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Deep Jellies, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Sashicko

Summer Begins

June 2, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

My iris are blooming. These are the last ones from Dad’s garden on the farm that have survived the upstate winters. I feel like summer has truly begun as we celebrated Memorial Day this week. The weather has cooperated with that attitude too as it has really gotten warmer. The week has been a full one starting with last Thursday as I went off to the Schweinfurth Art Center after I wrote last weeks blog and helped hang the new fiber show from the Surface Design Association. It was wonderful to see how folks designed there work up close and really check out the backs too. It is a great show with lots of variety from weaving to sewing on x-ray plates. Then I ran home and off to a pop up dinner, were we learned how the chief prepared food for presentation. We each followed the instructions on how to present our plates. This is mine with pea sauce and egg dots. I forgot to take a photo of the final before I ate it. It was very good.

The other event of this week really starts tomorrow with the opening of the Quilt Diva 15 show in Ithaca.

Progress Report: Lion King- Coming Home This work is 20” X 20”. The quilting is all done on the machine. I used a wiggle ray type of pattern for the sky and a serpentine pattern to show the heat on the ground.

The giraffes were out lined and then a spot pattern was added to bodies.

The masks all got out lining and free motion work to show off the shapes of the areas. I was glad I had this little stamp of a bounding lion to add to the edge of the work.

Generational Whispers It took a bit of work to find images of all of the women in the family that I want to use in this quilt. Now I need to do the drawing so I can begin the machine work on this project.

Deep Jellies I am beginning to put down the parts of this work. I made the stunners for the jelly fish out of a metallic fabric and lace I had painted the aqua color on the photo.

New work Sachiko The white on blue hand work of iris’s is done now. So I pulled fabrics that I thought would go with it. I had a pack of ten stamped Japanese words that I though might go with it. There is not a real clear vision for were I am going with this one yet.

New work I used one of the collages from last week to build this work. It is about half way assembled now. Finding a title is proving to be a challenge however.

Label Blocks # 60 and #61 Now I really am half way through with the creating of the blocks for this project.

Enjoy summer and Keep Creating

Carol

Columbus Junction, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Memory Map Quilts, Purple Pleasures, The Heron

Active time

May 27, 2016 admin

Hello-

Do you see the four leaf clover on the right in this cluster I was out in the yard the other day and it just jumped out at me. Had to capture the image to share. I hope that everyone enjoys the out doors on this Memorial Day Week End.
This week has been a full and active time. It began last Thursday afternoon when I went off to Turquoise Street Studio to play with Barbara. She worked on her pastel of beach folks and I did hand work on my own. It was a pleasant time.

Saturday was a meeting of the mixed group folks. This quilt is by Bev Kondolf. We talked of many things, but most important from my point of view was about how museums like the detentions of works to be presented in high first and then width. So I will be using that system in the future.

This work is by Anne Garrison. It is always such a stimulating time and I always go home so worked up with ideas and thoughts.

This work is by Noel Keith and is one of her entries for the Diva 15 show That opens on June 3 and runs until July 29 i n Ithaca NY. The round circle at the bottom is rust stained silk.

Regina brought this piece to the meeting to show Pat what she had done with some of the fabric that she altered in her class in the fall. As a teacher I sure appreciate seeing finished results and Pat did too.

On Monday Noel, Victoria and I went down to have a play day in Regina’s studio. This shot is if Noel and Regina looking at one of Regina’s new yard sale finds. It is so kind of her to open her space to us to play. I like the way she has starts hung on the wall like I do. I find this one epically exciting.

Regina’s computerized machine gets a real work out . This is a great example of that.

We were dye painting. This shot is of Victoria carefully painting symbols on the fabric with Dye Magnet. Hope to see this when it is done. Noel really played. She started with this blank . The end piece looked like this. So much color!

Then on Tues I had the FAB group here. Judy is working on finishing up old started projects. This soft summer quilt is a real beauty with its mix of black and deep blue centers.

Nancy is working on a quilt for her Mother that has daises and blue birds on it. She is a real wiz when it comes to medallion quilts. She had lots of boarders and always makes a great challenge for her self with these projects.

