Winter's Close 2019

Happy Holidays !!!

Image printed on prepared cotton fabric

This year has been challenging, rewarding and introspective.  The focus was restoration of our original home in Northern California.  I learned new skills. You-tube videos provided the how-to knowledge to complete projects. Gardening was solace to the soul, using the as landscape as my canvas adding plants for color and texture. Working on the house also gifted me with time alone to ponder where I have been and where I would like to grow as an artist.

What about art?  One personal success, Madonna, was juried into the CA/NV regional SAQA show, “Stitching California”.  The collection will be shown throughout the state in various venues for the next three years.  Thank you SAQA for the opportunity.

Gallery at Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah, California, August 17, 2019 to January 5, 2020

Promotional Postcard - Stitching California

Stitching California Venues

While working on the house I took time for two fabric endeavors, a baby quilt designed and sewn and a photo collage memory piece made to celebrate a good friend's daughter's fiftieth birthday.

Baby Quilt Designed and Pieced

Photo fabrics and painted canvas, sewn

Photos printed by Spoon Flower

Wrapping up the year, we sold the house in California and I returned home to family and friends in Nevada. Feeling the desire to create, I embraced the joy of making holiday cards.  Utilizing photoshop software, personal photos were combined and then printed onto prepared fabric. The process was a great way to experiment with fabric preparation mediums, noting the results in print on the fabric for future projects.  The three main mediums used were gesso (white and clear), ink aide, and Golden’s gel (semi-gloss).

 

 You have a joyous and art filled year! 

 

Photoshop Combination of Madonna Tile and Graffiti

Photo Madonna Tile ~ Cotati, California

Photo Madonna Statue ~ San Luis Obispo, California

Summer 2019 Updates

This last year I have focused on restoring our home in northern California.  The project has been one of love and gratitude.  As my skill sets improved and I discovered the joy of working with materials and tools once foreign to me.  Sanding and painting are new addictions.  I am smiling.  The yard which had been neglected now displays color and new growth.  Looking over the labors of this last year is rewarding.

While focusing on the home repairs and updates, I have had little time to work in fiber.  I am looking forward to more time in the studio this coming year. The sum of this year's home improvement experiences will filter through the new work.

Keeping the artistic soul alive, I am nourished and inspired by membership in the organization SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates.  Membership in SAQA has the duel benefit of being introduced to on-going fiber art and providing opportunities for one to show their work.  I am blessed having two pieces juried into different SAQA venues.

Madonna has been accepted in the SAQA regional venue, Stitching California: Fiber Artists Interpret the State’s People, Life and Land.   The inclusion of a piece into a show with many talented artist is an honor.  Madonna will be traveling throughout venues in California for the next three years.

 

Detail, machine free motion stitching

Opening Exhibition Specific Dates:

Exhibition opening: Saturday, August 17, 2019
Artist reception: Saturday, August 17, 2019, 2:00 – 5:00pm

In addition a welcome surprise came in SAQA's quarterly journal. Oysterville, Then and Now was published in the section Members Gallery - Land Grab, 2019 Vol 29 No. 2.

SAQA Journal 2019

Enjoy the summer !!!

Valentine's Day Inspirations

Valentine's day cards are always a great excuse to dive into creative endeavors.  I love experimenting with a variety of materials and exploring new ideas.  To create cards with a traditional heart theme printed canvas, tin, and stitch were used.  In addition to making cards, a small art piece was made for SAQA's annual Spotlight Auction. The Spotlight Auction is an opportunity for all SAQA members to have their work showcased at the 2019 SAQA Conference in San Jose, California.  It will be shipping out this week.

Artist Statement for "My Heart's Desire:
Constructed using mono printed canvas and wine tin materials. The piece was machine and hand stitched.  My Heart's Desire is the joy I have in creating art, no matter how small or how large.  The delight is in the process.  May your heart's desire be a soul source of inspiration.

Valentine's Day Card #1

Valentine's Day Card #2

SAQA Spotlight Donation, 6 by 8 inches

2019 A New with Some Old

Welcome to the New Year.  Hopes and reflections and revelations fill the air. Having spent the summer and fall of 2018 restoring our home in Sonoma county I realized new skill sets and greater confidence in my abilities.  I learned how to work with concrete, a rotating hand sander, acrylic house paint, wire screens, and a hand saw. The community of family and friends encouraged and supported the efforts.  The house and yard are now back to their original luster.

In retrospect the year of 2018 held many creative gems.  Manipulating fabric is always brings me joy.  I am inspired by process and find that experimentation of materials is very satisfying. Failures are equally valued as are successes; each add to a base of knowledge.  It's kind of like having source code, a basis from which to work.

Print class at our community college allowed for experimenting with traditional printing processes onto different fabrics. Silk organza took the ink well. It's sheerness allowed for layering other fabrics behind the printed image.  I loved most how the pressure of the printing press created clean and crisp prints on fiber.  I tested different fibers with ink and press.  I also continued to hone oil painting skills.

A survey of 2018 creative processes in pictures:

Organza over Canvas

Print on Cotton

Oil Still Life on Canvas

Photoshop composition printed on eco dyed paper

Dyed and Stitched Cotton

"Bring on the Night" ~ Photoshop print on fabric, stitched and painted

Detail of "Bring on the Night"

Eco dye on paper experiment

Eco dye on paper

Eco dye process

Ceramic Tile with Printed Fabric

Ceramic Tile / Two tiles combined

Ceramic tile experimentations ... liking the technique results. Needing more thought into the conception of a finished piece.