Stitch Here

A stitch here and a plop of paint there and with lots of sheer impulse an art piece is born. After realizing I have a done all I can do damage or wonderment, I ask myself what now? What is the impact of this small creation? To me the process is all important and the end result is up to someone else's interpretation.

I have been working on 16 small portraits to support the theme of our upcoming show. Although I have been sewing and using fabric since I was a small child, I am new to the world of Fiber Art.
The small portraits came out of my photographs of people who have come into my lives or those who show up here in the studio to work or chill, since working in fiber. I have even included my dog Maggie who is always attendant to whomever is visiting. She knows who will give here treats and those who know she is the sweetest watchdog ever. Beagles don't carry much of a treat unless you don't want loving. Three others are my grandchildren, who enjoy the constant supply of art supplies and adventurous play they can do here. the remaining portraits are of the women who have become important to me in individual ways. Each little quilt is simple and colorful. As individuals they hardly carry the strength that is seen when all placed together. As an artist, I am more of an artist and a person because of friends and family. I draw from their strength and the love. As with the small portraits, we shouldn't stand alone.

Winter almost over?

Can't believe it has been such a long winter. Our new house is being built slowly and although it is looking great I want it done. My patience is gone.

Show delivered

Today I delivered all the pieces to the show, twenty nine pieces and a some variety. Abstractions and real subjects compose the art quilts. A lot of play on words and focus on friends.Sixteen pieces are familiar subjects to me, friends and family that work and play in the studio.

Had a wonderful time pulling these images together. Started out with photographs and then altered in Photoshop and then painted with acrylics. Matched with different fabrics and then quilted.

This piece was done of my granddaughters for my daughter-in-law so I guess it is not for sale. Couldn't deal with the grief that would cause.

  Zebra Trees on the long arm and my assistant Melissa measuring finished piece.

Show soon

Bit the bit and threw in my OK to do a two woman show to go up April 1, 2012. Kinda funny that it opens on April Fools Day. Maybe some underlying message here. Theme is Fiber Meets Friends. As a painter and a lover of fabric and construction, I suppose it was only natural that at sometime I would start to combine the two. Having lots of fun using my photographs of friends who have come into my life recently since I joined the art quilters in their quest to be creative and actually make art. The opinion tat using fabric is akin only to the crafts is not only not true but ludicrous. I seem to have fallen in love with using thread as paint. Combining different colors to reach tones and the hues I want is a blast. Hours and Hours of pushing an image back and forth on my sewing machine only stopping for tea and back aches. What is wrong with this picture? A lot when you consider a painting of the same size can be done in a fraction of the time. One apparent difference between the art quilt and a painting is the texture  obtained with thread is fabulous.

I did some abstracts, which actuallly started out as images but quickly fell ill to the eye and were slashed and reconstructed. Love cutting my work up, probably is more of a dare than anything else. Never know if you are going ot end up with strings. Either I like it or not, if any lingering doubt, I slash. I use to slach huge ceramic pots that I had thrown just for effect and horror of the viewer but now I have a passion for it once again but different media and no audience.

This quilt was created in protest to sitting through long boring talks. The kind of talks were you are trapped in time and cannot move form where you are without creating a disturbance. Sit through my last event...after creting this piece I realized there is no way I will subject myself to entrapment again in my lifetime. Tme is too precious, and the way I figure it, if I pay for it I should be able to leave without any hard feelings. If you order a coke and it is flat, you don't drink do you?

Where have I been?

I have been on a ship bound for the Inner Islands of Nowhere, located somewhere near my imagination. Crazy how I neglect this blog when I really like to write but somehow I feel no one wants to read jabber and then although I am "ART-ING", I don't take any pictures and so who wants to hear about something that has no image to go with it. Here are a few things finished lately. I took some pictures because I entered a competition. The competition is mostly a pipe dream because I don't enter any shows or promote myself in any way. So if the people previewing art quilters are looking for a big name then they won't know me. I do what I want, when I want and mostly give my art away because it makes us happy.

I did this art quilt because my parents always laughed at this picture of me in the second grade because I am not smiling. It was because the photographer told me to say peaches and I thought that was stupid. I did say peaches but it was with a smirk. Note the left pigtail is cut off for dramatization.

Don't Say Peaches

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 My cousin Nan saw this picture in a magazine and wanted me to do an art quilt of the silliest donkeys I have ever seen. I have to admit donkeys have never really crossed my artististic eye before, but these two did.

Here Comes Cornbread

This is an art quilt of my two grand daughters, Jose and Carly. The picture that I used was taken by their mother several years ago. I might do more to it or I may not. I am not feeling fuzzy about the left side...so there may be some changes soon.

Just Follow Me

QSDS BIG Disappointment

Ohio's QSDS has less than half of the people attending than last year or so it seemed. Only 4 classes were offered the first week. Economy or perhaps many more are choosing Quilting by the Lake this year. Lots of things have changed, Now the program is held at the Columbia College of Art and Design. The studio space is very nice but lodging in the dorms leaves much to be desired. Won't do this again. There are no ammenities other than a hot shower and horrible mattress. Blankets were few and they had hair trapped in the fibers. Totally gross!