Yesterday I went off and spent my time with Joyce who is a collage artist. I did three little works- two are suitable for starts for quilts I think. The top two.

Progress Report: Memory Map: Columbus Junction This work is 21” l X 14” w. I am calling it done although I do not think it is a good piece. There are too many things that are the same size I feel.The images tell the story but it is weak. I may show this to some other folks and see if they have suggestions. I will do much more drawing and pre planning for the next piece in this series.

The Heron This work is 16” l x 16” w. I got the heron printed on organza from Ethel a few years ago. It hung on the pin wall and made me feel good, but I could not place it. Then this week it all came together in one afternoon. Using Ethel’s fabric’s and her style , plus my love of texture. I am quite happy with the results.

Lion King:Coming Home No one but me will see the differences here. But I did take off the lion and redo him this week. Thats done and it is pin basted and ready for quilting… A whole different challenge.

Purple Pleasures The triangles just keep filling up the surface of this work. It is very slow however.

New Work This is what I worked on at Turquoise Street. All the raw edges are tacked down with hand stitches and I have done the paint step on this work. Now I need to begin the machine drawings of my grandmothers on organza.

Label Blocks #59.I finished # 59 on Friday last week. Two more blocks and I will be half done.

Keep Creating

Carol

Along the Shore, Blue Stone, Columbus Junction, Deep Jellies, Hand work, Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Purple Pleasures

Blooming

May 19, 2016 admin

Hello,

My world is really alive with blossoms now. Blue bells, buttercups, violets, lilacs, as well as many I do not know the names of carpet the ground. Flowering crab apples and tulip trees color the air. The dandy lions are are in seed and they join the Oak, Maple and Beech as they dump there pollen on the wind- my world is awash with wonderful sensations. I am enjoying spring.

I did a little ice cube dyeing this week. I wanted to play with some oranges and that is a color I do not seem to have a lot of in my stash.

Progress Report: Blue Stone This work is on stretcher bars and is 24” X 36”. It is based on a photo of a rock face that I took a few years ago in Washington State. I enjoyed working up the color changes with yarn and threads on top of the scrunched fabric pieces. There is nylon netting, taffeta and silk paper in this work as well as a bit of flannel. I sure like mixing my textures.

Along the Shore This work is 20” X 15”. It started with the photo image that Ethel had transferred on to fabric. Not knowing anything about the setting I got to invent it to suit myself. I painted the edges of the photo on the fabric so it would have a softer edge and stitched across the edge as well to make it blend into the top.

The quote is from Vincent Van Goth. I find it to be very true for my life. Creating the pine tree branches was an enjoyable process for me as I have always been attracted to them.

Memory Map- Columbus Junction I am working on the details of this piece now.Adding the plants in the garden is just one part of this process. I am considering adding a bit of text to this work.

Purple Pleasures I am to the quilting stage on this work now. Deciding to quilt triangles was a good idea, but it is very slow work with lots of stops, turns and starts. I am trying to use the triangles in the piecing as my guides, but sometimes I am just filling in with that same shape pattern.

Lion King-Coming Home I have added the masks to the bottom of this work. Then I put the stamped lions on under that boarder. I think I am now ready to begin quilting on this work.

New Work I want to do a entry for the Layered Voices Challenge for SAQA. This is my base, using Valerie Goodwin’s base construction method. I am now ready to tack down the open edges by hand. I am also gathering images of my mom and my grandmothers to use as a part of this work.

Deep Jellies I saw a beautiful image of Jellyfish on the web and I was captivated by it . I started a piece based on the wonderful use of color and texture from this image.

Label Block #58 Working away on these little blocks sure reinforces the idea that the whole is bigger then the sum of its parts.

Keep Creating

Carol

Along the Shore, Blue Stone, Columbus Junction, Ice on Vincent, Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Memory Map Quilts

New Growth

May 12, 2016 admin

Hello-

I am delighted by the amazingly fast changes I see in nature every day. A leaf may be two inches across on Tuesday and by Wed morning it is doubled. They all look so transparent too. It is wonderful!

