Walking In Warm Woolens

California Wine Country Morning Sunlit Tree Photography | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Last Wednesday morning I was up around 3:30 AM to view the lunar eclipse.  I was mostly outside until the total eclipse finished, shortly after 6:00 AM.  After being in the crisp, cold morning air for so long, I was too awake to go back to bed.  My husband was up with me.  So once the first rays of daylight started showing across the eastern sky, we put our hiking boots on and hit the trail.

 

The frosty ground was lazily lit up by the morning sun, turning it dazzling white.  As the frost slowly melted, the ground was filled with myriad sparkling diamond-bright water droplets.

 

 

California Wine Country Mustard Flowers Photography | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The yellow mustard flowers were peeking through the bare grape vines.

 

 

Menelaos Fingerless Mittens Knitting Pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

 

It was cold, so I got to wear my new mitts.  I made them using the Menelaos pattern.  The pattern has the design only on the back side of the hand, but I wrapped the design around on the palm side as well. I used my own thumb technique too.  The pattern is very easy to follow and makes very cosy mitts.

 

 

Hat And Fingerless Mitts Knitting Pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

 

My husband quite often drops by the local yarn store to pick up small surprises for me.  I made the Paragon Toque with the red yarn that he got for me, but there wasn’t enough to make a set of matching mitts.  He and the proprietor of the shop picked out the grey yarn for me.  I was a little sceptical at first, but I love the set now.  They kept me warm all throughout the hike.

 

 

California Wine Country Morning Fog Photography | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The valley was filled with morning fog, looking like a white sea.  This is the turning point of our hike.  Needless to say, we were extremely tired from waking up that early and after such a long hike, but…what a view!!  I love our local parks!

 

-Soma

 

Related Links –

Photos of the January 2018 Lunar Eclipse
Paragon Toque Pattern
Menelaos Mitts Pattern

 

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An Endeavourer – The Journey Begins

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

Speeding Through Space

 

A few months ago, after I came back from a holiday, a wonderful email from my dear friend Janine was awaiting me.  She talked about a new art quilt group called The Endeavourer, hosted by her and Catherine.  We are a group of 14, creating quilts that feature a chosen theme.  This quarter’s theme was Nature.

 

I love spending time under the open sky, hiking trails while looking for small hidden surprises.  I made quite a few nature-themed paintings last year, and I was looking for another creative angle.  I love the natural sciences, specially astronomy.  Looking at nature through science-coloured glasses gives me a deeper joy and that is what I wanted to use for inspiration.  I began sketching.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Wave Interference Double Slit Experiment by Thomas Young | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I have always had a keen interest in the properties of light.  This was my first sketch based on a double-slit experiment by Thomas Young. It demonstrates the dual nature of light.  The design was defined by simple shapes and limited colours.  That became the style for rest of the sketches.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Quantum Mechanics Atomic Orbital | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Then I started going down the rabbit hole.  The dual nature of light sparked another sketch from my all-time favourite –  Quantum mechanics featuring atomic orbitals.  It is a function that calculates the probability of an electron’s position in a region around an atom’s nucleus.  I find the orbital shapes to be really pretty.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Turing Pattern Tiger Stripes | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Even after two drawings, I still continued sketching.  An English mathematician named Alan Turing wrote an article on patterns found in nature.   That and my love for tigers prompted this design.  I was pretty sure this was going to be the one.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Sea Stacks And Star Trails | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Then last week it was raining here.  I was so deliriously happy that I cast aside all work and painted Sea Stacks with Star Trails.  I love the use of blue on this painting.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Comet Speeding Through Space | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The markings from the Turing pattern and the colour blue from the sea stacks gave me my final drawing.  As I very hurriedly sketched this comet, I knew that I had my design.  I couldn’t believe I had not thought of this earlier.

 

 

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

 

The rest was easy!  I used converging variable-spaced straight line quilting from corner to corner to give it a sense of motion.  Once that was done, I started painting on the finished, quilted piece.

 

 

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

 

Painting on dark fabric required thicker paint.  I already had a set of acrylic paints at home.  Combining that with fabric medium, I slowly painted the comet on the quilted piece.  Nature is ever changing, ever moving, I believe a comet is a perfect representation of that.

 

 

Lunar Eclispe Montage January 31, 2018 Backyard Astronomy | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I will part with this lunar eclipse photo I took yesterday.  Nature inspires me to be creative every day.  As I made those different sketches, I got to explore different facets of nature.  I thought I’d share a little about my inspiration with you today.  I will write more about the making another day.

 

-Soma

 

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.

 

 

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