsears, joydeaton1, lucyedson,class entry page, lucyedson, blossomrising, blairs repost of my work, and bottom row, all mine, @pamgarrison on ig. 

Phew! That was a lot of linking! I sure hope I got them all right. I took  screen shots of the gallery and then linked each picture to it's post on IG, so if I got yours wrong, please let me know. I've double checked but I'm getting a little loopy from all the linking and might have missed an error. 

Awesome work, right?!? I sure do think so! 

I'm going to post the ig gallery, like this, on my blog weekly, so if you want to see your work here with a link to your IG, please post it on IG using class hashtag: #PGspaintingpetalsclass and it'll automatically be included. Thank you for all who have been posting and sharing already, it makes class all the more fun! We also have a class flickr group, but I'll keep that private, since I'm not sure if students want their work seen (I'm assuming by hashtagging it on IG that you are ok with my sharing, if anyone isn't, please let me know!). I'm loving the posts on flickr too and am commenting on those that have shared on our class group. I hope students will share there as well. 

Ahhh, I worked long and hard on the Painting Petals class, and am really proud of it, even more so now that I have started seeing the work coming from the students. It's more fun than I anticipated; releasing the lessons and seeing what comes of them in the students' hands. 

If you want to join us, there's still plenty of time and lots of fun still to come! Go here for more info.

And I realize, it might not be in everyone's current budget, for those that want to join in some class fun I'm also still really proud of my Creative Sketchbooking class over on Creativebug and the work that has come out of it as well. (It's $4.95 a month, plus you get access to 500 other classes). 

I've got 2 new classes coming on Creativebug soon, as well as Lettering Lessons over on Cloth Paper Scissors, those are downloadable for $3.99...so, hopefully, there's a little something for everyone! 

As always, I'm sincerely grateful for you, those that come here and support me and my work and cheer those that pursue creativity on! xo Pam 

 

more fall decor, more pumpkins

Thought I'd share this recent patch of home grown pumpkins. You may remember earlier this year, my friend Mary Stanley gave me a little tutorial on how she makes her rug hooked pumkins and I made this one.

Last month, with my Halloween born and holiday loving SIL's b'day coming around the corner, I started another. And then I made two more. 

The white guy cracks me up, he seems so not sure about how he ended up here.   

I used Mary's technique to close it up. Mary teaches these and other things like owls and birds, crows and rabbits and more in live classes, and also sells them on her etsy and in shops like our friend Syd's Art Hus in Solvang. 

Because a huge motivation for lots of my nostalgic crafting is so that I can hand them down to my children who will hopefully put them out on occasion for years to come, I wanted to have them labeled so they don't forget they are hand made and pitch them ;). I used labels I bought from NameMaker. 

It's finally starting to feel like fall around here...well, occasionally...this weekend it did, today, it's more like spring again. Southern California continues to have strange weather. 

Hopefully we'll get some more fall before the calendar says it should be winter...

 

Italy travel journals in progress

Last night I got out the two travel journals I'm working on for my Italy trip, and started trying to assess the situation. I couldn't resist taking a photo today of my growing pile of travel journals, each one representing a trip to another country. I have two for this past trip because Amy and I decided we wanted to have one to use as an example; ideas and different techniques used, and one we'd make alongside the class, using the exact supplies in their kit. One would include the days before and after class, and one for the week of class. 

As always, I have succeeded in making a good mess, if nothing else. It's one of my gifts. ;) Unfortunately. I brought out all I had gathered on the trip and started to sort which book it belonged in. This trip was no different than others I have taken in that I hardly got to work in the books. I wanted to get back to them before the pictures and stories I wanted to add left my noggin for good. 

This is the cover of my Orvieto journal, the one made during the week of class. Amy gifted each of us with an Orvieto shield she made. So love it Am, thank you! 

The first journal I picked up again was the one for our days in Florence before class, and Rome after class. 

I truly can not believe that it has come and gone!

Time plays tricks with my mind on the regular. 

