Photo Challenge Detail

Happily I'm back in my studio with many projects on the cutting table and design wall. Just the way one likes to be stimulated.

April 12, I posted my interpretation of Rose Alpert's (www.rdalpertphoto.com) "Lily Pads" photograph. Besides rendering a piece 18"x 24", each member of my art quilt group is also to make an 8" square detail. This is mine.

I enjoy free-motion quilting but not the marking. Usually I try to figure out a way to get the look I want without marking at all. This time, however, I traced a koi onto paper. Then, with Saral Transfer Paper (saralpaper.com) between my drawing and the fabric I traced over my lines. While I don't often use it, I do recommend Saral. It's wax free, will not set with a hot iron, comes in various colors, washes or erases out and can be used over and over. Real pluses in my book.

Photo Challenge in new venue

Our art quilt group Sisters in Cloth has just mounted the Photo Challenge again. It will be on exhibit at the Guilford Free Library, Town Green, Guilford CT through December.

Pictured here are three photo groupings: " Kyoto Summer Palace", "Gaudi Barcelona" and "The Gates NYC".

We are very happy to be asked to exhibit annually at the library and, right from the beginning, we thought this challenge would be a perfect candidate for its audiences.

To add to the fun, we are hosting our regional SAQA group (http://SAQA/CT.blogspot.com) meeting this next Saturday. Like "Topsy" our meeting has grown. The executive director of SAQA, Martha Sielman is giving a presentation about her new book "Art Quilt Masters"; we will preview SAQA's Traveling Trunk Show B; we will enjoy a box lunch; have (surprise) drawings from local retailers; view attending members' Show and Tell; AND, journey to the nearby Guilford Art Center to catch the fabulous SAQA Tranformations: Reflections exhibit. Phew!

If you haven't done so, check out the SAQA/CT blog for information. The meeting begins at 11 a.m. Join us. The more the merrier! For box lunch information and reservations email Barb Adams: b.c.adams@comcast.net.

Our Photo Challenge is UP!

Sisters in Cloth has been working (for longer than I'd like to think about) on a cohesive grouping of our work that we could package for a traveling exhibition. We decided on a "photograph challenge", inspired in part from an art quilt project that we'd seen photos of from a group that includes Sara Ann Smith (The Frayed Edges).

We have three groups of five photographs that are interpreted by fourteen members. (Actually, twelve current members and two relocated former members who were enticed to participate.)

The first image posted is a shot of part of one of the groups, which includes three interpretations of this photograph. The second is a close-up of a blooming cactus and the third is a seascape with a boy sitting on a rock.

The artists represented here are (L-R) Yvette Howard, me and Gail Kotowski.

Imagine 15 photographs and 75 interpretations!

Half of them are in landscape format (11" x 14") and the other half in portrait format (81/2" x 11").

Our first (of 3-4, we hope) venue is the Guilford Art Center's small gallery, 411 Church St. Guilford, CT. Interestingly, the brightly painted walls worked for us...we did have our doubts! Our opening reception is this Friday, May 29, 5-7pm. We are all very excited and hope to see many of our friends and family that night.