Posts from the ‘Artwork’ Category

Thank you Notes

I’m not always the fastest at completing projects.

Three bis of leftovers have been waiting patiently on a small tray. They are the bits from a meticuluously pieced triagnle quilt of gray, pink, white and smudges of blue that I have made into a nice jacket with matching purse, an auction donation piece and now three smallish pieces; one destined for the new owner of the auction piece, one for me, and destined for the SAQA’s Spotlilght auction held at their annual conference.

Here are the two completed thus far;

The edges are grey lace seam tape; twisted and sewn down around the edges.

I haven’t quite figured out how to present the one destined for the Spotlight Auction yet—I have enough seam lace to edge it but it needs to be 6inches by 8 inches and it is just a bit smaller. perhaps mounted on a piece of black felt would work—something to ponder–it is not due for several months.

Courtship and another showing

Grackles are a common bird, the males of the bird world being both more showy and more vocal than the females. We have three nesting pairs of cardinals in our backyard–all spaced as to not overlap territory–and I can hear them whistling from early morning to late afternoon. Grackles, do not have an attractive song o whistle—being more of a croak. But Still they posed for me on that rail at Cat-Tail Marsh.

This piece is on its way to the SAQA trunk show, SAQA being short hand for Studio Art Quilt Association. I have been a member for many years although recently I have had concerns regarding their foray into politics. Artists have always expressed their political views in their creations, ranging from Picasso’s “Guernica’ to Steinback’s Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat to Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Woman’. Early in Hitler’s regime, artists were sanctioned or fled or were imprisoned. However, artists were always free to express their own views—especially in opposition to any organization.

SAQA has aligned itself to two groups espousing a particular viewpoint—and I suppose thinking they are encouraging protest against the mainstream. Unfortunately, no other viewpoints are allowed—the idea being that everyone thinks as they do. They have fallen prey to a certain social media slant that does not represent my viewpoint.

Reluctantly I sent in an auction donation and now a trunk show piece. It will be mounted nicely and be part of box of artwork sent to various places. I thought about this for a very long time; if sending in these items meant supporting their narrow-minded way of viewing the world?

Recently I tried to enter three of my fiber pieces in a local art show. They were rejected because the acceptance committee did not understand ‘gallery-wrapped’ frames.

The options for showing my work are therefore so limited, I want my work to be seen—-and maybe this group will re-consider its thoughtless.

On the other hand, I use these ‘opportunities’ to try out a new technique or way of working. This particular piece used a fusible interfacing—eliminating all the stray threads on the edges of the bird.

Almost Done

It is so close to being finalized!

And I am so eager to have it printed and the final copy in my hands.

And speaking of hands—and mine in particular—they are the star/s of this piece.

All of that sounds a bit presumptuous—however…..

Earlier this year, a call from Webster Presbyterian went out for Stations of the Cross as part of the observation of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter. In the midst of the pandemic with vaccinations being meagerly doled out, this provided an opportunity for something creative and a way to escape the dreariness of limited social contacts.

Within six weeks, I completed the artwork, wrote a small paragraph about each, took the final photos and then struggled to put it into a booklet format.

One of my dear friends took on the formatting for me—and with a few final touches it is nearly done and ready for final printing. She is a perfectionist and her similar booklets are exquisite—but for me, this time—it will be complete.

I don’t want to spoil the ‘ta-da’ of the final piece—but here are a few notes about it.

I typically do several in process photos—and here is how I mark for lettering–all hand embroidered.

There are always a few ‘oops’ such as misspellings—how could I not notice this.

Fortunately it was an easy fix—just peeled off that ‘i’ and replaced it with an ‘e’.

Having a printed proof in hand makes the entire project seem more real–although I have a box full of the completed artwork–all 11 by 14 on gallery strectched canvases.

The background fabric is dyed with walnut husks, the hands were constructed of various wood dyed fabrics ranging from humble corduroy to silk. I used my hands as reference photos–a bit of a challenge taking photos of my right hand. I used a piece of packing styrofoam as a backdrop and a desk lamp as the light.

I asked two family members to take a look—and several others picked it up—and were all impressed—-

And so now I must wait just a bit longer for the final product.

And begin on the next big project……Miracles!

Trying to Keep Track

One of the challenges in managing artwork or even just projects is giving them a name and them remembering what that name is—so you (I) can find it again.

I’ve tried several different methods of labeling things but as always if it is in a box/bag/folded up and labeled something I may not remember what it is. That means a nice surprise when I open up a box/sort through a tote—and that is nice.

But then, how to keep track of inventory? Particularly when I am contemplating doing vendor events?

I am visually oriented but I also don’t like a lot of things open—that goes for my laptop as well as my work areas—-although right now no-one looking at these spaces would agree.

However, I have come up with a method to try over then next few months to see if it works for me.

Since my hand-writing is not elegant–although more legible than some; I create labels for my pieces using a nice font, print them out, copy them onto the prepared labels—and that is a story for another time—and now I am printing them each on their own piece of paper and then printing a photo of the piece at the bottom of the paper. I also include the dimension of the piece and any other information I find pertinent.

The label is the last thing that goes on the piece—and although I may take process photos, the final photo is with binding and label attached.

I’ve experimented a bit with my photo site—-the latest is with a clothesline hung over the front porch—using clothespins I don’t have to pin on a sleeve. And these pieces are for fun—not for entering into show.

Here are my latest two completed pieces.

Poky Puppy was constructed while I was recuperating from back surgery and as part of Ricky Tims’ Gridified Art Quilt. It has a lot of novelty fabrics in it—and thankfully was able to use up a lot of the cat fabric I had bought to make a friend a gift.

The other piece is called We Three Kings—it was part of a round robin I participated in via internet many years ago. The central piece is a batik panel I bought in Africa; it is surround by some other African prints. I don’t really have a good place to hang seasonal quilts–but this would be my Christmas quilt.

Thread and More Thread

There are some folks that organize their fabric by fabric lines and designers.

There are some folks that arrange their thread by weight, fiber content, and purpose.

For me it is all about color.

Years ago, I rescued a deli tray from some sort of party—most likely I was told to take it home to feed my three boys–they did tend to eat a lot!

After I have completed the construction part of an art project and am ready to begin the stitching part; I haul it out.

The center well—designed for the bowl of ‘dip’ gets filled with wound bobbines—I tend to use a medium gray or blue or tan.

The outer ring is filled with possible thread choices organized by color—pulled from my drawers of thread—all jumbled together but organized by solely by color.

My latest big art project was this past spring—Stations of the Cross.

Here is the thread I pulled for this project.

The preliminary printing of the book is ready for me to pick up from the printer tomorrow morning.

I’m sure there will be some tweaks and no doubt there will be a few glaring errors—I already caught the misspelling of the word ‘naked’.