BabyMoon

Matthew and I were lucky and were able to get away for a short 'babymoon' this week.  We savored this fleeting time we have together, the last moments of 'life before kids'.  We drove down to the California coast, about a 3.5 hour drive from Sacramento:  Monterey Bay, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Big Sur.  We stayed at Asilomar State Park and enjoyed an affordable room by the sea, complete with a fireplace.  I made a tremendous effort not to schedule anything about the small vacation... no agenda.  We slept in, ate well, enjoyed the ocean and the sun and just played everything by ear.  It was great to spend some quality time together and dream about our baby and how life was about to change.  We're so excited and ready to meet the new Carlisle!

Driving south on Highway 1

Big Sur, California

32.5 weeks pregnant :)

Lunch by the sea at Nepenthe Restaurant

Waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Beautiful weather, and beautiful sunsets every night!

Sunset at Carmel

17 Mile Drive

Lone Cypress Tree, 250 years old.  Pebble Beach.

Point Lobos State Park

Sea Lion Point

Monterey Bay

My Matthew :)

Dramatic Surf (almost as violent as Hawaii).  And I love this succulent and it's vibrant color!  We saw a lot of this groundcover on the trip.

And here is another blast from the past... a few photos of this area when I visited with Max and my fellow landscape folks in 2004.

Point Lobos State Park, Spring 2004

Big Sur, Bigsby Bridge in background, Spring 2004

Yosemite 2004

I was curious to compare my recent pics of Yosemite to what I remembered of my first visit in the Spring of 2004 with the LSU Landscape Architecture program.  I was traveling with a bus full of my peers and Max only dedicated one day to this amazing park... I've been itching to go back ever since!  What a whirl-wind that trip was, I'm still amazed at how much Max packed in to such a brief adventure.  Anyway, below are a few photos and sketches from that early trip.  (Landscapegoats, I thought you would find this particularly interesting).

View from Inspiration Point (Claudia, Madeline, and me).

Yosemite Falls in the spring - much more to see right after the snow has melted!

Daffodil Quilt

Below is my first quilt, a tribute to daffodils.  I love it when daffodils finally show their face... always when the winter is so dreary and lingering that daffodils, in their garish yellow, remind us not to loose hope.  They say 'Fear not'!  Spring is right around the corner!  Daffodils were featured in my wedding bouquet.  In Louisiana daffodils meant Mardi Gras was in full swing.  When we visited Keith and Gerry in the UK the daffodils celebrated Easter.   These daffodils in my yard are a sweet reminder of home:  bulbs my mother dug up from the Tietje farm, bulbs my great grandmother and grandmother planted, multiplied and divided, and now a remnant lies in this SC soil.  And my quilt is done right in time for the daffodils making their debut (a whole month earlier than last year).

I based the color scheme on the whimsical color pallet of a field of daffodils.  Pale blues, blue-greens, yellows, and then really strong yellow.

  

After many iterations, I settled on this layout for my quilt.  I tend to over think things, especially in the planning phase.  I really was doubting this whole project at this point - I just wasn't reacting to it visually and I really wasn't sure how the colors were going to react with each other. 

The pattern for both the layout and the printing scheme wasn't a typical one for a quilt.  It is not symmetrical, it does not repeat, it isn't predictable.  I wanted to convey a sense of movement, I wanted to  blur the edges between the foreground and background.  I really wanted to create depth by layering elements visually.  So the printing was really complex. 

 3 different stamps (daffodil foliage, small face and large face), printed in three different colors (yellow, orange, and brown).  This really changed the whole project in a way that I couldn't have predicted.  Color is so reactive... my cool color palette got alot warmer.  Whatever planning I did was just an outline because once I started printing I abandoned the plan and started reacting to what was happening visually.  It was a really exciting process and I'm glad I didn't get discouraged because it wasn't what I had initially intended.

All of the foliage stamps were printed before the quilt was assembled.  The flowers were printed over, or on top of the seams of the assembled pieces.  I used the sewing machine for the quilt assembly, then quilted and completed most of the binding by hand.

There was one day last week that I wasn't feeling well.  I didn't have school and couldn't motivate myself for housework, so I curled up with this project and spent the ENTIRE DAY quilting by hand.  Wow - I might have underestimated the task.  I had blisters by the time Matthew returned from his day shift at 8:30.  Two blisters on my thumb and forefinger.  I'll definitely look into thimbles next go-round.  I have to say the process of quilting added another dimension to the piece as well.  It added another layer of visual depth, and it reinforced the original layout of the fabric pieces.

If I could change one thing:  Less printing.  I think it is just a little overwhelming - I probably would have left more pieces with just the originals solid color to let the eye rest.

The last lingering question:  Who is it for?  What is it's function?  My professor suggests that it should be a wall hanging.  But this denies its obvious function (it's a wonderful, washable cotton quilt!) and my walls are filled.  It is a child size blanket, so I expect it to be a gift for a special kid one day.  Maybe it can hang on a wall until then.

