Catching Up

I just spent three days attending the Studio Art Quilt Associates “Art and Excellence” conference here in my hometown of Athens, OH.  It was three days of meetings and workshops designed to help art quilters further our art and gain more exposure and respect for our work.  I took workshops on time management, self-publishing, and self-promotion using alternative methods of getting the work out there, and on Saturday we heard an inspirational talk from art coach Alyson B. Stanfield, who spoke on surviving tough times by getting tough.

I came home to continue working on this:

The Andrews Air Force Base water tower, approximately 4 feet wide.  The finished quilt will be around 80” high by 54” wide.

Detail of some of the fabrics and preliminary stitching.  I create the water towers as free-standing appliques using a base of Pellon 40 interfacing.  Once the image is totally pieced, I then sew it to the base quilt.  I’m thinking this piece will also have liberal use of white or clear iridescent sequins.  I need to check C. Cartwright to see what my options are.  I love to use sequins on these huge pieces.  They just add extra highlights and depth to the image.

I also need to prepare some new pieces for the July show at Casa Nueva.  I used this drawing from an old journal as inspiration:

Lots of octopuses.  I tend to doodle spirals when I doodle, this time I took them beyond and grew the creatures from the base.

Tentacles I, reverse applique using Pointillist Palette from Lunn Fabrics and hand-dyed cotton from Ellen Eddy.  Still in process, about 18” x 18”.

And just for a diversion, a collage:

Acrylic, torn Mexican bark paper, some threads and fabric on a canvas base.  The Mustang came from a mailer we received after signing up at the Ford display at the Ohio State Fair, and it is driving on a road collaged with a photocopy of another quilt I made.  Mustangs were the first car I could identify as a young child growing up in the Detroit area, and I still intend to own one (or several!) some day.  Just a happy piece to help process all the energy I received from the conference.  If you have an opportunity to attend such a conference, it is a great way to connect with like-minded people and find new friends.  I know so often we work alone, but it is good to get out once in a while.