Lesson 6 Abstract Landscape

My assignment in Katie Pasquini Masopust's Online Color Composition and Design Course was to create an abstract landscape.  This is actually my second attempt, as I didn't like my first one.  I found that it's true what they say - you learn more from your failures than from your successes!

Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers

I don't read many mysteries, as it isn't a genre I usually like very much.  But one of the optional categories for the Back to the Classics 2014 challenge is a classic mystery, suspense, or thriller, so I asked my brother (who works in publishing and likes mysteries) for a recommendation.  Based on his comments (and the fact that it was only $0.99 for my Kindle!), I decided to read Dorothy L Sayers's first Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, Whose Body?  I'm glad I did; it's one of my favorite classics I've read so far.

A dead body is discovered in the bathtub of an architect on the same day that a well-known financier disappears.  Are these two events related?  Lord Peter Wimsey investigates.  The story was interesting and the writing was engaging; here are a couple of my favorite quotes (that I can sadly relate to more than I would like to admit):

He felt as though he were looking at a complicated riddle, of which he had once been told the answer but had forgotten it and was always on the point of remembering.

He pursued an elusive memory for some minutes, till it vanished altogether with a mocking flicker of the tail.

I rate it 4 out of 5.  I will probably be reading more by Dorothy L Sayers.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I read A Farewell to Arms in 2012 as one of my selections for the WWI Reading Challenge.  I didn't care much for the story or the writing style, so I really didn't think I would read anything else by Hemingway.  But last year, I read The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, which was about Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.  I enjoyed that book so much that it made me decide to give Hemingway another try.  I chose The Sun Also Rises, which was Hemingway's first big novel and established his reputation as a great writer.  Which I have to say, I don't get.  His style is very terse, almost newspaper-like.  Maybe that was such a change from the writings of his day (The Sun Also Rises was first published in 1926) that it was revolutionary, but it doesn't do anything for me.  And the story wasn't any better.  It was about several American and English expatriates (the so-called Lost Generation) living in Paris who go to Pamplona, Spain for the bullfighting fiesta.  Their main activity is drinking and getting drunk (or "tight").  It is my 20th Century Classic for the Back to the Classics 2014 Challenge, and I rate it 2 out of 5.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This was the story of Janie Crawford, a black woman in the south. Janie was married three times. Her second husband took her to Eatonville, Florida, one of the first all black towns to be incorporated in the US. It didn't say when the story was set, but it was published in 1937. It was an interesting story, but the dialog was written in vernacular, which I found difficult to read. This was my American Classic for the Back to the Classics 2014 reading challenge and I rated it 3 out of 5.

Lesson 7 Simultaneous Contrast

This assignment in Katie Pasquini Masopust's Online Color Composition and Design Course was to use multiple values of analogous colors for the background and a complementary color on top.  The complement was supposed to look darker on the light fabric and lighter on the dark fabric.  For some reason, that didn't work in my piece, but I like the composition of this anyway.  And yes, this really is Lesson 7 (for those of you keeping up with my posts LOL); I haven't had a chance to finish Lesson 6 yet.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I have wanted to read this ever since I did an online quiz that told me that the Jane Austen character I was most like was Elinor Dashwood. Yes, that's a pretty shallow and silly reason, I know, but at least I finally read it. While I enjoyed the book, I didn't think it was as good as Pride and Prejudice. It took me awhile to get used to the language, which is more formal and complex than our language today, so it was kind of slow going for me. There was one plot point that was very similar to one from P&P, and you pretty much know the ending of any Austen novel from the start, but the fun is seeing how it gets there. I rate it 3 out of 5. This is my Classic by a Woman Author for the Back to the Classics 2014 reading challenge.

Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller

I read this book for one of the optional categories in the classics reading challenge I'm doing this year:  historical fiction classic. We're in Tennessee visiting friends right now, like we do (almost) every year at this time. Nancy is in a book club that met on Tuesday, and this was the book they read this month. I am sort of an honorary member of the club, since I only attend once a year. I'm really glad that this was the book they read, because I'd never heard of the book before and I thought it was a REALLY good book.

It was published in 1933 and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1934. It is set in the backwoods of South Georgia during the years before and shortly after the Civil War. It is about a young couple, newly married, and follows their lives and the lives of their extended families over about 25 years. It shows the hardships of life in those times and reminded me frequently how easy and good my own life is, with running water, electricity, good medical care, plentiful food, etc. I loved the language and found it lyrical in many places, such as this quote from page 129 of my copy:

"Her heart had never been uplifted so high, nor cast down so low -- uplifted because she believed that this was the right thing for her to do, and downcast because she could not make her heart do this thing without nighabout breaking it. For a heart may be lifted up and cast down in the same moment, as sometimes sunshine comes while rain is falling, and builds upward in the sky tall reaches of misty, unlikely beauty."