This Semester

It's only fair to update you on the situation.  This semester at USC will be a bit abbreviated for me because Matthew and I will be absent the month of April.  He'll be serving as a medical missionary in Karatina, Kenya, and I'll be helping out and tagging along for moral support.  More on that later.

But with this obstacle in mind I arranged two independent study classes at USC so that I could work at a faster pace early in the semester and take off the last month.  My proposals for my two independent study classes, in ceramics and printmaking, centered around themes of African Art.  At least initially.  

Ceramics
In ceramics I began by researching and studying the forms of traditional African pots.  And the best way to learn the language of such form is to replicate!  And so I have.  Here are a few pieces that I'm particularly proud of.  This is a red claybody, but still higher fire (Cone 6-10).  These pieces are not glazed, but washed with iron oxide, and fired to cone 10.  I wanted a finish that accented the textures and gave the pots this dry, primitive look.  I'm going to throw a couple of these into the soda kiln next week and see what that atmosphere does to this clay body.  

What I love about these pieces are the completely round bottoms they have, like they are floating on the surface which they stand.

It is worth noting that traditional african pots are quite different... they are hand build and they use low-fire clay (earthenware). 

Printmaking on Textiles

Originally this was the idea and in my mind I saw my product looking much more like an african textile. But I really took this another direction completely and I'm excited about the way this will turn out.

First I began by exploring new materials.  Instead of using oil based ink and woodcuts, I opted for a screenprinting ink, which is water based, because it is designed for fabrics.  All that is needed is to heat set the print once it is transfered.  Then instead of wood for my design I found this nice rubber material that is used to make your own stamps. 

I initially wanted to create a design that could be replicated, creating a printed textile to be used for bags or clothing, ect.  But I got bored with that idea pretty quickly.  And something in my mind said 'Quilts'.  I could use the same replicated patterns, but the pieces would look completely different depending on what it was printed on and which color ink I chose.  Bingo!  So, without hesitation I began making a quilt (which I've never done before), and I have to say I'm pretty excited with the way it is turning out.  Mostly because it surprise me... color is relative and reactive, and this process has proved that to me many times over.

The quilt is a homage to daffodils because they are my favorite and they remind me of grammy and catholic school and Louisiana.

Much more on this project once I have the completed product!

What does a Landscape Architect do?

I get this question A LOT!  And finally ASLA, (American Society of Landscape Architects) produced these nice public awareness animations that give an overview of our profession.  I can't say any one of these videos actually describe what I did when I worked in the profession... my projects were never this exciting.  And no project is ever this straight forward.  But I digress... this is definitely worth sharing, as I'm sure many of you are still fuzzy on the matter.

From Industrial Wasteland to Community Park
Designing for Active Living
Leveraging the Landscape to Manage Water
Revitalizing Communities with Parks
Building a Park out of Waste

Intaglio Printmaking - The Farm

The next process we explored in printmaking was etching, or it's formal name, Intaglio.  In this process marks are made on a copper plate, ink is rubbed into those tiny lines and then transfered to paper through the press.  The process of etching the copper plate is not as straight forward as it would seem.  Once you have burnished the copper plate, insuring the surface is smooth and free from oils, you coat the plate in 'hard ground', which is a thick coating that resists acid.  You then carve your design in the plate through the hard ground and dip the whole plate in acid for about 30 minutes.  The acid 'bites' the exposed copper.  Wash off your ground and you'll find your design scored in the copper.

On the left: my copper plate coated with hard ground.  I transfered my sketch (right) to the plate by coating the back with a colored chalk pastel and retracing the lines. 

The concept our class was working from was 'identity'.  I started thinking about how so much of who I am and what I love is tied to the farm.  I thought about the generations of Tietjes cultivating the land and the impressions each one leaves through their work.  So I refashioned an aerial map of the farm, transforming the contour lines, or levees, of the rice fields into an aggregate of fingerprints.  I received really positive reviews from the class on my interpretation of this concept... it seemed to resonate with the audience.

I added another twist to the printing of this plate by incorporating chine-colle.  This method adds a bit of color to an otherwise black and white print by pressing the inked plate to a piece of colored paper coated in glue.  So when I ran this through the press it glued the sheet of tracing paper to the hefty cotton paper and impressed the image at the same time.  It was a headache trying to get this all lined up, making sure the glue didn't bleed too much, ect., but I really like the warm, aged feel of the print.  

I bit this plate in acid at two different times to get a hierarchy of linework.  I really liked all the detail that could be achieved with different types of hatchwork and textures, and I played with those methods to create depth and value in the image.  I'm pleased with the results, although I didn't like the process.  (Inking the plate is time-consuming and very dirty!) 

(To all my Tietje readers: I've got a print for each of you.  Maybe I could frame one for Christmas? :)).