The Sketchbook Project

Several of my friends at Facebook are participating in The Sketchbook Project.  I was intrigued, so I checked it out.  For $25, you get your choice of Moleskine cahiers in red, natural or black, and you can choose from among several themes, including the option of letting the organizers choose a theme for you.  The books are sent back to The Brooklyn Art Library and will be touring the country next year.

I went with the theme “Dirigibles and Submersibles”, which felt like it could inspire some steampunk and fantasy creations.  Once the book arrived, I let it sit for a few days while I pondered how to begin.

Finally, I picked up the book and began to draw:

Pilot pen over a pencil drawing. 

The paper was thin, so I ended up gluing pages together.  This page was collaged with pages from an old AAA guidebook, listing stations from Michigan.  After I applied a thin wash of Golden Quinacridone Burnt Orange acrylic, I stamped the spread with a hand carved stamp.  Once that all dried, I drew in the submarine and waves with india ink.  Details are filled in with gouache and paint pen.

Here you can see some of the detail of the listings. 

The third image, so far:

View from inside the sub.  Pilot pen over pencil drawing.  I plan on going back into both this and the inside front cover and coloring them in.

Future ideas include the view from inside a dirigible, and dirigibles and subs made in different shapes.  (I’m thinking a banana dirigible would be really cool).   Then, who knows?  Right now, I’m having fun, and it’s a nice break from my other work.  The rules do say that artists can diverge from the theme of their book, but I am enjoying the parameters at the moment and intrigued by possibly doing something similar on my own once this book is full.  The possibilities are endless.

Shows, Shows and More Shows

Over the past week I’ve managed to put in some good studio time.  Some of the work has been for specific shows, while others have been play/spec.

First, the play.  I have a set of Liquitex Basics 22ml acrylics, and I’ve been practicing my painting:

Cow Bird in process.  This painting is based on my quilt of a similar cow and bird couple.  Right now I’m still building the layers of color.  I love how the table underneath is its own piece of art with all the layers of old paint on it.

Bunny Pierrot II, one of three rabbit pierrot paintings I’m planning.  This one will be on the far right.  The full piece will be 8” x 24” when finished.

I also committed to sending a shoe piece to a show at Ten Women Gallery, so I applied some of my painting practice to this piece, still in process:

I drew the shoes using a regular #2 pencil, then began layering in colors.  The fish are a silkscreen I made based on a stamp I carved several years ago.  This piece is 10” x 10”.

And finally, I mixed the media up in this piece for the Art Quilt Network Fire and Ice show at Galleria Evangelia:

 

So far it’s untitled.  It’s based on the bead drawings I did last month, and I used hand painted paper which has been screened with the fish print.  I sewed fabric onto that to fill out the image.  It measures approximately 15” x 15”.

Detail of the painted paper and fabrics.  I really like how this piece came together and want to play more with the painted paper concept.  I would love to be able to get such painterly colors and crisp images on fabric.  Maybe Jane Dunnewold’s new book Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric will have some good ideas.  We do have several dry days coming up and there’s nothing like painting in the yard. :)

Tomorrow I will share images from my work for The Sketchbook Project. 

All in the Family

This wonderful poster for Izzy’s upcoming show just arrived in my email.  It was created by Ryan Spellman at the Athens Public Library.  If you’re in the area, stop by and see the show.  We hang it next Friday (July 30)

Boogie on the Bricks

Saturday was the last day of the annual “Ohio Brew Week” festivities here in Athens, celebrating home brew and craft brew culture.  The culmination of the week is an all-day festival of brews, tunes, and art.

This year we didn’t sample any brews, we grooved to the tunes, and this is the art we took for sale:

Handmade purses, assorted necklaces, magnets and collage paintings.

We didn’t have display for hanging items, so I made do with these old wine crates my mom gave to me.  I think they worked pretty well.

One of the framed collages on display in the wine crate.

Collage pins made using old name tags.  I love making these collages, they provide the perfect setting for all those odds and ends left over after making bigger pieces.

Izzy got into the show spirit as well:

He has really come a long way from his early polymer creations.

I love how he comes up with scenarios for his creations.  The King Crab is multi-media, it’s made using shells and glitter as well as the polymer clay.  This year he even has two pieces in the Youth Creative Art exhibit at the Ohio State Fair.  It’s a great joy to see the pleasure my children take in expressing their creativity.  Boogie oogie oogie!

Moving Right Along

Floral Medley is complete, including sleeve and label (usually the very last thing that gets done, ok well it is always the very last thing but sometimes it is months after the rest of the piece is finished).

Final measurements, 26.5” x 35” (67cm x 89cm)

Now it is on to the next piece

Butter and Egg Road, inspired by the colors at my Mamaw’s house.  The apron was a thrift store treasure, and the hollyhocks are from a journal page that I scanned and printed onto fabric.

I am machine embroidering in the image to add a bit more color and texture.  When that is complete I will either satin stitch it in place or use the black bias tape that I used earlier this year on a different piece.