Or this quote from page 304:

"Time does not pass in a clock's ticking; oh no! It goes like gusts of wind past the north corner of a house. Stay in the sun on the south side and you never know a wind is blowing, but breast around the north corner, and it will jerk your breath from out of your ribs. It is blowing, but you don't notice it, until that baby-chile, Mary Magnolia, is ready to stand up and take a husband and go yonder to Dicie Smith's house to live."

I rate it 5 out of 5.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

I have wanted to read this book for a long time; it's one of my favorite movies. So the Back to the Classics challenge was just the push I needed to finally read it.

 

I enjoyed most of it, although I found it very slow going. There were parts through the middle of the book where I got bogged down, but overall it was a good story and well written.

 

The description on Goodreads is as follows: "In the grand tradition of the epic novel, Boris Pasternak’s masterpiece brings to life the drama and immensity of the Russian Revolution through the story of the gifted physician-poet, Zhivago; the revolutionary, Strelnikov; and Lara, the passionate woman they both love. Caught up in the great events of politics and war that eventually destroy him and millions of others, Zhivago clings to the private world of family life and love, embodied especially in the magical Lara."

 

I rated it 3 out of 5. I'm counting this for my Classic in Translation category.

Lesson 5 Photo Value Study

In this lesson, we were to choose an inspiration photo, crop it to create a tight composition, and recreate it in an achromatic color scheme (using only black, gray, and white fabrics).  I exaggerated the value contrast from the photo to make a more dynamic piece.  I also simplified it by leaving out the water droplets (didn't think I could reproduce them in fabric!).  This is my inspiration photo:

And here is the cropped version:

Lesson 4 Lost and Found Line

I'm working on a series for my Color, Composition & Design class with Katie Pasquini Masopust. This lesson is about lost and found line, engaging the edges, and avoiding the centers. I used an achromatic plus color scheme (black, gray, and white plus red) and a diagonal layout.

Lesson 3 Negative Space

I'm working with the same shapes as lessons 1 & 2, but since circles were dominant in lesson 2, I made the triangles dominant in this lesson. I used a split complementary color scheme again, this time with red, orange (my 2 warms) and blue-green (my cool). And I chose a vertical layout. In order to add interest to the negative space, I pieced the background, and in order to stay with the vertical layout, I pieced it as vertical strips. I had all the triangles pointing up for the same reason.

The Paradise by Emile Zola

This is my first book for the Back to the Classics challenge, and I was disappointed in it.  I decided to read it after watching the series on BBC, which I liked (except for the ending).  I knew from a review on Amazon that the stories wouldn't be the same, so I was interested to see what changes were made to it for the TV series.  The stories were so different as to be almost unrecognizable.  But my biggest disappointment in the book was the lack of character development.  I never felt like I got to know any of the characters.

The story is set in Paris in the late 1800's and is about the department store called The Ladies' Paradise, which had many similarities to the big box stores of today:  through sheer size and predatory practices, it is able to ruin the small independent stores.  Pages and pages and PAGES are devoted to descriptions of the store and the merchandise.  The arrangement of the store is much like modern grocery stores, which require customers who want to pick up just a few items to travel through most of the store in hopes they will purchase impulse items.

It shows the rise of consumerism in the late nineteenth century.  But the level of disdain the author shows towards women made it very hard for me to read.  Not only are the women not respected, but the men take advantage of them and no one is likable.  The story mainly follows Denise, a young woman who goes to work at The Ladies' Paradise.  At the start, she is hated by all of the other employees.  By the end of the book, everyone loves her, including the owner of the store, but we're never really shown what brought about the changes.  I rate this book 2 out of 5.

Lesson 2 Composition

I chose an S-curve layout and a split-complementary color scheme (blue, violet, and yellow-orange) for my lesson 2 quilt. It is 14 inches square. I decided to use the same shapes and some of the same fabrics as I used for my Lesson 1 quilt.

Online Quilting Class

I am taking another online class, this time from Katie Pasquini Masopust, in Color, Composition, and Design.  Katie is an art quilter, and I took her Painted Stitched Canvas class in person last spring when I went to Texas for Quilting Adventures.

