MoFA Conference…just what a working girl needs!

This spring I got to attend the the MoFA conference. This is the only professional organization I belong to right now. I love the variety of work represented by this group. I can go as far in my work in one direction as I want to and then go in another direction and still fit in fairly well! This group encompasses weavers, knitters, dyers, paper artists, etc. Some people use bones and skins in their work. I think I will leave that to them…I don’t think I will be going there with my art.

The conference is a wonderful event. There are classes, vendors, great food, a members’ show, a style show, usually a national teacher/speaker. This year the speaker/teacher was Judy Dominic, who works with a lot of different materials. At this conference she had held a 2 day workshop prior to the workshop teaching how to create mud cloth. I was unable to take the two day class because of work, but the girls who did take it had beautiful cloth.

I thought I would post some photos of the members exhibit in this post. Three awards were given. One for best use of color, one for best use of stitch, and one for best overall composition. I am always stunned when I see MoFA exhibits. I think they are stunning in their variety and are such a great display of the unique talents of all of the members. This year our projects had to all be mounted on 12×12 inches canvases that could be wired and hung on a wall. This would keep the show uniform in its size. About 35 members entered the members’ show.

I was not disappointed when I arrived and looked over the entries. They were all so wonderful, I felt like my puny, sort of thrown together at the last minute entry paled in comparison. I oohed and ahead over all of the entries. A lot of them were felted. There were so many clever ideas. I loved all of them. Another feature of the conference was that each artist could schedule their own private critique with Judy. I didn’t schedule one, not wanting to hear how bad my piece was! And Judy was also the judge for the show.

Imagine my surprise on Sunday when the three awards were given, to receive the Best overall composition award! I was shocked. And the funny part is, that I have always felt that composition was my weak point.

So without further ado, here is a panorama of the show. Drool, ooh and aahhhh all you want. It’s even better in person!

Starting on the right hand side of the exhibit….in the upper left hand corner (#26), Leandra Spangler’s lovely piece won the Best use of color award. My Fragments of a Life is in the first row, third photo on the right in the very middle and bottom of those on the wall.

               

#17 in the photo below, with all the trees, I believe was awarded best use of stitch.

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The show continues to the table with samples of papers and books with marks on them.

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More papers with surface design.

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Before I forget how….

So I went through the process of designing another pattern. I just used some of the same motifs that I had drawn before and made a new pattern.

Check these out. I don’t want to forget how to do this, so I will keep practicing.

pattern1 pattern2 copy pattern3 copy

I’m so tempted to get yardage printed!!!

Getting something accomplished!

I am always busy with something. My schedule is so overloaded, it doesn’t matter what I do, there is always something waiting for my attention. If I kept living according to that, I would never do some things I really want to do. For instance, take classes.

I have been taking some online classes in the last year sporadically, when I let myself. The newest one to capture my heart (and attention) is Shelly Sequinot’s Simplified Pattern Design on Skillshare.com. I was paying a small monthly fee, assuming I could get through one class a month. Well, that didn’t happen, but then they made a discounted yearly offer and I went for it and now I’m taking all the classes I can get to!

I haven’t made the project yet, but I have got the pattern made, and in a dozen different colors too. I am working in Illustrator which I have a great interest in learning. I have learned a lot in the last two classes of hers and now am taking this one. The project is to use the pattern you create to make a card, but there is so much more that can be done with these hand drawn patterns! I will be brainstorming. So here’s a sample…first I hand sketched the designs, then digitized them into Illustrator, then made the repeat patterns. Enjoy!PinkBlackTanYellowBlueLimePinkBlackGreenDkBlueRedYellowBlueGrapeGoldGreenBlueYellowRedBrownishBackgrndBlueBckgrndCreamBckgrndDkGreenBackgrndGreenishBackgrndGrayBackgrndPinkBackgrnd Click on any of them to get a better look. They should link to a larger sample and you can also view them in slideshow fashion.

This class is awesome and fun! Illustrator has a lot of cool tools to make changing colors on your patterns quite easy to do.

Here is the original design done created in the original colors.

Here is the original design in the original colors.

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.

April at the Library

Here is my exhibit at the library in Mt. Vernon, IN. I decided to mix it up this time….a few scarves, some photography and some mixed media. I think the blend worked well together. This exhibit is now over. I picked it up today. I am hanging another one on Friday at the Harrisburg library.

library exhibit copy

New Work

I have been doing some prints and mounting them on deep canvas, but haven’t had time to get the photos put up here on the blog. Here are a couple of my favorites. I do enjoy using construction fence patterns.

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A Few Things I’ve Been Working On

First, the “collaboration.” I finally finished my part, which was dye the base, and stitch it in preparation for the rest of the work to be done by others.

collaboration

At the quilt retreat, I finished new bags for the shop with my own beaded zipper trims.

Bags for shop

 

I’ve recently started work on a “sweatshirt” quilt. Back in December I made a tshirt quilt. The same lady brought me all of her daughter’s sports sweatshirts too. I think they will make a cute throw size quilt.

sweatshirts

 

Out with the red….in with the Peacock Green!

My new hair color…that is. I do still love the red….buuuttttt…Peacock Green is a nice change…

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More ACEOs

No names. I usually don’t name these small ones. Paper, fabric, acrylic paint, inks. Fast2Fuse.

 

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T-shirt quilt

So, in November, I put together a t-shirt quilt ordered by a customer. I hired some help too. A friend of mine helped put it together. I ordered a $200 piece of equipment to help get the backing fused to the t-shirts in less time. The steam press is totally awesome for doing t-shirt quilts.

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