Huntington Gardens

It was a beautiful day at Huntington Gardens in Pasadena,CA 

My nephew and I strolled through Art, Gardens, and Library collections

Enjoy the sites and maybe someday you'll be able to visit......and Happy New Year! 

A close up of a Robert Rauschenburg collage

Walks through the Gardens.........

"Campo Santo"  Maynard Dixon   oil 

Henrietta Shore...a pioneer of Modernism .. ... I love her work for obvious reasons...she studied with Robert Henri and was close friends with Edward Weston. She lived in Los Angeles  CA for a while,,,Weston was quoted as saying "Every time I see that cactus, I have renewed emotion, its a great painting"

"Still Life with Green Chair" Roger Medearis    1950    Egg Tempera on Board

The "Remarkable Works, Remarkable Times" exhibit in the Library holds 

so many rare delights for the book artist 

a color guide for White paint....one of the color formulas reads
 Purplish White: Animal- junction of the neck and back of a Kitliwake Gull; Vegetable- white Geranium or Stork's Bill; Mineral- Arragonite .....I'm so glad I have tubes of paint ready made!

Book binding masterpieces

Color etching of Grand Canyon

Interesting perspective guide

Ice Crystal Illustration

Oddities in the Animal Kingdom

a "pop up" guide to the human body

and...I just liked the expression on this guy's face....not sure what he's describing but its cool....

Parts of a book

During December I had a chance to play in a printmaking studio...

I've been experimenting with encaustic and mediums on  printing plates for  book content. 

I'll be teaching a 3 day workshop using these techniques at Fallbrook School of the Arts in 

August 2015

Details are not posted yet but send a message to me if you are interested! 

Happy Holidays to you all...

Helen

encaustic plates with water based intaglio inks

The press

Collagraph print 

Two versions of prints that I was considering for the cover of the book

The stamp at the right was hand carved and used in some of the pages of the book. 

and here it is ....my Pods and leaves book...the binding will be a very unique woven approach....

Things I am grateful for....

I am grateful .....

that I can paint and create 

that my husband and I love each other and he's the hardest worker I know....

that my son builds and creates  and just bought a mountain!!

that I have great friends who treat me with wonderful gifts

and she can cook much better than I can....and that's saying a lot! 

that I still have my Mom and Dad

and my hiking buddy who just finished chemo and is free of cancer! 

my good friends....

and my oldest best friend...high school...not old....saw our first glacier together in Alaska

I'm grateful that I could hike in the Alaskan mountains this summer

and that I got my sister to go canoeing with me....

and that I've reconnected with my dear cousin Steve and his partner Chris...and that they live in one of the best artful places in the USA! 

and that Steve and Chris create wondrous assemblage works 

and that these great guys love to hunt for rusty, old treasures just like me

and last but not least.....

Happy Thanksgiving one and all

San Miguel de Allende Momentos

Oh Mexico....so many great memories of our Tesoro de Corazon retreat. We'll return here next year...be sure and sign up on our interest list on our blog....we sold out by January this year! 

We celebrated Dia de los Muertos in the jardin at the center of town. The nights were alive with music, parades, lights and color. 

 the little ones dress up on Hallows eve...not quite sure what to do with those bags yet! Some of them don't know about the candy tradition...so cute

 Altars are made throughout the jardin for loved ones

 The parades are home made...some fireworks and giant paper mache figures

a  huge skeleton made out of bread dough!