This week has been a quiet one, with only a few events and most not related to quilting. I spent a rainy Friday afternoon planting trees with the Cornell extension and neighborhood association . One even got planted across the street and I can view it outside my studio window.

Progress Report: Ice on Vincent After a lot of steaming and pressing this quilt is finally flat and finished. I really enjoyed working away on this piece. This time in addition to adding a sleeve to the back I have added a pocket with a copy of the images that it is inspired from on it. After Sharon came and took pictures of my work and the inspirations for a talk she was giving I thought it might not be a bad idea to keep all that stuff together.

I used lots of different colored threads build up the texture of the areas in this work. There is also a lot of thread painting to make areas work too.I liked working with the organza’s for the ice although it does fray a lot.

Blue Stone This work is now ready for stretching. It is the biggest one I have done that to. It will be a 24” X 36” surface with a inch and a half deep warp around the edge when it is done.

Wine and Cheese This piece is finally done as far as stitch in the ditch is concerned. Now I am going to do some free motion drawing in the form of wine bottles and glasses as well as cheese in the larger areas to make it complete. The white is paper patters that I will use to do this task.

Lion King- Coming Home It has taken me longer to do the hand work on this project then I expected. I discovered that the head needed a stuffing all it’s own so I had to remove it and a take out the embroidery and do it a second time to get the effect I wanted.

Memory Map; Columbus Junction I added lots of details on this piece this week. This shot is of the little dressing table that I had and a little cabinet that my grandfather Howard built for me. This section is of the memory I have of Grandfather Howard reading Alice in Wonderland to me every day after lunch before I walked back to school. He was helping Mon work on the house at that time.

Label Blocks # 56 and # 57 Due to some miss counting no my part I discovered that I had five more blocks then I thought. Good news in my book. I also got busy- spring energy- and finished two this week.

Keep Creating

Carol

Along the Shore, Blue Stone, Collage Based Work, Diva Meetings, Ice on Vincent, Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Machine Drawing, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Wine and Cheese

May Days

May 5, 2016 admin

Hello,

This wonderful little blue flower filled in the neighbors front lawn and made me smile on my walk yesterday. They are so small only about a fourth on an inch across and so plentiful. I wore a smile for a long way down the street were it was refreshed several times as I came across several more mini fields of the little blue bundles.

I have had a full week with three days of Quilting Retreat at the Schweinfurth and the meetings of both QuIG’s and Divas. The retreat was great stimulation. It was good to see old friends and to see all that folks were doing. Norma was making hostess gifts. One of the five she did is in the background of this shot. Susan was quilting away at pieces that needed that to be completed. Great colors here.

Sally was piecing and assembling a one block wonder that was based on a fish print fabric. Watching her do the arranging of the blocks was wonderful because every time I looked up the work looked different.

Nancy G. did hand work on one of the row by row projects and this little quilt of NYC.

Linda L used the retreat to add boarders and based a big quilt of 110”x 110” that her sister had asked her to finish. She had to crawl around on the top of the tables to do all the basing in the center. The work is wonderfully complex and will look great on the bed when it is complete.

Victoria worked with the fabric she had created in Pat Paulie’s class in the fall. This shot is of one of the early layouts. She made lots of changes before the retreat was over. I love the bright colors.

Seated behind me was a gal named Janet W. She made her fist quilt at the retreat. I sure enjoyed working with her too. I think she is hooked.

Lots of wonderful things were going on at the QuIG’s meeting too. Both Linda and Angela were showing off pictures that are going to be inspirations for new work. Liz is still working away on the Splendid Simple Blocks project. Getting a new pattern every three of four days, is that is only a 8” block is very doable she says. She also is working away on big projects too. I just love this whole silk cloth work that she intends to start quilting soon.

Most of the Diva meeting went to talk about the up coming show that will open on June 3. Ruth did a great job with the post card.

Noel is doing service project quilts for the Tow Path guild. They are beautifully colored.

