Miniatures at Large Exhibit

As promised, here are my three entries in POAC's "Miniatures at Large" exhibit: Harvest Moon, Moon over Pend Oreille, and Strawberry Moon. Click on any picture for a larger view. They've been hung along the angle of the staircase which makes them look great as a collection.

Helping to hang this show was a lot of fun, with many hands making the work light...that is, except for those really big pieces. I was amazed at how these not so young women just hefted them up into place. Pictures to come.

As always, if you are in the area, please stop by for the opening reception Friday night and say hello (details below). Come for the art, stay for the wine and hors d'oeurves! There are some truly amazing miniatures and maxis, and the catering is always the best.

"Miniatures at Large"
A Multi-Media Exhibition

Dec. 10, 2010 - Feb. 25, 2010

Opening Reception

Friday, December 10, 2010
5:30 - 7:00 pm

Location:
The POAC Gallery, in the Old Power House
120 Lake Street, Sandpoint, Idaho

Hors d’oeurves & Refreshments
Provided by
Pend Oreille Pasta & Wine

Free and open to the public

With Completion Comes Freedom

Here's my little trio of framed fabric postcards for the upcoming Pend Oreille Arts Council exhibit "Miniatures at Large" which opens on Friday. I finished the last one today, as usual just in the nick of time as we hang the exhibit tomorrow. I say "we" because my role with POAC has shifted: I am no longer just an artist member observing from the outside, but an artist on the Visual Arts Committee also observing from the inside and actively involved in the nuts and bolts of putting on these exhibits. Kinda exciting. At any rate, I've been mentally obsessing for at least a week about getting this trio completed, and now that it is, and I am happy with the result, I do feel a tremendous sense of lightness, of freedom, of even joy. Makes me wonder why I dragged my feet in the doing when this wonderful sensation was waiting.


Part of the reluctance to move along with projects is often due to uncertainty about fabric choices. As I sketched out some possible designs for my moon theme, I realized how much I enjoy that part of quilting - the design phase. And although I love working with fabric and get excited at the various pairings, I don't enjoy quite so much making those final choices. What looks good in my head often fails in reality, or the options seem equally good so which to choose? My first choice for tree and moon fabric for my final miniature (shown above on the left) didn't look right on the dark grey background - a disappointment since the tree has the same teal green tint as the grey. I let it go a day just in case, but no, it looks much better on this navy background. So I went in search of something else, pulling the brown fabric on the right. Ah, if I fussy cut just right, it will make tremendous trees, but not on the grey background. It too will look best on a blue background, coupled with the more brownish-pink of the moons.


To get to that brown, I had to move that batik I bought recently (and felt guilty about). It too has the same leaning as the background hand-dyed, and I was surprised that its pattern could work for the trees. Certainly far from what I thought I might use it for (and I felt a bit vindicated). You just never know... This "Strawberry Moon" was finished up the same as Harvest Moon (see this post for details), just the Decor Bond to stabilize the stitching which I did in sequence with fusing the different parts of the design down. I was smart enough to plan ahead, doing the outline stitching around the moon before fusing the tree over it. The outer tree also got fused at this point so both could be outline stitched before adding the last tree which overlapped all the other appliques and stitching around it. Fuse on a backing, secure to the underside of a mat and slip in a frame with glass for protection.

The only problem now is that I have all these "bits and bobs" and beginnings of ideas for additional small moon vignettes strewn about the studio and I need to be working on something else. Good thing I bought a small storage box last week to coral all the fabric postcard stuff that's been stacking up on the work table. Organization is a wonderful thing.

I'll post individual photos of the three "miniatures" along with details about the exhibit and opening reception tomorrow..

Oops leads to a test

If you're like me, you usually don't feel you have time to test everything before it goes in a quilt. You trust in the manufacturer's information (at best) or cross your fingers (at worse). The above is a section of a quilt I made quite awhile ago as a sample for a hand-dyed fabric business I was involved in. It never got a sleeve since we just pinned our samples to the booth's curtain walls. Now that the business is defunct, I use it at home draped over a trunk in the livingroom. And this is where the "oops" comes in. When I lifted the plant off it so I could switch it out for a more season appropriate one, I discovered a brown water stain as well as migration of that indigo blue into a light blue area to its right. Obviously I had not been careful when watering that plant and dribbled onto the quilt top. Oops indeed. The brown stain washed out, but not all of the bleeding as you can see if you look closely. But because of the nature of hand-dyed fabric and it's mottling, the diagonal line of bleed is not as obvious here as it would be on a different type of fabric. And since it never hangs on the wall, the indiscretion is even less likely to be noticed.