After spending a week at QSDS, and $1500.00 wasted, I am about to forget my disappointment and move on. I was so pumped because I was taking a class on Digital Design for Textiles from Michael James. I thought this was going to be a real cool class. Wrong! James spent the majority of time teaching basic Photoshop, Illustrator and on the 4th day, Power Point. Confusion and lack of organization only added to the negative experience. The handouts were written for Mac and all were using PCs is only one example of the lack of control. I did learn more about James than I ever needed to know. He seemed nice enough but someone owes me the waste of time and money. My reviews of James and his class could not be more negative.

On to better things, I am working up a fury trying to get all the things off my to do list:
1. Quilt 3 quilts
2. Finish piece I started in my dorm room after I dropped out of Digital Design Class.
3. Get clothes together for charity
4. Breathe.....
5. Make stuff for grandaughters
6. Tired of this list.
7. who knows

Google Toolbar Button Gallery

Hate the update to explorer.

Susan Brubaker Knapp workshop

Last week I went to a thread sketching workshop held at Smith Mountain Lake. So much fun thread sketching a Dragon Fly. Actually I missed the point about sketching because I thread painted the thing. Neon Green. Actually he is fairly comical to look at. Susan was an excellent teacher and spent lots of one on one with the attendees. Afterwards she gave a trunk show which was very nice. I think all enjoyed the workshop and the trunk show.

I was especially interested in her painted pieces, I guess because I am a painter. The tricky part is to paint and retain the natural hand of the fabric. Lots of paints out there and techniques employed by different fiber artists. Not sure there is a solid solution. Guess I am going to have to do alot of experimentation becaue painting is what I do and enjoy. Unfortunately I am not a traditional quilter and I do not enjoy piecing hundreds of pieces together to make a quilt. I love transforming the fabric at hand into art.

I prefer using thin fusible fleece as a stabilizer when thread sketching/painting because I have less warp. Others may prefer a heavy stabilizer but I can't control the fabic warping as well with the just stabilizer.
Here is a nearly finished thread painted piece using batik, thread, and colored pencils. I sitll have to quilt and add the stars to the eyes. "They made me say peaches!

Another example of Thread Painting is a closeup of a frog piece I am working on, actually they are mutant frogs. The detail shows the difference thread painting makes. It is lots of fun using doodlling and putting all

kinds of threads here and there

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The next image is a finished piece turned into a pillow that I made useing primary colors for an upcoming class I am teaching on color.

Think about thread painting, it is a lot of fun!

Birthdays

Well another year has come and gone, all without too many events. When I got to 35, I liked it so I have stayed there for many years. This year I was going 36 but it just didn't feel right so 35 it still is.

Jerrod Niemann - What Do You Want

New week but the sky has turned very gray.

The sky is gray and it has turned cold again which is a sad thing but nothing as sad as the destruction and loss of lives in Japan. Blogging seems impossible with such horror going on even if it is on the other side of the world. I do not know anyone personnally involved but my heart is heavy anyway.

How about a creative thought? Do you have one? Wish I did.

Another Day, Another Day.

Lent continues and I am committed to my promise. Thread Painted and planned two small auction quilts one for SAQA and the other for QSDS. Nothing concrete, final design may come to me in the night, sometimes it does.
When I was in graduate school; most design problems were worked out while sleeping or cleaning. Sketching ideas has never been a practise for me because I prefer to visually work details in my mind long before I put pencil to paper. Maybe I can blame it on a whacked vivid imagination, or parallel thinking. A psychologist friend of mine told me that I stand on the line between the right and left brain. Not sure whether that is good or bad but I do know my brain is weird. My thoughts can be bizzare and my work habits are usually insane. I get a lot done when and only under intense pressure, otherwise I find ways to diddle and get nothing done.

I mentioned cleaning before and the place is has in my life. I am no neat freak, far from it, but I can not be creative in my mess either. Cleaning is a task I do before I am able to ease my brain into a creative mode. I really don't do well with distractions or sounds, including music. Anyone else around and I get slap happy. I really like to cook, but only if there is someone to cook for. If I lived alone, my diet would be tomato soup, cereal, fruit, and salad makings. I doubt I would even need a stove. Sometimes I would order Shrimp LoMein, but that would be it. No sweets in my cabinets because I would consume one bite after the other until gone. What a terrible diet, glad I don't live alone.

Currently, my to-do list is manageable, two quilts need to be quilted for my lovely daughter-in-law, two art quilts need threads, two small quilts need to be created,  and several unfinished quilts are waiting for me. I have a lot of quilt tops that need just one more border and then they would be ready for quilting. I don't do well once the creative mode is broken whether a quilt or painting. I really need to start and finish a project or I whine and grummble if I have to go back and finish some time later. That may explain why there are so many UFOs stacking up in neat plastic boxes. 

Lent Observance - 40 days of promise.

Vye and I have promised to give up white bread and sweets for Lent…that is 40 days of nothing holding my sandwich together or filling my sweet tooth for 40 days. The day is almost over and so far so good. Almost forgot my promise today when I went out for lunch and almost ordered Ruby Tuesday’s mini hamburgers. Yikes! The first day of Lent and already I am testing my resolve. Ordered the Tilapia instead with grilled zucchini and green beans. Didn’t let the waitress set the garlic biscuits on the table. Off to sew so tomorrow will update on my Lent struggles.

Everybody is Blogging!

Seems no one talks anymore; when was the last time someone called on the phone and you had a long conversation? Either email or check out my blog to see what I am doing is the norm now. Not sure I like it.....

New look and new beginnings!

Finally someone released the artsavvy blog and I have swallowed it up. Yeah! Will move my postings here.