It is really great when folks bring works in progress. That is what Anne did. This is a Water quilt she shared with us . She asked for suggestions on how to quilt it. Now how she quilts chooses to do this will be interesting to see.

Lori also brought a project that is in an early stage. She has felted, fused and already added paint to the surface. All this before she begins to stitch on top. I am looking forward to watching it grow over time because I already love all the texture.

Progress Report: Ice on Vincent This quilt is in the stretching/flattening stage. I got help from Nancy Bales at the retreat on how to get it flat and now it is drying after a lot of steam ironing. Hopefully I will get a back on it this week.

Blue Stone I am still building up the surface with stitching on this work. I like this process,but it is very slow and tiring. Only about three more hours of work until I am done…… I think.

Along the Shore This is another of Ethel’s UFO’s I am completing. This is also my hand work project for the time being.

Wine and Cheese

I stared this project to relieve the pressure that all the free motion work on Ice and Blue Stone were creating in me this week. I did use a lot of the fabric that I had altered in this project. Most of the commercial orange is Ethel’s material.

Memory Map- Columbus Junction I did not do a lot of work on this project this week. I did add the spring flowers however. I like the Jack in the Pulpit the most. The Dutchman’s Britches are well shaped, but I wish they were a bit whiter. Perhaps I will add some paint to the surface.

Lion King –Cherrywood Challenge At the retreat I started this project. I had purchased the kit at the Chicago Quilt Festival when I was visiting with Sharron. First I did a little research and some drawing.

Then I stated building up the background. One of the limits on this challenge is to use only the Cherrywood fabrics. The pack was two shades of gold and dark brown fabric. Most of the piece is to be from these fabrics. The background is one of the gold’s. But it is not the full 20” that is required on a side, so I added the gray at the bottom.That is were I will put the masks when they are done. At the end of day one I did the loin’s body. I was tired and it was made backward. Fixing that was the first job of day two. I then made the main and stopped working on the project because I want to do the face with embroidery work. The whole thing is not due until July so I can take my time.

New Work Before I left home I had pulled out all my purples to do a new project using this collage as my starting point. It is early in the building of this work but I feel I am staying with the feel of it at this point.

Label Block # 50 I will take help were ever I can get it. The label at the top “ worker pant” is from my grandson.

Keep Creating

Carol

Blue Stone, Columbus Junction, Ice on Vincent, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Memory Map Quilts, One for Me, Two for You

Spring Changes

April 28, 2016 admin

Hello,

This week has been a quiet one with not a lot of activates. I have done a lot of work on the computer and getting ready for shows and such and put in alot of time in the studio. But beyond on that I have mostly enjoyed the rapid transformation that Mother Nature is doing to the plants. The grass is so much greener. As the leaves unfurl the long views of the neighborhood are cutting down. There is a wonderful feeling of being surrounded/ hugged by the natural world around me. Every day there are more buds opening and green things sprouting. I love it.

Progress Report: Two for You, One fore Me

I pulled out this work started by Ethel and worked away on it this week. The two trees; center and right were created by Ethel and I added the one on the left for balance. They were all bare trees at the beginning of the week and as the outside world added foliage so too did I.

Ice on Vincent I put in a lot of time on this work this week. Thread painting is a very slow process but I so like how it looks. It is another form of texture to me. I only started adding the ice yesterday. Fortunately I have several types of organza to build with so I can make the surface look similar to the photo I am working from.

Blue Stone This work also involves lots of thread work so it too is still in the building stage. Again I am adding lots of ribbon, nylon netting, organza and thread texture to the surface of the piece.

Memory Map: Columbus Junction This work also got attention this week. It is also a slow process as I do the machine drawing of specific events and things on this project. I tried drawing myself as a six year old on tissue paper and then following that lines on the sewing machine. It took several tries to get a image I am half way happy with. I added the nylon netting on the ballet skirt because I remember how very scratchy it was. The little matching skirt on my doll is lost in all the netting though. I had better luck drawing directly on the organza and then stitching on the lines like on the child climbing the slide. This morning I did drawing and painting on the organza to create the wild flowers I remember being so abundant around that house. I will stitch them down using black thread and they will be a lot easier to see I think. I am sure I am not the first to try to adding this type of detail to my work. I just am inventing as I do not know of any other way to find out what works.