But that's not the real reason for showing you this. Two corners of the quilt have this fused floral applique, and there is no stitching along the edges for security. I used Steam a Seam II precisely because it is advertised as permanent without having to stitch along the edges, and because of its tackiness that allows you to more easily play with your arrangement before fusing with the iron. And even though washing is not supposed to effect the integrity of the fuse, I'd never really tested that before. You know; we go along saying it doesn't matter because our wall/art quilts will never be washed (never say never, I've learned). Well, now was my chance to run a test on a quilt where it would not be a total tragedy if the product did not perform as promised.


I had my doubts, and considered hand washing the quilt. However, I wanted to use synthropal to lift and suspend the excess dye so decided to throw caution to the wind and the quilt into the washer. Agitate away (although on an ultra gentle cycle) with hot water as directed and really put that fusible to the test. It held and there was barely a frayed thread to be seen, although that might partly be because of the tightness of the fabric's weave. At any rate, I can now say with confidence that Steam a Seam II does NOT need to be secured with stitching, even if it ends up in the washing machine.

Unfamiliar Territory

It shouldn't be a forced march to get something accomplished in the studio, but that's the way it has felt lately. Gerrie expressed it very well in this blog post as well as sharing some tips for getting back on track which include just making yourself get to work. I gave myself a good pep talk this morning and force-marched myself in there and got to work. The unfamiliar territory refers to the framing which was my prime directive for the day. I was chagrined to discover I couldn't buy pre-cut mats with a 4 x 6 opening, so bought some mottled mat board (unfortunately the mottling doesn't show up in the picture) and crossed my fingers that I could adequately cut one or two myself. I was pleased with my first effort. And with that success under my belt, it was easier to stay in the studio and keep working.


I trimmed up my Harvest Moon a bit, ran a line of stitching close to the outside edge and sealed the raw edges with Fray Check. Then I centered it in the mat, securing it with strips of linen tape before slipping it in the frame.


I'm very pleased with how it looks in the frame. This photo shows the frame color fairly accurately, but there is a bit of reflection off the glass making the textile look a bit lighter than in real life.


Framing the Moon over Pend Orielle postcard was easy by comparison. I didn't have to cut out an opening in the mat since the glass would be removed from the frame and the postcard mounted directly onto the mat. I've used this double-sided scrapbooking tape before this way and it holds really well. The black satin stitching around the outside of the postcard gives the effect of double matting. Illusion is a wonderful thing.

I also cut out pieces for another Harvest moon today and mounted the second moon over the lake postcard on mat board but in a different frame from the other one. I sketched out an idea for a strawberry moon postcard and will start on that tomorrow - I'm thinking it will be finished like Harvest Moon so will be cutting the center from another mat. I thought it would look good for my three entries to be in the same frames, and additional renditions will get their own framing/finishing. I'm even thinking of bumping up some of the designs to a 5 x 7 size to accommodate a standard pre-cut mat. Yes, the ideas are still flowing, even if it takes a forced march to get me there.

View from my Studio...

Now you'd think this would be enough to keep me in the studio working. This is what I can look up and see from the sewing machine.

And this when working at the cutting table.


So why did I have such a hard time getting in there and staying in there today? It's not like I woke up thinking, darn, I HAVE to work in the studio today. No, I was excited that I had nothing else on the agenda today, and so could focus solely on getting lots done. But it didn't happen. No sooner did I turn on the machine than the phone rang and it was my brother calling to catch up. Then I let myself get sidetracked on the computer. Just as I was sitting down to lunch, a friend called. After that I decided I may as well shovel my way to the mailbox and do whatever other shoveling needed doing. Then a short walk in the snow to clear my head. NOW I should have no trouble devoting the rest of the day to sewing.


