stretching canvas

Here are my paintings on the newly stretched but as yet unpainted canvases - I am curious to see the work on colors. I have a beautiful turquoise and a powerful red - but may use a neutral color and finish the edges with a bright frame.

Saturday I stretched about 15 canvases - put a blister on my hand! I have about 8 more stretchers to go. I am deciding now what color(s) to paint them as backgrounds to my artwork.

Flossy (background) was a great help as usual. (In the foreground, on the ironing table, are the fresh dye-paintings from Thrusday and Friday rolled in plastic to stay wet for curing).

Scarves and sketches

Sketch 4 (6"x4") hand painted Procion dyes on cotton, acrylic, machine quilting

Sketch 3 (5"x3") hand painted Procion dyes on cotton, acrylic, hand stiiching, machine quilting

Sketch 2 (6"x4") hand painted Procion dyes on cotton, machine quilting

Sketch 1 (2"x2") hand painted Procion dyes on cotton, fiber, machine quilting

Sketches layered with backing and batting ready for stitching on Friday.

Laying out template on hand painted fabric prior to cutting and stiching into sketches.

Silk/rayon velvet scarf (60"x11") low water immersion dye method with Procion dyes

Silk/rayon velvet scarf (60"x11") low water immersion dye method with Procion dyes

These scarves are still wet, having been rinsed and readied for machine-rinsing and washing in HOT water to set the dye.

Refreshing Hawaii Results in Renewed Energy

'Guardian' (20.25"x31.75")

'Guardian' (detail)

'Change in the Weather' (32.25"x19")

"Change in the Weather' (detail)

Last week at this time I was enjoying a bit of a break on a warmer island, Oahu. The water was an incredible changing palette of aqua, turquoise and every shade of blue imaginable. HUGE surf pounding on the North Shore - the morning of the Tsunami warning I found myself sitting on our hotel balcony for almost two hours, doing absolutely nothing and feeling no guilt about that! Home again, I realize I live in Paradise North, and am back into my studio routine truly refreshed and working well.

19 and 20

'Babayaga IV - Flutter' (18.5" x 15.25")

'Babayaga IV - Flutter' (detail)

'Congregation' (32" x 19")

'Congregation' (detail)

It was a very good feeling to complete the 19th and 20th pieces for my Ketchikan show this past week. I had an excellent critique session with a colleague yesterday afternoon who got me thinking about presentation of these and my older, shaped pieces. Great ideas which have my thoughts soaring in new directions.

Cathedral City and Levels Ascending

'Levels Ascending' (32.5"x18.5")

'Levels Ascending' (detail)

'Cathedral City' (32"x20.5")

'Cathedral City' (detail 1)

'Cathedral City' (detail 2)
These began by monoprinting with thickened black procion dye, then turning the image over and painting with colors after the black had almost dried. For "Levels Ascending, I worked into the piece with acrylic paint during the quilting process.

In Progress

My sewing machine at 3:30 this afternoon, machine quilting in progress.

Today I completed machine quilting another procion dye painting (left) and continued work on another (right). These are each approximately 33"x15".


Last week I finished another two pieces for Birds of a Feather, my exhibit with painter Carmel Anderson at the Ketchikan Arts and Humanities Council Main Street Gallery, May 2010. This one is called 'Midsummers Night Dream' and is 18.75"x15.75", procion dyes painted on cotton and machine quilted.
Detail, 'Midsummers Night Dream'

Public Art for Petersburg

I am involved in a visual improvements project for our town's tour ship dock, working with a group of artists and a pot of state grant money to create a low-relief metal sculpture 250 feetlong by approximately 4 feet high along the dock approach guard rail. Here is my sketch from our meeting and the completed 1/4-scale conceptual drawing I did Thursday this week.