Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

New York city included a few sights that were new to us suburbanites.  Like bumper pads for cars.  After seeing how closely the cars park, though, we can definitely understand the need for these.

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Of course, not all the parking is on the street.  Some go to a parking facility like the one below.  How DO they move those cars around??? 

If you’ll click on the photo above, you’ll get a glimpse of the “High Line.”   It’s an old elevated train track which has been converted into a landscaped walking path.  Here’s another photo from it.

But, the space actually worked very well.  Andrew is seated in the smallest of two facing seats and I took the photo from the other.  By Andrew’s elbow is a fold down sink, with a mirror above it.  And to the left of the pillow is a toilet!  Yes, a toilet in the cabin!  With the designated “potty pillow” on the lid, it made a very comfortable third seat.  We put down the folding table and enjoyed playing a new board game.

And talked. 

And watched the scenery.

Great family time and a wonderful trip!

Ellen Lindner

When visiting New York city, you’d excpect to find amazing art at The Met.  And we did.

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But, we also found artistry in store windows and displays.  Like the paper “dress” on this mannequin at Papyrus.

 
Later, I stumbled upon Lion Brand Yarn Studio, a shop which was having a sale and demo day.  Oh my, the adrenalin was really surging in that little shop!  Employees wore lab coats and there were about three demos going all the time.  Plus raffles and sale prices.  The customers couldn’t line up fast enough and the energy was contagious.

Not being much of a knitter myself, I enjoyed the eye candy. 

This is the front window display that drew me into the store.  Who can resist a giant crocheted octopus and other sea creatures?  I knew this place was “with it” and I was right!

 It sure is fun to stumble upon cool and creative spots like this.  What artsy places have you discovered?

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  See my post about an earlier visit to The Met here.
P.P.S.  See my posts about a visit to Mood Fabrics here and here.

On my fourth trip to New York City, there was no need to do the typical tourist activities, (although I did repeat a few of my favorites.)  Instead, my husband, son, and I took things at a fairly leisurely pace and enjoyed doing some new things together.

Our first stop was Korea Town because my son is obsessed with all things Korean!  He wants to teach there and is learning the language.

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I guess he’s learned it pretty well in his one year of effort because he was able to converse with store and restauarnt employees.  Very fun for him!  Speaking of restaurants, we played it safe, ordering mandoo, (dumplings,) which were quite good. 

We also visited a Korean book store and grocery store.  I was definitely lost in the book store, but at least I could identify cabbage and ice cream bars.

After some much needed rest, we headed for Chelsea Market.  This is a block long collection of small food vendors and such.  It was very interesting!

Check out the gorgeous bowls of spices at Spices and Tease:

They were open to passersby and you could get in close to smell them.  The aromas were wonderful, even though I didn’t recognize most of them.

Wisk, anyone?  Bowery Kitchen Supply had a huge selection of all things related to cooking.  It was great fun to explore.  

We enjoyed both of these new destinations very much.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  See some of my posts on earlier visits to NYC here and here.

Here’s my finished palm frond quilt, which I’ve named “Crisscross.”  I’m quite happy with it!

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“Crisscross,” detail:

30″h x 40″w, $1250 US

As with all my quilts, you can audition this one in your home for two weeks before commiting to the purchase.  Find the details here. 

Ellen Lindner
AdventureQuilter.com

P.S.  I’ve been blogging about this piece since July 13, 2013.  With a little browsing you’ll be able to see the inspiration photo, as well as information about my design decisions and construction techniques.

 In a recent post, I showed you the early stages of my palm frond quilt, as I auditioned the width of the spikes.  Although they looked good skinny, I decided to fatten them up, since this was more consistent with my sketch.  Here’s the first frond underway with the new wider spokes.  I was definitely liking the contrast between the spikes and the background.

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The second frond looks like only half of one.  In my inspiration photo, the second side of it pointed reward so that it wasn’t really visible.  I decided to go with that.  The spikes were the same width, but perhaps you can see that there’s less space between each one.

On to the third frond.  This is the one I was really looking forward to, since it would overlap the others and provide the interesting desgin I had liked so much in the photo.  First, a little planning:

 
And then the additional spikes and stem.  Gotta love the crisscross effect!

I’m not sure about that last stem, though.  Maybe it needs to be lighter.