The Pellon interfacing fence that I’m going to applique onto a piece of off white batik fabric.  This will sit in the lower right of the piece and behind the apron.  I may also apply the apron to a backing piece of fabric, using the same method I did for the doilies on Floral Medley.  This makes it much easier to apply the threadwork to the quilt sandwich, and I’m really happy I stumbled upon this method while working on this set of work.

Back to the studio.  Have a great weekend, y’all!

The Best Part of Waking Up

Is getting to go to the studio and play! 

This piece has been in process for enough years that I don’t remember when I made the yellow base.  I have been purging the studio and came across it, and when I saw the colorful textiles in the Wavy Gravy movie, I knew it needed to be a floral scene.

The butterfly is an extra machine embroidered butterfly left over from the piece I made for The Artful Storybook.  He’s sat in the pile of in process works for two years now.  Doesn’t he look pretty flying above the flowers?

Here’s a detail of the picking process.  I made these fabric yo yos when Izzy was an infant, they come in handy for so many embellishing chores.  The crochet pieces are found objects from second-hand shops.

A different detail of the yo yos set in the center of pieces cut from the white doily.  If you look carefully, you can also see the machine stitched detail on the poppies.  I used crochet thread in the bobbin for that effect.

I chose to back the orange doilies with this African brocade from Becky at St Theresa Textile Trove.  It will help with the contrast against the bright yellows.

And another detail of the doily as finished flower.  I am going to go back in and add some veins in the leaves, either with beads or sequins, once the piece is ready for its final embellishment.  The poppies were sewn separately and beaded separately before being appliqued to the background, and the stems are zigzag stitch done over rattail satin cording for extra dimension.

I love when a piece comes together like this.  Everything here has been in my stash for quite some time, just waiting for the opportunity to be made into art.  The finished piece will be on exhibit at the High Road Gallery in Worthington OH as part of the upcoming FABRICations exhibit.

Years of Experience

Years of experience have taught me that opportunities come from where you least expect them, and they come when you are not expecting them.  Paying it forward and karma are never lateral actions, the good you do does come back, but never in the way you expect.

Take, for example, the massive show prep I put out over the last month.  I was hoping for, expecting, intending, a great show, to sell the wonderful work I’ve been creating.  To touch people and speak to them through my art.

Well, I did get the speak to people part.  But I only sold one piece, and that was to another artist at the event.

I came home disappointed, sad, and yes, a little crushed.  I indulged in a little pajama-moping time, and let myself take a few minutes from the constant go-go-go of creating work and marketing work and breathing work.

And I remembered the many times I’d gotten the rejection letter from Quilt National, and how those same pieces of work had gone on to other shows, winning multiple awards in several cases.  How not getting jobs had worked out to free me to visit family, or to be available for other opportunities which were even better.

I didn’t do the usual beating myself up over prices, because no one even looked at the prices, so that couldn’t have been it.  I told myself I made some great connections with local women artists who I’ve vaguely known over the years, and got to know them a little better.  Connection is always good.  I read the new Mercy Thompson novel.

I took Friday and Saturday, and then I posted the work to my Etsy shop. I kept moving, and I fully expect something better to come along.

Here are some pictures of some of the work I posted:

 

 

I will let you know when that something better comes along.  Until then, I leave you with this:

Almost There

Almost Heaven, West Virginia.  Well, on Thursday, anyway.  We leave bright and early for a quick and fun trunk show and presentation.  I have been in the studio madly putting finishing touches on some pieces to take along, and today I set up some of them to see how they’d look.

  

To see how it could look, I used some wooden boxes I picked up at a photographer’s yard sale, as well as some wine boxes my mom bought for me back in her yard saling days.  This enabled the work to be raised up and therefore more visible.  The fabric is a piece of yardage from my at-home dye party last summer.  I painted it using Setacolour fabric paints and the speckled pattern came from sprinkling the wet fabric with chunky salt and letting it dry in the sun.

A detail of some of the images.  You can see the frames I bought at Dollar Tree to use for the larger collages, and the little easels I found at JoAnn that were just right for displaying the small 4” x 4” canvas collages.

The smaller pieces are beaded brooches left over from my beading days.  You can see one of the free-hanging recycled collages in the foreground, and the wire and bead hanger I attached using scrapbook grommets.  You can see one of the mini quilts in the background, attached to its canvas.  I’m really happy with how those are turning out.

Finally, another view of extra pieces.  I also have a half shutter door that I am going to use to hang pieces from, I think using mini bulldog clips and fishing line, but I need to test that out next.  So far I am really excited about how these pieces are coming together, from the colors I’m using to make them to the process of attaching the images onto the frames.  I was so happy when I found out the mini easels would work with the smaller canvases.  They will be included with purchase to make it easier to display the work, always an important consideration when selling artwork.

Tomorrow I will put finishing touches on pieces.  I ordered business cards from MOO.com and they arrived last week.  I’m going to make color copies of the informational side and attach them to the back of each piece in addition to the price.  I have two more quilts to sew to canvases, and the duck collage that is in this display needs some embellishment.  I think that will be about it, and any extras that come home will go up on my Etsy shop over the weekend, at least until the next show.

Doubling Down

Our Parkersburg show is three weeks from tomorrow and more prep is well underway.

First, the design wall, with all of the completed small works up to this point in 2010.