Scrap Happy I did work on this project to balance out the careful intense work of the first three mentioned here. I have made so many of these quilts that I do not even need to think much when I am working on them. Some times I need that type of work.

Along the Shore When I finished the tree project I went back into the UFO Ethel box and pulled out this photo she had transferred to fabric. The I read an article in the April May issue of Quilting Arts about a way to Make a Mixed-Media Landscape , and thought I would try that technique with the photo.This is what I have so far. I need to do some hand work on the surface now.

New Project A possible title for this work is Wine and Cheese as the colors suggest that to me. It is in the very early stage. Again it is a process that I know well and I needed to begin this to help balance off all the machine drawing that Ice and Blue Stone require.

Label Block #49 They just seem to keep getting there little bits of attention and in doing so get completed.

Keep Creating

Carol

One last spring thing. May Apples

Blue Stone, Canyon de Chilly, Collage Based Work, Columbus Junction, Creative Assistants, Green Grass of Home, Ice on Vincent, Label Blocks, Memory Map Quilts

On Marks

April 21, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The sky was so full of contrails – man made marks and I felt I must comment on my focus subject of this year. Marks seem to be every were when you start to look for them. There are marks left by animals like these deer and raccoon tracks are that show marks of passing. But there is a difference between the mark left behind by nature and the marks made by mankind. Man made marks are a conscious decision. There for my con trails are not really marks on the sky as I have defended it. Because I live in an urban setting I seem to find most marks on my walks. I saw these marks of love in the sand when I was visiting Susan in Florida. Then I found these marks scratched in cement on a sidewalk. I observe many spray painted marks. I talked with a man replacing a stop sign that had been grifittied spray painted yesterday on my walk. Then I found these two in the stair well of the art building. They all point to the fact that folks seem to be driven to make marks on surfaces when the opportunity arises. Think about all the silly doodles around the note pad by the telephone or look at a students note book at the end of the school year. Both are covered with marks. We all seem to have a driving need to leave evidence of our passing in the world. Even this strange sculpture is a mark of sorts of some folks existence. I can’t begin to explain why we leave behind the marks. I just know we do and I find it fascinating.

About a month ago I wrote about the “ surFACE” show where artists were given the plastic masks that Cancer patents used as a part of their treatment . I went to the opening/sale of the art works that came out of that Challenge and was amazed by the transformation that the artists did with the masks. This roman fighter was one. Some artists cut up and distorted the masks like this flat work that became and elegant type of painting. I was amazed by this wonderful grass hopper were the artist mixed the plastic with corrugated cardboard. There were several courageous lions. lots of butterflies and angles among the altered masks. Over 90 wonderful creations came out of this powerful challenge.

Progress Report: Green Grass of Home This quilt is 22.5” X 45” and a part of the self challenge project. The collage that I started this work with is in a whole different color pallet- and it morphed as it grew, but I am quilt happy with the final results. When one enlarges from 4” X 6” to a bigger size one does need to break up things a bit differently. I had a good time with the quilting on this work and it is very flat even though I did sew at 45 degree angles in some places.

Memory Map- Canyon De Chelly This quilt is 18 “ X 20”. It has been missing for several months. Some how in my frustration with what to do next it got buried in a pile of fabric and only surfaced this week when I was putting away fabric form my trip to Chicago. I am so glad it got lost because I was so frustrated with it I was ready to throw it away the last time I saw it. But with fresh eyes I saw what it needed and now I am pleased with the work. It mostly needed more definition and needle work. It got both this week.

Memory Map- Columbus Junction Finding Canyon De Chelly also got me going on this work that was at a stall too. I have added more detail to the map section and I am in the process of doing the drawing of the figure for this work now.

Creative Assistants I got busy and finished up 21 more of these little fellows this week. I was pushed forward on this project by unearthing a small box of necklaces with wonderful beads for face parts- but I told myself I could not begin to play with them until I had finished all the started pins. There will be more.

