The Monet Exhibit

meeting a bigger than life Monet as we entered

it's not easy getting timed tickets to the Monet exhibit in Denver. Then driving there, finding parking, walking distances to the actual door, etc. We did it, and on our appointed time were handed devises to listen to curators discuss the work. It took over two hours to see it all!

ahhhhh

the show was so large, organized by places he lived and worked, and styles. I loved one of these early paintings done from a high vantage point in Paris. Most painters of the time used a lower viewing point.  Aren't the frames magnificent? Note all the people, and mood, and pale colors.

I noticed he chose to almost always center his horizon line, to mute colors, to manage to add details while being abstract, and to mix pure color on the brush so that each dab of paint blended but not totally the colors.

I'm including detail shots, and was lucky enough to get very close to see brushstrokes. The guards were not like the ones at the National Gallery of Art in DC.
Monet was fascinated by nature, and frustrated by working outside painting in real time as the light is constantly changing his view of subjects.

He went out in all weather, always observant, blurring the lines between object and reflection, using almost the same intensity of color for reflection as object, so that the sky was often seen under the horizon only in the reflections.

forcing the viewer to choose where the object is and where the reflection is

The detail in each leaf, the composition was entrancing in this one to me

I admit I loved the ones painted in Italy.
I stopped a long time to absorb the gentle field scene with these children

this one fascinated me for the sun, painted with a strong spiral of thickened paint

The last galleries were of his time in Giverny, water lilies and bridges. He began to paint for an hour, then take breaks. He obsessively designed and redesigned his garden, even rerouting a river despite the objections of his neighbors.
He was a man driven to paint. He shared a love of light with his contemporaries, learned from them, respected them. He spent a lifetime exploring his unique vision and style, persisting in art despite his father demanding that he go into business.

He so inspired me that I bought a small set of acrylics to try his dab technique. I watched painters on youtube as they explained how to paint like he did. I like more intense color but I want to learn from someone who recognized the subtlety of color and light, and how the human eye mixes colors on a canvas.
this was one of two videos I watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpmdlAi0IUY

LINKING TO
https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

I Like Thursday #175

does this weather make you want to curl up in a cozy chair with a soft blankie?
Welcome to this week's list of likes

I liked coming up with my word/s of the year, see post here.

I liked starting the latest season of the Great British Baking show on netflix and finishing the great american bake off holiday edition. I agreed with the winner and all the special bakes were fun to watch.

I liked the Bachelor coming back, here we goooooooooo

snowy mantel for January

I liked putting away some Christmasy decorations but leaving up lights to get me thru January

I liked finally getting this massive comforter washed finally. Wrestled into the washer, dried best we could, then air dry.

because of the writer's almanac this week, I continued researching further some articles. That led me to some interesting youtube historical accounts: a woman and her baby survive Auschwitz,  a book by Zora neale Hurston interviewing the oldest surviving slave about his life, and a family vacationing by luxury boat/plane attacked by bedoins and living to tell the story to Look magazine. I liked the article and cool to see the ads from 1960 too.

I liked sorting some bright and light green scraps to start this year's rainbow scrap challenge:

are you ever leaving this room?

 and listening to a new book on disc

set in MD and VA

I'm loving the newest Rhys Bowen book in Her Royal Spyness mysteries! Love and death among the cheetahs   I even watched a documentary on Wallis Simpson because she is a character this time.

I liked going to the Monet exhibit at the Denver Museum of art and then purchasing some paints to try his techniques. Again, painters put that history and art lesson on youtube for my pleasure. Maybe I'll write that up for paint party friday

I got a paper watch (tyvek) and a pencil/brush there.

look at this great metallic hand bag

a paper necklace at the art museum

I liked visiting the Rocky mountain quilt museum again, this time alone in order to visit with a group of women doing EPP. There were lots of people there, all different levels, and most seemed very friendly so I hope I make the hard drive there and back again next month.

I'll leave you with two favorites... elephants and piano version of clare de lune. Paul Barton plays classical music and the elephants love to listen. He has a whole lot of videos. Plus I saw one where a woman sings a lullaby to one elephant who always falls asleep as she sings. Love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qQOGCyRbY

Milo's moments

I am getting sleepy just thinking about it!