BTW, did you notice my wrist pincushion hanging from my design wall?  It’s an easy way to keep my pins close at hand.

Ellen Lindner

 There’s a REALLY EXCELLENT online quilt book I know you’ll want to see.  And it’s free!  “Portfolio” is put out each year by SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates.) 

The most recent version is “Portfolio 19.”  My quilt, “Crotons” is in the book, and I was delighted to see it  used on the introduction page for the online version.  Woohoo!

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 Check out “Portfolio 19” here.  You can flip the pages or use CTRL F to activate the search feature.  Awesome!

Ellen Lindner

I’m having great fun working on my latest quilt.  It’s inspired by a photo I took on an outing with some friends.

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Don’t you love the way the spiky palm fronds cross?  I think the contrasting values and the resulting shapes are very interesting.

Although the photo already had a good composition, I spent a lot of time sketching the design.  (Time well spent, in my opinion.)  My big question:  what can I leave out and still do justice to this image?  This was my final sketch.   I couldn’t wait to get started.

 So, let’s see…if the plants are yellow-green, what color and value should the background be?  Dark definitely.  And maybe red-violet, the complementary color?  Yes, let’s see what that looks like. 

Of course, it’s not enough to plan/construct a background in isolation.  You have to see what the COMBINATION of background and foreground look like together.  So, a little fabric auditioning was in order.

Clearly, the lighter fabrics show up best.  Good to know.

Finally, I sketched in the frond stems and set to work in earnest.    Loved the colors.  I was still undecided, however, on how wide each spike should be.  I started them out at 1″, shown here.

What do you think?  Too skinny?

Ellen Lindner

Once again, my local fiber art group went on a weekend retreat to Cocoa Beach, FL.  As always, we had a fantastic time!

The wine was opened Friday afternoon and Gabrielle, Jill, and Ruth Anne enjoyed a glass.

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Of course, being at the beach, we had to do a little strolling.  As you can see, I don’t need wine to act goofy!

It was a beautiful evening and we walked to the pier just as the sun was setting.  I love the angles of the pilings and the two-color supports.

As you might guess, we weren’t the only tourists in the area.

We did a lot of chatting, laughing,  and eating.  And, oh yeah, there was some sewing too.

Susan took the photo of me qulting, above, with a special app.  Kinda cool, huh?

Hope you’re having some summer fun, as well!

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  When I posted on Facebook that I was at a “fiber retreat” many of my friends thought it had something to do with nutrition and intestinal issues!  Too funny.
P.P.S.  There are more photos on the group’s blog.

Our nation’s capitol is such a beautiful city.  The combination of federal buildings and monuments, as well as the vast green expanse of “the mall” is, I think, unmatched anywhere in the U.S. 

There’s so much to see.  Like the many monuments.

The Washington Monument undergoing post-earthquake repairs

Even Union Station (train station) is a welcoming sight to travelers.  This is how it looked when we arrived one night.

And our view from within, when we had dinner there prior to our departure.

But, it’s not all formal buildings and museums.  The quaint residential streets are also appealing.

Of course, there’s plenty of not-so-pretty stuff to see in DC.  Like the Holocaust Museum, girders destroyed in 9-11, and pieces of the Berlin wall.

We saw those last two items at the Newseum.  The picture above shows the west side of the Berlin wall.  As you can imagine, the east side was completely unmarked.

Most things in Washington are free.  If you haven’t already had a chance to do some exploring there, I hope you will.  You’ll definitely enjoy it.  And perhaps feel a renewed sense of patriotism, as well.

Ellen Lindner

 Have you ever visited the Library of Congress?  Oh my, it’s a BEAUTIFUL building!  Starting with the exterior.

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 The ceilings are extraordinary.  Many of them are mosaics, like the one below.

 The huge central hall is two stories high and filled with light.  Large marble staircases flank each side, but the ceilings above are so mesmerizing that it’s easy to look right past those stairs.

 
This is my favorite photo from the day.  It shows a secured hallway going to congressional offices.

Are you wondering why I didn’t include any photos of books?  Simple.  We were not allowed to photograph the reading room.  And the books behind glass, (like the Gutenberg Bible,) were impossible to shoot.

This building is well worth seeing.  I hope you’ll get to!

Ellen Lindner