Fast Moving Days and Aloha!

Radiance © 2012

A busy time recently, first working on new websites, new paintings and an article/interview and then off to Hawaii for 10 days in April! Above is one of my new pieces, Radiance, and three more paintings I'm about to finish I will post soon.  I'm excited to unveil the new websites I designed for artists, and one for a non-profit...

www.heidedavis.com
www.donnasaurina.com
www.childfoundation.af

Also, I'm so excited to be featured in the May issue of Professional Artist Magazine. See the article on my website.

Our trip to Hawaii was absolutely incredible, we spent time on the Big Island (Hawaii), Kauai, and one day in Waikiki/Honolulu (Oahu). We went off the beaten path to see a lot of nature, animals, art and quilts, unique sites, and also to try local food, which is a delicious combination of asian/polynesian. My favorite was the poke, a raw fish and seaweed dish :)

condo in Kauai, oceanfront

Kauai, Waileua Falls

Kauai's Grand Canyon

Plumeria flower, National Tropical Botanical Gardens, Kauai

Many Hawaiian quilts feature flowers or breadfruit tree leaves, which symbolize abundance :)

Waikiki Beach, Honolulu

Endangered Nene goose, Hawaii's state bird

Pele's (Volcano Goddess) flower, the Lehua blossom

Pele's fiery caldera, Volcano National Park, Hawaii

Rainforest, Volcano National Park

And finally some Hawaii art/craft inspiration... I brought home this beautiful hibscus needlepoint canvas to stitch, quilt patterns in cross stitch, and art cards by visionary artist Francene Hart and Warren Rapozo, a contemporary hawaii painter.  When we got home, I started an ocean waves table runner in crochet inspired by the beautiful, mesmerizing oceans.  The table runner is small shell stitch, and the five shades of white and blues will repeat in rows. The pattern is from this book 280 Crochet Shell Patterns. 

And I found some gorgeous Hawaiian fabrics! Now to plan a hawaiian quilt with these.... I might use light yellow squares as spacers between the fabrics.

:)  Lots of Aloha to you!!  :)

Happy Spring Equinox!

Vortex of Attraction-Creation ©2012

It's officially spring! All things are now growing, as mother earth renews and awakens. It is so wonderful to feel the signs.

I am very inspired by Law of Attraction and my new piece above celebrates this! The vortex is a vibrational space we enter as we are joyful, grateful and align with our dreams,visions, and best feelings about life. Here is a nice uplifting video from Abraham-Hicks, enjoy :)

Sun and Sky, ©2005 watercolor

Bright wishes to you as spring begins :)

First Flower

So sweet to find the first flower of the season in our yard today! One little daffodil in a patch by itself, the others will be coming very soon. As spring begins to stir, this is the time of year to watch your dreams, wishes, and new projects start to grow :) 

New projects are on the horizon for me! I'm excited to announce that I am now creating quilt and craft sewing patterns for Connecting Threads, Designer Downloads.  I'll let you know when they are posted! Here is a sneak preview of my baby rosebud quilt for spring:

Also, I'm working on a new gift shop which will feature a wide range of my artwork, prints, and gifts with inspirational quotes, as well as printable designs for papers, invites and more. I plan to have craft patterns and some free downloads in the shop as well.  Stay tuned!! Update: The shop is finished! Visit www.robinphillipsstudio.com/store

Robin's Nest in the Sun ©2011, donated to Audubon Society

Warm Winter, Warm Heart

It's been such a nice winter here, warm and mild. I saw the first Camellia flowers this past weekend in our neighborhood!  WOW, I want to paint these.

In the studio, I have been working on my website, finishing up my painting 'Soulmates', as well as knitting and stitching. I plan to release cross stitch patterns based on my art this year!

I got a knitting book at Christmas, and I am excited that I have started my first knitted scarf! I've done lots of crochet, and I wasn't sure if it would be harder to knit, but I've gotten in groove now with knit and purl. It's so soothing and natural.

Soulmates, © 2012

I made this pillow several years ago, and I love bringing it out this time of year. The hearts are a simple 4 patch, three 1-1/2" blocks red or pink and one white block to complete the square. :)

Love is all around, so many sweet things to be thankful for in this world!

Dog Play

Hey he's got the ball!

I want it!

 

Gimme that ball!

My ball, c'mon hand it over!

Pleeeeeease!

 

Fine, I'll let him have it... (sulk) (sulk) What's a girl gonna do?

 Above in the bed, Iko cat could care less....

So precious, my furry guys!

New Japanese Quilt

I'm excited to be working on a new quilt for our bed to begin the new year. Last year I started this japanese style quilt, now I am making progress on it and hope to finish it soon! The design is a combination of snowball block, with black corners and a 3-piece strip block, put together in units of four. The fabrics are all japanese prints I've collected, in many colors. A few are directly from Japan and most are reproduction prints made in the US.

I pieced the strip blocks with grasshopper fabric in the center, love that name! Then I cut the strips into blocks. The snowball blocks are made with black triangles in each corner, to form a hexagon.

I decided to design this king size quilt to be a perfect balance of squares, since the bed is almost square (78x80). It will be made up of 96 squares, in units of 4 blocks, and then 16 large square units of 16 blocks each!  I plan to try the quilt as you go method, since it is so large, where I will quilt each unit of 16 squares separately and attach the units together to finish the quilt. I'll let you know how it goes!

If you are interested in quilting ideas with japanese fabrics, here is a great book! I also like Japanese Quilt Blocks  and Japanese Quilt Inspirations by Susan Briscoe.

 I can't wait to see how the finished quilt looks on our bed!

New Year!

The new year is a time of fresh beginnings, full of inspiration. I often look at the basic elements in nature at this time of year- the trees, mountains, water, sky... They are timeless, and ever-present. Went on a forest hike this weekend, hiked up through the woods to the top of a butte, and into a prairie clearing, with bright light and blue sky. There I saw this amazing view of Mt. Hood overlooking the forest. The Oregon landscape is so rich! This hike makes me think of traveling upward into the light, to have great hopes and dreams for the future.

Here is the clearing at the top, in the light... The path is winding, and you can't see where it goes, but it winds upward, almost as if it's traveling into the sky. :)

 My first project of the new year is a japanese water table runner, based on a stream running upward. All the fabrics are japanese prints, with a sashiko style embroidery of water flowing on top. And I added a few of my own dyed fabrics with water patterns (tie dye and shibori). The greens represent the banks of the river and some flowers are added. Little Jorellis cat loves to sit on the fabrics! I pieced the design in strips, and sewed the rows horizontally.

And I have started a new painting, Spirit Bird... Here it is in progress.  Happy New Year, I hope your year is off to a fabulous start!