A Fork in the Road

The exhibit of right around 30 pieces I’ve completed over the past year goes up at a local gallery Friday.  Yesterday the radio station reporter interviewed me about the show.  It was interesting to take a look at some of the work through his eyes, and to realize that I have arrived at a turning point once again – the end of one path and the beginning of another.  

pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 5x7 moleskine

This fork in the road is a good place to be standing near the close of the year.  Over the next weeks I will be examining my accomplishments for 2011, and setting goals on paper for 2012.  I did this last year, following Zom’s good example, and found it very helpful: self-esteem building to look back and see a bit of progress; illuminating to envision and prioritize undertakings ahead.  

One of my intentions for the new year ahead is to continue learning how to push Photoshop Elements around.   

original photograph of swatch

Remember this little fabric sample I think I showed you the other day? 

I brought the image into PSE...

 

and turned it into this using blending modes and filters.  Quite addictive, really!

daily drawing

'Piano Jazz'; Pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 5x7 Moleskine

'Yellow Organdy'; Pigma pen and prismacolor pencil in 5x7 Moleskine

Winter Walk and New Explorations

Over the weekend 24 inches of new snow have transformed our island from fall to winter.  The beach - cleared of snow by the tide - makes for the easiest walking before it gets too dark in the late afternoon.

In the morning, I walk to Falls Creek.  Standing on the bridge, the stillness is profound, broken only by the creek's whispering as it rushes toward the falls into the Wrangell Narrows.

Flossy breads herself in snow.  She is impervious to the cold with her double coat of fur.

At the studio I feel the influence of the grey winter days...

'South Mitkof' procion dye on cotton with machine stitching, textile paint and beads

...and experiment with textile paints, building up layers on cotton and linen with stamping.

detail - work in progress

Thanks to those of you who have recently posted about following your intuition to do what you WANT to do rather than what your internal Judge tells you you SHOULD do in the studio.  Very helpful to feel validation for honoring my open-ended explorations.  Everything does not always have to serve an immediate goal or purpose.  Ramble on  - the process is its own reward!

Scene Recently, #19

A small stream as recently seen through the lens of photoshop elements:

Thank you, Kris and Deb, the Pixeladies, for the great classes which have given me FUN new tools to manipulate images.  I plan to eventually use these for printing on cloth.

Happy thanksgiving to all!

(gratitude is one of the Holy Emotions, i think)

stencils

I made some new stencils last week using the method Jane Dunnewold taught us at Art Quilt Tahoe. 

 

Two new additions to my tool box... 

Hanging with Felt

I was excited to get going on new explorations in my studio this week but had a project to complete first – mounting the larger pieces for my exhibit which opens a week from today.  Jane Dunnewold has developed a very clean method of hanging her fiber art  which I gladly adapted for my own situation.  (Look for the tutorial about attaching aluminum bars).

 

For each completed painting I cut a piece of Eco felt and two pieces of Misty Fuse 4” x the width of the piece.

Using a Teflon protector sheet, I ironed one of the Misty Fuse pieces to the top back of my art and the other to the felt.  

Next I carefully bonded the felt to the back of the painting, pressing with my iron on the right side of the artwork first and then again from the felt side.  I used my Teflon protector sheet where I had textile paint or other surface design applied over the dye painted cloth.

 Next, I cut strips of wood lath the width of the felt...

 drilled hanging holes...

 and applied Velcor ‘teeth’ along the entire length.  

'Life at 30,000 Feet' approx 17"x 20"; procion and oil stick on cotton with machine stitching

The Velcro grabs the felt and holds the piece securely on the wall.  Very cool!

 

There was time enough left in the day to make an inventory of all my rubber stamps and reorganize them into categories for easier finding in my drawer.  They look happier, and very inviting all squared away!

happy stamp drawer!

Beatrice Coron

While sifting through thoughts about creativity yesterday, I came across this mesmerizing talk by Beatrice Coron.  Enjoy it with a cup of something when you have time to sit with a pet on your lap.

Daily Drawing

Here are a few of the latest from my Moleskine.  All are prisma color pencil and pigma pen, straight out of my head to yours.

Off to the Mighty Mighty Day Job... Have a good week, All.

Making Swatches

The bundles we over-dyed Tuesday were ready for the first layer of stamping when we got to class on Wednesday morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Jane provided some great exercises to facilitate our swatch-making:

Tone on tone with a registered repeat stamped over the entire cloth...

Registered repeat in a complimentary color...

and scattered design elements using both tone on tone and complimentary colors. We also covered a silk screen and some cloth with flour-and-water paste resist.

I did my first successful silk screening with Jane’s encouragement and help.  I was ELATED to find that I love this process of getting an image on cloth, and feel so grateful to have overcome my fear!

Other processes we learned included glue resists, foiling and gold leafing, freezer paper screening, and working with Thermafax screens.

At the end of the day today, our last, we all hung some of our completed – or nearly completed – work on the wall.  This is but a small sample of the terrific work that was produced by our class over the four days.

Art Quilt Tahoe was a truly wonderful experience all around, mentally, spiritually and physically.  What I learned here is going to take my work to whole new places.  Thank you to Jane Dunnewold, and all the great women I met during this memorable week. 

 Cat in her workshop, hard at it.