Tag: art

Downtown to the Sixties

Dear Liza,

My buddy Cynthia and I headed downtown last week to our Portland Art Museum. The remodeling work is still going on, so floor space is limited, but what they have on display is really interesting.

Upstairs, there is a collection called Psychedelic. Mostly, these are posters for rock concerts in San Francisco in the mid to late 1960s, when I was too young to go to rock concerts. Still, I knew the posters were cool even then.

Groups like The Byrds, Moby Grape and The Jefferson Airplane gave concerts at the Filmore Theater, and posters like these made sure everyone knew this was The Happening Place. We enjoyed the incredible colors, and wondered how they would react under black light.

There were also mannequins with fashions from the era standing about. Mini skirts in metallics and wild colors took me right back my days as a wanting-to-be-cool pre-teen.

Downstairs was a collection of photos taken by a very young Paul McCartney when the Beatles were on their first tour of America.

Since I was all of eight years old, I remember the mood of the time very well. Any news about the group was BIG news, and their music was in all of our ears.

Considering the frenzied energy that went wherever the Beatles did, Paul’s photos capture a more playful, relaxed mood.

Cynthia and I chatted about all sorts of things (as we always do), as we looked and remembered our own 60s journeys.

And when our tummies were empty and our feet were tired, we headed past a leafy church for lunch at McMenamin’s.

Days out with friends are good for the soul.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Poetry and Mixed Media

Dear Liza,

I have been taking a break from collage for a while, doing embroidery and other things. But this last week, I had a chance the chance to sit in on a poetry meeting with my poet friend, Kitty Petruccelli, and poet January Gill O’Neil.

I knew I’d want to keep my eyes and hands busy while I listened, so I chose some acrylics in colors that seemed to go together. Then I grabbed some pictures and words out of my collage box, mostly just taking what caught my eye.

As January and Kitty talked about Poetry, the American South, and Emmet Till, I laid down some background lines and smudges. I used my old California drivers License to scrape some purple on. As the conversation touched on concerns about life in America under Donald Trump, and my scrapes became a bit more frantic.

I found this woman’s face in the same colors, and liked her half puzzled, half panicked expression.

She needed more contrast, so a Posca paint pen helped out with that. It also helped add some interest to the swoops and corners.

A scrap of singed paper and words of dark times came to hand… “Before the Nazis invaded”.

And as the poetry talk finished up, I laid down the words “Laissez nous tranquille”, which means “Leave us in Peace” and added some tiny splatters.

Thanks, Kitty and January, for a poetic, artsy, emotionally-coping sort of morning.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Are We There Yet?

Dear Liza,

I’ve been working on the French Map Quilt for a couple of months now, and I think I’m almost done with the top.

My problem is, I can’t look at the WHOLE thing at once, except when I take a picture of it. At about a meter across, it’s a lot to focus on. Below, I have broken it up into four photos.



Looking here, I can see that I need more ‘grazing’ icons on the Massif Central and heading up into the Alps.

Here, the Pyrenees Mountains look a bit bare. And should there be something at the shore? Wavy lines to show the foam and dunes, maybe?

It’s hard for me to be objective… what do you think?

For now, I’m going to fold it up and let it sit. I’ll get back to it when I can see it fresh.

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Sad Ending

Dear Liza,

I have been looking forward to the 2024 Presidential election for quite some time now.

I have followed all the debates and news stories; I have enjoyed the beautiful signs placed in people’s yards. I have looked forward to having a smart, optimistic woman in charge of our country.

But Election night began with snacks and ended with tears. It was hard to fall asleep.

Screenshot

And now it is over, with an ending I can’t begin to fathom. I am disappointed in my fellow Americans, and concerned for the future.

Not just our country’s future, either. I think having Mr. Trump as President makes the whole world less safe. And since I have people I love all over the world, I worry.

What will I do now? I’m not sure. I need to think. I want to fight the fear that Mr. Trump has created with courage; the resentment he has stirred up with gratitude; the anger he expresses in every speech with joy and love.

When I figure out how to do this, I will let you know.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Drizzly, but Spooky

Dear Liza,

Last Thursday, also known as Halloween, was wet and chilly. I expected that we’d be inside for the evening.

Grandpa Nelson was happy to stay inside, but Auntie Bridgett wanted to get out and do some “Reverse Trick or Treating”, where we walk around the neighborhood and hand out candy. It’s always fun seeing kids in costumes and chatting with folks.

We got to see all the houses lit up in their spoooky glory, looking shinier with the rain.

We met Cindy, who had a heating pad under the blanket on her lap, so she could stay warm while handing out candy. She even had a tube on her banister, so folks could catch candy as it rolled down to them!

On the way home, we stopped for a ‘mocktail’ at Eris, our buddy Tony’s bar. We chatted a bit, then headed home to watch some classic horror. For me, Bêla Lugosi in Dracula is a Thumbs Up, but the older, silent “Nosferatu” is a Thumbs Down.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Twilight Tombstones

Dear Liza,

The Friends of Lone Fir is a non-profit, volunteer group who help maintain and educate folks about our wonderful local pioneer cemetery. They put on tours of the Women in Lone Fir, symbolism and architecture of tombstones, and headstone cleaning workshops.