Our first assignment was to make a color wheel inspired quilt, and this is what I did:

I painted canvas with various neutral browns for the background and then fused the colored fabrics onto the canvas.  I quilted it with black thread and finished the edges with satin stitching, also in black.  It is 14 inches square.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2014

I've chosen 3 of my 6 required books for the challenge so far:

1. A 20th Century Classic - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
2. A 19th Century Classic -
3. A Classic by a Woman Author - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
4. A Classic in Translation - The Paradise by Emile Zola
5. A Classic About War
6. A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You

Depending on what other books I choose, I may move one of these to a different category. And I reserve the right to change my mind. ;)

Challenge for 2014

I thought I had already written this post, but I guess not. Maybe that's just as well, because I've changed my mind about one thing. I had decided to take a break from reading challenges and the sketchbook challenge this year. I completed my revolutionary war reading challenge in 2013 by reading five books (my goal was to read 4-10 books); you can see a list of the books I read here. I didn't do as well with my sketchbook challenge; I only did 6 of the 12 monthly challenges. But after reading about Back to the Classics 2014 challenge on my friend Kathy Johnson's blog, hosted by Books and Chocolate, I've decided to join this challenge. I haven't read as many classics as I'd like, so this will (hopefully) motivate me to read more. I haven't chosen any of my books yet, since I just made the decision to participate today, but I'll post again once I choose my books.

Here are the categories:

Required:

1. A 20th Century Classic
2. A 19th Century Classic
3. A Classic by a Woman Author
4. A Classic in Translation  If English is not your primary language, then books originally published in English are acceptable.  You could also read the book in its original language if you are willing and able to do so.
5. A Classic About War  2014 will be the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  Any book relating to a war is fine -- WWI, WWII, the French Revolution, the War of the Worlds -- your choice.
6. A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You This can be any author whose works you have not read before.  It doesn't necessarily have to be an author you've never heard of.  

Optional Categories:

1. An American Classic
2. A Classic Mystery, Suspense or Thriller 
3. A Historical Fiction Classic.  This is any classic set at least 50 years before the time when it was written.  For example, Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind 70 years after the end of the Civil War; therefore, it is considered a historical novel.  A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Letter are also historical novels.  However, older classics set during the period in which they were written are not considered historical; for example, the novels of Jane Austen.
4. A Classic That's Been Adapted Into a Movie or TV Series.  Any period, any genre!  This is practically a free choice category.  However, it's a separate category than the required categories.
5. Extra Fun Category:  Write a Review of the Movie or TV Series adapted from Optional Category #4.  This should be some kind of posting reviewing the book read for the previous optional category above. It can be any adaptation -- does not have to be adapted before 1964.  For example, if you chose Pride and Prejudice as your the optional classic above, you could review any adaptation -- 1940, 1980, 1995, 2005, etc. These two optional categories go together, but this must be a separate blog posting -- no fair just mentioning it in the book review!

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson

I didn't think I was going to like this book when I started it, but it really grew on me as I read.  It was about a young slave boy, Octavian, who was raised by a group of men who called themselves the Novanglian College of Lucidity.  It was set just prior to the Revolutionary War, while American Patriots were fighting for liberty at the same time they were keeping slaves.  One quote I found interesting was this one near the end of the book:

Mr. G -- ing talked with fire of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, a noble experiment in human dignity; we heard it was peopled with slave-lords, men who bewailed their enslavement to Britain while in their rice fields, thousands of their bonded servants toiled without pay in the mud, the sun above, the air swarmed with insects, and the water red with scum.

And this one:

It was for this that we labored and fought, risking our very lives.  And yet some of the men who worked alongside of me or who died upon the bayonets of the British at Bunker Hill had been enlisted by their masters without promise of freedom; with no offer of emancipation; and they fought in lieu of their masters, who were acclaimed generous patriots for supplying men for the cause.

I never knew before reading this book that slaves fought in the Revolutionary War in lieu of their masters; this was quite shocking to me.  I thought the book was well written and I rate it 4 out of 5.

 

Welcome Eli Benjamin Gebhart

My new grandson finally made his appearance on 11/29/13 at 8:15 pm (he was only 6 days late!).  He weighs 6 lb. 10 oz. and is 20 inches long.  I can't wait to meet him in person!!  I live in Oklahoma and he lives in Minnesota, but we'll be traveling up to see him soon.

Eli Benjamin Gebhart

Eli with his mom and dad (my son Brian and his wife Jessica)

April Morning by Howard Fast

This is my 4th book for the Revolutionary War Reading Challenge I've been participating in this year.  And since my goal was to read between 4 and 10 books, I met my goal, which is more than I can say for the Sketchbook Challenge - I haven't been sketching much at all lately.  But that's a different subject altogether.

April Morning takes place on April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington.  As the story opens, Adam Cooper, 15, is tired of hearing only criticism from his father Moses.  He wants nothing more than his father's approval, but he believes he never lives up to his father's expectations.  When a horseman comes through to let the town know that the British are on the march, Adam signs the muster book and joins the battle.  He must grow up literally overnight.  The book is very well written and I rate it 4 out of 5.

