It’s been a while…

It has been a while since I posted here, but wow! I didn’t know it had been THIS long.

Life at the newspaper has been keeping me very busy. I actually picked up more work there, which leaves me much less time to play in my studio and write here….sigh….all my creativity goes into the job, leaving little for anywhere else!

BUT, a couple of months ago, I got an inspiration. The inspiration was the upcoming (at the time) deadline for Form, Not Function. I said, yes, I would like to enter that show again. Some ideas came, I sketched them out and the first of January was here before I knew it, with absolutely nothing done through the holidays on the project. Quilt retreat came in late January. I knew by then I wouldn’t make the Feb. 1 deadline. Sigh. But there’s always next year! I am still inspired to create a new series and I am plodding in that direction. I think I can! I think I can! I think I can finish this for next year’s deadline.

Today, I started cutting up fabrics and stitching. Finally! I had already done some sketching of where this is going (unusual for me to be planning), and had worked up a small prototype at the retreat. Abstract still life. That’s where I’m going.

strips web

In other news, there has been a sale! Compositions #2 will be going to a new home in Columbia, Mo. in the very near future. What can I say? If someone loves it, it must become theirs. I love it when someone else loves my art and wants to take it home. You can see Compositions #2 in the Gallery on my website.

Progress!

Work is progressing on the collaboration piece…2014-11-18 14.01.17

…using butter yellow thread. I like the looks of it on the off white background. I am over 1/2 way finished, but have had to quit and do something else. This is free motion “straight” lines. I like the unevenness of it.
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This week a friend and I have been working on a t-shirt quilt that has to be done by Christmas. We made great headway yesterday getting it pieced together. Good thing I bought a heat press or we would still be working on fusing the interfacing to the shirts. It will be going to the quilter EARLY next week. And THEN I have to get ready for an art spree the following weekend at the Rend Lake Center. No rest for me!

 

The Very Busy Month Of June

As you can see I haven’t blogged for some time.  June was a really busy time for me.  I was creating two brand new classes…and then trying them out on my “guinea pigs”!  Postcard Panache was the first class. I had the actual idea for this class last summer, but like anything else, if there is no demand for something, my ideas may remain just that…ideas.  But in March this year, two ladies from Louisville put a demand on me for this class, so I worked hard to get samples made and get it prepared so they could have a full day of learning.  These two ladies came to my house for the day and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.  Now I just have to get it up on my Lectures/Workshops page.  There is always something to do!

Postcard Panache is a class geared to teaching people how to use all of the new artsy products that are  on the market.  I sell all these products at quilt shows, but demos are important because people don’t quite know what to do with Angelina fibers  and other items.  So, in postcard format, I showed these ladies a number of ways they could use bottled inks, Smooch Spritz, Angelina fibers and film, BoNash bonding powder, foiling glue, foil, stencils, etc.  They had quite a play day and were very complimentary, which makes me feel happy that they were so pleased.

The second class I created is a screen printing class.  I finally settled on a name for it no one else has used, at least not that I know of…Spontaneous Screen Printing.  Several gals from the St. Louis area and other friends of mine signed up and declared that they  had a great time and learned a great deal, so I feel I have done my job.  It is a lot of work creating and planning a brand new class, then packing everything for it.  At the same time I was planning a demo on Friday for the artisans center where the class would be taught the following day.  Due to the extreme messiness of using dye paints to demo I opted to do something totally different!  Which made me even more work…what was I thinking?  Again, it was a project that had been in the back of my mind for some time, so in a way, by demo-ing gelatin printing using paints, I got some “work” done for future artwork…AND I got a commission out of it too, which was very unexpected, but welcome.

Select Collections

Select Collections is an annual event hosted by the Evansville Museum Shop.  It is a unique shopping experience with selected vendors.  Here’s a few photos.

The entrance to the gallery.  The black and white printed pillows are mine.

My booth….and a short view down the hallway.

Julia’s wonderful dolls.  She also had some raku pins and some wrist bags.

Julia arranging things.

It’s The Holidays

Life has been incredibly busy around my house lately…but I don’t think I’m alone in this…it’s the holidays!
The first weekend of December was the Art Fair at New Harmony. Sales were good. This past weekend was our first Tri-State Artisans Studio Tour. I set up a “shop” in my garage. My friend Kay, who weaves baskets, joined in with her wonderful baskets.

The weekend warmed up to the 40’s so we stayed warm enough with a big heater and a small electric heater.  We had fun, visited with people that came by,  and had good sales.

Now it’s time to get started on Christmas baking…one week from Friday the party is on!

Arts In Harmony

Well, the festival is over for this year.  It was quite fun with lots of artists in all mediums.  The first day was quite ‘blustery” and we had to hold onto our hats (and tents!), the downside of outdoor festivals.  The second day was awesome and beautiful.  A columnist for the Evansville Courier, Sally Roth, had a column that came out in Sunday’s paper with a brief mention of the Arts In Harmony festival and a mention of my website and, in particular, a certain fiber piece of mine, called “Leaf”.  It is from a photo of a geranium leaf in my back yard.  She previewed my website and really loved this piece, then wrote about it in her column.  She was at the fair, since she lives in New Harmony.  Since I had prior notice that this column was coming out, I managed to have “Leaf” on hand, mounted and ready to hang…and Sally purchased it.  There were several purchase awards given to other artists, but this was my “purchase award”!

“Leaf” —SOLD

Art Sale

This is the piece I sold on Saturday. It will be going to live in Merida, Mexico. Sounds like a warm place. I am quite content to send my babies out into the world to live somewhere else!

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“Leafed”