Sherri Woodard Coffey

If you like to read about art-making process, as I do, you may enjoy reading about the process of making the felt yurt on display at the Cooper-Hewitt. The journal includes sketches, notes, etc on the process. Here’s the link for the exhibit itself.

Did you read this post about art and innovation from Psychology Today? I found it very interesting, finally looked it up to read again.

Think we’ll be thunderstorm-free today, so will do all that computer stuff—after weaving for a couple of hours. Not looking forward to the setting up of the wireless router. I spent hours on the phone with my own set up.

I’m still having a hard time believing I’m going to have to bring tender plants inside for the weekend. My basil does not like anything below 40. Something that people from other states find out when they come to Texas: We’re obsessed about weather forecasts. I didn’t realize that people in California don’t watch the weather until a friend made a comment about how we keep up with the weather here. Well, when it changes every 5 minutes…

I’ve been playing with Twitter a little. Can’t decide is it’s a big time-waster or useful. Sure are a lot of folks using it. I’ll try it out a couple of weeks and decide.

Spring brings flowers … and thunderstorms. I had planned to do many things this afternoon, but decided to come home after a brief grocery store foray.  Hail was forecasted, and since I just got my hail-dented car repaired a few months ago, didn’t want to take a chance. But the rain and thunder was glorious for weaving. Look at the raindrops on the rose. ¡Muy hermosa!

Unfortunately, I also had do some un-weaving this morning. I decided that the fish’s eye was misplaced.

Tomorrow, unless there is more hail forecasted, I will buy the new computer for my mother, the wireless router, and head over to her house to get all installed. If all goes well, maybe we will have time to redo her online banking. Friday will be spent in a quick trip to San Antonio. We will go to the Contemporary Handweavers of Texas conference. My only goal is to check out the vendors.

You might remember my rant of last week about how you can’t find people in offices. XTO actually called me back yesterday and explained how they do the disbursement checks. They don’t call them disbursement—there’s another specialized word for it. But at least now I know.

I just heard the forecast, and they’re talking cooling off to 36 for Saturday morning with (maybe) a wintry mix of precipitation. Unbelievable!

… playing with pictures. Don’t you love this picture? Not only is the llama pretty, but look at what this little guy is seeing. What a view! Not sure llamas really notice the scenery, but … 

Today was pretty much a washout as far as creativity is concerned. Did errands, made many business-type phone calls that were mostly very frustrating. In case you don’t know this about Texas, oil and gas is big here. In the last few years, they’ve been doing big-time gas drilling in what is called the Barnet Shale. Even in my little neighborhood, the mineral rights were leased, but trying to find out what’s going on is impossible.  XTO Energy has the lease, but nobody answers their phone. No real person is available in any department, only voice mail and the capability of leaving a message. They “might get back to you in 4 business days.” The “voice” suggests going to their website, but no information is available there either.  It’s a giant conspiracy, right? Soon there will be no living person working in any office, only “voices.”

I finally got around to ordering the 2 x 8 ft panels for the booth setup.  What a shock that was! First of all, you have to order in pairs, so I couldn’t get just 5. Second, the shipping via freight is $117! UPS would have been even worse. So, I’m looking at a pretty big charge on my credit card.  Yuk!

Tomorrow will definitely be a weaving day. Maybe even 2 full inches. And looking at the little guy in the picture makes it all better.

This is a picture of the self-watering pot (from Gardener’s Supply) I’m using to grow a tomato plant. I stuck this in here to experiment with pictures with this new program. I downloaded Windows Live Writer and am trying it out now. The picture was soooo much easier to place than it is in Blogger. I’m going to experiment with this for a while, but so far I’m loving it! This great hint came from Lyn here. I only installed the Writer portion.

Did get some weaving done, had 2 dyepots going, and hope to finish up the browns tomorrow or Saturday. Also spent some time checking on a new computer for my mother and the wireless to go with it. She wants a laptop, which requires wireless. The desktop is about to bite the dust.  I know from experience that I will need to plan on a day to help with the wireless part, then on to the online bank services, etc. My mother is 82, by the way. I’m so proud of her for being “computer literate.” Her hearing is not what it used to be, thus the phone help from me.

As in befuddled, distracted, etc.

Yesterday the roofers were here, finished about 6, but left the gooseneck trailer full of old shingles in the driveway. G and I went to dinner, and I parked in the driveway behind the trailer. About 9 I hear a knock on the door. I’m thinking, okay, what do I do. I asked who it was (I know, probably not wise), and it was the guy back for the trailer. So, I have to go out, wait for them to tarp the trailer, hitch it up, before I can move my car back. I’m glad I wasn’t in bed when they come, a fairly frequent happening around here.