Since I haven't uploaded the thousands of photos I took (hard drive storage issues), I just used post-its to mark what I was thinking. 

Of course, time flew last night too, but as least I've re-started, often the hardest part for me. I had to cut some pages out of my signatures already, I didn't leave enough room for fodder collected to be added. 

I'll be sharing the finds brought home soon. the Fabriano Boutique in Florence was a favorite for sure. 

Can't wait to get to the week in Orvieto. Here's the book I made in that class, with marble papers bought while there used on the edges. 

Off to either press on or move my mess...;)

 

 

Related articles

Orvieto: Beautiful day trip from Rome (Photos)

italy travel journal 1

join us for class in Italy!

Italy on the brain

paintings in progress (still)

I'm trying to finish up a new batch of paintings over here. My goal would be to get them finished, listed, and shipped by the end of this week, but I'm not sure if it's a reasonable one...everything seems to take a lot longer than I think it will, and life often interrupts the best of plans, so we'll see. Of course, those that read the blog will be the first to know. 

 Most of these are the same that were shown in progress previously here and here. 

Some have changed quite a lot, some not much, and a couple new ones have been added to the mix. 

I'm still stationed here, on the step down between the kitchen and family room. It's even hotter in Southern California now than it was a month ago. Seems like we've had summer for 16 months or so now...

Anyway, bless my family for just keeping mum and going around the other way, I don't think I'd be as flexible were it not my mess. See the ipad there among the mess? I like silence a lot of the time when I create, but lately, I've been enjoying watching/listening to shows on Netflix as I paint. Certainly keeps my overactive mind focused on something else than the paintings...a helpful hint if you are result obsessed and think about it as you go along. I don't usually have that issue, but I might over focus on a specific area of a painting that is bothering me, or not have the patience to wait for a color to dry, so it helps. I just finished the first 3 seasons of Hell on Wheels and wish there were more. It's back for season 4 on live TV, but it's so not fun to wait a week. Do any of you watch it? I don't know anyone in my life that does, and I need someone to know what I mean when I say, "man, that Cullen Bohannon is one charasmatic character!" Anson Mount, the actor that brings him to life is largely responsible, clearly. And rapper Common, playing Elam Ferguson is another favorite of mine. I think most all of the characters are written and acted so well. I know that to say "it's a show about the construction of the first transcontinental railroad across the US" doesn't necessarily sound appealing right off the bat, but if you like good characters, I'd say give it a shot. 

Well, enough about what I'm watching while painting, and back to the paintings. 

Just like with my children, I like some better than others. I KID! I KID! Of course, like my children, I love them equally for different reasons. ;) 

These two used to look different than each other, they are getting too similar, will be addressing that for sure and bringing out different qualities I like in each. I think it's one of the risks of my working on a lot at the same time. One of the benefits is getting to express myself differently at the same time. I'm still discovering a lot about my process each time I have a long painting "session". Or maybe I should say, I'm still developing my own process of creating in this medium. You know what I mean, right?

A doing a good job of mess making at the same time....

So much remains to be discovered. Love that about creativity and making in general...all it takes is a willingness to participate, you can't NOT learn something. 

I hope you are having a lovely weekend, and I hope it's a little cooler than the 100 degrees we have here (enough already, California! Bring on fall.) 

And if you see any that you think might "float your boat" as one friend commented, I hope to have them for sale this week here on the blog...we shall see...back to pushing paint I go...

 

paintings in progress

I told you I've been inspired to paint lately! Quite a bit really. Some of these have been in progress for a long time. I am in no rush when painting. I enjoy losing myself in the process fully. As I'm sure you know, I like to work on a lot at once. Currently, I've got a bunch of bigger works in the works ;). 

I'm not starting any more until I finish these up. I'm determined to force myself to keep a focus, albeit one that allows me freedom. Here's the plan in that regard: if I work on say 8, I feel the freedom to follow any inspiration, but keeping it to the 8 challenges me to follow through to completion, (something that usually requires such a committment from me to get there I'm learning).