Ice on Vincent I am building up the texture on this work now. It is the slow step were it seems like not much is happening. But I love all the thread play and the tacking down of fabric bits and yarns.

Blue Rock This work is just a little behind the Ice piece. I am still filling in the base layer for it. I like selecting the fabrics and filling in the gaps .

Label Block # 48 The building of the blocks keeps on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foundations XII, Label Blocks, Out the Window, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

My Travels

April 14, 2016 admin

Hello,

It is really spring when the dandelions begin to bloom. I see more and more every day. I have enjoyed my last two weeks and my mind is full of all sorts of ideas and happy memories. On the Tuesday before I left I went to a FAB meeting at Judy’s house. Everyone was full of news and even though there were no new projects we had a good time. Then that same day I ran off to a QuIG’s meeting in Sue Ellen’s studio. Sue Ellen is still working on her tree theme series. I really like all the hand work she put into this work. Linda is experimenting with Yupo Paper and ink. She sure got some fine results. I think I purchased some of this stuff a while back, I wonder what I did with it. Sally took a class from Noel were she made this wonderful rose and then built a great evening bag with the knowledge. We had a good time.

Then on Wed. I flew off to Chicago to see my friend Sharron and go to the Quilt Festival. She picked me up and we drove around the city in her wonderful new 2015 Mustang. I was stopped cold when I opened the door and this logo appeared at my feet. Techknowledgy is every where. The Festival was wonderful. The quilts were amazing. Such strong use of color and texture as well as wonderful patterning and breath taking images. I do not feel like I can post any of them on this sight –just believe me. We did go to the dedication and delivery of Quilts of Valor. It was so moving I found myself with tears running down my cheeks. Later Sharron and I spent time at that booth working on blocks and we both finished six for some future Veteran’s quilt. We came home with tired feet and a pile of goodies. This is only my pile. Sharron had one as big. She has a wonderful studio with a full wall of fabric. Her own Quilt store I would say. She is still working away on her six “ Dear Jane “ quilts. She has all the centers doneand is a little beyond a third of the way around all six with the triangles in the boarders. I am sure she will finish this year and they will be amazing! Again I am not going to show them here as she has a show in mind that needs to keep the images off the net until they are shown there. Sharron also has a second passion and that is her Christmas Village. It is set up in a space that was once a dinning room. It is electrified and has a train that moves through the display. Most of the building have lights inside as well. I just kept looking and looking .She told me she has been collecting parts for over 30 years. I sure can believe that . What a delight for the kid in all of us.

On Monday I went to Ithaca and took down my solo show at the Briar Patch. The staff did not want to see it go, but all things must end . Anne has someone else lined up for the next two months now.

Progress Report: Ethel’s Quilt This quilt was designed cut and partially assembled by my quilting buddy Ethel Whittamore. She asked me to finish it and then pass it on to Quilting By The Lake for there raffle in July. The Raffle money goes to the scholarship fund for the classes at QBL the following summer. I did finish the assembly and started doing the hand quilting like Ethel always did on her quilts. But I was unsatisfied with my work so I sent it off to an Amish woman I know who does beautiful handwork. The results came back and I was delight and she got the cash for a new calf. I was so excited when it came home that I took it to a Diva meeting were Cheri asked if she could take it to be shown at the YMCA Central New York Quilt show April 8 /9. I said yes and now it it home with me in all its glory. I will enjoy it for a few months before it goes off to QBL and its new home.

Riverwood This work is 31” X 49”. It meets all three of my monthly challenges. The orange and yellow fabric is some I hand dyed in a class last fall. The silk and the browns are from Ethel’s stash. The design is based on a collage I created. There are always alterations when one goes

from 3” x5” to a larger from. I liked using a limited pallet working with a the bold print against a smaller scaled area. I am also enjoying using the faced shapes to add another detention to the surface.

Out My Window This quilt is 38” X 41”. I hand painted the big white sections. They are all views of things that I saw out different windows in my life time. This shot is of the barn yard I could see from my bed room in Iowa. All the dark purple blocks are machine drawn trees and most of the other areas are leaves or clouds.