So, today

Woke up too late, cleaned out the dyepots, filled ’em up, printed out all the amounts needed of all ingredients and added them to the pots, turned on the propane tank…and.. it’s empty. Time for plan B. Then the head honcho for the roofing company came out to inspect the job and, of course, pick up a check. Since I had to go to town anyway, I went to a couple of nurseries for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. And, foolishly, a couple of gardenia plants. It’s really too hot and not acid enough in my area for gardenias, but I have great memories of them, so am going to attempt. I arrived home to a message from my insurance agent about new insurance for the house and took care of that. He was able to e-mail me the paperwork, and I signed and faxed it back to him. Isn’t technology great!

When I went to Lowe’s for the propane tank, I also looked at track lights to potentially use for my booth lighting. My friend told me about this nifty thing that plugs into the end so you can use a regular outlet for power.

Then did some mowing and preparing the new self-watering pot for a tomato plant—that’s what the picture above is. Came from Gardeners Supply Company. Didn’t get finished with the mowing … it’s gotten so high it’ll take a little bit. But the mower started right up, so be grateful for small things. Tomorrow the tomato plants, dyeing, more mowing, etc. Gosh it would be nice to weave too.

I was tagged by Shannon of Sunrise Fiber Lodge. (By the way, I love the photo on her web page.) You’re supposed to list 5 addictions and tag 5 other blogs. Sorry, but I’m going to have to adapt this a little. I’ll list the addictions and then just give you a list of blogs and/or artists to explore.

• Weaving-in all forms even though I only do one kind for the most part-actually this could just be fibers and fabric of all kinds
• Color-which leads to dyeing. Color is what always grabs me.
• Reading-mostly mysteries. Actually, this can be a pretty serious addiction.
• Technology-again in all forms, but especially research, just the capability a computer can provide. Something I spend way too much time using.
• Gardening-where my dreams are always more grandiose than my capabilities or time allow

   

There are so many great blogs out there, one could spend all day just reading! For this list, I think I’ll go with non-weavers.

• Lisa Call-Contemporary textile art, great colors, creative process, right now building a new studio
• Daryl Lancaster-okay, she IS a weaver but there’s lots about sewing, etc. I just like reading about the creative process and where it takes you.
• Tracy Helgeson-Painter with a houseful of kids, again love reading about the process of creating
• Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson-wonderful collages. Take some time to look through her portfolio on her website. Unbelievable!
• David Castle-watercolor artist, blog here
• Denise Bellon West-no blog but great work
• Sarah F Burns-painter, again process

Whoops! I went overboard. It’s hard to stop. There are some really great artists, but enough.

I’m sure I’ll pay for it next week, but yesterday I napped and read all day long. Intentionally! And enjoyed every minute of it. I used an excuse, of course. Still have a little bit of a cold. Hah! That Zicam stuff really works! The weather also contributed to my ennui–still cloudy and cold. I can blame it on any and everything, but I really did make a choice. So there!

Do you ever look at architectural lines and wonder about designs based on what you’re seeing? This is a bridge in Boston. I think I took this picture, but maybe not. It was in my design folder of pictures, drawings, etc. I know I took many pics from the subway trying to get a picture, but at this moment can’t remember if I succeeded or not, but I still love all the “lines.”

I received my American Tapestry Alliance newsletter Friday. The issue has several articles about creativity, which is interesting since I had just had a conversation about creativity with a friend. There are some very good ideas in the articles. Two of the articles were written by Pat Williams and Tommye Scanlin.

I’m also doing research on a new cell phone. I have a very old PDA that I love, but now don’t carry so much because

1. the battery is going out
2. my purse is now very small
3. seems silly to carry both cell and PDA

I would really like one of the smart phones. My current cell is going out, having a few problems. My carrier is ATT, so i looked the other night at their choices. They want to charge me a one-time fee of $18 to upgrade. Looks like they’d want to keep my business, right? On our trip through parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, we had no coverage with ATT. Verizon has much more coverage in places where I might be soon, including where I live, so I’m going to see what their offerings are. I’ve considered a Blackberry, but from the user comments I’ve read, it’s somewhat difficult to sync your Outlook calendar/contacts. My aging PDA uses Windows Mobile, so syncing was easy, which is why I’m also going to look at a couple of Samsung phones. But now, it’s time to get going and to NOT be lazy today, even though it is still cloudy and cold….

This is a “critter” my son made. Yarn Guardian now guards the small amounts of yarn that hang in baskets in the studio. There are three baskets here, and YG sits in the uppermost one. More leftover butterflies are in the bottom basket. I have also filled huge clear vases with butterflies.

I tried working for a while today, but have a cold and finally gave up. Took a nap instead and will go to bed very early tonight. I’m trying some of that stuff that’s advertised on TV—Zicam. So far seems to be helping. My feelings are that if even a placebo makes you feel better, so be it. Here’s the Wikepedia entry. Of course, after reading this entry, maybe it’s not so good if loss of smell is a possibility.

The roofing has been postponed until Monday, so no alarm for tomorrow.