Here's what I was working on, was supposed to finish today, and maybe get started on more. These are my Harvest Moon postcards which are so simple and quick that it is embarrassing that I've dawdled on them. I pondered for days how best to construct them, how to get a nice smooth appliqued curve on that moon, how to avoid handwork but still have a finish I liked. And then the head smackin' "Duh!" moment when I realized this was just my mariner compass sewn into a frame on a smaller scale. I am so comfortable with that method, I can't believe it took me so long to think of it.


It was simple to make templates of freezer paper, drawing the arc with a compass, mark the sewing line and hash marks once they were ironed onto the fabric. It took no time to pin and sew that one seam. I decided not to add batting to these, so the top is layered with decor bond to stabilize it for the free motion stitching of the trees. Once that was done, I fused it onto the back which is also stabilized with decor bond.

And there is where I got stuck. I'm not sure I want to trim these to 4 x 6 and satin stitch around the outside. One will be framed for the upcoming mini exhibit, and I'm thinking I may want mat it, using the excess fabric to tape it in place. Of course, I don't know what color mat, or what frame I'm putting it in, and and and...well, you can see how I might start turning in circles not sure what to do next. So I just left them on the table, the finished dimensions chalked on. And then couldn't make myself do anything else, even though I have plenty to choose from. If I can get out of my driveway tomorrow, I'll head to Ben Franklin and see if I can get some ideas about matting.

A Gift from a Friend

I've had this now for a few weeks, but have just loaded it up and gotten a picture of it. It's a belated birthday gift from friend Cindy, who has been making multiples of this handy fabric caddy. Personally, I think she's insane, what with TWO zippered pockets on the outside and all those little pockets lining the sides of the interior. All I can say is thank you so much, because I would not have the patience to make even one for myself!


I wasn't sure what I would fill it with, knowing most quilters would use it for scissors, rotary cutters, maybe rulers and the like. I already have a basket on my worktable for some of that, and a nice ruler caddy. But mostly, I have no room to set this in my sewing room, so cluttered am I. Instead, I thought of all the paint brushes and other painting tools I keep in the big measuring cup (which then becomes problematic when I want to use the cup for measuring). And the bottles of glue, medium and other odds and ends not actually paint (which I already have a container for). I definitely have room for something like this on the table where I use my paints, and once I started testing those pockets out, I knew I'd found the perfect use for it. Thanks again, Cindy, I love it!

It's Very White Out There Today

This is what I woke up to this morning. Since about Wednesday, Mother Nature has been toying with us, giving as a few inches of fluffy snow here, a few there, nothing to get excited about. Yesterday afternoon the temps were on the cusp - so precipitation became more freezing rain than snow.


But the warnings were out for our area to get 7-10 inches of fresh snow by the end of the day and this time they were correct. When I made my way to the paperbox via snow shovel, I could see that our accumulation for the past week is well within about a foot. Just beautiful...if like me, you have nowhere to go.


I always run my photos through Core Paint Shop Pro for sizing and tweaking before putting them up on the blog. The program always saves your last setting on things like brightness/contrast, and the last thing I worked on apparently needed a lot of contrast adjustment. I was totally shocked when I used the adjustment to lighten up the top photo a tad and this is what flashed on the screen! Ooh my - do we love that texture or what? Can't you see that printed out as fabric? Doesn't this show how one goes from representational to abstraction? By increasing the brightness, there's even more fade of the white areas, more sketchiness of the black lines (click on the photo for larger view where the difference between the two photos is more visible and you may also see some tinges of red along the top). Giving me ideas...

But for now, I think I'll just take a walk out in the real thing.

Retropective Thanks

It's Thanksgiving Day here in America, and it has been a pretty quiet one for me. It's been snowing - maybe 4 inches of beautiful light snow to freshen up the view - and I am home from sharing dinner with some of my church family. My contribution was a batch of yams fixed up Chinese style - simmered with slices of ginger, drained, mashed and mixed with sugar. This year has been a wild ride for me, and any thankfulness I share today is basically because the ride seems to be slowing down, and I am becoming whole again.