New Work -Ice on Vincent As I mentioned before the quilt show was inspiring and so I started this work based on a photo I took earlier this spring of ice along Vincent St. It is a close up and I have already done some major altering of it as I have put down the fabrics.

New Work This is an early shot of the beginning of a new piece. I want to do another stretched work, so this piece is 26” X 50” . It is based on a shot I took in Washington State on a trip with Marty. I am doing it all in shades of blue instead of gray.

Label Blocks # 46 and # 47

Two weeks- two blocks. I did a lot of the work in the airport waiting for the plane. The beat goes on….

Keep Creating

Carol

Columbus Junction, Ethel's Trees, Green Grass of Spring, Label Blocks, Memory Map Quilts, Out the Window, Second Wall, Stretch Works, Stretched Works, Truquoise Street Studio, Uncategorized, Watakoo Wall

Spring get away

March 31, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Before I left for Florida I was a part of a second show at Turquoise Street Studio on the week end. I even sold a piece and I am thrilled by that. Barbara is so kind to share her studio with us and help us all benefit from that experience.

The photos tells the story of how I started many of my days when I visited Susan and Carolyn in Florida. The sun rises were wonderful. The light was truly “golden” as Barbara says. A big reason for my trip was to see their show. I went through the door and was stopped short by the visual impact. There was so very much to see I could not get myself started. I think I was fortunate to have seem some of the work before or I think I could have been truly overwhelmed. In trying to decide my favorite I was struck by the variety and the powerful use of color. I really like this altered Barbie that has become a god. Carolyn’s Swing Clocks with the moving feet made me smile too. This picture is only two of seven different variations that were presented. Some works were small and intimate and others were bigger than life size like this red dress. I liked Susan’s piece that was based on Little Red Riding Hood too because it had so many parts that were all fascinating all by them selves and also worked together. It was a full and delightful experience for me. We went to the building next to the gallery and saw a second exhibit of the works of the collage faculty and staff. I was taken by this wonderful small weaving. Susan told my it was by the director of the gallery were their work was on display.

Susan and I worked in the studio every day too. This shot is of Susan painting on Tyveck for her project for the Diva 15 Show. We worked with wood and fabric as well and had a lot of fun. We went for a morning at the beach as our way of celebrating Easter. The day was a perfect one for our ramble with a clear blue sky, white sands, crisp ocean smells and a cool breeze.

I found so many fascinating patterns and textures that I took over 75 pictures. But I decided that this shot of Cyprus stumps is my favorite. They almost look like they could walk the shore them selves. I had a great visit.

Progress Report: Watakoo Wall This is another in my stretch works. I am getting better at trimming back the corners enough that they lay flat now. It seems I learn a new trick with every one of these projects. I put lots of fabric bits on the surface as I build up the effect I am after. This one even has some “plastic twist” on it to give it a bit of a punch. It has silk paper as a part of the texture and color as well.

Second Wall This work is a partner to Watakoo Wall. Both are from the same photo, but a very different part of the rock face. This is a very early stage and I am sure it will grow and change as I work on the surface. It seems to cry out for some light at the moment.

Out My Windows I am to the fun stage of the work on this piece. I am doing the free motion drawing part and I always enjoy that step. I did all the dark purple squares yesterday afternoon. They are all night views across the roof tops showing the bare trees.

Green Grass of Spring This work is another of the pieces that is based on a collage. It grew and changed a lot as I enlarged it from the 5”X7” card I did the collage on. I did try to keep the tones of light medium and dark in the same areas however. I have it layered together and it is ready for the quilting. I am just looking and thinking about that step at the moment as I have no real clear idea of how I want to do that.

Memory Maps:Columbus Junction I started this work after talking with Susan before I went off to Florida. She mentioned how much she liked one of the other Memory Map works and I realized that I had not done all the pieces I wanted to do in that series. So after checking my list of possible subjects I selected Columbus Junction the home that I lived in from Kindergarten to the end of third grade. Then I did a list of possible subjects and began some drawings. I built my base and then started working on top. This shot is of the map section with our house being the square with the blue roof. This shot is of the upper right hand corner of the work.