The next challenge will be letting at least some go if there are interested buyers. That part is still hard for me, especially with the big boys. It's not the time or money invested, it's the love.

I imagine that's the hard part of selling orginals for all those that make and sell any original art. I think that my solution to this should be to paint more often. This has been a goal of mine for a long time and one I've not made any substantial progess (I haven't been succeeding, which is what I wanted to feel more of in my life this year), but I still have hope and believe that I can and will.

I guess I'm learning prioritizing still, and organization, and I guess still realizing that we really can't do everything we want to. I never used to be a slow learner. Maybe it's a stubborn learner? Add learning grace to the list. 

So painting.

Yes.

I love the exploration...of color, mixing colors, color combinations, mark making. I think I could do it every day for 10 years and learn something about the medium and myself each time. Well, of course, with art we're always learning, aren't we?

One challenge when working on a lot at once, is to make sure they don't all look the same. Compliment each other like a collection perhaps, but stretching and reaching for different things on each. Not repeating. 

I love learning and exploring and creating in so many different ways. And I'm grateful you come by to share in my enthusiasm for making...even if it's not your chosen creative interest, you encourage me to press on and inspire me to pursue my whims. Thank you!

 

crochet blanket progress report: finished!!!

Hooray! I've finished the crochet blanket. {I used belladia's pattern found here} And I love it. It's officailly become my blanket, which I use when on my spot on the sofa. Technically, this project could have no ending, as there is no border or different stitch all around the edges, one could choose to go on until it's any size you want. Or until you are sick of it ;). I went with the size for my couch sitting comfort, using the "does it cover my feet and go above my waste with extra to spare?"measuring method. 

It's crazy and colorful and fun. Since my last progress post, I changed just a few things in my approach. I started lining the yarn up on the back of the couch so I could see the colors together, like this:

and this:

That way I could make sure I liked the ongoing color pattern developing, as well as have easy access if I had a little time to add a row or two. It saved me from disliking colors in the morning light by eliminating the dark of night next yarn choosing.

The other change was my crochet hook. Same size, just a hook I liked better. I hated the look of the purple irridescent metal hook. I like all my crafting supplies to be pleasing to my eye while I'm using them. I am sure that sounds super silly to some, and makes perfect sense to others. Which are you? Anyway, I'm a major lover of white craft tools. (Well, white everything really.) It works very nicely, I enjoy crocheting with it. This is the hook I bought. 

Other than that, I've been proceeding as before. 

 It's sized 44"x44", a nice little lap blanket size. I have an average of 20 rows for every 6" of blanket. 

I'm looking forward to more crochet projects. And I'm still shocked, amazed and a little saddened by how many hand made afgans you see at thrift stores and flea markets for such little money. Maybe I'm a slow and other people whip out blanket after blanket so those that inherit them have plenty to share?  

I know some of you were making one too. How's it going for you? Any progress to share? It's nice to finish it and have someone to celebrate with. 

Here's my post with all the details on the pattern used  {pattern is found on belladia's blog post here} and materials, and here's a previous progress report post. 

progress report: crochet blanket

Checking in with a project update on the crochet blanket I'm making, previously blogged about here and here.

I thought I would be done by now, after starting out like gangbusters, but then I got that weird virus, switched mostly to the hand quilting while sick, and the crochet blanket was sort of forgotten about for a bit.

Besides the usual things of life, I think my waning interest was partially due to wishing I'd made it a little wider from the get go. I realized that this could only be a lap afgan, not one for the bottom of a bed say, which totally disappointed me, because I think it'd look so great at the bottom of my son's bed. Another "issue" I was having was that I had started looking around a little bit at yarn online and fell in love with some of the colors, and descriptions, (but not the price!). I haven't bought any new yarn for this since the previous posts, but as I crochet with all the different inexpensive wools, cottons or blends that I bought, I am learning a bit about the differences, and know that the next blanket I make (oh ya, I'm hooked) will have more carefully selected yarns. 