Books

When I first started writing about books on my blog, I never intended to write complete reviews.  I just wanted to keep track of the books I read and write a little something about them.  Now I find myself falling behind, and it is becoming more of a burden than I intended.  In addition, I have been keeping track of my books on Goodreads, so writing about the books here is becoming superfluous.  Therefore, I will only write about books occasionally, probably when I read a really extraordinary book that I feel I have to share.  So while I thoroughly enjoyed the last two books I read (A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons and The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott), and I rated them both 4 out of 5, I don't really have anything special to say about either of them.

A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House

According to Amazon, "Set in 1917, A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES tells the story of Vine, a beautiful Cherokee woman who marries a white man, forsaking her family and their homeland to settle in with his people and make a home in the heart of the mountains. Her mother has strange forebodings that all will not go well, and she's right. Vine is viewed as an outsider, treated with contempt by other townspeople. Add to that her brother-in-law's fixation on her, and Vine's life becomes more complicated than she could have ever imagined. In the violent turn of events that ensues, she learns what it means to forgive others and, most important, how to forgive herself."  I thought this book was well written and I rated it 4 out of 5.

Baby Quilt

For my son and daughter-in-law, who are expecting their first child (and our first grandchild) next month. The top is finished; just need to quilt and bind it!  Not your typical baby quilt, but they are decorating the nursery in a sky theme; a good friend who is also an artist is painting the walls with sun, stars, and moon.  This is the pattern they chose for the quilt, and I was happy to oblige them.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

I read this book for a read-along with War Through the Generations blog.  At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Isabel is a 13-year-old slave from Rhode Island.  She was promised freedom when her mistress died but was sold by her mistress's son (along with her sister Ruth) to the Locktons, a Loyalist couple from New York City.  Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, who encourages Isabel to spy on her owners to help out the revolutionary cause.  I thought the book was well written and I probably would not have read it if it hadn't been for the read-along, because I don't usually read young adult books (which this book is).  I rated it 3 out of 5.

Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz by Charles M. Schulz

This is another book I found among my mother's, and it was delightful.  I'm going to "cheat" and quote Goodreads here:

More than five hundred comic strips are reproduced, as well as such rare or never-before-seen items as a sketchbook from Schulz's army days in the early 1940s; his very first printed strip, Just Keep Laughing; his private scrapbook of pre-Peanuts Li'l Folks strips; developmental sketches for the first versions of Charlie Brown and the other Peanuts characters; a sketchbook from 1963; and many more materials gathered from the Schulz archives in Santa Rosa, California.

 It was fun to re-visit a comic strip I grew up with.  I rated this 4 out of 5.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

I found this among my mother's books, and it caught my eye for some reason.  I am not a religious person, and I am not a Christian, while C.S. Lewis was both, so I'm not exactly sure why I chose to read it.  It was a memoir of the year or two after his wife died, when he was questioning much of what he had believed all his life, including his belief in God.  It was very short or I would not have finished it. I rated it 2 out of 5, but most who read it rate it much higher.  Certainly it was well written, and you could feel the anguish Lewis felt over the loss of his wife, but the religious aspect of the book was difficult for me to relate to.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

I'm behind (again) in posting reviews of books I've read, so these next few will be brief (well, all my reviews are brief, but these will be even briefer than normal).

This is a historical novel about Alice Liddell Hargreaves, who was the real Alice of Alice in Wonderland. It follows her life from the time she is seven years old until she nears her 81st birthday.  It's a well-written, interesting story that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I rated it 4 out of 5.

Lollapalooza One: A New Journal

When my brother and I were going through my mother's desk after her death, I found what might have been every card I'd ever made for her. I was so touched by the fact that she'd saved them that I decided to put them all in a book. This is the book I made for them.

Here is the front cover.

And here is the first page.

Lollapalooza One Front Cover

My art snippets journal cover from Martha Lever's Lollapalooza One class.

Giveaway by Sue Bleiweiss

Sue has a very generous giveaway on her blog at this post - go check it out!

A Catch of Consequence by Diana Norman

This book begins in 1765, where Makepeace Burke is a tavern owner in Boston.  Some of her clients include Sam Adams and other Sons of Liberty.  She is a patriot and hates the way the English rule the colony.  But when an angry mob dumps a man into the harbor, she rescues him, only to learn that he is the aristocratic Englishman, Sir Philip Dapifer.  When the mob returns to Makepeace Burke's tavern for revenge, Philip smuggles her on board a ship bound for London to save her life.

This is my second book for the American Revolution Reading Challenge.  The revolution was only a secondary theme of the book, but I enjoyed it.  I rated it 4 out of 5.