Meeting the First Deadline

Friday was the deadline for submitting my ArtWalk application, so that was the focus of last week. I got a bit of a boost from my art group on Monday who encouraged me to keep working on this series, that what I had done so far was showing promise. Like me, they especially liked the "I don't care" prints and I assured them I planned to do something with them once I got the four 10 x 10's done. I chose to finish quilting the orange batik leaf print for the application since it was about half quilted already and would finish quickly.

Because this is going over stretched canvas, I don't have to worry what the back looks like, i.e., didn't have to spend time burying thread tails once they were pulled to the back and tied off. I still ink "label" information on the back in the event the quilt gets removed from its frame and canvas someday.

I got out my favorite instructions for mounting onto a stretched canvas (this would work for stretcher bars or panels too). It requires some marking specific to the canvas you will be using, reinforcing stitching, measuring and cutting out at the corners before sewing them up to fit snugly when the canvas is slipped in. It makes for neat and bulk-free corners and ease in then stapling the rest to the back. See this post for details.

Leaf Cluster II Sheila Mahanke Barnes © 2017

I got as far as the reinforcing, measuring and cutting out the corners when I ran out of steam. Didn't have the concentration left for that next step of stitching the corners together let alone the final stapling to the back of the canvas. I decided to work on my artist statement instead. In the meantime, I realized that this photo showing the cutout corners would be easy to crop accurately and add a "frame" to in Paintshop Pro - good enough for the application. I had planned to do the mounting of all four 10 x 10's at the same time, after all were quilted anyway, so I didn't feel too badly about my cheat.

In addition to filling out the application form with basic information, I needed to update my artist statement (which always takes more time than one would think) and edit per application instructions the file names of the other two quilts that would be submitted (they like a sampling of 3 pieces to help them in assigning venues and although they know my work well and don't require the pieces to actually be in the exhibit, I always like to submit at least one new piece with two that aren't too old). I had planned to burn my files to a cd, fill out the form I'd printed from their pdf and drop it all off at the office on Friday since I had an appointment nearby that same day. But I noted that they preferred the image jpgs be e-mailed and I had that pdf that I discovered I could fill out right on the computer and save, so I opted to attach everything to an e-mail and send it off - a day before the deadline! What a relief to have that done.

I've given myself a few days off to catch up on some other things and relax a bit, but I mustn't get complacent. I've counted it up and I have about 7 weeks til the final deadline, the day everything must be done, framed, and delivered along with a second set of paperwork. Sounds like more than enough time to complete the quilting on 3 more 10 x 10's and get them framed up. Or even to make more prints to broaden the variations of the final four. Then again, don't get too cocky - one must always account for life intervening...