That said, the pattern I am following (here) clearly states it's intenion is to put those leftover yarns to use, so, really, it's as this blanket is supposed to be I think; a hodge podge of color and texture. It's got that in spades I'd say!

I'm very glad I got over all my self manufactured "issues" with the afgan and got back to work on it. Super happy to be closing in on the finish line. 

Last night while putting the project away for the night I started rolling the threads around the remaining skeins to make these little yarn flowers. They make me happy. 

One of my favorite parts of this project (probably holds true for most creative pursuits with me), is the colors. How they interact with each other. 

Now that they are in little stackable flower shapes, it's easier to make little piles of different combinations. Each time I finish a row, I am choosing the next color based on it's interaction with the color before it. I am trying not to repeat any color combinations. If I put hot pink next to burnt orange somewhere on the quilt already, then I will find another color to put next to it each time I use it. Every so often (probably about every foot or so), I make sure to have used black and the same with the whites. So that there will be somewhat equal and balanced streaks of  light and dark throughout the blanket. 

I talked about it in the previous post, but I am still surprised to see how much the quilt changes each time I add different color combinations. It's so interesting to me. 

 

Very fun to discover new color combo loves, and even some dislikes too. I'm sort of a fan of color clashing in general, and this quilt has got a whole lot of that going on!

 

I wish I could get a photo of that hot pink, hot pinks and reds are so hard for me to photograph. 

I'd say I'm 3/4's of the way there. Hope to be back with a finished report soon! 

 

progress report: modern quilt

Hooray!!!! 

it's so hard to photograph quilts, ha! 

I am pleased to report that the modern quilt I've been making (for too long) is done. done. DONE!!! 

In case you couldn't tell, I'm super excited about it. Super. Excited. 

I love it. I think it's perfectly imperfect, hand made by mom (me!), to be loved up now, and handed down later. It's my first time making a modern quilt design. I pieced together the front using hand cut pieces of fabric that I then sewed in strips. All those fabrics together make me so happy. 

The back was pieced from larger pieces of fabric:

I'm still in the madly in love with it phase of a completed project ;).

Adding this one to the quilts-I've-made-for-our-family pile feels great. 

It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. This year I'm really wanting to finish up a lot of long ago started projects, and this one is a huge check in the finished column for me! 

As you can tell by my dedication stitching above, I machine pieced the quilt top and bottom back in 2013. Here's one previous post on it. 

At that point, after creating the top and bottom pieces (made up patterns in my head), then pinning the batting between, I did a lot of thinking about how I wanted to proceed; whether to hand quilt it (sewing the three layers together) or machine quilt it. I have made quilts before but never hand quilting any of them. After a lot of thinking (and even asking on IG), I knew that the truth was I wanted to hand quilt it, but was sort of dreading it. I began to work on it a little, but it got put to the side eventually and remained there until I was sick recently. 

As I lay there, sick in my bed day after day, it suddenly felt like the perfect time to hand quilt. It was quiet, and close, and clean, and I could have it on top of me keeping me warm as I worked. I made a lot of progress. As I've been getting better, I've been inching closer to finished one long (7.5 ft) row at a time. 

This weekend the "I must finish it" obsession kicked into overdrive. I sometimes stitched it on the floor, but mostly stitched with it on my lap. I didn't use a loom.

Stitch by stitch with that tiny needle I went along...it's so tiny it's hard to see there in the "ditch" as stitchers say. See it?

You can see above on the far right side I only had about 5 more to go. As I get to the end of a big project like this, I keep counting and recounting how many more.

I didn't measure, just eyeballed it. I figured since I was hand quilting it, the imperfection was part of it's charm. 

Finally, this weekend the handquilting was done. Time to square it up and bind it then. 