You may notice that Alice has the pink African brocade binding that I put on yesterday.

Now, on to the canvas prep:

The little screen is a Print Gocco I made of a school of fish last summer.  I’m planning on putting them on several of the canvases.  You can see my favorite Golden paint colors, Cobalt Teal, Pyrrole Red, and Green Gold in this picture.

Painting and decorating supplies, including my favorite Elephant brush (blue handle), several stamps I carved, a roll of sequin waste for texture, and the paint cup which looks like it has Strawberry Quik in it (mmmm).

Here’s one of the canvases, after a base coat of pink, with sequin waste stencil and stamping.  I’m going to go back in and touch up the red spots after the piece has dried.  This is the background for the tulip quilt I posted last week.

I also am making some paper for collage:

This is the inexpensive contractor’s paper that comes in big rolls at places like Lowe’s and Home Depot.  I put down a base coat of gesso, let that dry while I was working on the canvases, then came back and painted it with a coat of yellow.  Then I stenciled using the sequin waste and Cobalt Teal.

When that dried, I used this leather texturing tool (also from Lowe’s) and Quinacridone Burnt Orange to add another layer of texture.  Once this is dry, I may go in with the fish screen or use the carved stamps to add more designs.

And finally, I came across these canvases in process while looking in the art supply room (aka the upstairs bathroom) for more texturing tools:

Yummy sushi fabric, multiple layers of acrylic paint, including the leather texture tool, and then a layer of modeling paste, applied through a piece of window screening.  Izzy is making me a plate of polymer sushi for the center piece, I am still deciding what to do with the other two.

That’s enough chatting for now, time to get back in the studio!

Show Prep

Unchained Melody 6” x 6” applique, machine embroidery and quilting. 

Detail of the  quilting and embroidery.  I used a piece of shibori dyed by Debra and Michael Lunn of Lunn Fabrics for the background, it provided perfect “flowing water” lines to follow with the quilting.
Next month a group of us are presenting for an agency in Parkersburg.  Our coordinator suggested that we bring work that is at a $50 and under price point.  This provided an excellent opportunity to create some works in that price range, which also can serve as studies for larger works. 
The first decision was what size to create the work in.  I needed something that was large enough to play in, but small enough to be portable and easy to hang.  I chose to go with a 6” x 6” format, and each piece will then be sewn onto a painted canvas background that is 10” x 10”.
Subject matter was fairly easy as well.  I am going with a mix of the cute animals I am known for, as well as some experiments with abstraction based on patterns found in nature.
Currently I have five pieces ready for the canvas.  The most recent is the koi at the beginning of this post.  His cheery colors made me smile on this day where the snow is flying outside yet again.

Tiptoe Through the Tulip  6” x 6” machine applique and quilting.

Red Bird III 6” x 6” machine applique and quilting, hand-dyed fabric, beads and sequins.

Day of the Cichlids I  6” x 6”  machine applique and quilting, snow-dyed fabric and commercial batik.

Day of the Cichlids II  6” x 6”  machine applique and quilting, snow-dyed fabric and commercial batik.
These have been fun to do, it’s a good opportunity to try out techniques or color combinations before moving on to a larger piece. I am excited to paint the backgrounds and play with the textures on those as well. 
Each piece will be $75 + $5 shipping, and come ready to hang on a coordinating canvas.  Email me if you’re interested in owning one.

Opening Recap

Two openings in two nights was exhilarating and exhausting and everything in between.  The Women of Appalachia show is a beautiful jewel, with remarkable works by each of the artists represented.  I was impressed with how many of the artists I already knew.  I guess I’m not as much a hermit as I thought.  Here I am in front of Garden Party, speaking with Piet (I hope I remembered her name correctly):

I attended this opening with a full posse, including myself, my husband, my son Izzy,  NaNoWriMo friends Melinda and Andrew, and Melinda’s husband Jeff, as well as my friend from knitting, Sonja and my art group friends Lynda and Lanna.

The next night was the opening for the Women in Fiber show at Marietta College:

This is the first wall you see to your left as you enter the gallery.  The two pieces to the left are by my friend June Baker, who also is a member of my art group.  June started out with traditional quilting, and is also a watercolorists.  I really like the piece with the circles.  Tyger, Tyger hangs to the right.

We were joking that they were in such a hurry they could only put up post-it note labels.  But each piece had an artist statement accompanying it.  You can’t really see it in the next picture but it is there.  I also am tickled by the arrow which seems to point out Red and White #4

The show is part of a multi-media project including the play “Quilters”.  Here you can see some of the cast members in costume, admiring Marilyn:

I also met the sweetest King Charles Spaniel puppy whose name is Scout.  She was decked out in an adorable white dress with red hearts on it, complete with a bow on her back.  She was in attendance with her owner, Rob.  I wish I’d gotten a picture of them to show you, but trust me, they were quite the sartorial pair.

I was so thrilled to be able to attend both of these openings.  The energy was high at both, and each crew did such a great job putting together the shows.  I spent Sunday in the studio working on new pieces so that I can attend even more openings, as well as making plans to attend the opening of The Artist as Quiltmaker XIV in May.