Ethel’s Trees I inherited lots of Ethel’s unfinished work and this is one. I am sure I will not not put my stamp on all of her pieces, but using it as a starting point is a good challenge for me. This started out as only the brown tree painted on the white cloth. I added the gray painted “wonder under” to build up the land and then found this second Ethel cut tree yesterday. I need to live with this work to know were to go from here. The gray tree is not stitched down so it may move before I fuse it down.

Label Block # 45 I worked on this as I waited for the connections flying back and forth. I did not want to get behind while I was away and the activity does not require a lot of attention and its small so it travels well. Susan gave me a new batch of labels so I have more to work with.

I am going off to Chicago to the Quilt Festival and a visit with my Friend Sharron Evens on Wed next week so there will be no posting for April 7. It will be another double shot when I get back.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Briar Patch, Creative Assistants, Label Blocks, Out the Window, Riverwood, Watakoo Wall

Green Day

March 17, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It is sunny and bright today and I am really feeling the wonders of spring. Notice the bee in the center of the wind flower on the left. So many trees have big fat buds I am sure they will open soon. I had no meetings this week so I got a lot done. I do have stuff coming up however. This Sat and Sunday I will be apart of the Spring Thing at the Turquoise Street Gallery. I will be there on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4Come along and have so goodies if you can. My other news is I am off to visit Susan on Tues and I will not be back until the following Tuesday . So there will be no post next week. I am sure I will have lots to share when I get home as she already has lots of plans for activates for the two of us.

Progress Report: Briar Patch I have completed this work, but I do not feel like it is really done. It is OK- but it has no life for me. I will take it to the Associated Artists meeting this week end and get some feed from other artists on it. I do like all the textures and colors that the patch contains but it seems fall short .

Ribbon Rose Pillow When I went to visit Susan last spring I fell in love with a wonderful piece of red fabric that she had. It was topped with these wonderful ribbon patterns. It has taken me a year to study and then adapt the technique to my collection of techniques. I am quit pleased with this typeof embellishing. I will admit that it is not a surface that is comfortable to press against however. But the texture is wonderful!

Out the Window I have finished all the stitch in the ditch work on this piece. It is now stable enough to start the free motion drawing part. I Think I will make each block a different view. I plan to leave some of the “windows’ blank and all the white ones with purple blocks printed on them will be curtained windows. I am thinking that the deep purple blocks will be night scenes. This is a big challenge and I may change my mind as I go along. But that is my plan.

Riverwood This work fits all three of my monthly challenge criteria. It is based on a collage, has my altered fabric and some of Ethel’s fabric too. I changed the color when I went to fabric from red to oranges and from grays to browns. I am showing one of the early pin up steps of this work because I have realized that as I enlarge the work from the 4”X 6” collage to a larger size it takes on a life of its own and I alter the work accordingly. ( note the additional half circles. ) I have finished all the stitch in the ditch work on this piece too and I am now ready to add the free motion work. I am not sure what to do so I am living with it.

Watakoo Wall I started some new work based on photos of rock formations. This is the beginning. I always try to lay the wool out in a pattern that follows the lights and darks of the start, but it too takes on a life of its own when I change mediums. Is this what is meant by abstraction?

This is a second work from a different section of the same photo before I add any fabrics on top. It to has morphed from the photo to this point.

Creative Assistants I have been inspired again this week to get back into doing faces for my creative assistants. I have done about two dozen and I will keep at it for a bit longer. Then move on to the next step.

New work Here is another work that is fits the monthly challenge work. And it too seems to have pulled away from the collage with enlargement. I have broken things up and altered the sizes of color blocks as I have gone along. I guess I will just have to face that the changes are a natural part of my process. It is all a part of learning and creating as I go along. A natural part of the process for me.

Label Block #44 I like the label form my Minion sculpture Christmas gift ( upper left hand corner ) the best in this block.

Keep Creating

Carol

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Green Day

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer