ARTQUILTSTransitions acceptance...part II

Part II:  Phases of the Moon pictured here was actually the piece that had been juried into the ARTQUILTSTransitions exhibit.  The notice that High Tide had been accepted was in error, but the news didn't arrive soon enough to abort the mission.  High Tide is, indeed, on exhibit at the first venue in Durham, NC.  It will be switched out for the real winner, Phases of the Moon, for the next two venues, Cary NC in June and Fayetteville NC in September thru November.

I choose to see this little hiccup as a win-win for me.  I'll have TWO pieces exhibited at one time or another in three fabulous venues!

Phases of the Moon was inspired by the background fabric which is one-half of a piece of hand painted fabric that I bought from Hollis Chatelaine many years ago.  The moons are a hand dyed piece of fabric which is overlaid with tulle for shadowing.  I free-motion stitched the tree and then built the owl separately and appliqued it on last.  The piece is hand quilted and beads were added to suggest stars.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Blogging Quilt Festival! What a good idea! Check out the link: http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com.

This should be a ton of fun...and inspiration.

How do you pick your favorite piece? It's similar to picking your favorite child. You can understand, begrudgingly perhaps, that others may find one or the other "better". Well, it is tough.

Trying to make a choice gave me the opportunity of seeing the last few years' work in a larger perspective. What became clear: most had pieced backgrounds, most featured elements of nature, the palette overall had lightened and brightened and there is a gradual use of embellishments, stitching both by hand and machine to extend the design and use of other media.

Tide Pooling was created last summer. The background, "leftovers" after creating a large bed cover on commission, reminded me of walks on the beach. I cut a stencil, ironed it on, screwed on my courage and painted the plants.

An egret had recently visited our garden koi pond, devastating our fish population. No doubt, that was in the back of my mind when it occurred to me that my piece needed a focus. I decided to create an egret filling the space ala James Audubon. I used a heavy damask tablecloth and water soluble crayons. His legs and the crab are from a single hand dye...using both sides.

The work is roughly 40" square. I'm estimating because I am not on my own computer. I'm on holiday in Victoria, Australia.

First Week Victoria

G'day! Our first week in Victoria has been chock-a-block full of bush walking, birding, wine-tasting, meeting with old friends and saving it all on camera. The migrating honeyeaters (and I just learned that they migrated...apparently the ones we observed tasting these red gums were in route from Tasmania) were all over this tree when we visited the little town of Dean's Marsh.

We've had a wonderful time identifying birds that we haven't seen in years: Spotted Pardalote, Scarlet Robin, New Holland Honeyeater and it's cousin the White-earred Honeyeater...and three pairs of Red Rumped Parrots making nesting moves along the Barwon River in Wincheslea. Of course, we've had a grand time with our host who feeds about twenty Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and as many White Backed Magpies twice a day from her deck.

Last Saturday we enjoyed visiting the Lorne Quilters Patchwork Exhibit. There were several "challenges" by the adept members, including this black and white "House" piece that really was masterfully created using value to real advantage.

We are on the hunt for more birds today in the Geelong Botanical Gardens and a visit to the Geelong Art Gallery.

This next weekend we shift over to Melbourne. I can hardly wait.

In a couple of hours we will be loading the car for the airport to begin the L-O-N-G journey to Melbourne, Australia...which is why, if you choose to go, you should stay a while. We will be there three weeks, mostly staying with friends along the way.

The detail pictured here is from "Creative Spirit" and is greatly influenced by my interest in, and love of, Australian Aboriginal Art. It was one of my two pieces that was juried into "Up in Stitches" 2008, at the Yeiser Art Center, in Paducah, Kentucky.

Having spent long periods in many, diverse locales, understandably, place plays an extremely important role in my work. It's not difficult to see influences from Australia (or Japan/northern California/New England/Florida)...both the culture of the desert in particular and the flora, fauna...and light...in the colors, themes and viewpoints I choose. Place is such a crucial element for me that I work very diligently at insinuating myself into a new locale. The few places that I have lived, and have not felt "accepted" in some way, have become memories of regret and, therefore not usually represented in my work.

This little (24" square) work was also juried into "Up in Stitches" last year. It's titled "Masako Goes to Africa" and is made exclusively with African fabrics...and made for my sister Masako, who never, it seems, leaves her home in Texas. I've decided to give her a grand world tour. I spoke with her last night, and I think she needs an Australian trip too.

Our first host lives in Lorne along the seacoast of Victoria, west of Port Philip Bay. She doesn't "do" computers, so unless we stumble upon an internet cafe, I will not be posting regularly. But I will be photographing wildly. She lives in the midst of The Otways...a temperate rainforest with amazing ferns, eucalyptus, fauna and BIRDS!!

Rayna's Class Part Two

Today was Silkscreening. Now, THIS is really fun....yesterday was partial fun (and some frustration). But today I found several techniques, using the silkscreen, that I found very satisfying.

Pictured at left is one of our "Sisters", Janine Anderson-Bays. She's showing us the last piece she did at the end of the day and she sure got my vote for "class star". It is glorious. She used the screen to which she had applied a design with glue as the resist earlier in the day. On a gray, blowy day it made us all smile.

Thank you, Rayna, for a wonderful weekend! Your work is inspiring and your workshops are informative, invigorating and .... a great big, juicy HOOT!

Rayna's here!

Rayna Gillman was invited to our group for a weekend of workshops.  Today was Gelatin Printing and it was so much fun! Tomorrow we will start Silk Screening...and learning how to save some of our stash that we've each have decided is too dated for what we are using now. 

 I'm so happy with the prospect of recycling some of my collection that I know I'll never use again.  Occasionally my group has "exchanges" of fabric but I still have way too much fabric...adding to it can make me feel just the slightest bit guilty, but recycling, well, it's almost virtuous!  Repurposing!   That's it!  It's going from dull and uninteresting to layered, complex, and....most importantly...usable.