Art I'm Making: More Collages (July 2014)

Still trying to bring the blog up to date, I share here three recent collages, all finished in the past few weeks. Two of the three continue the feel of previous works--I'm working through a batch of green and indigo papers I made not long ago--but, feeling a need for a change, I recently made some bright red paper and the third example here uses the red as its main color element. These are Untitled Collage No. 55 (Santa Rosa), Untitled Collage No. 56 (Santa Rosa), and Untitled Collage No. 57 (Santa Rosa).

Click on the images for larger views. For more, use the Art I'm Making tab to the right or visit my collage and photography website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ (requires Flash Player).

Visit my studio during the 2014 Sonoma County Art Trails open studios event, Saturday and Sunday, October 11th and 12th and Saturday and Sunday, October 18th and 19th, 2014.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet, 2013 Sangiovese Rosé Labels

I finally got around to creating labels for our 2013 rosé of Sangiovese and our 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. I got them on the bottles last night. I used green capsules to go with the green of the Cabernet label and gold capsules on the rosé. There are only 10 bottles of the rosé left (of the original 25 bottles), but better late than never. The Cabernet, of course, requires more time, but we have sampled it. We made 40 bottles, of which 33 survive. It's already drinking nicely, but it will improve with time.

Art I'm Making: More Collages (June-July 2014)

I'm ahead of myself. I've finished quite a few new pieces, but I haven't had the time to post them here. In the interest of getting caught up, here are three more recent works, finished between the end of June and the first week of July. These are Untitled Collage No. 52 (Santa Rosa), Untitled Collage No. 53 (Santa Rosa), and Untitled Collage No. 54 (Santa Rosa). All use the newer green papers I've made recently but also draw a lot of the indigo blue papers I was making before that. The most recent also incorporates pieces from a sheet mono-printed in a bluish-grey color. It has a nocturnal feel.

Click on the images for larger views. For more, use the Art I'm Making tab to the right or visit my collage and photography website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ (requires Flash Player).

Visit my studio during the 2014 Sonoma County Art Trails open studios event, Saturday and Sunday, October 11th and 12th and Saturday and Sunday, October 18th and 19th, 2014.

Plants I'm Growing: 2014 "Flavor King" Pluots

The day before yesterday I was standing on the deck behind the house and noticed a large bird in our fig tree. It flew a dozen feet and landed in the little "Flavor King" pluot tree in our back yard, picking at the fruit. That was annoying, but I was glad to see the bird because it was a Black-headed Grosbeak, a species I've never seen in the garden--although I've heard them singing nearby before.

So, birds were taking notice and fruit was beginning to fall: I decided to harvest. I took about 100 pluots off the tree. They're delicious fresh, but it may be time to make jam again.