Category Archives: Agate

Agate, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Memory Map Quilts, Spill, Yellowstone

Quality

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leaves2 Hello,

Leaves continue to be a big part of  my daily dose of nature.  But I want to talk about a Jewish Proverb I came across in my reading this week.        “The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.”   That idea has been on my mind while I have been walking for the last two days.  To begin with I really think that my life is a rich and wealthy one,  but I think even though I am productive that is not the only thing that adds meaning and value to my life.   Quality  is strongly related to context.   One can have “Quality Time” and for me that can mean just

Costumetime spent listening and interacting with a friend or child.  A big part of that quality comes with the  focus of that time- no distractions or concerns for other things.  When I was making the halloween costume for my grandson- (some video game character that I do not know anything about)- that” one on one time ” with him telling me exactly what he wanted and helping with the sewing machine work was real quality time.   I spent quality time talking with Nancy's-quiltNancy on Wed at the FAB meeting when there were only the two us and we got to telling stories about our youth to one another.  That shows a quality of trust too.  (She is making progress on her quilt and the sky with the clouds she made in silk paper on that sky is great.   ) Then there is also  quality friendships like the one I share with Nancy and a few others.   There is a degree of necessary quality in all our lives for things  like  shelter, food,  good quality air and water- without those assuredness none of the other quality things can come about.   We need those quality ingredients  to be  healthy and to fully appreciate the degrees of wealthy  excellence our lives hold.

Agate 23" X 36" $300.00
Agate
23″ X 36″
$300.00

Progress Report:Agate  I finished this work this week.   It has been created from a big piece of silk paper  that I made with Ethel a few weeks ago.  The most difficult part of this project was deciding what side of the  silk paper to use- they were both so lovely.   I had a good time attaching the silk paper to the quilt with  many hand stitches.    This project was created with silk hankies that were hand dyed before I put the paper together.  I might not have selected these colors to use together on my own, but I sure like them and  will try to add this type of mix to my own way of thinking.BO23Agate-cl1 BO23AgateCl2

 

 

 

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SpillSpill   This quilt is coming along nicely now.  I love all the textures on the surface of this work. This shot shows silk paper- two types the sheet form (on the far left) and the flow form(the green blue at the top) , the iron melted  mylar( the turquoise ) and iron melted plastic bag( the apple green).   The whole thing has been fun for me.

Watermarked Sandstone  watermarked-Sandstone I am still doing machine drawing on this work but I can see the end is in sight.    Again I am playing with texture- my favorite thing.   There are “nodes of iron ore” in the image and so I have created some solid rust colored circles to add to the surface of the piece.   Before I can stitch them down I need to add rust colored paint to the surface to show how the water wears away the iron too Iron-Nodulesand in so doing it stains the surrounding stone.

 

 

Yellowstone Memory Map   Mapmemories-Yellowstone  I so enjoyed creating the Sandstone Church project that I thought I would do a second memory map type quilt from my childhood.  When I was seven, my Dad was a summer ranger in Yellowstone National Park at South Gate.  I have wonderful memories of that summer and want to try to  put them into this  new project.     This is layer one and it too is ready for a paint layer  to soften and unify some of these  parts.

I hope you too are enjoying the fall color and creating fun works.

Hugs

Carol

 

 

Agate, Alpine Lake, Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXI Whipshock Hill, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Landscapes

Eliminiated

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Hello,

I want to talk about being Oak-Leaveseliminated from a judged show.  I have entered three this fall and of the five quilts I entered and paid fees for, none was accepted for the  shows.  One never knows the” why “of such rejections.  Even  having been a” holder” for Scholastic art compactions and being  in the same room as the Judges- I sometimes could not understand that “Why” question.   Judges are people with tastes and biases of their own.   One time  I did hear one judge say” I never accept any art with a skelton in it.”  Sense I as a teacher, had used a skelton from the science room as part of a still life with my own students, I  felt that sure was an unfair feeling for a judge to carry.  But they are  people – not gods even though they are given lots of power.     Perhaps the  work did not go with the others selected.  Or maybe the judge did not like the design or color combinations.  The artist never knows those things.    My Father often said” It’s not so much what happens to you, as what you THINK about what happens to you that makes the difference.”   With that in mind, the whole experience becomes one of choice.   I could be angry , hurt and sad by these developments,  but I choose not be be.    I still feel my work is good and I am proud of what I do.  I