And this year, the Friends hosted a five Saturday series of tours called Twilight Tombstones. On each Saturday in October and one in November, guides lead four groups of twenty through the cemetery, telling stories of the folks buried there.

It was sold out in minutes!


This year, Auntie Bridgett volunteered with me. She greeted folks at the gate and steered them in the right direction.

My job was “tour support”, which means I made sure our group, lead by Peregrine and Paul, stayed together. I also answered extra questions from the folks in the group. It was a delightful, educational, exhausting evening.

The fun began even before the tours started! A friendly group of Zombie Carolers came by after serenading the Dead, and shared their songbook with us. Their songs are not for the squeamish, featuring such delightfully gruesome tunes as “Rudolph the Undead Reindeer” and “Good King Wenceslas Tastes Great.”

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fall in the Hundred Acre Wood

Dear Liza,

My little bonsai forest, which I call The Hundred Acre Wood, is always changing. This last spring I removed my first transplant, Mr. Naito, after I realized he was not a Japanese Maple. I found a seedling that IS, named it Toranaga-sama, and planted it.

Here is the Wood on October 6, 2024.

Toranaga’s three layers of leaves show good health, and come spring, I will begin what is called Scissor Training. This involves lopping the top third of the tiny tree off, so as to encourage the growth of side branches and give it a more horizontal growth habit. This also encourages a thicker trunk, which gives the pleasantly aged effect of a bonsai.

The juniper, an evergreen, is getting taller all the time. I trim it often, dividing and shaping it into two uneven crowns.

I’m not sure what to do with the larch. Its natural habit is tall and straight, which is not what I am wanting for this forest. Two springs ago I wired it into a curvy shape, and now I have hung a weight (several coins in a mesh bag) from the top to give it a real bend, and we will see how it develops over the next few years.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Stepping Up My Embroidery Game

Dear Liza,

The French quilt was coming along. I mean, I kept putting in more crops row by row… but it was feeling very flat, and not very interesting.

The apple trees were an improvement, for sure. More color, more texture.

Then your Grandpa Nelson looked over my shoulder and said, “Where are the sunflowers?” Hmmm. Sunflowers. Because I was impatient to see the quilt finished, I had designed the symbols for the crops to be one color, simple, and easy to sew.

But I LOVE sunflowers, and I don’t want them to be easy. I want them to be pretty.

And they are! I love how the rows look, bouncy and bright. Trouble is, they made the rest look even flatter by comparison.

It was time to step up my embroidery game. I started with the lavender fields by Angouleme, giving them more color and texture.

So now I have had to re-think every single crop to make it worthy of the sunflowers. So far, the wheat and barley fields are coming out nicely.

I am so glad I did! The artistic process isn’t fast, but it sure is interesting. I’ll keep you posted.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tidying Up the Dead People

Dear Liza,

On my visits to Lone Fir Cemetery, I admire the lovely headstones. Some are more than 150 years old, others are from just a few years ago, but they all have their own style and beauty.

And many of them, sadly, are victims of time and neglect. Their surfaces have become pitted and worn, and their lettering is obscured by moss and dirt.

On my first trip to help, I took along the Friends of the Lone Fir recommended kit: Lots of water and a variety of plastic scrubbers and scrapers. I even wore gloves!

I poured on a lot of water to soften the crud, then used the plastic scraper to dislodge the heaviest moss encrustations.

More water and gentle scrubbing with a plastic brush revealed most of the lettering.

I used a wooden chopstick to get into the letters and numbers, but was frustrated by the numbers pressed into the concrete surround.

I wish they were clearer, because I’m sure they mean something. Maybe L23 and B21?
When I ran out of oomph after an hour, I was pleased with how Byrd Hanley Andrew looked, and happy that I had done something to preserve this wonderful, fragile old place.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fabric and Paint, For a Start…

Dear Liza,

Ruthie Inman keeps getting my brain off on tangents! I’d complain, but I love it, and I always learn something.

Our latest wild goose chase started with telling her us to collect a zipper and some sturdy fabric, a hot glue gun and some acrylic paint. Easy enough.

The zipper came from a pillow that has been upcycled into a few other items already. The fabric was purchased years ago for a map quilt that didn’t need it. And the acrylics ( and the textile medium to make them work on fabric) were sitting in a box.

When I showed the fabric to Ruthie and Vimi (our parter in all things goofy and artsy), they said it reminded them of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. I didn’t want to copy, but I held the image in my head as I painted and we chatted.

I liked the swirly lines I set up, and kept going as I got more confident.

By the time our session ended, the fabric was wet and sticky, and I needed to figure out my next step.

The next day, that next step was realized with more contrast. The short brush strokes remind me of Van Gough’s.

And then, because I’m a crazy woman with a needle and thread, I laid in a bunch of running stitches, sort of stringing the short stitches together and following the swirls.


And then, remembering about complementary colors, I started putting in some orange stitches.

What do you think?


Love,

Grandma Judy