I love to sleep on the big bed! Every night, I go up with Daddy, get on my pj's, and he lifts me into the big bed where I find the absolute best place to sleep!

I'm sleeping on just my turf now!

Mama: yes... usually right where we want to sleep. I have a hard time getting in the bed when you get there first. You act like you can't hear me!
Milo: awe heck mama I just want to be where you are! How do I relax unless I know right were you are all night?

Mama: when I come in, you're on your back, legs all directions, and I have to shove you over to squeeze my legs in, have you considered lying longwise on the bed?
Milo: why?
please visit these people keeping lists of likes, and join us anytime!

craftscaviescontras 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts 
http://homesewnbyus
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/     
http://www.piecefulthoughts.com
spiralj2
https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/  
maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com 
in the group but not posting this week
https://www.justletmequilt.com/ 

LINKING TO

https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays

 http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
Thursday Thirteen

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

Open the door

 "words of the year", take deux

I was still seeking my word for the year, and when I was pulling on my pants for the day it came to me.

"Open the door"

This has a lot of significance for me.
Just a bit of back story,.
I grew up in fear.
If I'd been the social worker on my case I'd have removed me from the house. As it was however, I was trapped and powerless to the constant abuse and fear.
I learned not to tell, since telling didn't save me and indeed the repercussions from telling one time were reminders that I was powerless. I learned to "close the door" when I could, and to disappear into my head when I couldn't.
As a teen, I closed my bedroom door, locked it, went into the bathroom locked that door, went into the closet and hid under the hanging clothes with my fists balled up, hiding.

I am older, even maybe old now. I still keep the door locked. I look out windows and reach past chain locks figuratively to others. (note to people who don't believe women are mistreated: there may be no physical evidence or witnesses, and perps know to hide their misdeeds, but that doesn't mean the woman isn't telling the truth. And hoping against hope to be believed)

So this year, it came in a flash, which means it's probably a result of prayer, that I could explore the process of opening the door.
 Oh, make no mistake, I am an extrovert and talk to lots of people but inside is the girl who hid. Even lovely conversations are a bit like jumping out of an airplane to me sometimes. It's what I crave, the real connections between others, the connections that last and grow, that make me laugh and think.

 I imagine I will learn when to open a door, and when to shut and lock it again, as not all people are trustworthy. I imagine I will learn when I want to open the door and how to put in place safety measures. I will learn that meaningful interactions will come from trusting the open door.
I will open it to new friendships, and to new experiences, to new business ventures, to new ways of seeing the world, to opportunities. I want to finally do the ancestry test to maybe finally find family.

I hope to learn how to trust myself to handle life with less fear.
I expect to learn aspects of it both positive and negative. There is nothing in this world all one sided, every "entitlement" comes with a responsibility or a payment.

I was scared when this thought of "open the door" came to me. My first response was fear. A legacy of abuse that never quite goes away. The thought of this tugged at emotional scars that still inhibit me.
yet
like the year I chose forgiveness... and learned the ins and outs of that concept, I knew this to be important.
 Open the door to life
I hope on the plus side, to be open to new art expression, to self belief, to friendships, to going to new places, to trying new activities.  I long to be connected to people and to approach life with excitement not dread, and when I told a friend of these words, she called me brave.

I am not brave, but I push through the fears. I just want to be more relaxed and self assured that I can handle things. I want to find the delicate balance between safety and risk.
I want to experience the good that comes from opening the door to life.

Well, I started by being open about my life here today. Risky, but worth it if I put words to how anyone else feels too. I wonder who else out there has hidden fears that hinder them from feeling free.

together tuesdays

Welcome to this week's stories of  connections made with others.

won't you come play with us?

1.I posted a list of likes last Thursday, and shared a picture of some petrified wood saying it would be a great quilt inspiration. Well a reader took me up on that, and started pulling fabrics and designing methods for an art quilt! I see it as a challenge to us both. It felt good to inspire someone else with ideas for making art. When you design your own interpretive works it expresses who you are.