But the wild ride is just beginning for the families of 29 miners trapped and presumed dead in a mine in New Zealand. I'm not seeing much news coverage of this here, only know about it because of my fellow blogger and art quilter Shirley Goodwin. She is requesting heart blocks which will be made into quilts for all the families, hopefully enough for each child to receive his or her own quilt. Such a generous heart that woman has. And since my dad worked in the mines most of his life, and my brothers also did their stints underground, all without major mishap but never without the womenfolk in fear of it, how could I not answer her request. I am so thankful that I did not have to go through what those 29 families are now experiencing.

So I am quickly making up some blocks - the ones here are ready for some stitching around the applique - and slipping them into the mail. If you would like to join me, contact Shirley through Facebook where she's posted the details or through her blog, Dyeing2Design.

Here's a link to one of the more recent news stories about the disaster.

Back to work & Getting Ideas

After a bit of foot dragging, I'm back in the studio. Well, I justified the foot dragging as necessary clean-up of both house and studio, and catch-up with my documentation. But as fabric got put away, the work tabletop reappeared and photos got printed and attached to files, I felt that hesitation that sets in after a major project has been completed and it is unclear what direction to head next. There's a miniature exhibit coming up, so I'd been considering making some fabric postcards to frame and enter. I've been wanting to make more based on my photo of the moon reflecting off the lake as well as some with birch trees, so why was I hesitating - nothing scarily new here. Once I got my sketchbook out with my "pattern" and the fabrics, something clicked, and all hesitation vanished. Here I have started the "accidental landscape" layering of sky then mountain over my decor bond and batting base (click on the picture for a larger view). I don't know why I didn't think of it before, using the black batting - it solves the problem I had before of too much white showing around the edge, potentially peaking through the satin stitching around the outside. Fortuitous that while searching through the rubble still covering part of the work table, I ran across some strips trimmed off another quilt.

That afternoon, I picked up my August/September issue of Quilting Arts and read the interview with artist Jeanette Gilks. I was a little surprised, but greatly encouraged by what she said in response to the question "Tell us about your approach."

"There is a moment at the beginning of every new work when you feel inexperienced and terrified, like a child on its first day at school. You wonder if you know enough and whether or not the work will be good enough."

Oh, yeah - that is exactly how I'd felt earlier in the day, how I often feel when starting up a new work. She goes on:

"As the work evolves, though, and you begin to chat together, you make suggestions as the work tells you what it needs...Your intention and the intention of the artwork don't always synchronize; you need to negotiate all the time."

Again, this is what I experience. It's nice to know it's not just because I'm not as experienced or well-trained or educated as artists who have made a name for themselves.


I usually don't like repeating myself, duplicating previous designs. I've done variations, but even then, they are usually quite different from the original idea. But I love this image so much, love it when the time of year arrives when I can see this out my bedroom window, that making more little pieces of art nearly identical hasn't bothered me. It has been very enjoyable. In the process, it has reminded me of another moon picture I took for reference - a harvest moon rising over the trees. So once these moon-over-the-lake ones get satin stitched, I'll be trying out a harvest moon design as just sketched (again, you can click the picture for a larger view). And after that, I may revisit my strawberry moon idea. Oh, the joy of creative flow...

Additions

I haven't exactly been "fiscally responsible" lately. First it was these beautiful hand spun yarns from Connie Rose. (Yes, the ribbons indicate that they are award winning yarns!) There are a variety of fibers, all luscious and in the earth tones I'm drawn to. They are truly a splurge since I have no idea what I'll do with them. But that seems to be the way I've been buying yarn lately, single skeins of special yarns that have a special feel or a special look. They eventually find a home.


Then it was a stop at Bear Paw Quilting in Coeur d'Alene on my way home from having the car serviced. I've heard a lot about this shop, and it has gotten quite the press lately. While other quilt shops are going under or closing for other reasons at an alarming rate, this shop outgrew its original location in a small strip mall and built it's own bigger store next to a Fred Meyer. I've been here 4 years and had never checked it out, knowing darn well if it was as great as everyone said, I'd not get out unscathed. I couldn't pass up these two batiks, nor the chance to stock up on my favorite King Tut thread that I can no longer buy closer to home.