I decided to use a vintage binding that I had been hoarding for years. That pretty checked pink. Oh, and I also decided to do a couple of machine stitches over my hand quilting for good measure. I just did this on the two ends, in case the knots that were on the end were somehow cut in the squaring up. I have no idea if it will actually help, but it couldn't hurt, so I did it. 

Seriously, how sweet is that binding?!? The fact that it was ready made was an extra plus. I could feel my patience for this project waning...if I had to make my own binding, I might have set it down again...I was too close to finished for that! 

Late last night I finished hand stitching the binding edge and could not wait to get up and wash it this morning. Washing a finished quilt is my favorite step. It totally becomes a quilt at that stage. (Pre wash above, washed below)

Well, you might not be able to tell from the photos, but if you quilt, you know what I mean.

It just gets softer and a little bumpy from shrinking a little.

Even though I'd hand embroidered on the back, I couldn't resist adding one of my labels on the front, since I already have them...(labels bought here).

And now I just want to stare at it and touch it, turning it over and around, examining all the different combinations. Do you ever do that? Keep looking at something you've made that you like? I might even bring it in the car with me as I drive to the baseball game, haha!

I know, I have issues. 

RESOURCES:

Ok, I am no quilting expert, but here's what I used:

*I treasure this book and find it endlessly inspring. 

When I want to know something (like how best to start your thread when hand quilting), I first google it. I don't mind doing things "wrong" and making up a method as I go. That's what works for me. But, I know there are lots of quilting courses on the internet and also these books look fun and informative to me:

*book 1, book 2, book3

*I tried different thimbles, at the end of the day, this thimble (I have no idea why it's so expensive here, I would recommend going to JoAnn's or local sewing shop), and these were lifesavers. 

*I used this needle and this thread in white. 

I think that covers it!?! 

Oh! one more- I LOVE my new black cutting mat. It's thicker than the green standard and it's black. I have always found the green to be so displeasing. I wish they'd come in white or grey even.

project life 2014, february favorites

Wow, it's March already. I seem to permanently live in "time is flying" mode. I don't particularly like that fact, but that's thinking and rambling for another day. One thing I am happy I spend the fleeting moments on is my everyday family life documenting (aka Project Life). (I'm using this album and these pocket pages mainly this year).I am currently caught up with 2014 and that feels really good to me. Here are some of my favorites from the February spreads. If you'd like to see my weekly spreads in full, you can see my gallery here. 

This photo shows a bunch of favorites; the hearts from Studio Calico, sewing, stapling (with this mini stapler), and writing directly on photos (with these pens). But mostly, I love that it causes me to ask my daughter for photos of what she's up to when she doesn't think to send them herself. 

And that these two are starting to not notice my candid picture taking. 

Still loving Elise's free quote downloadables. And stars and staples. And a little closer attention paid to the calendar. 

I am crazy about the rub on transparent alphas that were part of the Studio Calico kit, and used them one week on all the photos so that I could document the entire photo filled week on one journal card:

Pretty sure that my hands down favorite this month was cutting a new shape into the page protector (details here). 

That, and the capturing of our everyday ongoings. Nothing special, and special, all at the same time. 

I loved the chipboard pieces from the Studio Calico kit, but also love using everyday items differently, like the card from the dollar spot at Target cut to pocket size. 

More capturing of the everyday, more sharing in my daughter's life. 

Making my own cards with script art will probably always be a favorite. 

Same with see through pockets, this time with some hand cut paper hearts tucked inside.  

Rub on stars left over from Christmas, love. But especially love the screen shot of a bunch of phone photos taken when Papa and Nike-the-dog were visiting one day. 

My son actually taking pictures without being prompted by me which captures his unique photography perspective. Love it when they take the lead on telling the story. 

And going with a little bit of "more is more" on occasion with the embellishing of a photo or two. 

February favorites in my Project Life album...fun for me to revisit and remind myself what I want to do more of. For March that probably means another unique pocket page and another screen shot of the phone camera album. Any of you out there doing PL this year and have a link to yours to share with us? Always fun to see someone else's, so leave a comment if so!