We can be inspired by other people and their connection stories. I was inspired by the following posts:

2. Nancy ( at http://pugmomquilts) told how she asked for birthday cards for her Dad and he received cards from all over the world, connection many people to her life through good wishes for her Dad. She is requesting cards again... read about it here: ...90-years-young
Nancy is smart, funny, kind and artistic.

3. Shannon (at imworkingonaproject) wrote this week, about her recent holiday trip to her family's home.


Everyone in her family loves dogs, and all bring them to gatherings so that the dogs have a fun time, the adults share games and art, the kids play together. In this post she tells the poignant story of a mother dog who is trying to care for her pups but is starving herself. Shannon was ready to adopt the mama dog until her minister beat her to the punch, naming the Mama Noel. (read it here)
It was a testament to caring for others weaker than oneself, that each cookie given to Noel was then taken to her pups to keep them alive. I cried!
Are humans and other species that different? We all care for our own, but it's a sign of God's love in us when we care for others who are weaker than ourselves, like our own.
Shannon is another artistic soul, who has varied interests, is intelligent, kind, funny and thoughtful.

She and Nancy are my soul sisters and I love them. They make my life feel more connected despite the physical distance.

I've been recovering from my illness, left with little energy to go out, so do not have many contacts this week. I did run into a neighbor while walking with Milo...

4. I met and chatted with a woman who walks Chloe a rescue westie. I like her, and we enjoy each other's company when we run into each other. We do not plan visits for some reason. She asked me if I still went to the neighborhood coffee meet ups. I told her no, and why. She said, she wanted to go and seemed to be asking me to go with her.
I guess it feels more secure to go with someone you've exchanged names with than totally alone.
I would like to get to know her and her husband better anyway, as they enjoy cards and are pleasant to talk with. Chloe was distrusting of Milo for months, til on walks with her Dad, she kept meeting Milo walking with his Dad and now she runs up to him and says Hi.

Whether you're a dog or a human, it takes time to trust and get to know one another.

V-day quilt for 2018

If you have connection stories let me know and I'll link to you or tell your story if you like.
do you enjoy reading these stories?

sewing saturday

Sewing Saturday is here, but it's been a slow week here at chez LeeAnna
I quilted some hand made hexi mug rugs.
Felt on the back

I saw that I had tried some hand embroidery on my felt, so I positioned it on the back of one. The blue rug has light gray felt. One more to quilt and I need to get these little Christmas gifties in the mail.
After all, only 11 months and change til Christmas!

File this under better late than never.

I sewed a few more hexi stars while in the car...

they are fresh off the presses so kind of distorted with some papers still in place.

these are quite slow, all along the way.

I saw on a video that people are doing not only the whip stitch to join paper segments, but two other stitches. I sat down one evening and tried both stitches. I'd say maybe I could use them in certain circumstances but they are quite awkward and slow so I'll stick to whip stitch.

I mailed off several pet rugs, some are still in the works. I'd like to show you how I made them later.
for now, I had fun watching this video
...... and loved her approach to tiny shards and strips and cut off edges to make fabric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2-q80xBLk

linking with
Midweek makers wednesdays
What I Made Monday
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays

I Like Thursday #174 a new decade of Likes!

modern art from the kitchen

welcome to this week's list of likes! I not only appreciate and like DH's kitchen work, I noted his abstract art display of just washed items. For it's artistry, he gets top points, color, line, intersection, balance, originality.
The fact that it's unintentional has no bearing on this award.

I like fresh blackberries and raspberries just rinsed in a pretty red colander

I liked this T-shirt at the Denver Science Museum store... it's so me

OMG I am in love! (and I do like latkes)

I liked seeing this petrified log split in half, up close at the science museum. Oh the colors and lines, can't you see a quilt done like this??




you might...

enormous crystal on display at science museum

accessorize accessorize accessorize!

I enjoyed the interactive exhibit of extreme sports, watching others pit themselves against the challenges that is. Most people able to do this part finished around 39 seconds. The world class competitors who helped set it up did it in 9 seconds.