This beautiful seam ripper is another recent addition to my sewing room, but without taxing my pocketbook. It's a belated birthday gift from my brother who knows the guy who hand-makes them. It takes some of the sting out of "unsewing" errant stitching and adds a splash of color to the basket of scissors and such where it resides when not in use. Thanks!

Are "Happy Accidents" Art?

Somewhere along the line, I got the notion that I shouldn't take credit for an artistic result that was merely the product of chance and my ability to recognize a good thing when I saw it. I'm uncomfortable if I have not come up with the idea or technique myself. Then again, I've come to the conclusion that not everyone can recognize a happy accident for anything but an unwelcomed and frustrating deviation from an intent. Accidents are often how we learn, and a discerning eye critical for an artist.

I recently ran across another take on this issue, an exuberant one at that from the blog of Edward Winkleman - it's worth a read, especially if you have trouble letting go in the studio: What are you really doing in your studio (pt 1)

Part 2 is here - do not go into it lightly. It is lengthy and full of meat to chew on...

A Sampling of the What If Exhibit

I promised quite awhile ago to give you a bit of a tour of POAC's What If exhibit, and at last, I've some pictures to share. Above are my two entries: "Lights of Las Vegas" and "Dance."


Across from mine are these paintings by Bill Klein. I overheard him explaining how he laid down masking tape to get the shapes.


Also across from me these lovely paintings by Catherine Isele.


These are digital art by Steve Wylie - a favorite of mine.


And these are art quilts by Marty Bowne.


This large unframed, unstretched canvas is a painting called "Fall is in the Air" by Stephen Scroggins. He explained to me that he sells quite a bit of work on the east coast and Europe, and his customers like the ease with which these large pieces of art can be transported and hung.


On this particular piece, he drizzled yarn over the surface and added more paint.


This is a photo on canvas called "Amber" by Staci Bailey.


For variety, Darlene Pfahl exhibited her exquisite jewelry.


And Rob Payne added his birch-trimmed mirror.

A Thank You On Veteran's Day

I'm a bit late getting this up, but I do indeed appreciate the sacrifice our Veterans have made in the service of our country. Three of my four brothers served. This is my oldest brother Waine, who was a helicopter mechanic in the Air Force in the late 1950's.












Next in line, brother Joe, who served in the Army in the early 1960's. I don't recall exactly what he did, but I remember him being stationed at Fort Ord in California.













Max served six years in the Navy mostly working with computers I believe. Oddly enough, I can't find any pictures of him in uniform - how could that be? So you'll have to make do with this shot taken in 1968 shortly after he got out and the one of his ship.




The last brother in line is Bruce, and nothing left for him but the Marines. But no, he did not enlist in the Marines or any other branch of the service. I'm not totally sure why, short of him always saying he was a lover, not a fighter. The military's not for everyone. Can't resist adding this picture of him from I think the late 60's. Gosh, we were all so young and good looking back then...


Finally, this is my nephew Doug (Joe's son) who is making a bit of a career of the Army. He is currently in Iraq for his second (or possibly 3rd) tour there and really likes the army life.


Kudos to you all.

Catching my eye

I go through stages where different shapes or textures or colors suddenly catch my attention. For a long time it was grids, and then more recently odd triangular shapes. About this time last year, I noticed my eye being drawn to a new shape, a new inspiration, basically the gentle arcing of fan shapes. I was seeing in the wings of various birds a possible new arrangement for my triangle shapes, although I haven't been able to work that out with any success yet.


But that hasn't stopped my eye from being attracted to additional photographs of wings. Some of the more interesting ones seem to be of the wing as drawn forward, not what my mind instinctively things of.


But the lovely easy drape of feathers along an extended wing is pure poetry and gives me insight as to where the women of the 1800's found inspiration for their elaborate feather quilting designs. Surely I will find my own way to incorporate these shapes.


I also noticed another part of a bird giving me that lovely fan shape, in a slightly more asymmetrical way - a crest.


These photos are from National Wildlife Magazine, where I also spotted this one of giant clams; I have scanned it next to some antique reproduction fabric from my stash. I've always known that these designs were supposedly based on clam shells, but they rather puzzled me. Not very much like the clam shells I was used to. But now that I have been introduced to the giant clam, boy do I see the connection!