BO16Nancy-Paintingenjoy the process and that is the important part for me.  It would be nice to have someone- a judge confirm my feelings- but that is not the case at this time.   Lastly, I am  the  one who chooses to enter the competitions.    I will let time heal over the feelings and try another competition that may fit what I do a little better next time.

I spent a couple of days working with Nancy on her sky again.    She is becoming quite a good painter with a sponge.  She built up more clouds and the work has some BO16Nancy's-sky-fabricreal depth now.   I think that we are done with this step and the quilting will add even more demention to the final.  I am so proud of all the chances she takes with her work.

Asurite Foundations XX 34" X 44" $1100.00
Asurite Foundations XX
34″ X 44″
$1100.00

Progress Report:  Asurite Foundation XX    This quilt was finished in June, but I have not posted it because it was an entry for BO16-Asurite-cl3one of the shows I mentioned above .   One of the limitations on entry to this show was that the work was not to be shown publicly before .     This quilt was lots of fun to work on and I am quite happy with it even all these mouths later.    I added lots of metallic fabric in this work as well as many silks and satins.

BO16Asureite-cl2 I used some fancy yarns and threads in this work as well.  I find that when I pickup the actual rock that I used as inspiration- I see more possibilities  for additional pieces .   Only time will tell.

 

 

 

 

Whipshock Hill

Whipshock Hill Foundations XXI 44" X 35"
Whipshock Hill Foundations XXI
44″ X 35″

Foundations XXI    This is a second quilt that was part of the same entry mentioned above.  I finished this work in June.  It is based on a cut in the road along Route 279 nine miles west of bennington  Vermont BO16-Whishock-cl3.    In actually it is about  500 yards long and a very humbling sight. I added lots of yarns and ribbons to the surface of the quilt as there were lots of little fractures and lines of thin deposited BO16Whipshock-cl2color changes in this rock face.     There is also some silk paper in this work.

 

 

 

Alpine Lake 28" X 14" $145.00
Alpine Lake
28″ X 14″
$145.00

Alpine Lake 

This is a new technique that  I am developing that is aBo16Alpine-Lake-Cl3 very college like approach to quilting.  I am continuing to think more in the way of color for the solutions then the type of fabric I am using.  I even used an old bit of a paper quilt BO16Alpine-Lake-cl2that was the correct color and texture for the water in this work.   I used some double knit on this one  as well as silk, silk paper, organza and cotton  fabrics.    I even did a little free motion zig zag work to add more texture to the tree.   I need more practice to get that under control.

Agate    I am still adding hand work to this felted work to add texture to the surface. Agate  I may have given up doing Daily’s , but I still am doing lots of hand work.

 

 

Watermarked-sandstoneWaterMarked Sandstone   I started this  new Foundations Piece earlier this week.   This one is loosely based on an old black and white  photographic of sandstone that has watermarke erosion on it.  I know the typical colors of sandstone so I am trying to stay in that limited range with this first step.     I really love the texture and I am having fun planning ways to show it in this work.

New work  BO16-new-work This is a pure play piece.  I am not at all sure what I am doing and have no clear idea where I am going with this.  The scarps had just been in the bottom of one of my baskets and I thought they looked  good together……    Quilting, crumpling and following the directions of the work may or may not help this.   But I am willing to give it a bit of time and freedom to see what happens.     Giving myself permission to mess up is very freeing!

I like to hear feedback,  post a comment.

Keep your eyes open to the wonders of the season.

Carol