I like my new series on meeting other people, stories on Tuesdays. Join me if you have a cool meet

I now want to read every article he wrote for the New Yorker.... here's a sampler
https://paulrudnick.com/secret/the-new-yorker/

I liked this quote by Paula Poundstone
"Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up 'cause they're looking for ideas."

odd fact about me... in my younger years I dated a man named james joyce. He was an actor and the only similarity to the author might be in the over use of alcohol.

There are more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world, and on average, one goes extinct about every two weeks. The one where men grunt once for no and twice for yes never goes away

Milo's Moments

 Hi, can you believe it was something called the Howl-idays and I got a bath? And my face and nether region shaved too?
(mom: well that's all we did, no earplucking, no overall shaving, no scissors)
Well, I do like my long winter coat, and my curls, and having clear vision again but do you all think my bangs look like Elvis?

sometimes in the morning, mama doesn't open the blinds so I can guard the house properly. I had to push my snout into the crack here just to check for intruders like cats and squirrels or people driving by, or getting in their cars, or wind. 

 whew, that's more like it! A wide screen view of squirrel channel. Don't get me wrong, it's cold out there and lots of snow still from our day long mini blizzard that left us with slush and ice and tall snow what gets stuck in poodle feet requiring a period of time in the kennel to thaw.
My peeps are sick, and I'm bored so Mama went and found a new ring toy for me.
I HAD two but somehow, someone peed all over the one I took for a walk one night. I guess it was Dad because he yelled, then my toy smelled like pee, and he threw it away.
So now I have one with half the skin still on and a brand stinkin' new one! I go from ring to ring, touching them with my nose to make sure I'm not dreaming! Yep. that's a new one, that's the old one. I pile them up, chew on them back and forth, and hardly know which one to pay attention to.
I mean the new one squeaks, that's nice, but the old one knows me!
It's not easy to be a good pawrent.

please leave Mama a comment and then visit her friends keeping lists of likes too!!!
craftscaviescontras 
  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts 
http://homesewnbyus
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

https://www.justletmequilt.com/

http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/     
http://www.piecefulthoughts.com
spiralj2
https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/  
not able to post this week
maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com  

Linking with 
pet parade
cheesy photos at ched curtain
ruby tuesdays 
 https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays
sundays in the city
rosie and the boys nature pics  

http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

word of the year

which way do we go???

I usually choose a focus word for the year, and it teaches me.

Sometimes the word leads to great discoveries, sometimes to growth, mostly to awareness.
Life is busy, often hectic, and one must really try to remain driven by one's values.

what will my word for 2020 be? at first I thought it was 'See' what's here, see what is real, see beauty in the day to day, see things clearly, see my goals and see others.

Have you ever done something by rote, and not be in the moment at all? Sometimes surprised you drove all the way home without seeing the road? Eaten dinner without tasting it? Petted the dog/cat without feeling it.

I want a word that makes me more mindful. I hope the word helps me focus instead of having worries and intrusive thoughts swirling around interrupting living. I am realistic, if something is wrong or unattractive I acknowledge that as real but don't always let that stop me. I am not one to put on rose colored glasses so I can't see the way things are, I see them and still love.
I hope to see more beauty this year.
To see new places.
To see beyond the present.
to see what I want to paint, really see it for edges, shadows, highlights
To see the people that come into my life even for a moment
To notice and acknowledge.

I do know... you see what you look for.

but "SEE" while valuable, doesn't resonate with me. so I went to a site that tried to help one choose a word, and I saw these: connect, embrace, learn, hope, self-acceptance, courage.
In their way, they all resonate but...

Last year my word was explore, and I let fears get in the way of fully using the word. I'm only human after all. Perfectly imperfect.

so while I wait for a word to surface:

I'd like to :
write more
join a guild... one I've not done before like bead makers, writers, or doll makers
see and note the good things my husband does for us
read a lot
use my resources without concern about using them up
see people that could become friends, which means risk and effort
drink more water
do what I can to encourage Americans to respect each other again, even if we disagree, there must be acceptance of differences, cooperation, and respect. Please, start building bridges and stop wanting walls.  

I joined a free workshop at this site, to help me discover a word for the year... I like the spiritual but respectful content a lot: https://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2019/11/29/give-me-a-word-2020/